Lita Ford is one of the few women who've made a dent in the male-dominated world of heavy metal. She first rocked our world in the late 70's as the lead guitarist of the groundbreaking jailbait rock band The Runaways. Despite being just 17 at the time of joining, her skills were accomplished beyond her years and helped the all-girl band win the respect of peers such as The Ramones with whom they toured.
After the band's premature demise following much documented inter-band acrimony, Lita, who had wanted to steer the group into heavier territory, embarked on a solo career. She toured with metal heavyweights such as Black Sabbath, Anthrax, Judas Priest, and Iron Maiden, and released a total of six albums between 1983 and 1995. Her most successful, Lita, released in 1988, went platinum and spawned the Top 10 single "Close My Eyes Forever," a power-ballad duet recorded with Ozzy Osbourne. Lita was never able to repeat this success however, and each of her three subsequent records sold less than the last. After marrying Jim Gillette of the extreme hair metal band Nitro, Lita put her recording career on hold and thrust herself into the role of wife and then mother (the couple have two sons, Rocco, 8, and James, 12).
Returning to the public eye after a hiatus of close to 15-years, Lita's seventh solo album, Wicked Wonderland (released October 6), is the first of three Lita-related projects hitting stores in quick succession. Having sealed her reputation as the self-styled Queen of Metal two decades back, Lita has been immortalized as Queen Lita in Brtal Legend, a music-based Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 adventure. The game, which stars Jack Black and features metal legends Ozzy Osbourne, Rob Halford, and Lemmy Kilmister, is unleashed on "Rocktober" 13. To complete the hat-trick, a new comic will turn Lita and her family into zombie-fighting superheroes. Written by 14-year old comics prodigy Jake Tinsley (Night Owl) and illustrated by Manga artist, Jason Dube, The Gillettes: Family Business, will be published next month.
With so much to look forward to, Lita chooses not to look back. However, the release of a Runaways biopic next year may force her to. Produced with the co-operation of former-bandmates Joan Jett and Cherie Currie, the project stars Kristen Stewart (as Joan) and Dakota Fanning (as Cherie) -- and the relatively unknown Scout Taylor-Compton (as Lita). The much-anticipated film is already reopening still tender old wounds as it threatens to air dirty laundry Lita would rather was left in the basket. On the plus side, it promises to expose the Runaways' music to a new generation and cement their legacy as the band that showed women how to rock.
SuicideGirls caught up with Lita by phone during a break from rehearsals as she prepares to embark on a tour with prog metal heads Queensrche later this month.
Andrea Larrabee: Wicked Wonderland is your first album since 1995's Black. Where have you been and what have you been up to in the intervening years?
Lita Ford: We have been living in the Caribbean. I got pregnant with my first child and I really just wanted to focus on being a good mom, which is very different for me. I'm used to guitars, I'm used to things with strings attached not little babies. And when god blessed me with my first kid I was like, "Holy Shit! What do I do with this? I've never held one of these!" I never had sisters that had kids. I didn't know what to do. I was really in the dark and so I just really wanted to concentrate on learning how to be a good mom and a good safe place to be is in the Caribbean on a deserted island. There's not much that can hurt you out there -- except the crabs.
AL: Right, you moved out there after 9/11.
LF: We did, yeah. 9/11 really freaked us out. We were talking about moving anyway and then 9/11 hit and that was the topper, and we just bailed.
AL: You seem to have this amazing existence, a semi-survivalist lifestyle. I understand that you built your own house and that you grow and catch your own food, and you've home-schooled your children.
LF: Yep, that's true. We started with nothing. I mean there literally is nothing on this island. There's no grocery store, there's no Federal Express, there's no Pizza Hut, you can't find anything on this island...So it was nice to be out there. It felt safe to be out there...When the sun comes up we get up, when the sun goes down we pretty much go to bed because there's nothing. We're pretty self-sufficient on the island.
AL: It sounds like it's been a process of getting back in touch with your primal instincts - not only to survive but as a mother.
LF: That's true. That's very true, and it's really good to know, for your children, especially in case anything severe should happen, I think our kids would be one of the survivors. It's just stuff that people just take for granted these days. Say, for instance, a box of peanut butter cereal; You can't get it out there so when you do come back into the United States you go down the cereal isle in the grocery store and you're screaming "YES! THEY GOT PEANUT BUTTER CEREAL MAN!" And the kids are like, "ALRIGHT MOM! GET SIX BOXES." And everybody's looking at me like I'm out of my friggin' mind. What's wrong with that girl? Hasn't she ever seen peanut butter cereal before? We not lately, no, I haven't. So you do take things for granted.
