Heavy stars, rock and rolling through the cool guitars. Chucks, got the questions digging so sharp, peeling back layers, hitting the heart.
How you doing? Man, good. Yeah, sorry if it looks like I'm looking down, because I usually have a monitor up here, but, oh, right, my cat knocked it off and broke it so well, that's what cats do, right? Yeah, you have cats, right? You have a couple.
I love cats. Cats, I don't I don't mind it, like my cat knocked something over. I usually don't mind. And I'm like, That's my cat. Anybody else knocks over? I'll, I'll hunt you down.
Yeah, how do you know? How do you handle that on the road? You have cats at home and then, or do you bring them on the road? Or do
you not own No, no, my, my, my lady is at home with with our one inside cat, and we have one inside cat, and we have a two outside feral cats that we take care of and feed, along with many other local animals that just come by our house for food, and raccoons and possums. That's crazy. I live in Burbank, California, and I've seen more wildlife there than I have in North Carolina, where I spent a good part of my early life. I was
gonna say, Yeah, because I thought you moved to LA. I was like, this, this is in LA, no
man, it's crazy. Soon as the sun goes down, it's just like, it's crazy, raccoons, possums,
everything, because it's by that, like Hill or the Palisades, the mountains, or whatever. Yeah, so
it's, it's interesting. We got wild parrots. It's quite the nature show in my backyard. I love it. I'm excited to get back this weekend parrots. How that wild parrots are growing Burbank, just like the ones you see in the movies, the the green ones, the your standard parrot is they, they're, they're, they're there. Now,
did they they must, somebody must have brought those from somewhere, and then they escaped. We have a similar thing from Arizona. Yeah, somebody brought some tropical birds, and there's some park you can go to, and they're just there because somebody brought them.
Yes, yes, somebody, I looked it up. They basically came there a while ago, and they just started by, you know, started doing their thing, and now they're everywhere,
yeah, so you must see all sorts of crazy shit just traveling through the country too, on the road. I mean, I saw that video the other yesterday where there was a, there was a goose that was, you guys were having an encounter with that was protected. It
continued again this morning. We basically just parked our bus. We, you know, we had a day off yesterday, and our driver was sleeping, so our bus was parked, and duck was protecting its in the mom, I guess is having babies and in this parking lot of all places, and anything that got within 20 feet of it, it would just charge it. And it was interesting day off. Yeah,
I think they're having a problem with that over in the West. Was that in Michigan or Illinois? Illinois, okay, yeah, cuz I read some article today that said they're, they're rounding up all the all these extra geese, and they're gonna
Michigan. I did not know I need to watch the news. I Yeah, it
was, like a weird news story that I was like, what? That's crazy, so I
don't know. Now, I believe it. Believe the hype, folks,
that would be a cool song. There's probably, like a song there or something that's like, there
is, I yeah, there is, yeah. I have a song. I have a I have an old song in my Transylvania record where I say, not send the noose baby duck, duck, goose. And tonight, when we play that live, it's going to have a new meaning.
Yeah. How do you come up with these songs? Is it just, I mean, I know you're a big horror fan, obviously, I know you're a hair metal fan, so and you have your influences, but how does it just come to you naturally? Or do you have to kind of sit down and force yourself to be inspired? Sometimes I don't force
it anything. Force sucks for me and I, and if I, if I know I forced it, I don't, I know it's for it's, it's got to be natural, right, off, right, just off, just, yeah, it's just got to flow. And usually when anything like that happens, it makes me laugh. And there's this records, a perfect example of just did flowing naturally and me going up, that's it. I got it, you know, and I was able to nail it on, on, on each song on this record. I feel like
did you? Did you have any CO writers? Because I know you said something about parting ways with your long time guitarist. So did you work with new guitarists? Or you mostly write by yourself? I
wrote the entire record by by myself, just because I wanted to do it that way, not and it wasn't an ego thing. It was literally a I just wanted to go back to the beginning of my career. You know, this is my 10th album, 2020, years of doing. Okay, that's my, my first album. And I wanted to go back to what I what was the ingredients on that first album. It was me in a basement by myself, with my own thoughts, and I didn't have any ideas to bounce it off. It had no other bad no members. There
was no Wednesday 13 band. It was me, and I wanted to prove to myself, 20 years later I could do that again. And being that my guitars had left the band, I was like, alright, well, this is a perfect opportunity to do that, and I'll prove it to myself. And then I ended up playing guitar on the entire record as well. So yeah, I just basically, I wrote all the music, and once I had the music together, then I brought it to my band, and then we, we arranged everything and
went in the studio. So my band's a very much, very big part of this recording and everything. I just the initial idea was started with me by myself. That's
amazing. How long does it take you to typically write a song? Because you always hear these stories, like some of the biggest hits are like, Oh, we just, we wrote that song in five minutes. It was the first song we thought of.
