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HR80: Your new album has been released a little while ago
now, but still I'd like to talk about it. It's much more punkier
than the previous one. How did you work on it? Did you record
all the instruments alone?
W13: I did the record
pretty quick. I had the drums tracks done, then the rhythm
guitar, then the bass. I usually wait for doing the vocals.
I did the lead guitar, keyboards, and some ambient things
I have. I usually bring songs home from the studio, listen
to them at night, then figure out what parts a song need.
HR80: Do you
have a home studio?
W13: I have a little set-up where I can record demos.
That's pretty much how I did the last record, I wrote everything,
I demoed at my house. When I get ready, I get with the drummer,
shows him the demo version with the drum machine, and we sit
together and work on the songs, because drum machines are
straight forward. When you get the real job it's more dynamic.
HR80: You're
pretty good at creating songs with gloomy atmosphere, like
'Die Sci-Fi'. How do you work on the sounds on these kind
of songs?
W13: I don't really try to create an artificial atmosphere
for songs that don't have it in the first place. When I wrote
a song like 'Die Sci-Fi', I wrote the guitar riff, then the
keyboard behind, and that was it, the atmosphere was there.
It's just something I kinda heard in my head, and I don't
really have to think about it, it's kinda natural. I have
an automatic vibe in it, like for 'Haunt Me', or 'Curse Of
Me' on the new record.
HR80: At the
same time, many songs are really catchy, can you tell us about
the writing process?
W13: It's different things. That's not a one set
thing that I do. I grew up on a lot of 80's bands and things
like that, and then I found out what influenced them, like
glitter rock from the 70's like SWEET, and of course ALICE
COOPER and KISS. I got into what influenced the bands I liked,
and I realized it's all the same formula. I'm doing the same
thing they did in the 70's and the 80's. It's a cycle that
keeps going on. The one main thing that I think about these
bands is that they were catchy, they had a hook, they were
simple, and you can throw your fist in the air to it!
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There are some metal bands that can write songs
that go on for 12 minutes, and that's great, but that's not
what I do. I try to make anthematic songs that are 3 minutes
long and you can just go to a concert and have a good time,
throw your fist un the air! That's what the process comes
from, I try to make catchy songs!
HR80: How long
does it take you to find the puns used in the title of your
songs?
W13: It's really different. Sometimes I'm online,
I see something written down and I take it, just change a
word, or when I watch a movie. For example, the song 'Faith
In The Devil'. I was watching a movie one night, and I was
kinda dozen off, I was in my bed, and I thought I heard somebody
'You gotta have faith in the Devil'. And I knew that's not
what they said. But I got up immediately and went right upstairs,
grabbed my guitar and I wrote that song in 5 minutes! I had
it like that quick. It comes out from many different places,
I never know.
HR80: Is the
song 'Morgue Than Words' a tribute to EXTREME?
W13: Yeah, it was definitely a take on that! I did
the POISON song, 'Look What The Bats Dragged In', I had another
song too I did out from POISON. It was called 'I Will Forget
you' (laughs).
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HR80: Have you
ever been approached for writing the soundtrack of a horror
flick?
W13: No, believe or not but no. I've been asked a
million times 'Can we use your song' by indie horror films,
but when you do a record deal with the company, it's kinda
beyond that. But no I haven't had anyone to ask me to score
a soundtrack or anything like that. But it should be cool,
I'd really be interested in doing it. I haven't had an offer
yet, but I don't think it's out of the question that I would
do something like that.
HR80: And to
act in a horror flick?
W13: No. Actually I'm not interested at all in acting
in a movie. I've been asked a million time, ever since Rob
Zombie started doing films, the question came up even more.
It's sort of the same thing than what he did, he started creating
his own videos, and he worked his way for doing something.
That was the same way when I was in high school. I used to
take drama class. I was acting, writing plays. That was the
only subject in school that I actually passed! That was fun,
I made my own movies, with my friends, it was 10-15 minutes
horror movies. They were goofy and stupid. And I'd love to
do that sometimes in the future.
HR80: Are there
any recent movies that you can recommend us?
W13: Hmm, I've been on tour for the past year and
I didn't get a see a lot of 'em. But when I came back home
recently I finally watched the new 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre
- The Beginning', I thought that was great. I'm a huge fan
of the original, and I really was just against remaking it,
and I actually liked the first remake. But 'The Beginning',
I thought was really brutal and cool. And I love it.
HR80: What do
you think of the remakes of classic movies like TCM, Dawn
of the Dead, ...?
W13: They're hit or miss. I thought 'Chainsaw' was
a great remake. There's good and there's bad. 'Chainsaw',
I liked. I liked the remake of 'The Amityville Horror', I
thought that was cool. I despised the remake of 'Hills Have
Eyes', I thought it was terrible. I love the original. And
now they're making 'The Hills Have Eyes part 2', I was wondering
'Why?' (laughs). So it's hit or miss, it depends. Now they're
making the remake of 'Halloween'. Rob Zombie's making that,
which I think will be great. He's someone who enjoyed the
first movie, and he's gonna try to make something different
with it. I'm exited about seeing that. But there's good ones
and bad ones, you never know.
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HR80: It's gonna
be the 3rd time in 2 years that you're gonna play in France.
It's really unusual for a glam rock artist. Do you have a
good following in our country?
