METAL HELL: What's the latest news on FANG BANG ?

WEDNESDAY 13 : It's done, the Fang Bang record's already complete. I finished it like a month & a half ago. The songs I wrote in 2 to 3 weeks, I recorded it in a week & it is completely finished other than the mixing & mastering process of it. I think it's a big combination of everything I've ever done. I don't think it's anything like the last record at all. It has a Motley Crue meets Ramones feel to it. I've always played 3 chords but this is even a more free-er 3 chord kinda record. On the last record there was definitely some metal type riffs going on & this record's a lot more straight forward rock & roll, punk, glam sort of thing.

“It's Rock And Roll, It's Not Rocket Science”

MH : Can you tell us about some of the songs?

W13 : Right now there's 12 songs that I want to make the record. The first song is probably the fastest song on the album, it's a song called “ Morgue Than Words ”, which is a play on the old Extreme song ‘More Than Words', but it's really nothing to do with that song whatsoever, I just thought it was funny . There's a song called “ Faith In The Devil ”, which as I was drifting off one night, in some drunken slumber I was watching TV & I heard somebody say something like “Hey buddy you gotta have faith in the devil” & I sat up in my bed & reached into my drawer beside my bed & got my notebook out & wrote down ‘ You Gotta Have Faith In The Devil' , which is the way a lot of these song titles come to me, either I'm passing out or waking up or in a dream. It usually all revolves around alcohol a lot.

MH : Were all the songs written specifically for this CD?

W13 : Yeah (but) this is not a concept record by any means. I didn't really have a specific subject to write about. I've always admitted that I never write about any personal experiences, I write about stuff I've seen on television, or the world outside of me. All the songs just came together the way they did. I put a lot of work into the songs & making them sound good but I'm not the kind of guy that'll spend 7 years working on the next record. I'm the kind of guy that goes look it's rock and roll, it's not rocket science. 90 percent of this record was written in two weeks period, & I had wrote a whole record before that. It was a lot heavier & when I sat down & listened to it I was like this isn't where I wanna be right now so I x-ed off about 20 songs and I started from scratch & from scratch is the FANG BANG record.

I think I made some cool stuff. It just didn't really fit in. I guess it was more of a reaction to what I see around me. I'm not really a fan of anything that's current. Not that if it's popular I don't like it. If it's a good song I'll admit it's a good song.

The market is so overblown with the same thing. It's the same thing with any type of trend that comes through. Whether it was the hair metal thing where every band was trying to sound like Skid Row or the Seattle thing, everybody wanted to sound like Alice In Chains & Nirvana, the nu-metal thing, everybody wanted to sound like KoRn. It's the same thing. Everybody's trying to go I'm the fastest guitar player. We're the best metal band-we're melodic but yet we're heavy & this record is my reaction to it cause I don't think there's anything metal about this record. It's just a straight up fun rock-punk record. Looking back on it I've did the same thing for 10 years now. It isn't that big of a stretch. I haven't broke out of the mold so to speak.

MH : Who else is playing on FANG BANG ?

W13 : At the time it was a weird thing, I had my touring band that toured with me for basically the whole last year & a little bit of 2004 . When the year came around the guys got offered some other things and they were working on their own projects & I just went off in my own little corner & wrote this record. It wasn't a conflict at all, It's just everybody was doing their own thing. I was like well I did the last record on my own, I'm just gonna do this on my own. I'm not cutting you guys out of the band or anything, it worked last time, I'm gonna do the same thing this time. I basically did the whole record myself besides the drums & it worked out. I'm really happy with it. It was a quick process. As (with) any record I've ever done before I would think about a song for a day or 2 & I'd go in & finish all the tracks on it. With this record I went in each day & went alright what's the next song on the list, & I go okay, guitar, bass, guitar solo, whatever & I finished it right there. I didn't really think about it until it was right in front of me & that seemed like a more natural approach to it. To me the whole approach to this record was a less is best fun vibe to it. Everybody's so serious these days & this is just a fun record. People I think have lost the meaning of the word fun. Everybody's gotta be so serious, oh we're passionate, everybody is serious about their music. Everybody is serious about their band or they wouldn't be doing what they're doing, that doesn't matter. When people lose sight of having fun & why they're doing it then what's the point.

