The Magnificent Others with Billy Corgan - Yungblud | The Magnificent Others with Billy Corgan

Episode Date: October 1, 2025

Billy Corgan sits down with Yungblud (Dom Harrison) at a pivotal career moment to unpack one of the rarest moves in music: crossing over from pop to rock and making it stick. From storming America’s legendary stages like the Fillmore and Palladium to earning Ozzy & Sharon Osbourne’s blessing in Birmingham, Yungblud reflects on why authenticity can’t be faked, why community matters more than clout, and how rock is finding new life with a new generation. The conversation goes deep into the cultural divide between UK and US audiences, the vision behind his IDOLS era, and his bold choice to re-record the album live at Berlin’s Hansa Studios (home to Bowie, Iggy Pop, U2, Depeche Mode) and his explosive collaboration with Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler and Joe Perry.    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

I remember going up home and going, look at this, it is time. It hit me in the face like a comet, right in my, right in my, in between my eyes. You can sing pop, you can sing a ballad, and that crowd will go with you. I want my voice to be the leader. I want my sense of imagination to be limitless. And I want to put rock music at the forefront of my brand and my idea, because it's what I've grown up with. The moment that you're in is so rare.

It probably, I know you know it's rare, but you don't realize how rare it is. Dom, thank you for being on my show. Let me start here. That keeps grabbing me. I'm so excited to be here, man. Long overdue, I think. But let me start here.

Okay. I hate doing interviews over Zoom. So I've only done two. Hold on. Hold on. I've only done two. One was Sam Moore of the great Sam and Dave, Soul Group because he was 89 years old, you know, couldn't get on a plane. And you,

because I can't pin you down because you're moving like a comet across the sky at the moment. It's wild, man. Honestly, I really appreciate it because I'm in Detroit at a minute. And I was literally just like, ah, I've got to do this. I've got to do this with Billy, man. Please, let's just like try and get into a remote. So I appreciate it. So normally, I don't know if you've seen my interviews, I like to do like a deeper dive, like, every, from childhood, family, everything. So I feel like this isn't the right way to do it, but I want to do is what I would call like a heat check

because you're at a very interesting moment of your musical and personal life. So it's more like a drop in, like let's just kind of see where you are. And the idea here would be, if we look at this in 20 years, we'll see which one of us was more right about where you end up. I know. It's been so funny with you because I almost see you as like Gandalf, for me because you've made comments about where I'm at,

And then it kind of like happens. I'm like, I'm going to second, like Gandalf or Yoda. You know what I mean? I like Gandalf better. All right, fat deal. Okay. So we'll just jig and jog around. Nothing too serious today.

We'll save that for another time. But so you got idols out. You're out on the Idles World Tour, which, by the way, very unique name, Idol's album, Idols World Tour. Yeah. Wild. That's one of those ones like nobody sat and thought, like idols,

idols world tour. Yeah, it's, it's been such a strange. I don't know, it's almost been like a manifestation to what has happened within this album and this tour.

I think like I made a, an album, really about reclaiming oneself and, and, and really doing what I wanted. You know, I think,

I think, I really work home. Like it's working. Huh? And it works. Yeah. Yeah. And it works.

Yeah. Honestly, I think it's so great. It was so it was so serendipitous that we're doing this because I really remember feeling quite a crossroads in my life when I hit 27. And I really, Idles was an album that I've been envisioning since I was 22 years old, you know? And I really remember seeing you say something about me

on the Ali Hagendorf podcast. I remember you talking about my voice. And honestly, you were such a massive part of that turning point because I think when you, I don't know, I think when you like look at your idols like someone like you to me, I think kind of when you know them on a personal level and when they talk about you, you have kind of, before that you have no point of reference.

All you have is yourself, your friends, your record company, the people around you. But when you hear someone you look up to and an idol you look up to go like, I think it's time for him to sing, and I think it's time for him to do a rock album. I think it's time for him to lean into really what he wants to do because I see this thing,

but it's not quite linked up yet. I literally was like, oh, finally, I feel like I can really lean into what I was kind of super. I didn't know that, so I'm very touched that. 100%. I remember going up home and going,

look at this, it is time. It hit me in the face like a comet, right in my, right in between my eyes, because I think what's been interesting is I've been doing this since I was 18, and you never expect to, for people to even care at the start. You love it, you believe it, and then the whole world suddenly gets involved and has an opinion.

And for so long, people have been telling me to twist the idea of rock music instead of just really just go for it in its purest form that I fell in love with it with. And then good old Billy Corgan goes, I wish you just sing that. And then I'm like, and then, and then, and then I was like, ah, okay, let's, let's go. And I think this whole journey really, really has been so beautiful because I've, I've settled into the first iteration of what I believe I'll be doing for the rest of my life. Yeah, the music, the journeys I'll be taking to the rest of my life, you know. Yeah.

Well, that's what we call in the band of musicians timing, you see. So it's the right quote on the right day, you know. Yeah, wild. Hit me in the face. Well, I remember seeing you, let's call it Mach 1, you know, remember seeing a clip of you, maybe on the Jimmy Kimmel show or something. You're walking backstage and you were singing and you kind of came out to the crowd and the whole thing.

