Exclusive: Pumpin' & Rockin' with Billy Corgan, Flea & Electric Six!

Which bands give you the biggest pump while exercising? TheArnoldFans spoke with several musicians recently since we all like to rock out to boost our cardio levels and release our inner Schwarzenegger rock star. Not only do some of these rockers tell me what exercises they do to get a good pump, I'm also nominating the band Electric Six, as this year's winner of 2015's Best Gym Tunes! But first up, let's hear from Flea, bassist of The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Donny Osmond and Billy Corgan of The Smashing Pumpkins.

TheArnoldFans: When you're not on tour, what do you do to stay in shape? Do you lift and do you have any real-life fitness icons who motivate you?

Flea:  "Well, I always like to keep my body moving and functioning well. Right now I'm training for a marathon, I run marathons, thank you. And I really find a lot of peace and a remarkable sense of self when I'm running long distances. I like to run in mountain trails, alone or with my dog, for long periods of time, and right now I'm getting so much joy from that and my body really loves it.  In terms of athletes that i admire, there are so many. I love athletics as much as I love literature or art or music or a variety of academic things. But I'd have to say my favorite athlete of all time is Magic Johnson. I really admired him for his remarkable skills and all his work to get himself as good as what he did, and also his ability to uplift all the people around him."


TheArnoldFans: Hi Donny, thank you for the great work-out anthem: "Make a Man Out of You" from Mulan. What are your favorite work-out songs and how do you stay in shape? What exercises do you do?

Donny Osmond: It's all about the core these days, rather than just building muscles. As far as the songs are concerned, there's a great album called THE SOUNDTRACK OF MY LIFE, by me. Haha! And Bruno Mars' UPTOWN FUNK is a great song to work out to.

TheArnoldFans: Hi Billy, I saw you attend the premier of Batman & Robin since you had a song in the film, Is there one new film you wish the band could be in?

Billy Corgan: "Every film!"

TheArnoldFans: What was the best and worst part about being on the Howard Stern Show?

Billy Corgan: "There's no worst with Howard. He's the best in the business. A fantastic and incisive interviewer. And the best thing is he loves music."

 

Finally, let me introduce you to the winner of  2015's Best Gym Tunes: Electric Six! This rock band from Detroit, Michigan infuses elements of "Garage, disco, punk rock, new wave, and metal.  TheArnoldFans interviewed singer Dick Valentine and guitarist Da Ve. Get a sense of their powerful gym-pumping tunes by clicking on any one of the music videos below!

TheArnoldFans: Your music was featured on "The Simpsons" one time. Is there one particular project, film or TV series you are most proud of or honored to be attached to?

Electric Six: Being on "Top of the Pops" in the UK, I mean, that's a legendary show, so to be on that, I mean, we were on that twice, so that's pretty amazing that this happened. We've had a lot domestic things like that. We had a lot more television exposure in Europe, that kind of thing, but out here in the States, it was a really big deal.

TheArnoldFans: Some of your earlier themes were "Fire," "War," "Dance," so what are kind of the themes will be in your upcoming release?

Electric Six: Oh, geez! I don't wanna give away the title. Yeah, I don't know, um. Casino themed, which is not a give away because, yeah, because of rock, casino money, conflict, Christmas.

TheArnoldFans: I was out there with the crowd and there was a good mix of younger people, older, people with tattoos. I was like curious, what are some of the best Electric Six tattoos, or in general, the best fan appreciation you've seen? What do they do to show you their fandom?

Electric Six: Oh yeah, that's always the best. I don't have any tattoos or that type of thing, but I love that. We're very much norm-core people. We have a lot going on inside, but outside, we look like this. It's fun when people have nine-thousand colors in their hair and it's interesting that these people are basically looking to someone like their uncle for someone to give them some sort of direction, but it's fun.

TheArnoldFans: Cool, now let's talk Arnold!  I am from the Arnold site...

Electric Six (Da Ve): That's what we were waiting for! I DO get up in the morning and think about Arnold Schwarzenegger. For the longest time, I was under the impression that "Commando" was the greatest movie ever made, until I saw "Crank 2: High Voltage."

TheArnoldFans: Basically, it's the same kind of "Commando" over-the-top action.

Da Ve: Yeah, just get the plot out of the fuckin' way. Start kicking some ass! Yeah, I can speak for a couple members of the band, definitely are fans of Arnold's career. One of the greatest moments for me, we were in a hotel and our old base player started watching "Predator." He was just in his PJs and he was like "this movie has given us two Governors. If you stop and think about American politics now, it's like one-twentyfifth of our Governors were in this movie!

TheArnoldFans: My buddy Ken, the winner of last year's Electric Six Kickstarter thing, got to go up on stage and played the cowbells for you. He introduced me to you guys ten years ago. Do you figure crowd-sourcing is the way to go these days for the smaller, yet ballsy bands?

Electric Six: Yeah, I mean it's just the new age of doing things and you know, I've always said that whatever happens to the music industry, like a flat tax, the good and bad parts of it, so you have to be creative. You can't just sit there, bitch and moan about the fact that you get spoiled record advances and stuff, so Kickstarter's a way to take it into your own hands and, you know, you can't have the same mind set you had ten years ago. If ten years ago, someone would have told me we'd be on Kickstarter campaigns, I wouldn't have gone for it at all. Like it was stupid and selling out and all that, but that's the new normal.

TheArnoldFans: Have you heard of the band ArnoCorps?

Electric Six: ArnoCorps?

TheArnoldFans: They do Arnold songs and were very successful with Kickstarter. They tour a lot in the UK, and they are even a bigger deal over there. Was just curious as to if you guys feel like you have more of your fan base here in the states or more over there?

Electric Six: It's bigger over there. Not, like, massively bigger, but let's say we'll do The Independent (music venue in San Francisco) holds 500 people, then in London, we'll play to 800 people. So yeah, it's slightly bigger over there.

TheArnoldFans: I take it you're gonna be there for opening night of "Terminator: Genysis" then? Is that something you care about?

Electric Six: Yes. Trailers are great. We absolutely want to see that one. Personally - a huge Schwarzenegger fan.