Shirley Manson trash-talks ageism ahead of Garbage’s tour with Debbie Harry; show Tuesday at the Kauffman Center

Shirley Manson has logged two decades as the singer for Garbage, but that’s only further rarefied her status. Women musicians, she’ll tell you, have long tended to end up on the shelf after age 35 — a habit of the marketplace that hasn’t much changed in the time Manson has been a star. That’s part of what makes Garbage’s co-headlining tour with Blondie both statement and revelation: Manson is 50, Blondie’s Debbie Harry is 71, and both acts still deliver full-strength rock.

I talked with Manson by phone ahead of the tour’s opening.

The Pitch: How did you get involved with the soundtrack to Starz’ adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s American Gods?

Shirley Manson: That’s a very good question. I’m not entirely sure how the hell I got involved. [laughs] He [Brian Reitzell, the composer who scores the series] contacted me through Butch [Vig, of Garbage], Butch made the introduction and I just popped over to the studio one day. He gave me an idea of what he was looking for, and before I knew it — within a couple of weeks — it was on bloody TV. It was insane — one of the funnest things I’ve done in a long time. I loved working with Brian. He was a hoot — and outrageously talented. He plays nearly everything you’re hearing on that bloody show. It’s mad.

What I thought was great was how good the song, “Chairman of the Bored,” works in that scene. Were you privy to what it was going to be soundtracking, or were you just given a general idea of what Reitzell was after?

He played me the scene, and I just loved the character, Laura. I just thought that she was an extraordinary female character. You know, you rarely see women portrayed in such beguiling and yet somewhat unsympathetic terms, and I loved that. I thought that was really interesting. She’s a very ambiguous character I was really fascinated by, and I had this idea of what I wanted to do on the track, and it matched what Brian had in mind. We just got lucky. It fits really well, and it was a joy to do.

You got to do a track with Debbie Harry, too — and now you’re going on tour together.

I know! I’m so excited. I’ve known Debbie for a long, long time. I had the great pleasure of meeting her as far back as the ’80s. My first band — Goodbye, Mr. Mackenzie — opened for Debbie on her solo tour of the United Kingdom in ’86, ’87? We met in an elevator in Liverpool, or something strange like that, and she has been a really generous mentor in my life ever since.

If I think on Debbie too hard, I really want to burst into tears with gratitude, because she’s provided such a phenomenal role model for me, in my own career, and continues to do so. There are times — as a 50-year-old in the music business — I am gripped with fear, because I know it’s such an ageist industry, and I wonder to myself, “My God, how much longer can I sustain myself with this life of mine?”

Then I look to her as a beacon of hope, because there she is at 71, still making records, still engaged in the process of being creative, and that’s exciting and inspiring — not just to me but to all women all over the world. To watch a 71-year-old woman do that is a bold statement, and one that we see so very rarely in our culture.

It seems that this tour is the antithesis of so many summer tours, because it’s two strong women vocalists who are over the age of 20-something, headlining a tour.

Yeah, it’s highly unusual. It’s super–punk rock. [laughs] In its own perverse way, I see it as part of the resistance. I really do. It’s very unusual and very sad that it’s so rare. Unfortunately, to this day, women are taught that by the time they’re 35 years old, they’re basically on the scrap heap, and I resist that with every fiber of my being. I resist that ideology, you know, resist that emphasis. Women don’t have to be fuckable to have value in our culture.

I feel very strongly about that, and it saddens me that so many women basically fold up their wings and give up by the time they hit a certain age, because they imagine that they have no cultural worth. I feel very strongly that that’s not the case, and I want to show that by action. I have a great career, as does Debbie, and I feel that’s a great message to send.

It’s seems like it’s very much a thumb in the eye of the patriarchy.

Fuck yeah! [cackles] I love that expression. I might steal that. But I think it’s the fact that, despite the industry, we are still thriving. We have done it absolutely on our own terms and have not had to compromise, and that’s a powerful statement — for any musician, male or female — that you can exist outside the mainstream. You can be the freak in the corner and still thrive. You don’t have to operate on the terms of everyone else.

Blondie and Garbage: The Rage and Rapture Tour

With John Doe and Exene Cervenka

Tuesday, July 18, at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts (tickets: kauffmancenter.org)