#Murderdolls Interview

[in-death-we-fall]

Murderdolls

Love at First Sight

Metal Edge 48-11, March 2003

By Roger Lotring Photos By Eddie Malluk

(google drive link) Slipknot interview here – Stone Sour interview here

There are probably less than two hundred people at the Webster Theater. It’s Tuesday night in Hartford, CT, and the Murderdolls are in town to tutor a whole new generation on the fundamentalism of real rock ‘n’ roll. Without the vacant hype of Madison Avenue trendiness, their renascent timelessness is lost so far on the youth of a nation. But that’s about to change. They seize the stage with an adrenaline overdose that probably hasn’t happened since Mötley Crüe first molested Hollywood’s Sunset Strip over twenty years ago. The Murderdolls are glorious rock ‘n’ roll sluts in a manner desperately lost from contemporary music, and definitely lost on those two standoffish fuckers provoking the band with drunken taunting. Vocalist Wednesday 13 swings around to leap to the edge of the stage, leaning forward to dare them with confrontation. But they don’t respond—They can’t, even if they had the balls, because the kids are right in their faces. That pissed-off look in those kids’ eyes, their vehement willingness to defend their band, it’s a defining moment that marks this band as something special. For those couple hundred kids here in Hartford on a Tuesday night, they believe in the Murderdolls. Love at first fright, indeed, and it’s only a matter of time before the word spreads.

“There’s nothing better than that first time seeing a band,” enthuses guitarist Joey Jordison, recalling his own formative rock ‘n’ roll indulgences. “It’s so special, when no one else knew who the fuck they were, and they were your fucking band.” The impact of his influences–and those of the whole band, really—are just as prevalent today as they were back then. It’s obvious as the band prepares for the show with their battle cry of KISS Alive II shaking the dressing room walls. KISS, Alice Cooper, Hanoi Rocks, Twisted Sister—That is the essence of the Murderdolls. “We wanted him to come out and do ‘Twist My Sister’ with us,” guitarist Acey Slade says of Dee Snider, disappointed that he is no longer broadcast on Radio 104 WMRQ in Hartford.

Metal Edge sat down with Joey, Wednesday and Acey to discuss the Murderdolls. And while the conversation touched on numerous topics including their Beyond The Valley Of The Murderdolls debut, touring Europe, and drummer The Ghoul’s exhibitionism with two women in a crowded Japanese bar, at the heart of it were rock ‘n’ roll fans sharing their obsession with a sound that the Murderdolls are single-handedly determined to resurrect.

METAL EDGE: Where does a band like the Murderdolls fit within contemporary hard rock? Or is it more important to go against the grain of popularity? JOEY JORDISON: That was our point, exactly what you just said. The whole thing was–especially with me coming out of Slipknot—I did not want to do anything even remotely where music is right now. I wanted to come out completely different, and just create music that’s a little bit more fun, because everything right now is stagnant and stale. I think, really, the nu metal scene, where hard rock is right now, is almost like a dead scene. We wanted to be completely removed, as far as possible, from all that stuff. WEDNESDAY 13: It wasn’t that hard, either, because we really didn’t have to try. We just wrote the songs, recorded them, and didn’t think about anything outside the studio. JJ: What he was doing in the Frankenstein Drag Queens was pretty much a lot of what we’re doing now. Wednesday was one of the only people I saw in the underground scene that was doing what I was doing. That’s cool, because he doesn’t know about many bands that are out right now and really big—All that stuff that Slipknot gets lumped into.

ME: Joey, being the writer, producer, and principal musician on Beyond The Valley Of The Murderdolls, was it hard to be objective toward the songs? JJ: I was having a hard time, like is this even worth putting out or not? That’s why I wanted to get a songwriting partner. I really liked Wednesday’s voice, and the way he looked. His songs were very similar to what I was doing, but had a little darker feel to ‘em, and the sense of humor was a little bit more tongue-in-cheek. If I was not sure on something, he'd give me an opinion. If he wasn't sure on something, I'd give him my opinion. It made it a lot easier for the recording process, for sure.

ME: What's the most surprising reaction so far to the Murderdolls? What have you seen that you just kind of stepped back and said, "I don't believe I just saw that?" W13: We got a human heart given to us by a girl who had all our names carved into her arm—Even the band name. But, with me, she told me, "Well, I couldn't write your whole name, so I put a 'W' and a '13'." JJ: She's like, "I want to give you my heart, 'cause my heart belongs to the Murderdolls. Hold onto it safe, "cause I might need it back someday." And it had a picture of her and me with it in a fucking jar… W13: Floating around in the formaldehyde.

ME: To what degree has there been any moral backlash as a result of misinterpretation of your lyrics? ACEY SLADE: When we were in Germany, there was a Christian group that went around and put Show Cancelled (sic) over the top of our posters, so people won't (sic) show up for the show. I saw the shit [written] in German, and I was like, "Sold out! Right on, that means sold out!" They're like, "No, Show Cancelled (sic)." [Laughter] W13: But nothing really, really good has happened, though. We're still waiting… And hoping, keeping our fingers crossed. [Laughter]

ME: Do you think that will eventually happen? JJ: Most of that backlash stuff is an American thing. Over in Europe—actually, anywhere besides America—is way more open to the fun aspect. They see the humor in what we're doing, especially the U.K. Their type of humor kind of goes along hand-in-hand with our type of lyrics.

ME: It would seem that as far as any controversy, there's been more uproar over the "body snatching,” so to speak, of Acey from Dope. [Acey laughs] It's almost like one of those jokes: How many Dope guitarists does it take to screw in a Murderdolls lightbulb? [Laughter] JJ: Y'know, that's weird, 'cause I liked Dope. I was actually a fan of theirs. I really enjoyed them a lot, [and] thought they were great. And it was never a thing like, "Oh man, I want to get people from that band." I just hit it off well with them. Tripp was a great guy. It just came down to the time when we were going to tour, and he comes up with news that he had to go back to Static-X. Well, that's cool, but he wanted to stay in the band and play some [select] shows. I just didn't want to have a revolving door and confuse the fans. Acey was actually a choice to be in the [pre-Murderdolls] Rejects, as well, just Tripp came into the band first. Me and Acey kept in touch, so the only choice we even considered was Acey. Luckily enough, he came in and did an amazing job. He had like six days rehearsal just before we started our tour. AS: Not even. I came in on a Wednesday or Thursday. We left [the following] Monday. [Laughter] W13: Plus, me and Acey, we used to play in bands together in Philadelphia, before he was in Dope. We knew of each other, so we were into the same kind of music then. I met him back then, then when he was in Dope, I met him again and we started talking. AS: Back in ‘96 or ‘97, we were the only two guys on the East Coast with dreadlocks and eyeliner, so it wasn’t too hard for us to cross paths. So I’ve known him for years and years.