AL: I would also imagine you're stocking up on piles of soft toilet paper.
LF: Oh everything, yeah, we do. There's a place called Rock-It Cargo that ships out into the Caribbean, and you can load containers and stuff and just buy whatever you want to buy, I mean right down to cars, trucks, anything like that, You just ship it out, ship it on over. So we do stock up on food and clothes and toys and dildos...
AL: Dildos by the container load! [laughs]
LF: Absolutely. [laughs] That's funny.
AL: It sounds like an idyllic life. What on earth made you want to return to music?
LF: We're in the United States now because we rehearse in Florida but we still live there. Our home is sitting there waiting for us.
AL: But the music industry can be a very toxic place. It must have been relaxing not to have that in your life.
LF: It is. It's very different. When we retired from the music industry, we really didn't know when we were going to return. My husband got himself into developing this island along with his partners and made excellent money doing that, and it freed me up so I could focus on being a good mom and trying to raise our kids.
AL: So your husband's been developing the island for tourism?
LF: You know what, let me put him on and I'll let him explain. Here's Jim.
Jim Gillette: We're tag-teaming you. We're going to wear you down.
AL: Lita mentioned you were developing the island. I just wondered in what respect?
JG: Well what didn't we do there? We buy big chunks of land and then we make them into lots for houses. We put in roads, put in sidewalks, we put in canals, put in bridges, ports. We've kind of done it all.
AL: So you're developing your own community, your own town -- Gillette Town?
JG: You couldn't get away with that in the States, but you can do that in the Caribbean.
AL: So you and Lita get to be king and queen of you own Caribbean island?
JG: Yeah, pretty much. It's pretty cool. It was tough for her to get me to come out of the old coconut palm.
AL: Well I was reading that there was a family vote to decide if Lita should go back to music?
JG: Not really a vote. I'm fine. I always knew that we were going to end up doing this again. Lita was just waiting 'til the boys were ready. She's an excellent mom. I don't think that many people would think that, I mean she looks like a Suicide Girl right?
AL: Hell yeah! She's one of the originals.
JG: But you know what I mean. She probably helped pave the way for sites like SuicideGirls.
AL: Absolutely.
JG: I mean she's got seven tattoos.
AL: What's your favorite?
JG: The one that says "My Husband" right above her ass, so when she's bent over I can look at it. It's pretty nice. [laughs] That's my ass.
AL: Fair enough. I can appreciate why that might be your favorite.
JG: Nah, you know what? That was my favorite, but now she's got the Gillette family logo on her left arm. I have the same basic thing on my back only mine's the size of a truck 'cause it covers my whole back. And she's got this kind of cool cross with a skull on her right arm that has our wedding anniversary on it in roman numerals -- that's on the album -- so that's pretty cool.
AL: In keeping with the Caribbean theme, I understand there's some proverbial sunken treasure over there in the form of album that you guys recorded but never released.
JG: Oh boy! We were not in the Caribbean when that happened. That was about thirteen years ago because Lita was actually pregnant with our first boy James. You want to talk about a funny sight? [laughs] This music was as heavy as hell and we'd be in rehearsals and she's got these goddamned pink pig slippers on and her belly's sticking out and she's playing these Metallica type riffs with her guitar sticking up at an angle because her belly's in the way - that was amazing! It was some good stuff. We may let it out one day. I don't know if we'll actually put it out or just put it on a website or something and let people check it out for free.
AL: It's a shame YouTube wasn't around then. I'd have loved to have seen a pregnant Lita rockin' it in her pink fuzzy pig slippers.
JG: I'm kind of weird, but it made me horny. Her little pregnant fat belly sticking out, her pink slippers, playing [sings heavy guitar riff]. It was very strange.
AL: I understand there was quite a sexual undercurrent to this album too? What was the inspiration behind the music you did together?
LF: The music we did together isn't something that we had planned. It's not like we had 15 years worth of music sitting around. It was literally a spur of the moment idea and we really didn't know where we were going with it until we started going. It's pretty much about us, about our family, about our sex life, our love life, our hate life, pleasure, pain...
JG: ...Bondage.
LF: It's about us, our own personal wicked wonderland.
JG: Yeah, our marriage is very, very, very - did I say very? - sexual. We have a belief: Great, adventurous, crazy sex every single day, keeps the divorce lawyer away.
