Photo by Max Vadukul

If you haven’t already, grab a copy of our July issue to read our Kid Rock cover story. The magazine is on sale now — but you can see some EXCLUSIVE VIDEO of the Malibu cover shoot below. Plus here are a few choice quotes from the man himself to give you a taste of what you’re missing. 

 

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On how his touring style has changed:
We didn’t give a shit when we were 27. It was like a pirate ship rolling from town to town. Now, I’m more conscious of picking my nights when I can party.

On being older and going on tour:
If I have a show the next night, I can’t break out a bottle of whiskey and be sucking off of it. I guess that’s the shit that happens when you get older.

On producer Rick Rubin nixing the song “Fuck, I’m 40” from the album:
Rick hated it. I was like, ‘Whatever dude.’ I like novelty shit once and a while. You know why? Because it’s fun. Fun like you don’t know about, fun like when you drink beer all day and fall off the back of a pontoon boat. Or piss off the back of a pontoon boat. Shit you have no idea about. We’re always having arguments about that shit. I’m like, ‘Rick, you can tell me about music, but don’t argue with me about fun.

On being Bob Ritchie and being Kid Rock:
I laugh at myself every day. There are no boundaries. I think they mix it up. They both laugh at each other. Nobody laughs harder at Kid Rock than me.

On going on a four-day cruise with 2,700 fans:
I didn’t know what to expect. I said it was either going to be the best time of my life or the absolute worst. And it was the best. It was one of the best times I’ve ever had. An absolute riot.

On his least favorite type of movie:
The Hilary Swank movie where you walk out of there with tears and just feel terrible. I can’t handle it. I just want to see somebody fall off a ladder, the boy and girl go home to a big pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, and feel great about myself. I don’t want any drama in my life — not even in a fucking movie. Not even when it’s… What’s fake? Is it fiction?  Even if it’s fiction, I don’t want it. I just want to be happy and have fun.

On working out with Laird Hamilton:
Laird’s running the show. He’s the guy yelling at you the whole time. Cheli [Chris Chelios] won’t work out with him because he yells at him too much. He leaves me alone a little bit because he knows I’m the skinny kid in the rock band, but he’s real fun to work out with.

On drinking without drugs:
Whatever your thing is, if it’s pills, cocaine, smoking weed, when you slow that down—which I’ve done a lot of—you’ve got to relearn how to drink. That’s the fucking hardest part. You used to be able to go all night. Finding that balance has been interesting. I still black out here and there, but nothing too serious.

On living in California during his six-month marriage to Pamela Anderson with his son Junior:
I couldn’t stay. I can be an idiot with a penis at times, but when you see something affecting your children? There’s nothing above that. So I said, ‘That’s it. I’m out of here.’ You came too far to raise him right, to try to do the right things, to blow it now, to fuck it up.

On his philanthropic endeavors:
You don’t want Kid Rock making public policy. Well, some people might. I just see where I can help out, which is to inspire and raise funds and things like that.

On caring about what people in Detroit think of him:
I really care about what people think of me in this town, because my son is here, my family is here, my roots are here. I don’t give a shit anywhere else, but here I’m very conscious of it.

On what he’s going to do when Junior is at college:
I’m like, ‘What am I going to do with my time?’ I’m going to rock extremely hard. I’ve never really been held back from anything. But now I’m really going to be able to just take off whenever I want. I’ll probably end up sitting in the house all alone, but the concept’s there.

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