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Meat Loaf Looks Forward to 'House' and Hugh Laurie on New Album
by Troy Rogers
 When it comes to legendary Rock gods, Meat Loaf has earned a seat at the table reserved for only the very best in the history of rock and roll. Anyone who grew up in the late Seventies and Eighties already knows that Meat Loaf's still amazing 1977 "Bat Out of Hell" album was a fixture in almost any personal record collection. You'd be hard pressed to find anyone who, at some point in time, hasn't sifted through a record or CD collection and not spotted one of the coolest album covers of all time.
Over thirty years later, after one of the best comebacks in the history of music with the release of "Bat Out of Hell II: Back Into Hell" in 1993 and Bat Out of Hell III in 2006, Meat Loaf is gearing up for a new album with Green Day, Goo Goo Dolls and My Chemical Romance producer, Rob Cavallo.
First an accomplished stage actor before his musical career, with stints on Broadway and the Rocky Horror Picture Show, Meat Loaf re-establishing his acting career after a memorable performance in the 1999 film Fight Club. Now Meat is back in front of the camera for a guest role on the popular Fox series, House, in which he plays a man dying of heart failure in the episode "Simple Explanation" that airs Monday, April 6 at 8pm. Interestingly enough, as we found out when we hopped on the phone for a recent conference call with Meat Loaf, House doctor Hugh Laurie may be playing piano on the forthcoming Meat Loaf album.
It's not often that you get a few minutes with rock opera royalty, but here's a look at our brief time with Meat Loaf who filled us on his upcoming guest role on House while we schooled Meat on TheDeadbolt.
THE DEADBOLT: Hello, Meat Loaf.
MEAT LOAF: I saw that on a list yesterday - Deadbolt.com. What is Deadbolt.com? I have to go there when we finish.
THE DEADBOLT: It's basically just an entertainment site - TV, film.
 MEAT LOAF: I have my computer in case I needed names. I went for a name and it didn't … on there. Which, wait a second, that's not fair. No, you're not the budget locksmith.
THE DEADBOLT: No, I'm not the locksmith. It's TheDeadbolt.com. Maybe that was why.
MEAT LOAF: TheDeadbolt.com. There you go. Yes. That first thing that came up was a locksmith.
THE DEADBOLT: Yes, I've gotten that quite a bit, actually.
MEAT LOAF: Well, that's still the first thing that comes up. You need to fix that with Google.
THE DEADBOLT: All right great. So what type of research did you do to play a guy dying of heart failure?
MEAT LOAF: Well, I’ll tell you: The main thing that was perplexing was - "Okay. How to be sick without playing sick?" You follow me? And they’re very good. The casting on House is very good, about getting 75% or 80% of their actors that come on that just figure it out. So that was the hardest thing because I’ve never played anybody - I mean, I’ve played crazy people; they’re sick, but not in the fact of being ill. It’s real easy to play sick, but to be sick is a lot harder. And I remember we were shooting one scene and when we finished it I said, 'I’m glad we’re not shooting anymore of these because I swear to god, I’d die of a heart attack.' My chest was killing me.
I mean, it was hurting. I don’t know really how I got there. I will confess that I was watching Damages. You have to understand - I love Damages, I love Glenn Close. I don’t know if you’ve worked with her. I don’t know if you have, but I have and man, oh man. Ted Danson was in a hospital bed and I had it on TiVo, so I just rolled it over and over and over again. I just kind of watched Ted Danson. Ted Danson playing sick, I went, 'God, he looks really sick!' So I just studied him for a little while.
THE DEADBOLT: "Simple Explanation" sounds like a pretty emotional episode. Were there any scenes that were tough to get through?
 MEAT LOAF: Yes, the opening scene was really tough to get through. I’m still paranoid about it. I am, I’m still paranoid. I do this all the time anyway. I’d say, 'Was that okay? Was that fine? Was that okay?' Driving home I was cursing myself going, 'I’m a moron. Man, you could have done it this...' That’s me.
THE DEADBOLT: Second guessing a little bit?
MEAT LOAF: That’s all I do.
Other Conference Call Highlights:
Meat Loaf on being an actor instead of playing music on a show:
"I would never play for the show. I wouldn’t. I have been offered more TV shows than you’d even understand. I won’t do it. First of all, I started as an actor; I didn’t start as a musician. I was a stage actor in New York. People don’t actually realize it, but I did the Rocky Horror movie before Bat Out of Hell and people don’t get that. I did it in L.A., I did it on Broadway, I did Shakespeare in the Park for Joe Papp. I worked at Lincoln Center and Kennedy Center. I did three or four Broadway’s. I can’t remember now, it was so long ago.
