-- by Iann Robinson
Michigan, a place famous for fast cars and rock and roll, has always been portrayed as the seedy urban arena that gave birth to such bands as the Stooges, the MC5, Grand Funk Railroad, Negative Approach and, of course, Motown and Madonna, but that urban, industrial feel seemed to melt away as I stood outside of Kid Rock's studio surveying the beautiful landscape it was on in the northern part of the state. The tranquility of the land, the calmness of the forest with its dead trees waiting for winter — it was the antithesis of what I pictured Michigan to be.
Kid Rock greeted me by pulling out a four-wheeler and telling me to climb aboard. Suddenly we were rocketing through his land at 80 mph or more. Without pause, Kid smiled at me and drove into the woods, making hairpin curves at high speeds by trees and rocks. I was scared, but I'd never let the American Bad Ass know it. When we finally pulled over and just started talking, Kid Rock began to change. To the world he's the beer-drinking, crowd-rocking, chick-getting, rich-ass mofo who lives for a party. Now all of that is true, but standing with me talking about his land and his studio, Kid Rock transformed into Bob Ritchie, a mellow guy who was just as excited to be there as I was ...
Iann Robinson: Tell me a little bit about this place — how you got it, why you decided this was the place for your studio.
Kid Rock: Why not? We're out in the woods, 13 acres, beautiful northern Michigan. Nobody out here hassling us. Neighbors don't mind. They might later when we start blasting the shotgun off. What can I say? I live two miles down the road. It's great. It's laid-back. It's a good family setup for the band, and family is what we like to consider ourselves, Twisted Brown Trucker Band and Kid Rock. We cook food, we make music and nobody gets hurt.
Robinson: A lot of people, when they get as big as you got or as you are, decide, OK, it's time to high-tail it out to California, it's time to go to New York, it's time to do it that way. What made you stay here?
Kid Rock: This is what keeps me grounded. These are my roots. This is where I come from. This is where I was born. This is where I am going to die. It keeps my head level, I'd like to think. It keeps me down-to-earth, it's a regular-guy type setup. It's easy to get sucked into Hollywood, and I can't say I haven't been sucked in a few times. I've had my share of fun out there, but at the end of the day, for me and my son, I think this is the best environment to raise children in.
Robinson: So is this where you recorded Cocky?
Kid Rock: Yes. That was the first thing to come out of here was Cocky, and now we're working on the Uncle Kracker record. Got a couple other projects in the studio we're working on now. Yeah, I think this will be the spot for quite some time.
Robinson: What kind of dream was this? You'd been doing van tours and the normal stuff and then all of a sudden, boom, you are the biggest thing in the world and you're selling millions of copies and you can come out and get something like this.
Kid Rock: It was always a dream, I guess. When I was a little kid I had a studio setup in my bedroom. Always had my studio stuff and DJ equipment at buddy's houses in Mt. Clemens, [Michigan]. Even Devil Without a Cause was made in my little modest house in Royal Oak, Michigan. A lot of that was put together there in that basement, which is the size of this horseshoe pit. When the dollars finally started rolling in, I finally got my dream. A lot of people buy Bentleys and whatnot. I bought some property out in the woods that a lot of other people can enjoy beside just me.
Robinson: It's very residential around here. Do kids sometimes come up like, "Ooh, this is where Kid Rock lives," or do you ever get complaints, people messing with you?
Kid Rock's all-star parties too dirty for MTV, not giving a crap about your metal and hip-hop scenes, and his occasional godliness... NEXT
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