DR. LARRY MITCHELL

I'd like to meet:

from VOGAN- JULY 2006

WHY DO YOU WRITE? THAT IS, WHAT IS THE ATTRACTION TO THE WRITTEN WORD?

It's word-love, to a degree- and I've always enjoyed what the English language, and other languages, can do. There's a certain...I dunno, a certain sense that comes to it, like math people will relax by doing calculus, which I cannot for the life of me comprehend, but there it is.

IS IT HARDER FOR A WRITER TO GET NOTICED THAN IT WAS, SAY, 30 YEARS AGO?

Of course it is. With the internet, the world has become microscopic. But there are trade-offs. The internet has brought us Retarded Animal Babies, and it's made it easier for me to track down all of those Henry Rollins spoken word recordings that I treasure. And that, bringing your question back home, informs my work, so you spins the wheels and you takes your chance, Traveling Jack, because the world isn't gonna act like it owes you nothing. The playing field has been leveled, to a degree, but it still comes down to self-promotion and belief in your own work and worth. If you don't KNOW in your heart of hearts that you are the best writer on the planet, you shouldn't even fuck with it. There's too much BAD writing in the world, and your gut will tell you whats good and what's bad. Good writing is nourishing- it's not bullshit and your stomach knows bullshit because you see bullshit every day of your life. Bad writing is everywhere. I hate to discourage people, because at least they're reading, but reading those summer blockbuster beach books is like pouring sugar in your mental gas tank.

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR WORK?

I’d say it’s like...that’s always the toughest question to answer…I’d say it’s like John Updike getting felt up by Clive Barker at a party thrown by Norman Mailer, with Aphex Twin DJing the event.

HOW DO YOU SEE YOURSELF IN THE WORLD OF FICTION?

I am the last, best hope for philosophical pornographic satanic trash literature.

WHO WERE YOUR LITERARY INFLUENCES, COMING UP, AND WHY?

Well, Norman Mailer of course, and John Updike and Clive Barker- although I really do prefer his earlier work as opposed to all the fantasy he’s written in the past fifteen years or so- not to knock the guy for trying. Um, Jay McInerney gave me hope for a while- except for that third book he did (Story Of My Life- 1988). Poppy Z. Brite was a a well-timed kick in the ass. But for the most part, literature in the past twenty years or so has kind of sucked. There are the occasional bright lights, but it’s been bleak. And not just literature, either…everything seems to have gotten the dimmer switch turned down on it at some point. It’s the same with films, and music, and art in general. It makes me hopeful, though, because I’m not the only one who sees it, and whenever there’s a vacuum like that, things get better. Music in general before Guns N’ Roses released Appetite For Destruction was in a pretty sad shape and then- BAM! Nirvana had that same effect as well. I don’t think that books or fiction in general is as important to the society or culture at large as it was in years gone by- we are the products of what I believe is a decidedly- and purposefully- less literate culture. Big Brother wants you to be stupid- and He wants you to tune in to Joe Millionaire and Friends, where He will provide you with examples of precisely how brainless and inane He wants you to be. Big Brother wants you to shop at Wal-Mart, where He will control the media that influences your life. Big Brother doesn't want you to know about the spoken word performances given by Henry Rollins, or Jello Biafra or Terrence McKenna- or a thousand other things- because they will crack your laminate of societal posturing. Big Brother doesn't want you to know about Bill Hicks, because Brother Bill will provide you with the courage and impetus to spit in His face.

WHEN DID YOU START WRITING?

When I was sixteen, I started for real. There were a few false starts prior to that, but sixteen was the point where I looked at myself in the mirror, so to speak, and saw what I was. I couldn’t relate to the people around me, for the most part- there was always something different going on inside of my head, or so I thought- and I think it was around that time when I read about Truman Capote’s observation that when he was younger, he thought that he was having fifty observations in his head per minute as opposed to everyone else’s five. That’s when I realized that I wasn’t so much of an anomaly or a freak. Or if I was a freak, I was a specific kind of freak. It was a separatist thing, to be sure, but it was also a way to belong to a certain sub-strata of the populace that I was only faintly aware existed prior to then. And I wasn’t being false with myself, I wasn’t going a way that felt wrong- in many ways, it was the single most righteous decision I ever made in my life. And like most decisions falling into such a description, it really wasn’t much of a decision at all. I’m not this way because I’m a writer; I’m a writer because I’m this way.

