- Hank Williams, III
- The Rockzillaworld Interview
- By B.J. Weikert
 A few months
back, I went to the Blue Nite Club on Hilton Head, S.C. and got
to interview the grandson of the great Hank Williams, Sr. Hank
III now has two albums out on Curb Records (Risin' Outlaw
and Lovesick, Broke And Driftin') and he put on one hell
of a show at the club that included about an hour of traditional
country and a half hour or so of his other incarnation, that
being heavy metal. Here's what went down as we sat outside by
his tour bus.
B.W.: First, I wanted to ask you about your youth, when you
were growing up as a kid, when you first got into music...
Hank III: Well you know, there was always country stuff
being played around the house, but what really turned me on was
when I got my first Kiss albums and Black Sabbath albums. I was
like nine or ten years old. So, hearing those kind of albums,
I really got into drums. So I got my first drum set when I was
like ten years old, and it was just funner when I got like a
teenager to play along with rock instead of country. So, I got
into a lot of heavier stuff. Punk rock, hard rock, classic rock.
I was always listening to Cash and Willie and Waylon because
I always just had a bunch of their albums around the house, and
being on the road a little bit and seeing the country side of
things. So that was my first real love, drums and then doing
the rock stuff.
B.W.: I know you've hung out with and done a couple of songs
on a Melvin's album...
Hank III: Yeah, they've been heroes of mine for a long
time, and Buzz wanted a couple of country songs on the album.
B.W.: About 15 years ago when I was in the Navy, they did
a show at an old abandoned school-house...
Hank III: Wow!
B.W.: I went in there, and I was walking down the hall, and
he came walking out, and I knew it was Buzz, so I said "Hey
man, want to go have a beer or something?" So we went out
to my car and we went through like, a case of beer.
Hank III: Yeah right, he's changed a lot. He's been straight
for ten years almost. He's been a huge inspiration in my life.
He's been a sponsor when I've been in rehab and stuff.
Corky: What sort of Rehab? What did you get hung-up on?
Hank III: Uh, it was the label.
Corky: Label?
 Hank III: It was
the label, I was speaking my mind too much, freaking 'em out,
so Curb thought I needed rehab. So, I said "I'll give ya
a couple of weeks" and try it. You know, they just...I was
telling everybody to fuck off and pop country music sucks, and
they were freaking out 'cause I was speaking my mind. So, they
thought I had a really bad drug problem. I just smoke pot and
drink, have fun.
B.W.: Oh God, he's gonna be just like his grandfather!
Hank III: Right, right.
B.W.: That's fucked up. So, I know that you're pals with Wayne
Hancock...
Hank III: Yes! He's my best friend out there in country
music, and I'm a huge supporter of his, and just think he's the
hillbilly poet of the 2000 generation.
B.W.: Yeah, I've noticed your voices sound a lot alike.
Hank III: A little bit, he's got the upper hand on me.
B.W.: Yall collaborated on your first album Rising Outlaw
but he didn't have much to do with this new one...
Hank III: Uh huh, well I just, you know, hell, I got so
many of my songs rejected off of the first album. I wanted people
to realize I got a lot of shit. Curb wanted all of their writers
and stuff and I had to fight to get Wayne on there. I got a lot
of shit for not writing my own songs, but I had a shit-ton of
'em, it's just the producers kept throwing them out the door,
saying "This ain't what we want, blah..blah..blah.
B.W. I guess the first album, they pigeon-holed you and tried
to get you to do what they wanted you to do, but on the new album
you had a lot more freedom, right?
Hank III: Right, they didn't stick their nose in one time,
I got to produce it myself, use all the players. The only thing
was, I had to change my cuss words because they wouldn't give
me a parental advisory. So we didn't get to put a couple of our
outlaw songs on it, like "Dick In Dixie, Cunt In Country"
so we had to change the words in that and in "Trashville".
It made a big difference.
B.W.: I guess you've got like a duel between artistic visions
going on, because you do have traditional, honky-tonk type stuff,
and then you also have the Assjack Band. Hard Rock, I guess you
would call it.
