Category Archives: Musical Musings

Von Hesseling sings the “Tomorrowland Blues” with Star & Dagger

Photo by James Culatto

Star & Dagger is a hard rocking project created by former White Zombie bassist Sean Yseult and former Cycle Sluts from Hell guitarist Dava She Wolf. That’s really all I needed to know to want to hear more. After I got my copy of the recently-released Tomorrowland Blues, I was equally impressed by the soulful vocal talents of Marcy Von Hesseling, who sounds like a cross between Johnette Napolitano and Ann Wilson after several shots of whiskey. Turns out Von Hesseling is a busy woman, running the famous New Orleans wig and makeup shop Fifi Mahony’s, creating costumes for the band’s latest video for “In My Blood” and singing for a band quickly developing a hardcore following in the rock ‘n’ roll underground. As Star & Dagger prepares for a performance at this weekend’s Housecore Horror Film Festival (and a generally chaotic week or two for New Orleans), Von Hesseling talks to Wrestling with Pop Culture about horror films, hard rock and more.

You recently performed in and did costumes for a video for your song “In My Blood”. How did that turn out?

We love making videos! It’s so much fun. We always have our friend Art Haynie direct for us. He’s really good. He did our video for “Your Mama Was a Grifter”. Dava is such a huge [Stanley] Kubrick fan and we really wanted to take a lot of pages from The Shining and recreate a lot of scenes. Sean and Dava played the little girls in the blue dresses, we have the kid on the Big Wheel coming up to them, then you see a flash and you see them rocking out with their guitars and head banging. We built a maze for the maze scene and we have a frozen scene where people are frozen at the end. We did a CGI elevator scene with the blood coming out of it. We got covered in blood, which was awesome because the song is called “In My Blood”. We busted ass to get it ready for Housecore Horror Festival where we’re playing Oct. 26. We’re going to show [the video] at the film festival. It was so much fun, then we partied when it was over. Sean had a big feast for everybody at her house with tons of food and her swimming pool.

How did you get involved with the Housecore Horror Film Festival?

Photo by James Culatto.

Phil Anselmo puts it on every year and he’s a local New Orleans dude. He’s a friend and a fan, so we’re going to play Saturday, which is a great day to play because the Melvins play that day. It’s going to be lovely. It’s really built around the film festival, but there are so many horror fans out there that it’s going to be an insane weekend. We’re really happy to be there and we wanted to have the video done for submission just for fun. The Shining is one of our favorite movies and I really wanted to do the Wendy Torrance scenes. Finding Wendy Torrance clothing is impossible because nobody wants to dress like that. She’s got a corduroy overall dress, a flannel shirt, a turtleneck and a blue vest. Of course we had to have every little detail right. Dava was like, “We have to have the Calumet bottle and the exact typewriter.” So it was a lot of work, but definitely work that I think is going to be really cool.

In addition to helping with the costumes for the video, you also work at a wig and makeup shop called Fifi Mahony’s. What do you do there?

It’s my shop and Halloween is a crazy time of year for me. We have really wacky wigs and awesome makeup and crazy people that come in and shop with us.

It sounds like Halloween is a big time of year for you for many reasons. What do you have planned for Halloween this year?

I like when Halloween night is on a weeknight because we get so many tourists that come for the weekend, then leave Halloween for the locals. That’s kind of amazing because then you don’t have to fight for a seat at the bar. We played the Voodoo Festival last year, which was fun. This year we decided to do the Housecore Horror Fest. So now we’ll have the weekend when all the tourists come, then we’ll have Halloween, then I think we have Voodoo Fest after Halloween. So it’s a long month!

Given who is in your band and the things that interest you, it seems like wrestling might also be something Star & Dagger has been involved with in some way.

I’m surprised we haven’t gotten any kind of calls for that. Our last video was a total takeoff on Russ Meyer films and we had an epic wrestling scene in the desert where we wrestled this girl to the ground. It was fabulous. Then we put her in a trunk. I guess it looked so real that we had these guys who were dirt biking up on these hills while we were in the valley. We were out in the middle of nowhere and when we get the girl in the trunk I shoved a wig on her head and smeared lipstick on her (very Fifi Mahony’s) and these guys come zooming down out of the hills because they really thought we were hurting her. They asked her if she was OK. I don’t know what they thought we were doing, but it was hilarious. We were convincing enough with our fake wrestling moves!

We know a good bit about where your bandmates came from, but how did you get involved with Star & Dagger?

