Playboy's 20Q: Chris Isaak

Some performers collect armloads of KJ awards every year. But Chris Isaak, a 46-year-old Stockton, California native, just hunkers down and does the work. To his amusement, the star of Showtime's Chris Isaak Show is finally receiving big-time kudos. He had a brief career as a boxer in Japan (where his nose was broken), forays into acting with small roles in Married to the Mob (playing a homicidal clown) and Silence of the Lambs (appearing as a SWAT commander) and years of fine-tuning his musical skills in clubs around the country. Then Isaak's profile took off with a monster hit, Wicked Game, which featured a sexy video co-starring supermodel Helena Christensen. He followed with several albums and videos, including a moderate success, Somebody's Crying, that caught critical attention but not the mass appeal of his initial hit. Isaak's good looks earned him a place on People's list of the 50 most beautiful people. He was a natural on the big screen in David Lynch's Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (portraying an FBI agent), Little Buddha opposite Bridget Fonda, Grace of My Heart, and That Thing You Do, directed by Tom Hanks. He appeared on television as himself on It's Garry Shandling's Show and The Larry Sanders Show and guest-starred on Friends, Melrose Place and the HBO ministries From the Earth to the Moon.

Stanley Kubrick chose Isaak's song Baby Did a Bad Thing as the focal point of the soundtrack for his last film, Eyes Wide Shut. CBS commissioned him to compose the theme for its Late Late Show With Craig Kilborn. Then Viacom approached Isaak with an idea to star him and his real band, Silver-tone, in a quirky cable series, the Chris Isaak Show. The Showtime series, now in its second season, has caught the attention of critics and guest stars, including Bridget Fonda, Jay Leno, Stevie Nicks, Green Day, Third Eye Blind and Everclear. Isaak recently released his ninth album, Always Got Tonight, and visited U.S. troops in Afghanistan with Dwight Yoakam, among others.

Robert Crane caught up with the reluctant star at Sutton Place Hotel in Vancouver, where the series is filmed. Crane reports: "Besides being handsome and talented, Isaak attracts women by being so damned low-key. They seem to want to take care of him. Among his female handlers are an assistant, a manager, publicists and record company staff. Nice gig. Isaak is also an accomplished artist. He drew 12 sketches during our interview, illustrating what he was talking about. His manager wouldn't let us publish them."

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[Q] Playboy: Have you kept any sand in a jar from the Wicked video with Helena Christensen?

[A] Isaak: I didn't keep the sand. I kept the memories. At the time, Helena wasn't a big star. They put her up in a really seedy, mildew-smelling motel. It was in Hawaii, on the big island. I had stayed in that motel before. That's the kind of place I stayed at. They put me up in this really fancy-pants place. Your monogram's on everything. I said, "I really feel it's a waste to put me in this room because it's not what I'm accustomed to. Why don't you put her in my room and I'll go stay at the cheap motel? It's not going to bother me. She'll feel good. She's a girl. She'll have nice fresh sheets." They said, "Ok, if you want to." So we switched. At about two in the morning, my girlfriend called and got Helena Christensen on the phone, and I never heard the end of that. To this day, I'm sure she believes there was some kind of hanky-panky. I wasn't even at the hotel, but she wouldn't take no for an answer. She said, "'I know! I know what was going on. You can't pull the wool over my eyes." Often accused, often guilty, yet only convicted for crimes I didn't commit.

2

[Q] Playboy: Your nose was broken when you boxed in Japan in your early 20s. When it was reset, did you ask for the upturn, like "Give me the Bob Hope?"

[A] Isaak: No, it was probably an upper-cut that did it. I got what nature gave me. Somebody took a swing and that's what's left. The interesting thing is, when I quit boxing in Japan and was back in the States, some girl I knew was going to get her nose done. She wanted to go to the doctor. She was scared. She said, "Come with me and listen to what he tells me because I'll forget. I'm going to get nervous." So I went into the room. The doctor walked in. He looked at me and said, "Oh, we can definitely do something with it. Yes, this is definitely worth doing." I said, "No, I'm not the patient. She is." And he said, "Well, you know, we can take cartilage from your ear and then reconstruct your nose." And I said, "No! I'm fine. I can breathe through it if it's raining." I can't imagine going through surgery and taking cartilage out of my ear. My ear and my nose would look screwed up. I said, "I'll just wait a few more years. I'm a guy." I don't have to worry about that stuff. Ten years from now, who cares? I'll just be another gray-haired guy on a beach.

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[Q] Playboy: Who sings better love songs? You or Dwight Yoakam?