And I thought, okay, this guy can sing. But then to that point, all the marketing was very much, you know, typical pop. Yeah. At least what we would call pop here. I know the UK scene is slightly different. Yeah. Which is, and I don't mean this in any disrespectful way, I don't. know them, but, because I was at Virgin Records when Robbie Williams was signed to Virgin.

And Robbie was obviously a stadium act in the UK, but couldn't get arrested in America. And I remember having conversations with American record executives, because it was my record company, because they were curious for my opinion, why Robbie was having trouble getting traction in America. I said, the thing that helps Robbie work in the UK doesn't work in America. American, the American rock scene, like Robbie always kind of played with rock. There was even that video where you dressed up like Kiss or something. Like, you know, nothing disrespectful. I have a lot of respect for Robbie.

But you've got to come from the street in America with rock. You can't come top down like you can in the UK. You got to come up from the bottom up. 100%. Do you feel that now that you're finally getting that other traction in America? Yeah, I think what was so interesting about. that last record was, I think, my first album, I was 18, I was mad. Brexit had just happened in the UK.

The first time I got to vote and the whole basis of that campaign, young people would lie. I mean, the whole population was lied to. So me and my friends really felt misrepresented within music. You know, I think like I wrote an album, my first album, I was 18 years old about what me and my friends are talking about down the pub. And then that went absolutely bananas out of control more than I would ever expect. And I think then all these opinions

kind of come into play by people who didn't really get you at the beginning anyway. And I think when you kind of, the biggest thing, the biggest lesson I've kind of had to learn to navigate when I've reached this point in my life, going into idols, going into Blood Fest,

going into the next music is kind of me, like not taking no for an answer and being like, guys, like I ain't doing that or I'm not going to go and I don't want you to put me with a load of writers because you think they're going to give me this magical thing that you think that I need. When I think the most beautiful thing about kind of space and going home and listening to your peers

and listening to actual rock stars, who've written actual classics, who've sold actual records, It is kind of this sense of purity and this sense of truth of, I went home and I was like, what do I want to do? Even if it's the demise of everything, if it's the last stand,

if it's the last moment, what I want to be remembered by, oh, that was his last thing before he fell off the face of the earth. He died. You know what I mean? He went to open a guitar shop or whatever. You know what I'm saying? It's like,

and that was, I really went from a purist mentality with I. It's been like, okay, I want to create something that's going to elongate the imagination and almost reset me in a place where I want my voice to be the leader. I want my sense of imagination to be limitless. And I want to put rock music at the forefront of my brand and my idea because it's what I've grown up with. You know, I grew up in a guitar shop, my dad and my granddad are guitar shops. And the most beautiful thing about this album is it, it smells like, soft. Shouldering wire, Tolex, glue, and Marshalls are heated.

I'm saying. And I think, like, you can feel that. And it's so interesting, I would say to any artist, when you, it's always beautiful getting lost because when you, when you, if you can figure out your way back, you'll become more yourself than ever. You know, I think it's, it's, it's been cool because people can smell the truth. and I think that's why again people are starting to resonate

in a bigger level than just the Youngblood core with this album. Someone's like, oh wow, this feels like it's onto something here. Maybe it's not fully there yet, or that's cool. It's like, oh, it's always about the journey. It's always about the journey.

It's interesting because if you look at any artist's journey that you would respect, you usually can see a couple songs before the album where they really have the breakthrough. You kind of see the glimmer. Then there's the breakthrough record,

which I feel like you're finally on, which is weird because you've had a lot of success. It's not like you were nobody. But the amount of times I've heard your name coming out of people's mouths in the last 60 days, it's like random people. I mean, the guy park in my car comes up and wants to talk to me about you.

That's crazy. But I mean, but that's how I know you're crack in America. Yeah. You got to, it's got to be street up. Completely. Like, sorry, but literally the guy parking the car has to see something in you. It's a, it's a very egalitarian society in that way. You know, we don't have the classism like you have in the UK.

It really is a working class country, even if we've gone away from that. Yeah, yeah. I can really, I can really feel that on this tour. It's so strange, the effervescence of the crowd at the minute. I mean, I've toured America three times, but it's never been like this. This is like, and I said that, I think I kind of really did clean house on this album. I had a lot of people telling me a lot of things. And I was like, guys, I really want to just go back to basics.

And I really want to play these, like, I'm in the Fillmore in Detroit tonight. Like, I was, I've never played here. I wanted to go and walk the, the boards that you did, that Zeppelin did, that Iggy did, that Bowie did. I wanted to go and do America and play like the Palladium and the Fillmore's and these real rock and roll venues with this album that is so adherent to the way I believe rock should homage to the past, but being dragged into 2026, 27, 28, 29. Yeah. Because it's all about imagination. That's what I think. I think rock music is such an incredible genre because it's the one genre you can't fake.

hip-hop or pop gives its crown to whatever's biggest in that moment. Rock music is about pioneering while being adherent and respectful to the past and knowledge and this this sense of community. He doesn't give the keys away. It's reluctant and it's that, that's fun. You know what I mean? I think we debate,

we debate, we debate, we debate, we debate. And it's kind of, it's cool, man, you know. Okay. So two things. Number one, you're talking about playing these iconic venues because you wanted to walk the boards that these great bands have walked. Can you feel it?