WHO IS- OR WAS- YOUR FAVORITE WRITER?

For style and consistency, I would have to say John Updike. No one else in the world writes the way that he does, and very few have enjoyed the longevity of career or employed the breadth of scope that he has. Mailer’s a close second, but they are completely different animals. Bret Easton Ellis, whom I unintentionally left off of my answer to the previous question, is good as well- he creates a goodly number of inimitable situations, and his dexterity of language produces many, many killer lines- lines that belong in any literate person’s lexicon. I would say the same for Jay McInerney as well. But Easton’s output is spotty: every other book is crap. He did Less Than Zero, and that was fucking amazing, and then he did The Rules Of Attraction. After that, he wrote American Psycho- a brilliant but sadly misunderstood book at the time- but the follow-up, Glamorama, sucked horribly. At least, in my humble opinion. After that, I kind of lost interest. If you occasionally throw off a collection of shitty writing, it does affect your credibility when you seek to speak with your constituency about matters of life and death. Fiction is a deadly serious business, and if you're dry and out of ideas, then just fucking say so and keep working at it until you’re finally writing something that it would be a crime not to let other people read.

WHAT IS YOUR WRITING TECHNIQUE?

To quote Jimmy Page, “Technique doesn’t come into it- I deal in emotions.” I copped that line a long, long time ago, and it is a coy way to deflect the question, but as I’ve gotten older and more experienced, I’ve discovered that it is a very prescient and true statement. I try to create a mood within myself, and then I convey that mood onto the page- or screen, as technology would have us have it these days- using the best word choice that I can possibly muster. What are the trappings I employ? Oh, candles, music, cannabis- it’s like seducing a woman, if you can believe it, but it’s all in your mind, and then you need to get it out, in as unadulterated a fashion as possible. It’s no good if people see the puppet strings as you’re pulling them, and if it seems like a seduction- the lights too low, the music too slow- then she knows what you’re up to, and it’s all gonna seem false. The best seduction happens without anyone knowing that it's happening at all.

BOW TO THE BOOGIE-PUSSY!!

From childhood's hour I have not been
As others were — I have not seen
As others saw — I could not bring
My passions from a common spring —
From the same source I have not taken
My sorrow — I could not awaken
My heart to joy at the same tone —
And all I lov'd — I lov'd alone —

Then — in my childhood — in the dawn
Of a most stormy life — was drawn
From ev'ry depth of good and ill
The mystery which binds me still —
From the torrent, or the fountain —
From the red cliff of the mountain —
From the sun that 'round me roll'd
In its autumn tint of gold —
From the lightning in the sky
As it pass'd me flying by —
From the thunder, and the storm —
And the cloud that took the form
(When the rest of Heaven was blue)
Of a demon in my view —
'ALONE'
EDGAR ALLAN POE, 1830

Music:

