Marilyn Manson is set to drop ‘Born Villain’ on Tuesday (May 1) and as is usually the case with the Antichrist Superstar, he is doing things his way. After parting ways with Interscope, he is free to do what he wants, when he wants and how he wants. That includes working with Johnny Depp, picking up the guitar and loading his tour set list with a healthy mix of new and classic songs, with an emphasis on one particular album from his past.

In a revealing chat with Billboard, Manson admitted that his previous two records were erected on the concept of “making music to make people feel like I was feeling rather than to make them feel something — and I was feeling pretty s—ty most of the time, so I don’t think it was a good idea to do that, necessarily.” While he isn’t dismissing ‘Eat Me, Drink Me’ or ‘The High End of Low,’ he just wasn’t focused in the right place, emotionally speaking, when he made those platters.

But with “Villain,’ he said, “It brings a different type of attitude that is more the spirit of me and feels interesting and fun for me to do.”

His much-buzzed about collaboration with Johnny Depp is meant to throw people for a loop. Manson has known Depp since he was 19 and reveals that the actor called him and asked him to get together so they could put something to tape.

“We recorded ‘You’re So Vain’ because we thought the song would be an amusing complement to the record,” Manson said. “Not a piece of the record as a whole but, as a bonus track, it really states the obvious about where he and I both are as artists.”

For ‘Born Villain,’ the rocker contributed his guitar playing skills, which was a spontaneous effort and decision born of a late night. But don’t expect to see him strap on an axe full time in the near future. “I would never consider myself a guitar player until I did this record, and I still don’t consider myself to be one,” he admitted. “I’m still a singer, that’s what I do, but a song like ‘Pistol Whipped,’ that idea came to me in the middle of the night and I had to figure out how to play it on guitar, so I just did. I played the guitar solo in one take and it has the recklessness of some of the great things I love.”

For the upcoming tour, he shared that he will be performing a good chunk of songs from ‘Antichrist Superstar,’ arguably his biggest album. Despite the commercial success of that disc, Manson said they are playing a bunch of that material “simply because we like it.” So do the fans.

Also, fans can expect “at least six or seven songs” from ‘Born Villain’ and a show that is glam and theatrical without losing the element of raw.

Meanwhile, we also recently chatted with Marilyn Manson. Check out the latest installment of Loudwire’s exclusive  interview with the rocker.

 

 

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