Categorically, yes. It's wild. Like, I played the rave last night. We saw it at the raving Milwaukee. And to see everyone on the wall and to speak to the owner about it and just to feel, I don't know, man, like I believe when you're writing songs

or when you're a musician, all the energy is floating above you. You've just got to catch it. You know what I mean? The fish are all above there. You just got to have the rod out to catch it or you're going to catch it or no Gallagher's going to catch it or Iggy's going to catch it. You know what I mean?

It's like and you can just feel it. And it's so, it's so beautiful to be on this run in America as rock music rears its head again. Second thing I was going to say is, and you're figuring this out, so I'm not saying anything you don't know, but I can tell you this from having lived it. they really want you to grab that thing. They really do. No matter what anybody tells you, they're there because they want to see you go for it.

I think that's what's beautiful about American audiences as well. It's almost like when the American audience get behind you, it's the biggest crash of a wave you've ever felt. Well, the stones, the Beatles. Yeah, man. Everybody had to come over, no matter how great, they were and they were great. They all had to come here

because there's something about, because this is really the heart of rock and roll, right? I mean, no matter how many generations go by. And by way, when I say rock and roll, we're talking Motown. We're talking stats. Yeah, screaming Jay Orkins, Bo Diddley, all of it. It's like that, that's the vibe.

Because when you think about rock and roll, when you think about the Beatles and the stones leading into Sabbath, leading in everything like after that, it was all rooted in American blues music that we that we put in a British action and put some leather on you know what I mean so um I haven't seen the

are you ready boy doc yet um Ali Hagendorf our mutual buddy was here earlier today and we were talking about you and she had seen it with her husband and um so I was asking her some questions but uh the idea of you kind of staring down you know

what you're after in Doc. Can you just speak to that a little bit? Yeah, I think this album was really about confronting legacy, not bowing down to it. You know, I wanted to, because it was the most musically ambitious project we've ever done, I wanted to re-record a live version of the album three weeks after we delivered it. You know what I mean? Not after we've been on the road for a year. I still wanted that heartbeat when the red light goes on. It's not muscle memory yet. I don't know necessarily how I sing it yet. I think because when you're in the studio, you kind of, it comes out of you for the first time. So the magic is encapsulated. And then two years after you've been playing it

on the road, it's muscle memory so you can sing it in your sleep and you know every inflection, and you know every breath. But I really wanted to kind of go to a legendary studio, Hansa Studios in Berlin, Bowie, Iggy, Lou Reed, U-2, Depeche, Mel, you name it, and stand in the room and see if I could step up and perform this

record in the room where so many epiphanies and hits have come from that ceiling and really just kind of challenge my band to recreate this album. And it was

such a crazy experience because Paul Dougdale directed it and he's such a great director because he is all about the truth and I love that about him and I think he's been making films for pop stars for quite a long time so I think he was ready for a bit of unhinged behavior you know I mean in the film I was like I want you we're there for 10 days I want you to roll everything I don't want I don't want any part of the edit because if I you know what it's like Because if you have part of the edit, you can kill the honesty of the film because you, I don't know, it's like, oh, I don't look good there, or I'm singing a bit out of tune there, or we're having a fucking argument there, or maybe I don't want to reveal that. I was like, right, you get free reign. I'm going to see it once.

I've seen the film twice. It's so uncomfortable for me to watch. I'm like, oh, God. But I think letting it happen and letting it be out there was something that, again, I think, like, I think, I think, the biggest issue people have had with me is they've questioned my authenticity because in today's day and age, there is no mystery anymore. I think like when you put out, Simon, Dream, you are on MTV and it's, and it looks epic and the photographs are dope and everything's crazy, but you don't see Billy in the bathroom scratching his every day, do you know what I mean?

on the iPhone, in today's to break through, you have to document everything to even get above the surface. And I think it was hard for people to understand sometimes to see in a world where everything is so edited and we all do it, I do it, to break through into the two

millisecond attention span. So I really wanted to create a film that would be a sense of elongation of the imagination so people could really get, get to know who I am and then make an honest judgment whether they hate me or they love me. You know what I mean? I think that's cool that.

Yeah. I think it was dope to be like, right, roll it and see what the fuck happens, man, you know. So in talking to Allison, my perception is you're on a like a once-in-a-lifetime role, and we'll talk about that in a second. And I've been calling that shot for three years, so I feel like Nostradamus over here. But Allison's, and, you know, she loves you, so, you know, you know how she feels about you. But she said, you know, look, I've known him since before his first stuff came out. And he's very much in charge of where this whole ship is going.

