CHAMPAGNE JERRY is just about ready to pop the cork on his new LP THE CHAMPAGNE ROOM. I hope the world is prepared for this smooth, delicious milkshake of an album, topped with laughter-inducing sprinkles. Neal Medlyn, the man behind the performance artist, collaborated with industry darlings Ad-Rock and Max Tannone to nail down catchy beats and bring fans 12+ new tracks featuring Medlyn’s vocally-gifted pals Bridget Everett, Erin Markey, Murray Hill, Larry Krone and Jim Andralis. You can get your nimble digits on champagne bottle-shaped USB drives starting tonight at Champagne Jerry’s first live show at New York Live Arts. From March 2nd through March 5th, CJ will transform the NY space into “The Champagne Room” for five shows. Opening up the show will be a performance by Neal followed by Champagne Jerry, who will be joined by the Champagne Club, a rotating collection of CJ players including Adam Horovitz, Kathleen Hanna, Bridget Everett, Carmine Covelli, and a series of invented bands that exist for fleeting, bubble-filled moments. The album will be available in wide release this March 6th when you’ll be humorously entranced by tracks like Bed Couch Vestibule, Juicy Garey Busey, and, of course, Champagne. Relax and read Champagne Jerry wax poetic about the new THE CHAMPAGNE ROOM LP, the album release residency, and the breakfast-y dessert that goes famously with a sparkling beverage.
COMEDY CAKE: Congrats to you for creating an album that’s once again distinctively Champagne Jerry. Where did you draw inspiration from for the second LP?
CHAMPAGNE JERRY: I got inspired by a lot of the same things I always get inspired by: Max and Adam’s beats are the main inspirations, but also drinking champagne, taking my pants off and trying to have a great time.
CAKE: Do you find that humor naturally fits into your tracks or do you set out to fit it in?
CJ: I think it’s that a lot of the lines that come to me as I’m walking down the street are crazy or funny. I probably think of lots of introspective and sad lyrics, too, but by the time I get to write them down the only ones I remember are the funnier or crazier ones.
CAKE: This album features the vocal talents of many contributors. How did you decide which songs each artist would be a part of? Is it more challenging collaborating on works?
CJ: Bridget, Murray, Jim, Larry, Erin, and the Champagne Club are all such amazing artists that it’d be very hard NOT to ask them to be on my records! I think it makes it easier for me rather than more challenging: knowing your going to get to play off the work of these awesome people makes you step your game up and I’ve always been inspired by that.
CAKE: Do you find your albums offer a bit of commentary on other artists that just take themselves too seriously?
CJ: I would say that we put in a lot of hours to have this much fun and we take every drop of fake blood, every dildo-covered slip n’ slide very seriously.
Honestly, I come from a background as a performer, so I want everything to have that feeling, that Little Richard-level freak out. That run around, climb on stuff level of unbridled enthusiasm. I feel like that’s fun. I wouldn’t be interested in standing still and gazing deep into the eyes of the audience in order to make them feel the trauma of my heart.
Actually, that sounds so creepy that I might do that now….
CAKE: There seem to be quite a few more slower jams on the second LP. Was that your intention from the get go?
CJ: Yes, me, Max and Adam had been talking for the last year about trying out sexy R&B and other slow jam type stuff for this album. There was a lot of discussion of singing more on the tracks as all the songs were getting developed.
CAKE: Only Champagne Jerry can fit the word “vestibule” into a rap. “BCV” is one of our favorite tracks on the album. Tell us how that track came to be?
CJ: Ha! Adam sent me that beat and it had the file name “Bed Couch Vestibule.” Normally I don’t pay much attention to the file name but in this case I really wanted to see if I could write a song using the word vestibule in it and obviously the first thing that pops to mind is having sex on a couch in a vestibule.
CAKE: Of course.
CAKE: Do you ever find yourself editing lyrics because they are too racy for even CJ?
CJ: Well…. I have written a few lines that once I performed them for friends they asked me to take them out. Mostly things that they didn’t want me telling the world about their butts.
Lately, I’ve been thinking of how “going too far” in a certain song could be thought of as part of the dialogue between the music and the audience and I like that, so I’m going to think of it that way.
CAKE: Can you give us a hint of what you have planned for your New York residency shows?
CJ: Well, we’ve got a series of opening bands we invented specifically for the show: Cocaine Dumbledore; Bridget & Neal Are F*ckin and Adam & Carmine Are Watchin; Catch Club to the Music so, without giving too much away, I’m real excited about that.
Larry Krone is completely re-imagining the space at New York Live Arts, there will be a semi-required step and repeat…
And even if you’ve seen us live before, we really have a lot of things you have never seen us do.
It’s gonna be a lot!
CAKE: Do you have plans to tour outside New York anytime soon? We’re dying for some CJ love on the West Coast.
CJ: Oh man, I really want to get out to the West Coast! Right now, we are going to Columbia Missouri on March 6th for the closing night of the True False Film Festival and then on to Chicago to perform on March 7th at Defibrillator Gallery. Then we might take a little breather and head back to the Midwest and probably go back down to Florida, cuz I can’t help myself.
CAKE: Who wins a rap-off, Kanye or Champagne Jerry?
CJ: I prefer for us to do a follow-up to Watch the Throne where we make a whole record where we scream about how much we like snacks and how people won’t let us be great.
CAKE: That would be tight.
CAKE: You know what goes great with champagne? Cake! What dessert would you pair some bubbly with on a romantic evening?
CJ: If you want, as they say, to get on the turn up, you can’t beat a big bowl of Lucky Charms and some champagne. Trust me, it will be a night you will never forget.
CAKE: Duly noted.
Mentions: Purchase tix to see Champagne Jerry in the Champagne Room at New York Live Arts March 2-5 HERE. Pick up the album exclusively at the New York Live Arts residency shows. Pick up the album digitally starting March 6th. Pre-order on iTunes NOW. More Champagne Jerry deets THERE.