All these are the five minute songs, most of them, I mean, with the exception of one or two, and if anything is any longer it's a 10 minute song, like it's really was no, not a lot of stuff. I mean, I don't spend days and days and days working on something. Now, if I have a riff or something that may be around for a bit, and it eventually turns into
something. But for the most part, I wrote all these songs in one setting, you know, like a couple of these songs, like the no apology song, that was a song that just came out of the blue. The band was I the band guys were coming over to the house to work on the other songs I'd already written, and I made that up waiting for them to show up. And I'm like, Oh, we're going to
do this one today. And the same thing with the in misery song they I was waiting for the band guys to come over, and I wrote that in the middle of them driving over, and I'm like, Oh, well, now we're going to work on this one. So this stuff came pretty fast. The music did. I worked on the lyrics. You know, I didn't write all the lyrics completely. I'll get an idea or a melody, but the lyrics are finalized, usually later, later on the music and all the melody and stuff is kind of, is all, is
all there? First
Interesting, yeah, so you mentioned in misery. That's a That's a good one. I was curious about the lyrics of that one. Like, what is that? It's like, you bring out the worst in me. I'm in misery. So completely in misery with you. Is that about a person or a thing? I
mean, well, you know? I mean it's not necessarily. I mean, there's so many love songs, and if you take the lyrics in misery and reverse them, it's a love song. You bring out the best in me with you. I know I will achieve. My song is you bring out the worst in me with you. I know I'll never achieve. It's just a negative song. It's like, I was like, This is my anti love song, but yet it somehow sounds like a ballad for my music. So that's all it is. It's someone you know, that's and there's been,
there are couples like that. I There are people that are that are horrible for each other, and they stay together, and they're miserable together, and they know it, and they love it. So it's an observation, but it's literally just an opposites reversed kind of song. It's my anti love song. Yeah,
I love that one. I love the some of these songs, like, when the devil commands, I mean, that was, I could just hear myself singing that along at a concert. Is that going to be what you're performing live? Or, oh yeah,
that's, that's the fourth song on the set on this tour. And and I knew, I knew it. I mean, I knew that song was going to deliver live. I imagined it. I imagined when I wrote that song, I put myself on the other side of the stage in the audience, and go, What would the audience do with this? And they're going to do exactly what that chorus is. And every night I set that song up, and the crowd sings the entire chorus, and we even added up what we call the quiet riot. Come on,
feel the noise breakdown. So an extra hell Satan, 666. Has added him to the live version of that song
that is funny, yeah? Because I was like, Oh man, I don't know. I'm singing along in my car. I can't imagine that the show that's got to be really fun,
yeah? And then you go, and then when you go, ice, really catchy. It's really fun. And that's for my kind of audience. But would you take the average person, or someone like my mom, she heard something like that, she would be repulsed. Oh, my God, there's they're singing hell, Satan, sick. You can't do that. So
the alder buttons, right? Is that? I mean, does that even, does that even? Is it a thing anymore? Because I know when I grew up in the 80s and 90s, like that was a thing. Like, people were burning Ozzy Osbourne records and stuff that was a big thing. Like, no, you can't talk about Satan. And now I feel like the line has been crossed so many times. Like, no, does anyone?
You would be surprised. I was like, you. I thought nobody cares anymore. And I wrote that song. That song is in a fun tongue in cheek way. I literally wrote that song because my mom. Mom was, was so was so afraid in the 80s that I was going to be possessed by this rock music that I listened to. She, she, you know, she was repulsed by the by the exorcist movie, a horrified her, and she thought that was going to happen
to me through rock music. So I wrote this song as if I could go back in time and plant a Wednesday 13 album in my collection, and my mom would discover it and open it up. And if I could have had just like Ralphie on Christmas story when he took the Red Rider BB gun ad just placed for his mom to see, that's where devil command lyrics would be, and she would read it and be, oh, my god, she wouldn't have to guess, because
the lyrics say exactly what. Cuz the lyrics she would read through my stuff, she would had to guess, oh, is that? Are they saying something about Satan? There it was all guests, but like, this is something is spelled right out. So it was an ode to my mom back in the 80s. Kind of fun in a in a fun way,
yeah. Do you try to lean into that, sometimes, with, like, controversy and stuff? Because obviously, like, you know, Marilyn Manson, some of these guys, they, they really try to, like, push the boundaries. Do you try to lean into that, or you just want to do? I
mean, I used to. I used to. That was a whole point. Shock rock, shock somebody do something. You know, with me, my shock value was, was the word fuck. I use it in my all my songs, my most popular song, as I love to say, Fuck. That was my shock value. Because when I wrote that song, and I started playing that song back in the day and bars in North Carolina, I couldn't get anybody's attention on stage in the in
these bars, you know. And when we would play that song, everybody, everybody in the venue, would turn around and go, are they saying that? That's catchy. I love it. I love to say, Fuck so. But and Alice Cooper, I opened up for him for the first time, and his audience did not like me at first, and when I played, I love to say,
Fuck. His audience was comprised of older people and young, young kids, and they were putting their the older kids, parents are putting their hands over their kids ears when we were playing the song, and Alice loved it. He was like, he told me, he goes this. He goes, I cut my head off on stage, and get a reaction. He goes, and you just got the same reaction by doing that. That
is funny to think about, yeah, because, like, for me, I'm just, like, it takes a lot. I mean, you, you toured with, you guys, toured with cradle filth at one point, right? And I had Danny filth on the show, like, I mean, he did something where he was, what was he doing? He was in the Vatican, and he wore, I think he wore some shirt where it was like a nun getting her head chop. It was something crazy. I can't remember, probably,
no, I don't go no, I don't go out looking for trouble. This is I do this at my show, my records. I can do what I want on that. But as far as pushing the envelope, you know, I'm finding now that my audience is is the teenagers have discovered Wednesday 13 at
murder dolls. Now my front row, my front three rows are, are teenagers, yeah, so I do VIPs every day I meet these, these, these young fans, and they're telling me, you know, my, my, I got in trouble for listening to your music, when the devil command, command scared my parents. I got in trouble for writing this, you know, in my class. So writing this on my notebook, I wrote, God is a lie on my notebook. They're like, you know. So it's still, it
still works. So I didn't think it did till I met my younger fans. But those lyrics, you know, I've always wrote lyrics to scare people's parents, and I'm glad that it's still doing it, yeah.