You know what I mean? The Youngblood, Inc. You know what I mean? Yeah. But the question is, and it arose from something she said, you know, she said he's, there's a lot of people who are not in this, you're talking about authenticity. A lot of people aren't sold on what he's bringing to the table. And I, of course, did one of these, like, oh, those people don't know what the hell they're talking about. But I thought it was interesting to ask you, and it's not a speak to the haters question.

It's more like where you see people divided on you, is it a question of authenticity? Is it a question of talent? Like, what is the vibe you're getting up off the street where people aren't sold? Yeah, I think, I think it's sometimes people don't believe me. And I welcome that challenge because I think it was so interesting when I spoke to Ozzy about this. He said, like, you cannot take that on. You have to do what you do, and people will maybe probably understand it in hindsight. I think, especially in rock music, I think every generation before, it's like me dad's dad didn't like Oasis because he thought they were ripping off the Beatles.

And I think every kind of people before, it's hard to. It's hard to understand someone who is trying to kind of do rock music in a new way, because of course I'm referencing the past, like we all were. You know what I'm saying? I mean, the amount of people I've ripped off is, you know what I mean? Exactly. That's the, that's the point of it. That's the fun of it.

That's the fun of it. And that's, that is what I think is really exciting about rock music. what was beautiful about the Birmingham gig is I think the biggest thing with it all is young blood as a name it almost a negative connotation around it was oh I can't like that because it's for the kids you know I think it became such a I think it became a thing oh I might be a bit old for that so it was already like kind of it was segregating a demographic almost but I think what was beautiful about the back to the beginning show was it was the first time when an older generation of rock fans had something in common with me and that was our mutual adoration

for our genre. I think people are, oh, he's just a, he's just a rock fan. It's just a, it's just a Sabbath fan like we all are. And I think it's kind of gave people a little opening of a door to maybe fall down the rabbit hole. And when you take something like Blood Fest, I think Youngblood was a, within this transition point, was such a strange thing for me to navigate because I was almost falling out of love with my name.

Because the only things I was becoming insecure about were opinions people were saying about me on the internet. You know, you read things and then you get insecure about things you didn't even know existed. Like your nose of your tooth, right? Yeah, exactly. Is that what people think about me? You know what I'm saying?

And I was like, are you going to be Youngblood forever? And that was a question. I was like, oh, fuck, I didn't really think about that at 18 years. All they just believed in this idea with everything I got and ran with it. And I remember at the end of the self-titled album, which was probably the most lost I'd ever been, because I was listening to a lot of people, I really was like, I need to stop now.

And I need to figure out if Youngblood was going to be a Ziggy stop. dust and if I was going to go on to another another thing. But the one thing that made me really re-fall in love of my name was Blood Fest because after the album, I said, right, I'm going to take a year off the internet, eight months off the internet,

and I'm going to try and take stock of what I want to do. But I'm going to hold an event to say goodbye to the first iteration of what we've created. Yes, almost like a, a goodbye to the first iteration of whatever the hell this has been. And in my head, I was secretly hoping, like,

please let this gig give me an answer or a runway. I wanted to put everyone in one place so I could kind of almost take stock and that, all right, where are we at right now? What does this represent? And 27,000 people turned up to a field. And it blew my mind because it was the first time

I saw families, babies, moms, dads, obviously 15,000 young kids going nuts at the front. But it was the first time that Youngblood almost became bigger than a 19-year-old kid from the north of England singing about politics, letting his mad ADHD brain be like, I'm going to experiment here and I'm going to do metal and I'm going to do rap and I'm going to do pop and I'm going to do rock. And it was almost like a celebration of this kind of personified. confusion within music that we were 30,000 of us were feeling. Okay. And I was like, oh, Youngblood is bigger than me now. It's this, it's this thing.

So Dom can go and experiment with different music or really settle into rock and hard rock because I think that's what I was setting out to do from the beginning anyway, in a much more purest way because people have their own idea of what Youngblood is within themselves. You know what I'm saying? Like, some people are there because of the first album, some people are there because of the third album,

some people are there because they just like what the community represents. Some people are there because they're obsessed with the music. Some people are there because their friends, their friendship group is within the community. And I think it kind of made me go like, I cannot control what people think about my art. I have to make an album for myself.

and I have to make this next adventure about what do I want to leave behind. And I think that's a moment where this clicked. And I've never known that until 27. So it's very interesting to again be like, oh, I think this is the start of the rest of my life now. I mean, I feel like I've really settled. First off, the piece of advice that Oz gave you is, worth a billion dollars. 100%.

Because, and I've learned it, but he said it better than I could. It's the weirdest thing in the world because the minute you get a record deal or somebody pay some attention to you, right? Because, let's face it, there's a lot of people on this planet. The minute you break through into that other side,

somebody starts telling you how you aren't that special. And they start saying, but if you want to be special, If we could take this that you do and we add this little thing, and that's now in the modern world in the 21st century, pop music is the machinery by which someone like you is more able to work your way up whatever that proverbial golden ladder is. But what Ozzy understands, what I understand, what Stephen Tyler understands is at the end of the day, it's about you. and if you don't believe in you, it just becomes this like, it's like a weird, like you're a star in your own movie

and you don't even want to be in the movie. 100%. That's a crazy quote because it's so bizarre looking back on it now because I remember when that album came out, I was in New York and it had gone number one in seven countries. And I, but I was like, I could have done better.

