The legendary Larry Tee first hit the mainstream radar when his group The Fans produced the B52s' hit single "Rock Lobster/52 Girls" back in Atlanta during the late '70s. He left the Sweet South for the Big Apple in the late '80s and went on to collaborate with RuPaul, co-writing "Supermodel (You Better Work)." In the early 2000s (a decade he calls the naughties) he coined the name electroclash to describe a burgeoning genre of music. He's a true pioneer of electronic-based music, turning club music inside out and upside down with the renowned Electroclash Festivals and his various NYC club parties Love Machine and Disco 2000. Larry Tee has produced artists such as Avenue D, Richie Rich, W.I.T., and Spalding Rockwell. He is also known for championing artists such as Peaches, Felix Da Housecat, Scissor Sisters, and Fischerspooner.
Last month Ultra Records blessed the U.S. with Larry Tee's sexiest release yet, Club Badd. Featuring collaborations with Princess Superstar, Jeffree Star, Perez Hilton, Amanda Lapore, Herv, Roxy Cottontail, and plenty more, Club Badd is a symphonic pleasure powerhouse. With songs like "Let's Make Nasty," "My Penis," My Pussy" and "Clap That Ass," Larry Tee is guaranteeing we all get a piece of the action at any party playing his cuts. Furthermore, seeing as Larry Tee has been sober since 1997, Club Badd proves you don't need drugs to be dirty -- all you need is his latest CD!
Read on to find out what Larry shares with SG, revealing his secret fondness for old country songs, what he thinks of black metal, and his beef with Mac.
Jaime Winters: Where are you now, Larry? Are you on the road?
Larry Tee: I'm in my car going to Phoenix.
JW: Oh, I used to live in Tempe.
LT: So, you lived near Phoenix?
JW: Yeah, totally.
LT: It should be fun tonight; I'm looking forward to it.
JW: It is fun there. You'll get a good crowd; a lot of people go to shows there.
LT: Oh good, I'm ready for them, gonna bring the smut to Phoenix. I'm gonna have them all over "My Penis."
JW: Oh yeah?
LT: Which is my new song. Oh Jaime, you have such a dirty mind. It's with Perez Hilton, and it's called "My Penis."
JW: I heard it on Club Badd. I like it; it's fun!
LT: You like "My Penis"?
JW: Well, I don't know if I like your penis, but I like your song, "My Penis."
LT: You have such a dirty mind, Jaime. They warned me about you.
I don't want everyone to have it just yet, you gotta hold back a little bit. They've gotta discover it with this album. Then they're like, "Damn, I like this Princess Superstar song, and this Roxy Cottontail song is hot. And then 'My Penis' -- Damn!" Actually, when I did this album I thought, "I want the sexiest workout tape, the funniest, most contemporary workout tape ever made."
JW: Is that your goal now?
LT: It's one of my goals. I think that's an admirable goal, to try to help America get back into shape.
JW: You know how there is this whole fad with stripper exercise?
LT: That is such a good tie-in!
JW: You need to market Club Badd as a cardio-polework soundtrack, and send it to all the stripper-cise studios. America's housewives need Club Badd, real bad.
LT: The stripper pole is such a metaphor for "My Penis." We do a video of strippers going up and down poles, to my horrible, nasty music -- that sounds irresistible -- and it's doing a community service because it's keeping people in shape.
JW: Exactly. And it's spicing up their love lives.
LT: Oh my god, it could totally be a romantic couples kind of theme going along with the exercise aspect.
JW: Yeah, like an educational video.
LT: I could sell it to porn shops, opening it up to a whole new audience.
JW: Definitely.
LT: With people like Jeffree Star, appealing to emo girls in the Midwest, and Perez Hilton who is the secretary for the gays of America, and Roxy Cottontail and Princess Superstar keeping the hipster dudes occupied; I don't think I really covered anything for pervs.
JW: Well, now you've found a way. See, I helped you.