I mean, because I feel like some you almost have to have some sort of shock value or controversy these days to get I mean, Molly crew, I feel like was the king of that stuff. Like they always drunk, stirred up the press and everything to get controversy. They were really good at that.
They were my biggest influence. They taught me. They they put me on the path of doing this. I learned. I learned from the best.
Yeah, have you? Did you ever have encounters with them? Or you
ever a friend and a fan of murder dolls? And Wednesday 13, he interviewed murder dolls back on our comeback, he did one of the very first interviews with Joey and I, and he's been a long time supporter. When he was doing brides of destruction, he was very much influenced by murder dolls, which is just crazy, you know. And he was, he was helpful in getting me sober back in the back in the day, when I first
realized I had a problem. And so Nikki has been a influence on me in many ways, and I, I owe him a lot that's
crazy to think of, like, how much of a 180 he's done, you know, like he was just, he was the that image was all partying and driving.
I was, yeah, I was telling someone the other day, someone, I can't remember, who, where we were at a venue, and someone started bashing on Nikki. Six in a in a, in a fun way to go, and because Nikki six takes the the bashing of him not being a technical bass player, and I brought up the argument, and I said, Well, name another bass player that's as in, that's been as influential as as Nikki six, but not being musical like how many people do I see at a concert every time I travel the
world? There's a Nikki six in every single town, at least two or three looking dudes that have his hair have a little the piece. They play bass in a local band, and they pretend to be Nikki six, and they work, and they got the hottest girls. And every town around the world, that guy wins. He wins. He's laughing all the way to the bank, and he's a good bassist, and he's a great songwriter. And that guy, you know, he gets a bad rap, but he's made, he's made some, some of the music of
my memories, you know. So my, my hat's off to Nikki six. Oh,
yeah, same. He's definitely a bucket list guest for me. So do you don't think that? Like, because I think the controversy now is they're saying he wasn't playing the bass at the shows. It was, it was taped or something, not that he couldn't play it, but maybe it's just because they were moving around so much. Or, like, I mean, do you think there's any truth to that?
I don't know. I don't even, I don't really even even care that guy is like I said, he's been such a big impact on my life, you know, and the way people perform now, I'm finding that we're kind of odd man out. We still do it the classic way. Most bands, newer, even the older ones are, are following a pattern of of just doing a lot of things that aren't. It's not classic anymore. It's just a lot of people play to tracks and and, and the music's becoming a
little unhuman. And I think the music sounds great with what they're doing, but it's just, to me, it just loses some of that, that heart and soul that's in and what I grew up on, yeah,
you need the mistakes for it to sound different. And a lot of times too. I like when you go to a concert, and I remember, like, seeing Metallica back in Seattle, back in the 90s and and it was, it was like, heavier, it was faster than the records, and that made it cooler.
Yeah, I think. And I'm not bashing on on new music, I'm just saying what what sounds right for me, what I do is what I like I sound the way I want music to sound to my ears.
That's what I what I do. But I think music is coming to to such a bottleneck that it's going to be too perfect, that everything's going to get simplified again, and punk will become, or that, or the or the idea of what behind punk, and just being simple, where you can go into a room and play music and write music the way it was back in the day, I think that'll become a new thing again, even though it's not new, but it'll be new to to the kids.
You think so, yeah, it seems like it's just it's hard to stand out, like people say. You know, back in the day there was, you had to get a record label. Now, anybody can make a record and it can sound good, but it's like, hard to like, how do you stand out? You know? I mean, this is great. I mean, obviously you're doing press for it, so hopefully, you know, that helps. But is there any other way to really stand out, other than just making a good record,
I don't know. I mean, you know, staying on tour and and proving that you can play the the music. For me, I always try to deliver a solid record, and then I want to, you know, improve on that live and deliver it and make it feel even
better. And so for me, the live experience with my band is is something I think people need, need to see to truly appreciate it, because we really bring these songs to life live, and I think we play them better than the record sometimes, or at least as good as the as the albums. Yeah, and we strive to do that. It's important to us to play this, and we do it ourselves. We're not, you know, there is no no tracks or
anything. We have segway, we have an intro, we have segways, but our bands, our vocals, everything is, is, is all live and real.
Yeah, would you ever, because you mostly do headlining shows, do or have you done like, a package tour with, like, you know, two or three other bands, big name bands, not just openers.
Oh yeah, we do a lot of those two. I mean, I, you know, I'm currently on my headline tour, but, you know, we have tours where we play with cradle to fill for we're one of four bands, or something like that. And so, yeah, we tend to do those things in a certain certain areas itself, and it's good to do that too for us, too, to go out and play in front of different audiences. Yeah.
