Jay: GG? Are you screening calls?

GG: Yeah. Who's this?

Jay: It's Jay, bro.

GG: Hey, what's happening?

Jay: Doing the thing, man.

GG: Alright. So what's up with the zine, is that fucker ever coming out, or what?

Jay: Yeah, man, in April.

GG: Yeah, we're gonna be playing there, somewhere. We couldn't get a gig, no one would book us, they were all too fucking scared. But fuck it, I don't care where we play as long as we're playing.

Jay: You sound pumped, kind of like you're glad to be out of jail. (laughs)

GG: I'm fired! I got out of that motherfucker yesterday and I got three million fucking things I'm trying to do. It's pretty amazing. I'm out and I'm ready.

Jay: You're not wasting any time getting out there, that's cool. I think it would blow people away to see how on top of your business shit you are.

GG: Whoa, whoa, whoa, we gotta back up. The thing is, I've never done a tour before 1989. My tours consisted of a Greyhound bus, no band and maybe three fucking shows. So it wasn't like I was on the phone booking these gigs. You know, kids would write to me and say "I can get you a gig at Al's Shithole." That's cool, get me a band, I'll be there. As far as the tour that I did in 1992, I didn't book it, I didn't have anything to do with it. I tell my people, call me, let me know where we're playing, put me in the fucking van and let's go. I don't want the responsibility of that.

Jay: Well, who handles it all, then? The catalogues and such.

GG: My brother does it, he's my bass player. If it wasn't for him, we wouldn't even be doing this tour, believe me. I'm not a good public relations man, I can't talk to these club owners, I'm not gonna kiss their ass. If I call them up, they're not gonna book me. So I'm on top of what I gotta do, yeah, but I don't give a fuck about being on top of the business part of it. It doesn't concern me.

Jay: Have you made a living doing what you do?

GG: Well, I've been in prison for four years!

Jay: Yeah, but from your records and merchandise?

GG: Well, I don't pay rent, I live with people, I buy bus passes and sleep on the Greyhound. I can make a living because I don't put myself in a situation where I have to pay out alot. I don't have any bills, all I've got is my suitcase and I can up and go. So I can make a living on fifty dollars a month, I mean, what do I need? I steal whatever I gotta get, and I'll tell you one thing. If someone's gonna make some motherfucking money off me, then they're gonna pay me something. When I was on Homestead, I had to walk right into the motherfucking office and throw Gerard up against the wall and say "Look, you owe me, you pay me." It's not out of greed, it's because you fucking owe it to me. I'm not gonna let someone else make money off me. Fuck it, give it to me, I can buy some whores, you know.

Jay: Has there ever been a time when you were tempted to settle down? Get married again, have kids?

GG: Not at all. I've been married, I got a kid, I have no desire for that at all. The one thing I exist for right now is my band and my mission and what I gotta do. I got girls all over the place. When I do this tour, I'll be fucking getting sucked and doing whatever with whoever. But I've got no desire to stay with one person.

Jay: What kind of women do you usually get?

GG: I like real sleazy ones. I like to go to sidestreet bars or a strip joint or a whorehouse. You know, the younger the better, because I gotta find the right woman that's gonna let me do whatever I wanna do.

Jay: Do you get alot of princesses? Rich girls who think your lifestyle might be dangerous or exciting?

GG: I get them all. The problem is, a woman will want to be with me until she's with me for a little while and then she'll realize "Well, maybe I'm in over my head." Because I tell them straight out, don't get fucking near me unless you're serious. Because I want blood and I want it all. Once you come in, you can't go out until I get what I want.

Jay: Is your kid a boy or a girl? Are you in touch?

GG: I haven't seen her for like four years. I kind of had a restraining order out on me by the mother and her mother. It was just a really bad scene. When she was born, I was living with them, but the cops were coming over every night and they threatened to take her away. You know, here's a kid in the middle of fucking combat, shit flying everywhere. It's was just a mess, you know.

Jay: Was this your wife?