Why did I listen to people? There were good songs on it. But I was like, I was not happy. And, and, but now I look back on it and like, I do not regret it because it was the biggest smack in the face that I needed. It was like a, like me man. But see, you can only feel the sting of that if you're, if you're at that high up that mountain.

Yeah. And it's a lonely place. Because everybody else is looking saying, well, I'd trade for. for that in a second. You're like, no, you don't understand. This isn't my top speed. You know, and the other thing I was going to say, and I hope you understand the beauty of this, I think when Ozzy and Sharon added you to that show, it wasn't just adding you to that show. The tickets were already sold. They brought you on to continue this beautiful thing that we've all built together. And what I've said to so many people, and I'm sure you've been asked a thousand times about that show,

because it was a magical three days. It was. It was unbelievable. I mean, we'll talk about that in a second, but the thing that was so beautiful about it is I said, where in the world can you see somebody in their 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, and 70s, and were all pointed in the same direction. Completely. It was the biggest cue to the pop world, and we weren't even trying to do it.

100% it was it was mind-blowing when we were all there when everyone was taking the photographs and I'm like I'm kind of there and you're there and James Hepfield's there and Ozzy's there and geezer butler's over there and Chad Smith's over there and I'm like what kind of simulation is this but it was the most humble respectful um positive backstage I had ever been amongst. It was wild because it was the rock scene. And I think what was so wild is that concert single-handedly has ignited another spark within the monster of our genre.

Because, again, generationally, we all have something in common. Yes, it gets a little bit softer as the younger we get, because the new generation is more emotional and it's more open. and it's a little bit less kind of, but everyone is there for a common reason. And it was like, I felt so honored because I remember getting the call and I thought,

oh, they're going to ask me to do the wizard or they're going to ask me to do like, like nib and like just go, like use my pure and filtered energy. And Sharon goes, we want you to do changes. My first thought, I'm like, oh, a piano, me,

50,000 people, and Birmingham, too, by the way. Yeah, Birmingham. Yeah, Birmingham. You know, I'm like real, real people and a live stream at home, nowhere to hide. And I was like, okay, wow. And I think it was one of the craziest experiences in my life because when you are there amongst your idols, all of you were there backstage. and you're kind of the young book.

And then obviously the show was loud and it was heavy and it was energetic. But then I had to go on stage and there is nothing but me and Adam Wakeman's piano and Ozzy's entire legacy pinned in front of all of us. I think it was it was the most scene I've ever felt by the universe ever. But I think the way I kept it under control was. the biggest thing I learned was that I think when you walk on stage did you know this? Like when there's 20,000 people

out there, you're trying to take it in but when you can take that torch and turn it into a laser beam and sing it to one person, whether that person be yourself or that person be a lover or that person be a friend or a brother or a mother or whatever, I sung it to Oz

and I just was like, thank you man. And I feel like I've never been that locked into a performance ever or like that. I've never felt that in space or on the moon or whatever. You know what when we talk about when you're a kid like you fly out, I was flying. You know what I mean? And I remember at the end of it when I was like getting the crowd to sing at the end, I didn't have that planned.

It was in the last chorus. I was like, I want him to hear them backstage. And I want him to know that when he walks out, this roof is going to erupt. I think when you can be on stage and you can almost alleviate your own ego and sing to not just the man that's Ozzy but the energy force that has been curated for all of us there it was the most mind-blowing it was the most mind-blowing kind of lesson ever see what's so beautiful about rock music and that pop can never figure out no matter how much they game theory they did out right

Black Sabbath is the band that should not be. Completely. And yet here we are, what, almost 60 years later in a stadium. And there they are. Right. And the songs just still hit right there. What, they have one hit song? Nope.

Basically, paranoid, I think, was the only hit song Sabbath ever had. Yeah, well, yeah, fair. When you think about it, yeah, like the charting song. That's what I'm saying is pop can't understand the power of rock when it's when it's organic. You know? Because it's a movement. It's an idea. It's an encapsulation of the imagination of the left turn, of the unknown, of the alternative, of the alternative mindset instead of it being.

I mean, like when you listen to like fairies wear boots and all those time changes and those. Just like, what, like, what? Like, what? It's just insane. They were smoking a lot of pot too. Yeah, like, yeah, 100%. But like to be there amongst it, and it's so amazing to hear, like, you say that as well. Like, it just felt like this, this, like, I don't know, this coming together of five armies, you know what I mean, to like take on.

the world. To me, it's tribes. You know what I mean? Yeah, no, it really is. You got the Slayer tribe. You got the Tool tribe. You got the, you know what I mean? Pumpkins tribe. You got the Aerosmith tribe. You got the Youngblood tribe. You got Metallica tribe. It's just like, boom. Tribes. Yeah. And it was the biggest thing in the world. It's so funny, even like the VMAs the night, with the VMAs who obviously honor him. And I think we were probably one of the only acts singing live there. You can tell. You know what I mean? amongst all the bubble gum and amongst all the, the, uh, the award show pizazzo to have us just play live and it be the most viewed video on the internet the day afterwards.