MH : What is the ideal band situation for you?

W13 : I just assembled a new band, I have my old bass player back on board that was touring with me last year & I got my old bass player from the Murderdolls , who is now playing guitar in the band cause he was originally a guitar player & my new drummer is this guy named Racci Shay, who I've known for years & years. He's played with The Genitortures & Dope .

We're all from the same area & we did our first couple of shows last week & my liver is still trying to repair from that (laughs). It's almost to the point where I'm really kinda questioning if I'm gonna see this time next year, and as scary as that may sound, it's also an exciting thing for me. Everybody's on the same page & we all came from the same thing. We didn't get in a rock band just to play music. We did it to do everything in complete excess, everything. Just hanging with these guys last week I was just like man I'm probably not gonna make it (to) the next year. As scary as that sounds I think it's gonna work out.

MH : What sort of set list are you doing lately?

W13 : I'm a fan as well, of music & I always put myself in the audience. When I'm making a set list I put it back to when I was going to see shows. I wanna hear the songs I know but I also wanna hear a couple of new songs. I don't wanna over-do it so we worked in 3 new songs & we did one cover song of Motorhead's tribute to the Ramones (“ R.AM.O.N.E.S. ”). I didn't wanna do a whole half a set of the brand new record & then play a couple of old favorites so, that was pretty much the whole set list last week.

MH : How much of rock & roll do you feel is attitude and how much is technical ability?

W13 : This is why I differ from a lot of people, is the majority will go well if you can't play then you can't do it. If you listen to a New York Dolls record or a Sex Pistols record, are they the greatest players? No, by any means no way, but the attitude on those records, you can just pick the record up and just sniff it & go' woah!' There's so much attitude on those records. It didn't matter if they were the greatest players, they just had it & that's kind of where I come from. I'm confident with my band & the music I play, that we know how to play it and I can hold a chord or whatever but to me it's just as much (about) attitude & delivery as it is (about) can I play this scale or this guitar thing. There's people like I just said with the Sex Pistols , New York Dolls , Ramones , any of those bands, they had so much attitude exuding off them. I'm not gonna say it's simple, I'm the kind of guy that's tried to learn Ramones songs. They're hard, (if) you (can) put a 25 song set list together of almost the exact same song & play it without fucking up, that's pretty impressive.

MH : And one song after the next. Just ‘ 1-2-3-4 .'

W13 : Oh yeah there's no stopping. To me I admire that. People are always quick to go ‘ oh they're 3 chords' , it's like ‘ let's see you do it .' That's the school I come from. To me attitude is just as big as anything.

MH : What do you think of the Dolls getting back together? Some people call it the 2 York Dolls now.

W13 : I wasn't even alive when the Dolls were together. I learned about the New York Dolls through Motley Crue , hearing Nikki Sixx & reading interviews going, who's your favorite band & he'd go The Stooges, New York Dolls, Mott The Hoople & I'm like who are these bands? And then I'd go back & buy their record and go oh I get it now, I see the transition. I've got old bootleg videos of the Dolls & once again go back to attitude, you see a guy like Johnny Thunders, not the greatest guitar player, but I've always quoted him being one of my favorite guys just cause he had more attitude than he had chops & to me that was even better.

It was weird cause I was skeptical going what is this gonna sound like cause basically only David Johansen & Sylvain are the only 2 core members and they got Sami Yaffa from Hanoi Rocks who I'm a huge fan of as well, which was a pretty cool thing to bring into it cause Hanoi was definitely influenced by the New York Dolls. I heard a couple of new songs online last week & it was like 3 o clock in the morning & I'm drunk out of my mind listening to it, I'm like this sounds so cool, cause I was really worried they were gonna try to go for a more modern sound. The songs I heard online I was really happy with. I don't think they're ever going to re-create what the Dolls were. I think the Dolls became a phenomenon after they were done with. It's more like did you hear this ? I heard they were like this & it's all a word of mouth thing so they're never gonna live up to the reputation that they had. At the same time if they came through my town I would absolutely be there without a doubt.