GG: No, I met her at a show, got her pregnant, she had an abortion, then she got pregnant again when she was eighteen. She just said "Fuck it, I'm gonna have it." So I said "Fuck it, go ahead."

Jay: Do you pay out support and stuff?

GG: Well, you know, it might be kinda cool to see her, I guess she's six now. But the correspondence is just, uh, not welcome. Fuck it, I got my life to live. She's got the blood of GG, she'll be alright.

Jay: Getting back to the letters, you talked alot about your rock 'n' roll revolution, but you never really elaborated on what it was.

GG: Well, what has rock 'n' roll become? I had to get out of prison! There is no underground anymore. I am it. You've got to go out there, you gotta fuck up the music scene because the music scene is so fucking lame right now. This is why you gotta be an army.

Jay: Well, OK, let's say you have an army of followers. What the fuck can you realistically do with that?

GG: You can do enough damage to get the word out. You can go out there, fly a fucking helicopter over Lollapalooza and drop bombs, that'd be cool.

Jay: Come on, man.

GG: Why can't you do it?

Jay: You could do it, but how would that further your cause?

GG: I could send somebody out to do it for me. And so what if I do it and they send me away?

Jay: Because then you wouldn't be out performing or making records anymore!

GG: Are you kidding me? I made more records in prison than when I was free. I made records over the phone, but I'd rather be out playing live, because I can fuck more people up.

Jay: Realistically, honestly, would you just arbitrarily kill someone?

GG: I think I could. I definitely could.

Jay: But would you? And why would you want to?

GG: If I played a tape for an A&R man and he told me he wouldn't sign me, I would have no problem blowing his fucking brains out.

Jay: Why haven't you done it yet?

GG: Maybe I will. I haven't reached my peak yet, Jay. Give me a little time here.

Jay: OK, OK, let's move on. What are the bands that you respect right now?

GG: I don't know, because the only thing I've heard in the last few years is slamming doors. I read the zines, people send me shit, I know what's going on. There's really nothing that I've seen. Most of these bands will tell you right out that they're singing about fictional things. They are into it for the shock value. I'm in it for real. To me, it's not just the tour, it's the way it is. It's life. When one tour ends with the band, I got on to something else. It's always a tour. I can't stop.

Jay: How long has your brother been with you?

GG: Merle's just been with me in The Murder Junkies, he hasn't been with me in the last ten or twelve years. Like I said, before 1992 there were no organized tours, just three or four shows. We got lots of shows booked for this tour, and there's a good percent that we're not gonna play. For one reason, I'm probably gonna be in jail at least seven or eight shows, I'm probably, realistically, gonna be in the hospital at least twice. So there's always gonna be a cancellation. You take it one show at a time. When I'm out of jail, we pick it up where it is.

Jay: Don't you think to get your message across, it's better not to end up in the slammer? This seems kind of unproductive.

GG: Like I said, I don't want to compromise, and I want it to be lawless. They gotta let me out, right? I'll get some bail money.

Jay: You know what I'm saying. If someone comes out who's a real hardcore fan it sucks if they don't get to see you. Those are the people who are keeping you out there.

GG: Well, if they're a real hardcore fan, then they're gonna understand they better see me when they can. I'm not gonna say "Well, tonight I'm not gonna do this because we need to be here tomorrow." Whatever I feel at a certain time is what I've got to do. Most of my people understand that. When we were out in San Francisco on the last tour, I ended up in the hospital. We stayed in town, the doctor told me I wouldn't be out of the hospital for two weeks. I just pulled the fucking plugs out of my arms, walked out of the hospital and we did the show. It was four days late and I had a fever of 102, I'm drooling and puking all over myself. But I said the show's got to go. We played and the tour went on.

Jay: There's a real parallel here between what you do and the original blues guys. That whole notion of lifestyle being indistinguishable from the music.

GG: That's cool. I think alot of true believers of their own music, you have to live it. I have to feel it. Alot of times I won't have any lyrics, I'll have a Budweiser box and I'll be writing down lyrics while the band is playing. Just whatever comes into my mind. I never want to plan anything, I just want to take it as it comes.

