Category Archives: Featured

From DiamondStarHalo jewelry to Turnin’ TriXXX, Jen Belgard conjures macabre magic

For those looking for jewelry, flasks and other accessories that keep things classy while adding a bit of macabre flair, you’re likely to find just what you’re looking for at Diamond*Star*Halo. From earrings to belt buckles, the ornate creations of Jen Belgard maintain a rococo style while incorporating pop culture icons such as monsters, Muppets and circus performers. But jewelry making isn’t Belgard’s only creative endeavor as she is also involved with a baton-twirling group known as Turnin’ TriXXX and is co-owner of the Atlanta-based boutique known as Libertine. More recently, she has turned her tricks to a darker group of performers known as the Baphomettes, an alluring collection of demonic dames. Regardless of which form her creativity takes, Belgard has been a constant supporter of Monstrosity Championship Wrestling for more than a year. When MCW returns to Club Famous this Friday, there will be several DSH creations available as raffle prizes. As Belgard prepares for her own birthday celebration, she talks to Wrestling with Pop Culture about her wares.

For someone just discovering Diamond*Star*Halo, how would you describe your creations? What inspires you aesthetically and how do you choose which form each piece will take on?

Diamond*Star*Halo was born from my love of haunting fairy tales, sideshows, horror/occult art and culture, vintage jewelry and rock ‘n’ roll. It’s a collection of accessories for people looking for something out of the ordinary. I like my accessories to set me apart from the crowd. I couldn’t find the things I was looking for so I willed them into being.

You’ve been a supporter of MCW since Wrestling with Pop Culture’s first anniversary last March, with your items being big prizes in the MCW raffles. Why do you think DSH and MCW complement each other so well?

I watched wrestling as a kid. It always struck me as a sideshow soap opera. What’s not to love? The storylines, the over-the-top costumes and antics of wrestlers like Andre the Giant, Ric Flair, Jake “The Snake” Roberts and “Macho Man” Randy Savage drew me in. Adding monsters to the mix makes it all the more amazing. DSH and MCW make perfect sense to me.

Aside from DSH, you also have creative outlets with Turnin’ TriXXX, the Baphomettes and Libertine. There is a thread of similarity between each of these entities, as well as your other endeavors. Which parts of your personality would you say are on display with each of these endeavors?

They really aren’t so different. The common thread is my unwillingness to give up the things I love just because I’ve grown up. I will always let my imagination run away with me. I will always twirl my baton to punk rock and metal. I will always wear costumes, too much makeup and even more hair. Be it Diamond*Star*Halo, Turnin’ TriXXX, the Baphomettes or Libertine these things hold true.

The Baphomettes recently made an appearance at MCW, escorting the mysterious Angel of Death to the ring. What is your connection to this rookie wrestler and what can we expect from him at future MCW events?

Professor Morté asked the Baphomettes to escort the Angel of Death to the ring. Unfortunately, he is not a worthy recipient of the powers bestowed upon the Baphomettes. We have no allegiance to that wrestler.

What does the future hold for DSH, Turnin’ TriXXX, the Baphomettes and any of your other projects? Any new creations or performances coming up?

I have a constant stream of ideas of Diamond*Star*Halo. Something new debuts all the time. Locally, you can find DSH at Junkman’s Daughter, the Oakland Cemetery gift shop, Cherry Blossom Salon, Mysteria Antiques & Oddities, Rutabaga Boutique & Salon and of course, Libertine. DSH is also available online at www.diamondstarhalo.com and a limited selection is available at www.sourpussclothing.com. Turnin’ TriXXX is on hiatus until Halloween. We can’t let the cat of of the bag on those plans quite yet. The Baphomettes have several collaborations and performances coming up. We recently joined the fabulous Blast-Off Burlesque on stage as they presented Taboo-La-La at the Plaza Theatre. We look forward to working with them several more times this year. (Hint, hint: look for their upcoming show in September!) We are also in talks with our fiercely talented friends, the Little Five Points Rock Star Orchestra for a show this summer. More details to come!

Whether in a TNA ring or the country music world, Mickie James says “Somebody’s Gonna Pay”

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As the only person to ever hold the WWE Women’s Championship, WWE Divas Championship and Total Nonstop Action Knockouts Championship, Mickie James is one of the most talented women to ever step into a wrestling ring. Though she’s been out of the title picture for quite a while, and came up short against current Knockouts Champion Velvet Sky on Impact Wrestling last Thursday, James still has reason to celebrate. On this Thursday’s Impact she teams up with Taryn Terrell to take on longtime rivals Gail Kim and Tara. And next Tuesday sees the release of James‘ second album Somebody’s Gonna Pay, a rocking collection that includes her TNA entrance song “Hardcore Country”. Wrestling with Pop Culture talks to James about the upcoming TNA Slammiversary pay-per-view, her new album and her recent reunion with Trish Stratus.