AL: So when you were writing the album together what was the process?
JG: We'd come into my office and crack open a bottle of champagne and literally kind of compare notes from the last night's sexual escapades.
AL: Do you care to share an example of that in a song?
JG: "Push." Whenever she's ready to pop she says, "Push." We literally tuned the "push, push" into a song. It's kind of the way she does it in the chorus and it's called "Push."
AL: Lita, I understand one of your favorite tracks on Wicked Wonderland is "Sacred."
LF: Jim wrote that song for me and I adore the song. It's close to me, it's close to my heart.
AL: So who wrote most of the lyrics on Wicked Wonderland?
JG: Most of the lyrics I wrote, and she would sit there and say, "I didn't say that." And I'd say, "Bullshit, you said it last night." It's kind of weird, because we didn't mean, in the beginning, for it to be so personal. We just started writing and it was very sexual. It was about us, it was about our experiences together. After about two songs we kind of thought, "Gee, should we do this? Should we be this open and let everyone into our bedrooms like this?" People, they know exactly what we do now. And we thought, "You know what? Let's do it. Because it's real, it's from the heart. This is what we're feeling, this is what we're writing, so let's just go with it."
AL: You seem like a very open family anyway. I mean you have The Gillettes: Family Business comic which is based on your family.
LF: Yeah. My kids get to beat up zombies and be superheroes. It's pretty cool.
AL: So it's seems like you're not afraid to share your family and personal life with the world.
JG: That's just happened with all this. I mean for a while there we weren't even on the planet. I mean we were gone -- nobody knew where we were. We could have told you where we were and you couldn't have found us, it's that remote where we are. We just kind of decided, coming back, it kind of started with the lyrics honestly. It was like this is who we are, this is what we're about, this is what we dig and this is where our heart is, so lets just go for it. And doing that we decided if we can let people into our bedroom and know what kind of frickin dildos we use, know that I like to go down on my wife's toes, all this weird fetish stuff, if we're going to talk about that why not let them see our kids. After that it's kind of wide open. The gloves are off at that point you know.
AL: I'm seeing a reality TV show - The Osbournes meets Survivor.
JG: We've been approached a few times for reality TV.
AL: And you're not tempted?
JG: We're tempted but we want to control it. We're the management company, we're the record company for this. We wrote the songs with a friend. We produced the album with a friend. We're not going to let somebody take six weeks worth of filming and make it look like whatever they want it to look like -- they're notorious for that. We want control of the editing. If we do a reality show we want it to be what a reality show is supposed to be, to really show the real picture. We're not going to let me and Lita get into an argument and let them run that every goddamned week, you know? Out of six weeks of filming we argued once so they try and make it look like we're at each other's throats every day. We're not going to do that. We're not going that way. They can do that with other people.
LF: Yeah. So far we have been offered a few things and we're just not, actually I'm not ready for it yet. Of course if a deal comes across that we absolutely can't refuse, have to have, of course, you know, we're going to jump on it. But, as of now, we have the comic book, we have the Xbox game, we've got this wonderful album coming out, we haven't even made a video yet. We've just got so much going on, so many irons in the fire, so to speak, that we don't need it right now. I think in time, when it's the right time and place, the right offer comes around, of course we're going to dive on it.
JG: We've got a very different family. If you see us we're very strange. You know what Lita looks like, I'm 280 pounds, covered in tattoos. I've got a Mohawk, our kids have Mohawks, our kids have been learning to kill people since they were 2-years old.
AL: You're all into martial arts which makes the manga comic very fitting.
JG: Yeah, well the kids grew up with the Gracie family and the Valente family who created the UFC. I was a sparing partner with Royce Gracie -- he's a UFC legend. We've got videos of our kids doing triangle chokes and arm bars when they were two years old.
AL: Talking of kicking ass, Lita's featured in the Brtal Legend game as Queen Lita, and you're a martial arts family, so she's probably one of the few characters in the cast that can kick ass as hard in real life as in the game.
LF: Oh, absolutely. There's no doubt about that man. You don't want to tangle with these guys. Holy crap! They're really good. My 8-year old could literally put a grown man to sleep.
AL: What do you love about your Brtal Legend character?
LF: Oh she's very sexy and she gets to ride a beast. I am an animal lover, so she gets to ride her own beast, which I think is just awesome. I'm the only one in the game that has a pet.
