Hollywood Undead
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-------------- Feature • Heywood Banks ------------- Down on the Farm By Mark Hunter When I reached Heywood Banks at his compound somewhere in the wilds between Detroit and Lansing, the -------------Feature • Hollywood Undead ------------ unique and wildly popu- lar singer/songwriter was busy concocting new singer/songwriter-type stuff from deep within his unique and wildly popular compound some- where between Flint and Masked Mavericks Ann Arbor. Heywood Banks By Deborah Kennedy control us.” has always been a tough Eventually, the wise people at A&M/Oc- “get” for working jour- The Hollywood Undead have a very tone Records agreed to put out Swan Songs nalists. Intensely private simple rationale for wearing masks. just the way it was, and goody for them be- and reluctant to expose “We just thought it would look cool cause the record was a smash. It climbed to himself to the probing, in pictures,” bass player J-Dog (aka Jorel No. 22 on the Billboard 200 chart and threw sometimes rude ques- Decker) told me in a recent phone conversa- the Undead into the spotlight. They saw, tions lobbed at him like tion. He’d just returned from his first ever they toured, they conquered. They also lost desperate returns at Wim- fishing trip in the hills outside of Los Ange- a bandmate, Deuce, in the process. bledon, Banks typically les and was a bit high from having caught a Most reports suggest that Deuce (aka prefers to let his deeply trout, a huge one J-Dog described to me as a Aron Erlichman) might have been a little personal art speak for ‘Rambo-looking fish.’ on the high maintenance side, insisting on him. And considering his “I mean, it’s not taking his own as- hardscrabble upbringing, like we thought we sistants with him who can blame him? could maintain this HOLLYWOOD UNDEAD on tour and mak- Heywood Banks air of mystery or w/All That Remains & Threat Level ing other diva-like was born Stuart anything. With the Saturday, July 9 • 7:30 p.m. demands. Erlich- Mitchell to a pair HEYWOOD BANKS Internet, all it takes man, who has since of parents in a whatzup: Is is for one person to Piere’s Entertainment Center penned a rather bit- log trailer in the Thurs., July 7 • 7:30 p.m. this a good time snap you on your 5629 St. Joe Rd., Fort Wayne ter tune about his rugged, hard- Fri.-Sat., July 8-9 • 7:30 & 9:45 p.m. to talk? way to the grocery former band, “Story scrabble moun- Snickerz Comedy Bar H e y w o o d store and, bam, Tix: $22 adv., $25 d.o.s. thru of a Snitch,” was tains in Tennes- Banks: Yes. you’re exposed. We Ticketmaster or Piere’s box office, replaced by Daniel see, a state well 5535 St. Joe Rd., Fort Wayne whatzup: just figured, why 260-486-1979 Murillo (aka “Just known for the Tix: $16.50, 260-486-0216 What are you not do something a Danny”), who aban- tough, moun- wearing? little different? And doned his spot in tainous regions which occupy certain areas. H.B.: A beekeeper hat and a pair of we do look cool. You have to admit.” Season 9 of “American Idol” to hookup with Tragedy reared its ugly head soon in young clown shoes. I did admit it. I also asked him why, in the Undead. Heywood/Stuart’s life when his chronologi- As it turned out Banks was in a jovial his case, his mask sports a $2 bill over the J-Dog said the lineup change has worked cal parents, Hank and Heyena Banks, were mood, rare form, if you will, for a man su- mouth. out great for the band. killed in a freak revolving restaurant ac- tured by an adhesive conformity to societal “I’m putting my money where my mouth “Danny brings a certain something. He cident atop a hardscrabble mountain. Hey- strictures. Banks is a gentleman chicken is,” he joked. “Literally. Nah, I don’t know. brings the sexy and the class,” he said. wood later learned that a misanthropic em- farmer and was spreading wood chips when I just thought it would be clever. When we All you have to do is give Hollywood ployee had set the speed of the restaurant to I reached him via cell phone just before a put out our first album it was a $1 bill. With Undead’s latest release, American Tragedy, “puree.” “Grisly,” Banks has been quoted as violent thunderstorm reined in our conversa- our second, I made a $2 bill and put it on one listen and it’s obvious that HU have saying. tion. there.” changed direction. The new album, while Orphaned at a young age, the