You came up a little short in your Knockouts title match last Thursday, but that crowd sure was into your match against Velvet Sky.

It was insane. I could have sworn someone was starting the wave or there was a person running around going, “Hey, everybody yell” or a fight had broken out. All of a sudden it just started to rumble. It’s very rare that you get a feeling like that. I’ve had that feeling in England a few times and, obviously, at WrestleMania, but to have that crowd come alive like that is incredible. I don’t know if it was the match or if there was somebody streaking, but they were loud the whole time and it was awesome. They were really into it and it was almost a shock to both of us because we were like, “Whoa, wait. Is that for us? What’s happening?” They had been pretty hot all night, but it was a slow build and they really came alive for that match. It was awesome. As soon as the bell rang they just started to rumble.

It was clearly a great match, but it seemed like even you were a little surprised by the way it ended. Were you possibly in the ropes a little bit when Velvet rolled you up for the pin?

I think I was a bit tangled up in the ropes, but I’m blaming my loss on the fact that earlier that day I was at the airport and my flight was delayed. I was a little bit upset and in search of a plug because my cell phone was dying and I walked into my own bag and knocked my pinkie toenail completely off. I know Velvet has a knee injury, but oh, my God, it hurt so bad. So I think that threw my balance off. But I’m not really blaming it on that. I don’t know. It felt like I was a little tangled in the ropes, but ODB counted 1, 2, 3, so what can you do?

It had been a little while since you had been in the title picture. With Slammiversary coming up in about a month, do you know where last Thursday’s loss leaves you heading into that pay-per-view?

I don’t know where it leaves me. It obviously leaves me hungry and wanting more and I still want the championship. I feel like I pretty much dominated that whole match and she got lucky. I love Velvet to death and she’s my friend, but at the same time I know that I’m Mickie James, a kick-ass wrestler. I’m the champion of champions, for goodness’ sake. I can’t believe I lost! I don’t want to be a sore loser, but at the same time I do want that championship. If there’s a chance for me to get it or to go for it again, I certainly will take it. I don’t know where Slammiversary is headed, but I’m hopeful.

It was interesting to see three women in the ring (you, Velvet and ODB as referee) who all came up through the independent scene together and are now in one of the most competitive women’s divisions in wrestling. How does it feel for all of you to be at this level now?

It’s a good feeling. It’s good to see people who actually set out to make in this business, who have a true passion for this business, to all stand in the same ring with a crowd like that roaring underneath you and have that kind of emotion in the palm of your hands. It’s humbling to know how hard each of us has worked to get there. That’s the most rewarding thing is to know that your sacrifices have paid off. The indie wrestling scene, much like the indie rock scene or any type of indie scene, as you’re trying to come in and break through it’s never easy. You work for peanuts and hope for the best and hopefully catch a big break. We’ve all been fortunate enough to do so.

Speaking of indie rock, you have a new album out next week. I guess it’s more indie country, but it definitely has some rock flavor to it.

Yeah. I signed to eOne Music Nashville in September. It’s not traditional country. It’s more where Southern rock meets country. It’s got that kind of Randy Houser/Jason Aldean sound accept with a female feel to it.

Was music something you’ve always wanted to do or was that something you turned your attention to after you had success with wrestling?

Music has always been a massive part of my life. I grew up on a horse farm and trained with horses all my young life. But I also played the violin for five years and I used to record myself walking around my bedroom singing my heart out. It’s always been a passion of mine and I started writing when I was on the road. Instead of writing short stories or poetry, I would write lyrics to songs. It wasn’t to any melody or anything because I didn’t know anything about how to do that. After shows, we often have to drive 250 miles to the next town. That’s a lot of time in the car by yourself, so I started coming up with my own lyrics to songs that were playing on the radio. I took chorus in school a little bit, but I was always a little shy about being out there in front of a crowd by myself with a microphone. But being an entertainer and a performer – I took modeling and acting classes – is something I always wanted to do, but was always so fearful of. Finally after I wrote about five or six songs, I was like, “I’m just going to go to Nashville and lay down these songs just so I can say that I did it. If this demo that I make only sits on my mom’s coffee table that’s fine with me.” So I went to Nashville and played my songs for about 20 different producers – anyone and everyone who would actually take a meeting with me and listen and consider it. I met with Kent Wells, who produced Dolly Parton‘s last album, and he was like, “I totally get it. This is awesome. I think we can take two or three of these songs that you wrote, vamp them up with some killer music and make an album. You’re a great singer, you have a unique story and you’re something country music’s never had. It needs something different.”