"So I started as an actor. Hopefully, my ideal situation is for people to watch House next Monday and not even know it’s me. That’s my ideal. I’ll give you an example. When I did Fight Club people would go, 'Oh, what movies have you been in?' I’d go, "Fight Club," and they’d go, 'Fight Club?' They would always look at me like a dog, turn their head like, 'Fight Club?' I’d go, 'Yeah, Bob.' They’d go, 'Oh, my god. You were Bob.'"
Meat Loaf on working with Hugh Laurie:
"You know what? I have to tell you, I really don’t know ... but he walked on to that set and he has all that dialog every show, and a lot of it, and all the technical terms. I really don’t know how he did it. Every time he would walk on that set he didn’t have a script, he just went. I was in awe of him.
 "As we were shooting, because it shoots over a two-week period, I got to watch. There were two episodes of House on while I was shooting it. The last one that I’ve seen, because I’ve been off doing a movie now so I haven’t seen anything, he was playing piano. I knew he played piano, but they really featured him in this one playing piano. I have a song on my album that is just piano - we’re going to record this piano - so I just wrote him a little note saying, 'Here, listen. This is a demo and I’d love for you to play on it.' That’s all I was going to do. I wasn’t going to go up to him and go, 'Did you hear the demo?' or any of that. The next day on the set he walked up to me and said, 'Are you kidding me? Yes, I’ll play.' So I’m hoping that happens.
"As far as an actor, the guy’s amazing. And he’s right there. I mean, he’s very, very generous as an actor. I mean, I just found the experience amazing."
Meat Loaf on his next album:
"Well, I don’t know. I have to say this - and it has a connotation, but it’s a new world now - I went into Nashville. Everybody goes, 'Oh, Nashville - country,' but no. All the songwriters have moved into Nashville. All the rock writers, everybody. I work with writers. I don’t pretend to be a writer. I’ve written, but I hate everything. In fact, that’s what I would tell them down in Nashville. They’d go, 'Oh, we want to write with you,' and I’m saying, 'No you don’t, because if you do, it’s not going to get on the album because I’ll hate it.' That held true. I’d sat down there and worked on three or four songs and they demo’d them, sent them back to me, and they’re not going to be on the record. When we get into the studio and start doing tracks and things, I will change lyrics and write lyrics. I always do that. But that’s a different thing. I just can’t stand anything that I do. But I went down there.
"When I do deal with writers, I guide them. I tell them storylines and I tell them what I need, this is where I’m going. I changed management this year and I went with Ken Levitan and Irving. So I met with them and they said, 'Well, we have to get the next record together.' Ken looked at me and said, 'Look, why don’t we get Rob Cavallo?' I said, 'Okay.' So I said, 'If you can get Rob Cavallo, then hey, fantastic.' I met with Rob Cavallo and he just had a lot of projects stacked up in front of me, so I’ve been waiting for him."
Meat Loaf on why he’s doing Don’t Forget the Lyrics:
 "We’re playing for Painted Turtle, which is a subsidiary of Paul Newman’s Hole in the Wall. It was put together by Lou Adler and Paige Adler. For people who don’t know who Lou Adler is, he produced the Mamas and Papas, Carole King, Cheech and Chong. He was one of the biggest. I have a long history with Lou. He was the producer of the stage version of Rocky Horror Picture Show in L.A. in 1973. So I worked for Lou. Lou is really responsible for putting me in the movie of the Rocky Horror Picture Show because he was also one of the producers who did that. I have a long history of playing basketball with Lou and Jack Nicholson out in the Rainbow parking lot in the afternoon. I’ve just been friends with Lou for a long time.
"So I hadn’t seen him for a while, and I saw him probably seven or eight years ago at a celebrity racecar driving thing - I don’t know. He was there and he was telling me about Painted Turtle. One of the co-founders was Larry Brown, the NBA coach. It just does great work for the kids just like Newman had always done. I try to do things for kids. I mean, there are so many charities to play for. I go to the hospital sometimes. If you ever go to the hospitals, the musicians, there are all kinds of things, but that particular charity is unbelievable."
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