BY: Larry May
SIL. The new song “My Dark Place Alone” sounds great on the radio and the video is pretty kick ass. Tell us about the video and how it was made.
W13. When I’ve done videos before, a concept is turned into the label and then the process of going back and forth gets really dumb. When Joey and I talked about it, we wanted to do a performance video. When I called Paul, the video’s director, he asked me what I saw when I heard the song. I saw us in a room with dripping black walls and he came up with a treatment. The video is the result of that conversation.
SIL. The new record, “Women and Children Last”, comes out on August 31. Since all we’ve heard is “Dark Place”, what can Murderdolls fans expect when the album comes out?
W13. If they’re expecting the last record, it’s not gonna happen. We’re not trying to change the entire band, but all of these songs have been written for the last 8 years and we took different paths with them when we got into the studio. It wasn’t intentional that the songs had a heavier sound, it just turned out that way.
SIL. You have Mick Mars on the record. How cool is that?
W13. It’s great. It wasn’t a planned thing. We had just finished tracking a song called “Bloodstained Valentine’. We had it done except for the guitar solo. I was eating dinner with Billy and told him that the song had a real Mick Mars feel to it. Our manager suggested that we call him and ask him to play on it. Yeah, whatever. Billy left to smoke a cigarette and told me he would be there in two days. He’s a total pro and it was a great experience. It was awesome to hang with that guy. Having him as a part of our record was a real dream.
SIL. Explain what you’re doing at the Mayhem tour this year.
W13. I’m not playing, I’m out promoting the upcoming record. Joey is playing drums for Rob Zombie, and the label wanted me to ride along with him. We do a signing every day at 3:45. After the European tour and Mayhem, I will have done ten weeks of press. It’s almost unheard of to get that much exposure on a tour. All the other groups are jealous of my job, I just get up at noon and ramp it up.
SIL. Are you playing on Ozzfest?
W13. We’re playing the UK Ozzfest. It’s on Sep. 18th, and I heard it’s the first Ozzfest in the UK. It’s the first time our band has been over in 7 years, and we have the slot right before Korn and Ozzy.
SIL. The horror image and bizarre rock show you’re promoting right now is so prevalent in music right now. The clothing and jewelry is pretty reminiscent of the era when Marilyn Manson was putting out good records, NIN was tearing it up and Zombie was everywhere. It seems like the time is right for a new Murderdolls record.
W13. I agree. Joey was bored with a lot of the things going on in music right now and so was I. I’m not calling out any bands, but it seems like things are really oversaturated with the same shit. Everyone is trying to play faster than the last guy, and it’s all about guitar noodling. Everyone forgot about the concept of what being a rock star and putting on a rock show was all about. To go back to your statement about that time, I was in high school and loved all of that. It feels like right now is the Murderdolls time. In 2002, kids in the UK had that same surge where they were psyched about the image. This time, we didn’t want to do that again. It would have been really easy to do that, but we just couldn’t. So now, you really can’t tell what we’re going to look like. We’re changing our set up every night, and plan to keep people guessing. If the fans figure you out and start showing up looking like us, it’s time to change it up. It’s going to be fun and we have no idea how we’re going to look.
SIL. Did you and Joey do the whole record yourselves?
W13. The songs have been created over the last eight years. We had over 60 songs when it came time to record. Then we pared it down to 30 and that was still too many. Then we got it down to 19 and started to track with him on drums and me on guitar. We switched off on instruments. Our new guitarist, who wasn’t in the band at the time, was hanging around the studio and ended up all over the record. Then he joined the band. But most of it is just the two of us. The fact of it is we both write everything, and if we get around to getting a full band that may change.
SIL. Will it take 8 years to put out another record?
W13. No. Joey has made a point to declare that this is a real band, not just a side project. It won’t just disappear like that again.
SIL. Do you have plans to do other projects besides Murderdolls?
W13. I had a lot of stuff going on when Murderdolls went on hiatus. The book thing wasn’t a biography, it was more of some artwork I was doing of characters I had come up with. By that time, I was getting more into the solo stuff as Wednesday 13. I have to play music, it’s like a pill I have to take every day. It helps to get through my demons to play and listen to music. Anything else will be further down the road. But if I do it, it will definitely be weird and entertaining.
SIL. I think the Murderpranks segments are great.
W13. We’ve had a great time doing those. We’ve gotten great reaction from the fans, because it gives them something more personal from us. You get to see us having fun and being idiots. I used to watch the old Pantera home videos and really liked seeing the behind the scenes stuff.
SIL. What would surprise some of the fans about you? Do you like to hunt down and vaccinate stray dogs? Vandalize Burger King playgrounds?
W13. No, I’m pretty calm. I got all of that crazy stuff out of my system when we did the first Murderdolls tour. I aim for more of a contained crazy.