Jay: Let me ask you this. You said in your letters that there's no one in your life that you depend on.

GG: Absolutely.

Jay: Well, what about your brother? That's gotta be tight. He takes care of your business.

GG: Well, if my brother calls me up tomorrow and says he's quitting the band, fuck it. I don't know if he's gonna be in the band next week, or if there's gonna be another tour. I don't depend on anybody.

Jay: Yeah, but is he the do or die person in your life? The person you're closest to?

GG: Well, I guess we're close in a sense, but not like alot of people might think. If he's on tour and I get arrested, he'll make sure he gets me out of jail. If I'm in the hospital, he's gonna make sure he waits for me. You know, it that sense, yeah. But it's not like, let's get together or whatever, he's married, he's got his own thing, whatever. Outside the band we don't communicate much.

Jay: Yeah, but you love him, though, right?

GG: Well, I don't think it's important to have to love anybody. That word, really, what is it, you know? The only person I really love is myself. You got parents, but that don't mean you gotta love them.

Jay: Well, OK, but we're talking right now, you seem like a nice guy, we're communicating.

GG: Yeah, it's happening.

Jay: So I just find it hard to believe there's no one in your life that you love, you know?

GG: Yeah, but I might stab you in the back if you got five dollars I want. Basically, I'll do whatever I have to to get what I want. If I gotta be a nice guy to get something out of somebody, fine. If I don't, I can fight. If you're cool with me, I'm cool with you. If not, then I'm gonna be an asshole.

Jay: Are you in touch with your mother and father? Are they up on what you do?

GG: Well, they read the newspaper, they see TV, so they know what I'm up to. Of course, they don't like it, but I don't care. Merle’s in touch with my mother, anyway. My dad, he lives in the woods somewhere, I don't know what he's doing. But I don't feel the need to be in contact with them.

Jay: OK, check this out. I met this dude whose brother was in jail with you, and he says that you insisted on being in solitary.

GG: Nah, that's bullshit. I mean, I got put in the hole a few times for fighting.

Jay: Well, the dude was like "GG is a wanker, he wanted to be locked away where he'd be safe."

GG: (pissed) Why don't you call the Jackson State Prison right fucking now and you ask them how I left. I was in the main population this whole motherfucking year. In fact, when I left, motherfuckers in there made me a cake in the shape of a fucking bomb. Every fucker in that rock was standing in line to say goodbye to me. So why don't you tell that motherfucker if he wants to call me a wanker, I'll take him on anyplace any fucking time and I'll kick his motherfucking ass. Because that's bullshit, anytime someone calls me a wanker, he’s an insecure son of a bitch, because anyone who says that shit don't know me.

Jay: In one of your letters you told me you prefer writing books to reading them. What books have you written? Complete books?

GG: Uh, well, I've written alot of short stories, I've written alot of things. Basically, I'm working on my autobiography with another guy right now. So it was mostly just things from my past. But I wrote about two albums worth or material, things I'd been through in here and before. I mean, for the eleven months that I was on parole it was just nonstop. It was jail, hospital, etc. It was a pretty intense eleven months before they sent me back.

Jay: Can you be a little more specific about the ways that you're fighting the system? This is another thing you talk alot about in the letters, but you don't seem to be making any changes. You keep ending up back in jail.

GG: Well, what are you saying? That I shouldn't do it? I should compromise?

Jay: Not at all, I just don't see what you do as fighting the system. I call it being stubborn.

GG: Yeah, but I don't run. Anybody that's outspoken, they're always gonna try to put you down. That's why you gotta build up an army. I'm not gonna compromise just because they're gonna put me in jail. That's what they want me to do. I'll do my time, get back out and get back into it. Just because I'm in prison don't mean I'm broken. It doesn't mean I can't say "Hey, I've got a voice, I'm gonna use it." They're gonna have to put me in the fucking electric chair to shut me up, because in prison or out, I'm still gonna be the same person. I'm more pissed off now than I've ever been. This tour is it. This motherfucker is gonna be brutal. And they think every time they put me in prison that that's gonna change me?