LT: I'll tell you what, if it blows up Girls Gone Wild style I'll throw you a little something. It's funny, when I was getting ready to do this album I was thinking more Girls Gone Wild then I was thinking Tiesto or Paul Van Dyk mixed CDs, trying to sell it as a concept thing -- it's definitely gotta have much more of that Girls Gone Wild exercise feel to get it out there. If you just do an old school mix tape thing, nobody really remembers the songs. People say they like it, but they can't name one song off of a mix. I have to make something so sick everybody will have to remember every song.
I'm trying to do remixes with producers like Herv, Edu K., Blogula, and all the guys that are making the hot new beats right now. I'm letting them redo my songs after I've released them. Then I have the freshest sounding beats I could get with my new material, and I'm really happy with the way it turned out. I really do think it's glamtronically.
JW: I love how the music on Club Badd is hard hitting dance, but with just enough grimy noise to make it stand out more than average dance songs, and how lyrically it's really dirty but still fun with an element of facetiousness.
LT: It's totally not meant to be taken too seriously. I wanted to touch on all my favorite subjects at the same time. "Hipster Girl," for example, is a real song. I thought, here are these miserable girls that are so hot but they don't seem to have any fun, and they're always complaining, so I decided to do a song to them. With the latest "Supermodel," which, I originally did RuPaul's "Supermodel" in '92, I thought I should really do a song for Agyness Deyn, she's so hot. She has short hair, she's not gonna be a Sports Illustrated girl. There's a short-haired rock & roll model out there for a change. She's not like everybody else. So, I thought, let's celebrate her. You know, I like to work with everything. On this album I even did a song with a 7-year old girl. I don't know how people are gonna respond to her song being sandwiched between "My Pussy" and "My Penis." They're just gonna be like, "What is this girl talking about rice crispy treats in the middle of this album?"
JW: Right!
LT: So, I'm number 3 right now on the Hype Machine, which is this hipster thing that takes all the blogs and they take the most popular songs online. I did this mash-up of Carmina Burana and my song with the 7-year old girl ["I Love U"] and nobody picked up on it. At the same time Steve Aoki and MSTRKRFT were using it to open up their live shows, so MSTRKRFT sent me an edit with Ghostface Killah from Wu-Tang on it, so I posted that to see if people would pick up on it. Sure enough by putting MSTRKRFT and Ghostface Killah on it, it wound up number 3 on the Hype Machine. That's the hipster seal of approval. I'm finally hip!
JW: Larry, you've always been hip. You coined electroclash as a genre and have discovered a lot of amazing artists and have produced a lot of great bands.
LT: You know what I'm up to next? I'm thinking of starting a fight.
JW: What?
LT: Mac is using my trademark term electroclash in their launch program. They could use electro but they had to take my copyrighted term. Tell me, if I were to call my album iPod, don't you think Mac would come for me?
JW: I never thought of something like that becoming a legal issue. What are you going to do?
LT: I started looking for a lawyer that'll take it on, because I'm sure Mac has the bucks over there. I had my lawyer tell them I'm unpleased with them using the term and they were like, "Well, everybody uses the term, dude, so you're outta luck. " And I'm like, "Everybody uses the term iPod, dude. I should've called my new album iPod." If they were to come for me, it's just telling everybody they run over the little guy, that Mr. Little Electroclash can just get run over, even though he's helped so many artists get out into the mainstream.
JW: I love how you've done that. When you champion counterculture artists and you see them being well received into the mainstream, it's an accomplishment.
LT: They can get turned onto "My Penis."
JW: They can, and they gotta "Work It Out" [Licky].
LT: With this record, it's so much about me trying to introduce people to new sounds, new artists, and new music producers; it's not very far from what I do normally.
JW: Lately it seems like genres are merging. I love all music so I get really excited when I hear artists incorporating different styles.
LT: I'm with you. I'm really sick of the one sound all night long thing.
JW: It's one beat forever.
LT: I hate that. All that progressive house or minimal or trance or that big room tribal garbage, it's like, I can't imagine anyone I know that would really want to be subjected to that. When I DJ, and with my new album, I try to incorporate rock, like, with "Hipster Girl," and to incorporate rap and electro, whatever's out there, even some Brazilian beats, whatever is moving us at the moment; it's all in there. I did not include d n' b or polka.