AL: And you have a Wicked Wonderland track, "Betrayal," in Brtal Legend?
LF: Correct. That track was written specifically for the game. It didn't start being that way, but it turned out they were looking for material for the game and Jim through that up and said, "Hey! What about this one? Check this out." And they fell in love with it. We changed the lyrics and made the lyrics fit the game. It fits the game perfectly so it really worked out well.
AL: And now you're embarking on a tour with Queensrche?
JG: We're excited about that.
LF: That is bad to the bones. I mean how blessed: The Queen and Queensrche.
AL: And that's going to be a family affair again?
JG: Oh yeah. You get one Gillette, you get four of us.
AL: So what do you and the boys do on stage?
JG: I do a lot of singing and the boys stand behind me and run out and throw balloons at the crowd or squirt the crowd or bring bottled water or just come out and start rocking out. It's pretty cool.
LF: If you've heard the whole album in its entirety you'll hear Jim a lot on the album. He sings a lot of the background vocals, and does a lot with the production. He's just a huge part of this. I just couldn't imagine doing it without him.
AL: How would you describe the live show?
LF: We get on stage and we jam our asses off for as long as they'll allow it.
AL: I kind of feel sad for the girls that rock today. The way the music industry presents them, it's all very safe, pre-packaged and contrived. You're of a generation that actually got to rock -- and be seen to rock -- for real. It feels like the truly wild days of rock & roll are behind us. Do you feel like that at all?
LF: Not with me. I do understand what you're saying. I think the generation of kids these days is even more wild than our generation, or my generation, I just think it hasn't been brought out yet. Everything is all flowers and sunshine, and it's those kind of people that watch that stuff that I think are really dying for the vampire side of things. With me, I don't do flowers and sunshine. I don't even wear pink on stage. If I did I'd probably throw up. But I think if anybody's going to crack that ice, I think it's going to be me. So that's a good question. Maybe that's why I'm back for that reason.
AL: You're back and very much in control. The album's coming out on your own record label and you manage yourself. Obviously The Runaways were managed by Kim Fowley, and as a solo artist you were managed by Sharon Osbourne at one point. Both are notorious figures -- for very different reasons -- but what have you learnt from them that you've been able to take forward into your career now?
LF: Well Sharon is the one that I really have a lot of respect for. She's a wonderful business woman and she's taught me how to deal with people. There's certain people you want to stay in touch with, there's certain ways of handling somebody, because you're really in it for the long haul. It's not a one-night stand. It's a lifetime commitment. Sharon treats people with class and dignity, and if she doesn't like someone she's tell them flat out, "Go fuck yourself," and that's it, she's gone, you'll never see her again. She's been a good help and somebody to follow as far as that sort of thing goes. She's a class act definitely.
AL: So are the two of you still in touch?
LF: No. Not so much anymore. I'm off in the Caribbean and she's, I believe, living in California, so we don't speak too much anymore. I don't speak to anybody too much anymore actually. We live a very private life when we are home, and when we're out on the road, you know, all hell breaks lose. But when we're home, we stay to ourselves.
AL: You were quoted recently in Rolling Stone as saying you have nothing to do with the upcoming Runaways film. Has anything been done to rectify that situation? Has there been any outreach to you?
LF: There has been, but I didn't like it. I really don't care for Joan's management. I have a real problem with working with them. I don't want to work with them. I don't have to work with them. They insist on using me in this film. That's their business I suppose. I tried to take out the pieces that I absolutely despised and that's it.
I'm a public figure, so it's pretty hard for me to say no, you can't use me on that. They're going to do it anyway, and it's the law, as disgusting as that sounds. Like Angelina Joile is in The [National] Enquirer every five minutes. She has no say, she's like a piece of meat, she's a public figure, and so am I.
If they have respect for you, and hopefully they will enough that they'll listen to my requests and please take that piece out. And they did. Thank god they at least did that, and offered me a ridiculously low amount of money, which wasn't even worth accepting. I just thought this is just a joke. The only reason they're using me is to hopefully sell more tickets to their theater, and that's it, which I could really care less. If I were to do my version of The Runaways movie it would be about the music.
AL: Would you want to produce a documentary or book so that you're able to present your side of the story?
LF: Not yet. I'm really not interested in it. I've got bigger and better things going on right now. One of my old girlfriends who was the main producer on [Runaways documentary] Edgeplay, she wants to do a biography on Lita. I told her I thought that would be great and if anybody does it, you would be the person I would choose to do it. The problem is, I only have half of it. I don't have the ending. There's no ending.
