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The Mojo-ization of Heidi
Note: The following interview took place Dec. 3, 1996 in a cramped, dingy little room above Duffy's Tavern in Lincoln, Nebraska. The previous evening, my friend and I had braved a snowstorm to drive 300 miles east to catch Mojo's concert at The Ranch Bowl in Omaha. As it turned out, the crowd was only 20 or 30 rambunctious "Friends of The Revolution" but The Love Dog didn't seem disappointed. He commanded that tables, chairs and drinks be moved closer to the stage, and then delivered a two-hour set of Mojo "super-hits," and "Horny Holidays" and "Gadzooks" selections. But the real "encore" came when Mojo met fans after the show. I walked away with a Mojo-inscribed tour poster : "To Vibro Queen -- Hear her roar!" and my companion, an attorney, got an excuse to miss court the next day: "Dear J-Mon, This boy can't do no high-cypherin' today. (Signed) Dr. High MF, Mojo Nixon." All that made it impossible to resist Mojo's concert in Lincoln the next night. No self-respecting journalist would pass up an opportunity to interview one of the present-day great defenders of the First Amendment -- and I couldn't either. -- Heidi
Heidi: So you grew up in the Bible Belt in the South?
Mojo: Yep. Small town in Virginia.
Heidi: So how do you grow up in a small town in Virginia and become Mojo Nixon?
Mojo: Well, it was really my only choice. It was either this or go into the post office and shootin' everybody, ya know . . . had my parents been Communists in Greenwich Village, ya know, I'd have grown up to be an accountant or a Republican or some damn thing.
Heidi: . . . A Republican?
Mojo: Yeah, but I'm just a reflection . . . I'm just a natural born rebel bad egg, and I'm a reflection of, uh, ya know, what my parents weren't. All she (my mother) cared about was what the neighbors thought.
Heidi: No ....
Mojo: And . . . I am here to fart in the face of the neighbors at any chance I get.
Heidi: Is your mother still living?
Mojo: Um, hm.
Heidi: She must be proud.
Mojo: In an odd sort of way.
Heidi: I've been listening to you for about a year. My friend's a lawyer . . . so that's how I got . . .
Mojo: Does your boyfriend know about "Destroy All Lawyers"?
Heidi: Yes, he does.
Mojo: "If there's a flag on the planet, they went to law school."
Heidi: Why don't many AM. . . radio stations play your music during drive time?
Mojo: Well, ya know, I mean, because radio, everything is MTV. It's all about the Top 10 things that are getting pushed. Somebody has to be No. 1, and somebody has to be on the cover of the magazines, and somebody in the buzz bin every week, every month. It doesn't necessarily mean you're any good . . . It means, maybe you don't SUCK. But, ya know, generally, record companies and what not would much rather have a mediocre, malleable band that doesn't offend anyone. Hootie and the Blowfish, a perfect example. They're not great. They don't offend anyone. They're Huey Lewis and The News. They're OKAY. They're music to vacuum to. I am music to LEAD AN ARMED REVOLT TO.
Heidi: That I believe. Tell me the names of the guys in your band.
Mojo: There's, uh, Wetdawg on the piano.
Heidi: What'a his NAME?
Mojo: Oh, we can't use real names. There could be something legal, and we're next to a state that starts with the letter "I."
Heidi: You mean like outstanding warrants?
Mojo: States that start with the letter "I" we have a problem with.
Heidi: Okay . . .
Mojo: Even though we're not IN one, we're next to one, and um . . .
Heidi: Okay . . .
Mojo: There's Wetdawg, and there's Earl, uh, Earl B. Freedom on the bass; and there's Wid on the drums, W-I-D.
Heidi: How'd you find these guys?
Mojo: They were down in Austin, Texas. They were just down there floundering around.
Heidi: And you saved them . . .
Mojo: I saved them. I've ruined their lives. Ya know, they have nowhere to go except down from here.
Heidi: Who are the people who come to your concerts?
Mojo: NUTS. Weirdos. Mutants. People that don't fit in on the demographic survey. When they make the demographic survey and they say, "22 to 28 year olds buy this," and "25 to 34 year olds buy this," these are the lunatics on the edge of town. The people that don't fit on any map. The guy on the edge of town building the Go-Kart track out of nothin' . . . the guy that made Carhenge. That's who the Mojo fan is. The person (who is) too weird.
Heidi: Not the jocky kids . . .
Mojo: No, it's not . . . you're right. There's not like (BURP) any one group or anything . . .
Heidi: People of all ages . . .