Jay: If you want a lawless environment, yeah, you're free to do it, but you can't expect not to get busted.

GG: Well, who are they to say what's right and wrong? Who are they to say their values are right? Who are they to set laws anyway?

Jay: This isn't a moral issue, though. I'm talking about taking responsibility. You already know what the consequences of your actions will be.

GG: Don't I have freedom of speech? Freedom of expression? Why can a stripper get up onstage naked and not get arrested? Is it because I'm ugly or because I'm a fucking freak?

Jay: Well, probably because there's potential for people to get hurt.

GG: People come to my show for confrontation. Fuck the cops. I've gotten hurt as much as anyone else, self-inflicted or not. If a motherfucker is coming through a door and there's a sign that says "Enter at your own risk", that's exactly what the sign means. I don't feel that the police have the right to enter that club anyway. That's not their place.

Jay: How do you deal with the skeptics?

GG: Anybody who doesn’t believe me, I'll tell them one thing. Come to the show. See for yourself. Believe me, they will believe when they're gone.

Jay: OK, hypothetical question. If some big record company dropped a shitload of money on you for a contract tomorrow, what would you say?

GG: I'd take it! Why wouldn't I?

Jay: I'm not saying you shouldn't. But how do you think that would affect your lifestyle?

GG: Not at all, because I don't know how to live any other way. Maybe I could fly somewhere, instead of taking a Greyhound. Wouldn't matter, I'm still gonna have my own seat because I'm still gonna stink if you sit beside me. I'd take the money, probably get a higher class bunch of hookers, that's all, or maybe a better set of drugs. I might even give some of it away, I don't give a fuck.

Jay: Why did rock 'n' roll become your weapon?

GG: I grew up in a small town. At an early age, I was beating on chairs and wrecking things around the house, it was just uh... rock 'n' roll. I was into The New York Dolls, MC5, Screaming Lord Such. I listened to so many different things. My father was into old country and western, my mother was into Nancy Sinatra or whatever was on the radio. I think the very first record that I ever heard was a Johnny Cash or Jerry Lee Lewis record. But I've been in bands as long as I can remember. I think even in the third or fourth grade I was in a band, only it wasn't a band, it was just a bunch of guys-

Jay: Banging on shit.

GG: Fucking shit up. That's what I thought rock 'n' roll was. I never got involved for the money or the chicks or the fame, I got involved because, hey, here's a chance for me to get up on stage and fuck shit up because I feel like it. Because I don't like these fuckers and here's my way to do it.

Jay: Would you make a country album?

GG: I did.

Jay: A country record?

GG: Well, I was in Florida last year, and my intention was to go into the studio with a guitar and do this kind of sit down thing. And all these motherfuckers were bringing all this equipment in, and I said "No, this isn't going to work. Fuck all this." So I went out and got drunk, picked up some bitch, came back a while later and just started playing. I don't know, it's hard to explain. It's alot of different influences in there, but it's very different from what people would think. But it doesn't matter, because I'm not gonna put out the same record every time.

Jay: I haven't heard any of that stuff. I've just heard live tapes of your shows and they're all hardcore.

GG: If you go back and listen to, say, Eat My Fuc, you'll hear the most deranged sounds, the shit just comes out of nowhere because everyone's fucked up and no one knew what they were doing. I don't think any of my records sound the same at all. I've always had a different band, always going through different things. I've always had the same attitude, but I think every record has it's own personality. Mine.

Jay: OK, man, I think we got a pretty complete interview here.

GG: Yeah, I think between our letters and our conversations, even though we may not agree on everything, I think we got some issues out and hopefully it'll enlighten people.

Jay: Yeah, the article is called "Maximum GG Allin".

GG: Well, I wanted to come up with something different too. I do so many interviews and people ask the same fucking questions and it's like, come on! Let's get somebody who can provoke something. Let's talk about something other than "Why do you shit onstage?" It goes beyond that. So I think we probably do have something and I'm looking foreword to it.

Jay: Me too. Pleasure talking to you, man.

GG: Alright, Jay, I'll see you.

Jay: Later on.