I lived in San Francisco for a long time and was in a hard rock band out there called Hate Holiday for about ten years. We played every weekend, played every New Year’s Eve, but there was so much music going on in the ’90s in San Francisco it was awesome. I remember seeing Sean and Dava play. I didn’t know them, they weren’t friends of mine, but I was a fan of White Zombie. Sean moved to New Orleans in 1996, I moved here in ’97 and we just met one night out at a bar. She knew I sang and that I had done rock ‘n’ roll before. Her husband’s in a band called Supagroup and I did some backup stuff with them. When Sean started this band with Dava, they were in New York at a party and met Lenny Kaye. Lenny Kaye was like, “You guys should do a band together.” They were like, “Yeah, why don’t we do a band together? Let’s see if we can play together.” They played together really fast and wrote five songs really quickly. Neither of them really wanted to sing, so they called me over. You’ve got to really want to be in a band because it’s a shitload of work. It’s like joining a gang. You can’t just be like, “Oh, yeah. Let’s just fuck around and do it every once in a while.” It’s all or nothing. So when I heard the music I said, “I like this. I love you guys.” I’m great friends with them. We travel a lot together and we get along really well, so it just fit. We have a great time together. We’re writing a lot of new stuff. We wrote that album pretty fast and recorded it really quickly and just got out there and started playing. And it doesn’t hurt to have Sean in your band. She’s a really great performer, she’s a professional and she knows a lot of people. A lot of people love her because she is professional and easy to work with and fun to be around. That helps us get things like Housecore; Phil and she are great friends. People like our music, too, and that helps. But honestly, she gives us a platform that we probably wouldn’t have otherwise. We really just want to make music and have fun and there are so few women who do rock ‘n’ roll anymore that it sets us apart. That wasn’t really our impetus because none of us are super chick-like. But it just works and it’s easy to be with each other. So that’s how it started.

As the singer, do you write most of the lyrics?

Photo by Leslie Van Stelten.

I write some of them, but Dava writes most of the lyrics. She’s definitely got a more bleak world view than I do, which I love. She’s a born-and-bred New Yorker from the Bronx and she’s a misanthrope. But she’s also really witty and smart and she writes songs that are moody and cool. I like her lyrics a lot. I write lyrics every once in a while, but honestly, mine are a little pedantic compared to hers. Hers are almost like poems. Sometimes it just comes out of you and you write a song and the lyrics just work. But the way we do it is those guys write the riffs then I hear it after they record their parts. I come up with harmony and all of the melody, and I really just sing gibberish just to get a melody line down. Then I send it back to Dava and she’ll write lyrics. It’s kind of a weird way to do it. I don’t know anyone else who does it that way. But it works for us because none of us live in the same town very often – Dava’s in New York, Sean and I are in New Orleans, but Sean kind of goes back and forth to New York a lot. Writing with computers has been really liberating. I didn’t know if I’d like it or not, but I actually really do like it because you can just sit around in your house and have the freedom to sound like an idiot and work on stuff. I love to perform live. It’s so much fun to get onstage, have the camaraderie backstage with the other bands and make people perk their ears up. For some people it’s writing and getting in the studio, but I think playing live is super fun.

The Icarus Line continues to cross boundaries with “Slave Vows”

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Photo by Ward Robinson.

As The Icarus Line‘s somewhat endearingly aloof front man Joe Cardamone describes it, the band’s latest release Slave Vows “kind of slithered out over the last couple months” and “didn’t really have an official release.” From his infamous association with celebrity gossip site/record label Buddyhead to his volatile onstage antics, Cardamone embodies the underground anti-establishment attitude that has defined rock ‘n’ roll since its inception. And with the psychedelic leanings and aggressive sounds of Slave Vows (actually released in August), The Icarus Line finds itself defying categorization and being even more unorthodox than ever before. As the band embarks on a brief West Coast tour, followed by a longer European tour, Cardamone talks to Wrestling with Pop Culture about the new album.

The Icarus Line has continuously been compared to Iggy and The Stooges, yet Slave Vows has a decidedly more psychedelic sound. Was that an intentional direction with this album?

I take my shirt off sometimes when I’m onstage, so I guess that makes people think we sound like The Stooges. I love The Stooges, but I don’t really think we sound like them that much, to be honest. We kind of maybe feel like them, that’s probably closer to what’s going on. So people will draw comparisons based on a feeling more than a sound a lot of the time, or at least in our case. A lot of the time finding parallels isn’t that easy. We’re not really a genre group, so sometimes they just don’t know what to make of it. Hey, I’ll take The Stooges. I don’t care.

It could be worse.

It could be way worse.

You played most of the guitar parts on this album. Was that a big difference in the writing and recording process with you handling the main guitar parts?

The only real difference with this record, more than previous records, is that my true intentions were actually committed to tape. I’ve always kind of relied on other people, or should I say delegated to them because I want everyone to share in the experience and have some sort of romantic ownership over the music because we don’t make a lot of money. By virtue of diplomacy, that’s one way to keep people involved and emotionally invested in a project if they feel like they’ve put in. But for this record there was no one around that could really do the job that I wanted done, and I was kind of sick of having to translate my ideas to people. So I just did it myself. I’m glad I did. I should have done it a long time ago, to tell you the truth.

Why is that?

