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Tom Waits

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13 Nov, 1992

Bram Stoker’s Dracula

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Waits plays Renfield, Count Dracula’s bug-eating minion, in this Francis Ford Coppola adaptation of Bram Stoker’s novel, Dracula.  Count Dracula comes to Victorian England seeking his reincarnated love, now engaged to Jonathan Harker. Co-starring Gary Oldman, Keanu Reeves, Winona Ryder, and Anthony Hopkins.

I did not actually eat the bugs. And I’ll say that because I’ve lied to other people and told them I did eat the bugs. I didn’t want anybody to think I didn’t have the courage to eat insects. What I really did was put ’em in my mouth and give them kind of a funhouse ride. Uhhh – move them around, let them walk along the jagged cliff of my teeth. And then I brought them back out again. A lot of them wanted to buy a ticket and go right back in for another ride. It was only mealworms – but there were a lot of spiders. I was working with insects. I’ve been in show business for 25 years, and I’m working with insects.

Renfield @ Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992)

22 Oct, 2011

The Observer interview

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Waits speaks about his life and his music from near his hometown of Santa Rosa, California.tomwaits-007

I used to think that all great recordings happened at about 3am. So my first studio experiences, I wanted to be recording after the bars closed. I just thought that’s when it all happened. And it worked for me for a while, I guess. But I don’t believe that so much any more. I realise now there’s more than one way to sneak up on a herd of cattle.