Well, I think one way to get people to listen to you that maybe hadn't originally, weren't fans or whatever, but now they'll discover you, is is that these collaborations, like you've got. Amy down, yeah, the song, no, maybe some faster pussy cats fans will discover
you absolutely. That's a whole other audience that came over with with Tammy audience, and I, and I knew that would happen, and I, and I've had some of those people on my
radar already. I think people know, you know, but I think this reminded them that I still do do it and, and, yeah, and having someone like Tammy, you know, I have another collaboration that's that's coming out later, later in the year, or maybe this time next year, I'm not sure, whenever it's coming out, with some other people, and just a lot of lot of different stuff. I'm looking at different opportunities just a branch
beyond my fan base. I've already established I'm always looking for that guy in the back of the room that's got his arm crossed. It's convinced he doesn't like me. But does it secretly know I'm his favorite band?
Yeah. What about because I know you've done a little bit of acting. Do you feel like that helps get your name out there and get people to discover your music by putting yourself in movies. I
did, I haven't did any acting. I did, I did the soundtrack stuff, but I do. I do a weekly podcast. It's pretty popular with my friend Jason, and that's opened up a whole other world of people at my concerts too. Like I said, the teenagers have discovered me. Someone ran an article on me the other day in blabbermouth, something I said when said that some guy was saying murder dolls was his favorite band and he doesn't feel we got the we didn't get the the recognition we deserved. And I made the
comment. Well, maybe we haven't. Maybe it's not here yet. Maybe, maybe people haven't really discovered the band. Because when I see all these young kids that are hearing murder dolls for the first time, six months ago or a year ago, you know, if, if that quadrupled, you know, who knows, murder dolls could be bigger than it ever was, and it's not even a thing anymore.
It happened with all the other bands, sex, Pistols, Ramones, all these bands are almost bigger than they ever were in the beginning just because of their legacy. So who, who knows time is? Time does crazy things. And so I think that band is appreciated, but it could still have its day in the in the sun to come.
Yeah, just, do you think you're overlooked as a front man and because you've got the stage presence, the look, the cult following the music? I mean, do you think that some people are just not seeing it?
I don't know. You know, I don't question the I mean, I guess I could sit around and go, Oh, why? Why am I not? Metallica level, why am I? Why am I not? But, you know, to some people, I am, I am their metallic I am their guns and roses, and I'm okay with that. I'm able to tour the world pretty comfortably. I make a living off this. I don't go home and pull my hair back and work another job, and this is what I
do. I do this, and I did this for 23 years now, and if this is as good as it gets, I'm okay with it. This is I'm living, I'm living my dream. And, you know, 20 years into my career, and I still got doors opening and huge stuff on the horizon. My record just I scored with my fans love this record. They fucking love it. And and I'm excited, I'm rejuvenated. It's who would have thought. And I'm turning 50 next year. This is a, it's a good, a good time to be me right now. Yeah,
what do you think the secret is to that success and continuation is just, I mean, obviously I know you're sober, so that's got to be a piece of it that, yeah, that's not getting in the way and clouding things.
Yeah, the party lifestyle. I loved it. I did it and I did it really good, really, really good, but it it wouldn't work the way I function now, so I don't do that anymore. But someone asked the other day. They said, what motivates you? And I think with me saying that I'm comfortable where I am, I never made it to Metallica level in my mind, so I'm always still trying to get somewhere between where I am now and Metallica
level in my mind. And I think that makes me want to keep doing it and I keep doing it harder, and I want to get there. So I thought I would get there in my 20s, maybe my 30s, and here I am still reaching for it, going into my 50s, and I still got the fire, and it's okay. Who knows? Man, maybe I'll get my hit song with the rest of the world in my 50s. That's great,
yeah, it's weird to think about that stuff. Like you look at Dave Mustaine, who was in Metallica, and then he got, you know, he left, or whatever, and it seems like he still thinks that he needs to be bigger. And it's like, Megadeth is huge. And it's like, no, but, but, but I
under, I understand that now about Dave Mustaine. I used to, I used to think the same way and go, Well, how did he but it's always going to make him want to be better. And I think that's why he's kept the edge over Metallica.
Oh, you think he, he is have the edge. I don't
want to say that, but from from my years. I dig, I dig mega death riffs. I like their I feel like Metallica still. Metallica is doing what I'm doing now. They're kind of chasing nostalgia sometimes, and want to go play older riffs and I and that's awesome, whereas Megadeth is still exploring and still coming up with stuff that's that's due when they did symphony of destruction and the Countdown to Extinction record, they were changing the game, you
know, musically so. But for my years, you know, I dig, I dig Megadeth and I like Dave Mustaine. Voice, it's very Alice Cooper. I want to say I heard an interview where Dave Mustaine said he imitated Alice Cooper, and it sounds like it to me. I get compared to Dave Mustaine sometimes by people. They go, Oh, they never heard me. Wednesday, 13. Sounds like Megadeth singing over ghost music. That's an interesting that's what someone said about one of my songs that decompose.
I think, yeah, I know it's
interesting. You say Countdown to Extinction, because that was one of my favorite records when I was a kid. I would actually, I would put in terms of the entire record, I would say that's better than the Metallica Black Album, my opinion.
