You don’t wear your trademark makeup on Salem. Have you started to feel more comfortable without it? And why did you start wearing it in the first place?

I think I started wearing it in the first place simply out of using my inspiration from pop—Alice Cooper, David Bowie. I was just drawn to that. I feel very comfortable not wearing it, though. I enjoy acting because I can take on a different shape, different form. I don’t have eyebrows because I shave them off by choice, so when I grow eyebrows or facial hair people don’t recognize [sic] me and that gives me an advantage when I act—that I can be a chameleon. I’m more comfortable in the more masculine element, although I never felt that I was all that feminine even when I wore lipstick, strangely.

What are your thoughts on Fox News, and the way they report the news?

[Laughs] It’s like the movie Anchorman. It really is. All news is debatable. You guys are good at exposing elements—which is why I look at your website often—as well as humorous stuff, but you can’t really rely much on anything. It really makes me think of the era that Salem takes place in. I honestly can’t say for sure that, other than the photographs, because I’ve never been up into the sky and looked at the Earth, so I could never say that I know with full certainty that the Earth that we see in photographs is what it looks like. I will believe it—I’m not trying to doubt that; at the same time, it’s difficult to believe anything these days unless you see it right in front of you. Even photographs can be altered now, though they’ve always been able to be altered, and that in and of itself is a form of witchcraft.

You’ve recently played a white nationalist on Sons of Anarchy, and it does feel like Trump’s alliance with elements of the alt-right—including his campaign CEO, Steve Bannon—has served as a dog whistle to white nationalists. You don’t think it’s important to potentially stop this man from assuming the highest office in the land?

I don’t think that, as an artist, I can make as much of a difference voting as I can the commentaries I make in music on my next record, Say10. I understand that you could say I’m not helping stop [Trump], but I think he’s going to help himself stop it. Obviously someone who’s more politically trained is a better choice, in theory, but it’s such a fuckfest. That’s the best description: it’s a fuckfest.

You’ve spoken about your affinity for Satanism in the past. What attracts you to that philosophy, and what do you feel the biggest misconceptions are about it?

Well, the biggest misconception is that I’m a practicing—you know what, I don’t even like the word “practicing.” It sounds like rehearsing. It’s an honorary title from the Church of Satan, but the philosophy borders very closely on what I’ve always felt is my view on nature based on Darwin, the occult, and things I like about Aleister Crowley, as well as my desire to rebel from being in a Christian school. But I don’t think there really can be misconceptions. There’s no way to misunderstand me; you can only understand me differently, and that’s why I’ve always elected to be chaotic.

What I believe in doesn’t really have a word; there’s a spirituality. I feel good when I do something good, whether it’s doing a good show or writing a good song. If I do something that affects people—or the universe—in some way, it makes me feel good. People might not think I have a lot of positivity in me, or that I love cats, and people might think that it’s all darkness, but there’s just as much light in me as darkness. You can’t have one without the other. When people cross me it’s probably a bad idea, but I try to keep that out of the courtroom. [Laughs]

So you feel that, in being staunchly against radical Islamic terrorism, Christians are pitting themselves against Muslims, and therefore promoting Christianity by contrast?

If they don’t have a devil, god can’t exist. I’m not saying that they’re not right, that’s just Mass. That’s Bible 101: You gotta have a bad guy or you don’t have a story. See, what I like when it comes to me, when it comes to being a villain, is the villain is the best character because he’s the guy who is willing to bend and/or break the rules. The hero is just a straight fuckin’ line. The villain does it for romantic purposes, and the hero just does it because he doesn’t know any better. He’s also usually fuckin’ dumb, too.

Oh, Marilyn, no one these days is anything like you. Read the full interview HERE.

[source:thedailybeast]