ME: From a musical standpoint, people don’t realize that what the Murderdolls are doing is very fundamental, but it’s a lot harder to learn because there’s a lot of intuitive stuff. AS: The thing is, we all have the same musical roots. For me it was like, “Alright, this part’s kind of like ‘Rock And Roll High School,’ this part’s kind of like Hanoi Rocks’ ‘Mental Beat.’” All three of us have the same point of reference. I think it would probably be a little harder from the nu metal school to come in and learn the stuff, ‘cause it would be so foreign to them.

ME: In a fatalistic kind of way, then, Murderdolls has actually been coming for a long time. JJ: Yeah, there’s been a bunch of links, but it’s not like this was just all of a sudden really formulated. It’s like, everyone knew each other in a weird, different way. We just didn’t all meet as a band until last year. But everyone knew each other through different people.

ME: But isn’t that how it’s theoretically supposed to happen if you’re going to do it right, so it’s not contrived? JJ: Exactly, man. People might think that, all of a sudden, it was just put together really quick, this little project that’s only going to be one album, and that’s it. It’s really not like that.

ME: Media comparisons have been to Mötley Crüe and the Misfits, but there’s so much more going on. Is there a predominant underlying influence behind the Murderdolls that might not be readily apparent? W13: I think we all have our different things. Me, it’s Alice Cooper, totally. And Acey, Hanoi Rocks, and Joey, KISS. I mean, it’s a lot of the same stuff, but I don’t think you can really pinpoint it al.

ME: Similarly, media focus is on Wednesday and Joey—and now Acey, coming from Dope. In all fairness, what do Ben [Graves] and Eric [Griffin] bring to the Murderdolls? AS: Well, first of all, Ben’s not Ben… He’s The Ghoul. [Laughter]

ME: Is that a capital “T” in the word “the”? AS: Yes, The Ghoul. JJ: I had the hardest time finding people that I actually wanted to bring into the band on bass and drums—Especially with drums. It took a really long time, and they just seemed to fit. I can’t really explain, but hey just brought that attitude—I guess the cockiness, in a way. Ben’s like the hardest hitting drummer that I’ve ever seen in my fucking life. He is so fucking loud. W13: I’ve played with some hard-hitting drummers, but he is so loud, and so hard. JJ: And that’s great! I mean, it drives our fucking music.

ME: But you’ve got to have that for this type of music to work. JJ: Exactly! He’s fucking great, man, as far as just slamming it home live. You can feel it. I mean, the energy is amazing that comes off that guy.

ME: Is it harder for him, in the sense that you’re a drummer, and going to be his worst critic? [Laughter] JJ: He’s cool about it. Actually, he doesn’t really even get that nervous. When I was working with him in rehearsal, I did kind of drill him, ya’ know? He did get it worse out of all the guys in the band, for sure. But he just worked his ass off, really, and he pulls it off amazing. W13: And [Eric] brings a lot of hairspray. [Laughter] AS: He brings a lot of hairspray, some good makeup products, and no less thunder. JJ: And tardiness. W13: This guy’s just really got the whole image of the rock ‘n’ roll thing down. AS: It’s kind of funny, how people ask us about the image of the band. To me, if you wake up and look the way you do, then it’s not an image. An image is something that’s formulated and calculated. We don’t have a consultant telling us, “Alright, track suits aren’t in as much as they used to be.” This is just who we are, ya’ know?

ME: But does your look empower you, as far as performing the music? If you think about it, you must feel differently than if you were going onstage wearing sneakers and levis. W13: It definitely turns something on for me when I go onstage. I mean, it definitely helps. It’s like, it turns it on. It’s just a switch.

ME: Being that Joey was responsible for pretty much all the performances on the album, how have the dynamics of these songs changed, now that you’ve got five individuals interpreting them? JJ: The album is really good, [and] I’m very, very proud of it. I think it turned out phenomenal—Actually, better than I expected. It is different, though, much more of a chemistry with the five guys, as opposed to me. Not necessarily completely different, but the vibe of the five different personalities playing some songs.

ME: Almost like the songs taking on a life of their own that they didn’t have before? JJ: Absolutely, yeah. AS: What Joey’s been really cool about is letting it become a chemistry, letting it become the Murderdolls. When I came into it late, I was looking at the CD, going, “Well, Joey played all these guitar parts.” When we sat down in the [rehearsal] room together, I was intimidated! But he was like, “Well, yeah, that’s cool, I like that accent… What do you think?”

ME: So you’ve been able to make your impact on the songs. AS: Yes, but keeping the original continuity. But it’s the same with The Ghoul, or with the other members.

ME: Are the songs continuing to evolve, even after being recorded? Watching you soundcheck “Love At First Fright,” that looked like you just stumbled across something brand new right there. W13: [Laughter] We did! That was the first time we did a different intro.

ME: How different has the reaction been in Europe than here in the United States? W13: We’ve really been touring there a lot, so we’ve built up a thing there—Especially in the U.K., man, it’s just insane. Hundreds and hundreds of kids, and they all look just like us. But we really haven’t worked it here, though, so this is like we’re just starting from the ground up. JJ: But that was kind of what we wanted to do, concentrate on everywhere else in the world first and establish the band. Those people [in Europe] really appreciate when you do that over there. Some bands, like American bands, nu metal bands, wait two years before they even go to Europe. We’re like, fuck that! And it’s already paid off. It’s only now that we are really going to start hitting America.

ME: Does it make it a little more difficult, though, having gotten such a reaction, then coming back to America? You must have known going into it that you are going to be playing to smaller audiences at first. W13: I prepared myself for it. I knew it was going to be hard. I know it’s a lot different, maybe for Joey, who’s in Slipknot. But before this, i was driving ten, twelve hours to play in front of ten people. That’s never going to leave me. I’m always used to that, so I can work an audience, whether it’s ten people, or ten thousand people, it doesn’t really matter. JJ: Doing what I do in the other band that I play in, it’s basically playing in arenas. But it doesn’t matter, man. As long as people appreciate your music, or want to come out and see you, i can still play in front of two people. AS: It’s weird, even though we’ve done dates, i still don’t feel like we’ve done a proper U.S. tour yet. And so, when we do that—probably February—I think all bets are going to be off. It’s gonna be off the hook.

ME: You’re going out with Papa Roach? Or are you going out on your own? JJ: We gotta get a (sic) on a support slot for a band, obviously bigger than us, to take the band out to a little bit wider of an audience. Papa Roach is an option, [and] there’s a couple other things that are in the works.