I’m not Carrie Underwood, where I can sing these massive beautiful ballads all day long. But I do have that rock edge to me where it is a little bit rough around the edges, because I’m a little bit rough around the edges. So I released the first album on my own and learned a lot. Then I went back into the studio to do a second album. At the time is was going to be a self-released EP, so I went in the studio with Jamie Lee Thurston, who is a killer guitarist, and wrote some songs with him and Porter Howell, who used to play with Little Texas. While we were recording, my management started talking to different labels and that’s where eOne came in. They took five of the songs Jamie did and sent me back in the studio with R.S. Field, who doesn’t do a lot of country but had just done that Uncle Lucius album. So I listened to it, met with R.S. and got a feel for how he wanted to round out the album. We added one more song that I wrote and put my entrance music on there as a bonus track. We got some more killer songs from some other killer songwriters like Bridgette Tatum, who wrote “She’s Country” for Jason Aldean. She wrote “A Good Time,” which is a good party song on my album. It’s ironic because “Somebody’s Gonna Pay,” the title track and lead single, is one of those songs that R.S. kicked out and I loved it. I loved the lyrics, I loved the song, but I didn’t know if I could sing it because it was very old, traditional country. I just didn’t know if I was capable of twanging it up that much and he was like, “No, we’re going to throw seven guitars on it and it’s going to be Southern rock and soul kind of stuff.” I just trusted him with everything. That song selection process is the hardest out of everything because you want to find not just the songs that you can sing and that are right for you, but also the ones you think your fans are going to connect to and that’re going to tell a story within the album. I probably listened to 1,000 or 2,000 songs just trying to pick these ten. And the fact that two of the songs I co-wrote made it onto the album alongside songs written by people who do nothing but write songs all day was awesome.

You also recently released a video “Somebody’s Gonna Pay” that kind of takes you back to where you got your first big break in wrestling with Trish Stratus. How did that come about?

I actually called her and was like, “Trish, would you consider being in my video?” They were looking for a tie-in to wrestling without being too hokey and cheesy about it. So it was a big favor I called in and she was like, “Oh, my God. Of course! I’d be honored to come down and do that.” So she came down from Canada and Nick Aldis (Magnus from TNA) came down, and we filled up the bar with all my friends from Nashville, my managers, fellow songwriters and singers. And obviously we hired some cute little models, who were precious. That was directed by Blake Judd, who just did a full-length about Shooter Jennings that won some awards. I met him when I did a cameo in Bucky Covington and Shooter’s “Drinking Side of Country” video, so it just worked out really well. Blake is a wrestling fan, so he’d talk to me about the old-school wrestling he watched growing up.

Given the obsession you had with Trish when you made your WWE debut, how did it feel to see your idol inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame this year?

It was really incredible. I couldn’t be happier for her. I think she completely deserved it and I was just disappointed that I couldn’t be there in person. Not only is she a genuine friend, but I really admire her for her strength and her ability to break outside of the mold of coming in as a fitness competitor and really growing within the business. Lita‘s incredible and I know that one day she’s going to be in there as well. She came up the same way I did, working her way up through the indie scene to become the star that she is. But Trish came in as a fitness model that a lot of people didn’t give a lot of credibility to. But she took the time and effort to not just learn, but to become one of the best. I was really fortunate to work with her when I first came in because there was a lot of stuff that I learned from her and a lot of stuff she learned from me. I didn’t know anything about which cameras to look at, but there were little intricacies about wrestling that she didn’t know. And to see a friend get such an accolade, and to know that she was going to announce the baby at the ceremony was such an honor.

WWE recently added a Mickie James page to the alumni section of its website. Do you know why you weren’t on there already or why you were recently added?

I didn’t even realize I was missing. But it’s cool of them to still recognize the people that were there and had a bit of history there. There were certainly some moments when I was there that I think people will remember forever, at least the fans of that era. So it’s cool to be recognized and remembered for that.

The end of your stint with WWE wasn’t the most flattering part of your career. Do you think you’ll ever return to WWE if for no other reason than to redeem yourself a little?

No, it was not the most flattering part of my career. You never know, do you? That is not the way that I wanted to go. It was heartbreaking for that to be my exit because I thought something different was going to come out of that. But things happen and I’ve grown a lot since then. I’m approaching life with a whole different attitude, so it’s just one of those things. I do feel that there were some awesome lessons learned from all of that. Bullying was such a major issue then, and still is now, so I felt like Michelle McCool, Layla and myself made that into something special. I just made the most of it and tried to make it amazing and make great television. You have to take whatever you’re given, own it and make it the best you can, and I think I did that. But it was an uncomfortable awesomeness.