JW: Why not? I love polka.
LT: I'm saving something for my next album.
JW: It's a little off subject, but, what do you think of black metal? I'm not into all of it, I'm pretty selective, but I just love the fast yet melodic soundscapes.
LT: Maybe I have to hear some black metal. It's a primal urge to hear something fast and loud. I can find something to love in every genre. My secret, coming from Georgia, I kinda like some old school country.
JW: I love old country. What's your favorite old country song?
LT: "'Til I Can Make It On My Own" by Tammy Wynette.
JW: That's a great song. Have you heard "Fist City" by Loretta Lynn?
LT: I love some of it, the ones that are trashy. Actually, most of the ones I found I like are produced by this one guy, that produced Charlie Rich, Tammy Wynette, and he produced George Jones and Tanya Tucker. They were all produced by this one genius guy and he made them sing about what they were really going through. It was just so raw. So, there's no country on my album, though, no black metal either. I hope that's OK.
JW: Of course that's OK. You can't include everything on one album.
LT: It's true. Someone could get a heart attack if they were working out to black metal.
JW: Can you imagine?
LT: Do you know that video where people are working out to that corny indie pop song, where they're on the conveyor belt? We're doing the black metal version of that video. There will be strippers in high heels running really fast to black metal.
JW: That would be so hilarious.
LT: I for one want to see that.
JW: You've done a lot of videos recently, right?
LT: Yeah, we did a "Licky" video with Princess Superstar. We did "I Love U" with Amanita. And, of course, the new Perez Hilton just went up. This guy in Australia did a whole cartoon about the Amanda Lepore one, so it looks like we're gonna do a new version of that.
JW: You've been releasing them all online. Are you going to put out a DVD?
LT: Not yet, but almost every song on the album has a video, so I think it's a no-brainer. I think the idea of a CD is old fashioned; it's dying. To really get it out to people you have to make it next generation so they can watch it on their iPhones or their little DVD player.
When I was on the plane and some dude next to me was laughing, staring at his crotch. I thought, "What is this dude doing?" Then I look down and see he has one of those mini players and he's watching a TV comedy on it. That's so how people are going to be getting my album.
Check LarryTee.com for Club Badd info and tour dates.
Last month Ultra Records blessed the U.S. with Larry Tee's sexiest release yet, Club Badd. Featuring collaborations with Princess Superstar, Jeffree Star, Perez Hilton, Amanda Lapore, Herv, Roxy Cottontail, and plenty more, Club Badd is a symphonic pleasure powerhouse. With songs like "Let's Make Nasty," "My Penis," My Pussy" and "Clap That Ass," Larry Tee is guaranteeing we all get a piece of the action at any party playing his cuts. Furthermore, seeing as Larry Tee has been sober since 1997, Club Badd proves you don't need drugs to be dirty -- all you need is his latest CD!
Read on to find out what Larry shares with SG, revealing his secret fondness for old country songs, what he thinks of black metal, and his beef with Mac.
Jaime Winters: Where are you now, Larry? Are you on the road?
Larry Tee: I'm in my car going to Phoenix.
JW: Oh, I used to live in Tempe.
LT: So, you lived near Phoenix?
JW: Yeah, totally.
LT: It should be fun tonight; I'm looking forward to it.
JW: It is fun there. You'll get a good crowd; a lot of people go to shows there.
LT: Oh good, I'm ready for them, gonna bring the smut to Phoenix. I'm gonna have them all over "My Penis."
JW: Oh yeah?
LT: Which is my new song. Oh Jaime, you have such a dirty mind. It's with Perez Hilton, and it's called "My Penis."
JW: I heard it on Club Badd. I like it; it's fun!
LT: You like "My Penis"?
JW: Well, I don't know if I like your penis, but I like your song, "My Penis."
LT: You have such a dirty mind, Jaime. They warned me about you.