ME: Do you look forward to the fact that it’s going to be a challenge? If you’re out with a band that isn’t necessarily similar to what you do, you’ve got that challenge of winning over an audience. W13: We did. We did it with Papa Roach in Europe. We toured with them, five, six weeks, [and] every night…

ME: You’re getting the looks on faces, the “What the fuck is that?” look. W13: That’s exactly it. JJ: It was every night. And like, four songs in, they’d be smiling, singing the words, ‘cause our shit’s singalong. It’s so anthemic live, it’s so hard not to get into it. One of the big things about our band is that it’s a fun show. It’s fucking fun again. It’s something that’s been really missing [from music], probably like fifteen years.

ME: From that standpoint, I get it because I remember. But does the 14-year-old kid standing in front of you, wearing the Slipknot shirt get it? JJ: Good question. I think yes, by the end of the set, he does. You don’t have to be a fuckin’ brain surgeon to understand what the fuck we’re doing. But I think that’s what’s great about it. It’s simple, and it’s anthemetic (sic). The lyrics are fucking cool, and it’s not about fucking childhood trauma, or war, politics, or bullshit like that.

[teddysdogtags]

hello!!

i have a total of 21 followers now, so i think i should be making an introduction post?

my name is korey (after corey haim and corey feldman!) and im a huge 80s—2000s movie and music enthusiast!

the movies i will frequently talk about on here:

stand by me (1986)

the lost boys (1987)

my own private idaho (1991)

zero day (2003)

the outsiders (1983)

movies i also like but don't talk abt much:

interview with the vampire (1994)

dead poets society (1989)

circle of violence: a family drama (1986)

lord of the flies (1963)

i also really like bands such as the cure, static x, nirvana, slipknot/murderdolls/wednesday 13...there's a huge list because i love alot of music! if you want to see my spotify, let me know!

i will probably talk about my headcanons or just some character appreciation posts. sometimes, i post drawings and fanfiction, but not always :)

my spelling and grammar isn't too good sometimes because i have a speech/typing disorder, so i apologise. other than that, thanks for reading! and also, don't hesitate to reach out if you have any of these same interests, because i really love making friends :3 i don't bite, promise!

[thinkwinwincom]

El miércoles 13 charla con Bloody Disgusting sobre películas de terror y nuevo álbum 'Horrifier' [Interview]

El miércoles 13 charla con Bloody Disgusting sobre películas de terror y nuevo álbum ‘Horrifier’ [Interview]

Desde sus primeros días al frente del icónico Frankenstein Drag Queens de Planet 13 hasta su gran carrera en Murderdolls junto al difunto baterista de Slipknot Joey Jordison y su período de casi 20 años al frente de la banda homónima que aún se mantiene fuerte, miércoles 13 incluye lo macabro y espeluznante durante todo el año, pero como con cualquier fanático del terror, octubre es muy…

[death-gloss]

Murderdolls: A Trip to L.A.'s Museum of Death With Joey Jordison and Wednesday 13

Shock-rock duo joined Revolver on tour of Hollywood's grisliest shrine to the macabre

Nestled in a modest vine-covered building along a drab stretch of Hollywood Boulevard far away from the gaudy L.A. tourist destinations of the Mann's Chinese Theatre and Hollywood Walk of Fame, the Museum of Death stands as a grim counterpoint to its hometown's obsession with beauty and youth. Containing a grisly cornucopia of serial-killer artwork, suicide-cult artifacts, and other stark images of death and depravity, the museum revels in the sick and twisted, catering to a crowd with strong stomachs and morbid sense of curiosity.

Which is why it's hardly shocking that Wednesday 13 and Joey Jordison are totally loving their private after-hours tour of the museum's collection. Longtime friends who collaborate in horror-rock side project the Murderdolls, they've never visited the museum before, but they instantly feel a kinship between their music's gruesome outrageousness and the frank depictions of our final destination all around them.

"I've always been fascinated with anything weird," Wednesday says, scoping out a display of exotic animal skulls. "I was the kid that always had fake hands and legs hanging from my ceiling, but I had Mötley Crüe posters on the wall as well. To me, horror and rock and roll just went hand in hand."

The band's first album, 2002's Beyond the Valley of the Murderdolls, combined Wednesday's twin passions, with a healthy dose of tongue-in-cheek humor thrown in for good measure. (Typical song title: "Graverobbing U.S.A.") But after eight years apart focusing on other projects — Jordison working with Slipknot and drumming with everyone from Rob Zombie and Korn to Norwegian black metallers Satyricon, and Wednesday focusing on Frankenstein Drag Queens from Planet 13, as well as his solo outfit — the band has reformed to release Women and Children Last (Roadrunner), a decidedly darker, more biting affair. "The songs [for Beyond the Valley] really represented a lot of teenage angst that we'd had. We lived in our parents' house, in the bedroom playing guitars," Wednesday explains. "Now flash-forward eight years later. A lot of shit has happened. We've had marriages that failed, houses that foreclosed, bankruptcy, drugs, drinking, flipping cars." He shakes his head. "Just … madness. I've created my own horror movie over the past eight years, and that's what this record is about."

Despite the recent real-life horror, in person, the two buddies display an almost playful comedic rapport: Both decked out in full makeup, Wednesday is the tall, lanky, extroverted jokester, while Jordison serves as his shorter, more deadpan counterpart.

Wednesday enters a room devoted to funeral homes, talking about the childhood influences that informed his twisted sensibility. "The Munsters is my favorite show," he says. "I used to sit in front of my TV every day and watch it. Addams Family, The Munsters — it was all about death. Then I saw Alice Cooper, how he incorporated humor. Dead babies, cutting heads off onstage — it's just comedy. That's what we do — that's what our thing is."

"I worked in a funeral home for five years," Jordison says. "My family owned five of 'em. That's how I learned to do makeup." He's unfazed by an instructional video playing in the corner that offers a step-by-step demonstration in preparing a corpse for viewing. "I've seen it all," he says.

Egging him on, Wednesday says to Jordison, "Tell 'im about when you had to store bodies behind your house."

"No, in my garage!" Jordison replies. "Our main funeral home was flooded, so we had to bring the bodies into my garage. It was fuckin' fucked up. They weren't embalmed yet, and with how hot it was, oh my god — they were bloated, and it stunk so fucking bad …"

Wednesday breaks into a big smile. "And people wonder why we make the music we do."

Of course, after years of not seeing each other, it seemed like the members of Murderdolls might never get back together to make another record. "There was a time when I was like, OK, he's gonna just do his solo stuff, and I'm down with that," Jordison says of their time apart. "But he's one of my best friends ever, and we lost touch for a little bit, and that sucked — I missed him. But I'm glad actually things happened the way they did, because if we'd made the next record [right after] it would have been just like the first one—just campier and funnier. But people are gonna be blown away by this record. It's heavy."

Wednesday nods in agreement. "It's scary, it's dark, and it's violent. The happiest song is called 'Summertime Suicide.'"

On the subject of offing oneself, discussion soon turns to the museum's Heaven's Gate exhibit room, complete with a recruitment video for the religious cult that committed mass suicide in March 1997. Wednesday and Jordison talk excitedly over one another as they peer into the room, which includes a sample of the cult's bunk beds and clothes.