[A] Isaak: Dwight's a pretty good singer. He's a hell of a writer. It's always hard to judge your own work, but I would put Dwight at the top of his class. When you listen to the quality of his songwriting, there are real stories there, and you can take them into your own life. He's a smart guy. Don't let the cowboy hat fool you. I spent 23 hours with him on an Air Force cargo plane going to Afghanistan. We entertained the troops together. It was a lot of fun. Bridget Fonda was on my TV show playing my girlfriend, and that's his girlfriend in real life. So, for 23 hours, I kept saying, "Yeah, you know, Bridget is a hell of (continued on page 130)Chris Isaak(continued from page 115) a kisser, Dwight. She's really got it going on. It must be a lot of fun, huh?" He's a funny guy. He's a pilot. He was in the front of the plane almost all the way. He was hoping they might let him fly the plane a little bit. I said, "No, I hope to God they don't let you fly the plane. It would be a desperate Air Force." He also gets extremely worked up if you mention the Taliban. He's ready to put on fatigues.

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[Q] Playboy: Whose idea was it to have a nude woman on the rotating turntable?

[A] Isaak: It's based on Bimbo's nightclub in San Francisco. We played Bimbo's because I wanted to have a home base besides my house. A place where you could say, "Where's the band? Where do they work out, play, hang out?" Bimbo's has a great restaurant, it's a nightclub big enough to have fun, but small enough to be intimate. And below the club there was a labyrinth of mirrors, with a woman rotating on a table and her image reflecting up through the mirrors into an aquarium behind the bar. This has been there since 1930. It's like some magical trick. So we thought this would be impressive for the TV show. Actually, it's better than a video game. If you have a few beers, it really looks like she's swimming in the fish tank. I went down there a couple of times. When you have time between sets, you don't want to go out into the club; it's noisy. So you go talk to the woman on the table. She likes the attention. She's just killing time down there.

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[Q] Playboy: Do you ever lose your lines?

[A] Isaak: Oh, because of that? No. A lot of people joke with me. "You must hate that, working with that beautiful nude woman." Bobby Jo Moore, who plays Mona, is the sweetest girl and as much like a sister as you could have. Every time I see her, it's "Hi, Chris." "What're you doing, Bobby?" "I'm making cookies for my nieces." "Hi, Chris. I'm decorating Christmas cards for everybody." I was on the Rosie O'Donnell Show and they asked me about her. I said, "She's this sweet girl who's always doing things for her nieces and nephews." Rosie said she should have her on her show. Bobby was staying at my manager's house. Rosie called her up, and Bobby said, "Are you kidding me?" Then she named all of Rosie's kids. I asked her, "How do you know all the names?" "Because Rosie works with children, and I want to work with children someday, too. And I'm really proud of her." And I was thinking, "Nice people. I forgot they existed." On the show she's naked, but there's no sexuality between us—she is totally a mentor. She has reached nirvana and she's helping me get there. I never hit on her and she never comes on to me. Sex is the last thing going through your head. What's really going through your head is, I have 10 seconds to deliver this line, because you have to hit the mark as she turns around. Those scenes are very exacting.

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[Q] Playboy: You find your own clothes, right?

[A] Isaak: I try to find my own clothes. They got me some stuff for the show because TV just eats up clothes. You go through clothes because you're shooting 20 different scenes every week and each scene calls for a different set of clothes. I try to go to the junk store with the wardrobe people once in a while and find secondhand stuff that's cheap. We get a few new things to sprinkle in with the old stuff. And to come up with something flattering.

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[Q] Playboy: Don't you have some of your outfits made?

[A] Isaak: The stage suits I have are things I get interested in. I'll actually sketch designs and talk to the people making the stage clothes. I meet rock stars who are on the show and they look at the clothes I'm wearing and ask, "Is that Versace? Armani?" I don't know. Usually it came from Goodwill [showing label of sweater he's wearing]. I think this is some Catholic school sweater. It is. School Apparel. I think that's an offshoot of Armani. It's nice to have designer things once in a while, but a lot of the stuff I have is junk. The only people who notice the good stuff are the people who can afford it. That leaves all my friends out. It's always hysterical to me when people look at a black T-shirt and say, "Is that by such-and-such?" "Yeah, if it was it would be 500 bucks. And it'll still be a black T-shirt." Prada. I think they must have a guy there who sews really show. Nice stuff, but he just takes his time. I've always liked stage clothes that looked like you dressed up for the show. My band wears suits. None of us look like fashion models. We're not the guys you can put in Levi's and T-shirts and the women would scream. So I've always thought, Let's dress up and look nice. Let people walking in think they came to a nice show. "Look, honey. I spent 25, 50 bucks. I drove downtown, had to park the car. And these guys went to the trouble to get dressed up." It would bug me if somebody has gone to the trouble to come to the club, and you wander onstage half an hour late, in a dirty T-shirt, smoking a cigarette, in your Levi's. I've seen that. For some people, that's a good act. But for me—we're tipping our hat right from the beginning. Here we are. We're here to entertain you. Even if you don't like the music, we hope you go home and say, "You wouldn't believe what the hell he was wearing!"