I don’t know. Because I’ve just been kind of getting a Xeroxed version of my ideas for a long time, sometimes with desirable results and often with results that left me wanting. I’m pleased in the sense that exactly what I wanted to come out of the speakers is happening that way.

So that’s the case with the new album?

Yeah. That hasn’t always been the case.

Have you toured in support of this album yet or is that something that is coming up soon?

It’s coming up. We’ve played some shows and did a release celebration sort of thing and a couple of small festivals around the L.A. area. But we’re going to hit the road later in October. We’re doing the West Coast, then we’re going to the U.K. and Europe directly after that. We’re playing All Tomorrow’s Parties with Television, which will be cool. We just played a show with Primal Scream in L.A. We were actually the first and only American band that they ever took on tour in the U.K.

You’re also toured with bands such as A Perfect Circle and Killing Joke. How do these bands find out about you guys? Are they just fans of their own accord or do you have mutual friends that made those connections happen?

Fuck if I know, man. However anyone finds out about anything, I guess. Probably Facebook.

Although you don’t seem like the type of band to do very much licensing of your music, you do have an aggressive and confrontational aesthetic that might work well in certain settings. Has your music ever been used as entrance music for wrestlers/fighters or anything like that?

Photo by Ward Robinson.

Not that I know of, but it should be. I like boxing. I was always a fan of Mike Tyson in the ’80s and thought he was fucking badass. I’ve even watched some Ultimate Fighting Championship that can be entertaining to a certain extent. And I even like Arnold Schwarzenegger movies and stuff.

After the tour dates you mentioned, what’s next for The Icarus Line?

We might try to record a new record over the holidays. We’re not going to be touring then, so we can just make a new record. I mean, we made Slave Vows in about a month from start to finish. So I don’t see why we wouldn’t just do another one.

Your former guitarist Aaron North joined Nine Inch Nails a few years ago, then just kind of disappeared. Do you have any insight into his whereabouts? Is there any chance he might return to The Icarus Line at some point?

I don’t know anything about anything.

Piggy D helps bring Rob Zombie’s musical nightmares to life

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Piggy D was a gruesome presence on this year's Mayhem Festival. Photo by Jesse Pollak/Dizzy Focus.

As the longtime bassist for Rob Zombie and former guitarist for Wednesday 13, Piggy D clearly has a fondness for the type of metal that can raise the dead. But like Zombie, this little Piggy’s creative talents go far beyond the musical realm as he his creepy creations also include video and musical collaborations with Alice Cooper and album artwork for Zombie guitarist John 5. After a summer headlining the Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival and a performance at the Rock in Rio festival in Brazil, Piggy and the rest of Zombie’s band are in the midst of a Halloween season headlined by Zombie’s own haunted attraction the Great American Nightmare, where the band will perform on Nov. 2 before hitting the road with Korn for the Night of the Living Dreads tour. Halloween is obviously a busy time for Piggy D, which is why it’s the perfect time to hear what he recently had to talk about with Wrestling with Pop Culture.

This year was your second Mayhem Festival with Rob Zombie. How would you describe your tenure with Zombie?

It’s been seven years with Zombie, so I consider myself fairly knowledged, learned and edumacated.

On Venomous Rat Regeneration Vendor you received a writing credit, plus you made a cameo in Zombie’s latest film The Lords of Salem. How does it feel to be more and more involved with Zombie’s creative process?

I was in the movie, once credited and once uncredited. I’ll give anyone a hundred bucks if they can figure out where I am. I’ve been the bass player for seven years, John 5’s been in the band for eight years and we’ve had three drummers in the last eight years. We’re hoping this one sticks around. I’ve done two studio records so far. Everybody writes songs and puts their riffs down. I think I submitted 18 songs, John probably had twice that and the song that actually made it to this record, “Lucifer Rising,” was actually written for Hellbilly 2. I had another song on that record called “The Man Who Laughs”. There are songs that’ve been kicking around for ten years. They just go in this massive catalog and sometimes we pull stuff out and dust it off and see if it fits the vibe of the record. Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn’t. So don’t throw anything away because you never know when you’re going to need it. It’s like hoarding, only it’s not Styrofoam cups and cat food cans. It’s songs.

Like Zombie, you are multi-talented when it comes to your creative endeavors. You’ve provided visual art for John 5’s albums, worked with Alice Copper and done various other creative things. How did all these collaborations come about?

Photo by Jesse Pollak/Dizzy Focus.

I try to do everything I can. I’m a horrible cook and I can’t fold clothes. I might as well have flippers. It’s just awful. But I like painting with different brushes. Videos and graphic design is stuff I’ve always been into and Alice has been a great outlet for that. I’ve studied Alice since I was a kid and probably know more about Alice Cooper than he knows about himself. I’ve done art for him, I’ve made clothes for him, I think I mowed his lawn once. So I just kind of do whatever needs to be done. It’s an easy place for me to go to. We’ve written a lot of music together, actually. Some of it’s been published and some of it hasn’t. He gives me a lot of outlets for that stuff, so it’s great.