"Those are the real outfits," Jordison enthuses.

"Holy shit!" Wednesday replies, barely able to contain himself. "I love this story!"

They take a moment to read a cult members' suicide note, but then Wednesday makes an announcement. "We gotta get into the Manson room," he says. "Manson's my favorite."

The room devoted to renowned psychopath Charles Manson is easy to spot: It's the one with the words "Helter Skelter" adorning the wall in blood red. And proving that he does indeed know his Manson history, Wednesday quickly points out that the Manson family misspelled the phrase as "Healter Skelter" when it appeared on a refrigerator in one of their victim's homes.

"I've been a Charles Manson … I wouldn't say 'follower,' but I've been interested in all his stuff," Wednesday says. "I've quoted him in songs. You know, as crazy as the guy is, I've sat and listened to him talk, and he makes complete sense to me. Or maybe I'm just out of my mind."

"Well, you are, though," Jordison responds with ace comic timing.

Wednesday looks at a photo of the madman staring back with steely defiance. "Would you buy a car from that guy?" he asks, laughing.

In an adjoining room, there is a wall of photographs of Manson's victims taken by the police after their slayings. It's a feast of bloody corpses, and the two musicians silently take it in. "Dude, I'd rather be shot than stabbed," Jordison finally declares. "You don't even feel it, really." He reflects for a moment and then adds, "This place is awesome."

They move on to a set of photos in honor of the 1947 Black Dahlia murder victim Elizabeth Short, who was killed about seven miles away from where we are now. It's a gripping juxtaposition of snapshots — there are glamour photos of Short from her acting years and then there are grisly images of her lacerated face and bifurcated corpse.

"She was hot," Jordison observes, sadness in his voice. "I still haven't seen the movie [the 1996 Brian De Palma-directed film The Black Dahlia]. I heard it was kinda lame."

Another infamous L.A. murder is depicted on the next wall: the 1994 killing of O.J. Simpson's wife, Nicole Brown, and Ron Goldman. Wednesday looks at artist's sketches from the trial and then turns to Simpson's mug shot: "I say, 'Guilty!'"

Murderdolls wield a wicked sense of gallows humor while they roam the hallways of the Museum of Death, clearly geeking out on an exhibit of punk-rocker G.G. Allin's insane prison writings and a display case of suicide cult-leader Jim Jones' photographs. But even these guys have their limits.

"I'm not really into watching operations," Wednesday admits. "That stuff makes me sick. I've got tattoos all down my arms and chest, but I don't like needles. And if I've been smoking weed, I can't watch Shark Week [on the Discovery Channel] — it creeps me out."

The two musicians look at a mounted series of graphic personal snapshots involving a romantic triangle gone bad: A wife and her boyfriend took pictures of their work as they methodically decapitated and defiled her husband. It's at this moment that Wednesday admits he got high before coming to the museum — right now he's regretting that decision. Still, he turns philosophical pondering the thin line that divides the demented from the truly murderous.

"These are the kind of people you pass in the supermarket every day," he says as he examines the snapshots. "And then you've got guys like us that just said, 'You know what? I think I'm just gonna play guitar.'"

"I'd rather plays drums and guitars," Jordison says, looking at the couple in the photographs carrying out their gruesome mission. "That just looks like too much work."

Wednesday is quick to declare that he would never commit any of the homicidal acts he sings about in Murderdolls' songs, but that doesn't keep him from imagining. "I always thought the perfect weapon is an icicle," he says. "You can fuckin' hack somebody up pretty bad with that, and then it melts." He smiles, an idea coming to him. "A guy who only kills during the winter and he uses icicles: Jack Frost!" He laughs at the new arch-villain he's created.

A gallery of car-accident photos from the 1930s and '40s catch their eye. The black-and-white images show the unspeakable carnage America's first cars caused to their passengers during collisions. In one photo, a dead motorist lies on the street, the bottom half of his face practically ripped off.

The Murderdolls bandmates seem a little unnerved by these automobile accidents, which makes sense since both band members have had near-death experiences behind the wheel. In September 2007, Wednesday flipped his car five times. And Jordison once rolled his car down a cliff after going too fast off an exit ramp. Both of them were drunk but walked away with only minor injuries and a few broken bones. "I'm fuckin' lucky, dude," Wednesday acknowledges.

With the tour winding down, the Murderdolls freak out over a John Wayne Gacy room, prompting Wednesday to wonder if he can sell any of his Gacy portraits to the museum. But the night's high spirits take a turn when they meet Museum of Death co-owner James "J.D." Healy and he offers heartfelt condolences about Paul Gray, Jordison's cohort in Slipknot who died in May of an accidental drug overdose. Jordison suddenly gets very quiet, speaking barely above a whisper. "Thanks, man," he says, trying not to lose his composure. "He was my best friend."

Clearly bummed, too, Wednesday tells Healy, "You just play on through it."

The Murderdolls may seemingly sport a cavalier attitude toward the Grim Reaper, both in their music and on their tour of the museum, but the truth is that they are all too intimately aware of the real, emotional consequences of death. Jordison, for one, is clearly still grappling with Gray's passing on a daily basis. And it's that struggle that has made his band with Wednesday so precious to him right now.

After Healy leaves, and as we prepare to leave the museum and head off into the warm L.A. night, Jordison says simply, "Slipknot doesn't even compute to me right now without [Gray]. He was my songwriting soul mate. If I didn't have [Murderdolls] …" His voice trails off. "…I don't know what I'd be doing."

[trashcanalienist]

[zimzumlove]

[lazerlustt]

[slipmoth]

He can see right through ya XD

[lonelyvomit]

[in-death-we-fall]

Sex, Drugs and One Armed Groupies

...is gonna be the title of this since there kinda isn't one. Scans were posted by @fuckyeswednesday13 a long time ago. I really liked this article and now it's nice and easy to read (especially the columns. Ask me how much I hated the columns.) Enjoy! (drive link)

UPDATED FULL VERSION HERE

The Big Day Out. The Australian travelling musical circus that steamrolls its way around Australia and New Zealand every winter with the hottest bands on the planet flying from all over the globe to join down under’s best bands in a mayhem filled fortnight. This year’s line-up, features among others, The Foo Fighters, Queens of the Stone Age, Jane’s Addiction, Jimmy Eat World, The Hard Ons and deathglam monstrosities, the Murderdolls. So far, the Mid West (sic) based five-piece outfit have been the cream of the festival, appropriately headlining the ‘Essentials’ stage. This is the band’s first time in the Antipodes and quizzical music fans have crowded to see the much-talked about live set. With Sydney copping the biggest crowds of all the legs on the tour, the band are preparing something special. But at 3pm in the afternoon you wouldn’t know it. Most of the band are still in bed from the night before, well, actually… the week before.