You often perform concerts at nearby venues after TNA house shows. Now that Impact is on the road, do you still perform after the wrestling shows?

I’ve done a few afterparties. We may do a couple more. I just have to find the right deal and the right balance of what’s going to work the best. We did a handful of afterparties as a test run to see which cities were drawing, what the best format was and how we were going to do. It seemed to work pretty well, but people are so exhausted by the time the wrestling shows are over it’s almost working uphill to try to get them to come out to another place after they’ve already spent a lot of energy at the show itself. But, yes, we do plan on doing that again sometime soon. We’re looking at trying to line up some tour dates and shows around the release of this album.

You’ve shared the stage with some heavy hitters in the country music world. Were those festival performances or have you actually toured with some of these acts?

I’ve gotten to open for Gretchen Wilson, Montgomery Gentry, Randy Houser. I feel like my music is kind of similar to Randy Houser’s, so it was really cool to watch him perform and see how he works the crowd. They were all awesome shows and it’s cool to be part of things like that and just sit back and learn how they make their sets flow and all those little things that I’m still learning. I did a big country festival in Richmond with Gretchen and Montgomery Gentry as headliners. That was with my first album, so the local country radio stations knew who I was. I had been in there several times to do interviews for WWE, so they called me about that. The Randy Houser deal was in Richmond as well, so those people had seen me perform at that country festival. I was also supposed to open for Darius Rucker from Hootie & the Blowfish, but it didn’t stop thunderstorming until 7 o’clock and the whole thing got scrapped. I really wanted to meet him and watch his show, so that bummed me out a little bit. Hopefully with this second album I’ll get more opportunities like that.

You’ve also appeared at the Days of the Dead and Chiller Theatre. Do you have any such appearances coming up?

I’m not huge into horror films, so I was freaked out for at least a third of the time at Days of the Dead. When the It clown came by, I was hiding behind my chair. No, I actually took my picture with him and did the whole fangirl pics with people, walked around, met a few people and really marked out for Danny Trejo. Those things kind of come up if it works with my schedule, so I don’t know when I’ll be doing another convention like that.

www.mickiejames.com

Georgia Wrestling Now welcomes Matt Sells, Jon Malus and Kobald

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Things tend to always be at least a little odd in the wrestling world, but sometimes the Georgia wrestling scene gets even wackier than usual. This weekend some of the strangest local and national promotions host events outside the realm of what some wrestling fans are accustomed to seeing. Monstrosity Championship Wrestling returns to Club Famous May 3 and WrestleForce‘s “The Juggernaut” Jon Malus wants to issue a special challenge to a member of the MCW roster. Will he reveal his target to Wrestling with Pop Culture and Team All You Can Eat’s Matt Hankins on tonight’s Georgia Wrestling Now? Chikara also makes its Georgia debut May 4 with The Ghost of You Clings, so we’ll be talking to the Batiri’s Kobald about his grudge match against Amasis this Saturday. GWN regular Matt “Sex” Sells will also let us in on his recent Ring of Honor training seminar, his upcoming stand-up comedy show at the Laughing Skull Lounge and putting his career on the line against former tag team partner Ryan Michaels on May 5 at Pro Wrestling Resurrection. Listen live every Monday at 7 p.m. and call 347-324-5735 for questions or comments.

"The Juggernaut" Jon Malus makes his Monstrosity Championship Wrestling debut May 3 and wrestles for American Premiere Wrestling May 4.

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Maylene and the Sons of Disaster’s Dallas Taylor talks to “The Human Hand Grenade” dany only

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The parallels between Maylene and the Sons of Disaster and professional wrestling are plentiful. The original concept of this Southern metal band was that of a traveling gang of criminals led by their mother Maylene. Much like a gimmick taken on by a wrestler, MATSOD’s concept played out over its first three albums. But with its most recent album, 2011’s IV, the band branched out conceptually and musically, dabbling in more experimental, but no less intense, sounds. Though it’s been a while since we’ve heard from MATSOD, the band embarks on a brief Southeastern tour April 25-30. In my first interview for Wrestling with Pop Culture, I get to talk to front man Dallas Taylor about his music, the band’s work with WWE and The Iron Sheik‘s crazy tweets, among other disastrous topics.

When did you know you wanted to do something in the music business?

Photo by Amina Munster

I was probably 15, 14 maybe, when my brother got me into playing bass, and just got me into music when I was even younger than that. When I started playing around, I think “Hey Joe” was the first song I learned to play, and I kind of just went from there. I knew I loved it from then. I started out playing bass in bands, then I used to write lyrics for another band I was doing, a really bad band. Our vocalist quit, so I kind of got thrown into it. I never wanted to be a vocalist. I played piano when I was younger, but my dad was a trumpet player and I was a trumpet player, so I have always kind of been into music. But I never really thought I would do anything until I like got into heavy music and was like, “This is awesome!”