As long as he doesn’t ask you to cook or fold laundry.

As long as he doesn’t ask me to cook or fold laundry. Them I’m going to have to call for backup.

Rob Zombie has done music for WWE, did an animated film about a luchador named El Superbeasto and has worked with wrestlers on some of his movies. Outside of your work with Zombie, have you ever done anything within the wrestling world?

No, but I wear tights. Does that count? I have a whole wardrobe case full of tights.

You used to play with Wednesday 13, who is a big Ric Flair fan.

Huge Ric Flair fan. Oh, my God.

Did Wednesday’s love of wrestling rub off on you at all?

You know, it’s a nostalgia thing for me. When I was a kid the closest I got to wrestling was Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling – GLOW, if you’re in the circle. What’s better than chicks in tights rolling around kicking the shit out of each other? Dudes in tights is great – not that there’s anything wrong with that. Did they ever make GLOW action figures?

No. But there was a GLOW documentary released recently.

I did see that. But that’s the closest I got to wrestling.

It’s been a few years since you put out a solo album of original material. Are you working on any new solo stuff?

Photo by Jesse Pollak/Dizzy Focus.

I started a project five years ago called the Haxans with a girl in England. As fate would have it, it took us five years to write a song. We’re now up to five songs in the can. What I’m hoping to do is go finish that up and put out a little EP [in between tours]. It’s different. Nothing I do sounds anything like anything I do with Zombie. It’s great because it’s just me being me, but it’s also hard to find an audience. Rob Zombie fans won’t get most of what I do, and that’s fine. Without even trying, I kind of operate a little bit outside of the system. I run my own independent label and company and when duty calls with Rob I have to put everything on hold. But I’ve been doing more producing and more writing with other bands and trying to get more into that. The Haxans has kind of trumped my solo stuff right now because it essentially is [my solo stuff]. It’s a little more mellow, a little more moody, a little more folky, I guess. It’s like dark folk, satanic folk.

What’s next for Piggy D?

We have Rob’s haunted house, the Great American Nightmare, going on for two weeks. We’re going to play the last night of that. Next year we’re probably going to start making new tracks and going to see our friends overseas.

Are you involved with the Great American Nightmare at all?

No. I’ll go, though. I’m pretty excited about it. Maybe I’ll put on a costume and scare somebody.

www.piggy-d.com

Fall Out Boy front man tries to “Save Rock and Roll” and talks pop culture

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In 2003 Fall Out Boy reached into our adolescent hearts with Take This to Your Grave. The band then took us on its musical evolution from From Under the Cork Tree to Infinty on High to the strongly debated Folie à Deux. Now, after a grueling four years, the band has returned with its newly rejoiced, long-awaited album, Save Rock and Roll, which is influenced much by the band’s desire to leave more room for the vocals and lyrics to shine through. With songs like “Young Volcanoes” screaming youth power, or the title track that preaches dedication to the legends and the force of real music (and also fittingly features the great Sir Elton John), the band enamors us once again with its metaphoric lyrics and intricate ariose melodies, treasured by the bands diverse, very passionate fan base of Diehards. And the name most definitely fits.

Before the band’s recent Atlanta performance, the back half of the stage was draped by a thin white sheet, leaving only three microphones on the front half. The lights go down, followed by an incredible roar from the crowd, and heavy strobing of colored lights revealing four familiar silhouettes. With a ready thud of bass, the curtain drops and the band opens with heavy guitar riffage. Jumping in to Infinity on High’s “Thriller”, front man Patrick Stump, bassist Pete Wentz and guitarist Joe Trohman storm to the stage’s edge, with Andy Hurley striking the drums like a maniac. As always, the crowd goes barbaric, welcoming them back with open arms. The band performs a medley of hits fro its five albums, ending the encore with the ballad “Save Rock and Roll”, with Stump soulful on piano and the crowd chanting along with him as music legends flash across the screen behind him. “Thanks For The Memories” is next, then the show closes with “Saturday”, in which Wentz ritualistically ascends into the front row for the final chorus. With the band back on tour, Stump talks to Wrestling with Pop Culture about the new album, his influences, and answers some fan questions.

The new album features all these new ideas to improve FOB’s sound. Why was now the time to change your sound instead of earlier?

I think we make a point to change up between every album. I never want to repeat myself as a writer/performer. It’s hard, too, because when you succeed one way, it’s even harder to surpass that success by doing the same thing. In that way I think I’d always prefer to wipe the slate clean and start from scratch every record.

Obviously your solo work influenced Save Rock and Roll. What else would you say influenced this album?