Mojo: People of all persuasions . . . there's like bikers, there's Hippies, there's punks, and I did this album with Jello-o Biafra. There's everything. But they're all free spirits and essentially, people running around screaming, "Everyone else, kiss my ass."
Heidi: Okay. Well, if you can fill football stadiums when the Grateful Dead's in town, why do you choose to play small venues like The Ranch Bowl or like . . .
Mojo: There's just, ya know, water sinks to its level. That's just how many tickets we can sell right now . . . Chuck Berry guitar may come around again. I feel like I got elder statesman written all over me. But, uh . . . . . . there can be only one Grateful Dead. And, uh, so that's a kind of a unique thing. But that's just how many people are going to come with that much support. But, I mean, ya know, if I was on some giant label and they were shoving it down everyone's throat, we could maybe double or triple it, but it still wouldn't be HUGE, because it's too much. It's too much for most people. Most civilians who go to work every day and care what the neighbors think and have a big mortgage and are afraid to lose their jobs are going to go to the Mojo show going, "Well, that was a little too much, now, wasn't it?" Ya know, "I don't agree with all that," ya know?
Heidi: How important is freedom of expression to you?
Mojo: It's completely. There's no Mojo without it.
Heidi: Have you run into trouble with that?
Mojo: No, not really. Um, I say so much junk and I say so much crap that people, ya know, even though they might disagree with something I say, earlier, they'll agree with the next thing I say.
Heidi: So, there aren't armed revolts of Moms or anything warning their children away from Mojo?
Mojo: Nah . . . cause it's not that big a deal. Ya know. There's not like a whole big movement of Mojo-esque bands. Mojo's kind of a weird private thing. People who like it, REALLY like it. People that don't get it, don't get it at all. People that like it will buy every album, they'll drive to see all the shows, they'll tell their friends, they'll tell their friends, they'll drive to the Gator Bowl and make their friends listen all the way down, and their friends are SICK of it. Ya know, but the thing is, people that get it, REALLY get it. They think, they feel, like I felt . . . ya know, like somebody's talking to them. Like, "This guy is saying this SHIT . . ."
Heidi: Like it's okay to be on the fringe . . .
Mojo: RIGHT. And, ya know, and they feel the way I felt when I went to the shows. And ya know, I really am just a fan. I'm not a great singer or songwriter, or guitar player or anything. What I am, is a good BIG MOUTH.
Heidi: You're a comedian . . . That's one of the things we established last night, because I was laughing my ass off.
Mojo: And that's what I'm good at. I just choose to use music.
Heidi: Has there been any research on the effect playing your music in a barn might have milk production?
Mojo: No, I don't think there has. But, you know, it could sour things. It could turn things weird . . .
Heidi: Ya think?
Mojo: Yeah, 'cause . . . ya'd get a bull in there, and my music would cause a lot of sexual arousal among . . . AMONG the BOVINES.
Heidi: Yeah, we also . . . established last night, that you're something of a babe magnet, in a fringe way.
Mojo: Well, yeah, in a psycho kind of way. Ya know.
Heidi: How often are you guys touring? Are you touring all year or . . .
Mojo: No, about half the time, gone about half the time. Ya know, I've been doing some movies and, ya know, I play with the band, and sometimes I do some shows by myself. I live in San Diego.
Heidi: Kids?
Mojo: I have two kids.
Heidi: Are they little Mojo Juniors or . . .
Mojo: More so than not . . . how do you rebel against (anything) if Mojo's your DAD?
Heidi: Tell me about your next CD . . .
Mojo: Next CD that's coming out: "Gadzooks." Next month. It's got some of the songs we play. It's got, "Bring me the head of David Geffen," "PoonTango," "UFO's, Big Rigs and Barbecues." It's kind of a collection of some old stuff, some new stuff and, um, it's simultaneously an introduction and a retrospective . . . if that makes any sense . . .
Heidi: Did your uncle Richard ever get the opportunity to express his appreciation for your musical ability before he passed on to his eternal snakepit?
Mojo: Ya know, there are some secret tapes which have yet to surface . . . they're out there in Yorba Linda at the library, and I've been working on those people . . . ya know, there's a T-shirt of me, Elvis and Nixon.
Heidi: Really?
Mojo: No one's seen it yet. It's highly unknown. I was on the enemy's list, but then they took me, because they found out I was related.
Heidi: Oh, my . . .
Mojo: It's sad.
Heidi: We thought maybe, if you didn't have a direct connection to Richard Nixon, that maybe you had a connection to one of his daughters in some way.
Mojo: TRICIA!!!!!
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