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[Q] Playboy: You seem to have loads of monogrammed shirts and jackets. Do you have any monogrammed nonapparel items?

[A] Isaak: Well, "monogrammed" makes it sound like I'm classy. It sounds like David Niven. David Niven would have DN on all his shirts, demurely set in a corner of a sleeve. Think more like Jethro Bodine. Mine is in glittery, big letters and it's on my guitar in stick-on mailbox letters, like Stevie Ray Vaughan. It's on my guitar strap because I saw B.B. King had his there. It's on my belt because I saw James Dean did it on his belt. It's on my boots because I've seen other people monogram their boots. I put monograms all over things, partially because I always figured people won't know who I am when they're watching TV. And partially because some of the guys I work with aren't really trustworthy. It's like summer camp. My surfboard has my name on it in big letters. I figured if it gets lost at sea, they'll be able to bring it home.

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[Q] Playboy: Define what sort of music you do.

[A] Isaak: Seventeen years ago I had a three-piece rockabilly band. Seventeen years ago Sting was trying to be pop and now he's avant-garde. I think I am more vocal than pop. Roy Orbison was gleeful one time and said, "People ask me what kind of music I do. I tell them I'm the romantic balladeer." I thought that was a good description for what I try to do—romantic balladeer, and put some rock and roll into it.

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[Q] Playboy: What's the best way to take a vacation?

[A] Isaak: It's all about weather and food. I'm a basic animal. If I go to Greece and the food is cheap and plentiful, I'm happy. If the food is bad and the weather's cold, get me out of there. I don't care how much wonderful art they have. When I go on a road trip, I love to go to the old side of town. Usually there's a nice side of town, where there's a fancy mall and they have artistic things to do. I go to the old side of town, where there are pawnshops, places that sell hair products and a 5-and-10. Those are the places I love to haunt. They have interesting, weird junk. I never buy expensive antiques on the road. Cary Grant did stuff like that. I don't. Find a local to tell you where the places are to haunt. I went to Thailand. People asked me, "Did you hook up with a girl in Thailand?" That's the last thing in the world you need to do on the road—try to hook up on your day off. You don't need to chase women in some strange country. Just do the tourist things. It's hilarious. Most people won't do it because they feel they are too hip. When I was in Thailand, I went to the capitol building and the museums. All my friends went to bars and they all asked, "Well, what did you think?" I said, "1 had a great time." They think I caught something!

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[Q] Playboy: What is the most wicked game you've ever played?

[A] Isaak: It's usually being played on me. As soon as I completely commit to someone, that's when something lands on my head. The gods are just waiting. For instance, I pulled into my girlfriend's driveway after I'd picked up some food for her because she said she wasn't feeling well. Did her a favor. Let her just lie there and rest. I rang the bell and there was no answer. Poor thing, she's probably so sick she can't get the door. Then I looked and noticed there was another car in the driveway. Well, at least I had my shopping done.

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[Q] Playboy: What's the difference between rock-and-roll fame and television fame?

[A] Isaak: Rock and roll is a small, specific group that likes your music. Television is a whole bunch of people who didn't particularly want to see you but did. They may like you, or not, but they know who you are because they were too lazy to get up and change the channel. It's like the difference between having a subscription to a magazine or a throwaway newspaper that comes to your house every day. TV is right there—accessible to a lot of people. Because I'm on TV, I'm recognized by people all the time. I was in New York and I walked into the Carnegie Deli. "Hey, Mr. Isaak, come on in. Right here, man. Here's your table." He acted like he knew me. I guess he feels that way because he saw me on TV. I'm glad when somebody knows me. I'm just happy to be treated well. Any kind of smile I get, I'll take. It's all wonderful and good.

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[Q] Playboy: IS fame addictive?