“I'm Sure Keith Richards Didn't Climb A Palm Tree To Impress Anybody. He Had A Reason Of His Own”

MH : Johnny seemed like Keith Richards & Ace Frehley times ten.

W13 : This is a funny story, you mentioned Keith Richards, about 3 days ago me & my drummer Racy came out of our hotel after a 5 day binge, we looked at each other & I was like man I feel like shit & he goes I feel like shit too but you know what revitalized me, I woke up this morning & turned on the news & it said Keith Richards last night fell out of a palm tree in Fiji, & he's like 1000 years old, but he's okay. When he told me that I actually started feeling better. Why was he in a palm tree first off & he fell out & it just shows you like we're half his age & we're going man we're beat and that revitalized us to go alright let's get it on again. So that's the kinda stuff that influences me, not hearing a new song on the radio & going this is cool , just hearing these debaucherous stories & the whole reckless vibe of it. To me that's what rock & roll is. It's more than about music. It's all about attitude. Not that you have to go out and try to be somebody, if it happens naturally, & I'm sure Keith Richards didn't climb a palm tree to impress anybody. He had a reason of his own and to me that's great.

MH : How did the Drag Queens box set come about?

W13 : Last June I was on tour in Europe doing these festivals & the label had sent an email. I got an email from the label that put out the records before and they were like, we have this idea, we're gonna put this special box set out and include your very first record for the first time and some rare tracks, are you wanting to do it? When I first heard it I was like that's really cool cause I'm not even 30 yet & somebody can put a box set out on my band that I started 10 years ago. I was like that's cool, lets do it, we put a lot of work into it & that's where the whole idea came about. It's been a long process making sure the artwork was cool & I had to go track back in my closet where I had all my old demos & studio stuff. I have all the original songs with no vocals & no guitar solos. I went through and picked out all the old stuff and pieced it together. It was a weird thing cause I keep going fuck I feel like an old man putting out a box set. When I think of box sets I think of stuff like Motorhead or a KISS box set. I'm still half those guys' age & I got a box set, so that makes me proud. Every year I've realized, it hasn't been a thing in America yet, but touring all over the world, from Japan and Australia & Europe & the UK & seeing every year it never dies, it gets bigger and bigger. I see so many fans walking up with these old records going you changed my life, this is the coolest shit, I never knew it existed. It's like the band became popular when it was done with. It's such a Hollywood ending. It's such an Ed Wood type of vibe.

MH : Why were there 2 different covers done?

W13 : There's 2 different labels putting it out which has 2 completely different artwork things. The American label (version) says Wednesday 13, which I didn't really wanna do at all. It was a thing with the label, they were like nobody knows who the Frankenstein Drag Queens are in America & you had a record out last year on a major label so I followed with it as much as I could. The European version just says Frankenstein Drag Queens . It's basically the same box set as far as tunes. It's different artwork because it's two different labels. Both labels did different artwork (from a) different artist, so they're not gonna shake hands and go okay let's just use the same thing, because everybody's trying to make their box set seem different. It wasn't any kind of intent for me to go I'm gonna get money out of the European audience & I'll get ‘em to buy two sets. It had nothing to do with me trying to pull anything over anybody's head. It was two labels conflicting going this is our version, that's your version, which is cool because now I get two versions of the whole history of the band. On the American version they re-created the original versions that I put out on my own & the European versions were, I don't wanna say secondary but those came after the fact. We always released those records independently on our own before we ever put ‘em out with a label. We used to put out like 1,000 copies on our own & that's what the American version did. They actually put the original covers. They're not the greatest in the world but they are the original covers.

MH : Is the DVD just a random live show?

