By Jonathan Williams

When you talk about a group of rough-and-tumble guys from Dallas known as the Von Ehrics, it would be easy to assume you’re discussing the tragically legendary Von Erich wrestling family. But aside from a slight

Photo by Jason Janik

variation in spelling, the Von Ehrics have been kicking ass in a very different way for the past decade or so. Performing on a stage instead of inside a ring, and employing the use of guitars, drums and amplifiers instead of dropkicks, armbars and the devestating Iron Claw maneuver, these Von Ehrics maintain a Texas-sized cowboy toughness with a sound that mixes country twang with punk energy.

Though its title could also be a wrestling move reference, the band’s recent album, Two Foot Stomp, adds a bit of melody and maturity to its bar brawl-like sound.  This slight stylistic change, with an additional gospel influence on “Lord, I Pray,” can be attributed at least in part to the contributions of new members, bassist Paul “Santi” Vaden of Ghoultown and former Dixie Witch guitarist Clayton Mills, joining singer/guitarist Robert Jason Vandygriff and drummer Gabe Aguilar. The band, currently on tour, takes a moment to talk to Wrestling with Pop Culture about its name and sound.

Why did you choose a band name that is clearly inspired by a legendary wrestling family, and why did you choose to use a variation on the original spelling of the Von Erichs?

Vandygriff: Well, we’re from Dallas, Texas. Growing up, the Von Erichs were king shit, man. You couldn’t get any bigger than the Von Erichs. I mean, they wrestled at the Cotton Bowl. They were big when we were kids, so when we were putting the project together and looking for names it slipped out of one of our friend’s mouth and when he said “the Von Erichs,” we thought it was great. I sent an email to Kevin [Von Erich] and told him we wanted to use the name and had a lot of respect for him – not necessarily that we were wrestling fans, but that we just liked the history behind the name. It was really like a tribute to Dallas. I got a response from a representative saying they didn’t really want us to use the name, so we changed the spelling just a little bit so you might not even catch that there’s a difference.

Later on, as the band got a little bit bigger and got a little more notoriety, especially around Dallas, I guess it was Kevin’s daughter that came out to a show and she said they were fine with it by then and that she liked the music.

Rock music and wrestling have gone hand in hand for a while, but with wrestling being such a big part of pop culture today the connection has become even more obvious. But in the case of the Von Ehrics, the name, like the music, is a bit of a throwback to the more wild and wooly days of wrestling. Was that also part of your decision to use that name?

Vandygriff: Absolutely. That was why we felt like it worked so well with what we do. Our music is pretty rowdy and we have a reputation for being pretty rowdy, so it fit really well.

Yeah, today’s wrestling is a bit more polished and obviously not as rowdy as it used to be.

Vandygriff: It’s certainly not as dirty as when you think back to the Von Erichs and all that old school stuff we had in Texas. I don’t know if it was that way everywhere, but it was definitely more like our dirty rock sound.

Have you guys ever actually performed at a wrestling event or had your music used for a wrestler’s theme music or anything like that?

Vandygriff: Not that I know of, but we’ve been all over the country and we’ll have people that come out, like, in Philadelphia one time, these guys came to see us play just because of the name. We have some friends in north Texas that put on those low-rent wrestling shows, but we’ve never done anything with them.

Do any of you guys follow current wrestling at all?

Vandygriff: I don’t, but I don’t have time to follow much of anything other than my Von Ehrics.

Vaden: I used to. I have a friend who used to wrestle at the [Dallas] Sportatorium before they closed it. Kind of by proxy that’s what he and I often talked about and it would be funny because I’d go hang out with him and he’d be like, “I learned this new move. Come here.” He’s much bigger than I am, so he kind of threw me around a little bit. Other than that, I kind of got out of it and I don’t have pay-per-view anymore.

Paul, you’re also in Ghoultown. I always thought that band’s comic book-like gimmick lent itself well to a wrestling environment. Do you still play with that band, too?

Vaden: When Ghoultown plays, I still play with them. But we’re taking a little bit of a break right now and I’m only playing with the Von Ehrics. It’s a lot different; the music’s a lot rowdier and more rock ‘n’ roll.

We did play the Gathering of the Juggalos once. But that was more of a joke. Actually, a guy named Dennis, who is a good friend of the Von Ehrics, I met him in Peoria, Ill. when we played there way back when, before I had even heard of the Von Ehrics. He kind of turned me on to [the Juggalos] and they do a wrestling thing there.

Vandygriff: Dennis, our old road manager, he’s all into wrestling. If he was with us right now, he’d be doing all the talking.

You just released a new album and you’re on tour through June. What do the Von Ehrics have in store after the summer?

Vandygriff: We’re actually on tour through July, we just haven’t announced those dates yet. We’re going out to do the Heavy Rebel Weekender. On the way out to Heavy Rebel we’re going to hit the Milestone in Charlotte, which is a place we’ve played a lot over the years. There are a few other dates around then, then a few weeks off, then we’re going to hit it pretty hard at the end of July to get us into August. After August, we’re going to shut down for August and September for Gabe and Paul to have babies. Then October and November are going to be really busy for us. We’re going to kind of get everywhere we’ve hit in the previous couple of months and then some.

For more information, go to www.vonehrics.com.