CORONER

REVOLTING COCKS

BUCK SATAN AND THE 666 SHOOTERS

BRIAN ENO

MIKE OLDFIELD

JESU

ZODIAC MINDWARP AND THE LOVE REACTION

AEROSMITH

DAVID BOWIE

FILTER

TRAVIS SHREDD AND THE GOOD OL' HOMEBOYS

SWANS

RADIOHEAD

BUCKETHEAD

TALKING HEADS

SEVERED HEADS

CORN BUGS

CHEAP TRICK

PINK FLOYD

CIRCUS OF POWER

MOTLEY CRUE

DOWN

GODFLESH

MINISTRY

NINE INCH NAILS

THE CURE

GUNS N' ROSES

PRONG

PANTERA

DANZIG

FAITH NO MORE

THE MISFITS

KYUSS

DOG FASHION DISCO

MASTERS OF REALITY

QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE

MR. BUNGLE

TOMAHAWK

CORROSION OF CONFORMITY

SLAYER

OBITUARY

LOVAGE

BLACK SABBATH

BARRY MANILOW

ANTHRAX

MEGADETH

METALLICA

PRINCE

DRESDEN DOLLS

TYPE O NEGATIVE

LED ZEPPELIN

TOM WAITS

DREAD ZEPPELIN

APHEX TWIN

TOOL

A PERFECT CIRCLE

KING DIAMOND

AFGHAN WHIGS

ALICE COOPER

ALICE IN CHAINS

ALIEN SEX FIEND

ANI DiFRANCO

BASIL POLEDOURIS

BEATALLICA

THE BLACK CROWES

BLACK SABBATH

CLEO LAINE

COUNTING CROWS

JANE'S ADDICTION

CURRENT 93

DEATH ANGEL

ELVIS COSTELLO

GWAR

IRON MAIDEN

LENNY KRAVITZ

LEON REDBONE

LEONARD COHEN

PEEPING TOM

MC HAWKING

MACHINES OF LOVING GRACE

LORDS OF ACID

MARILYN MANSON

MOTHER'S FINEST

10,000 MANIACS

NORAH JONES

THE POLICE

PETER GABRIEL

PETER FRAMPTON

THE PRETENDERS

PRIMUS

LIMBOMANIACS

PAULA COLE

SARAH McLACHLAN

PORTISHEAD

PSYCHEDELIC FURS

RICHARD CHEESE

ROB ZOMBIE

WHITE ZOMBIE

COLE PORTER

SAMHAIN

SQUEEZE

SMASHING PUMPKINS

THE SUGARCUBES

TESTAMENT

THE BEATLES

THE EAGLES

WHITNEY HOUSTON

BUT ABSOLUTELY
NO HEE-HAW MUSIC
OR RAPPING ASS-CLOWNS

RESPECT YOUR BRAIN

LIFE IS TOO SHORT
TO LISTEN TO SHITTY MUSIC

Movies:

FIGHT CLUB
THE DEVILS REJECTS
SAW
VANILLA SKY
DOMINO
HOUSE OF 1000 CORPSES
BOONDOCK SAINTS
DE-LOVELY
SUICIDE KINGS
BEGOTTEN
SIDEWAYS
HISTORY OF THE WORLD, PART 1
HOSTEL
DOGMA
AMERICAN PSYCHO
RESERVOIR DOGS
WHEN HARRY MET SALLY...
AMERICAN POP
BRIDE OF RE-ANIMATOR
QUILLS
PULP FICTION
NATURAL BORN KILLERS
PINK FLOYD: THE WALL
FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS
SID AND NANCY
GROSSE POINT BLANK
FOUR ROOMS
AMADEUS
ALTERED STATES
THE CROW
MEMENTO
MULHOLLAND DR.
LOST HIGHWAY
SEVEN
RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK
and, of course:
TOILET FACE!

Books:

TOUGH GUYS DON'T DANCE
by Norman Mailer
THE ACCIDENTAL TOURIST
by Anne Tyler
FALLEN ANGEL
by William Hjortsberg
THE SECRET HISTORY
by Donna Tartt
THE THIEF OF ALWAYS
by Clive Barker
THE DARK HALF
by Stephen King
PHILOSOPHY IN THE BEDROOM
by The Marquis de Sade
AMERICAN PSYCHO
by Bret Easton Ellis
BRIGHT LIGHTS, BIG CITY
by Jay McInerney
THE MYSTERY OF EDWIN DROOD
by Charles Dickens
COSMIC BANDITOS
by A.C. Weisbecker
GET IN THE VAN
by Henry Rollins
NAPALM AND SILLY PUTTY
by George Carlin
THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF BEING
by Milan Kundera
FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS
by Hunter S. Thompson
UP AND DOWN WITH THE ROLLING STONES
by Tony Sanchez
THE LONG HARD ROAD OUT OF HELL
by Marilyn Manson (w/Neil Strauss)
THE DIRT
by Motley Crue (w/Neil Strauss)