You and I have something very serious in common \u2013 we\u2019ve both had open heart surgery in the last few years. I\u2019m fine, but it changed me, so I was curious to know if it changed you too.<\/p>\n
Oh, on more than one level. The issue isn\u2019t me dying; it\u2019s having to address mortality. It\u2019s constantly on my mind now. I\u2019m 58, I\u2019m thin as a twig, I grew up on the coast eating fish, I was a vegetarian for 12 years. I did, however, drink \u2013 mostly hard alcohol \u2013 and I have smoked [Anton periodically drags on a cigarette throughout our hour-long conversation]. I thought I was like a teenager. But my life expectancy, because I smoked, is probably less than five years now.<\/p>\n
Do you pay more attention to your health? And how do you take care of your heart?<\/p>\n
Well, yes and no. There\u2019s 20 pills a day, almost, that I have to take, between heart medication and the ones for being manic \u2013 when that happens it\u2019s a bit intense for other people. I\u2019ve got a 13-year-old son; I have to be responsible. I could take better care of myself. I did quit smoking, and then I picked it up on a warm day. I need to stop again.<\/p>\n
You\u2019ve lived in Berlin for a long time now. Are you happy to be away from the chaos in the US?<\/p>\n
It\u2019s just so disappointing. And I\u2019m kind of conservative by nature, but the concept of wanting everybody to have a fair deal \u2013 I mean, that\u2019s almost like insane liberalism now! All the checks and balances have failed. They\u2019ve filled up the supreme court, they\u2019ve said this president can\u2019t be prosecuted for anything forever, and he\u2019s pulling his cabinet members off of Fox TV. It\u2019s all so bananas.<\/p>\n
This is going to sound kind of loaded to you, but when we do 10 Chaotic Questions we ask every musician this question: what\u2019s the most chaotic thing that\u2019s ever happened to you on stage?<\/p>\n
One time Joel [Gion] threw a cymbal up in the air and it hit somebody in the head. I don\u2019t let people do that kind of stuff. I tackled one of our guitar players because he was swinging a mic stand around and about to throw it into the audience, and I knocked him off his feet. I get blamed for a lot of this stuff.<\/p>\n
I really don\u2019t want to bring this up but the last time we were [in Australia]<\/a> somebody threw a glass at me and missed me. My former guitar player got pissed and threw one back into the audience, and I told him he had to leave, and then he attacked me. I\u2019m too old for this shit. It\u2019s not what we\u2019re about. I want to provide people with a good concert. I\u2019ve got better, more professional people this time.<\/p>\n Do you have any hard or mixed feelings about coming back after that?<\/p>\n No, I just feel like I have to work very hard to redeem myself, not for my ego, but I just owe it to the people. We have a lot of fans in Australia. It\u2019s not cheap to go to our concerts and I just feel like we\u2019re better than that. Sometimes you have to fight to gain people\u2019s respect back. I owe it to everybody and I owe it to myself to play a good concert.<\/p>\n Is there an element of your audience that is there for the chaos more than the music, and are willing to cause chaos themselves if they don\u2019t get it?<\/p>\n Absolutely, and those people get labelled as our fans. Those people are not our fans. Every time, there\u2019s somebody who will show up and go, \u201cWatch me trigger this guy.\u201d It could be words, yelling, non-stop spitting on my other guitar player \u2013 you know, just doing something really horrible. What I want is for people to have a good time because the tickets are expensive. Schooners are expensive!<\/p>\n Did the Dig! documentary do you a disservice in this way?<\/p>\n Absolutely. It was BS, you know. It was like, \u201cOh, look at Anton fighting!\u201d when there\u2019s no evidence of me fighting. Somebody else is causing something, and then they have a picture of me throwing the drums out the back of the van. It was just all edited out of whack.<\/p>\n