The Sole Inhabitant Returns: An Interview with Thomas Dolby

Quick:  Who is Thomas Dolby?

If you said “The ‘She Blinded Me with Science’ dude”, you’re probably in a vast majority.   But, as Dolby’s long-time fans know, he’s far more than just being the artist responsible for the irresistibly catchy song that propelled him to the top of the charts and made him a staple of MTV’s golden era.   In addition to a being technological pioneer both inside and outside of the recording studio, Thomas’ musical career boasts a body of innovative work that includes five albums, the most recent of which – “A Map of the Floating City” – is his first since 1992.  It’s a triumphant return and one that hopefully marks the beginning of an equally prolific stage for him as a singer, songwriter and performer.

In talking with Thomas, he touched upon the things that drove him to create new music, reflected back on experiences from early on in his career, and how he’s seen the music industry and new talent evolve into the modern era.  We even had a chance to Cher our views on a certain vocal effect.

Dave Picton:  “The Map of the Floating City” is your first new album of studio material in 20 years. What made you want to return to creating and releasing new music after all of that time?
Thomas Dolby:  I suppose I just had some new songs that I wanted to get out.  You know, they say often with an artist’s first album, that you’ve had 20 years of life experience to draw from and, with your second album, you’ve had six months of airport lounges and hotel bars. [laughs] I felt that I’d had another 20 years of life experience to draw from.  I had a lot of good ideas and things that I wanted to express.

DP:  “Map” certainly wound up being quite autobiographical in nature.   What influenced that approach?
TD:  Well, I think the biggest influence on me, really, is my environment.  I think especially that moving and becoming displaced and that feeling of dislocation is a strong sort of catalyst of new songs for me.  So that sort of explains the map and the three continents reflecting three places that I’ve lived.  There’s “Urbanoia” and it clearly shows that I’m not a city person.  In “Amerikana”, the aggregate of me living in the States was a really good one.  I’m drawn to indigenous American music because we don’t really have indigenous music here in the UK.  That may sound strange to say, but I tend to charitably think of us being very original and innovative and so on, but in fact what we’re really good at is sort of plundering musical styles from elsewhere in the world and putting a cool sort of wrap on them and re-exploiting them.  A sort of musical imperialism, you know?  [laughs]  So, with the “Amerikana” section, it was sort of a nod in the direction of roots and old-time American music but with a unique sort of British tint to it.  And then “Oceanea” was really about coming home to England and feeling very comfortable in the environment here.  I live in a tiny village on the coast where my mum’s side of the family is from.  She never had the chance to meet my family.  She would have been very proud to see them back here growing up and learning to love it the way she did.

DP:  Jumping back to the notion of combining musical styles and using them in your music, what things were you listening to at the beginning that made you want to go into music and stuff you continue to listen to throughout your career?
TD:  Fairly diverse and eclectic music. I was always more into individuals with a unique voice and rock and roll band music.

DP:  Any one in particular?
TD:   When I was a teenager, David Bowie was a big influence.  Zappa, Captain Beefheart, Joni Mitchell and Van Morrison were big influences.  These are all wide varieties of different styles of music but what they all have in common is a unique lyrical voice.  The music that they made with the arrangements they created and the production and so on all served to tell a story.  They all wrote songs that you could have sat down and sung on the piano and they still would have made sense.

DP:  Is there a favorite genre that you like to settle into and work with or are all of them pretty comfortable and enjoyable to work with?
TD:  Well, what I enjoy most is working with a genre that I’m not too familiar with because it’s an exploration.  I tend to steer clear of styles that I’m too fluent in because there’s less randomness to it.  It’s more predictable.  So I find it stimulating to work in a new style.

DP:  If I snagged your iPod and pressed “random”, what artists would I hear?  Would you be one of them?
TD:  Well, inevitably, there’s a few of mine on there because I need to take them with me to listen to all sorts of rough mixes and things like that.  But, besides that, you would hear Iggy Pop.  Bjork.  Dan Hicks. T-Rex.  Marvin Gaye.  Trentemøller.  Athlete.  Venus Hum.  BT.  And some of the others I mentioned earlier.

