Good Sludge from Kip Winger on Jani Lane

[LitaStrauss]

Some good honest stuff here:

https://blabbermouth.net/news/kip-winge ... d-the-pale

"Man, first of all, alcohol made me physically ill. I could drink, and by the way, my grandmother was an alcoholic, so not only did it make me ill, but I could also drink anyone under the table. So it was just not a good thing for me to be around. If I drank one bottle of wine, I'd get in the car to go get my second one. And then when I moved to Nashville, it was like a badge of honor to drive drunk. And one day I just put the bottle down and said, 'I ain't doing this again.' 'Cause it was starting to fuck my voice up. I was never an alcoholic. I only drank when I didn't play because it fucked my voice up so bad."

"Look, I've had some bad encounters with Jani, but he was the nicest guy ever when he wasn't wasted. I don't know what it is. I wanna say it's some type of weakness, but I don't wanna be mean and I don't mean it in a mean way. If you have a propensity for drinking, that's a tough one. I mean, Vince Neil [MÖTLEY CRÜE] is another one. Nicest guy on the planet when he's straight, worst motherfucker you'll ever meet when he's wasted. And I think that a lot of the clichés, especially in the '80s with GUNS N' ROSES when they were all with the bottle of Jack and all this bullshit, a lot of people followed suit. That was never my thing, man. I was like, 'Man, I want to be a better musician.' And so I never partook in any of that shit. And by the way, in all these autobiographies, like, 'Yeah, man, I OD'd that night and they took me to the hospital and there was 10,000 people…' And I'm, like, 'You know what? You OD'd on drugs because you're stupid. You did drugs 'cause you're stupid.'"

Circling back to his exposure to drugs while on the road, Kip said: "I was in Alice Cooper after he was out of rehab. I never saw one drug on any of these tours I was on — never, ever, ever, ever — except once. On the POISON tour, FASTER PUSSYCAT — we used to call it the 'Evil Bus', 'cause they'd be on there doing absinthe and coke. If you wanted, if you wanted to go get crazy, you'd go on the 'Evil Bus'. And that was the only place I ever saw it. And God bless Taime [Downe, FASTER PUSSYCAT singer]. He's sober now, and I'm so sorry about his [recently deceased] girlfriend and stuff. And he's a beautiful dude, man. But we all outgrow that stuff, hopefully, after a while. Jani just never outgrew it and drank himself to death in a hotel room.

"We all have that one song. [Jani] couldn't get over the fact that he wrote [WARRANT's] 'Cherry Pie', 'cause he felt like it delegitimized him as an artist. And I'm thinking, 'Yeah, okay, but it funded you to do everything else, so who cares?'"

Asked if he ever had the opportunity chat with Jani about the WARRANT singer's alcohol addiction, Winger said: "We did an acoustic tour one time, and we were all on a bus, but he was such a dick. And like I say, when he was straight and sober, he was really, really nice. And he insulted me in a way on that tour that was beyond the pale. And we actually kicked him off the bus. At one point on that tour, he brought his preacher along with him to try to keep him in line and all that stuff. And then he turned to religion and was trying to do all that stuff. And listen, my dad was a preacher, all my uncles were preachers, all my grandfathers were preachers. And my dad left the church, and we're not religious. I'm not a practicing religious person other than believing that the universe has mysteries that none of us could ever answer in this life. I could talk to you about that for hours, but I'm not a religious guy. But when he started preaching all that stuff to me — that, along with his deep cutting insults —I just was, like, 'Go away, man.' And we actually kicked him off the bus. But that's not to say that he couldn't have been saved — not religiously speaking; I'm talking about if he had gotten sober and cleaned up. 'Cause I know a lot of guys that have gone through the AA thing, and it's all good, man. Look at the GUNS N' ROSES guys. They were famous for being shitfaced non-stop. Duff [McKagan], when I used to hang with Duff in the early GUNS N' ROSES days, that guy was never so sober. And you wanna talk about somebody who got their shit together? He went back to school for business, and he got his black belt. I mean, that motherfucker, he slayed the dragon more than anybody I've ever met."

[Rocker4Real]

I remember Bobbie Brown wrote in her book that he treated her like garbage when he was drunk. Some people are like that. Alcohol brings out the darkside.

[Nate S Axel]

Maybe Stevie can chime in since he knew Jani more, but why does everybody say he hated Cherry Pie? Maybe he wanted to be taken more "seriously" as a musician, but from his bio (which he wrote himself) on his now-defunct website, he loved the song.

