THE MAN NEXT TO MARILYN: TWIGGY RAMIREZ
Circus Magazine March, 2000
Next to Marilyn Manson himself, Twiggy Ramirez, the bassist of the band Marilyn Manson, seems to be the most popular figure of the band. He isn't just the bassist, but since he joined the band in '93 to replace Gidget Gein, he has become one of Marilyn's closest friends and more than just a sidekick. Twiggy is involved in the creative process of songwriting, shares a house with Marilyn, was acting next to him in a David Lynch movie, and is seen often with Marilyn Manson, aka Omega, aka Brian Warner, when they cruise the bars and places of Los Angeles. Next to frontman Marilyn, bassist Twiggy, in his leather dresses and dreadlocks, is probably the most prominent member of the furious band that seems to leave nobody cold, as the countless Mansonites and Manson haters show. During live gigs the whole show seems to revolve around Marilyn and Twiggy, while the other members of the band seem to be standing more or less in the wings, seemingly not much more than cameos. As Twiggy explains, it seems to be a reason for a lot of frictions in the band.
"It's pretty hard to have a friendship with everybody in the band. I'd love to have a really great relationship with them or even a friendship, but the problem is that a lot of people just seem to lose direction. You know, they seem to forget that there has to be somebody who gives the directions. People tend to be egotistical and try to do their own thing, as previous experiences have shown. It usually ends with the fact that Marilyn has to fire them. You'd think people would notice and not repeat the mistakes others have made, but it just seems to be such a basic human trait. That is why I keep my distance, I don't want to be drawn into it and I know where my loyalties are."
Twiggy doesn't hide his admiration for Marilyn and is proud of the fact that they are a great team -- not matter if on or off stage.
"We know each other really well. We get on musically and in private, we can work together and party together. That's pretty rare but it is also great!"
When they worked on "Antichrist Superstar", Twiggy started to have an input and, since "Mechanical Animals", every fan is aware of the big part Twiggy plays in the band, but Marilyn Manson always seems to be the man who gets the entire spotlight and is on the covers of magazines. It might be easy for Twiggy to get annoyed, but he seems to take it all in stride and even admits that he doesn't mind having a bit of peace and quiet.
"I think other musicians and our fans know that I play not such a small part in the band and I think my future does look rather bright. People show me that they notice what I do and they show their respect, but on the other hand I am not always in the media and I quite like it that way."
Twiggy continues, "It's pretty different here and in Europe. Everything seems to be more extreme in America. Our fans seem to be really hardcore fans and they seem to identify with us, in Europe people seem to be more drawn to the music and not so much to the way we look. For example, we hardly get death threats there, they just take it or leave it, while in America people seem to love us or hate us.
"Another thing might be that we don't give as many interviews in Europe as we do here, so people might not know as much about the band and the structure of the band. I noticed that a lot of Europeans think that Marilyn is the band, that doesn't seem to happen here."
For a long time the former identity of all band members was a well-kept secret, they were only known by their stage names and refused to reveal their real names. The rules loosened a bit. It is now common knowledge that Marilyn was born as Brian Warner and even Twiggy doesn't mind that people know that his real name is Jeordie Francis White. For him names don't change much anyway.
"I'm always the same person, the same old bastard, how you call me doesn't change who I am or what I am. It isn't some sort of costume, but part of my personality. It's nothing that I wear on stage, it's part of my everyday life and I just can't see what difference a name does make. I like what we're doing and I want to keep on doing what we do!"
With their last studio album, "Mechanical Animals", and the new live album, Marilyn claimed that he finished his metamorphosis and that he has reached his goal, which seems hard to believe because Marilyn appears to be a chameleon that invents himself over and over again, and one can hardly imagine that it would stop at some point. Twiggy agrees and confesses that the band's next studio album is definitely a step towards the harder direction, not just to please the fans but also because the band wants it.
"They should expect something harder from us, "Mechanical Animals" was easier to get into but it seems to have become some sort of complex. We thought it was some sort of door to our world, so people might understand our music a bit better and to let more people get into it. It was a key to our world, we left the door open for a bit, but that key must be enough for them and who still doesn't get it -- well, bad luck. They have to expect more bad attitude from us, like our past albums had!"
Twiggy Ramirez is sure that the steady changes of the band are what defines the band and doesn't think it will confuse their fans at all.