The ‘Dolls have been in Sydney for five days before their Big Day Out show and not finding much to do early on in the week they’ve just been getting down to the (sic) rock’n’roll’s most popular pastime: hard drinking. Drummer ‘Big’ Ben ‘The Ghoul’ Graves and bass player Eric Griffin are recovering from last night’s binge. While singer Wednesday and guitarist Joey Jordison are recovering from the night before the night before. Acey Slade, who maintains his sobriety, but still stays out ‘til dawn, has been up since 11am and is the only one ready for the show. With the band on stage at 7:15pm, things need doing. Staggering through their beer can and ‘paraphernalia’-strewn rooms to the showers, they’re down in their van and on the way out to the Big Day Out site just after 4pm.

Situated at the same place that hosted the Sydney 2000 olympics, the festival facilities are first rate and the sell-out crowd of 52,000 festival-goers are making the most of it. The temperature’s pushing a blistering 35°C and being the middle of a drought-ridden summer in Australia, everything’s dry, dusty and cracked. It’s a good 40-minute drive from the city to the festival and the sun’s stinging in through the van windows. Not big fans of the sunlight, the Murderdolls have got their leather jackets up over their heads to avoid even the slightest hint of a tan.

In the cool, air-conditioned shade of backstage I get to sit down with Joey Jordison and singer Wednesday 13 to gind out how the band are doing after their meteoric rise over the past eight months. Joey is straight down the line, measured and professional. “This si the first Big Day Out for all of us. Slipknot have only been down here once but not that (sic) this festival. This is something I’ve really wanted to play – something I’ve wanted to do for a really long time.”

For Wednesday, this is another notch on his rise as an international rock’n’roller. “It’s awesome,” he says. “I’ve always wanted to be out on the front of a rock’n’roll band at a festival like this. After struggling doing my own band for six years I actually quit my job back in April and I’ve been touring every since. I’ve done all the things I ever dreamed about. I’ve been to Europe three times, Japan twice and here we are now in Australia and that has all been pretty much in the last six months! Holy shit we’re doing some things that some bands have never done!”

“We just checked out the videotape from the Auckland show the other day and fuck man, it was awesome!” enthuses Joey. “People are saying we are pulling the most people to that stage out of everyone. Our band has been doing really well especially since we’ve only been going for a short time. We hope that after the BDO we’ll be able to come back and do some real headlining shows down here. We are having fun though, thinking about it, we’ve never had so many days off between shows before, it’s more like the Big Day Off!”

The band wasn’t supposed to be so idle. Most overseas bands on the BDO bill play a bunch of satellite shows in various cities around the country and for a month prior, the Murderdolls had been slated to perform a Sydney show with fellow US rockers The Deftones. But with very little warning, the Murderdolls were dumped from the bill just before the show. What really pissed off Joey and the lads was a lot of the Murderdolls fans had bought tickets on the basis that the band would be playing but in the end had to watch the Deftones supported by ex-At The Drive-In chancers, Sparta.

Without much choice in the matter the Murderdolls issued a statement on their website apologising to their fans and kept trying to fly their flag with some instore appearances at local record stores. One in particular at Utopia Records, was insane. There was such a roar when the band turned up, they looked truly surprised at the number of kids who had showed up, most dressed in black and red outfits.

“Someone told us there was only going to be about 150 kids, which was supposed to be a good turn-out for Utopia records for a new band,” retells Joey. “But when we turned up there (sic) almost 500! We talked to fans and signed everything that they had. We were there for a good three and a half hours. And at the Channel V interview it was pretty much the same story. Hordes of kids that wouldn’t let us get away.”

“That’s the cool thing with our fans,” explains Wednesday. “We’re not a radio band or an MTV band with this created army of little kids which I think is more pure than being the Number One radio band or liking it because someone tells you to like it. I know that our fans are real. It is really cool to see these hordes of kids show up, they are dressed like us, they know everything about us, it is just awesome.”

Thinking further ahead fans will be please to know the band are not going to let up on the groundswell already created by the Murderdolls. “I have to go back and finish recording some Slipknot stuff,” reveals Joey. “Then we (the Murderdolls) are going to do some more touring. There’s usually a three to four month sort of break between recording and when an album comes out so we are going to tour pretty much all the way from the end of May all the way to maybe the beginning of October. Which will be good because there’ll be less sunlight at that time of year,” jokes Wednesday raising his non-existent eyebrows and throwing his arms, heavily tattooed with b-grade horror heroes, into the air.

As the hot afternoon drifts into an only slightly less simmering evening, there’s a small problem with guitarist Acey. He’s got indigestion. This amounts to a small crisis because first aid officials must follow procedure and administer the medicine. This takes two St. John’s Ambulance men on pushbikes in a five minute ride from their base at the side of the main stadium. Very un-rock’n’roll indeed.

With the gig just 45 minutes away, the boys are pacing around their trailer, having their pics taken for Hammer. Acey inside in front of the mirror still applying the last of his make-up, Ghoul is getting powdered up, Wednesday’s still with the photographer, while Joey’s nervously pacing around, in the trailer, out the trailer, back in… Eric meanwhile is ready for the stage and cracks open the obligatory bottle of Jack Daniel’s. As a Murderdolls ritual, they’re applying the slap, the band have to listen to Kiss. “Must. Have. Kiss.” stipulates Joey. “‘All American Man’! We sometimes change that to ‘All American Ghoul’,” chimes in the Ghoul.

Just 10 minutes before showtime and the long lanky frame of Ben Graves is stretched spider-like up against the dressing room wall. “I’ll be in pain afterwards,” he explains. Wednesday has by now finished his solo shots with Hamer’s photographer. The day is hot enough anyway, and under the photographers lights the heat is even more stifling. ‘Jesus, it’s fucking hot!” exclaims the frontman. “But I don’t mind… I’m a naturally dead person in front of a camera” he laughs.

More Kiss blares out from the dressing room, this time ‘Dr Love’! Then the moment comes: ground fucking zero at the Big Day Out! The band clamber into the van and head around the back way to the Essentials stage. The bottle of Jack’s being passed around as they approach the stage the band take a quick peak (sic) to see how the crow’s building up. It’s the biggest yet, taking up most of the grassy area out the back of the main stadium. Joey – who regularly suffers from pre-gig nerves as his pre-stage vomiting on Slipknot’s ‘Disasterpiece (sic)’ DVD proves in all its technicolour glory – is bricking it.

Five minutes before the band are due to hit the powerchords and the guys are milling around in the wings. Ghoul is banging on some warm-up pads and everyone is getting psyched. They’ve left the Kiss CD backstage so they have to hum ‘All American Man’ together. Then they make their way to the stage.

