Bobby Lisi/J-Sin Trioxin

June 16 2009

Double header today. 1st we went down stairs from my apartment and into Stomp & Soundz. It's the local record store/goth wear boutique and Bobby Lisi has been the proprietor for 20 years. In addition to having insight on music in general he grew up in Lodi where he knew the Caiafa family, especially Doyle who was his best friend in grade/high school. He also palled around with Danzig/Samhain's Steve Zing, and Myke Hideous sold records in the store next to him many years back. In short he's been "Forest Gumping" his way through my film for years. It was fun speaking with King Sicily (Bobby's other name) even though we talk almost everyday. The fun part about the King is you don't know if he's going to be the opinionated yelling screaming hard ass Italian.... or the VIOLENT opinionated yelling screaming hard ass Italian. I'm kidding, he was very reserved and smiled a lot. It was kinda cool to talk to him for the perspective of a future parent who grew up being the scary goth guy who scared the shit out of parents.

J-Sin was up next in my kitchen. He's one of Myke's best friends as well as colleague. HE TOO played guitar for Michale Graves. It seems like for a while working with Myke Hideous was a right of passage for young North Jersey dark rockers. A few musicians who made their bones with Myke moved on and worked with Michale Graves.

J-Sin also was the guitar tech for Doyle (who he met through Myke's involvement in the Misfits) and the founder of Mister Monster. He briefly played with the Undead and currently plays with Wednesday 13..... J-Sin is a busy guy. He was very insightful on all the people he was worked with, and what he went through to be a musician. J-Sin is big on respect, owning up and doing the right thing. We also discussed how ego sometimes gets in the way. For as much as people give Myke shit for being hard on musicians, J-Sin felt it made him better. Awesome guy and I'm sure we'll meet up again down the line.

Loki

June 14th 2009

Today we when to the studio in Rutherford to speak with Mister Monster/SpySociety99/Gotham Road/Michale Graves guitar player Loki. As we should have expected, it was a bit noisy in the studio, but we worked through it.

Loki was quite and told us he was a bit under the weather. JV Bastard (who has been in 5 different bands with Loki) stopped by as well. Loki is a very reserved guy on camera, but he shared a lot of different information. We spoke about his time in SpySociety99 (which for those who don't know is Myke's rockabilly-esq swing band). He also talked about long term goals for musicians. He said in time, he was going to make the transition to be promoter and spoke about what he thought a promoter should do for bands.

We took a short break and put JV back on camera with Loki to talk about Gotham Road (Michale Grave's metal band). Loki came out of his shell a bit more and they discused working with Michale and they're pet-peeves. They have a lot of strong feeling about Doyle & Chud's band Gorgeous Frankenstein. They felt that a lot of love didn't go into his album, and much more work went into selling hoodies. They see themselves always as musicians before businessmen.

All and all good time.

WorkShop Teaser

This is the first attempt at a teaser. I don't really like it, it uses very little footage that will be used in the film (because we haven't shot it yet). Just took clips of Myke from the "Black Friday" show and sliced in lots of stills of Myke. The film will ultimately be broader then only Myke's story. Myke's book (which this film is based on) can be filled in with much broader strokes then only Myke's story.... this story is about everyone. It can just as easily be about a painter or an actor... or a chief. We've already cut "HIDEOUS" out of the title. The film is now simply "LIVING THE AMERICAN NGHTMARE".

1st Official Shoot; JV Bastard

May 19th

We Officially kicked off production today, on May 19th 2009 (Joey Ramones' Birthday, dramatic, huh?). Our 1st interview is JV Bastard who is the bass player for Michale Graves, Gotham Road (Michale's metal project), and Mister Monster (a horror punk band founded by former Empire Hideous member J-Sin Trioxin). We picked to start on JV because of the access he was willing to give and his enthusiasm for being part of the project. He is relatively young so he is giving a current prospective of a hardworking musician in his prime and what he has to go through. Also, given his closeness to Graves and association with Hideous, I figured he had a unique point of view and I can ask a lot of question.... and believe me I came in very over prepared.

JV was an amazing host and we couldn't have started off better. With me was our production assistant Katie, our photo journalist Emily (who is a childhood friend of my girlfriend), and my director of photography Mike Hall (who was fresh off directing his feature film Kids go in the Woods, Kids Get Dead). JV's apartment seemed to be a gathering place for a lot of the guys in the North Jersey, horror rock scene and he had tons of Misfits memorabilia decorating it. We were interrupting their "Uno" night.

JV kicked ass. He was charismatic, positive, and we touched on every aspect of where the film was going. JV spent most of his adult career working with Michale Graves so we spoke a lot about him. At this point Michale Graves and Arturo Vega are the biggest names who have agreed to do an interview. We spent about an hour an a half with JV before wrapping up. I stayed for a couple hours afterwords and we spoke about the Misfits and all the drama involved with that band. JV's former band mate J-Sin Trioxin from Mister Monster and Michale Graves even stopped by. It struck me how different of a guy JV (or myself for that matter) would be if it wasn't for some "silly" punk band who sang about horror films.

The crew was on the ball and I couldn't ask for a better job. Great first official day.

Test Shoots/Joe Buck

May 16.

Very Exciting beginnings. Today Myke and I did test shoots for the new film I’m making with him, Living the American Nightmare. As we were tuning up the finer points of press releases, we (Myke) got a call from Arturo Vega. I’ve read books on Arturo, seen him in the Ramones documentary End of the Century, and now I will be humbled with an audience with the great Ramone’s art director, and man who has been there and done that with literally everyone. Holyapeshit!

We had an excellent test shoot. Myke talked about the origins of some of his tattoos and more colorful scars. I wanted to feel him out, and see how comfortable he was on camera and answering questions on the spot. What started out as a bit of an anxious shoot, quickly adjusted into a casual on camera conversation. Though it was a test shoot, Myke hit me with both barrels, being brutality deep, honest, and at times boyishly excited to be speaking. Very stress free, almost deceptively easy.

Later we went to a club in Clifton called Dingbatz to meet up with J-Sin Trioxin, who was playing that night with Wednesday 13’s psychobilly side project. Myke lit up when we learned that Joe Buck was performing that night. I'd never heard of him. That changed quick…

Joe was a 46 year old punk/country solo performer with a poorly fashioned rat tail and blonde Mohawk. He sat on his amp and played guitar while singing and pedaling a bass drum. He was lit only by a single red light under his face. No shit when this guy starting down stroking, grinding his teeth and stomping on the drum it grabbed my throat and pushed the button. His stare only was worth the price of admission. He performed more aggressively than 19-20 year olds who are supposedly at their hormonal adolescent peak. Its not just hitting cords, it's about touring the country in a mobile home with your woman and your dog, playing on stage alone, having a bigger stage presence then all the bands on Lallpolooza put together, and being righteously, RIGHTEOUSLY pissed. Fuck yes Joe.

After his show I caught up with him backstage where I put a cheap shit camera in his face and he gave me an interview. We talked about Shakespeare, cops, the farm and human nature. He was the opposite of anyone who sees his show would think. Joe was a complete gentleman, vividly lucid, and was so corporative it was like I was doing HIM a favor. When I turned off the camera he could care less and continued speaking cause this motherfucker had something to say. I helped him carry his equipment to his R.V., he gave me his number so we can do this properly. When I asked if he was on itunes his response was a sheepish “What’s that?”

Joe Buck couldn't be a better foot to get off on.