For further information on all things Lita Ford go to litaxx.tv/lita/.
After the band's premature demise following much documented inter-band acrimony, Lita, who had wanted to steer the group into heavier territory, embarked on a solo career. She toured with metal heavyweights such as Black Sabbath, Anthrax, Judas Priest, and Iron Maiden, and released a total of six albums between 1983 and 1995. Her most successful, Lita, released in 1988, went platinum and spawned the Top 10 single "Close My Eyes Forever," a power-ballad duet recorded with Ozzy Osbourne. Lita was never able to repeat this success however, and each of her three subsequent records sold less than the last. After marrying Jim Gillette of the extreme hair metal band Nitro, Lita put her recording career on hold and thrust herself into the role of wife and then mother (the couple have two sons, Rocco, 8, and James, 12).
Returning to the public eye after a hiatus of close to 15-years, Lita's seventh solo album, Wicked Wonderland (released October 6), is the first of three Lita-related projects hitting stores in quick succession. Having sealed her reputation as the self-styled Queen of Metal two decades back, Lita has been immortalized as Queen Lita in Brtal Legend, a music-based Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 adventure. The game, which stars Jack Black and features metal legends Ozzy Osbourne, Rob Halford, and Lemmy Kilmister, is unleashed on "Rocktober" 13. To complete the hat-trick, a new comic will turn Lita and her family into zombie-fighting superheroes. Written by 14-year old comics prodigy Jake Tinsley (Night Owl) and illustrated by Manga artist, Jason Dube, The Gillettes: Family Business, will be published next month.
With so much to look forward to, Lita chooses not to look back. However, the release of a Runaways biopic next year may force her to. Produced with the co-operation of former-bandmates Joan Jett and Cherie Currie, the project stars Kristen Stewart (as Joan) and Dakota Fanning (as Cherie) -- and the relatively unknown Scout Taylor-Compton (as Lita). The much-anticipated film is already reopening still tender old wounds as it threatens to air dirty laundry Lita would rather was left in the basket. On the plus side, it promises to expose the Runaways' music to a new generation and cement their legacy as the band that showed women how to rock.
SuicideGirls caught up with Lita by phone during a break from rehearsals as she prepares to embark on a tour with prog metal heads Queensrche later this month.
Andrea Larrabee: Wicked Wonderland is your first album since 1995's Black. Where have you been and what have you been up to in the intervening years?
Lita Ford: We have been living in the Caribbean. I got pregnant with my first child and I really just wanted to focus on being a good mom, which is very different for me. I'm used to guitars, I'm used to things with strings attached not little babies. And when god blessed me with my first kid I was like, "Holy Shit! What do I do with this? I've never held one of these!" I never had sisters that had kids. I didn't know what to do. I was really in the dark and so I just really wanted to concentrate on learning how to be a good mom and a good safe place to be is in the Caribbean on a deserted island. There's not much that can hurt you out there -- except the crabs.
AL: Right, you moved out there after 9/11.
LF: We did, yeah. 9/11 really freaked us out. We were talking about moving anyway and then 9/11 hit and that was the topper, and we just bailed.
AL: You seem to have this amazing existence, a semi-survivalist lifestyle. I understand that you built your own house and that you grow and catch your own food, and you've home-schooled your children.
LF: Yep, that's true. We started with nothing. I mean there literally is nothing on this island. There's no grocery store, there's no Federal Express, there's no Pizza Hut, you can't find anything on this island...So it was nice to be out there. It felt safe to be out there...When the sun comes up we get up, when the sun goes down we pretty much go to bed because there's nothing. We're pretty self-sufficient on the island.
AL: It sounds like it's been a process of getting back in touch with your primal instincts - not only to survive but as a mother.
LF: That's true. That's very true, and it's really good to know, for your children, especially in case anything severe should happen, I think our kids would be one of the survivors. It's just stuff that people just take for granted these days. Say, for instance, a box of peanut butter cereal; You can't get it out there so when you do come back into the United States you go down the cereal isle in the grocery store and you're screaming "YES! THEY GOT PEANUT BUTTER CEREAL MAN!" And the kids are like, "ALRIGHT MOM! GET SIX BOXES." And everybody's looking at me like I'm out of my friggin' mind. What's wrong with that girl? Hasn't she ever seen peanut butter cereal before? We not lately, no, I haven't. So you do take things for granted.