You were born in Ocala, Fla. What was your life like growing up? Were you popular, an outcast, a reject, a jock?

I lived 20 miles from town on a dirt road. They put gravel on it when I was about 12 or 13, so I didn’t really hang out. I mean there were no kids to hang out with, besides the kids I went to school with. But I didn’t really hang out a lot. I had a few cousins that lived down the road, but mainly it was horses and farm country.

So a whole lot of playing in the woods, right?

Yeah, lots. I had a dirt bike and stuff like that when I was like 15 or 16, but it was mainly building forts in the woods. I built a tree house trying to keep myself entertained. One of my good friends lived on a horse farm right down the road. We would actually build booby traps… setting up the vines so when you stepped on them they would come up and slap you. We had some awesome stuff. We were thinking that someone would actually walk through them.

But no one ever found it?

We thought someone would come through, but…

In another interview you mentioned that there was a complete change in who you were from middle school to high school.

Yeah. Around the time I was in elementary school and middle school, I guess I was kind of a popular kid. I don’t know how, I guess it was just who I hung out with. They called us The Three Stooges, I guess because I had curly hair or something. And I guess I had, well not even a girlfriend – I don’t think I ever even kissed her. But [she was] one of the popular girls and was my really good friend’s sister. She was a seventh grader or something like that, and I was a fifth grader. But from eighth grade to ninth grade, I got into hardcore music and punk rock and whatever. There was nothing like that where I grew up. I mean nothing. It was country music and rap. And I knew about metal and stuff like that just from my brother, and a lot of other jam bands and stuff like that. But yeah, got into that and came back to school and I was a completely different person. I was quiet and I stood up for the kids that were getting picked on. From then on throughout high school no one really messed with me. But I didn’t really hang out, I was more by myself. Maybe I should have cherished it more, but I hated high school once I got into music. I was the only kid that skateboarded. I built ramps and I got really into that. Then I started realizing how people just lived in that town and thought that was it. The biggest thing to do was to go to the University of Florida 30 minutes away in Gainesville, and that was making it. I was just like “I want to do something else,” so I kind of just felt detached from school. Then I started being in a band when I was in tenth and eleventh grade. I think when I was 16 I tried out for a band and I got in playing bass. So my buddies would come pick me up from school and they’re, like, 22-23 years old. I remember the night of prom, I was driving this old beat up truck to band practice and the limo passed with all the kids and they were honking at me because they knew me. I was going to band practice because I didn’t care about prom. I never went to prom or anything. I never did any of that. I was just more focused on my music, I guess.

Who were you listening to when you were a teenager?

I remember the State Theatre in Saint Petersburg. I skipped school one time and went and saw Hatebreed when I was, like, 17. An older friend took me. I was big into stuff like that, that hardcore stuff, a band called All Out War. But then I got into other stuff. I was big into a band called Neurosis, Cannibal Corpse, I just listened to stuff like that. I liked Sepultura – big Sepultura fan – because no one else was doing that. And I got into punk rock and stuff like that.

Any guilty pleasures (musically) from the past?

I love ’80s pop, like Tiffany…

You know what? I had a Tiffany poster hanging up in my room!

Man I would blare it as loud as I could. I love Celine Dion… a lot. Yeah, so stuff like that is pretty hilarious.

How much of the music that you came up on influenced you in Underoath and Maylene?

Photo by Ryan Russell

With Underoath I just wanted to be in the heaviest band that I could. When we first started out we just wanted to be like a death metal band, and it kind of transformed into more of a poppy thing. When Underoath first started, I started doing vocals and then I started playing keyboards, and we would wear all black and stuff like that. I was big into metal for a while, black metal and death metal, and a lot of the people I hung out with were into that. I was into hardcore, too. But then, after Underoath, I was just taking a break from it and realized I had been running from who I really was. You know, it’s funny. When I started Maylene, everyone, even the guys in Underoath, were like, “Man, this is what you should have been doing all along. This is who you are.” People used to always make fun of me in Underoath because of my accent and how I acted, because I grew up a country kid. You know the difference between St. Pete and Ocala is a big difference, and it’s where I grew up. So Maylene is what I was, what I always wanted. I mean, I loved doing Underoath, but I think I was trying to be something I wasn’t. I was trying to be more of a city kind of guy. I tried to lose my accent, as with Maylene I just embraced it, like the country music I came up with. I saw so many country artists when I was younger, just because of my parents, that I embraced it and I embraced that whole style of what I guess I was trying to run away from.