It’s very fascinating to hear people say that. I don’t think Save Rock and Roll was influenced by Soul Punk much at all. If anything Folie had more to do with it but Save Rock and Roll is pretty devoid of any funk influence or ’80s R&B influence. Even the synthesizers, I think people perceive the album to be more electronic than it is. Plus, the majority of the synth stuff was Joe or [producer] Butch [Walker]’s influence on this album. At it’s core this is basically a drums, bass and guitar record. I think we were trying to make something more simple. More built on leaving space for the vocals and lyrics to have their moment.

If you could be any superhero, who would it be and why?

Dark Claw because he barely exists. Look him up. Holy smokes.

What’s your favorite part about Atlanta?

My aunt Ginny lives here. She’s pretty much the coolest person I know.

What’s your favorite Save Rock and Roll song to perform?

I love playing the title track. I look forward to it every night. I feel like most of the show is me waiting to play that.

Do you think you’d be a Sith Lord or a Jedi?

Come on. Anyone who’s met me knows I’m, like, way Jedi. I think that’s probably my lot in life; I’m not cool and loner enough to be Han, or dark and brooding enough to be Anakin. I’d be like Luke – heart of gold, pretty good at what he does, but soooooo whiney. Seriously, Luke. Chill out, man.

What do you have to say to your Diehards?

It’s pretty awesome to be able to come back, but it’s even cooler to have an audience waiting for us when we did. So I’d just like to thank everybody for coming out and caring still. We love making music and we owe so much to you guys.

www.falloutboy.com

Vans Warped Tour once again brings a variety of acts to the masses

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The Vans Warped Tour is always a fun way to see some of your favorite bands while also discovering acts you might otherwise never have been exposed to. But I was particularly excited about the 2013 Warped Tour because I’d finally get to see bands like Chiodos, Hawthorne Heights and The Used play the songs I’ve been listening to for so many years. It was amazing to see these bands up close from the photo pit while also discovering a variety of other acts such as Black Veil Brides, Billy Talent and MC Lars (who I also got to meet and he was, like, the nicest guy ever). Here are some of Dizzy Focus‘ favorite moments from this year’s Warped Tour.

Chiodos (with Craig Owens back on vocals) rocked the Kia Forte stage.

Big Chocolate was one of the more charismatic dubstep acts on the Spotify stage.

Burt McCracken of The Used gives the universal rock ‘n’ roll salute.

MC Lars is proud to be white and nerdy, and always joyful!

Black Veil Brides gave the Warped Tour crowd a lot of tongue.

Eddie Trunk celebrates 12th season, 100th episode of “That Metal Show”

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Halfway through its 12th season and having just celebrated its 100th episode, That Metal Show has proven that people like talking (and hearing) about head banging and heavy metal. And nobody loves talking about metal music more than Eddie Trunk, who has been preaching the hard rock gospel since the ’80s via writings, radio shows and as host of VH1 Classic‘s That Metal Show. Having interviewed almost everyone there is to interview from hard rock and heavy metal’s past, Trunk (and co-hosts Don Jamieson and Jim Florentine) features heavy hitters from metal’s past such as Def Leppard‘s Rick Allen, Cinderella‘s Tom Kiefer and Megadeth‘s Dave Mustaine this season, as well as somewhat more contemporary musicians like Rob Zombie, John 5 and Clutch‘s Neil Fallon. But before you tune in for the latest episode this Saturday at 11 p.m. EST, read Wrestling with Pop Culture‘s interview with this heavy metal historian.

Eddie Trunk (center) hosts the 12th season of "That Metal Show". Photo courtesy Paul Freundlich Associates.

Now that That Metal Show has made it to its 12th season and 100th episode, what have been some of the more memorable moments or guests for you?

Since the show started in 2008, we’ve had a lot of great guests. For me, it’s always really special when you get some of those iconic guys from the ’70s that played such a huge role in the history and evolution of this music. Tony Iommi, who I think is basically the founding father of metal, comes to mind. Having him on was amazing. Brian Johnson from AC/DC is just one of the best guests you can have. Sammy Hagar and Michael Anthony are always a blast to have on – great people. Same with Rob Halford, we’ve had him on a couple of times. That’s certainly not to diminish any of the ’80s guys or more recent guys, but my mind always goes back to the people I grew up with in this genre of music. And to have them sitting next to me swapping stories and stuff on the show is really, really special. As far as performances, bands can’t play songs on the show because we can’t afford the publishing. So they’re just playing riffs and shredding a little bit. But we’ve had tremendous players up there doing that, and also some great drummers including in this season we have Carmine Appice and Vinny Appice doing their thing. And we have Jake E. Lee, who I tracked down out of obscurity, not only as a guest but also playing in two shows. And we have guitarist Richie Kotzen, who is one of my favorite musicians on the planet, playing a couple of shows. In the past we’ve had amazing guys. Everybody knows I’m a big UFO fan, so we have Michael Schenker play in a couple of shows and that was really special. But just about everybody we’ve had has really brought it when they’ve been part of the show.