W13 : Yeah. It's 9 or 10 tracks, which I selected out of my personal collection. There was one video I had on VHS, I have a closet full of VHS tapes and I have so many videos of Frankenstein Drag Queens , all of our shows. There was one show that I thought really captured a moment. We were the kind of band that played in our area in front of 5 people, 10 people.

Then we'd have a great show then we'd be playing in front of 5 or 10 people. This one show in particular was a better show. It wasn't a huge crowd & you can't even see the audience in it but it was a show where I thought we shined & it showed what the band was about, so I went through it & picked out 9 or 10 tracks. I thought this represented what the band was about. There was no professional videos ever shot of the group. Of all the live footage I ever saw, that was the best thing we had. It is what it is. It's so hard for me to look at it & judge it because it's me & I was there and I remember driving to that show & driving home so I probably won't see it the way a fan will look at it. I remember getting up & going to work the next day after that show so it was a little different for me.

MH : There's covers like “ Levity Ball.” Were you a big fan of Alice Cooper's Pretties For You album?

W13 : I've never hid it, I always mention Cooper as being the absolute biggest influence on me period. Back in the early days of the Drag Queens I think it annoyed the guys in the band because we used to practice a couple times a week & every time I'd go cool, I learned how to play this Cooper song, I learned how to play “ Long Way To Go ” or I learned how to play “ Eighteen ”, or we'd learn how to play “ Dead Babies .” Every time they'd come in it was like ‘what the fuck, are we a Cooper tribute band?' & I'm like no, I'm just such a fan and the only kind of songs I ever tried to learn was Cooper & KISS songs & Ramones songs. The reason we did “ Levity Ball ”, originally a friend of mine was putting a Cooper tribute record out & we recorded “ Hello Hooray ” & for some reason the record never came out & the song we did sat there for a couple years. Then someone else was putting a Cooper tribute record out & I was like well I've been sitting on “ Hello Hooray ” for 3 years, let's record “ Levity Ball ”, which is one of my favorite old Cooper songs. We went in & did that & that's the one that officially came out on a tribute record. “ Hello Hooray ” was supposed to come out on a tribute record but it never did. We did put it out on a 7” in Germany with some band. We've always flew the Cooper flag high. I had the honor of doing a week of touring with Cooper last Halloween. I couldn't believe I was doing it but he was a really respectful guy & he's a big fan. To have one of your heroes pat you on the back & go good luck, I get what you're doing & thanks, that's a big feeling.

MH : What did you think of the Dirty Diamonds CD?

W13 : I love it. That was the tour I got to play with him on & I actually got up early that day to make sure I was at the store the day it came out. There's not a lot of bands that still excite me, but when Cooper puts a record out I'm there. It's really hard for him to let me down. With Dirty Diamonds & The Eyes Of Alice Cooper , when I heard he was going for a 70's rock approach that was a big thing for me. When Dirty Diamonds came out I went & bought it, I think the record's great. I think he's got some of the best stuff on that he's done in years. It's not Trash , it's not Hey Stoopid . Alice has always been this cameleon guy that jumps in & out of whatever he wants to do. I thought Brutal Planet was about 5 years delayed from the Pantera-White Zombie movement, which was funny cause when Pantera & White Zombie were breaking he was putting a record out that kinda sounds like The Eyes Of Alice Cooper wit h The Last Temptation . I've always respected that guy & I think he's probably one of the most under-rated artists period.

I pick up guitar magazines & see Jimi Hendrix & things like that and I'm wondering why, the original Cooper band, why aren't they on the cover? Those guys were innovative and they did shit that nobody ever did. You'll see Jim Morrison on the cover of a magazine like Rolling Stone & what about Cooper? That's just my little ranting, but oh well.

MH : And Alice keeps putting out good albums.

W13 : Oh yeah, & he always re-invents himself, watch his show & he'll take his old tricks & twist ‘em. You've never got that guy figured out. He's a fuckin' magician. It's kinda weird. He's putting out albums now like he did in the 70's. It's like an album a year, whereas there's bands now that go ‘we put our debut record out & we have to grow & appeal to the reviews', it's like a reviewer's a reviewer, good or bad, it's press. Cooper knows that he's not getting any younger so he just puts out what he wants. He puts a record out every year.