DP:  You embraced technology from the very beginning of your career.  A great many things have happened in that realm since your first album, “The Golden Age of Wireless”.  Has evolving technology changed the way you approach writing music and what do you think the effect of it has been on music in general?
TD:  I think that the main difference is that D.I.Y. music has become possible.  You couldn’t do anything yourself in 1980.  You needed somebody to fund you to go into a studio, which is very expensive and is the only place to make a high-quality recording.  You also needed somebody with distribution power or else the public would never get to hear what you made.  So there was sort of this obstacle course that you needed to get through before you ever got in front of an audience.   Many people that were very talented didn’t make it through those hurdles.  Today, there’s absolutely nothing to stop you getting out in front of the audience without any outside help at all.  For a few hundred bucks, you can have a recording studio on your laptop and services that, without any investment up front, will help you distribute your music.  This is great news for talented youngsters because all talented youngsters believe “Well, as soon as the world hears me, they’re going to fall in love with me and I’ll be a mega-star!”  But, back in my day, we were actually kidding ourselves.  We first needed the industry to fall in love with us.  That has very wide implications.  The first is that it’s a very healthy thing for the music itself because, back then, if you sat down to write a song, you were worried whether or not you can get a cassette to the A&R man or, even if you weren’t really signed, would the marketing department and the promotion guys really go for it? Is radio going to play it?  Is retail going to stock it?  You were concerned about all of those things and they preyed on your mind when you wrote a song. Or at least they did on mine.

DP:   Was this phenomenon one that was relevant to you in the period between “Golden Age” and your second album, “The Flat Earth”?
TD:  I think it was relevant to me to an extent because there was a lot of pressure on me to repeat the formula that had made “She Blinded Me with Science” successful.  In industry terms, the textbook thing to have done would have been to have trotted out another half-dozen quirky synth-pop hits with gimmicky videos and those people would have told me “Then, Thomas…you can gradually turn people around to your more personal intimate music.”  [laughs]  But I’m impatient.  I had a lot more depth in me and I wanted to jump right on to the more important stuff.  This didn’t sit too well with the industry.  There was friction there and it was ultimately disappointing, really, that the industry couldn’t get behind my more personal material especially when it turned out that, over the years, when the internet emerged and so on, you could get more feedback from the fans other than just record sales.  You could actually hear what they thought of one song or another and what they appreciated about your music and how they found out about it and so on.  Suddenly the internet enabled the audience to feed back to the creator and it turned out that – big surprise – songs that they were really into were not “She Blinded Me with Science” or “Hyperactive!”.  The songs that they were into were “Screen Kiss” and “Budapest by Blimp” and “I Love You, Goodbye” which are my favorite songs as well.  It was hard for me during the 80’s to persuade my record label that they should put some weight behind those and I partly have myself to blame for that because they’d seen me make a lot of money with “She Blinded Me with Science” and they felt “Well, why can’t you just do that?”

DP:  Was the inclusion of “Hyperactive!” on “Flat Earth” sort of fulfilling of that end of the bargain to an extent?  It certainly seemed to be a song that was out of place with the rest of the songs on that album.
TD:  You know, I don’t want to give you the impression that I despise the poppy side to what I do.  I mean, I like the spectrum of things that I do.  Even on the new album, something like “Toad Lickers” which is clearly a little bit tongue-in-cheek and a little ironic, is lot more frivolous than the more meaty material on the album.  So I do enjoy it.  There’s a side of my nature that wants to do those kinds of things as well as the other ones.  But I guess with a song like that there is a distraction.  It’s impossible for someone with a record label mentality or a radio mentality to see the wood for the trees, really.  You know, I’d go into my company’s office at the time of the “Flat Earth” album and they’d say “Oh, Thomas! You wouldn’t believe it!  All of the secretaries here are in love with ‘Screen Kiss’ and they’re all humming it and playing it and saying what a beautiful song it is!” and I’m going “Great!  Are we going to go with it as a single?”  “No…we’re looking for something more like ‘Hyperactive!’ or ‘She Blinded Me with Science’.”  So the good news is that these days you don’t have to be accountable like that to anybody else other than your audience.  As an example, the first song off of the new album that we promoted at all was “Oceanea” and there’s no beat to it.  It’s kind of radio catastrophe. [laughs]  But, at the same time, I’d seen the reaction of my audience to that song that it had the deepest affect on people.   And I thought “Well, you put your best foot forward”, you know? That’s what you go with.