You can feel rock music is all about truth and all about panic passion and all about humanity. Well, it's life. You know, I think life. Yeah, it is life. And it's, and it pulls you right back down to work because you're right. pop music is the elevation caricatured version of a heightened version of life that people can tap in it for two minutes to distract themselves. Where rock is about being in the mud and been the beauty within the dirt and the seeing your breath and the cold and there's plenty of room for both.

But when the music business gets too tipped one direction, now you see, now the kids are coming. They don't want, they don't want. They want real and real, real, real right now. 100% and you can feel it. Because I've been watching some of the clips from your tour, and it is very real. Yeah, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's wild. It's just like we've, we've never, we've never had this, uh, ferocity before. It's like it's just, I don't know, it's just, I don't know, it's, I, the way I can say it's just life. It's life in every, it's anger, it's sex, it's, it's.

happiness, sadness, everything in these, these like 3,000 caps theaters that's just like about to blow the lid off. And it's like 2,000 people on the wait list and 500 kids outside who can't get in, but we're all a part of something. And it's just like, I don't know, man.

It's amazing, again, to feel rock music come back because it's spherical. If you look at like punk, you've got ammo and the sniffers. If you look at hardcore, you've got turnstile and not loose and indie you've got like Fontaine's DC and like rock like me in the middle and then everyone else like the the the resurgence of albums iconic rock albums coming to the forefront of TikTok again it's like yeah I don't know man and I think even country music rock always follows country because country is rooted in the songwriting and then rock music is

the songwriting with heavier distortions and sex appeal and like insane learning You know what I mean? It's just like I think country always opens the door to more emotional country is country is rock before rock I mean that's yeah it's just rock without the riff that's all completely I mean Jimmy Page understood that better than anybody that's why there's so much country influence in Zeppelin completely and it and it's it's cool man it's it's it's so weird because you always dream of a moment like this. And when it comes, you're just like, holy, wow, this is, because you're almost like not doing anything differently. You've kind of been more yourself than ever.

And then the world kind of goes, oh, right, cool, this is, this seems legit. You know, oh. So let me ask you this. And this is my own theory. But I had to figure out a, because saying you're crossing over is, is accurate, but it doesn't describe it. Okay. So I had to come up with my own term, which is like you're crossing over in reverse. And what I mean by that is crossing over popped rock is very, very, very rare. Very rare. So off the top of your head, name the people have crossed over pop to rock. Wow. Oh my God. I mean, there's only one I can think of off the top of my head, but I'll leave it to you. I would say, I would say that the poppiest rock crossover would be a band like the cure for me.

Okay. I think happy, sad. Okay. Because Robert Smith is a rock star. But he wasn't pop first, though. That's the thing. No, he wasn't. You're right.

I literally can't think. You tell me. Go on. Okay. This is the person I most compare you to. So if you indulge me to explain why. And I would tell you this in private. So this is the same conversation we would have.

We were just a little bit. How excited. Hang out the bar. Okay. Elton John. Ah. Elton John. And what I've been saying for three years is this kid, you, is Elton John.

And what I mean by that is you can sing pop, you can sing a ballad, and that crowd will go with you. So you could do a tiny dancer type song, and it would feel great and credible. But you can also sing rock. And Elton John's one of the only people ever who was pop-ish first ballady piano who crossed over rock. And that's what I keep telling people and why I've been selling people for three years. Don't sleep on this kid

because he can sing both. And the Ozzy concert showed, let's call it rock world in general, that this guy, his heart's in the right place, but he can sing rock. Yeah, man, that's great. I think that's blow my mind. He's so right.

His troupeador days, he was a pop star, and then he just merged him. Yeah, it was this kind of piano man stuff. And that was of the time. But when he went rock is when he really exploded, you see. Yeah, wow. He started doing Benny and the Jets and Philadelphia Freedom and Sarah and it's all right for fighting. That shows you why Elton John's.

But that shows you why Elton John hit that other level and why he was a stadium act and not just a big pop act, which is why Elton is such a rare talent. Yes, because it goes to a deeper level. And I think that's what's kind of beautiful. again now, like as I'm going to put out a project in the next couple weeks with some more heroes of mine. But then in November, I've told everyone to clear it because I think more than ever I'm so inspired to write. I think for someone like me, when you look at it, I'm a kid from a guitar shop who's education was T-Rex, Bowie, text pistols, exploited the clash, moving into kind of me finding NWA and shoe gaze like bands like you and public enemy and everything myself who dreamt about it.

