Dr. Do-It-All - Perry Farrell - Interview

Pulling out of a gold mine may seem pretty screwy, but for Lollapalooza creator and New Age entrepreneur Perry Farrell, a mother lode was never the point. Now, he's venturing into new fields as well as taking his band, Porno for Pyres, into the next century

Porno for Pyros fire starter Perry Farrell has long had a reputation for progressive thinking. Having backed off this year from his biggest brainchild, Lollapalooza, Farrell has now dreamed up a new kind of road show. His forthcoming alien-friendly ENIT Festival is intended as an environmentally sound love-in and musical cure-all, but runs the risk of looking a lot like an X-Files convention. (ENIT was the name of an intergalactic festival that Farrell discovered in his browsings through science fiction.) The Pyros' newest album, Good God's Urge (Warner Bros.), doesn't go too far off-world though, featuring rock with recognizable themes such as love and lust. We spoke with Farrell one night, to find out what's doing with this al-ways-conscious cat.

PERRY FARRELL: Hello, Alison Powell.

ALISON POWELL: Hello. Where's the drumroll? It's Perry Farrell. [Farrell makes drumroll sound] How are you?

PF: Fine.

AP: I understand you've just had dinner.

PF: I've just had dinner, had a rehearsal, smoked a joint, and had some fun, all simultaneously.

AP: Wow! O.K., I was about to say, it's four o'clock, a little early for dinner. But if you're smoking a joint, it's not too early for anything.

PF: No.

AP: Well, where should we begin? Let's star with ENIT. What's the idea behind the ENIT Festival?

PF: Everybody's got a common basis. In the back of my mind, I hope ENIT will bring people together. But I don't just mean with each other. I believe that human beings are getting sensitive enough to start feeling the power that is contained within a tree.

AP: So tree hugging is a real thing?

PF: Listen, there's at least one Indian culture in which, if they're sick, they'll lean against a tree. That's because the tree comes out deeper from the earth, and has the power of the earth. If the earth is sick, then we're sick. If we help heal the earth, we heal ourselves. That's what's at the core of ENIT. Through entertaining people and getting them mindful of the earth [with a mass tree planting], you make things easier, and ease and peace are close to each other. Now I'm only speculating, but I think that if we start to touch plants, we're going to see people becoming more sensitive. I also now see animals starting to talk to us and to each other more.

AP: They might already be talking to each other quite a bit.

PF: Yeah, but I'm noticing that four-legged animals are communicating better with me.

AP: Really? Which ones?

PF: Cats.

AP: And what are they telling you?

PF: "Good morning," or that they miss me, or they're worried. It's not very far from what they've been saying all along, but for some reason I can understand them now.

AP: The ENIT Festival is supposed to have a big sit-down meal for thousands, too, right?

PF: Well, you don't usually car with your enemies. I believe in the knit, the human knit.

AP: I can see that on your new record. For example, "100 Ways" is a sweet love song. Are there still what might be called "conventional" forces driving you?

PF: Don't you find love an exciting thing?

AP: The most.

PF: Me too. You know, the nice thing about the rise in spirituality is that it doesn't have to come with any reduced knowledge of the material world. Technology would almost force you to raise your spirituality because you'd need something else to coincide with all the information.

AP: Do you like being thought of as a guru?

PF: The guru thing really shakes me up, because I don't want any kind of dependency put on me by people. I would rather have empowered people around me, that I could grab from as they grab from me. That would be the best party in town. You don't want to invite a bunch of suckers.

COPYRIGHT 1996 Brant Publications, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2000 Gale Group