Slaughter Interview

Q. Mark, you now make your home in Las Vegas. Shouldn't you be in L.A.? Is there a particular reason why you're in Vegas?
A. Well, actually, I grew up in Vegas, and that's where I come from It's a great place. It's 24 hours a day which is perfect for my schedule, because I have no schedule at all. So, it's perfect for me. The whole band lives there. We love it there. I couldn't see myself living in Los Angeles.

Q. I’m seeing a lot of rock shows cancelled and postponed lately. Mark, I think you may be in for a rough time this tour out. The economy is doing a real number to show business.
A. Well, to be honest with you, I'll tell you about the economy. Our first week of sales in Portland, Oregon — 8,000 people. Our first 2 days of sale in Red Rock, which is place over in Denver, 2 sold out shows. So, is the economy bad or is it just that people are looking for people who they know are going to put on a concert that is going to be a little above, and hectic, and crazier, that they're gonna want to go to? I think what it is with people is they want more for their money. People are being a little smarter with their money. Our shows are drawing well. I'm sure that the market yes is affected to some degree, but what I think it is, is with anything, the businesses that are together and the businesses that have something to offer are doing well. Sure there is some dampening of the market and you see that in record sales and other things, but people are still looking for an escape. Say for instance in the Depression times, not that were in a Depression or anything, but just for an example, if all of a sudden Hollywood exploded, everybody went to the movies, everybody cared about this star, that star. Why? Because it became an escape for people. I think people are going to rock concerts. A lot of kids and adults even are discovering rock'n'roll all over again, and saying, 'Hey man, I'm just gonna go out and have a good time.'

Q. "It's fun to meet fans," you say. "If you listen to what real people lave to say, you wouldn't believe what you can learn." What can you can learn from fans?
A. What are you learning from fans? Well, I'll tell you what I learned from fans. There's a song called “Times They Change," O.K. which was written about the Gulf War when we were over in Scotland. Unfortunately, and subsequently, it made our tour be cancelled there. What happened is we ended up coming over back to the U.S. only to see the sons and daughters, so to speak, with their heads shaven coming to our concerts saying, “You know, this is the last concert I'm gonna see. So you guys better rock for us tonight.' Well, that really affected us, and it affected everybody, because it was all over our news. We were at war. If it wasn't for those types of moments when people say “man this is my last concert” and telling us about their training at boot camp and how I they literally in the middle of the night throw gas bombs in their bunks and barracks, when you're talking to people about things like that, ill affects you. The last song that had on our last record “Flight of the Angels,” helped somebody in their life, and did something for people. You really understand that it's the music that's touching people. We write songs for people. We don't write it for ourselves. We're not self-indulgent.

Q. You were in Europe when the Gulf War broke out, and you had to cut your tour short. How come? Wasn't it safe for an American rock band?
A. Well, I think what it was, was they were looking for anything American to target. The U.S. Embassy thought this isn't really a great idea and subsequently Cinderella said, we're gonna have to pull the tour. Myself, I like to go to Bob Hope's theory, and continue playing. Unfortunately, I'm not Bob Hope, and I didn't have my golf clubs on me, and I had to go home. So that was that. It's very unfortunate, but when you're an opening act, you can't control that. Just like when shows are cancelled, if you're not the main act, you can't point the finger at anybody else.

Q. Jay Leno said he will try out certain jokes in front of a club audience before he goes on TV with those same jokes. You don't have the luxury of playing a song for an audience to see how it's received before you record it, or do you?
A. Well, I'll tell you what we did that was different. We invited fans into the studio while we were doing the record. So, that theory still stands true. We ended up bringing people into the control room, and asking 'em, "What's your favorite track?' And that's who picked our first track which is “The Wild Life,” the kids. We have something that's very different from other bands, it's called 'A Very Extensive Meet and Greet.' That's when you meet tons of people, people in your fan club, people you met the day of the gig, or the day before. You invite 'em backstage. Everybody hangs. It's cool. It's like a little get-together. There's no reason why you can't do that.