And then in the guitar shop, it's almost like the kind of graveyard of rock stars who tried. And to kind of end up here, I feel like I'm seven again in my dad's shot. Yeah. It's weird. It's like so exciting to me like going to guitar shows with my dad. I feel like, oh, I don't know, I feel so lucky to have been, I don't know, the world to see me in this light, in this moment, because it's truly in my blood, you know. Yeah, and the thing is, is what's funny, and you know, because you know the pop game, they're all going to start trying to figure out how to do what you're doing, and they're not going to be able to because they don't have the love for it. Yeah, they don't have the love for it or the knowledge of it or the understanding of it or the understanding of it or the.

understanding of it. I think like with it all, again, it comes from the street up. Let me stop you. Let me stop you. See, this is the beauty of Ozzy and Sharon. Okay. And this is that crazy partnership that they have and had. In their wisdom, they decided to include you in that fraternity, almost in anticipation to where this was going to go. Yeah. And that's the beauty of it, right? It is the beauty of it. And it's like, Again, it was such a gift to me because to be seen by the world within the genre that I love and that I ultimately want to do. But I've almost been fighting against the streamers and the label and the do-da-da-da. It's like, yeah, no one wants to do that.

But to be given Ozzy to be able to get and Sharon to be able to give me a platform to be able to be like, let's carry this on together. Let's all carry this on together. was a moment where everyone else at the now the other parties are getting involved being like, oh, how do we do that again for these X, Y, Z artists? It's hilarious.

It's like, it's like, guys, what the fuck, man? I've been wanting to do this for years, but everyone's been telling me to twist it or let's get a rapper on a song to make sure that the mainstream or blah, all this bull. Instead of been like, let's just lock in

and make great music. You know what I mean? It's so interesting. It's like, but now it's, it's amazing. Everyone's like, yeah, man, do, do what you want. I'm like, oh, great. So now I get to go for six weeks in November and make a project I want, which I'm really excited about. Is the idea, because I saw somewhere and you tell me is, so the, you presented idols as kind of a part one conceptual work. Is this a continuance of that or is this going to be something different? What's been mental is I think part two is ready to go, which is a continuation of idols, but I think I've got some heavy. I, My energy is really inspired at the minute. And I think I've got a project, five-song project coming out with Aerosmith, which is wild because me and me, Stephen and Joe, got together before the Ozzy thing was even about. I think we were just going to write together for fun because I think like when your heroes are like, yo, do you not get in the studio?

I'm just like, yeah, what? So we were writing. Especially those two. Yeah, especially those. when we heard our voices together and Stephen was like, oh my God, you can get up to the places where I can go. That's crazy.

And there was almost this friendly competition between me and one of my old-time vocal heroes that I've sat in my room and studied and we sound good together on tape that we ended up making five songs together. That's coming out in November.

And then I think, I'm again like I'm just so inspired right now. I think I think I want to put another album in February that I'm yet to write. And then idols part two will come out when it's ready to. So I just think like this ferocity of a moment that you're talking about where you get songs present themselves to you. Because you know what it's like when you sit there and you go, okay. Like I don't know, I won't speak for you. But when you write it when I hear a masterpiece like mayonnaise, I'm like that was a

universe's gift to Billy. Like that just came out of the sky through your body. You know what I'm saying? You can't, you know what I mean? I think like you hit a moment and you hit a piece of like the energy comes through you. Oh, absolutely. That you can't, you can't plan for. Yeah. When we, okay, I'm going to write this an absolute world. But let me let me tell you real quick about that song. So that, that song, we were, we were in Japan and James I got this idea for. I got this idea for for a song, can I play you? He had like a tape Walkman. That's how long ago, 1992.

And he played me the song, he had the basic chords, and he played me the song in the Walkman, and I immediately heard the melody. Wow. Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da. I heard it immediately. And I had no way to record the melody,

and I just remembered it. I heard the song one time. So months later, we're back in the U.S., and we're working on the song. I'm living in a parking garage. no joke so when we wrote that song it was like literally like i'm living like a piece of shit you know what i mean i don't know if i'm going to be able to write this album that became side music so so that that that song is a circumstance of this weird stuff that just kind of

happened and that's why i would encourage you sorry to make it about you again is when you when you have that instinct i need to get back in the studio you need to listen to that because the moment that you're in is so rare it probably i know you know it's rare it's rare it probably i know it's rare but you don't realize how rare it is. No, yeah, it's, it's, it's wild because it's all a, I don't know, it's like a sponge, isn't it? You take the energy that whatever the hell's going on and then you try and make sense of it through music. And I think those times in your life don't come around. That's, that's exactly what I'm saying.

That's what I'm saying. It's like you want to get that on paper or a piece of tape, as we used to say, although it's digital. 100%. Okay, so last thing, because like I said, when we really sit down, I really want to sit down and have a deeper conversation about how you got to be this insanity moving comment that you are right now. How are you doing with the pressure of the moment? And I'm not saying you're handling it well, you're not handling it well.