You mentioned having the older guys on the show, and it seems like the focus of the show is on the guys who helped pave the way for the future of metal. This season, however, I noticed you have some more contemporary guests on the show. Do you intentionally focus on the musicians from the ’70s and ’80s or are they just more readily available?

It’s very intentional because the channel we’re on is VH1 Classic, so the entire channel is rooted in classic music. That’s always going to be the focus of what we do given that we’re on that sort of network, but we are all fans of new bands and new music. We feature it whenever we can, however we can. Yes, going forward we’re trying to mix in a little more of that when we can. The network has ultimate say as to who does and doesn’t come on the show, but we certainly are doing some things differently this new season, which is really a whole new coat of paint on the show. To that end, we’re doing a bit at the top of some of the shows where we’re introducing an artist via Skype on a screen that’s dropping. We call it the Metal Modem. We have Ben [Weinman] from Dillinger Escape Plan, we have Johan from Amon Amarth, bands a little outside of what we do, and obviously newer. It’s just a good opportunity to work some of that in around all the classic stuff. We all love certain new music and I’ve always supported new music on my radio shows, I’m a big believer in that. But we’re also doing a TV show that airs on a classic network with a ton of bands that also have no outlet, when it comes to the ’70s and ’80s guys. So it’s important to acknowledge them and they will always be the core of what we do. But we’re certainly going to mix it up as best we can.

There are obviously still plenty of metal bands and metal fans. But I hear a lot of bands complain that the overall musical climate these days is no longer very supportive of rock and metal music. Why do you think that is, and where does That Metal Show and the other things that you do fit into that?

"That Metal Show" host Eddie Trunk. Photo courtesy Paul Freundlich Associates.

Outside of the mid-to-late ’80s when MTV ruled, this genre of music has always been under the radar in a lot of ways. I don’t know what the music industry is supporting anymore because the industry is so fragmented. The industry has changed so dramatically in the last ten years alone – from the demise of most record labels to the way artists do things – that I don’t know how much is left of the industry as far as signing and the traditional record company structure of working bands. I do think that the fan base for hard rock and metal is pretty strong right now. You see that from the live stages. That’s where you’re really going to see it because, unfortunately, record sales just aren’t going to come back to anywhere near the level that they once were. I just hosted a festival for three days in Oklahoma that had the most people it had ever had and was headlined by Guns N’ Roses, Alice in Chains and Korn. There was a festival a couple of weeks earlier in Columbus, Ohio called Rock on the Range that had record crowds, so people are definitely coming to see this music live, and that’s what’s really important because that’s where it’s always lived is on the live stage. I’m 30 years into this business, my radio show is 30 years old, and I still enjoy doing it and feel it’s important to do. I just try to do my part wherever I can. What drove me to start doing any of this 30 years ago was to support and spread the word about the bands and music I loved, but wasn’t seeing and hearing. Most importantly, I wanted to treat it respectfully and not fall into all the stereotypes that come with it. So that’s what I’ve always strived to do and at the end of the day I’m just a fan who’s worked hard enough and been lucky enough to have a few pretty good platforms to spread the word.

You talked earlier about some of the people you’ve had the honor of having on the show. Who are some of the people that have not been on the show that you’d like to talk to?

The guys we probably get asked the most about would be David Lee Roth and Eddie Van Halen, Nikki Sixx, James Hetfield, Ozzy Osbourne, Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley. We ask them every single season and whether they are on or not is completely up to them. For some of them it’s just scheduling, some of them have issues, some of them don’t want to do the show or whatever the case may be. Those are probably the top five people I’m asked about all the time, and they’re all welcome to come on. It’s just a question of if they want to do it and if we’re working when they decide they want to. So hopefully one of these days we’ll get them.

In addition to being the host of the show, you also have a segment called Stump the Trunk. What are some the hardest or most memorable questions you’ve been asked?

Oh, there are absurd questions. There have been tons of ridiculous questions that have been asked that nobody in their right mind could ever get right. That’s done because they want to see me go crazy, which I often deliver for them. What people have to understand with Stump the Trunk is it’s a fun thing, people really love it and it’s a part of the show that will never go away, it seems. But it’s a bit. We have fun with it and I certainly don’t think for a minute that I know it all. I probably know a little bit more than the average person just because I’ve lived this music my whole life. But they’re always coming at me with crazy, over-the-top stuff, then they’ll often tell me that I’m wrong when I’m right just to try to get me really agitated. And it works about 90 percent of the time. At this point I’m prepared for anything that comes out of anybody’s mouth during that thing.

As we mentioned earlier, this season features the 100th episode. Did you even realize when you were recording this season that you were up to your 100th episode?

We didn’t even realize it was the 100th episode until we started doing publicity for the show. We didn’t do anything special in that episode, so it wasn’t all that different from any of the other shows this season. We’re honored, of course, to have made it that far, but I didn’t get a gold watch or anything yet. There are no balloons dropping from the ceiling or anything like that, but it is certainly a milestone. That being said, Rex Brown and Sebastian Bach were both great guests and it was a fun show.

