Corey Feldman has been entertaining movie going audiences worldwide for the better part of three decades and has established himself as a pop culture icon along the way. Most of us have fond memories of Corey as Mouth from Steven Spielberg’s ‘The Goonies’ or even as Teddy Duchamp in the coming of age drama ‘Stand By Me’. Of course, how could you forget his performance as the gravelly voiced vampire killer Edgar Frog in the classic film The Lost Boys. What most people fail to realize about everyone’s favorite Corey is that he is also a highly talented musician that has released two solo albums and two albums with his band The Truth Movement. His latest album, ‘Technology Analogy’, is a fantastic rock record that is heavily influenced by Pink Floyd. Sure you can grab the album at your local music store or on iTunes, but why do that when you can see and hear it up close and personal? Corey is bringing himself, his band, and a show that can only be described as unexpected and awe inspiring to a city near you. Feldman recently took some time out from his tour to speak to Steve Johnson of Icon vs. Icon about his musical influences, his band’s new album Technology Analogy, how he would love to collaborate musically with Eminem, and the fact that he is more introverted than the press would like you to think. We also get a little information on the upcoming ‘Lost Boys: The Thirst’. Sit back, relax, and enjoy what is sure to be music to your ears.
We are all familiar with your works in film but I am sure many people aren’t familiar with your musical side. How did music first come into your life?
Well, music has always been a part of my life. A part of my life and part of my career since I started. When I was three or four years old and going on auditions, my parents used to make me listen to songs and memorize them so that I could go and sing songs on my auditions to help me get the parts as an actor. They were looking for enthusiastic and outgoing kids, so they always figured singing was a good idea. So I used to sing for my jobs when I was very little and then my sister actually became a member of the Mickey Mouse Club in the early seventies. I was always around her singing and dancing. My father was a musician as well, so he was always in a band. I was always around rehearsal equipment, rehearsal sessions, and live performances pretty much all my life. The first time I kind of got into it on my own was when I was around twelve or thirteen years old. Around that time I became a big fan of Michael Jackson and also listened to a lot of “Weird Al” Yankovic. I decided that I wanted to do what “Weird Al” Yankovic did and rewrite other people songs. I would sit down and I would transcribe all of the different songs that I would hear on the radio that I thought were cool and then I would make up my own words to them and replace them in those songs. I was basically making parodies. In essence, that is what taught me how to write songs. It taught me how the write structure, how verses and choruses work and things like that. I guess it was kind of my own form of music education. [laughs]
What has kept you inspired throughout the years as an artist?
I guess my quest to try and bring truth, peace, and unity to the world. I’ve never seen what I do as an entertainer as a job. I always see it as a gift and an opportunity to have a voice where people hear what you have to say. I think in these certain dark times it’s important to have an optimistic and positive light out there in whatever voice you can find, kind of speaking the truth, but also talking about solutions. So that’s what I try to do with my music and even through my characters in my films.
For those who might not be familiar with The Truth Movement, How did the band initially form?
Initially, I started doing solo music. I did several film soundtracks. Like seven of them. So I was doing all of this stuff and it was kind of poppy, top forty-esque, which isn’t really the kind of music I am most into. When I started getting into it, I was doing what I thought people wanted to hear versus what I really wanted to hear. I always thought that I’d love to have a band that speaks from a positive, truthful place and is the kind of music that I want to hear, which is classic rock. Because bands like Pink Floyd stopped making albums so much, I couldn’t go out and buy those records anymore. I figured I want to extend that sound, that style of music and create another leg of it. You know? Another arm of it, to where there’s an extension of it. Maybe not that sound in particular, but a mention of that sound for the modern times. If I was going to do anything creatively as an artist, I would want to create a sound that was kind of parallel to the sounds of those bands in the sixties and seventies, but also with a modern influence that I would see myself wanting to go into a record store and purchase today.
Truth Movement has a new album called ‘Technology Analogy’. What can you tell us about it?