But now you're hitting that other level of pressure. Yeah, yeah, I think it's so funny you said that because yesterday was the first time I went, whoa. I'm laughing because I know the feeling. Yeah, you know, I mean, I'm like, I think it was so funny. One of my best friends and photographer who takes on my pictures, Tom is sat within the room with me because we're obviously filming this remotely right now. But I kind of went up to him yesterday and was like, whoa.

Like, we have never, I think after the VMAs and the kind of the veracity of that, I was like, I've really got to kill this. But I think, I think the Aerosmith Records are so great that I think I feel good about that because I'd already written them with them. You know what I mean? So like they're ready to kind of come out and take this wave. And it's rock, man. It's real fucking rock.

Like guitars right up, light drums, in solos in every song, wailing, screaming. Me and Stephen Tyler just competing with each other. the most beautiful way. I love it. Honestly, like to form a relationship with him, arguably probably one of the greatest vocalists of all time and to kind of pick his brain and to like just meet someone who's just crazy energetic, wild.

As an artist, a real visionary because he's really one of the only people, maybe outside his easy top, that figured out how to make blues pop. Yeah, man. And to make all those bluesy runs just sound cool. You know what I mean? Like the wrong singer doing those bluesy runs over the top of these songs. You're like, oh, shut up. But he has just got it.

And it's like to be able to, again, it's so weird. Like to make an album called idols was like an eight-month manifestation to be like being the fraternity as you said kind of around the Black Sabbath show to be talking to you and becoming friends with you to be making records with Aerosmith it's like I don't know what the heck I wish for but an album was like rubbing a magic lamp on it

you know I'm yeah so okay last thing come on then 20 years from now how does this go in my imagination I keep writing as much music as I can this moment gets, goes absolutely bananas and I would love to be able to play stadium rock all over the world. Because I think that's where I come alive as a frontman. I think I enjoy playing to big crowds like that because it's where everything makes sense.

I love the energy of 50,000 people coming together as one and screaming and just that whole saying thing, even between the songs when it's like, it's a nice sound. It's just the craziest thing in the world. Like that would be the dream. And again, to carry on a new energy of the genre that I love and that I've known for my whole life since been six hours old on my gas counter with the Beatles ukulele across me, Nick, you know what I mean? It's like it was, it was always what I knew. I think, I think, um, I think it was so interesting when across my life, I never want people, I never want

people to think that I had music handed to me because I grew up in a guitar shop. It was almost like the opposite. Everyone was like, don't do that. You'll end up working here. You know what I mean? So I almost like hid that away. but my upbringing was pretty rock and roll man you know i mean i got to i got to be around guitars all day my my my my weekends were full up like polishing dust off 3 30 from 1960 or you know i mean it was like epic you know and tuning guitars and i think i think to be able to be here in this moment and to to to be able to with with with heroes around me in a in a in a a genre that I love, I'm just going to give him my best shot, you know?

Okay, so my 20-year prediction. It's easy to say Elton John because we can understand what that means. You know, we've all seen the shot of Elton at Dodgers Stadium wearing the Dodgers rhinestone suit, he's on the piano with the baseball bat, right? Just remember, and I'll tell you this publicly and I'll say you this privately. It's only going to work if it's your music. Yeah. It's got to be you and your.

music and your voice and your heart. It will only work and don't let anyone tell you differently. If you get there, it'll be because then this is my prediction. You will be in that stadium 20 years from now and they will be singing along to the hits that you haven't written yet and the classics you haven't written yet. But it's only going to happen if it's your music, your music. They want your music. They don't want my music through you. I'd love to write a song and we've talked about that what I'm saying, it's got to be you. Because everybody you name check, it was their song. I categorically agree.

I literally was having that conversation yesterday because I think I'm getting a lot of great opportunities to work with people. But I agree. I was like, I have to go with the producer that I did my last album with because he makes me feel alive. And he makes me feel limitless. And obviously, I can bring other people in and work with amazing, collaborators.

Yeah. But I agree. There's no Elton without Bernie Topin. We know that. No, completely. Completely. But you don't feel he's singing somebody else's song. No, you're so right.

I agree. I agree. And I feel more excited than ever to explore that. And it's crazy that you said that because, I don't know, man, we're interwined in some wake. You're almost like in the back of my mind. It's crazy because I'm like, now it's like, I've got this amazing project coming out with with these icons. and that I love and that I had a massive hand in writing.

But now it's the time to go and carry on this idea of idols that I sat in a room and was like, every chord, every lyric, everything was coming out of my head and was being led by me. So it's going to be insane. All right. 20 years from now, we'll pull the tape out. Of course, we'll both be poor and crying. Literally, literally like busking in a fucking busking in the subway. Come on, Billy.

You still got it, man. So 20 years. I'll be 78 and you'll be, how will you be like? I will be, I will be 48. Okay, so you'll be 48 and I'll be 70. We'll be busking on the corner somewhere. I hope so, man. I'll hold you to that.

All right. God bless you, Dom. See you soon. Thank you, Billy, man. Thank you so much for having me, man. I really love that. It's an honor. Thank you.

Cool. Thanks. Love guys.