After being blamed for tragedies such as Columbine, do you see any artists these days that are receiving similar treatment for when something awful happens? Well, for the first time in my life, last night, I met Damien Echols [of the West Memphis Three]. I did a painting to help pay for his legal funds. Johnny Depp, him and I became what we called, and it sounds a bit… in retrospect… if you lived in West Hollywood, sounds a bit not-masculine, but the ‘West Hollywood Three.’ Johnny has always tried to help him [Damien] out and he’s staying with Johnny and we have a strong bond, the three of us. We all got matching tattoos. I’d never met him [Damien] in person until last night and for me it was humbling. Any strife or adversity I’ve gone through can’t compare with what he’s gone through. And I’ve been waiting, essentially 18 years to meet this guy and I met him last night [April 8]. Johnny has also gone through his various things in life and I was on ’21 Jump Street’ when I was 19 — that’s funny, no one really knows that I was an extra. So I’ve known Johnny forever and we’d never done music together, and we did the “You’re So Vain” cover. Don’t tell this s–t, but me and Johnny have been rehearsing because he’s going to play with me live [at the 2012 Revolver Golden Gods Awards]. I just don’t want anyone to know that because it’ll ruin the surprise and I will hunt you down and cut your d–k off. [Laughs] [Author's note: At Manson's request, we kept his secret until Depp joined him onstage live at the Golden Gods -- and thankfully, I can report that my manhood remains firmly in tact. Check out our coverage of Manson and Depp in action here.] The past two days of my life have been pretty exciting — Johnny Depp rehearsing with my band because we want to do stuff together live. I’ve known him forever and he started his band, ‘The Kids,’ in Ft. Lauderdale. I had a band, ‘Marilyn Manson and the Spooky Kids,’ in Ft. Lauderdale. It’s just strange that I’ve known him all these years and we’ve never done music together. It’s exciting that we did the ‘You’re So Vain’ cover. We both did it together and it’s amusing that it applies to us in the sense that everybody that surrounded us in the past. He and I and Damien, all in different ways, are known figures, and all in different ways are going through a total change in life; all in different ways looking at life through the eyes of someone that is un-jaded; all in different ways of everyone thinking that they own something about us or that they know something about us, but they don’t; and us being considered vanquished by feeling liberated by the fact that we’re able to come to those terms.
So that’s been my backbone for most of everything; that I’ve been able to have guy friends that aren’t just my band members, but guy friends that have been through so much s–t. Different s–t. We’ve all been through different shit, and it’s strange because we all think each of us have been through worse s–t. That’s what’s unusual about it. I feel like we all say, “I haven’t been through what you’ve been through.” We all say that to each other and it’s a very interesting, humbling experience and it’s something that you really take to the grave that’s strong.
When I heard that the West Memphis Three were finally getting out of prison, I almost started crying … I did. I did, man. I mean, that movie [Paradise Lost] makes me cry — it does. When I met him for the first time last night, it was like a brother. I felt like I’d known him forever. I’ve talked to him on the phone for the past year on-and-off, but had never met him in person. It just felt like I had known him my whole life. He’s strong. He’s been through so much. It’s funny because we were having a very simple conversation that he was still amazed that he could send an email off an iPhone. Johnny and I were saying, “Well, hey, we’re in the same boat. We just figured that out too.” [Laughs] The childlike excitement of looking at the world is very much alive in me and in my friends. That’s the only way I was able to make a record that seemed 100 percent authentic to my personality.