MORE BREAKING NEWS!!!
Exclusive interview with Boba Fett where he opens up about TransImperial, his unique connection with the force, and the infamous Sarlaac incident.
==For Immediate Release==
Eddie Trunk Interview with TransImperial Drummer Boba Fett Portnoy
With the upcoming release of this super groups latest effort, Eddie Trunk took a few minutes to sit down with Boba Fett Portnoy recently to discuss the project, his musical future, and Wookies.
Eddie Trunk: So, how did this thing come to pass? Who got the ball rolling on this latest project?
BFP: Well as you know, I’m pretty much a gun for hire when I’m not running Dream Theater. I mean if you have a band, and some drums, and need a guy to …you know, play those drums, well then I’m your guy. But anyway, Vader called me up, and you know, since he’s come back to the force, he’s totally changed. No more of that dark side stuff for him anymore, but I guess he’s still under contract to finish a piece about that Death Star project he was involved in, and he was really into the dark side back then, and he’d drawn on that experience to write some amazing lyrical stuff. Besides that, Pete really needed the money.
Eddie Trunk: The last time out you guys went to some really obscure galaxies to perform live. Will you follow that same pattern this time around, and how far do you plan to travel if you tour?
BFP: [interrupting] We’ll definitely tour, and we’re planning to play closer to home this go around. In fact, there are an unusually high number of fans that we’ve discovered in the state of Montana, so we’ll start the tour there. We’re still working on confirming dates, but we’ll be hitting Montana for sure, then probably New York, then maybe Portugal. I’m not sure yet.
Eddie Trunk: You’ve been in the game for how long, 20-odd years? What do you attribute that too?
BFP: It’s been over a quarter of a century, man. I’ve said this before, but it’s kind of weird because now it’s kind of becoming in fashion to play progressive, everyone from Mastodon, to Mars Volta, to Tool, they all have long songs. It’s kind of become cool to play your instruments and have these long songs, so now it’s a little scary, because it becomes fashionable, but it isn’t my thing to be fashionable. I’d also say coffee helps, as does being Mandalorian, and as you know we’re known for our patience and cunning.
Eddie Trunk: So, what do you have planned for the future?
BFP: Well after the record comes out and we tour, I think I’m gonna do some more side projects. I've always been a fan of Max Rebo after seeing some of the stuff he did at Jabba's palace. I remember one of the first concerts I wanted to go to after I met John Petrucci was when he and I camped out overnight in front of Jabba's place for tickets. It was insane. The line wrapped all the way around the place, and even though it was winter, it was still like 100 degrees out! The frustrating thing was, Lando ended up getting the last ticket, so we got turned away and didn't even get in. Really made me mad because the gig was part of a "costume party" thing and as far as I'm concerned, Lando shouldn't have even qualified. I mean, seriously, did anybody not know it was him? Come on! Anyway, we didn't get in, but some dude named Watto was out in the alley out back scalping Zappa tickets, so we went to that instead.
I’ve also always wanted to do a series of jazz records that all revolve around the theme of a film. I’ve been working on developing a CD about the film “Apocalypse Now”, and another one about the film “The French Connection”, and I’ve been tossing around a concept idea about that is loosely based on the film “The Hunter”, the one that had Steve McQueen in it. I think that would be bad-assed because it’s about a Bounty Hunter, ya know? I’ve been trying to get the band to do some of this stuff for a long time, but JP and Jordan both think it’s too boring to play jazz, and John Myung just gives me a mean stare every time I bring it up, and frankly he scares me sometimes. These guys in TransImperial don’t want to do it either, so I’m gonna work with Winton Marsalis’ band and see what happens. Something else I’ve been working on lately is I called Figrin D'an and he’s got the Modal Nodes back together, and we’re working on a cd of standard high school choir songs, set to progressive metal. So far, we have completed “Oklahoma”, “My Favorite Things”, “Love Story”, “Hello, Hello”, and “You Gotta Sing”. We’re gonna work on “America” from West Side Story next. I mean there is nothing like the chorus of that song done in 142/8. It’s gonna melt your face off when you hear it. I’m heading to Mos Eisley next week for a few days to work out the drum parts. We've booked the Cantina Band to lay down some sick horn section stuff as well.
Eddie Trunk: That sounds awesome.
BFP: Yeah.
Eddie Trunk: So what’s going on with the Wookies lately? I notice you’re not wearing any Wookie scalps anymore.
BFP: Ya know, I’m trying to be more politically correct and grow up I guess. I mean I’ve even had a wookie work for me for years now. Don’t get me wrong, I still don’t think they have ANY musical talent whatsoever, but I don’t feel the need to collect scalps or anything anymore. I figure “live and let live” ya know? I mean no one is any good to anyone if their dead, right? Besides after that whole “Solo in the cargo hold” thing, I needed to mello out, and once I got rid of a lot of the self-destructive things that were going on in my life, I really didn’t hate wookies so much anymore. I didn’t get along with that Chewie guy who hung out with Solo at all. I used to catch that guy chewing on my drum sticks all the time! Can you believe that? What kind of moron just destroys someone else’s property like that? That’s how he got his nickname, “Chewie”. Everybody thinks it’s because his name was Chewbacca, but it’s because the big idiot used to chew on stuff all the time. Like I said, they suck musically, but I don’t hate anybody.
Eddie Trunk: So, wait a minute, the thing with Solo was because...?
BFP: Let's just say things got a little "out of hand" at Jabba's place one night. People can tell you what happened; Especially Solo. We were all just sort of goofing around. It was Jabba’s idea. We were all getting a bit crazy, and Jabba made a dare, and I was like, "no," and he was was like, "well then, I double-dog dare you," and, y'know, what are you supposed to say to that? Things got out of control. It was all a big misunderstanding. Most people don’t realize we worked that whole thing out the next day, and he thought it was actually pretty funny.
Eddie Trunk: So did he really knock you into the sarlacc ?
BFP: No way! I jumped into the sarlacc. We were all in on it. Even the sarlacc! It had to be, everybody knows no one has ever escaped a sarlacc. Not for real anyway. It was a long night, and I just wanted to go crash, so we staged the whole thing. I mean, look at the clip--you can tell I jumped in if you look close enough. I still could have gotten hurt I guess. That’s why I’m glad I made the changes in my life that I did, but man we had some wild times back then.
Eddie Trunk: It was great seeing you again, good luck with all the projects, and thanks for stopping by.
BFP: No problem Eddie, you know I just live down the street, so it wasn’t like I had to come to New Jersey for the interview or anything. I was already here.