DP:  For “Map of the Floating City”, did you put out a couple of songs, get the fan feedback and then say to yourself “Oh, I was going to go in this direction but this is an interesting idea, I think I’ll go in a different direction” or were the songs already in the can?  And to what extent does the interaction with your audience play into when you’re starting to write and compose songs?
TD:  I wouldn’t say that it affects me directly.  I think that I do it for a couple of reasons partly because I like the moral support that I get, both from the audience and the making of the music as well.  I feel that, rather than working in a void, there’s an active audience out there that’s ever eager to get a hold of my new material.  I tend to work on my own and just bring in other musicians for specific tasks so it’s not like there’s a core group of us that sit down every day to press on with the album.  So I miss that camaraderie but what I gain by having a tight loop with the audience is that I can sneak stuff out in a fairly stealthy way and get feedback from it.  Invariably they’re pleased with what I do, but every now and then something doesn’t get as good of a reaction as I had hoped and it sort of makes me go “Hmm…I wonder what they’re not seeing in this.”  So I think it definitely influences me but it doesn’t radically change the choices that I make in terms of the songs themselves and the way that they’re arranged and presented.  I’ll give you an example: on the original demo for the song “Oceanea”, I used a processing effect on the voice in the first verse which involved heavily compressing and filtering the vocal and keening certain syllables.  It’s kind of what AutoTune does in an automated way but I was sort of doing it manually. I did it that way specifically as an experiment because I thought that it gave it a certain vulnerability.  Because of that, I got some backlash from people that said “Eeewww…I hate AutoTune!  I’ve hated it ever since Cher!”

DP:  Well, I hate to say it Thomas, but I was one of those people.  I wrote a review of “Map of the Floating City” that you wound up commenting on specifically in regards to that track and AutoTune.
TD:  Oh, OK.  Well it doesn’t bother me that people have those reactions.  As you noticed, despite that, I didn’t change it.  I stuck to my guns on it and I’m still glad that I did.  I perform the song live now and I miss that effect, not just because I can’t sing it in tune [laughs] but because it has a certain innocence about it.  Unfortunately, it pushed the wrong buttons for some people because they have a built-in prejudice about AutoTune and the flavor that brings to music and, in my case, it was a very deliberate thing.

DP:  One of the things I pointed out in our online dialog was that, to me anyways, there seems to be a difference between the song “Oceanea” as released on the EP and then what followed on the “Map of the Floating City” album.  I listened to the two versions quite a few times and it certainly seemed to me that on the EP version, the effect fades out after the first verse and, after that, it’s pretty much devoid of any vocal effect whereas the version that appears on “Map” has it throughout.
TD:  Well, since that discussion with you, I haven’t gone back and listened to both but, to the best of my memory, it’s the exact same vocal in the first verse on the EP and on the album.  I don’t remember changing or altering it further.  It could be that the rest of the mix around it changes your perception of it, but I believe it’s basically the same vocal.

DP:  Over the course of your career, you’ve done a fair amount of work on film soundtracks such as “Gothic”, “Howard the Duck” and “The Gate to the Mind’s Eye”.  Is that something you could foresee doing more of in the future?
TD:  I would consider doing it in the future.  I had mixed results with it.  “Gothic” is slightly in the news at the moment because of Ken Russell dying the other day and because people are looking retrospectively at his work.  It turns out that “Gothic” was quite a popular one and a lot of people single out my score as being something unique about that film. I really enjoyed working one-on-one with him.  In the other cases, it was more of a committee decision, you know, and it’s a bit disappointing that as a composer on a movie, you’re kind of relatively genial on the totem pole.  You’re sort of down there with the lighting guys and things like that, so if something is required to change for the sake of the movie, there’s no question that the composer has to sort of swallow it.  This was quite hard for me because I put a lot of love in everything that I do and nothing I do is throw-away.  So if, for example, a scene is cut, and I lose a piece of music that took me days to come up with and it’s not going to get used in the movie and yet the studio owns the copyright and therefore I can’t use it anywhere else, that’s a bit disappointing.  But you’re expected to just sort of expect that because you’re part of a larger team.  So I think that the right situation for somebody like me in film is when you get to work with one of the few actual auteurs that are out there.  I think a good example is Danny Elfman and his work with Tim Burton where very early on they established a relationship and Tim Burton became valued for his the individuality of his films and the fact that he has a single-minded vision that Danny’s music definitely was a major component in.   He’s done great great work but I wish we all could have as cushy a ride on a movie.

