Marilyn Manson

THE PALE EMPEROR WAS A VERY WELL-RECEIVED CHANGE IN PACE FOR YOU.

“When Tyler [Bates, co-writer] and I met and we made that record, we finished it and we were really proud of it – and we’re still proud of it – and he said, ‘That’s just the opening act. Wait for the next record.’”

WAS THERE THE TEMPTATION TO REPEAT THE FORMULA FOR HEAVEN UPSIDE DOWN?

“We wanted to make a record that was completely… not necessarily what people didn’t expect, but what we didn’t expect.”

WHY DID YOU ORIGINALLY SAY THIS WAS GOING TO BE OUT ON VALENTINE’S DAY AND WHAT CHANGED THERE? AFTER ALL, IT’S NEARLY HALLOWEEN!

“Tyler and I sat next to each other, the record was finished, but I felt like I didn’t tell the whole story of the record. and we said, ‘What is the song that you would get some girl to fuck you to in high school?’ and we both simultaneously said: ‘The Cure! Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me.’

I said, ‘I want a song like that.’ He sent me a mix of this beat, and I put it on in my house, and it was just pulsating. It has this binaural frequency that really fucks with your head, it’s hypnotising. and now, that song, Heaven Upside Down, and also Saturnalia, those songs have become the centre of the story of the record.”

THE ALBUM WAS ORIGINALLY GOING TO BE CALLED ‘SAY 10’. WHY DID YOU CHANGE IT?

“Yeah, I thought originally that ‘Say 10’ was very clever, but it’s not as expansive or as defining as Heaven Upside

Down. People say, ‘Oh, what’s

Heaven Upside Down?’ You decide. It doesn’t have to be anything specific.”