MH : What other bands do you still look forward to hearing new albums from?

W13 : (deep breath) It's really weird, with my new record the thing that shaped it a lot was that I could tell you the 3 different styles, I listened to; The Ramones and The Doors & Motley Crue & outlaw country records. Everything from Johnny Cash to David Allen Coe to Waylon Jennings, that's all I've listened to for the past year. I can't say anything new I've got into. Getting into the old outlaw country stuff opened the door for me. I wouldn't say musically it opened the door for me. It was more going back to the attitude thing. I was so un-inspired by everything new that was coming out that I discovered this whole new realm of all these outlaw guys & just going fuck man, these guys are the real deal, these fucking cowboys (laughs).

MH : Those are some drug using- mother-fuckers.

W13 : Yeah, it was the same thing. They're Motley Crue playing different music. That has been a big inspiration for me in the past year. I don't think it shows in the music. I'm a southern guy, I live in North Carolina & I'm constantly surrounded by it. I never deny my roots or anything so I think it shines with some people, some people don't really get it. But to answer your question anything that's new, I can't name anything other than wanting to hear the New York Dolls record that's coming out just to hear what it sounds like.

MH : Rebel Meets Rebel was cool.

W13 : Yeah, I've had that for a while now. It's been done for years & I got a copy of that a long time ago so it's not as new to me as it is in the press. When I first heard it, I shit you not man, I got that record in the mail & put it in my car, I left my PO Box & I drove down the road and I pulled over, because I was like holy shit. I was a big Pantera fan, I'm not a big metal fan but to me Pantera & White Zombie were my favorite metal bands. When I heard David Allen Coe singing over those Pantera riffs actually I pulled over, I was like ‘ Holy shit, this is the best thing I've ever heard .' A lot of people don't get it. They don't get the David Allen Coe vibe to it. I'm such a huge David Allen Coe fan. I'm wearing a David Allen Coe hat right now. That's the only thing that really moved me, as far as being a current kind of thing.

MH : And hearing Dime play the total rock&roll style.

W13 : Yeah, but he's always worn his influences on his sleeve. He's got KISS tattoos & he's been a proud supporter of everything (he liked). That's the thing with me, some people go well you've got black hair & you wear lipstick & make-up, you're a goth rocker & I like everything from Cooper to Johnny Cash, it's all over the place. There is no limit & there is no code you gotta live by, where if you've got black hair you like Sisters Of Mercy and Bauhaus . I don't own any of those records by any of those bands. The reason I know of ‘em is cause I constantly have people asking me, are you a big fan & I'm like no I'm not . To me the whole black hair & black lipstick thing came from Motley Crue & Wasp & Cooper. That wasn't goth, that was hard rock, it was shock rock.

MH : For the unreleased CD in the box (‘ Rare Treats ') what time span were those recorded in? All the albums?

W13 : Yeah, it was in-between records more than less. I think on the track listing I did it in order. Where it was always in between a record, we'd do a couple covers so it was all over the whole six-year span of the band being alive. In between each record we'd do 2 or 3 songs here or there. There was actually a plan to put out a record called Dark Side Of The Tune which was gonna be nothing but covers. We initially went in & did “ Levity Ball ”, “ Fox On The Run ”, “ I Wanna Be Your Dog ” and a handful of songs like that. We had another whole half of that record we never finished. Originally we were gonna do “ Hot For Teacher ”, we did this horrible but hilarious version of “ Hot For Teacher .” We did “ Cat Scratch Fever ”, we did “ Sounds Of Silence ” by Simon And Garfunkel. We did all these rare songs that we used to play live but unfortunately we never got to record those songs. That was a work in progress & the line-up change came about & it got shelved but we did get the first half of it done.

MH : How did the Drag Queens gigs happen last year?