Well, think about, I say this about mega that's why I lean toward, toward Megadeth, the the song, symphony of destruction, yeah, that I always love that riff, uh, dead in Hollywood by murder dolls. I was, I was trying to do something like Mega death. It's me trying to do mega death in my own way. And that's my little nod to Megadeth. And then I found out later that John Carpenter, the Halloween thing, the dead thing, is him trying to do the exorcist tubular bell
sound and that same spirit. Wow. So that's why I picked mega death, because riff wise, they they fit in my world, and I and that dead in Hollywood riff is a little nod to that. I mean, when I met Joey, he goes, Man, that riffs cool. I was like, yeah, it's kind of mega death, right?
Yeah, isn't that funny how, like, it's almost so it's okay to everybody rips off everybody, right? Everything is influenced from something absolutely, yeah, absolutely. And I think that's what's so cool about and then you're reinventing and that's what I when I listen to this new record, that's what I because I'm a hair metal fan, and I hear, like a lot of your influences, I It sounds almost, there's a lot of songs that sounds similar vein to Skid Row slave to the grind, like it's
got that. And punk like, kind of, and fast energy, kind of, like sleazy vibe. I love it. Thank
you, and that's what I I went back to what I think I do the best, and this is what I do the best. That's Skid Row sound. That's my roots. That's what I started off doing. That's what I wanted to sound like. I sound this way because I tried to sound like Sebastian Bach. I loved Alice Cooper and I loved Skid Row. And listen to my voice. I am a mix of Alice Cooper and Sebastian Bach. That is what I I dreamed it and I somehow sound this way. And this record reflects my roots. I went
back. I There's a there's a nod to skid row on the record. I say, oh, oh, say, can you scream on one song, which is a nod to their VHS they put out back in the day. And every one of my records there's a Alice Cooper snarl on there. I do it on at least two or three songs. What I call I got to do an Alice on that song.
Yeah, Skid Row. It's interesting situation now, because they don't have a singer where they reached out to you, would you take that job?
I'm good friends with Rob the drummer of Skid Row. He was in my side project gunfire 76 and he and I have talked before. He knows I'm a huge fan. I think back in the day, drunkenly, I was like, I'll go try out for Skid Row. I know I can make my way through a portion of those songs, but to do them justice, Sebastian Bach set the bar as high as anyone could ever do and ever will do. I wish that band the best of luck. I think they will find someone that'll that'll balance
it out. But I mean replacing Sebastian Bach, and then what that sound is to people that grew up on it, it's it's irreplaceable, almost. It's an unfortunate thing for them. And they had a good guy with Eric. Eric was a good vocalist that was the closest, I think they've came to. To Alice, to Sebastian snarl, or his, or his, you know? But, yeah, Sebastian was the best man that guy was at one point, and when back in the day, he was David Lee Roth level, Elvis Presley level, rock star.
Yeah, no, he was my favorite. That's like when I first started getting he's the one that got me into rock, I just thought he was and he could hit two notes. It was insane me too.
My girlfriend was was obsessed with him, and I went, Ah, I wish. Wish he liked me like, like him, right? I tried, I tried, and that's no joke, man, like he's a he and Tammy down and Alice Cooper, all those guys are such influences on my sound and look and everything, not just musically. They was like, I had to become them. Yeah,
well, and you mentioned the videos like I loved, Oh say, can you scream in roadkill? Like, did you just watch those? And I just, like, wanted to hang out with them. I was like, dude, these guys look like they're having so much fun. Like, I want to hang out with a fun thing to do.
They taught me how to do this. I basically went on tour and reenacted those videos with with my band. I'm still doing it today. I'm doing it. It's exactly that's that my old friend ran, who was on my first album and my bourbon crow project. I love him, yeah. He's Yeah. We always talk about, you go, Oh man, we're going to do an old say, can you scream? Talk type video, or we always refer to, oh, you know, have you seen
this movie? Oh, it's like an old say, can you we just refer to that, because that's our reference of just a good a good time, you know? And I love that stuff.
Yeah, he's your buddy that you did bourbon crow with, right? Yep, yep,
yeah, he's my long time friend. He still lives in South Carolina, and, yeah, he's Ray and I are like, brothers.
Yeah, he was telling me a story that, like, when you guys played with Alice Cooper, that Alice brought you guys back on stage to sing, which it was one of the the big hits. Yeah,
on his, on his on we played on Halloween night with Alice, and I think he ended the show with schools out, or whatever his final song was. And Alice doesn't really talk, but he introduced us and brought us out on stage. And I was good friends with his band, and I remember, like, Damon Johnson picked me up and his hole to be, like, in the, the the Ozzie Randy kind of pose. And there's a picture we have somewhere of that. It was just a cool moment. It was a victory moment for
rain. And i Because, you know, that guy was our childhood hero, and he just caught us out on stage, and, you know, we just finished a tour with him. It was, I've, I've had an interesting, crazy, crazy ride, you know,
yeah, for sure, is there other, what other moments did you look back on? Or like, wow, that was a crazy like, I mean
thing. I mean, when, when he put it, when he put it in, you know, people like, when, when I say, like, people in that situation, like, people like Alice Cooper. I mean, I've been in the situation with Guns and Roses. You know, Axl Rose taking murder dolls on tour for in Europe, and wanting to hang out party with us and and hanging out with with him backstage. And, you know, just crazy stuff. I remember Metallica, I'm speaking to them earlier. I remember being at the Download Festival, and I got
really drunk and got lost. I couldn't find the tour bus, and there was 200 tour busses backstage, and it was dark and it was raining, and all I could see was headlights and I was there was no cell phones, and I'm lost. I'm literally walking in the mud. I'm late for bus call. I don't even know how to get in touch with anybody. And a van pulls up beside of me, and the door opens, and a big cloud of smoke comes out, and Lars Ulrich pops his head out and goes, Hey, you play with Joey.
