A Chat with Jimmy Urine from Mindless Self Indulgence (05.12.13)

While everyone is bustling about, the calm and charismatic Jimmy Urine of Mindless Self Indulgence takes a moment to chat to The Other Side Reviews’ Nicole Mendes.  This is what he had to say.

OSR:  Hello, how are you today?

JU:  I’m good. How are you?

OSR:  I’m very well, thank you.  Thank you for talking to me.  So, you are currently on tour promoting your latest album.

JU:  Yes.

OSR:  So, do you have any highlights of the tour that you’d like to share with everyone?

JU:  Um, trying to think is there any highlights?  I mean, we were fantastic every night!

OSR:  Obviously.

JU:  We went, let me see, got attacked in Germany and fell off the stage – that was the first show of the tour; so that was a good one.  We went to Russia and there was a bomb threat at one of the venues in St. Petersburg and everyone had to evacuate the theatre…and then, let’s see; then we went to Scandinavia.  I got kinda sick, so I don’t remember really too much about Copenhagen, Stockholm and all of that; but it was pretty good.  We broke the soundboard in Copenhagen and all the sound went out for about 2 and a half minutes…let’s think, let’s think, what else did we do?  We had a lovely day off in Antwerp and I got a big ol’ spaghetti bolognese which was very nice.

OSR:  Is there any dull part of your touring?

JU:  Never.  It’s always a blast. Then on to the UK and we started eating all good UK food, and we started in Brighton…and then we went on to London.  London was great; that was just a good show overall.  We had a day off in Wolverhampton, but I decided to take the train into London and spent my day off in London…and then I went to see my wife perform at Madam Jojo’s.

Then I came back, and then Manchester was really great.  Actually, Manchester was probably the best show of the UK tour.  I would put that one first and London second, and then I’d put Norwich but not for the audience, for us; we were so good, we were cracking each other up.  It was an MSI show for MSI and people just happened to be there…and now here we are in lovely Bristol.

OSR:  Wow, I wish I had the exciting life you have.

JU:  I know right, its fun.  It’s how I recommend it.

OSR:  Ok, so you do tour extensively and have done worldwide tours; but they’re not quite worldwide.  Of all the countries you have NOT visited, where would you like to go and why?

JU:  Korea.  I wanna go to Hong Kong and stuff like that, just because we love K-Pop and all that culture and all those big cities.  We’ve already been to Japan, but that’s only one of some of the bigger Asian markets that we would love to, I’m sure we would love to go to.  Everyone else has been there actually and really enjoys it and go there repeatedly, or haven’t been and aren’t interested.

OSR:  I found the majority of your fans are teenagers, and the greatest proportion of these teenagers are those who are sort of misunderstand and kicked to the curb.  Now, what are your thoughts on cyberbullying and teen suicide?

JU:  I think it’s a big ol’ load of horseshit.  You guys have to your shit together; get your head out of the fucking sand.  You fucking spend too much time online and think that it’s real, and it’s not.  Who gives a fuck if some bitch calls you a fucking slut online – but first off, don’t fucking post fucking pictures of yourself sexy because that shit is gonna get around, someone’s gonna use it.  It’s the internet.  Don’t be dumb. If someone comments on what you’ve put online, just find out who they really are and beat the fucking shit out of them – that’s how you fucking do it.

It’s like, try being attacked in the street by a complete random stranger; you at least know who the fuck bullies you.  You go to school and some guy’s a real asshole to you every day; so, what’s the worst that can happen – fucking punch him.  What’s the worst he can do, punch you back?  What’s the big deal?  It’s better than killing yourself.

OSR:  True.  Also, I understand that you are very pro-gay rights.  So, just sticking with teenagers.  In the past ten years there has been a 30% global increase in teens ‘coming out’.  What do you think this could be attributed to?

JU:  I don’t know.  I think it’s attributed to the fact that you guys have a lot more; y’know, you don’t realise all the shit that everybody went through before.  I mean, it’s that people don’t really do their history; they just sort of see the area that they live in and like, “Oh.  Y’know, this, that and the other thing.  I don’t have any role model.”  Dude, you got a million fucking role models.  Think about before fucking Stonewall when mother fucker, when you were illegal, actually illegal to be gay.  If you were gay and you were caught you were put into fucking jail…like that’s, c’mon.  These days you can turn on the TV and there’s gay role models all over the place.

I think it’s strange that people don’t come out of the closet as much as they normally do, that they wait a while and they debate with it and they wrestle with it.  Y’know, like it could be someone in a very famous boy band who could be like, “Oh if I come out I could ruin my own career and the careers of everybody around me.”  The fact that people still think like that in this day and age is actually kinda bizarre to me.  I guess one step at a time, but it’s like when?  Of course, it should be much easier for you to be like, “I’ve figured myself out and I’m not completely alone and here I am.”

Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth man.  You guys got it fucking easy.

OSR:  If you were a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, which one would you be and why?

JU:  I would not be a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle.  I would be Splinter.

OSR:  Why Splinter?

JU:  I dunno.  He’s kinda cool, gets around.  I like him a little better.  Everyone always picks a turtle, and then they pick a specific turtle.  I think turtles are always gonna be cool, but Splinter doesn’t really get it, his day in court.  Y’know what I mean?

OSR:  If you could define Mindless Self Indulgence in one sentence, what would that sentence be?

JU:  In one sentence?

OSR:  One sentence.

JU:  The one sentence would be:  I need more sentences to describe Mindless Self Indulgence.

OSR:  Finally, if you could choose a way to die.  How would you leave this world?

JU:  Oooo, that’s a really good one; that’s probably the best question I’ve had on this whole tour.  Shit.  Gees, I dunno; that’s really hard.  I don’t really think about that stuff.

I think, I dunno.  Probably shot into space would be cool; because if you’re shot into space with a limited amount of oxygen and stuff, and you just keep going and drifting out deep into space until you run outta air.  I guess that’d be a very cool and uninvolved way to kill yourself.

OSR:  That’s the first time I’ve ever got an answer like that.  That’s really cool.

JU:  Oh.  If I’m planning it, I might as well do it.

OSR:  Well, thank you Jimmy for talking to me.

JU:  Well, thank you.  No problem.

For more Jimmy Urine and Mindless Self Indulgence, check out their official website: www.mindlessselfindulgence.com.