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Interview
by SashaS
7-9-2002
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| Murderdolls |
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Munificent appetency
Murderdolls might ‘Dress to Depress’ but rock ‘devilishly’
Murderdolls’s debut album, ‘Beyond The Valley Of The Murderdolls’, has had very good notices and support from the Slipknot fans. Joey Jordison, who’s swapped his drum-stool for a guitar duty, ‘formed’ the band with Static-X guitarist Tripp Eisen after they toured together at the OzzFest in 1999, although Murderolls’ roots are set seven years in the past, in an outfit named The Rejects.
‘Beyond the Valley…’ is a big fun record that rocks with glam-ish abandon and Goth-chic, combining horror imagery with a sense of humour. No doubt New York Dolls, The Cramps members and Rob Zombie ought to be proud of the successors… Today, in a London’s hotel lobby, all-black clad, dark-haired and white-faced members – singer Wednesday 13, Eric Griffin (bass) and Ben Graves (drums) – are around the lunch table. Jordison (in Ireland with Slipknot) and Eisen (back in USA) are missing.
“There was a band, The Rejects,” Wednesday 13 reviews the band’s biography, “in 1995 that played around Iowa and were so bad that it was cool to go and see! They sounded dirty, raw, sloppy, punk, out-of-control and the project continued even when Joey joined Slipknot. Whenever he’d get back from touring with the ‘Knot, he’d get the band going for a month or so… He was the only member and there were revolving musicians. Even some of Slipknot members played with him, Corey (Taylor, Slipknot’s singer) did several shows playing bass! After meeting Tripp, he was with a band Dope then, he came and played two shows with The Rejects before going to join Static-X.”
“Tripp approached me,” W13 continues at the racing-car-speed, “to join as a bass player; I was playing guitar and singing in another band and thought that this could be a good experience although I wanted to sing. There was another singer but, after touring with Slipknot, Joey told me he’d listened to my stuff, liked my voice and was going to get rid of our singer… Five months after joining I got the job I wanted in the first place!”
Gore-philia and illin’
It all started under The Rejects name but soon mutated into the Murderdolls… (Tripp, due to his commitments to Static-X, has recently been replaced by the former guitaring member from the pre-Static band, Dope, Acey Slade.)
“During making of the record it felt like the new thing,” W13 recalls, “as it was a combination of new stuff, some old songs, some of mine, and it was decided to change the name. Joey had the name The Murderdolls for a couple of years and we all agreed on it. The transformation was complete…”
But, the album’s theme is not a reaction to the ‘issue-bands’.
”No, I don’t think it is a reaction to anything,” W13 confirms, “but its lyrics are anti-depressing on purpose. I think kids have had loads of rock-depression. The sense of humour is important because that’s what you get in horror movies, it’s serious fun! The main reason for this being of such lyrical concept is down to the place where I live, in North Carolina. There is nothing to do there, only hang out at the mall but I preferred to watch horror movies, I wanted to escape. When I listen to other bands I don’t want to listen about my problems. So, when you come to our show, or listen to songs on our album, it’s almost an escape from your everyday life, unless you gonna kill your bride or dig up some graves…
“So, I’d say, if you are a real seek-puppy this is a record for you. You can relate to us but there is also so much other stuff going on and it is all tongue-in-cheek, dark humour and some people get it and some don’t…”
History robbing in the USA
“We’ve made music we like to listen to,” W13 readily admits, “and I have to say it is not new. It reminds me of everything I’ve listened to when growing up. Y’know, it is new to other people because we write from a traditional formula, we are not Limp Bizkit or all these new bands; we have guitar-solos and everything, from the whole sound to the look of the band, in my mind – we look like the band should, on and off stage. When I remember bands like Alice Cooper and Kiss, it was God-like to me and I want people to have the same sense of awe coming to our shows.
Imagine Murderdolls really taking off, where would that leave Slipknot?
“It would be nice but not even then,” W13 states confidently, “I’m sure, Joey’s gonna leave Slipknot, I don’t think he can because he is one of the main songwriters. I don’t think he’d like to either, he likes making music too much to even have a vacation… He hasn’t had one in years!”
“Joey’s so ambitious that he’d play to 8 thousand one night,” Eric Griffin suddenly joins the exchange, “with Slipknot and a few nights later he’d be with us playing to 500 people, sometime even less. He could refuse to tour on our small bus with all of us and the crew crammed in, whereas with Slipknot they tour on three luxury road monsters! If that is not commitment, I don’t know what else is.”
Corey told us what he thought of the Murderdolls album, what’s their impression of ‘StoneSour’?
“We haven’t heard it,” W13 shrugs, “and I don’t think even Joey’s heard it… We saw them play Whiskey-a-Go-Go in LA and the show was great. I don’t know how he (Corey) manages to sing like that and, immediately after walking off, talk and act normal.”
Tour dates:
09 September – G2, Glasgow
10 September – University, Birmingham
11 September – Little Academy, Manchester
12 September – Fleece & Firkin, Bristol
13 September – Garage, London
(with Papa Roach)
02 Nov - SECC, Glasgow
03 Nov - Apollo, Manchester
04 Nov - The Point, Dublin
06 Nov - Academy, Birmingham
07 Nov - Brixton Academy, London
SashaS
7-9-2002
Murderdolls’ album ‘Beyond The Valley Of The Murderdolls’ is available now on Roadrunner
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