Where is he? And I said, I don't know. I'm trying to find him. And he said, Come in with me, and I hop in a van, and I'm in a van with Metallica, and they're looking for Joey Jordan, and they found my tour bus. And I walk on the bus first, and everyone's pissed because I'm an hour late for our bus call because we have to get to the next show. And I walk in, and Joey's like, where the box? And soon as I walk in, Lars Ulrich walks in behind me, and Joey's
like, what? And I was like, I'm sorry, I'm late, but I brought Metallica. And then we stayed another three hours and almost missed the show completely because they partied. So those are the are the crazy stories that I've accumulated in my in my career. There's many, many stories like that.
That's fucking crazy. So wait, so Metallica, Guns and Roses, Nikki sex, you mentioned So did you ever, you said you're friends with Rob the drummer of Skid Row? What about Sebastian? Did you ever meet him? Or I bet
Sebastian a couple times. We have a lot of mutual friends, but I don't, I don't know Sebastian. I. Well enough to have any crazy party stories. I think we're both kind of past those days, but if we would have ever crossed paths maybe 1015, years ago, oh my god, we could have done some damage. I know it. It's been a crazy story, but, uh, but I've met most of most of my heroes, and most of my heroes know who I am by name.
It's a crazy thing. Like, I really have achieved my my dream, and and, and my, my heroes. They know that I, I wear my influences on my sleeve.
Yeah, that's amazing. Do you think, I mean, do you think it's just, it's, you continue to do it too? Like it's just all this hard work and just keep churning out and just keep making records and keep on touring, is that, is that a big piece of it? Because some people clash and then they disappear.
I don't know anything else to do. I don't like, I like the when this tour is over with, because I've been out for a long time, I'm going to enjoy going home for a month, but by the end of that, end of this month, I'm going to be ready to go out again. I know it. I know it. It's just, I'm I'm like that. I like recording. I like putting new music out this. This keeps me busy, and it doesn't feel like work to me, even though I do work hard on it, it doesn't feel like work
because I enjoy it. But I don't know, man, I just I I'm in a good place right now and and I've really delivered a strong record, like, My fans are just, they're hyped about it, like, it's, they like the singles, but they like the everything else better. Yeah.
I mean, obviously, when you got when you joined murder dolls, like, I would would you say that's like, your big break, like, you kind of made it at that point, you're in a band with Joey Jordans, and then it's just you've continued it on. But so to get to that point, because Joey sought you out because he liked your other band, right? Like so that band up first, right? How long did it take you to go from when you start music to when you get that call from Joey? How many years?
How many years that was? Joey
called me when I was 25 and I started playing music when I was 15. So 10 years, so 10 years of me starting to play my first show, recording my first demos. And then my band, Frankenstein drag queens, recorded four albums, starting up when I was 19 years old, and we recorded the very last one. Right? I just finished recording it right when Joey
called me. And so, yeah, I spent 10 years trying to learn what I, what I, how to do this and kind of, you know, I was holding the Wednesday 13 name since, like, 1995 and I, I, that's where I was at that point. So, so, yeah, it took me about 1010, years to to get my get my big break. Did you ever
think in that 10 year period? Did you ever get disillusioned and think of giving up or just quitting? And I mean, did you have those?
I mean, yeah. I mean, I, yeah, definitely. I mean, I, I thought, right before I got out of high school, I got in a rip magazine, and I got in circus magazine and the rock on the the up and coming bands, and I was convinced, soon as I got out of school, here's a tour bus record deal, boom, it's going to happen. Well, it didn't happen at all, and I had to get a job, and it sucked, and I hated it so much that fired me. I was like,
Man, I gotta get out of here. I want to just so I just really focused on my band and and kept building that. And that got the attention of Joey Jordan, and then he had a record deal, and he had his name already in the, you know, with with flip notch. So it was, it was a easy invitation to say yes, you know, just because I had, you know, been struggling all those years, and he was my, he was my ticket out of there. Wow,
that's so it's just so inspiring. I love hearing stories like that because, like, it inspires me to keep going. Because I, you know, when I as a podcaster, like, I fuck up all the time and have bad interviews, and then you're just like, God, maybe it's just fucking quit. And then you hear stories like this, of people that it's like, you just kept going. I and
the same thing when murder dolls came to an end, when Joey went back to slip knot, everybody that was in the band, you know, Ben, Eric AC me, we all were faced with the harsh reality of this is over with for a while. What do you do now? And what I was doing before that was a regular job, and I'm like that. I'm not going back to that. So I went in my basement and wrote Transylvania 90210,
that's what I did, I want? And I wrote all those songs pretty quick, and I was already signed a road runner, and I went to him and said, Hey, will you put this out? And they said, no, okay, I'll find someone else to put it out. And miraculously, someone hit me up. Said, I they want to release a Wednesday, 13. And box set on my old band. And I said, Okay, well, how would you like a
Wednesday, 13 album? They said, Okay, and they offered me a contract, and then I presented it to Road Runner because they legally had my name. And when I presented them that contract, they said, Oh, somebody else wants you. Well now we'll take it, and that's how I got my first record deal is because someone else wanted me and they didn't want to give it up.