[A] Isaak: To tell the truth, fame doesn't really do much for me. I want the stuff that goes with it—that green stuff. You get the money and you get control over your art. Every time you're famous, or the band becomes famous, it means we have a few more years on our career—at least playing state fairs. I love playing music. It sounds like a joke, but I would be happy playing bars or state fairs. I would rather do that than sit at home. As far as the fame? My scenario is: Let's imagine Bill Gates calls me. He's watching TV. It's late at night. He and his wife are laying there in their big connubial bed and he looks at the screen and says, "Who's this creep Chris Isaak?" She says, "Honey, he's got a TV show." He says, "I hate him. He's creepy. I can't stand his singing, and I hate his show." "Well, what're you going to do, honey? What can we do about that?" He says, "You know something. I'm a billionaire. I'm the richest man in the world. Have somebody pay him off not to sing." "Really?" "Yeah." So if Bill Gates called and offered me $250 million to never appear on TV again, I'd say, is that cash or a check? Cancel my show. I'll stay home! I'll do all my singing on the beach.

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[Q] Playboy: The rock-and-roll groupie is dead—say it ain't so.

[A] Isaak: Damn, she was getting old. It's too bad, because I was hoping to get a turn at her, but I guess she's gone now. Well, God bless her. It was probably wearing her out, all these different bands. The word groupie is offensive to me because I think it's demeaning to the women. If you travel all the time, who are you going to meet on the road? You're going to meet everybody on the road. They're the only friends you have. I've always been a singer. Being a singer you end up going back to your room. If you go back with a girl and talk and go to bed and stay up until three in the morning, you won't hit the high notes the next day. I'm conscientious. My relationship with my throat is like a baseball pitcher with his arm. You're not going to blow it out before the game. The other thing is, there's a loneliness that comes with doing that. It sounds fun. People like to fantasize about it, but I think it's really lonely. I'm not blaming anybody. Take some sandwiches back to your room and watch CNN by yourself. I do that a lot. I read something Jewel said in an interview. She said after a gig she was back in her hotel room and all these people wanted her attention. Of course they want her. She's sexy. She said she felt alone. She's in her room saying, "What's wrong with me? Here I am alone. All these people apparently want me." The attention you get is not really about you. It's about the stage and the lights and your glittering suit. But when you go back to your hotel room, you're on your own.

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[Q] Playboy: When is a woman being predatory and when is she being brainy?

[A] Isaak: You look in people's eyes and the conversation you have with them, you get a pretty good idea of what people want. Some people are pretty bold and up front, and say, "I want you, baby. My girlfriend will wait in the hall." People can be really forward, which is always scary to me. In some ways it's exciting. But it's also terrifying, because you think, Where have you been? If these are your standards, if you'll go with me, my God, you'll go with anyone. I've been lucky to find people in my life who are smart. They're dangerous and I like the danger. In the long run, it's smart women who reinvent themselves, and are a challenge and a stimulus. They bring something to the table everyday. Somebody else who's just looking for breast size and a day care center—if they want to do that, that's Ok. Infantilism is a laudable pursuit for somebody. I just don't know that I want to do it full-time. It takes all kinds. Everybody gets a chance to try different things. The best thing is to get somebody that you're physically attracted to and they have something else going on. Charles Bukowski said: Take any beautiful woman that you see. Look at her and realize that somewhere there's a guy who's sick of her. What I take from that is if it's just physical, you're going to get over that. Then you're just changing partners. For me, I'm shooting for the moon. I met somebody who's a complete knucklehead and very cute and sweet. Apparently, her extradition is not going well, so she's going to be here for a while. They're unable to match her fingerprints with the other bodies. So everything's looking good.

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[Q] Playboy: If you could have been in any band, which would it have been?