AL: I would also imagine you're stocking up on piles of soft toilet paper.
LF: Oh everything, yeah, we do. There's a place called Rock-It Cargo that ships out into the Caribbean, and you can load containers and stuff and just buy whatever you want to buy, I mean right down to cars, trucks, anything like that, You just ship it out, ship it on over. So we do stock up on food and clothes and toys and dildos...
AL: Dildos by the container load! [laughs]
LF: Absolutely. [laughs] That's funny.
AL: It sounds like an idyllic life. What on earth made you want to return to music?
LF: We're in the United States now because we rehearse in Florida but we still live there. Our home is sitting there waiting for us.
AL: But the music industry can be a very toxic place. It must have been relaxing not to have that in your life.
LF: It is. It's very different. When we retired from the music industry, we really didn't know when we were going to return. My husband got himself into developing this island along with his partners and made excellent money doing that, and it freed me up so I could focus on being a good mom and trying to raise our kids.
AL: So your husband's been developing the island for tourism?
LF: You know what, let me put him on and I'll let him explain. Here's Jim.
Jim Gillette: We're tag-teaming you. We're going to wear you down.
AL: Lita mentioned you were developing the island. I just wondered in what respect?
JG: Well what didn't we do there? We buy big chunks of land and then we make them into lots for houses. We put in roads, put in sidewalks, we put in canals, put in bridges, ports. We've kind of done it all.
AL: So you're developing your own community, your own town -- Gillette Town?
JG: You couldn't get away with that in the States, but you can do that in the Caribbean.
AL: So you and Lita get to be king and queen of you own Caribbean island?
JG: Yeah, pretty much. It's pretty cool. It was tough for her to get me to come out of the old coconut palm.
AL: Well I was reading that there was a family vote to decide if Lita should go back to music?
JG: Not really a vote. I'm fine. I always knew that we were going to end up doing this again. Lita was just waiting 'til the boys were ready. She's an excellent mom. I don't think that many people would think that, I mean she looks like a Suicide Girl right?
AL: Hell yeah! She's one of the originals.
JG: But you know what I mean. She probably helped pave the way for sites like SuicideGirls.
AL: Absolutely.
JG: I mean she's got seven tattoos.
AL: What's your favorite?
JG: The one that says "My Husband" right above her ass, so when she's bent over I can look at it. It's pretty nice. [laughs] That's my ass.
AL: Fair enough. I can appreciate why that might be your favorite.
JG: Nah, you know what? That was my favorite, but now she's got the Gillette family logo on her left arm. I have the same basic thing on my back only mine's the size of a truck 'cause it covers my whole back. And she's got this kind of cool cross with a skull on her right arm that has our wedding anniversary on it in roman numerals -- that's on the album -- so that's pretty cool.
AL: In keeping with the Caribbean theme, I understand there's some proverbial sunken treasure over there in the form of album that you guys recorded but never released.
JG: Oh boy! We were not in the Caribbean when that happened. That was about thirteen years ago because Lita was actually pregnant with our first boy James. You want to talk about a funny sight? [laughs] This music was as heavy as hell and we'd be in rehearsals and she's got these goddamned pink pig slippers on and her belly's sticking out and she's playing these Metallica type riffs with her guitar sticking up at an angle because her belly's in the way - that was amazing! It was some good stuff. We may let it out one day. I don't know if we'll actually put it out or just put it on a website or something and let people check it out for free.
AL: It's a shame YouTube wasn't around then. I'd have loved to have seen a pregnant Lita rockin' it in her pink fuzzy pig slippers.
JG: I'm kind of weird, but it made me horny. Her little pregnant fat belly sticking out, her pink slippers, playing [sings heavy guitar riff]. It was very strange.
AL: I understand there was quite a sexual undercurrent to this album too? What was the inspiration behind the music you did together?
LF: The music we did together isn't something that we had planned. It's not like we had 15 years worth of music sitting around. It was literally a spur of the moment idea and we really didn't know where we were going with it until we started going. It's pretty much about us, about our family, about our sex life, our love life, our hate life, pleasure, pain...
JG: ...Bondage.
LF: It's about us, our own personal wicked wonderland.
JG: Yeah, our marriage is very, very, very - did I say very? - sexual. We have a belief: Great, adventurous, crazy sex every single day, keeps the divorce lawyer away.
AL: So when you were writing the album together what was the process?
JG: We'd come into my office and crack open a bottle of champagne and literally kind of compare notes from the last night's sexual escapades.