That's so weird. They originally told me, No, yeah, but, but I'm not bagging on Road Runner, that I love it, that they took my first album because I was where I wanted to go anyway. So I basically just got my way. I just had to have someone else show some interest. So it's just, it's been a crazy story.
I'm going to write a book one day and tell stories like this, because there it's it literally is filled with craziness like this all around the world, and most of my heroes are littered into it, everyone from who I mentioned today to people that I haven't mentioned, and typo negative and and newer bands, Lama, God, Papa, roach, just everybody I partied with and toured with. Iron made and typo negative, so many stories that are just insane.
Who's the craziest band to party with? Like, I mean, obviously, maybe Molly crew back in the day, but you know, you didn't party with them in the 80s. So like during your era, who was the craziest band? My band
really 100% 100% my band. And different era my band, when we had the four piece lineup of racy on drums, Eric and our bassist, snake, was the absolute madness level. Motley Crue, the dirt times 10 damn and murder dolls. The first album rivaled that too. We were the we were the craziest, and then we hung out with other bands. Now, my favorite band to ever party with was typo negative. That was my that was my favorite because
we were all kiss fans. And after the show, they would just have a kiss party after their and just play kiss music, and we just had an endless supply of alcohol, and just screaming kiss at the top of our lungs. And it was awesome as we hanging with my friends and one of my favorite bands and listen to one of my listen to one of my favorite bands.
Wow, yeah, that does sound like a lot. Let's live the life. I can't wait to read
this book if it ever comes. I need to do one. I need to and
then they can make it into a movie. Yes, yes. Who would you want to play you in the movie?
Oh, man, I don't know, ladies like Johnny Depp, let's get him lined up for he he's still holding his age well, too. So I don't know I, I really, I've ever that's a really good question. I don't know who would, who would play me in a movie? Yeah? I'll have to get back to you on that one.
Yeah, make it like a mini series, though, that's what I've noticed. Like with the dirt, I was, it was nice. But I was like, they really should have had this be, like, eight episodes. Like, I want to see the Yeah, like, from, like, the book is great. Yeah,
the book is amazing. I love the book. Not so much the movie.
Yeah. Have you read some? Have you read Gary Holtz book? That one's really good, too. I
haven't. I need to check out some of these books. I saw that he had released something recently, and it looks
cool. Yeah, it's kind of, it's almost in some ways, crazier than the dirt, like, some of the stuff he and his thing was, like, because he was in Exodus, and then that band kind of, like, fell apart, and then he was, like, working, like, construction or roofing or something, or and like, way down and out. And then he's in Slayer. So it's, like, such a crazy comeback story. It's amazing. This,
this business, is littered with stories like that. I mean, it's, it's crazy. That's what I just said. No one ever is is Down and Out in the game. You might have periods in your career that are that are maybe low. I've got them in mind. But like, I was talking to someone the other day about Wendy O Williams with the plasmatics, and how tragic that she took her own life. But what if she was here right now, she'd be idolized, I feel like, yes,
by women. You know, that's like, that sucks.
That sucks. And then and a total opposite thing, Millie Vanilli, that guy that that killed himself. The other other guy, yeah, the other guy in Millie Vanilli plays concerts now with a full band behind him, and it sounds awesome, but 90% of the music industry is doing what Millie Vanilli did, and
that's what I know because I had, I had a young MC who's a rapper, and he opened for Millie Vanilli, and he told me, he goes, he goes, dude, like every band was doing that back in the day, they're just the ones that got caught.
Yes, this is and it's insane to know that that guy took his life of something that now is not the same. You know. So it's just just crazy how life works. So I tell people all the time they get depressed because I'm a victim of doing that stuff too. Is it's like, it's, you know, you're having a bad day. You don't have to have a bad life. You know, don't let it ruin, ruin your day. And, yeah, it's crazy.
Well, that's an irony to me, though. Is like, you know, you talk about, back to your song, like, when the devil commands, like, you know, it's like, 666, and like, but to me, when I was a kid, heavy metal, it was weird. It like, got out my emotions, like the rage and stuff, and I went to church. I tried that. I was like, Oh, let me try church and Jesus. And it just wasn't for me. I'm not saying that it's not for other people, but, you know,
heavy metal saved me more. And I'm sure that a lot of kids have told you stories that their your music saved them. It's,
every day I do my VIPs every day, and they're, they're packed. And it's, it's, it's teenagers and older fans that started listening back when the first record came out. I mean, it's a mix. I can't say it's just those type of but it's a mix of just people just going, Look, I mean, every day, like people almost break down and cry, and most of them do cry, will say that your music got them through. They wouldn't be
here without my music. And it's and that's I used to giggle back in the day when I first hear it, because I think about my songs like Rambo and silly stuff like that, but they're just speaking like in a hole, that I provide a escape for them with what I do. And that's so that's a very cool thing. You know? I didn't think about that, that stuff when I
first started doing this. I just wanted to make music that was cool and people would like, I didn't think about change people's lives or becoming a soundtrack for people's lives.