W13 : It's one of those things where, the Drag Queens phenomenon, every year I've seen it build & build. Last summer in town, the whole band still lives here, we got together cause originally we were gonna do 3 new songs to put on this box set. We got together & we rehearsed, just old friends bullshitting & talking about old stories. We had our guitars so we started going through some of the old stuff & I'm like let's do a couple of local shows just for fun, so that's what we've done. It's a little pre-mature & it got took in the press that the band was back together. We just did a couple shows, but I was still in the middle of doing my record and touring on the record. I went & toured in Japan & Australia & Europe & it was too much too quick to do it. Now, will the Drag Queens ever do a tour? I'd like to. I'd like to say that we finally got to do a tour.

My whole mindset on it is with this box set, at least in America let it be out for a year or so and let people understand or catch on to what the band was. Cause on a tour in America we'd play in front of 5 people again, it'd be like old times. Touring period ain't cheap. Not that we're trying to get rich off it but you can't even get a full tank of gas, which these days is a lot of money. I never said never and the possibility of doing a Drag Queens tour is always very possible. I try to keep myself as busy as I possibly can & who knows, maybe this time next year I'll be doing a Drag Queens tour through Europe.

MH : Do you think it's creatively beneficial for bands to remain somewhat hungry? Since money seems to rob some bands of their creativity?

W13 : I think so. There's different ways to look at it. With the Drag Queens, the whole existence of that band was a struggle. At least for me, not that I never had fun, I always had fun but it was always a struggle trying to maintain working a day job yet trying to live your dream out & people don't understand what you're doing and where you're coming from. Then to see it come to life years later it kind of makes you go ‘ fuck where where you guys at when we were doing this ?' At the same time you go wow at least it's finally taken form, people are appreciating it. As far as other bands, in my case doing Frankenstein Drag Queens and then joining Murderdolls with a guy from a band like Slipknot, which are a platinum selling band. At first people were so quick to write me off going this is just the guy from Slipknot's little flunkie singer that he found. This guy has no career. He had no existence before this project and he's a nobody, but the cool thing about it was The Murderdolls kick started my history. People learned about the Drag Queens, learned about my history (& they see that) hey this guy's been around for 6, 7 years before Murderdolls existed and then Murderdolls used half their material from Frankenstein Drag Queens . Really, if it did anything it helped me out. It showed that I wasn't some guy out of the blue trying to look cool and back a guy up from a platinum-selling band. That was the cool side of it for me. Which is why I've been fortunate enough to be able to keep doing my own thing and putting out records.

MH : Everybody wants to know, is there any chance of another Murderdolls record?

W13 : The same thing as with the Drag Queens, there's always a chance of anything. Fuck, if you'd have told me I'd be playing with Eric from the Murderdolls a year ago I'd have told you- you were out of your mind & he's playing in my band now. Anything's possible, I'm not a grudge holder guy. To me rock and roll's fun and everything I've ever done has been built on dysfunction. Our whole function is built on dysfunction. The Murderdolls was definitely a dysfunctional unit, whether it was seen in the public eye or not, but that's what fueled us. Our dysfunction made us work. We were a band that really wasn't even a band until we went on tour. It was like here's your tour bus, you've got these songs, learn how to play ‘em, pat you on the back, good luck and we learned how to be a band on tour. We learned how to hate each other (&) love each other, I never say never to anything because I've done that in the past & then I end up doing it, & I look like a hypocrite so anything is possible, The Drag Queens reunion, a fuckin' Murderdolls record. I just like to make music and have fun. I like to change things up from time & time again so I think that's definitely a possibility.

MH : Anything else going on in the future that we haven't touched on?

W13 : Yeah, I'm just finishing up the record. I finished recording it. I mailed off the master to start getting the mix done and hopefully in a couple of months I'll be on tour to promote this record for a year. Who knows, my life changes so quickly at all times, I have no idea of what to expect, just a lot of fun and a lot of recklessness and just debauchery completely.

MH : Lastly, any messages for the readers of METAL HELL?

W13 : Thank you guys for all of your support over the years. I'm still standing & I'm coming back with a new record that's gonna fuckin' knock you on your ass.

The Frankenstein Drag Queens

FANG BANG is out now.