Summary
Producer-DirectorJeff Tremaineis Hollywoods Tasmanian Devil.
Soon, he brought us favorites such asWild Boyz,Rob & Big,Loiter Squad,andMTVmainstayRidiculousness.
CollidersSteve Weintraubhad the pleasure of speaking with Tremaine to break down his explosive new docuseries.
Image by Jefferson Chacon
COLLIDER: How are you doing today, sir?
JEFF TREMAINE: I’m good.
I just wanna say thank you.
Image via Paramount+
TREMAINE: Oh, that’s awesome.
TREMAINE: [Laughs] No, I never thought so.
Well, to be honest,Jackassaired pretty much nonstop for ten years.
So I already had a taste of it, butRidiculousnessis on a ridiculous amount of the time on MTV.
Dude, I’ve turned on MTV at three in the morning or 11 o’clock.
It’s always on.
Image via Paramount+
It’s a 24/7 thing.
TREMAINE: I know.
Also, I read that the show has done, like, 1,500 episodes.
Image via Paramount+
TREMAINE: Yeah, it’s ridiculous.
It keeps going, man.
Knock on foot, keep going.
Image via Paramount+
[Laughs]
Oh, I’m sure you’re very happy.
There is no doubt.
TREMAINE: Nah, it’s pretty much a machine.
Image via Netflix
They run it pretty tight.
They don’t need me anymore.
But I drop in every now and then and see what’s going on.
Will There Be More Jackass?
Before getting into the docuseries, we’ve spoken many times aboutJackassover the years.
Do you think it’s over?
Do you think there’s something on the horizon?
Do you think a spin-off or new people doing it?
TREMAINE: Yeah, I’ve learned to never say it’s over.
When you guys started doing it, the internet was a completely different place.
You guys were at the forefront, but there are so many people who have now copied you.
Is it something that you’re watching on the internet?
Are you seeing certain people?
Do you realize the influence you guys have had on so many people?
TREMAINE: I don’t.
If I’m entertained, I’m entertained.
I don’t like calling anyone a copycat.
Everyone’s got a video camera.
I think we were doing what every boy did back then.
If you have a video camera, go do stupid shit with it.
[Laughs]I don’t think we’re pioneers on any front level.So yeah, it’s cool.
I like seeing kids go out and do crazy stuff.
Who are the three or five bands?
TREMAINE: Motley Crue, obviously.
You gotta give Ratt and Poison.
He’s just the coolest dude.
There’s a ton of them out there!
Who do you think is actually the most underrated band of that era?
Who doesn’t get enough credit for their musical ability or what they were able to accomplish?
TREMAINE: I mentioned W.A.S.P.
Their musical ability is awesome, but their presence was so outrageous.
They were just so loud and doing the craziest stuff.
They had to get rocket scientists involved in making that piece.
That, to me, is so funny.
I love that story!
How Jeff Tremaine Shaped Nothin’But A Good Time Through Editing
The docuseries is three episodes.
How did you decide on three episodes?
There was obviously so much material that you could do.
I’m just curious how that got figured out.
The editing is so important.
How did you figure out the structure?
There’s so much: like, what bands you wanted to feature, the structure of the episodes.
What was it like in the editing room?
How long did it take you?
Then just figuring out which stories were told perfectly and made sense and how this connects to that.
As I was doing it, I didn’t even have a grand vision.
I was just trying to get everybody to tell their best stories.
Then, we sorted it out in the post process.
You have Brett Michaels, and you have great stuff with him.
Do you have any plans to release longer parts of the conversation on YouTube or other platforms?
TREMAINE: No plan at the moment.
But yeah, almosteverybody you see probably has a three-hour interviewbehind that.
What you’re seeing are little clips.
We have a ton of stuff, a ton of great stories.
Jack Russell was the singer of Great White, and Steven Riley, the drummer of W.A.S.P.
That’s the other thing.
TREMAINE: There are plenty of great stories that didn’t make it into the thing.
I don’t know, there’s no plan at the moment, but we’ll figure out something.
How Did Jeff Tremaine Perfect His Rock Legend Interviews?
What do you think would actually surprise people to learn about making a docuseries like this?
TREMAINE: It’s daunting.
There’s licensing and everything.
So, that was complicated.
Plus tracking down all this archival footage that hasn’t been seen in years or hasneverbeen seen.
It was fun to start opening those little treasure chests.
So, I don’t know how to answer that question.
It was daunting to do.
It’s all great where people are like, Oh, I get to watch those three episodes!
Meanwhile, this has been years of your life.
TREMAINE: Yeah, exactly.
TREMAINE: I guess the story gets impacted.
I didn’t go into this with any sort of prejudgment.
I take a stab at go into it open-minded to everybody and treat them all with respect.
TREMAINE: There was never a chance, I don’t think, with Axl.
That door seemed pretty closed.
But we got to talk to Alan Niven, his manager, and Steven Adler.
Tracii Guns told a great story about how Guns N Roses started.
He’s the Guns of Guns N Roses Tracy Guns from L.A.
Guns and left the band right before they became the biggest rock band in the world.
Like, a crazy story.
I actually didn’t fully know some of that stuff.
Honestly, my favorite was watching Alan because he gave no shits.
He was just like, This was not a fun time for me.
Great White was a crazy band.
Then Guns N Roses, which he also managed, may be the craziest!
We also talked to Doc McGhee, who managed Motley Crue at the beginning and Skid Row.
These guys have been through everything, and they’re very lucid.
They’ll tell you exactly what happened.
[Laughs]
It’s pretty crazy when you think about it.
I learned a lot during watching the episodes.
I had no idea how close they came to justnotmaking it.
TREMAINE: They fell into the right hands.
It’s really easy to blow it with a band like that, too.
Sometimes, it gets overproduced.
Sometimes, no one knows what to do with it.
Appetite For Destructionis arguably one of the best albums of all time.
I listened to it today, and it soundsraw,and every song is incredible.
TREMAINE: They captured the magic of that band.
It had to be chaos in the studio.
Jeff Tremaine Chose Animation For Reenactments
It wasn’t even a company.
It was just one guy!
You have some animated sequences in the episodes.
How did you decide on doing that and what company did you decide to hire?
We found this animator, Eric Brown; it wasn’t even a company it was just one guy.
We let him do one scene, and it was so funny.
I didn’t give him any direction.
He just really paid attention to every little detail.
If you watch it over and over again, you’ll find little Easter eggs all throughout.
It all adds up.
You mentioned already the difficulty in getting clearance on footage.
What ended up being the footage that was the hardest to get?
Was there anything that you were desperate to include that you just couldn’t get the clearance on?
TREMAINE: Man, I don’t know if I have a good story for that.
Doc would talk about the Moscow Peace Festival, which was a huge concert he promoted.
It was like, basically, when Motley Crue fired him because of it.
It’s a huge concert in Russia, and we just couldn’t get that story in there.
But we really didn’t need it.
Again, just a really cool story.
I think he’s gonna put out his own version of that.
What are you working on now?
I was like, Oh, maybe he’ll do that!
I have no idea what you’re doing.
TREMAINE: I don’t wanna be too stereotyped.
I’m not really looking to be the “band biopic guy.”
Maybe theres a story out there.
I’ve got a couple of things that are in the early stages.
I don’t like to talk about what I’m doing next.
I like to really get it done and then talk about it as it’s done.
I won’t pressure you.
TREMAINE: Oh, cool.
There’s no plan on pumping the brakes.
We’re trying to put as much shit out there as we can.
Nothin' But A Good Time: The Uncensored Story of ’80s Hair Metalis now available on Paramount+.
