“Wait, what? [Laughs] Gosh! That one I don't know. Tell me!”
WRONG. Courtney Love (whom you collaborated with on her 2004 solo album 'America's Sweetheart' and Hole's 2010 LP 'Nobody's Daughter').
“[Laughs] OK, I can see that! Love that! Courtney Love is an incredibly intelligent woman. We were working on a record once when Billy Corgan came in and he was a Debbie Downer and ruining the vibe. Courtney and Billy have incredible history together, but my band said, 'We can't continue with this guy'. Finally, I went into the control room, looked at Billy and said: 'You gotta go, man'. As Courtney's eyes bulged, I said: 'You're walking around like you're God's gift to fucking rock'n'roll. You've got bad energy. I want you out of my studio'. Billy was shocked and left.”
“Courtney couldn't believe I'd kicked him out of my studio, and thought it was ballsy. Then I realised: 'Oh, she's a pussy!' Courtney acts like this tough person – and she is. She's very intimidating, but really she is a bottom. She wants to be kind and wants a hug and she's very gentle, but she has an armor she puts up. I love her and have had amazing experiences with her. The world needs Courtney Love back and I can't wait for her new record because there isn't anyone else like her.”
Love claimed in 2007 that you were set to produce the follow-up to Green Day's 2004 classic 'American Idiot'. Was there any truth in that?
“That's a hard one for me. Green Day reached out to me and asked me to produce their next record. I had a full calendar and canceled six months of work to do it. I met with [Green Day frontman] Billie Joe [Armstrong] and we talked for three hours, and he said: 'I watched the documentary of you talking about Courtney and you're so interesting and I was intrigued'. He was having his own meltdown, and I think life was getting to him. Like every artist, I think he had got to a point where you feel like I have nothing to say and need help – there's a therapy aspect to producing too.”
“One thing I found weird was that Green Day recorded their albums separately: so Billie would do his part, then Mike [Dirnt, bassist] would come in, and then Tré [Cool] would come in, but they didn't record together. I suggested they set up in a little circle and they should go '60s, and I put a playlist together. [1960s rock band] Love was one of the inspirations on there.”
“Then Courtney blabbed her mouth that I was producing. Suddenly they started getting backlash from their fans, upset they were 'bringing in Linda Perry who produced Pink and Christina Aguilera'. And then those guys just stopped calling me. I would reach out to figure out what was going on. Nobody called. I lost six months of scheduled work. That was fucked-up – all because Billie-Joe's a little pussy and got all this backlash from his fans and didn't like it.”
“Weirdly, cut to later on and they made a '60s-inspired record under a different name [2008’s ‘Stop Drop and Roll!!!’ released under the moniker Foxboro Hot Tubs].”
“Whatever! I'm good with it, but it was harsh and rude to do that. Just call me and say, 'Hey, we're going to go a different way. I'm not digging this backlash we're getting.' Just balls up, man. Not returning my calls was such a pussy move, and I lost a lot of respect for Billie Joe.”
“It happened because I was a woman and I'd written pop songs. I was disappointed in those guys, and then I was mad at Courtney because if she would have just shut up, we would have made the record and it would have come out and it would have spoken for itself. I had a vision and knew I was going to kill that record.”