Well you kind of touched on it so I am just going to skip the question of why you left Underoath. But I understand you are still good friends with them, and I even heard you were on a tour with them and did a couple songs with them or something like that?

Nah, we never did anything like that. I don’t even know if I remember how to do those songs. But we’re all real good friends. I mean, we’ve toured together but we never played songs together. They are all good friends of mine, yeah. Good dudes.

MATSOD was formed in Birmingham, Ala. Do you now or did you live there?

I live in Huntsville/Birmingham. I have a weird situation. I pay rent in Huntsville during the week I’m in Birmingham to see my son. I work, do gutters, when I’m at home, so I pay rent for a place I’m at, like, six days a month.

Well just from me to you man, I got a kid that lives with his mom, and the fact that you make sacrifices to be close to him, that’s really admirable.

Yeah. But I’m from Florida and a lot of the old guys, they’re still good friends but they didn’t want to tour as much. They wanted to settle down, so we got some other guys from Florida. So pretty much we are based out of Florida now. I still live in Alabama, but Florida is my home. I’m a seventh generation Floridian. I mean, I go way back. My mom and dad live here, my aunts and uncles live there, my grandma lives here, my cousin lives right down the street…

What do you think of the general public’s opinion of Alabama being a bunch of backwoods hicks? I live in Georgia, so I kind of see it, too.

Georgia gets it the same, yeah. I kind of like it. I embrace it. I love it to death. Just hearing people’s accents and the way they talk, I’m like, “Yes!” I just love it. That simple way, happy, down-to-earth people, man. It doesn’t get any better. Even where I grew up in Florida, Florida’s real twangy. Where my mom and dad grew up, they had thick accents. I love it. But, yeah. A lot of people think we are just ignorant idiots. It’s funny though because whenever we are on tour and we get pulled over or if I am talking to people, I put it on so hard. This one time we got pulled over by cops for a busted tail light and I was like, “Man, I dunno how to fix ’em. You got a screwdriver? Maybe we can fix ‘er up!” The cop was like, “That’s it, I’m leavin’!” It’s like they are not even going to try, especially in Canada. “Hell, I didn’t know the tail light was out. How you thank we can fix ‘at?” They are like, “Just please get out of here. You are idiots. Please leave.”

II is the album that got me into you guys and it’s my favorite of them all. How do you feel about this release in comparison to your others?

I love playing a lot of songs off II. It’s one of the funnest albums to play live and yeah it’s one of my favorite albums. The newest one, though, is also one of my favorites just for what I was going through. I needed to make that record. We all did, we were all going through hard times and it was just a hard record to make. But, yeah. II is one of my favorites and is just a fun record.

To me II & III seem heavier and more guitar driven, while IV seems to be more vocal and sounds more melodic.

With IV we knew we wanted to make more straightforward songs and songs that actually get a point across. We wanted it to actually tell a story.

Instead of just rocking out?

Yeah. Maybe we’ll go back to that, we’ll probably go back to that, but this record, I think it needed to happen and have a certain feeling to it.

Your music and theme seems to be influenced not necessarily by religion, but by the concepts that most religion is based on – pretty much to be good, and if you’re not this is what you have to deal with.

Definitely. I have my beliefs. I believe in Jesus and in just loving people and caring for them and connecting people. We try to make it where anybody can get anything out of our music. Even someone that believes something completely different can be like, “Oh, I understood it.” We have never been one of those bands that was like, “This is what we believe, and this and that.” We just want people to know that they are not alone in whatever they go through.

Is there a storied concept on your albums with each one being a chapter in a longer presentation, or are they all individual efforts?

Individual. But the first three were kind of telling a story of the consequences with Mother Maylene and her sons and all that stuff. The fourth record is more personal, but it can still relate to that.

I’m an indie wrestler and the whole gang of outlaws concept of MATSOD reminds me of a stable in wrestling.

That’s awesome.

It’s funny because I make this comparison all the time and some people get it and some don’t. The comparison between wrestling and music is very similar. I’m trying to get my name out there, I am trying to get “The Human Hand Grenade” dany only out there, so I’ll drive 400 miles to do a show in front of 50 people. Music, to me, is the same way.

Yeah, absolutely.

You might drive ridiculous hours, sell CDs out of the back of your car and whatnot, and it builds up like fire.

You a fan of the Necro Butcher at all?

He is crazy as shit! But you know what is crazy? The guy is super intelligent.

Really?

I have several friends who have sat down and talked with him and said he is amazingly intelligent. He just knew that he had this niche, you know, killing himself and doing this crazy shit, and that pays the bills. You did some work with WWE, doing Chris Jericho and Big Show’s theme and also the Bragging Rights 2009 pay-per-view theme. How did that come to pass?