How long do you foresee That Metal Show continuing? Do you think we might see it last another 100 episodes?

I can only hope. If it was up to me, I’d be doing it every day. My dream is live five nights a week, but I have no say over that at all. That is up to the network – they own the show and they determine how often we do it and how long it stays on the air. So we’ll find out as we go and I’ll know when the fans know. People who follow me on Twitter or look at my website (www.eddietrunk.com) or what have you, they’ll know when we’re about to start filming, how to get tickets, when we’ve filmed new shows and when you can see them. I try to keep everyone informed, but I honestly have no clue. If the show ends it will have nothing to do with me because I’m happy to do it for as long as the network wants to keep doing it. The cool thing is these new shows have a lot of new features and we have a brand new set. With this kind of revamp, maybe this set’s got another 100 shows in it like the last set did.

Next season will be number 13, which is a very metal number. So you probably have at least another season.

Right. Megadeth, Sabbath… Of course, yeah. It feels great because the excitement and passion for the show being back, from fans and from us, is as strong as it’s every been. Now it’s just coming down to what VH1 wants to do going forward. But we’ll cross those bridges when we come to them.

www.thatmetalshow.vh1.com

Richard Patrick is un-Filter-ed about new album, tour and band members

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Despite the aggressive nature of most of Filter‘s music, there has always been an underlying sense of sarcasm to albums such as Short Bus and Title of Record. (Now that I think about, those album titles alone are somewhat subversively funny.) But following the hit ballad “Take a Picture” and the politically-charged tribute to the troops that was Anthems for the Damned, the common perception has been that Filter is a rather serious band. And who could argue, considering the band’s first big hit “Hey Man Nice Shot” was an abrasively catchy song about a politician who shot himself during a televised press conference. So when I sat down to interview Filter front man Richard Patrick before a recent Summerland Tour stop, I didn’t expect him to begin the conversation by making poop jokes and jovially berating a member of his crew over walkie talkie.

“That’s the way I talk to my motherfuckin’ crew. I treat ’em like shit,” says Patrick, before grinning a little to let on that he’s joking. “I have a whole thing of comedy I believe in. I believe everybody should just not take anything fucking seriously. I just want to enjoy things.”

On the band’s latest album The Sun Comes Out Tonight, it definitely sounds like Patrick is enjoying playing electronically-tinged metal anthems like “We Hate It When You Get What You Wanted,” “Self Inflicted” and “What Do You Say,” as well as more melodic offerings such as “Surprise,” “First You Break It” and “It’s Just You”. To say The Sun Comes Out Tonight is a return to form would be a clichéd misnomer, yet there’s no mistaking these songs (be they heavy rockers or piano ballads) as being Filter. That being said, here’s the part where Wrestling with Pop Culture talks to Patrick about his latest Filter collaborator Jonathan Radtke, the Summerland Tour and his other musical endeavors.

This new album of yours, it sounds very Filter-esque.

That’s good because we are Filter.

Well, I figured that was the sound you were going for. Having been a Filter fan since the first album, it’s been interesting to hear the way things have progressed from album to album. What are your thoughts on the new album?

Richard Patrick (left) and Jonathan Radtke (right) are the new core of Filter. Photo courtesy Wind-up Records.

The new one is the shit. We did it in three or four months starting in September of last year. We had a few songs we had written, but we went in and got a lion’s share of the work done before Christmas, then worked for a month after that. It wrote itself. Jonny Radtke is an amazing guitar player and musical mind. He grew up listening to all the bands I was in – Nine Inch Nails, Filter – then ended up doing a band called Kill Hannah. Then he was in a band with Billy Howerdel [Ashes Divide], so when he had the opportunity he went on tour with us and it was really just amazing to see him understand where we were coming from. So he came in and contributed to this record and I think it shows a whole new era of Filter. There are three hits off of this record that are heavy, then there are a couple of hits off of this record that are like “Take a Picture”. Then there’s this whole world in between and everything is really top notch. I think it’s the best Filter record we’ve ever done, and I mean that. I literally think it’s better than anything we’ve done. I’m really happy. We’re signed to Wind-up [Records] and that was a big change because we did the independent thing with Anthems. Unfortunately you need the infrastructure of a big label. Actually, that is fortunate. On the independent route it was kind of a bummer learning it the hard way. But I like what Wind-up has to say. They set up these records really great, so it’s been very exciting. We’ve got a video that’s just a short film to the song – it’s daring and says a lot about our culture. It feels like it’s going to be a great year. This tour is awesome, we’re playing in front of a ton of people that want to see us.

The Summerland Tour is a somewhat odd mix of bands that were all popular at the same time, but don’t have much else in common.