young “You know I can always find wood The first album, the ironically titled still sporting the Undead’s trademark metal/ Banks/Mitchell was soon adopted by mathe- chips,” he said, “but I can never find wood Swan Songs, came out in 2008, after much rap sound, clearly displays more rock in- matical parents who quickly set him to work chip dip.” ado. The ado was due to the fact that several fluences. And tracks like “Comin’ in Hot,” at a local Kroger bagging groceries. Things A regular on the Bob & Tom radio show, labels wanted the Hollywood Undead – then “Gangsta Sexy” and “Hear Me Now” are go- went smoothly for the young teenager, who Banks has penned such classics as “Toast,” Johnny 3 Tears, Da Kurlzz, Charlie Scene, ing over big with fans. year by year was approaching adulthood, “Pancreas” and the ever-popular “Big Butter J-Dog, Funny Man, Shady Jeff and Deuce “It’s Hollywood Undead, only more re- until one tragic day he was hit in the head Jesus.” Those familiar with the Dayton-Cin- – to censor their expletive-sprinkled tunes. fined,” J-Dog said. by a flying can of lunch meat. The resulting cinnati I-75 corridor will be familiar with The Undead unequivocally said screw that Want to come back to life? HU will be spamnesia resulted in an affinity not only for the reference Banks makes to the creamy 60- to the folks at MySpace Records and others at Piere’s Saturday, July 9 with All That Re- forgetting tragic events but for wearing loud foot tall statue of Jesus which once graced who for two years tried to get them to com- mains and Threat Level. After that they’ll sport coats and songwriting. Banks soon dis- that stretch of pavement. Tragically, the promise. be on big tours in both the U.S. and Europe. covered he was unqualified for most jobs, so steel, fiberglass and spray foam sculpture “They would literally go song by song, There’ll be a third album sometime in the he picked up a guitar and headed north. felt the wrath of nature a year ago when the suggesting we take out almost every word,” future for sure – and when that happens, will When I reached him at his apartment in right hand of Jesus was stuck by lighting and J-Dog said. “The stuff they were complain- J-Dog make a $3 bill for his mask? rural Compound, Michigan, he reluctantly the entire thing was incinerated in a swirl of ing about, it was crazy. It was stupid. And “I’ve thought about that. Do I make a answered my call three times before the cell flame and toxic smoke. we just thought, ‘We’re not the Backstreet fake $3 bill or do I jump to a fiver? Am I phone service I’m hostage to decided to ap- “I thought about adding another verse to Boys. We’re not ’N Sync.’ We would rather thinking too much about this? I don’t want prove the connection. What follows is the not release the album at all than have a label to be a dork about it,” he said. conversation we had: Continued on page 27 June 30, ’11 --------------------------------------------------------------------- www.whatzup.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------5 -------------- Classified Ads -------------- HEYWOOD BANKS - From Page 5 Fo r Sa l e Se r v i c e S the song,” Banks told me. “You know they’re rebuilding it. It’s going to look like one of those big fiberglass men holding a muffler outside car $125 QUEEN PILLOWTOP LADIES 40-PLUS Mattress and box. New in plastic. Can Who want to be wined and dined by a shops. Big Muffler Jesus. But I’m working on other things. It would end deliver. 260-493-0805. white gentleman, call 260-433-4637. up like the Edmund Fitzgerald.” 4-7/14 whatzup: What’s your writing process? 6-7/7 H.B.: I walk around. Se r v i c e S Se l F He l p One of the new “things” Banks recently completed is a travel song, a CUStoM DRUM SERVICES DRUG PROBLEMS? “road” song, if you will, called “Ohio Iowa Idaho Hawaii Highway.” “It’s By Bernie Stone expert repairs, refin- Narcotics Anonymous can help! a sing-along,” he said. ishing, restoration. Bearing Edges cus- Free. Confidential. 260-427-9113, www.na.org or www.naindiana.org Another song, dubbed “Never Trust a Puppet,” recounts a horrifying tom drum shells. Thirty years experi- ence. [email protected] 52-2/5/11 experience from Banks’ youth when his mother would soothe her young or call 260-489-7970. Wa n t e d Heywood with a song about an untrustworthy lamb puppet who was used X12-3-17 as an oven mitt and subsequently burned its tongue.