AL: Do you care to share an example of that in a song?
JG: "Push." Whenever she's ready to pop she says, "Push." We literally tuned the "push, push" into a song. It's kind of the way she does it in the chorus and it's called "Push."
AL: Lita, I understand one of your favorite tracks on Wicked Wonderland is "Sacred."
LF: Jim wrote that song for me and I adore the song. It's close to me, it's close to my heart.
AL: So who wrote most of the lyrics on Wicked Wonderland?
JG: Most of the lyrics I wrote, and she would sit there and say, "I didn't say that." And I'd say, "Bullshit, you said it last night." It's kind of weird, because we didn't mean, in the beginning, for it to be so personal. We just started writing and it was very sexual. It was about us, it was about our experiences together. After about two songs we kind of thought, "Gee, should we do this? Should we be this open and let everyone into our bedrooms like this?" People, they know exactly what we do now. And we thought, "You know what? Let's do it. Because it's real, it's from the heart. This is what we're feeling, this is what we're writing, so let's just go with it."
AL: You seem like a very open family anyway. I mean you have The Gillettes: Family Business comic which is based on your family.
LF: Yeah. My kids get to beat up zombies and be superheroes. It's pretty cool.
AL: So it's seems like you're not afraid to share your family and personal life with the world.
JG: That's just happened with all this. I mean for a while there we weren't even on the planet. I mean we were gone -- nobody knew where we were. We could have told you where we were and you couldn't have found us, it's that remote where we are. We just kind of decided, coming back, it kind of started with the lyrics honestly. It was like this is who we are, this is what we're about, this is what we dig and this is where our heart is, so lets just go for it. And doing that we decided if we can let people into our bedroom and know what kind of frickin dildos we use, know that I like to go down on my wife's toes, all this weird fetish stuff, if we're going to talk about that why not let them see our kids. After that it's kind of wide open. The gloves are off at that point you know.
AL: I'm seeing a reality TV show - The Osbournes meets Survivor.
JG: We've been approached a few times for reality TV.
AL: And you're not tempted?
JG: We're tempted but we want to control it. We're the management company, we're the record company for this. We wrote the songs with a friend. We produced the album with a friend. We're not going to let somebody take six weeks worth of filming and make it look like whatever they want it to look like -- they're notorious for that. We want control of the editing. If we do a reality show we want it to be what a reality show is supposed to be, to really show the real picture. We're not going to let me and Lita get into an argument and let them run that every goddamned week, you know? Out of six weeks of filming we argued once so they try and make it look like we're at each other's throats every day. We're not going to do that. We're not going that way. They can do that with other people.
LF: Yeah. So far we have been offered a few things and we're just not, actually I'm not ready for it yet. Of course if a deal comes across that we absolutely can't refuse, have to have, of course, you know, we're going to jump on it. But, as of now, we have the comic book, we have the Xbox game, we've got this wonderful album coming out, we haven't even made a video yet. We've just got so much going on, so many irons in the fire, so to speak, that we don't need it right now. I think in time, when it's the right time and place, the right offer comes around, of course we're going to dive on it.
JG: We've got a very different family. If you see us we're very strange. You know what Lita looks like, I'm 280 pounds, covered in tattoos. I've got a Mohawk, our kids have Mohawks, our kids have been learning to kill people since they were 2-years old.
AL: You're all into martial arts which makes the manga comic very fitting.
JG: Yeah, well the kids grew up with the Gracie family and the Valente family who created the UFC. I was a sparing partner with Royce Gracie -- he's a UFC legend. We've got videos of our kids doing triangle chokes and arm bars when they were two years old.
AL: Talking of kicking ass, Lita's featured in the Brtal Legend game as Queen Lita, and you're a martial arts family, so she's probably one of the few characters in the cast that can kick ass as hard in real life as in the game.
LF: Oh, absolutely. There's no doubt about that man. You don't want to tangle with these guys. Holy crap! They're really good. My 8-year old could literally put a grown man to sleep.
AL: What do you love about your Brtal Legend character?
LF: Oh she's very sexy and she gets to ride a beast. I am an animal lover, so she gets to ride her own beast, which I think is just awesome. I'm the only one in the game that has a pet.
AL: And you have a Wicked Wonderland track, "Betrayal," in Brtal Legend?