I think they contacted us, somehow we just met up and we meshed together. It was really cool and it was a lot of fun working with those guys

So you had a good relationship with them?

Yeah, definitely. They are awesome. Everyone at WWE we dealt with was just awesome.

Were you a wrestling fan growing up?

Photo by Amina Munster

I wasn’t the most diehard fan, but I liked “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan and stuff like that, the [Ultimate] Warrior. Yeah, I grew up watching it. I mean, I loved wrestling, but I wasn’t like this superfan. I guess because out in the country, I don’t even know if we got to watch it at all.

Yeah, but you had Championship Wrestling from Florida, you had “The American Dream” Dusty Rhodes, Eddie Graham…

Yeah, we did. And a lot of wrestlers live in Florida now. Like Macho Man did, I think the Undertaker does.

Have you seen wrestling in the past few years?

The last time was with Rey Mysterio, which is cool because we played with P.O.D. and he came out with them in San Diego and introduced them. I watched the Hardy Boyz. Yeah, that’s the last time I really watched it. You know what’s funny is our guys have been following The Iron Sheik. His Twitter is hilarious.

Yeah, that dude is out of control. Did you see the war between him and Michael Ian Black?

No, but we were just reading his shit and it is hilarious.

They went back and forth for, like, two days. I think that even John Stamos got brought into it. Sheik said something about “Michael Ian Black is faggot like John Stamos’ moustache,” and Stamos was like, “Uh, how the fuck did I get brought in this?” It was quite funny.

Yeah, man. At first I was like, “This has got to be a joke.” And they were like, “No, that is really him.”

Who, if anyone, would you like to work with or collaborate with in the future?

Ah, man. I don’t know. Let me think. I listen to a lot of weird different stuff, so I don’t know. Let me think. There is this band from the UK called the White Lies that I’m big into. Man, I listen to so much stupid stuff. Slipknot is awesome. I guess Tori Amos would be someone, if I could just hang with her and do some stuff that would be really cool.

Is there anything you would like to say to people that might stumble upon this interview?

Just keep your head up. We all face hard times, and we are all going to face hard times. Just hang in there.

Georgia Wrestling Now welcomes Cru Jones, Joyce Grable and Meatball

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When it comes to variety in wrestling, Georgia has virtually every turnbuckle covered with this weekend’s events. And on this week’s Georgia Wrestling Now, Team All You Can Eat’s Matt Hankins and Wrestling with Pop Culture attempt to cover as much of the action as possible. At the top of the show, Hot Like Lava‘s Cru Jones let’s us know what to expect at NWA Atlanta‘s War Games event on April 27. Then we talk to female wrestling legend Joyce Grable about her upcoming induction into the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Deep Southern Championship Wrestling‘s Grappling for Grable, a fundraiser to help Grable cover her medical expenses while fighting leukemia, on April 27. Finally, we hear from Micro Championship Wrestling‘s Meatball about the midget wrestling event at the 120 Tavern on April 27. We also discuss recent and upcoming happenings in Alternative Pro Wrestling, Platinum Championship Wrestling, Universal Independent Wrestling, Peachstate Wrestling Alliance, Pro Wrestling Resurrection, Progression Pro Wrestling, Anarchy Wrestling, Rampage Pro Wrestling and more. Listen live every Monday at 7 p.m. and call 347-324-5735 for questions or comments.

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Ray McKinnon offers stark and quirky look at New South with “Rectify” and “Mud”

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Aden Young stars in Ray McKinnon’s “Rectify”. Photo by James Minchin III

Whether it was his Academy Award-winning 2001 short film The Accountant, his ominous performance as Reverend Smith on HBO‘s violent Western series Deadwood or his more recent appearances on Sons of Anarchy and in the Footloose remake, Ray McKinnon has a simple Southern charm that adds depth to anything he works on. This week sees his range of talents being utilized on screens big and small as his New Southern Gothic series Rectify premieres on the Sundance Channel April 22, followed by the theatrical release of Jeff Nichols‘ Mud on April 26. Though McKinnon plays a different role in each project (he’s the creator and writer for Rectify and plays the father of a Huckleberry Finn-like adolescent in Mud), the parallels between the two are hard to ignore.

Rectify revolves around Daniel Holden (Aden Young), a man exonerated of a rape and murder for which he has spent 19 years on death row. Like a cross between Twin Peaks and the West Memphis Three story, Rectify shows Daniel’s struggles to adjust to the modern world after spending most of his life in a cinder block cell that offers no concept of time or reality as most of us know it. (At one point, another character in Rectify even refers to Daniel as Starman, referring to the 1984 John Carpenter film about an alien who crashes to Earth and has a hard time adjusting to his new surroundings.)

