Don't look for a lot of news from Marilyn Manson, even though his new album "Born Villain" will be released the same day as his Tuesday D.C.-area show.
One can only guess at the reason for his silence, which publicists say he likely won't be breaking anytime soon, except for a simple public statement.
"The new record put simply has the same ambition and determination of how I started making music in the first place," said Manson in a press statement in advance of his first tour and album since 2009. "It sounds like the first record in that it's not afraid to do anything. I had to remove myself from my lifestyle and start fresh."
| Onstage |
| Marilyn Manson |
| When: 8 p.m. Tuesday |
| Where: The Fillmore, 8656 Colesville Road, Silver Spring |
| Details: $49.50; 301-960-9999; fillmoresilverspring.com |
That's a fair point. Manson has had his share of sold-out tours, awards and record sales totaling 50 million. At the same time, he's also been embroiled in legal battles, protests and nasty press dust-ups.
And for a guy who has made no secret of his shyness and fear of emotional pain, that truly is a sad saga.
In what seems an effort to back away from all of the attention, the Grammy Award nominee has released little about his new album, even by way of press photos and details.
One of the few facts known is that Johnny Depp, a long-time friend of the rocker, joins him in a rendition of the Carly Simon song "You're So Vain," on the new record, according to Rolling Stone magazine.
The target of that cover version is anyone's guess and could well be journalists. Manson declared something of verbal war on the press about the time his last album "The High End of Low" was released in 2009, when he dared "you all to write one more thing that you won't say to my face."
That battle with the press is a shame for many reasons, one of which is that Manson's fight-back stance added to his shock-rock Goth fame and overshadowed his music, which -- when one wipes away the profanity and inflammatory statements -- is truly worthy of any and all accolades it received, and arguably many it did not.
"He lives in Halloween town," Evan Rachel Wood told YRB magazine a few years ago about her long-time love. "But he's also passionate and tortured and he's romantic and he just wants to make something beautiful."
Perhaps the public exile will give him that chance.