Hank III: Yeah, heavy metal, hard rock. And you know, we
only do that here and there, tonight looks like more of a country
crowd, but you know, we might do about thirty minutes of it.
This whole tour, except for one day, we've done an hour of country
and an hour of hard rock. No one else can do that. I mean, people
can, but there's just not many people out there going from the
old school to the crazy-ass metal, and that's what gives us a
little niche. It gives me my own little two feet to stand on
having that going for us.
B.W.: What about the CMT (country music television) thing
where they had Kid Rock and Hank Jr.
Hank III: Oh, I've already cussed everybody out and said
"bring it on you hippocrite mother-fuckers! What? Hank Jr's
ashamed of being an outlaw? I mean, come on, the F word doesn't
belong in country music no more?
B.W.: The lyrics to that one song, The F Word Song on Hank
Jr's new album, he first mentions Kid Rock and then next, he
mentions you and refers to you by your given name "Shelton".
Hank III: Right, you know I cuss a lot and I'm not ashamed
of it, and I want to be more of an outlaw, I don't want to be
this pretty-boy pop image thing. We're losing all our outlaws.
B.W.: Yeah, look at David Allen Coe, he was doing it a long
time ago with the X-rated albums.
 Hank III: Yeah I
know. I've told 'em all. I called up Hank Jr. and cussed him
out."Fuck you", I left it on his answering machine.
I called up Kid Rock and I told him "I told you to stay
the fuck out of me and my dad's business man." And like,
every other fucking word in his songs is "fuck". It's
just bullshit. David Allen Coe, it's like he'd never turn, ever.
He's proud of what he did.
B.W.: Yeah, a couple of years back he had an album entitled
Recommended For Radio Airplay. (Laughs) What do you think
about the Nashville hot country radio?
Hank III: It's just awful. They need to be playing some
of the old guys a little bit more, and some of the new guys that
do some pure sounding stuff. It's all right to play some pop
country, but play some Waylon, Willie, Paycheck and Coe and all
that good stuff.
B.W.: Kayton Roberts...
Hank III: I'm just a huge, humongous fan of his. There's
not many people who have that sound. Not many people can do that
on a steel guitar without pedals.
B.W.: Who's with you tonight?
Hank III: A kid named Dan Johnson from Houston, Texas on
the steel guitar, Michael McCanless from Nashville on the fiddle,
Joe Fazio, now in Nashville on the drums, and Jason Burns from
Pasadena, California on the dog-house bass, and that's it.
B.W. What did you think about the book Snapshots From The
Lost Highway? the Hank Sr. photograph book?
Hank III: Oh, I thought it was a cool book. I wish that
they would have talked to Lucritia a little bit more, you know
they didn't ask her anything. That's the only bad thing I have
to say about the book. It was cool.
B.W.: Marty Stuart had a hand in that...
Hank III: Oh yeah, a big hand. Hell, he was with Irene,
Hank William's sister a lot before she died. He bought a lot,
he kept her living.
B.W.: What have you been listening to lately as far as popping
CDs in the player?
Hank III: Phantamous, Meshuggah, Melvins on the rock end,
on the country end, Wayne's got a new CD out, Dale Watson's got
a new CD out, a lot of old Webb Peirce, all kinds of stuff, I've
got over 500 CDs on the bus, so I'm listening to all kinds of
stuff.
B.W.: How did you feel when you played The Grand Ole Opry?
Hank III: Nervous. We've played it about 6 or 7 times,
it's cool, but I'd rather play a bar full of drunks though, it's
a lot more fun. The Opry's just kind of quiet and shy. It's cool,
all the history, but it's just not that much fun.
B.W.: Are you into Bluegrass and Blues?
Hank III: Oh yeah, I like a lot of real fast Bluegrass
music. I can't play any of it, but I listen to it. I admire it.
B.W. Oh well, I'm not gonna bother you no more. It's almost
show-time.
Hank III: Okay, well thanks B.J. it's been good talking
to you.
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