Well, it’s a concept album. It tells a story. It has a beginning, a middle, and an end. It’s my proudest achievement to date as an artist of any form, simply because I was blessed enough to work with some of the greatest musicians ever on Earth as part of this album. [laughs] From the guys who make up the heart and soul of Truth Movement, which is the band, to the special guests that we had. From Jon Carin of Pink Floyd, to Scotty Page who was also with Pink Floyd for a time, to Mark Karan who is part of The Grateful Dead and RatDog family. We had some amazingly talented musicians. The executive producers, The Wizards, they were amazing. There were very, very talented people all collaboratively working together on this project, which made it something that I am so proud of. Additionally we got Storm Thorgerson to do the artwork. To make this album even more compelling, because John and I wrote a song about the environment called ‘Green is the Colour’, we wanted to make it part of the environmental moment. So to follow up our words we decided to make the album with one hundred percent recycled materials including biodegradable paper, soy ink to print the actual artwork, and a corn plastic disc tray. After doing all of this we said, “Well, we don’t want to just do that. We want to also try to standardize the way that we tour we we go out there.” So in some of the places we play we enforce a green only output from our monitors, mixers, lights, and everything. We take the show off the grid. We bring alternative energy to do that. We use bio-diesel generators.
What can you tell us about the writing process of the new record and how did it initially start coming together?
It was really interesting actually. The album actually started one day when I was working on a show I was producing called ‘The Two Coreys’. On one of the episodes we had this therapist kind of person we were seeing and she was supposed to give us an assignment. She gave me an assignment to write a song to my father as kind of a therapeutic letter, an open letter to him sort of thing. I said, “Oh. That’s a cool idea. OK, I’ll go do that.” I hadn’t written a song in a while. Generally when I write an album, it takes about four years from start to finish. From the time I start writing to the time I actually get it recorded, mixed, produced, and all of that. I write songs very slowly generally. I’ll write one and then wait a couple of months and then write another. With this one, I wrote this song for The Two Coreys and after I finished it I was like, “Wow! That’s really good! It’s kind of the jumping off point of something bigger I think!” I immediately starting writing after that. I used that as a bit of an anchor for where the storyline might go and started formulating a story around that centerpiece, which was not just a message to my father, but a message to the father of the universe. Kind of a deeper meaning, a double meaning. The song is called ‘Me Not You’. That kind of took me into the idea that it’s about me, it’s not about whoever is making things happen or running things. It’s about me taking my own destiny in my hands. That comes to the Earth and that comes to the environment. So I kind of got into that and then I starting writing a bit… Things just came together in a very strange way. I think it was very kind of otherworldly, because I actually finished the entire album from start to finish in four months. That was from the day that I wrote that first song until I finished actual production on it, which is pretty bewildering. The album tells a story of technology. It raises the question of where was it derived, where is it leading us to, and ultimately will it bring us closer together or lead to our demise? That’s kind of the subtext of it all. Within that I wanted to actually analyze each piece of information along the technological pathway of where it came from. So I went back to the beginning and I started studying, reading, and researching about this guy named Ezekiel who was a priest in one of the early chapters of The Bible. It’s called Ezekiel Book One. It’s about a priest who apparently had some sort of extraterrestrial visit and told his story of it, thousands of years before we had any idea what technology was or how we would describe these sorts of things. He pretty clearly and vividly describes technology. So the question became what came first, the apple or the robot?
Sonically, what can we expect from the album?
Sonically I would say it’s certainly a sound experience unlike you’ve ever heard before. We spent a lot of time separating tracks and EQ-ing things in a certain way. It’s very 5.1 in the mix. There are interesting sounds… It’s kind of like when you were back in the sixties or seventies and you listened to a Pink Floyd album for the first time. You were like, “What is that?” [laughs] There’s a lot of that kind of stuff. There’s a lot of sound effects. It’s kind of like theater for the mind. You put it on, you close your eyes, and it takes you to a different world.