DP:  You recently remastered and reissued “The Golden Age of Wireless” and “The Flat Earth” as expanded editions that really fleshed out those two works for those who had heard them when they were initially released and serve as a great introduction for those who only know “Science”.  Are any other items in your backcatalog slated to get a similar treatment?
TD:  Well, not really.  There’s not a lot of wastage in what I do so there’s very few outtakes and demos and things like that.  I’ve got something that I’m interested in reworking which is when I put together my band, the Lost Toy People, in ’87-ish we went out on tour before we ever went into the studio to make the “Aliens Ate My Buick” album.  We did some sort of basement tapes which were straight to two-track tape.  We were pretty hot at the time because we had been touring, so the songs had a certain rawness about them that I thought was really interesting.  I also have quite a lot of video footage of us on that tour.  I’m quite tempted to remaster those tapes and piece it together – although it would be a bit of a cheat to use visuals from the tour and those tapes – and create a lost LTP basement tape type of recording.

DP:  Throughout your career, you’ve been able to have a wide variety of high-profile musicians including the likes of Mark Knopfler, Jerry Garcia and Eddie Van Halen as session musicians on your albums.  Is there any one of them that you’ve most enjoyed working with?  And are there any out there that you’d like to work with at some point in the future?
TD:   Well, I love working with other musicians.  It’s interesting that very often with guitar, which is not my instrument, I’ll have a song and think of a certain guitarist and imagine how they’d fit right in.  Interestingly with both Jerry Garcia and Eddie Van Halen, when I first started working with them, they picked up their guitars and tried to sound like Thomas Dolby which is not what I wanted at all. [laughs]  I just wanted them to be themselves so I could see the way they could fit in with what I was doing.  I’d say the exception to that rule amongst the guitar heroes that I’ve worked with was Mark Knopfler who actually listened to the song very hard from start to finish and then picked up a guitar and played me take after take all of which were just gorgeous.  He just said “As long as you want to keep winding the tape back, I’m happy to give you another one.”  So I winded up with like 15 or 16 different takes and it was very hard to choose between them because each one was unique and different.  He never played the same thing twice and all of it seemed like a really good expression of the feeling of the song.

DP:  When you work with other musicians, do you bring them in and actually work with them in person or are they working remote with the raw mix that you’ve provided them with and they, in turn, send their track over to you?
TD:  With the three that we’ve discussed, I worked with them in person but for quite a few of the guests on the new album, I wasn’t there.  Imogen Heap just recorded some jaw harp for me and sent me over a sample.  Regina Spektor I met once only when she did the TED conference a couple of years ago.  I just sent her the tapes and suggestions for her lines in English and she translated them into Russian and just sent me back some recordings.  Ditto with Natalie MacMaster, the Cape Breton fiddle player that plays on the album.  Uh, with Ethel and with my horn section, I went and recorded them in person because there’s a lot of arranging that had to get done on the fly.

DP:  Now that “Map of the Floating City” has been released, are you planning on any sort of live tour to support it?
TD:  Yeah, we’re trying to put a tour together for the spring.  Sort including South by Southwest and Cochella.  Where are you?

DP:  I’m on the east coast, Connecticut specifically.
TD:  Right.  I think we’ll be coming through something like the end of March.

DP:  I saw you a few years back at BB King’s Blues Club in New York City when you played there and it was a great show.
TD:  Oh yes, I enjoyed that.  Was that with a horn section or just me?

DP:  Just you. Will the new tour be a solo one as well?
TD:  I’ll have a small band with me.  As soon as things are firmed up, I’ll be posting the tour information on my website.  I look forward to seeing you there.

DP:  And I certainly look forward to being there.  It’s been a pleasure talking with you, Thomas.
TD:  Thanks.  Same here.   See you soon, my friend.

  For more information about Thomas Dolby and upcoming tour information,
visit www.thomasdolby.com

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Filed Under: Interviews, Music Interviews Tagged With: dolby, inhabitant, interview, returns, sole, thomas, ...

