Interview with Bill Moseley

Hardcore gore fans know Bill Moseley as Chop-Top, from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2. Headbangers know him as the voice of the rock band he’s in with Buckethead, Cornbugs. Bill Moseley is a horror God and luckily MovieMikes got some time to interview him about his success in horror and his passion for music.

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Mike Gencarelli: You’ve worked with Rob Zombie on four movies, including “House of 1,000 Corpses”, “The Devil’s Rejects” how was it working with him? Any future plans?
Bill Moseley: Not really sure that’s probably more up to Rob than it is to me. I have always enjoyed working with them. Every time we work together it seems to produce some pretty great results. Look forward to working with them again.

Mike Gencarelli:You’ve released a bunch of CDs under the band Cornbugs with Buckethead from Guns N’ Roses, How did that band start? Have you always been involved with music?
Bill Moseley: I always have. I had a band with my brother, called The Moseley Brothers, many years ago. My family has always loved music. My mom is a great piano player and my dad plays a little piano also. My parents would love to harmonize and we used to sing in the car. I never made it as a piano player, I couldn’t stand the lessons. What I did have an attention for was playing the dashboard of our car. My mom used to say, NND, which was “no nervous drumming”. I love to play the dashboard with my hands; I used to play waste baskets like drums. I started with bongos and moved up to trap set. My younger brother played piano and my older brother picked bass and that was The Moseley Brothers band. When I met Buckethead here in Los Angeles, I ended up getting together with him. He was a big Chop-Top fan from “Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2” and he wanted me to do some voice over some of his guitar playing. It went so well, he invited me to be on his “Giant Robot” album back in the early 90’s. I called him up and said can if we bang out some tunes so I could sell CDs at the horror conventions in addition to 8×10’s and that was really the birth of the Cornbugs. We ended up putting out five CDS, close to 60 songs. We never rehearsed or did a second take. We basically made them all up as we went along.

Mike Gencarelli: Is Spider Mountain your new band?
Bill Moseley: Buckethead and I parted ways about four year ago. I got together with a guy named Roni Scharone from a band called Stolen Babies and also plays in a band called Puscifer with Maynard from Tool. Roni and I met at a horror convention. He gave me a Stolen Babies CD, which I loved. For the last nine months we have been putting together Spider Mountain and the new CD is called No Way Down. Spider Mountain also has a song on the soundtrack of my upcoming movie, “2001 Maniacs: Field of Screams”

MG: Speaking of 2001 “Maniacs”, you recently took over the role Mayor Buckman from Robert Englund for the follow up to titled, “2001 Maniacs: Field of Screams”, can you give us a sneak peak of what craziness we can expect?
BM: Robert Englund is a tough person to follow; he is great in everything he does and I am a big fan of his. Originally when I found out that I was replacing him, it was daunting at first but I got into it. I loved the cast members, some returning from the first film like Christa Campbell and Lin Shaye. The script was so completely wrong and tasteless and depraved. Due to that it lifted me right up. The only thing I did to prepare, of course besides see the original movie, was to check out Foghorn Leghorn on Youtube. It definitely became my Zen master for Mayor Buckman. It was also tough to act with an eye patch; I got to tell you, screws up your depth perception.

MG: You are famous for your role of Chop Top, in “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2”, but you also were in a film “All American Massacre” from 2000 that was never released. Can you tell me about that? Will it be ever released?
BM: Well it exists so that’s the good news. I speak occasionally to William Hooper, Tobe Hooper’s son. William created and directed the film. “All American Massacre” is around somewhere and at some point in time William might do something with it, who know? It’s turned into a movie mystery now and I am not sure if we would be ultimately disappointed to put it out or just to keep it a mystery. Buckethead actually plays Leatherface for “All American Massacre” in a fat suit. I would take any opportunity to get back into Chop-Top, he is still one of my favorites.