You mentioned some people who you collaborated with on the album, from John Carin to Scotty Page. Is there anyone else you would like to collaborate with musically?
Oh, absolutely! First of all I would love a chance to play with more of the greats. Paul McCartney, Roger Waters, David Gilmore. Those are the people that I would do just about anything to have an opportunity to sit at their side for a day. Aside from that, as far as more contemporary artists… I would love to work with Eminem actually.
That would be interesting!
Yeah! And Dr. Dre! [laughs]
I’d like to hear that actually! You should get on that!
Yeah!
As a musician, I am curious to know what is the biggest thing that you have learned from artists you brought in for this album?
I’ve learned a lot from my influences. I can’t say it’s just the people who I brought into this album. I started off my life kind of bringing the energy to me to be able to befriend Michael Jackson. I learned so much from him about being an entertainer, being a showman, and what it takes to deliver a perfect show every night. I learned a lot from him. I also learned a lot from my other influences, which start back at Elvis Presley and Bill Haley to the people that I actually became close enough to have conversations with. People like the guys from Pink Floyd, Paul McCartney, or people like that. I’ve taken a little bit from each of those conversations and from each of those experiences and put them towards what I do. All in all I think that we all as artists try to work together and compliment each other. I’ve found when you put egos aside and you find people who really care about what it is your doing, the project or the art of it all, those are the people that really bring it to the table. I’ve been so fortunately to work with those people on this album. Every single one of them is amazingly talented. Every one of them brought exactly the right piece of the recipe to the table. It’s a great collaborative effort. The idea, even though you’re the writer, is to just sit back and let them bring what they can bring and you know that you can trust that whatever it is, it’s going to be magnificent.
You are currently on the road in support of the album. How’s has the tour been going?
It’s been going great. The fans have been eating it up quite honestly. Every city that we go to, a lot of the times you walk in the door and they don’t know what to expect. That’s the first thing they say to you when you meet them back stage and things. They say, “You know, I didn’t know what to expect. I hadn’t heard the music. I didn’t know what this was going to be. It was awesome.” The thing is, it’s a different experience than any other show you’ve seen. Nobody does this that I am aware of these days. Nobody brings a traveling twelve foot inflatable screen with them to every performance and their own laser machines. It’s a production. We put on a really good show. It’s a really talented touring band. The audience has had such a great connection. There’s been a certain kind of magic, especially in the smaller venues that we’ve played. It’s really crammed in and everybody is right in your face and we’re bringing this big kind of scope production to a little tiny venue. People are just freaking out over it. So we’re hoping we’re creating a good buzz and the word of truth will spread. Hopefully we’ll stay out here for a while and each leg we do we’ll grow and grow with momentum.
Do you plan on adding more dates?
That’s the idea. The idea is to do a second leg in July/August.
We were hoping you would get out here to the east coast so we could check you out.
Oh, we want to make it out there. Trust me. [laughs]
What do you consider the defining moment of your musical career?
I think it’s going to be Sunday night. That’s my guess.
Is that your performance at The Goonies 25th Anniversary Celebration in Astoria, Oregon (June 4-7, 2010)?
Absolutely! I’m just so excited. It’s the biggest production I have ever done as a band. I’ve been a part of other people’s shows, singing front of forty thousand people and things like that. To do our own venue that is like five or ten thousand seats or whatever it is and put on our own production, with our own lighting and staging and everything, that’s very exciting to me. I’m thrilled! I can’t wait. I’m super excited and I hope everybody makes it out in the rain. That’s my only concern at this point.
Have you had a âSpinal Tap Momentâ on stage where something totally unexpected has happened to you?