A couple of huge Murderdolls logos adorn the stage and in an eruption of noise and energy, the Dolls take the stage and instantly kick off with ‘Dawn of The Dead’. Jordison in black leather Gestapo hat is jumping around stage left, Acey is wailing away stage right while Eric bangs away on the bass doing his best Nikki Sixx impression, while the Ghoul wrecks the trap kit. Wednesday is the last to take the stage and screaming, “We are the dead, coming for you!” And the crowd goes fucking wild.

The kids down the front, dressed up in full glam-goth regalia, know every word and sing along fervently with the band while among the throng watching from the side of stage are some of the biggest names in the Australian music industry. Members of bands like 28 days, Machine Gun Fellatio, Cog, Jimmy Eat World, Pre-Shrunk, and Sparta all stand wide eyed and mouths agape at the outrageous rock revisionism being unleashed onstage.

By the time the band have launched into ‘I (sic) Was a Teenage Zombie’, ‘Let’s Go To War’ and ‘Slit My Wrists (sic)’, the crows know what they’re in for. Most who have showed up for curiosity (sic) sake are still hanging around, but if anything the crowd is building and everyone looks like they are right into it having fun. The intro to ‘Twist My Sister’ is a kid’s nursery rhyme ‘Old McDonald’ which gets the whole crowd singing along.

Unbelievably, some lunatic in the crowd starts throwing bangers at the stage, but the fireworks only make it as far as the front row of fans before blowing up in their faces. Wednesday tries to get the guy to quit while geeing up the rest of the crowd. “All the people down the front tell the people at the back to ‘Die Die Die… my bride!’ he yells as the band grind into the song…

Today’s set includes two new songs, and we can report that both are killer kitsch rock rippers. The first, set for legendary status is called ‘The Devil Made Me Do It… And I’ll Do It Again’ while the second is the set closer, a crowd sing along gem ‘I Love to Say Fuck’. Wednesday grabs his big black umbrella, emblazoned with the word FUCK, Eric, Acey, and Joey are going crazy, jumping up and down in unison, Ghoul is all arms and legs behind the kit while Wednesday is right down in the crowd’s face urging them to stick their fingers in the air and yell ‘Fuck!’. It looks great to watch. “It isn’t choreographed,” says Wednesday later. “Everything’s pretty much spontaneous. There are some things like we all jump on an ascent in the music or whatever but everything else is stuff that just happens on stage.”

They (sic) crowd are almost passing out from the combination of frenzied activity and the extreme heat, but still manage to scream out for more as the band leave the stage. “A lot of people don’t know that’s what drives a show,” explains Wednesday about his relationship with the audience. “You have to make fans feel part of the event and I think we do it better than anyone else.”

The band then jump back into the van for the two minute trip back to their dressing room behind the main stage. When they get back there the guys are all super hyped up. Excitedly buzzing around their dressing room, drinking beers, telling jokes. Joey is busy analysing the gig, and the BDO circus in general. He and Wednesday have got an interview to do with Australian TV scheduled for 8:45pm. It’s almost 9pm and Joey has another issue: “I want to eat! I must eat before I talk!” he exclaims. The interview is postponed for 20 minutes.

Bass player Eric is hanging around, so I grab him for a quick chat. Of all the Murderdolls, Eric seems the shyest but is probably the one most up for anything, especially if it is party related. He may only be small, (even in his Ace Frehley six-inch platforms he’s still barely average height!) but he’s a true rock’n’roller with a party attitude to match. “‘Machine Gun Fellatio’ that’s a cool fuckin’ name,” he squeaks discussing some of the other bands on the BDO bill. And he does squeak, kinda, like annoying Brit ‘comedian’ Joe Pasquale.

I bring up the fact that esteemed record producer, Nick Launey (Silverchair, INXS) was side of stage watching the show and had an interesting story to tell me about Eric. “I think I know where this is going,” smiles Eric slyly. “I met him about two years ago in LA at a party and we were all fucked up. I got dragged down three flights of stairs by my hair and he reckoned it was the biggest rock’n’roll moment of ‘00 for him. First impressions count, man.”

“It was so rock’n’roll!” Launey informs me later. “It was the launch of Orgy’s album and they had these models dressed as prostitutes lying on a bed and Eric jumps up on the bed with them, which of course you weren’t allowed to do. So the bouncers are dragging him out by his hair, kicking and screaming, down the stairs. His head was literally bouncing down each stair like a cartoon character and all the while he’s just got his middle fingers up on each hand and is yelling out ‘Fuck You!’, ‘Get Fucked!’, ‘Fuck you, mind the hair!’ Somehow he got back into the party and I asked him ‘how’s your head?’ and he just said “Whaddya mean?” - it was just so rock’n’roll!”

Eric has pre-arranged with their tour driver to take him over to the Boiler Room, where the BDO’s electronica acts are playing. He wants to see German electronic innovators Kraftwerk. “One of the bands I was in before the Murderdolls was very digital and computer based,” he reveals. “Kraftwerk don’t do a lot of live shows and I don’t think I’ll ever get the opportunity to see them again. They’re pretty important to the genre and even if I catch just 10 minutes of their set I think it will be worth coming over. A short ride through the back entrance, we arrive at the Boiler Room and manage to get in, via a bit of a labyrinth, through the backdoor and into the main arena just at the side of the stage. The Kraftwerk guys are standing robot-like in front of their computers while the huge dome-like venue is dripping with sweat from the 10.000+ strong punters who have basically been locked in the room all day listening (sic) the dance bands. We get a good vantage point but after about five minutes we’re leaving. “Jeez! That was the most boring piece of crap I’ve seen!” exclaims Eric when he gets back to the dressing room. “But it was worth going because I scored some drugs!”

Acey’s just hanging around backstage with his camera and a little doll from The Nightmare Before Christmas. He has a ritual where he takes a photograph of the doll in front of landmarks all around the world. “I have him in front of the Eiffel Tower for instance,” he says. “The other day I took a pic of him in front of the Sydney Opera House.” And with that he takes a photo of the doll sitting in front of a sign that says ‘Sleazy’. Hmmm. Odd man.

Acey and Eric are loving every minute of the Murderdolls ride. They’re both on their first trip to Australia and according to both of them it is (sic) has been “Cool as hell!” “The Gold Coast was really on,” says Eric. “It’s been kinda mellow since we got to Sydney because we’ve had four or five days off before this show so we’ve just been trying to find out what’s been going on. It’s been building gradually… and we’ve been partying a lot – maybe too much,” he adds sheepishly. Rick the tour manager – who’s passing by – agrees: “Yep, they’ve been very naughty boys – they’ve got to go to bed early tonight with no supper,” he jokes.

