Mark: It’s a great story, and over the years I’ve managed to catch you a few times, and for me, Enuff Z Nuff is one of those bands that just had everything, you should have been so much greater, and when you talk to people, a lot of them are very passionate about the band. I guess it’s one of those times, when sometimes the breaks come, and sometimes they don’t, but, it’s great to see some new material, and also to see you doing some shows, and festivals.
Chip: I’ll tell you what, Mark, we looked at this, and with the agency, of course, we thought it would be in our best interest to just go out and do weekend warrior gigs! In other words, just Fridays and Saturdays, there’s no need for us to go out on a tour bus right now. I’m not a little kid anymore, when you’re 20 and 30 years old and you’re on those buses, you’re just focussed on what’s in front of you, and going out and playing your songs for an audience every single night, but the fact of the matter is going out on a tour bus right now, is a thousand bucks a day, the gas prices are astronomical, getting work permits to go out and play, it’s almost impossible for a rock band to go out, or any band for that matter, to go out and tour and support the record, unless you’ve got tour support. So, we chose to do the weekend stuff, and then I can still be in Chicago, if I get chance I’m on TV every single day, my Mancow TV show, which I co-host, we have fun and talk about daily events and what’s happening in the world. So, if something happens with this record or somebody wants to take us out on tour, we’ll consider that, but right now, I think it’s in our best interests to play to as many people as possible, and the way to do that is at festivals and clubs.
Mark: At the moment you’re a three piece, with Johnny on vocals, you’ve had over the years an on and off line up, with Donnie, who is at the moment off the radar, do you ever see him coming back to the fold, or do you think that chapter is over?
Chip: Let me say, without Donnie, writing these songs and singing this material, you wouldn’t be talking to me right now! He was a big part of our success that being said he decided he wanted to semi-retire, he got sick of the road, he got sick of the business, and he just didn’t want to do it anymore! He was never fired; he never got kicked out of the band, he made his choice himself, and we decided to go out as a band and work, because we wanted to play. Whether he comes back or not, only the good lord can answer that question!
Mark: I was just looking at some of the things you’re up to at the moment, you have a lot on! You have the TV show; you’re working on material with Steven Adler, X Guns N Roses, and also there’s talk of an album of originals at some point in 2015, can you tell us about these?
Chip: Sure, Mark. Besides the Adler’s Enough record, which is a five song EP, I recorded with Steve at my studio, a couple of years ago I also had a solo record, I put it out last year, it’s called Johnnie Rotten Jr, but the record company’s asked me to put it out and call it Chip Z Nuff, so, I’ll have two records coming out this year, Chip Z’Nuff solo record which is called “The Death of Harry Potter” and the “Adler’s Enough”, which is a five song EP, featuring Steven Adler and Dale Bozzio from Missing Persons. Then I’ve decided I’m going to put out a new record next year, I’d love to have another Enuff Z Nuff album, I have a plethora of material, we have so many songs, I’m so used to Donnie’s voice on all these recordings that I’ve made, it’s going to be tough to figure it out. But Monaco and I have talked about it, along with Erik Donner, our drummer, and the guys are just totally stoked about putting together a new record. Next year will bring new opportunities, but, right now I just want to focus on these three records. It’s a lot of material to put out in one year, most bands put out one record every five years or something, and here I am with three records in one year! It’s almost too much, it’s pretty self-indulgent! However, I’m real proud of all the material; there are movie sound tracks, TV commercials, lots of opportunities out there, and for all the artists that are reading this, we are one hit away from being back in the game again!
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