Spring, 2009
This is PawL speaking, and today my life is over. I'm embarking on a new film called Living the American Nightmare. My mission is to put my spin into the classic punkumentary. My partner, co-producer, and main subject of the film is Myke Hideous. I first heard of him combing the internet looking up line-up changes and band facts on the Misfits (so for me a typical Saturday night) and I came across the ’98 line-up of the Misfits having a singer I’ve never heard of… Myke Hideous.
I looked up pictures of the mysterious 3rd singer of one of my favorite bands, and saw a man who looked like someone buried Michale Graves, dug him up, and put him back on stage (zombie infection and all). Myke has the record for “Misfit with the longest devil lock,” he wore tight black pants, a tattered see threw shirt, and his arms are smeared with tattoos of bugs. Instead of Grave’s skull, he painted his face with dark eyeliner and stitches. He wore custom fangs, making his look vampire-zombie. Digging deeper, I found his band, Empire Hideous. The slow methodical track I downloaded were laced with passion and a chill inducing vocal sample in the intro... the film promtly ended up in a short film (without asking Myke for the rights.
The film we’re doing is about rock stars…REAL rock stars. People who live the life and take chances for the sake of surviving off their art. They are not millionaires and don’t have mansions, yet you can get their music in almost any mall. They are constantly putting out new records, and touring just to make ends meet, all the while fighting conflictions with reality and the demons that allow them to create in the first place. Myke’s book is a bible for anyone up and coming alterna-kid. Anyone who wants to make a living with his or her creativity should be warned by the end of the book the good guy doesn’t get the girl, the hard working band doesn’t score the deal of a life time, and the bad guy doesn’t get his just desserts. The central theme is about how art will always cost the artist no matter what. It comes with the territory most don’t have the stomach for.
The interviews we’re lining up for this are surprising even Myke. My objective is to use Myke’s story to tell the story of all starving artists. I’m also attempting to put together the most complete biography of my beloved Misfits to date. It sounds like bullshit but I hope, I really hope that this is the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I want this to be the starting point of anything I’ll ever have to leave behind. So the American Nightmare begins…