“He knows we’re the most dangerous band on the tour,” counters Eric. It’s a fact that seems to deter any other bands partying with the Murderdolls too. “The only band that has even reached out to us are the guys in Jane’s Addiction, in particular, Dava Navarro,” offers Acey. “He actually came out of his way to come over and introduce himself. And pretty much comes up and talks to us everyday he sees us along with the drummer, Steven [Perkins]. Everyone else is just kinda like, ‘What’s Up?’ Maybe it’s because we don’t look like we’re the most approachable band. Then again no-one has done anything to piss us off at all.”

No one may be talking to the Murderdolls but there is talk of the Murderdolls all over BDO. Most centres around their appearance with most Australian musical luminaries agreeing the band are the best dressed at the festival. One member of Aussie band the Resin Dogs even goes as far as to say, “The Murderdolls rock the wardrobe”. Acey is kinda flattered but non-plussed by the comments. “What image?” he exclaims. “This is how we are all day! Obviously we knock it up a notch for the show but this is the real thing. We don’t care if people like us as sexual deviants or not, but one thing’s for sure – they’ll fucking remember us.”

Big Ben Graves strides over to join us at the table. “Did I hear the words sexual deviant?” he announces in his deeply rounded US accent. “I’ve always been like that! Some people have a devil on one shoulder and an angel on the other – I just two devils. There is NO voice of reason!”

We ask him if he has had any interesting adventures since he’s been in Australia and then instantly regret it…

“Dude, it has been nothing but interesting adventures. For instance last night, he (indicating Eric) he almost screwed a one-armed girl!”

“She had three tits and one arm,” giggles the dimunitive (sic) bassist.

“Yeah. It was weird,” continues the Ghoul, “one of her arms was like a stump and it looked like it had a nipple on it. I must admit I almost fucked her just for the freakiness of it.”

And with that starter for 10, the Ghoul is off. He starts ranting on with these sick freak jokes that crack everyone up and inside a minute you get a window to his personality. “Our drummer is one bona fide sick fuck,” jokes Wednesday of him later. “He stills (sic) freaks us out. I’ll just look at him sometimes and say to myself, ‘holy shit, dude, what planet are you from?’”

“It was weird on the Gold Coast,” says Eric, picking up on the tour adventure thread. “The girls there were the hottest chicks I had ever seen in my life but by the same token I had never got as much shit for the way I look than I have there as well. It was like two opposite poles. At first it was, ‘hey freak, where’s the funeral?’ and the next was, ‘sit down have a drink with us.”

“As far as people looking at you weird, I found Sydney is where I got the stares,” admits the Ghoul. “Sydney sucks! Although we did have some girls staking out our hotel which was pretty funny and I did have an over-zealous fan thrown out of the bar. The guy was just touching me a little more than he should and I didn’t like it,” he says animatedly. “I was like, ‘man, don’t make me waste this perfectly good bottle of Heineken by breaking it over your head. I’ve done it before’. Eric looks at him and says, “yeah he has!” But he was on something. I remember thinking ‘I want whatever he’s on… times ten!”

“I gotta say though, the Sydney crowd today was one of the best crowds we’ve had so far,” offers Acey as he joins the throng. “It was insane. It is good for us this tour, because the kids don’t know what we are all about yet so we have to prove ourselves. By the end of the set they all had their hands in the air.”

By this time Joey and Wednesday have finished their feed and their hastily re-scheduled interview and are looking for some more mischievous fun for themselves. “First of all, I’m going to go back over to the stage we played because there are a lot of kids hanging around over there still wanting to see us,” explains Joey. “Then after that, I’m gonna go directly where ever (sic) the free drinks are at…” Suddenly, Eric’s doubled over in the doorway of the dressing room. It’s been 45 minutes since he visited Kraftwerk in the Boiler Room and the pharmaceuticals are beginning to take effect. We ask if he’s OK. “Yeah man, I just think I’m gonna spew!” he grins. The rest of the band are baiting him ceaselessly.

“C’mon chuck it up man!” they urge and all crack up laughing together.

In the middle of all the commotion Wednesday is taking a piss in the corner of the dressing room. The place is a wreck: there are empty bottles of booze, food scrapes (sic), squashed fruit, hairdryers, make-up, boots, clothes (black and red if (sic) course) and of course a giant mirror. Wednesday is actually pissing into a bottle of Corona. At the same time I am just about to pick up my freshly opened bottle of Corona from the table which is besides (sic) a now suspicious looking bottle. “Yeah I always piss in the empty bottles,” giggles Wednesday. And then I leave ‘em on the table just to piss off anyone who might want to grab some of our rider or whatever. Just be careful just to get bottles from down there in the ice box, he laughs mischievously. Suddenly the oddly warm bottle in my hand seems less than appealing…

As the clock turns 1am the only people left at the stadium are the cleaners, the roadies and the still-partying Murderdolls. Last to leave, the van is parked just outside the dressing room and all I can see through the opened door is the Ghoul chucking around a baguette, now baked hard as a rock over the course of the stifling hot day. “Look at this - it could be used as a weapon to seriously maim you!” he screams bouncing the French loaf off the wall. A post vomit Eric cracks up, as the two hold a mock baguette joust oblivious to the outside world. They eventually make off back to their hotel room in the city, but don’t hang there for too long. The weekend lights of Sydney beckon and they cruise down William street in King’s Cross, to an underground rock venue called Club 77. It’s glam night, just their crowd and they spend the wee hours of the morning hanging out with fans and getting stuck into the sauce with a vengeance. Australia has officially been Murderdolled!

Blood and Glitter

Gavin Braddeley charts the rise of shock rock

Glam is hard evidence that what goes around comes around. Long dismissed as the definitive climax of 70s bad taste, in recent years glam rock has arisen from the grave, albeit with a veil of cobwebs draped over its original dusting of glitter. Originally a violent reaction to the 60s happy fad for all things natural, worthy, meaningful and drab, glam was all about being deliberately artificial, selfish, throwaway and garish.

In the States Alice Cooper was impaling baby dolls and throwing blood bottles around the stage from ‘70 onwards culminating in the vaudeville theatrics of the ‘Welcome To My Nightmare’ album/tour of ‘76.

Back in the UK, the Glam pioneer was lame pop pixie Marc Bolan (sic), photogenic frontman with T-Rex, who caused a sensation when he took to the stage on Top of the Pops in ‘71 with glitter under his eyes, clad in what looked suspiciously like drag. Never one to miss a trick, the lizard-like David Bowie soon jumped from the hippy ship to take on his otherworldly Ziggy Stardust persona.

The older generation may have thought that smearing make-up on your face and covering your clothes in sequins made you look like a ‘pooftah’. Alice Cooper got around this by replacing Glam’s overt ‘fagginess’ with ghoulish melodrama, prompting one critic to observe that Americans were more comfortable with necrophilia than homosexuality. And then came Kiss. Gene Simmons’ monstrous blood vomiting, fire breathing ‘Demon’ persona enslaved an entire generation of US children crossing Glam’s theatricality with heavy metal machismo to create one of the most influential bands in rock music history.