Yeah. Well, the funny thing is we toured with Everclear back in ’95 when Short Bus came out. It’s kind of cool to be on a tour with all the friends you’ve known for a long time. It reminds me of Lollapalooza. When I was on the Lollapalooza tour it was extremely diverse. It was the alternative tour, so you had every band from different formats. Art [Alexakis] told us to play the hits, but it’s funny because we’re playing a song that’s currently charting. It feels good to be of the two decades.

You mentioned your new guitar player a moment ago. How did he get involved and what role did he play in the recording of the new album?

Photo courtesy Wind-up Records.

We had a guitar player named Rob Patterson who, let’s just say he needed to take a break. Then Jonny came over and auditioned and was like, “Which song do you want me to do? I know them all.” It was just instantly amazing and the next thing I know we were on tour and I was like, “Let’s write something.” We started writing something and I was like, “He’s got a lot of talent.” I’ve always wanted to have a partner. I was kind of close with Geno [Lenardo]. The first album was me: I was the guitar player and Brian [Liesegang] was the programmer. I wrote all the parts and he helped me lay sound design overdubs and stuff. And on Title of Record I was kind of working with Geno. Anthems was a variety of people: I worked with John 5, Wes Borland and others. But this was a scenario of let’s literally sit together being fans of Pantera, Ministry and Skinny Puppy and write something together. And it blended perfectly. Plus, his favorite song on the record is “Surprise,” which is like “Take a Picture” part two.

You’ve mentioned that the new album features a few “Take a Picture”-like songs. When that song became such a hit, did you feel an obligation to have an acoustic song on each album or anything like that?

No. Now I do. I was really in a “Fuck it. I’m doing whatever I want. Try and keep up with me.” phase. Because I broke the doors down on both levels – I had a huge hit with “Hey Man” that’s really heavy and dark and inspired by R. Budd Dwyer shooting himself, then there’s this whole thing with “Take a Picture” where people didn’t even realize it was the same band. Seeing as I kind of established us as being somewhat bipolar, I just have stuck within those two worlds because you can’t get any further outside of the lines than that. So by not just cashing in and going, “OK, everybody grow your hair long and let’s be heavy metal” and conforming to that kind of identity, I was from the alternative movement and I really wanted to press the boundaries. And I really wanted to do something that was truly beautiful to listen to. Now I feel like I have to live up to the standards of Short Bus and Title of Record and a little bit of The Amalgamut, except I didn’t want it to be so drunk. Amalgamut was a very drunk record, Anthems should have just been called The Tribute Record for the Soldiers, then The Trouble with Angels is kind of getting back into the sound of Short Bus and Title. This record is just completely going back to the original sound and enjoying it. Not finishing what we started, but adding to it.

Outside of Filter, you’ve been involved with a few other musical projects in recent years. The most notable of those was Army of Anyone with Dean and Robert DeLeo from Stone Temple Pilots. What did you think when you heard the recent announcement that Chester Bennington would be STP’s new front man?

It seems like Chester Bennington’s always a couple of years behind me.

I’ve never thought about that, but it sounds pretty accurate. When you worked with the DeLeo brothers, it wasn’t billed as Stone Temple Pilots with Richard Patrick from Filter.

Photo courtesy Wind-up Records.

Yeah. I didn’t want to try and sound like Scott [Weiland]. To me, Chester kind of sounds a little bit like Scott, but then he’s got the big Army of Anyone long scream notes that I was doing with “Goodbye” or “Generation”. So it seems like he’s kind of copping a little bit of Army of Anyone/STP, but still kind of being himself. But I’m happy for them. I think it’s a great idea. Bless their hearts trying to constantly depend on this guy to just show up and sing a fucking concert! It really defies logic at this point how there’s this whole amazing bunch of music and songs and entertainment that could be provided worldwide by Stone Temple Pilots and they can’t get [Scott Weiland] to show up to a gig. It’s sad. I’m a recovering drug addict, so I know what’s up. So for them to get Chester involved and have someone just get in there and get the job done and tour with them is a great thing for all of them. It’s like Chester’s side project, and they have a chance to really just live their lives as a touring band that really just wants to go play concerts. Robert and Dean are amazing professionals and I feel sad for them. We played a show with them in New Jersey and Scott was an hour and a half late. The whole crowd was sitting there, everybody was waiting and Robert and Dean are just like, “These are our fans and we’re waiting for our lead singer to wake up from his afternoon party.” It sucks having to watch them deal with this stuff. More power to them. Good luck with Chester. I think it’s great. Have fun in Japan and Australia and see the world why you can.

Speaking of tours, what does Filter have lined up after the Summerland Tour ends?

We’re going to Europe to play some festivals in later summer. We’re starting to go through offers right now to figure out what we’re doing in the fall.

Your former guitarist Geno recently contributed to David Draiman’s new industrial project Device. Any chance you might tour with them?

Yeah. I think it’s a great album. That might be cool, yeah. Geno’s actually not in the band. He co-wrote and produced the record, but he doesn’t tour with them.

www.officialfilter.com