LF: Correct. That track was written specifically for the game. It didn't start being that way, but it turned out they were looking for material for the game and Jim through that up and said, "Hey! What about this one? Check this out." And they fell in love with it. We changed the lyrics and made the lyrics fit the game. It fits the game perfectly so it really worked out well.
AL: And now you're embarking on a tour with Queensrche?
JG: We're excited about that.
LF: That is bad to the bones. I mean how blessed: The Queen and Queensrche.
AL: And that's going to be a family affair again?
JG: Oh yeah. You get one Gillette, you get four of us.
AL: So what do you and the boys do on stage?
JG: I do a lot of singing and the boys stand behind me and run out and throw balloons at the crowd or squirt the crowd or bring bottled water or just come out and start rocking out. It's pretty cool.
LF: If you've heard the whole album in its entirety you'll hear Jim a lot on the album. He sings a lot of the background vocals, and does a lot with the production. He's just a huge part of this. I just couldn't imagine doing it without him.
AL: How would you describe the live show?
LF: We get on stage and we jam our asses off for as long as they'll allow it.
AL: I kind of feel sad for the girls that rock today. The way the music industry presents them, it's all very safe, pre-packaged and contrived. You're of a generation that actually got to rock -- and be seen to rock -- for real. It feels like the truly wild days of rock & roll are behind us. Do you feel like that at all?
LF: Not with me. I do understand what you're saying. I think the generation of kids these days is even more wild than our generation, or my generation, I just think it hasn't been brought out yet. Everything is all flowers and sunshine, and it's those kind of people that watch that stuff that I think are really dying for the vampire side of things. With me, I don't do flowers and sunshine. I don't even wear pink on stage. If I did I'd probably throw up. But I think if anybody's going to crack that ice, I think it's going to be me. So that's a good question. Maybe that's why I'm back for that reason.
AL: You're back and very much in control. The album's coming out on your own record label and you manage yourself. Obviously The Runaways were managed by Kim Fowley, and as a solo artist you were managed by Sharon Osbourne at one point. Both are notorious figures -- for very different reasons -- but what have you learnt from them that you've been able to take forward into your career now?
LF: Well Sharon is the one that I really have a lot of respect for. She's a wonderful business woman and she's taught me how to deal with people. There's certain people you want to stay in touch with, there's certain ways of handling somebody, because you're really in it for the long haul. It's not a one-night stand. It's a lifetime commitment. Sharon treats people with class and dignity, and if she doesn't like someone she's tell them flat out, "Go fuck yourself," and that's it, she's gone, you'll never see her again. She's been a good help and somebody to follow as far as that sort of thing goes. She's a class act definitely.
AL: So are the two of you still in touch?
LF: No. Not so much anymore. I'm off in the Caribbean and she's, I believe, living in California, so we don't speak too much anymore. I don't speak to anybody too much anymore actually. We live a very private life when we are home, and when we're out on the road, you know, all hell breaks lose. But when we're home, we stay to ourselves.
AL: You were quoted recently in Rolling Stone as saying you have nothing to do with the upcoming Runaways film. Has anything been done to rectify that situation? Has there been any outreach to you?
LF: There has been, but I didn't like it. I really don't care for Joan's management. I have a real problem with working with them. I don't want to work with them. I don't have to work with them. They insist on using me in this film. That's their business I suppose. I tried to take out the pieces that I absolutely despised and that's it.
I'm a public figure, so it's pretty hard for me to say no, you can't use me on that. They're going to do it anyway, and it's the law, as disgusting as that sounds. Like Angelina Joile is in The [National] Enquirer every five minutes. She has no say, she's like a piece of meat, she's a public figure, and so am I.
If they have respect for you, and hopefully they will enough that they'll listen to my requests and please take that piece out. And they did. Thank god they at least did that, and offered me a ridiculously low amount of money, which wasn't even worth accepting. I just thought this is just a joke. The only reason they're using me is to hopefully sell more tickets to their theater, and that's it, which I could really care less. If I were to do my version of The Runaways movie it would be about the music.
AL: Would you want to produce a documentary or book so that you're able to present your side of the story?
LF: Not yet. I'm really not interested in it. I've got bigger and better things going on right now. One of my old girlfriends who was the main producer on [Runaways documentary] Edgeplay, she wants to do a biography on Lita. I told her I thought that would be great and if anybody does it, you would be the person I would choose to do it. The problem is, I only have half of it. I don't have the ending. There's no ending.
For further information on all things Lita Ford go to litaxx.tv/lita/.
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I LOVE YOU LITA!!!!!!