[A] Isaak: When I was starting off in the music business, I used to dream about being in the early Sun sessions. I would have loved to have been Scotty Moore, playing guitar in a three-piece, but I wouldn't have been as good. Or I would have loved to have been in the Beatles. What the hell would I have done? I'd have screwed things up. I wish I could have seen those bands. We've played venues where someone has given me a list of who has played there before, like 1960-something or 1955. One bill was Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, the Everly Brothers, a juggler and some kind of 4H project. Admission was $1.50. I wish I could go back in time and see that. I would love to have seen Elvis playing the Airport Lounge. I read about this. He played at an airport when he was starting out. Somebody said, "What would you pay?" I'd give you $50,000 to see that. I'd give you $100,000 to see that. I would love to have seen the Beades playing in Hamburg when they were doing three shows a night. I'd give you $100,000 to see that. That's how much of a rock-and-roll freak I am. Those guys are just so impressive and I want to see them when they were rough and raw, and just starting off. I heard the tapes of those early sessions. It's amazing. You always wonder, What did Sam Phillips hear? Sam Phillips is a genius—the guy who produced Elvis—a genius. You listen to the first Elvis tapes and they're rough and raw. But my God, the guy could sing. To digress for a second—I am sitting in my house in Vancouver, working on the TV show like crazy and reading some magazine. It's a Sam Phillips article. I love Sam Phillips as a producer. He started rock and roll. Genius guy and a crazy man. He just did it his own way. At the end of the article, it asked, "Who among modern artists do you like?" And he said Chris Isaak. And I cried! I don't know if he knows that that nice thing he said travels out there and goes to me. I always think that's so cool. I haven't talked with Sam Phillips, and I would love to. I'm such a complete fan of his work. Everybody in rock and roll owes him a debt. He really took chances. Today, there are certain people pretending to be dangerous. But there was a time when rock and roll really was dangerous. That was a time when they were saying, "Hey, this is something that unites black and white, young and old, and brings all these things together." I love that music can break down barriers. That's very cool.

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[Q] Playboy: Could you name some aesthetic offenses of the Seventies?

[A] Isaak: I can't think of the offenses so much as things I liked. You take any woman and dress her in Seventies fabric, and she looks a little tawdry—but hot. I like that. I'm also the guy who likes all the women on Mexican television because they dress like glamorous hookers. We know it's bad taste. We know it's not fashionable. But we go, "Look at those glittery clothes and makeup." Is there anything that white go-go boots can't help?

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[Q] Playboy: Who do you want on your show?

[A] Isaak: Mariah Carey. It seems like the press is having a field day saying she's having a hard time. But she wrote all those songs and she produced them. She isn't a piece of fluff. It would be funny for her to come on the show and make fun of the fact that somebody was knuckleheaded enough to pay her millions to be let go. She's going to turn around and have another huge hit. I think she'd be fun. James Coburn. I'd like to have him play my father on the show. A real badass. He looks like my dad, so that would be good. One cool thing about doing this show is people think everybody in Hollywood knows everybody. One minute Shelby Lynn is on and the next minute it's the Goo-Goo Dolls. And Green Day, Third Eye Blind and Art Alexakis from Everclear. Every week is a music education. It's been raining gold, so I haven't been wishing for much.

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[Q] Playboy: Who would be a present to yourself?

[A] Isaak: She has to be sweet and kind—through the eyes of a child—yet a total freak. You know who I like? That actress who was in the movie Hud. She was also in A Face in the Crowd. Patricia Neal. That's my type of woman. I always go for the type who was a little older, smarter, been around, seen things. I like the soul. Patricia Neal always did it for me. I always thought Barbara Stanwyck was really hot. Older, but she was still hot. She just looked like somebody who'd give you hell. I need a woman who's smart enough to give me hell. I already have somebody who's giving me hell. It's funny what women think men want, and then there's the reality. You get a bunch of guys in a room and a girl who's drop-dead gorgeous. And there's another girl who's not gorgeous, but every guy in that room is looking at her and going, "Oh my God." It's the way somebody moves, the way they talk, the way they look at you. We were talking to this woman, and she must have been 60-something. I said, "God, she's hot! How is this possible?" My friend said life, it's just boiling out of some people. Other people can be beautiful, but it's like looking at a piece of cardboard.

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[Q] Playboy: Baby can do a bad thing. When is it real bad and when is it unforgivable?

[A] Isaak: I'm trying to think what I would not forgive if I'm in love. That's the sick thing about the way you love somebody sometimes. "Honey, I know you didn't mean to cut off my legs, right?" "I did! I did mean to cut them off." "Well, I forgive you." There's a song that goes, "I'm here at the barroom thinking of what you have done. I'm just sitting here with this bottle, trying to forgive you." It paints a picture of somebody who's saying, "You did something to hurt me so bad, yet I love you so much I want to forgive you and I can't find a way. Maybe if I get drunk, I can find a way to forgive you." If you really love somebody, you can always come around. When you get a little more experienced, it's harder to judge people. You go, "Yeah, she stole my money. Yeah, she shot my dog. Yeah, she wrecked my car. But you know something? I see why she did it." People don't do something out of downright crazy meanness. I've met a few people who were crazy mean. Usually, people are afraid you're going to hurt them first, so they hurt you. When you see that, it makes you feel sorry for them. Sometimes life does that-throws stuff right in your face and you're confronted with the limitations of your love. I don't feel like I hate the other person. I just feel bad.