W.A.S.P. and Mötley Crüe supercharged Kiss’s sleaze and violence quotient to spectacular effect in the 80s, and provide the missing link between Glam and the Murderdolls, who happily cite the back-combed bad boys as a large part of their creative DNA. The chief inheritor of the Glam tradition in the last decade, however, is cross-dressing controversialist Marilyn Manson. Bowie may have metaphorically murdered his creation Ziggy Stardust in the summer of ‘74, while Bolan (sic) died more literally in a car accident three years later, but quarter-of-a-century on, Manson used his own dark arts to conjure their spirit on ‘Mechanical Animals’, his own tribute to pop’s most decadent decade.

Dead… and loving it!

The Murderdolls’ five favourite movie death scenes of all time…

The Murderdolls are proof positive that nothing gets some folks’ creative juices flowing quite so freely as a truly delicious cinematic death scene. Joey and Wednesday have a few favourites – both carnage connoisseurs identifying the ‘74 classic power toolfest The Texas Chainsaw Massacre as the gory cream of the crop – a movie currently being remade with a certain Mr. Manson in the soundtrack composer’s chair. (As a curious aside, you never actually see the girl hung on the hook – just a shadow – but such is the film’s sordid impact that most viewers swear you do!)

Joey 1. Texas Chainsaw Massacre “The girl on the hook.”

2. Friday The 13th Part IV “When the knife comes through the bed and impales the chick.”

3. The Exorcist “When the priest is hucked out through the plate glass window.”

4. A Nightmare on Elm Street “Where the girl is getting dragged across the rooftop.”

5. Necromancy “Where a group of devils and monsters take a girl apart.”

Wednesday 1. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre “The girl on the hook.”

2. Dawn of the Dead “When the spiked ball comes down and rips the guy’s head apart.”

3. Phantasm “A silver ball hits the guy in the head and sucks out all his brains.”

4. Hellraiser “Where (sic) the end sequence where the guy is being chased by all these hooks. They attach themselves to him and rip him apart.”

5. Nightmare On Elm Street “Where Freddy rips out the guy’s veins and uses them like strings controlling a puppet.”

Schlock n’ Roll

B-movie classics that have influenced shock rockers of now and then…

Some horror movies are best watched not so much with your tongue in your cheek, as thrust firmly through it, films that by accident or design are more about fun than fear. The same could be said of numerous horror loving bands, including the Murderdolls, where an ‘everyday is Halloween’ ethos prevails. Here are a few examples of B movie blood fests which may not have won any Oscars, have been paid tribute to by schlock loving bands over the years…

Plan 9 From Outer Space (1957) It is no surprise that the mother-of-all cult movies inspired the mother-of-all cult bands, and when Glenn Danzig created a label to release early Misfits material he dubbed it ‘Plan 9’. Frequently voted the worst movie of all time with its ludicrous script, mind bogglingly bad special effects, cardboard sets, and even more cardboard artistry, Plan 9 From Outer Space is irresistibly entertaining. Directed by the cross-dressing caliph of crap Ed Wood Junior, featuring proto-goth babe Vampira and Bela Lugosi (dying of drug addiction, he was replaced mid production by a stand-in who looks nothing like him).

The Abominable Dr Phibes (1971) Featuring horror cinema’s kind of camp Vincent Price as the fiendish Phibes, avenging the death of his wife using maniacal methods borrowed from the biblical plagues, all against wonderful, strangely psychedelic sets. Also possessed of a strange psychedelic sensibility are punk pioneers the Damned, though in the 80s, lead singer Dave Vanian’s horror sensibilities took centre stage, attracting a goth following. The 80 track ‘13th Floor Vendetta’ is a classic example of the band’s game-topping which, if you listen carefully, is all about ol’ Doc Phibes.

Mars Attacks! (1996) Director Tim Burton’s tribute to the drive-in shockers of the 50s and 60s, Mars Attacks! was actually based upon a ‘62 series of bubblegum cards, discontinued because of their gruesomely graphic pictures of earthlings being exterminated by alien invaders. As such this inspiration might suggest Mars Attacks! has little by way of plot, but for anyone with a weakness for vintage schlock sci-fi it’s a true Technicolor treat. This must certainly include the Misfits and when they reformed, they did so without the blessing of founder Glenn Danzig, but with their monster movie obsessions intact – among a multitude of horror movie tributes on their ‘97 comeback album ‘American Psycho’ was ‘Mars Attacks’ (and even an instrumental coincidentally titled ‘Abominable Dr Phibes’!)

I Was A Teenage Werewolf (1957) The drive-in movies of the 50s and 60s typically featured juvenile delinquents or monsters, and this bargain-basement effort delivered both in one lurid package. Before becoming ‘Pa’ on TV’s Little House on the Prairie Michael Landon stars as a troubled teen – though when he starts growing hair in strange places, it’s more than just hormones to blame. A howl from beginning to end, Teenage inspired a number on ‘Songs the Lord Taught Us’, the ‘80 debut from drive-in movie loving ghoulish rockers The Cramps.

Murder, mayhem and a right old mess

Minging Murderdoll tales from the Big Day Out

Who is the messiest Murderdoll of them all? Wednesday: “That would be Eric and The Ghoul. They are just messy as fuck. But you know you’ve just got to get used to living with these people. We’ve been on the road since July. You live on a bus for six weeks which means you’ve got (sic) live in everyone else’s shit.”

Who is the tidy anal doll? Joey: “No-one. We’re all pretty fuckin’ messy.” Wednesday: “I just took two garbage bags of mess out of my room. And just put it in the hallway. Just full of chicken bones and beer bottles and all sorts of shit like that, it was just smelling really bad so I had to get rid of it.”

So you do that yourself? Wednesday: “I don’t let the cleaning staff come into my room and tidy up. I put the ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign for the whole week I am there.” Joey: “The housekeepers are scared shitless to come into our rooms anyway so we keep it easy for them and put the ‘Do Not Disturb” signs up the whole time. They are going to be so scared to come into our rooms and clean up after we’ve been there for a fuckin’ week!”

[fuckyeswednesday13]

Interview with Wednesday about Joey and Murderdolls

[undiscovered-horror-icon]

Update: my parents think Joey is Pretty but Very stupid

[angelicapocalypse]

[joeyslady]

MuchMusic interview with Murderdolls · Wednesday13 and Joey Jordison in 2002. Also features live clips from Toronto (November 22, 2002).

[death-gloss]

The ending of the Museum of Death interview though 😭😭😭😭

I KNOOOW ):

Pure personal speculation here, but Joey in 2010 doing the Murderdolls when he was in a really rough spot (Paul's death); and then him also about to do Murderdolls again just before his sudden death (And split from Amanda). It makes me wonder if he was going through another rough patch.