LL:  What is it like working with Combichrist from Norway?  I bet you speak in fluent Norwegian swear words. 

JL:  It’s interesting in a way that it’s not a band in a traditional sense, 
there is a keyboard player, a singer, and 2 drummers.  We never rehearse
before a tour, as a matter of fact, the first time I ever played with them
was in front of 600 people in Connecticut.  I had just learned the songs on
my own and got on stage and rocked it.   My singer is very cool in a way
that he knows John (the other drummer) and I are good enough at what we do
to be tasteful about what we add to the music and he trusts us.  When you
feel freedom like that in a band it makes for a very comfortable and
creative situation and that is what is most inspiring to me about this
band.  I find myself pushing myself every night to try new things while on
tour, and the songs have really evolved into new ones because  of this
freedom.   I’ve been in bands before where some dude in the band wants to
here the same exact drum fill in the same exact spot every single night or
he gets pissed.  It takes the excitement out of it for me.  I’d rather be
more of a human than a robot, and it’s funny that now I am playing in the
MOST electronically based band I have ever played in and I have the most
creative freedom of any band that I’ve played in.
 
LL:  I have seen a ton of drummers and I must admit I have never seen anyone perform like you.  The first time I saw you play all I could think was wow, now that is a drummer.  I have never been so impressed by anyone behind a drum kit.  How long did it take to perfect your technique? 

JL:  I’ve hardly perfected my technique, but thanks for the compliment.!!!!! Its an
ongoing process.  The people who think that they've perfected what they do
are the people that don't get any better than they already are, and I
definitely have a long way to go before I’m satisfied with my playing on that
kind of level.

LL:  When do you plan on reuniting with Wham?  I have been dying for a reunion.  What gives George? 

JL:  Well, George is in jail right now for touching another man cop, I think. 
Either that or I think someone exposed his underground exotic fur smuggling
business.  I don’t think he'll be out for some time but don’t sweat it cause I
know Erasure is one man down and I’m thinking about stepping up to the plate
for that one. HI V(five)!

LL:  What drummers out there now are you digging?   Shannon Leto from 30 Seconds to Mars is one of my other favorites.
JL:  I've never actually seen Shannon Leto perform, but I loved his brother’s work
on My So-Called Life.  One time, I was at the Limelight in NYC and Claire
Danes was standing behind me in line for the bathroom (it was uni-sex) and
someone cut her and I stuck up for her. Twenty minutes later this friend of
mine threw up neon pink all over these white pants  I was wearing. As far as
drummers go, my favorites are.. Shannon Larkin (Amen/Godsmack), Jamie
Miller (Snot),  Dave Grohl, Josh Freese (although I felt that Jerome Dillon
was better suited for nine inch nails). Oh, and the dude from Clutch.

LL:  Is Combichrist coming back to the US?  I would love to see you in this band.  The make-up is just so stunning. 

JL:  We are currently announcing dates for the North American tour, set to begin
on August 1st and run through the middle of September.  I think some of the
dates are up on combichrist.com.
 
LL:  How hard is it to buy clothes since you are about 7 feet tall and have a runway model’s body?  I don’t have to worry about that since the only person I have ever been taller than is the little person, Michael Anderson, from Twin Peaks.

JL:  I’ve always had a problem with this cause if you are tall and have to get a
long length guys pants that usually means that you also have a big ass.  I
guess cause the pants like this always look ridiculous on me but sometime
within the past year or so girls pants began being sold in long lengths so I
can grab like a size 8 long and rock em like Dokken.  I currently own 4
pairs of pants and they are from levis, gap and old navy, weird.   I don’t
own that many clothes and I have this habit (some may say a bad one but I
don’t believe so) where I’ll wear the same pair of pants for months at a time
before I feel they are dirty enough to change.  I don’t think it matters that
much cause I change my underwear every day and I’m not a dirty eater.  I’ll
wear the same pair of pants on a whole 2 month tour and change my t-shirt
like 3 times.  I don’t expect any females to understand this about me.  My
wife owns about three thousand pairs of shoes and has been known to change
them up to twelve times a day, just like Michael Jackson in a 2 hour live
performance.  This is something that I just don't get, but I know it makes
her happy, so I just go with the flow yo.