Yeah! Every night! [laughs] Every night is ‘Spinal Tap’ around here. We had one night in particular. I wrote a Facebook message about it called “Debacle in Dubuque”. It was in Dubuque, Iowa. We literally had every technical meltdown that you could ever imagine. We have so many technical things that we have to rely on in the aspect of our show. We are very technologically bound by our toys and our gadgets to make this production run right. Ironically, the album is called ‘Technology Analogy’ and we’re raising all of these questions of whether we should be supportive or whether we should be supported by it and at the same time the very things that we complain about are the things we find ourselves relying on on the road. Sure enough, every once in a while it all goes haywire. I tend to find when one thing goes wrong, they all go wrong.
That’s typically how it works!
Exactly.
What do you consider to be the biggest misconception about yourself?
Well, I think a lot of times people think I am this crazy ego maniac and a loud person just based on characters that I’ve played and things the press says about me. The truth of the matter is I am actually quite quiet and sit alone in a corner most of the time, isolated. I’m a bit of an introvert though and not really much of an ego maniac or loud mouth. I’m pretty humble. I try to be anyway. It always surprises me. I think it always surprises people when I meet them. People will say to me, “Gosh! You’re nothing like I would have expected!” That really means to me, “Oh! We thought you were going to be an asshole!” [laughs]
Another one of your projects that we are very excited about is ‘Lost Boys: The Thirst’. We saw that the trailer just came out. What can you tell us about that?
I can tell you that it’s very exciting. I’m very excited about it. It will be out I believe around Halloween. I think that’s what they’re thinking. It’s the return of The Frog Brothers. I think it’s what a lot of people wanted to see from the last one. There was a certain expectation I think people had after waiting for twenty-five years, or twenty years, or whatever it was. I think they felt a bit dismayed with the fact that I kind of popped in here and there as a cameo and there wasn’t really too many other through lines in the story connecting it to the first film. I think that people are going to be eagerly anticipating and pleasantly surprised by the look of the new film, which is a bit truer because of everything from the makeup effects, to the stunts and all of that high end stuff, to the actual storyline. I think people will be pleased.
I’m definitely looking forward to it. I enjoyed that last movie. I know a lot of people tore that movie to pieces, but I thought you were great in it.
Well you know what, it’s a love-hate relationship with that movie. I have people that come up to me all of the time and say they think it’s the most awesome movie and we did such an amazing job with the sequel. Then there are people that come up to me and say, “I’m going to be honest with you. It sucked.” [laughs] So I think it really kind of hit both sides of the spectrum, but either way it made Warner Brothers a ton of money. I don’t think they’re complaining. [laughs]
Do you have any aspirations to take The Frog Brothers a little further and maybe do a spin off type film that exists outside of the realm of the other films?
You never know what could happen. You never know. There’s always a possibility for those type of things and of course anything. I’m a working actor! I’ll take it where I can get it, as long as it’s good! [laughs]
We’ll definitely be looking forward to that, should it go in that direction!
Cool! I appreciate that!
Is there anything else you want to add or let your fans know?
Yeah! Just that I really appreciate every-body’s love and support. It’s been one of the hardest years of my life. I just want to let everybody know I’m still here and I’m still working for them. Hopefully they’re coming out to see us on this tour because we’re here to rock ya! [laughs]
I hope you get out to the east coast, Corey. I’d like to check your show out. If you can get something in Washington D.C., that’s the best!
OK! Good! We’ll do our best! I want to hit every single market with this thing. If it’s up to me and I have my druthers, we’ll be playing for the next two years.
Sweet! Corey, it’s been an honor and a pleasure. Thanks for taking time out of your busy schedule to speak to us. Good luck to you out there on the road!
Thank you very much. It was a very nice and professional interview. I appreciated it. Hopefully we will see you out there very soon!
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For all the latest news, information and tour dates for Corey Feldman and The Truth Movement, swing by his official website located at www.coreyfeldman.net!
As Corey Feldman mentioned in the interview, ‘Lost Boys 3: The Thirst’ is on the way in 2010! Check out the trailer below!
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