I don't want everyone to have it just yet, you gotta hold back a little bit. They've gotta discover it with this album. Then they're like, "Damn, I like this Princess Superstar song, and this Roxy Cottontail song is hot. And then 'My Penis' -- Damn!" Actually, when I did this album I thought, "I want the sexiest workout tape, the funniest, most contemporary workout tape ever made."
JW: Is that your goal now?
LT: It's one of my goals. I think that's an admirable goal, to try to help America get back into shape.
JW: You know how there is this whole fad with stripper exercise?
LT: That is such a good tie-in!
JW: You need to market Club Badd as a cardio-polework soundtrack, and send it to all the stripper-cise studios. America's housewives need Club Badd, real bad.
LT: The stripper pole is such a metaphor for "My Penis." We do a video of strippers going up and down poles, to my horrible, nasty music -- that sounds irresistible -- and it's doing a community service because it's keeping people in shape.
JW: Exactly. And it's spicing up their love lives.
LT: Oh my god, it could totally be a romantic couples kind of theme going along with the exercise aspect.
JW: Yeah, like an educational video.
LT: I could sell it to porn shops, opening it up to a whole new audience.
JW: Definitely.
LT: With people like Jeffree Star, appealing to emo girls in the Midwest, and Perez Hilton who is the secretary for the gays of America, and Roxy Cottontail and Princess Superstar keeping the hipster dudes occupied; I don't think I really covered anything for pervs.
JW: Well, now you've found a way. See, I helped you.
LT: I'll tell you what, if it blows up Girls Gone Wild style I'll throw you a little something. It's funny, when I was getting ready to do this album I was thinking more Girls Gone Wild then I was thinking Tiesto or Paul Van Dyk mixed CDs, trying to sell it as a concept thing -- it's definitely gotta have much more of that Girls Gone Wild exercise feel to get it out there. If you just do an old school mix tape thing, nobody really remembers the songs. People say they like it, but they can't name one song off of a mix. I have to make something so sick everybody will have to remember every song.
I'm trying to do remixes with producers like Herv, Edu K., Blogula, and all the guys that are making the hot new beats right now. I'm letting them redo my songs after I've released them. Then I have the freshest sounding beats I could get with my new material, and I'm really happy with the way it turned out. I really do think it's glamtronically.
JW: I love how the music on Club Badd is hard hitting dance, but with just enough grimy noise to make it stand out more than average dance songs, and how lyrically it's really dirty but still fun with an element of facetiousness.
LT: It's totally not meant to be taken too seriously. I wanted to touch on all my favorite subjects at the same time. "Hipster Girl," for example, is a real song. I thought, here are these miserable girls that are so hot but they don't seem to have any fun, and they're always complaining, so I decided to do a song to them. With the latest "Supermodel," which, I originally did RuPaul's "Supermodel" in '92, I thought I should really do a song for Agyness Deyn, she's so hot. She has short hair, she's not gonna be a Sports Illustrated girl. There's a short-haired rock & roll model out there for a change. She's not like everybody else. So, I thought, let's celebrate her. You know, I like to work with everything. On this album I even did a song with a 7-year old girl. I don't know how people are gonna respond to her song being sandwiched between "My Pussy" and "My Penis." They're just gonna be like, "What is this girl talking about rice crispy treats in the middle of this album?"
JW: Right!
LT: So, I'm number 3 right now on the Hype Machine, which is this hipster thing that takes all the blogs and they take the most popular songs online. I did this mash-up of Carmina Burana and my song with the 7-year old girl ["I Love U"] and nobody picked up on it. At the same time Steve Aoki and MSTRKRFT were using it to open up their live shows, so MSTRKRFT sent me an edit with Ghostface Killah from Wu-Tang on it, so I posted that to see if people would pick up on it. Sure enough by putting MSTRKRFT and Ghostface Killah on it, it wound up number 3 on the Hype Machine. That's the hipster seal of approval. I'm finally hip!
JW: Larry, you've always been hip. You coined electroclash as a genre and have discovered a lot of amazing artists and have produced a lot of great bands.