MG: You starred in the “Night of the Living Dead” remake from 1990 and you are also in the upcoming “Night of the Living Dead: Origins, which is an animated 3D retelling of the classic story. Can you tell me a little bit about the movie?
BM: It is set in New York City, so that is very cool. It is animation but it is also like live action animation. I never actually worked with anyone; it was just me and the director, Zebediah DeSoto. We stood in a recording booth and ran the dialogue. They then take photographs of you and try and sculpt you Then they take your 3D translated character and put it into whatever situation there might be in the film. It was pretty disembodying. I am just excited about the script. “Night of the Living Dead” is a rural zombie movie and putting it in New York City is really a wild undertaking. I think it is going to be very cool and I cannot wait to see that on the big screen. I love “Beowulf” and “300” and imagining that kind of treatment with “Night of the Living Dead”, it is going to knock everyone’s socks off.

MG: I read you were friends with Dr. Timothy Leary. How did you meet him?
BM: I did a play a long time ago in Los Angeles, actually how I met Buckethead as well. It was called “Timothy and Charlie” by a guy named Tim Riel. It was two-act play with me playing Timothy Leary and a guy named Gil Gale playing Charlie Manson. It was based on a night back in 1974, when Tim Leary and Charlie Manson were side by side in solitary confident in San Quentin. Timothy Leary came to seven of our shows and he loved my portrayal and the whole show. We began fast friends. Some Manson family also came to the show and they seem to like what Gil is doing with Charlie Manson, which made him sleep a lot easier. I ended up becoming friends with Tim’s family as well and I attended his memorial in Santa Monica. After one of the shows, Gil introduced me to Buckethead backstage and that was the start of Cornbugs.

MG: How do you feel about the reaction fans have had to “Repo! The Genetic Opera”? It seems like that movie is going to be around for a long time and have a bright future ahead.
BM: I think it is such a great fun movie. It was such a great experience making it. It was fun signing and fun doing the choreography up in Toronto. Darren Bousman is such a great director. I am great friends with Ogre from Skinny Puppy who played my brother in the movie. I loved Paris Hilton, I thought she did a great job. I also loved working with Paul Sorvino. In general, I had a ball doing it and being a part of it. Every actor wants to be a part of something visionary. The fact that it is just getting started is a great tribute to the creators Terrance Zdunich, Darren Smith and Darren Bousman the director. Instead of being crushed that Lionsgate put the movie out in only seven theaters, when it opened theatrically, those guys put a print under their arms and started flying to different cities on their own dime and showing “Repo!” The encouragment on the internet has been very helpful with the Shadow Casts and now it’s gone international as well. It’s great to see something that has really captured the imagination of the people. I think it is weird that it is this generations “Rocky Horror Picture Show”, with people embracing it so well.

MG: How was it working on “Blood Night: The Legend of Mary Hatchet”?
BM: My stuff was shot in Brooklyn or the Bronx, at big open cemetery and also in Essex County, NJ in a closed mental institution. It was fun and cold as shit. It was filmed in December and it was snowing a lot. I thought Frank Sabatella (director) was really talented and the script was great. “The Legend of Mary Hatchet” was really cool!” Check it out!

MG: What else do you have in store for the future?
BM: I did a movie we shot a while ago, called “The Tortured”. It is a children abduction parental revenge movie. The film stars Erika Christensen and Jesse Metcalfe. I also did a 3D musical coming out called “Eldorado”, shot in England last summer. I got to say the movie I am really excited about, is one I did with my girlfriend called “Rogue River”, directed by Jourdan McClure. It was set on the banks of the Rogue River in Oregon. It is a very twisted movie and is more creepy than scary. My girlfriend and I have never worked before, her name is Lucinda Jenney. She really isn’t a horror person. She is in a lot more “mainstream type” movies and television. She got up there and really did a good job; she is really a twisted person at least on screen. It might be at as early as late summer or early fall. I would keep an eye out for that one and also Spider Mountain CD which should be ready to go this month. It is a lot different than Cornbugs, no improv. We actually composed the songs and did more than one take, it also included a little more signing on my part which is good. So a lot of good things coming, very excited!

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