Can't access his website on the Wayback Machine, but this blog has his old bio:
https://heavymetalmessenger.com/2011/08 ... m-website/
"And YES, I LOVE THE SONG “CHERRY PIE!!!” ….SWING IT!!"

https://www.grunge.com/589026/the-truth ... herry-pie/
In a 2008 interview, Lane did his best to walk back his prior comments on "Cherry Pie," stating: "I still don't mind ('Cherry Pie') to this day. I tried to explain this. People are like, 'You hated that song.' No, I didn't hate the song. It's just that when I was young and full of angst and I wanted everyone to listen to my serious songs I was like, 'How dare you define me by that kitschy, tongue in cheek sexual innuendo.' Now in hindsight, I'm really pleased that I wrote something that seems to be standing the test of time — at least to this point" (via Delco Times).

[LitaStrauss]

Maybe Stevie can chime in since he knew Jani more, but why does everybody say he hated Cherry Pie? Maybe he wanted to be taken more "seriously" as a musician, but from his bio (which he wrote himself) on his now-defunct website, he loved the song.

Can't access his website on the Wayback Machine, but this blog has his old bio:
https://heavymetalmessenger.com/2011/08 ... m-website/
"And YES, I LOVE THE SONG “CHERRY PIE!!!” ….SWING IT!!"

https://www.grunge.com/589026/the-truth ... herry-pie/
In a 2008 interview, Lane did his best to walk back his prior comments on "Cherry Pie," stating: "I still don't mind ('Cherry Pie') to this day. I tried to explain this. People are like, 'You hated that song.' No, I didn't hate the song. It's just that when I was young and full of angst and I wanted everyone to listen to my serious songs I was like, 'How dare you define me by that kitschy, tongue in cheek sexual innuendo.' Now in hindsight, I'm really pleased that I wrote something that seems to be standing the test of time — at least to this point" (via Delco Times).

Because of this interview he did on VH1, while drunk, where he says he could kill himself for writing it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OR1xpknCHCQ

I've always thought some of what he says is bullshit though. So he had no say that the record was gonna be called "Cherry Pie?" He was an unwilling victim of it all? He woke up one day and the artwork and album title were done and the band had zero say in it? I'm sure at the time he was all for it.

Here's an interesting article about his death too which even mentions Metal Sludge.
https://www.loudersound.com/features/jani-lane-death

[Nate S Axel]

Because of this interview he did on VH1, while drunk, where he says he could kill himself for writing it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OR1xpknCHCQ

I've always thought some of what he says is bullshit though. So he had no say that the record was gonna be called "Cherry Pie?" He wasn't an unwilling victim of it all? He woke up one day and the artwork and album title were done and the band had zero say in it? I'm sure at the time he was all for it.

Yeah, that's what I was thinking when I was looking up his previous comments.

Seems a lot of those BTM specials had them kind of pissed that the heyday was over. Time softens those feelings, and I think he dug it.

As for Kip, I'll always remember how he did one of the worst 20 Questions on Metal Sludge.
https://metalsludge.tv/classic/?p=28616

[DonJuanDeMarco]

He doesn’t say anything we didn’t already know. He didn’t even say what it was that Jani said that insulted him.

I think he’s talking about the Bad Boys of Metal tour with Kevin from QR, Stephen Adler, Kip and Jani. Jani was a mess and didn’t finish the tour.

I wonder if he took pills too because even though alcohol is a depressant, I’ve never personally seen anybody THAT low on booze alone.

As for Cherry Pie, he did one interview where he said he didn’t hate the song. He just didn’t want his entire career to be defined by that one song. And it wasn’t. We all remember Heaven, Down Boys, Uncle Tom, I Saw Red. They are great songs. RIP Jani. Hope you’re up there having a grilled cheese with George today.

[Charles Bukaki]

Not really any Sludge there, mean/angry drunks suck, I think we all know that. He said the same thing about Vince and it's been common knowledge for decades now.

[aznsquirt]

I'd love to know what Jani said that was "beyond the pale". Kip doesn't specify so it was likely pretty nasty.

I'm assuming he's referring to that Metal Mania Stripped tour which was '05 IIRC and probably close to Jani's sloppiest era.

[HueyRamone]

The change in musical climate of the mid-'90s, compounded with unprovoked ridicule on MTV's popular "Beavis And Butt-Head" show, led the band to go on hiatus in 1994.

Unprovoked?! They provoked it by being Winger and writing Winger songs!

[aznsquirt]

The change in musical climate of the mid-'90s, compounded with unprovoked ridicule on MTV's popular "Beavis And Butt-Head" show, led the band to go on hiatus in 1994.

Unprovoked?! They provoked it by being Winger and making Winger videos!

fyp

[Rocker4Real]

I think Jani hated Cherry Pie years later because that was the main song people would bring up and call him the Cherry Pie Guy.