W13: Yeah, it seems so! The two gigs I did there
were at the same place, 'La Boule Noire'. The fans are great,
they've always been cool and the press, everything we did
it seems everyone was really involved. I can't explain why!
Actually I didn't realize it, it's been 2 years and I've been
there 2 times. It's really cool.
HR80: Also, you
tour Europe a lot. Do you feel that the European audience
digs better your kind of music than the US one?
W13: Yeah, you know the only reason why I do what
I do right now period is because I was in MURDERDOLLS, and
MURDERDOLLS have success in different countries, especially
in the UK, France and Germany. We did a lot of festivals,
we toured with IRON MAIDEN, we did a lot of stuff, and that
really helped us. So basically I kinda worked in Europe since
2002, whether it was with MURDERDOLLS or on my own. And in
America, last year I did my first full US tour and I'm about
to do another one when I go home again, and I'd like to change
that, where I can actually tour in America as much as I do
over here. It's growing, it's a slow process.
HR80: Do you
listen to European bands?
W13: Yeah, I'm a big fan of the BACKYARD BABIES,
HARDCORE SUPERSTAR. The newer bands I listen to are from Europe.
When I say new I say beyond ALICE COOPER and KISS and MÖTLEY
CRÜE, and things like that.
HR80: I saw in
an interview on metal sludge that you were a TUFF fan! Do
you still listen to old 80's bands?
W13: Oh yeah. I normally have my ipod hooked up and
just play some music. I listen to everything. There were bands
from this era that I whipped off one time, I said 'hey, it's
not so good', but there's still tons of them. I still listen
to TUFF, PRETTY BOY FLOYD, VAIN, ROXX GANG. There were cool
bands to me, and they still are. There's LOVE/HATE, they were
glam but also sleaze kinda thing. I'm still a big fan of all
that stuff.
HR80: Would you
be agree to define your music as a blend of 80's glam and
US punk?
W13: Yeah, I think it's a combination of everything.
I think that's kinda what's genuine about what I do. People
have a hard time called 'What are you', because the make-up
brings up the 'ho, you're a goth band'. But I'm not a goth
band. It's like saying WASP was a goth band, or KISS was a
goth band because they had black hair and they wore make-up.
I'm carrying on doing the same thing. And for the music, yeah
I'm a huge fan of the things I mentioned, and the 70's, but
I'm also a huge fan of THE DEADBOYS, THE RAMONES, THE SEX
PISTOLS, and a lot of cool punk rock bands. I think it's a
combination of all that stuff. And you know, they are also
heavier bands like early 90's PANTERA, or WHITE ZOMBIE. If
any of that heavy guitar riffs come out and end in my music,
like the 'Transylvania' record that had some heavier stuff,
it was all inspired by bands like that.
HR80: Do you
think that the horror imagery and look is necessary for getting
kids into listening to glam/punk nowadays?
W13: I don't know. I've always liked bands that had
an image. Even for bands that we'd say they don't have an
image, like AC/DC, they had an image. Angus has a little schoolboy
outfit, the others looked that they all worked in a garage.
They did have an image, and that was cool. The make-up thing,
I don't do it to get attention and then we don't care about
the music. To me it goes hand in hand, you gotta have the
image along with the music. It's like listen to a movie but
not seeing it. For me what I do, it has to be both things.
HR80: Can you
tell us about your side projects? BOURBON CROW? What is that?
W13: That was a thing I did record right after the
last tour of 2005. Basically I didn't have anything new that
came around musically, that'd inspired me to do anything,
'cause I listened a lot to the same stuff. The bands I listened
right now are BACKYARD BABIES, HARDCORE SUPERSTAR, BUCKCHERRY
and stuffs like that, and I said 'alright, I need something
new'. And on tour last time in Europe, my bass player Kid
Kid had an ipod, and he would through out some old outlaw
country stuff. Everyday we listened to it. And I just started
to appreciate, and I thought 'Hey, these are more rock n roll
and most punk rock that most people do', because the music
wasn't the same, but the attitude was as loud, and as middle
finger in your face, and it was really cool songs. So we just
kept on listening to it over and over again and we started
talking 'man, we should do a country record'. It happened
real quick and we did it and it came out last year. It's just
a little side thing, I don't have any plans to tour with it.
But somehow it came out and I'm really proud of it. Also it
shows that there are many different sides to what I can do,
which shocked a lot of people.
HR80: Any chance
to see your old projects on stage again?
W13: I don't like to say no, because when it does
happen you go 'ho, you said in this magazine...'. I just say
there's a possibility for anything. There's a possibility
the MURDERDOLLS would do a tour, and a possibility we never
will again. The DRAG QUEEN thing, I don't see it happen with
any of the original guys. We did it when we were young, and
I don't think anybody wants to see a 30 year old guy with
a dress on stage anymore, I don't see it be attractive these
days (laughs).
HR80: What are
your plans for the future? A 3rd album?
W13: Yeah, actually right after this tour I go home
and demo some new stuffs. I would like to have a new album
recorded this year, and have a new record out first couple
of months of 2008. And do the festivals in Europe, that's
my plan! And maybe put a DVD out this year, that'll be really
cool.
HR80: One last word for the French fans:
W13: Thank you for
all the support, I'm overwhelmed with it and I can't wait
for the gig!
HR80: Thanx a lot!
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