Oh, no, that's totally true. I totally understand that, not from, I don't know what it's like from your perspective, because I can't make music, but as a fan, I totally understand that. Like, when I was a kid, Guns and Roses Skid Row. I mean, it was just like, those are kind of my friends. Like, in a lot of ways,
they're your friends. And you go back and you just like on what they say on that movie Almost Famous, put your when you're by yourself, go to your record player. Put this on. Listen to your friends. And every night I have a playlist called hair scare on my Spotify, and it's all of my stuff from Skid Row to bang Tango to Wasp, to Twisted Sister, Alice Cooper,
motley crew, all that stuff. And that's what I listened to, and, you know, and to to go back on this, this album, you know, a year or so ago, when, before I started writing this, I was listening to that same playlist, and our bass player, Troy, said, Said, Wednesday, what's our new album going to sound like? And I said, like this playlist. Boom. Here we are, year and a half later, and there's my playlist. No,
I love it. I agree too. I do think that a lot of the songs sound like that. The one that I was curious about, decapitation, it almost sounds like a 60s, like Doo Wop, like you're, yeah, covering a 60s do op song with, obviously, with metal lyrics and in a metal sound to it. But it's, there's this back, backing thing to it that's like a, almost like a chorus. I love it. It's a great song.
It went Beach Boys real quick. Yeah, you know it just again. It was a silly song in the beginning, and when it got to that part, it got even sillier. And it was, you know, anything worth doing is worth overdoing. And that song was just excess song. So I'm like, let's just it's a silly song. It's catchy. And that part was a really cool surprise just how well it worked. And yeah, it's, it's, it's, so far it's a fan
favorite. I knew it would be, and it was a song that I literally broke in five minutes
that is so crazy. Why are all the best songs? It's like maybe people overthink them. To my remember
writing that song I was watching a YouTube compilation. It said decapitation compilation, and it was a bunch of people getting their heads cut off in famous movies. The main one was the was the decapitation scene in The Omen. And I had my acoustic guitar, and I wrote that riff, and I went decapitation, and I ran the house, and I played it for my lady, and said, I listen to this. And she she laughed, and she said, that sounds like a Wednesday 13 song. That's
That's amazing. I love it to what do you have any songs that are complicated, like, what's the most complicated song that you've written? Oh, I
could go, but it'd be on other records. But nothing on this record was was complicated. I don't like I don't make anything. If it gets complicated to me, I get frustrated and I get rid of it goes away. So anything that was complicated never, never made it. There's some, there's definitely some songs that have some layers and some different techniques and stuff. But I don't know if there's. Anything that's too complex that I've done in my in my past. Alright,
cool. Well, the new album is it? When does it come out? I got to listen. It's
out. It's out. It's out. Yeah, it came out Friday, no apologies. Came out Thursday, the day before, and yeah, it's out. Fans are loving it. It's still fresh. You know, it's still not even a week old, and the fans are, they love it. It's, it's the best reaction because, you know, I've had this record done since last year, as far as the music goes, and just to get it out and to have everybody praise it like almost, it's almost too good, the praise
that we're getting from it. So I knew I delivered a good record. But I was, I was right. They loved it.
Yeah, I think it's the best thing that you've for me. Like this is, like, right up my alley. Like it does sound like that. Your influence is the what you call it hair scare playlist, yeah,
I just called it hair scare because I'm always that public. Can I listen to that sounds? No, I think it's just my just something I've just been adding songs to. And it literally is, like I said, it's all those bands I mentioned. It's everything, and from the popular ones, from like Wasp to the obscure, more obscure bands like vain and bang tango and and tough and those, those bands. So, yeah, it's just what I
listen to. And I listen to it before every show, and I used to listen to it after the shows too. It's just sort of my that's where I go back to. It's my happy place.
Yeah, no, I love those kind of I love, like, dangerous toys. That's, I think that's underrated. I
thought, oh yeah, are are you wearing a dangerous toy shirt today? Oh no, our bass player usually has a dangerous toy shirt on. They have it on today. He's San Antonio. Yeah,
I have a T shirt and a sweatshirt. Yeah, another, another,
another band. It's a big influence on me. Jason, the front guy is a friend of ours, and, yeah, man, it's, it's cool. I'm also friends with all my hair metal guys too. I'll become friends with all these people. That's
super cool. Well, awesome. People can get the new album now. They can. They can buy a vinyl copy too. I've seen that comes with, like, all these stickers and postcards and all these little gadgets.
Yeah, there's, there's a couple variation. I think that deluxe version is sold out, but there is another version. There's a color, new color version that just came out recently. So there's different formats. Check it out, napalm records, official Wednesday 13 com to get all the info, links to all that stuff. And that's it, man. It's, it's out, and I'm, I'm excited for people to hear
it, yeah. And we'll catch you on tour. You still got some shows left in the the tour or more
shows left? Yeah. And then we're home for a bit, and then we go out on the UK European trick of this.
Okay, nice. I'll tell my buddy to cut you, and maybe he can have you on his podcast too and promote those shows. Yeah. Okay, cool. Thanks so much. I'll see you Wednesday. Thank you. All
right, dude, ladies. All right, bye, bye, bye.
It so that folks will be learning again. You.