[thunderdan]

Jami was a disaster while drunk which we all heard over the years. Also always heard what a nice guy he was but self-medicated the depression w alcohol esp after 92 things went downhill. Such a shame best songwriter or top 3 I’d say w Nikki and Kiefer in there. Vince has been for decades like this and you feel bad bc so nice as everyone says, humble and kind sober and then drunk anger gets out of control hard to deal with gets nasty a shame

[Hellbound]

Because of this interview he did on VH1, while drunk, where he says he could kill himself for writing it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OR1xpknCHCQ

I've always thought some of what he says is bullshit though. So he had no say that the record was gonna be called "Cherry Pie?" He wasn't an unwilling victim of it all? He woke up one day and the artwork and album title were done and the band had zero say in it? I'm sure at the time he was all for it.

Yeah, that's what I was thinking when I was looking up his previous comments.

Seems a lot of those BTM specials had them kind of pissed that the heyday was over. Time softens those feelings, and I think he dug it.

As for Kip, I'll always remember how he did one of the worst 20 Questions on Metal Sludge.
https://metalsludge.tv/classic/?p=28616

He did redeem himself with his 2nd interview, his Rewind with CC Banana.

[REO Cokewagon]

He did redeem himself with his 2nd interview, his Rewind with CC Banana.

[StateOfShock]

Maybe Stevie can chime in since he knew Jani more, but why does everybody say he hated Cherry Pie? Maybe he wanted to be taken more "seriously" as a musician, but from his bio (which he wrote himself) on his now-defunct website, he loved the song.

Can't access his website on the Wayback Machine, but this blog has his old bio:
https://heavymetalmessenger.com/2011/08 ... m-website/
"And YES, I LOVE THE SONG “CHERRY PIE!!!” ….SWING IT!!"

https://www.grunge.com/589026/the-truth ... herry-pie/
In a 2008 interview, Lane did his best to walk back his prior comments on "Cherry Pie," stating: "I still don't mind ('Cherry Pie') to this day. I tried to explain this. People are like, 'You hated that song.' No, I didn't hate the song. It's just that when I was young and full of angst and I wanted everyone to listen to my serious songs I was like, 'How dare you define me by that kitschy, tongue in cheek sexual innuendo.' Now in hindsight, I'm really pleased that I wrote something that seems to be standing the test of time — at least to this point" (via Delco Times).

Because of this interview he did on VH1, while drunk, where he says he could kill himself for writing it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OR1xpknCHCQ

I've always thought some of what he says is bullshit though. So he had no say that the record was gonna be called "Cherry Pie?" He was an unwilling victim of it all? He woke up one day and the artwork and album title were done and the band had zero say in it? I'm sure at the time he was all for it.

Here's an interesting article about his death too which even mentions Metal Sludge.
https://www.loudersound.com/features/jani-lane-death

I can't find the interview now, but Jani said in an interview that when he did that interview with Mtv or VH!, whatever it was, someone close to him died a couple days before and he wasn't allowed to push the interview. So he did the interview in a state of depression and turned to alcohol like he did so many times. He also said he didn't regret writing Cherry Pie.

[thunderdan]

Anyone had bad run-ins w/Jani or Vince? Never heard Jani being as nasty as Vince is said to be often

[LitaStrauss]

Anyone had bad run-ins w/Jani or Vince? Never heard Jani being as nasty as Vince is said to be often

I've been around Vince a few times and he's been drunk every time, but he just seemed more zoned out. I know enough people though who have been around Vince when he's been very nasty and belligerent. I've heard many times that he's nice when he's sober but an asshole when he's drunk.

I've met Jani a few times and he was always sober and cool, but there's plenty of stories of him being a handful when he's drunk, and that's goes back to the DRFSR days.

[jens]

Never heard Jani being as nasty as Vince is said to be often

Ass-raping his wife doesn't count?

[Darrien]

Maybe Stevie can chime in since he knew Jani more, but why does everybody say he hated Cherry Pie? Maybe he wanted to be taken more "seriously" as a musician, but from his bio (which he wrote himself) on his now-defunct website, he loved the song.

Wow really? What rock were you under? The MTV/Vh1 clip of Jani's "i could kill myself for writing that song' was everywhere.
Like sure, he might have backtracked later but most people didn't see it nor was it as newsworthy.

[thunderdan]

any more jani drunk or vince drunk specific stories. sober both seem very nice but once that switch changes can get crazy. what good sludge stories?

[LitaStrauss]

any more jani drunk or vince drunk specific stories. sober both seem very nice but once that switch changes can get crazy. what good sludge stories?

Read Bobbie Brown's "Dirty Rocker Boys." She has a ton of stories about drunk Jani. Granted she might have an axe to grind and is crazy but her stories seemed to be legit. She even talks about Vince and Sebastian. It's full of gossip.

[AlexVonHaig]

Ass-raping his wife doesn't count?

If its your wife, rape isn't possible. Ask any muslim

[jens]

Ass-raping his wife doesn't count?

If its your wife, rape isn't possible. Ask any muslim

A drunken raping rocker hasn't got much to do with islam.