LT: You know what I'm up to next? I'm thinking of starting a fight.
JW: What?
LT: Mac is using my trademark term electroclash in their launch program. They could use electro but they had to take my copyrighted term. Tell me, if I were to call my album iPod, don't you think Mac would come for me?
JW: I never thought of something like that becoming a legal issue. What are you going to do?
LT: I started looking for a lawyer that'll take it on, because I'm sure Mac has the bucks over there. I had my lawyer tell them I'm unpleased with them using the term and they were like, "Well, everybody uses the term, dude, so you're outta luck. " And I'm like, "Everybody uses the term iPod, dude. I should've called my new album iPod." If they were to come for me, it's just telling everybody they run over the little guy, that Mr. Little Electroclash can just get run over, even though he's helped so many artists get out into the mainstream.
JW: I love how you've done that. When you champion counterculture artists and you see them being well received into the mainstream, it's an accomplishment.
LT: They can get turned onto "My Penis."
JW: They can, and they gotta "Work It Out" [Licky].
LT: With this record, it's so much about me trying to introduce people to new sounds, new artists, and new music producers; it's not very far from what I do normally.
JW: Lately it seems like genres are merging. I love all music so I get really excited when I hear artists incorporating different styles.
LT: I'm with you. I'm really sick of the one sound all night long thing.
JW: It's one beat forever.
LT: I hate that. All that progressive house or minimal or trance or that big room tribal garbage, it's like, I can't imagine anyone I know that would really want to be subjected to that. When I DJ, and with my new album, I try to incorporate rock, like, with "Hipster Girl," and to incorporate rap and electro, whatever's out there, even some Brazilian beats, whatever is moving us at the moment; it's all in there. I did not include d n' b or polka.
JW: Why not? I love polka.
LT: I'm saving something for my next album.
JW: It's a little off subject, but, what do you think of black metal? I'm not into all of it, I'm pretty selective, but I just love the fast yet melodic soundscapes.
LT: Maybe I have to hear some black metal. It's a primal urge to hear something fast and loud. I can find something to love in every genre. My secret, coming from Georgia, I kinda like some old school country.
JW: I love old country. What's your favorite old country song?
LT: "'Til I Can Make It On My Own" by Tammy Wynette.
JW: That's a great song. Have you heard "Fist City" by Loretta Lynn?
LT: I love some of it, the ones that are trashy. Actually, most of the ones I found I like are produced by this one guy, that produced Charlie Rich, Tammy Wynette, and he produced George Jones and Tanya Tucker. They were all produced by this one genius guy and he made them sing about what they were really going through. It was just so raw. So, there's no country on my album, though, no black metal either. I hope that's OK.
JW: Of course that's OK. You can't include everything on one album.
LT: It's true. Someone could get a heart attack if they were working out to black metal.
JW: Can you imagine?
LT: Do you know that video where people are working out to that corny indie pop song, where they're on the conveyor belt? We're doing the black metal version of that video. There will be strippers in high heels running really fast to black metal.
JW: That would be so hilarious.
LT: I for one want to see that.
JW: You've done a lot of videos recently, right?
LT: Yeah, we did a "Licky" video with Princess Superstar. We did "I Love U" with Amanita. And, of course, the new Perez Hilton just went up. This guy in Australia did a whole cartoon about the Amanda Lepore one, so it looks like we're gonna do a new version of that.
JW: You've been releasing them all online. Are you going to put out a DVD?
LT: Not yet, but almost every song on the album has a video, so I think it's a no-brainer. I think the idea of a CD is old fashioned; it's dying. To really get it out to people you have to make it next generation so they can watch it on their iPhones or their little DVD player.
When I was on the plane and some dude next to me was laughing, staring at his crotch. I thought, "What is this dude doing?" Then I look down and see he has one of those mini players and he's watching a TV comedy on it. That's so how people are going to be getting my album.
Check LarryTee.com for Club Badd info and tour dates.
I hope he wins his legal case!