“In some ways Being There is an archetypal story that appeals to me, and Daniel is a little bit like Chance the Gardener at times,” said McKinnon at last month’s Atlanta Film Festival premiere for Rectify. “But Chance never changed, that’s part of his story. I’m interested in a lot of social and psychological issues as a curious human being, so I’m interested in sociopaths, are they born or made, is Daniel one or not? I’m interested in narcissism, family dynamics and how systems can convict people who, when you look at the evidence you wonder how that happened, and the group psychology that’s involved, like how a group of people can convince each other that this is the right thing to do. So I wanted to explore that and there are a lot of elements I’m interested in in the world. Like Mad Men, this is, in some ways, an examination of private lives and sometimes we see things in our story that even the characters aren’t aware they’re showing or doing. I like stories like that.”

Daniel (Aden Young) is fascinated by the simplest things in Ray McKinnon’s “Rectify”. Photo by Blake Tyers.

In Mud, McKinnon portrays an aging Southern man whose stubbornness to accept the changes happening around him creates similar problems to the ones Daniel faces in Rectify.

“Senior is an anachronism,” McKinnon said of his character prior to the Atlanta Film Festival screening of Mud. “He’s kind of of another time, but times have changed and he’s not dealing with it very well. His son, who is changing with the times, helps bring him along. He’s a sad character in some ways, but he changes and I see a good life for him and his son in the future. I know [Jeff] as a friend and he claims he wrote this character for me, so there was a lot of pressure. I didn’t want to disappoint him. He’s a very assured director, he knows what he wants and we had a good time together. I always try to enjoy myself and he made me a better actor.”

Though his role in Mud (which stars Matthew McConaughey, Reese Witherspoon, Tye Sheridan and Jacob Lofland) is as a supporting cast member, he represents the mindset of many people along Mud‘s Mississippi River landscape, as well as many of the citizens of Rectify‘s Paulie, Ga.

“[Jeff] claims that he stole the idea [for Mud] from Mark Twain in a very broad way, but it’s a modern film,” says McKinnon. “It’s a story about the 21st century South and the changes that are going on along the Mississippi River and the people who can’t change with it. In some ways it has universal and ageless themes, but it’s also a 21st century story about the South.

Ray McKinnon plays Senior in Jeff Nichols’ “Mud”. Photo by James Bridges.

“We as a bigger society – and certainly the South is a more magnified hyper version sometimes of the bigger society – want order in our world,” he says of Rectify. “We want to believe that if a bad guy does something he’s going to be punished for that. Sometimes the pressure for that from society causes the wrong people to be convicted. It also causes people who believe in that conviction to have a psychological unwillingness to change their belief system, to turn around and say, ‘Maybe I was wrong’ or ‘Maybe I saw this the wrong way.’ You see that throughout both sides of the political aisle where you have a belief system and you’ll be damned if you’re going to believe anything different.”

With both of these projects being released within just a few days of one another, audiences have multiple ways to experience McKinnon’s quirky take on a South that he is very much a part of. And McKinnon couldn’t be more satisfied and proud to see these projects (particularly Rectify, his own creation) coming to fruition.

“Getting older and seeing how fortunate I am to be doing what I love to do I really appreciate things more,” he says “I live more in gratitude and a little less in fear. For some reason, these two projects that I care so much about [are coming out] at the same time, so I’m just planning on enjoying and savoring it. I was fortunate enough to be in Jeff’s movie and doing this show has been beyond my wildest imagination of things to explore. So I feel full in the best way.”

www.sundancechannel.com/series/rectify

www.mud-themovie.com

Georgia Wrestling Now welcomes Hot Commodity and The Jagged Edge

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This week on Georgia Wrestling Now, Team All You Can Eat’s Matt Hankins and Wrestling with Pop Culture talk to Georgia wrestlers looking to expand their horizons in the near future. Our first guests are Tommy Penirelli and Anarchy Wrestling Young Lions Champion C.B. Suavé, collectively known as Hot Commodity, who challenge Seth DeLay and Da Fireman for the Alternative Pro Wrestling Tag Team Championship on April 19 at the Spring Break Bash, then take part in Georgia’s newest promotion, Progression Pro, the following weekend. Then we talk to The Jagged Edge, who has established himself as a dominant force in Anarchy, Universal Independent Wrestling and Platinum Championship Wrestling, but will be looking to establish himself as a national talent with upcoming matches at NWA Central States and NWA Edge. We also hear briefly from Georgia Wrestling History‘s Larry Goodman. Listen live every Monday at 7 p.m. and call 347-324-5735 for questions or comments.

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