“We used to call Jerry (Dixon) Mr. Bill… short for belligerent.
— Bobby Borg
“So, a lot of the drinking nights… weren’t just like laughing and fun. It was also like… a lot of times some ugly, evil, hurtful sh!t that like happened on the bus.”
— Bobby Borg on touring with Warrant
“I don’t know, you know again I apologize if I am pissing anyone off, but he drank like a fish, and he was insane, and he would just do crazy things like smash hotel rooms, and smash drum-sets, and smash whatever… it was almost like… um, (pauses), like a genius savant.”
— Bobby Borg on James Kottak
PODCAST NEWS — In a new episode from The Hair Metal Guru, the guest is former Warrant drummer Bobby Borg.
Borg a New Jersey native was also part of the bands Beggars & Thieves and Left For Dead, but the years he spent with Warrant in the mid/late 90’s was for the most part his career highlight as a live touring musician.
Borg talks in-depth with Anthony Bryant, who hosts The Hair Metal Guru podcast and when the subject of Warrant comes up, the life-long musician does not mince words.
It’s no secret that Warrant went through some dark years during the height of grunge, but Borg tells some of the inside like its never been heard before.
Borg says (As transcribed by Metal Sludge): “So, a lot of the drinking nights… weren’t just like laughing and fun. It was also like… a lot of times some ugly, evil, hurtful sh!t that like happened on the bus.”
Borg speaks openly sharing some brutal stories during the near 2 hour interview even prefacing some of his statements with an apology.
Talking about when his band Left For Dead opened for Warrant on tour: “When you tour with a group, you know it’s inevitable that like, one night, the headliner is going to like, sit at the bar and watch the opener, you know. And ah, I remember when Jani (Lane) um, was out in the audience, and he was watching and stuff like that. And ah, you know he complimented me he goes, ‘You know I am a drummer too, I just think… I dig the way you play and stuff.'”
Borg continues: “You know James (Kottak) was amazing, ah, you know kind of a feel drummer, and um, but he was also a madman. I don’t know, you know again I apologize if I am pissing anyone off, but he drank like a fish, and he was insane, and he would just do crazy things like smash hotel rooms, and smash drum-sets, and smash whatever… it was almost like… um, (pauses), like a genius savant. You know like a 2 year old kid, but like, an amazing drummer. You know what I mean. So, like that’s a recipe for disaster eventually. and ah, you know, he was pissing people off and stuff.”
“I remember being on the tour bus, and just saying to (Jani) Lane, right I just said, ‘Dude, we’ve been having fun all night, it’s time to freaking go to sleep. You know, wake up, do the show, and have a little bit more fun tomorrow. It’s like, you’re going to be dead in 10 years, if you keep this sh!t up.'”
Borg notes it wasn’t 10 years, but in reality it was 14 years later when Lane died in August of 2011.
Borg also says there was a lot of fun as well stating: “It was a good time to be honest with you.”
The drummer also says the following: “I think probably what I should say prior to saying anything, is the fact that, um, I am speaking from my personal observation of the situation(s). So, these aren’t things… I am not talking about by hearsay… I was actually there. And these are the things, that I personally experienced.”
“This is what I saw with my own eyes.” adds Borg.
“When I was in Warrant, um, definitely on our rider every night there was Jack Daniels, there was Tequila, there was um, Tangueray, ah you know, and Jose Cuervo, and there was like, you know 3 bottles or 4 bottles of wine and there was like, probably a case of every kind of beer you could imagine. And then when that wasn’t drank, then you put that on the bus and then the next night, you get the same amount and then you put that on the bus and eventually the bus is over-flowing with alcohol. The backrooms are over-flowing with alcohol… and um, you know… it’s fun you know… but um, it didn’t stop,” says Borg.
“So at first it starts off a little bit fun, and then it can just get ugly and stuff, you know. Things that are said, or even people flat-out having fist-fights, you know between the band members and stuff like that and um, ah… you know… so it got ugly. People even in other bands would like ride on our bus to see if it was real. Our bus was insane. I mean it was, literally insane. Ah, and then in the morning everyone is kind of like sort of, ‘Oh my God’, and ‘Oh yeah’, and ‘That happened?’, and “I love you, I love you’ and then it’s like you know… so, when it was all about (the) partying it was having just sort of fun, it was fun. But then when all that, then that evil like stuff, for some reason it started, it seemed like it came out more,” says Borg with an uneasy delivery.
Borg continues: “We used to call Jani (Lane) SATAN. We used to call Jerry (Dixon) Mr. Bill, short for belligerent. And then at one point I think Erik (Turner) even quit, and um, started a coffee shop or something. When I was first joined the group Erik was in it, and then he left.”
“Sometimes it got like really bad, to the point… where like um, ah, you know we gotta wake people up, kick doors in, throw people in the shower just to get on stage, you know. Um, just ugly stuff like that. You know, I was really-really good friends with everyone in the group, um, but as soon as I ended up getting this particular girlfriend, ah, really kind of stereo-typically hot, for that time… ah, no one liked her.”
“Jani (Lane) didn’t like her, um, ah, Jerry (Dixon) didn’t like her… so there was kind of weird sh!t like when she did come out to see me… they would do sh!t like send my (hotel) room flowers and say stuff like, ‘You were great last night’, and then my girl(friend) would go, ‘What the hell is this?’, you know. So, just trying to create like… it got to this point where it was like, it was mentally not healthy at all.”
“There was always kind of, this weird resentment… there was this weird energy like you know, ‘This is our band’, and ‘We’re giving you a job’, and its just, ‘You should be lucky to be here,’… a lot of bad energy.” added Borg.
The drummer recalls all kinds of events that took place and eventually says; “Rest in peace (Jani) Lane. Rest in peace to (James) Kottak, but it’s no surprise to me unfortunately, that those guys aren’t here anymore.” (the full interview at The Hair Metal Guru is shared below).
We dug into our archives and unearthed our classic 20 Questions with Bobby Borg from September 30th 2003, and it’s safe to say this too is worth the read for those of you who missed it more than 20 years ago.
Wikipedia says Borg was in Warrant during 1996 & 1997, and contributed his musical skills on 3 of the band’s releases including; Belly to Belly (1996) Warrant Live 86–97 (1997) and Greatest & Latest (1999).
For more info on Bobby Borg or his books, you can visit his website or you can contact him here.
Bobby Borg @ WebSite – Facebook – Instagram – X/Twitter – Linked In – YouTube – Tik Tok – Books
Stay tuned to Metal Sludge for Breaking News, Updates and Features along with both New Interviews and Classic 20 Questions.