LL:  Did you have fun playing with Trashlight Vision for a bit?  I can only imagine the unstoppable energy that was created.  You don’t have an off switch and neither do Acey, Steve and Roger when they hit that stage.

JL:  I absolutely loved this.  It’s been a while since I’ve been in a creative
situation such as this one.  We wrote a few songs together that rocked and
played a sick show that lasted 30 minutes but felt like 5 minutes,  that’s
when you know it’s a good show, when it doesn’t drag.  It was a rough one too
cause I had the flu, so I think in the like 3rd song I almost ate shit, but
I kept going and during the last song Acey jumped on my drums and I  stabbed
him in the back of his throat with a stick.  He doesn’t remember though, he
didn’t feel it.  I think he is Robo-cop.

LL:   What tattoo hurt the most and why the flying penis on your leg?  Only you can pull that one off without making it look weird. 
JL:  The word SICK on my stomach was definitely the most painful.  I got the
outline done when I was 17 and within a few hours after, my body went into
shock and I just started puking and had diarrhea for like 2 weeks, yummy! 
As far as the penis on my leg, I was hanging out at my friends tattoo shop
looking through some girls art and she had a painting of the penis.  I
commented on how cool it was and she was like, you wanna buy the painting, and
I’m like, “FUCK NO I WANT IT TATTOOED ON MY LEG.”  I figure when I’m like 85
and I hang out in the deli and drink beers and scratch off lottery tickets
and talk to little kids about my life, that they will refer to me as "old
dick leg", so that I’m pretty excited about.

LL:  What is the most amusing thing that has ever happened to you on tour?

JL:  So many, one of  my faves was a joke that the band Mortiis played on me
in Baltimore.  They toured with me while in Genitorturers.  I walked on
stage to start the set and when the lights came on just as I was about to
start playing I noticed that someone had taped all this obnoxious gay porn
to all my drums and cymbals.  There was so much off it, I was cracking up
and I looked around the room to try and figure out who had done it and I see
them all at their merch booth in the back of the room goin nuts about it. 
It was great.  Every time I had a few seconds I would take one of the
pictures off my drums and stick it to  the wall behind me and by the time I
had played 4 songs I had like 15 pages of gay porn hanging all around my
head.
Another fave is this one time when I drew up my best friend/drum tech bobby.
It was the first tour I had done with him, and he broke a golden rule.  He
fell asleep in the front lounge on the bus with his shoes on and for
those of you who don’t know, when that happens, anything goes.  I found a
marker and drew penises all over his face and a Hitler mustache. My light
guy wrote really big on his back "THIS WILL NOT BE EASY TO GET OFF", which
wound up rubbing off on the leather interior of the bus (which I think we
had to pay for).  Then I took a few pictures of my penis on his face and
went to bed.   Apparently, he woke up a few hours later and looked in the
mirror in the bathroom and when he realized what had happened to him, he lost
it and found some lipstick and graffiti the bus up and broke all this
shit.   He washed all the marker off the best he could and kind of looked
like a smurf cause it was a blue sharpie and it wouldn’t  come all the way
off.... then, in an effort to demonstrate his disgust for what had happened
to him he tried to write really big NIGGER on his forehead, knowing he would
refuse to remove it all day while working  and continued to act  miserable
to every single person he came into contact  with….. fans, promoters,
security,  every time someone asked him a question he would just go, I’M A
NIGGER.  The funny part of that was he was drunk when he wrote it , so it
came out half backwards and said NIPPET... I waited over a year to tell him
that it was my penis on his face  in the picture he saw the next day.  If I
didn’t I don’t think I’d be alive right now.
 
 
LL:  Do you have any advice for all the future drummers out there? 

JL:  Hmm... don’t smoke (even though I do sometimes), it makes you play like half as
good and have half the endurance that you are capable of.
Don’t hit like a pussy.... but listen to gay music.   Don’t play sports
cause jocks are fags.

It is impossible not to be happy around this pink ray of sunshine.  I can honestly say that the world is a better place because of him.  Do not miss Combichrist when they hit your town because you may just see ALL of Joey Letz!!!