Interview with Sebastian Maniscalco

Sebastian Maniscalco is a stand-up Comedian who has appeared on several late night talk shows. Sebastian also was a part of “Vince Vaughn’s Wild West Comedy Show”. More recently Sebastian has filmed a new stand-up special which will air in January on Showtime. Media Mikes had a chance to talk with Sebastian recently about the new show and what got him into comedy.

Adam Lawton: Can you tell us what got you interested in doing comedy/stand-up?
Sebastian Maniscalco: I grew watching people like Johnny Carson and the comedians he had on his show. They were all a big influence on me. I was fascinated with stand-up and enjoyed making people laugh. For me it was just a matter of time when it was going to happen. I went to college and while there I got a chance to open for the National act that was performing at the school. I had an awful set but shortly after graduation I moved out to Los Angeles and started doing open-mic nights. So, I always knew I was going to be a comedian.

AL: Can you descried to us that first time you stepped out on stage?
SM: It was nerve racking. I had my 10 minute set planned from front to back. The audience was primarily African-American. That crowd is notorious for either really hating you or really liking you. I was getting booed quite a bite and that tends to throw your set off. I knew I had it in me and that I could do it but that was a real eye opening experience.

AL: Can you tell us about performing on the Vince Vaughn’s Wild West Comedy tour?
SM: I had met Vince about two years prior to him putting the show together. We stayed in touch and he liked what I was doing on stage so he invited me and a few of his other favorite comedians to be a part of his tour. We did one city a night for 30 nights. It was great! We went to places that I had never been before and we played to some really large crowds. That was really the first time I got a sense of what it was like to perform for that many people. We ended up shooting a documentary about the tour. That tour really catapulted me from working a day job into doing stand-up comedy full time.

AL: Was it tough having the cameras around?
SM: It wasn’t like reality TV where you had a camera in the bathroom with you or anything. After awhile it was just part of the gig. You definitely had your privacy as the cameras really only rolled during big events or before and after the shows. I don’t know how the people who do reality TV handle having a camera follow them around constantly.

AL: Were there any great behind the scenes moments from the tour you can tell us about?
SM: I didn’t ever know Vince Vaughn was such a gamer when it came to video games. He was playing games for 8 or 9 hours at a time. We would all go to bed and he would be playing then we wake up the next morning and he would still be playing. I was sort of forced to learn how to play video games on that tour.

AL: Can you tell us about your new Showtime show?
SM: This will be my second hour long special for Showtime. The show will air January 5th, 2012 and it is the next step of my career. In this day and age everything you do builds a foundation for what is to come. This special is a culmination of the last four years of my life. The theme of the show is based around how people act in society. I think the show is something that really will resonate with a lot of people as lately customer service stinks and people tend to be rude and/or have no manners. The topics in my show I think people will really be able to relate to.

AL: What other plans do you have for 2012?
SM: I have a 22 city tour planned for this year which will be promoting the special. I will also have a DVD coming out on March 27th 2012.  I will also be shopping around a television show loosely based on my life. We have some good ideas and hopefully we will make it on TV. The goal for me in 2012 is to definitely gain some presence on television.

For more info on Sebastian Maniscalco you can go to www.sebastianlive.com as well as follow him on twitter @sebastiancomedy

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Interview with Beverly Mitchell

Beverly Mitchell is co-starring in the new film “Infected” along side Vinnie Jones and Danny Glover.  She is known best for her role in the TV series “7th Heaven” and also appeared in films like “Saw II”. Media Mikes had a chance to chat with Beverly about her new film and also her other work.

Mike Gencarelli: Tell us about your character, Isabelle, in “Infected”?
Beverly Mitchell: We like to call her the “ugly duckling.” She’s the girl who was friends with all the guys. She was very awkward growing up but now she’s grown into a beautiful girl. She still has a lot of the insecurities she had in high school. She’s super-sweet, but she’s also sarcastic and fun. She doesn’t have a filter and she says what’s on her mind. She doesn’t have a mean bone in her body but she doesn’t always do the right thing. She has an unspoken love for Travis. They’re definitely the two most flirtatious…they definitely have something going on that neither one will recognize. What I love about it is that it’s like going back to when you were a child and if the little boy likes someone he goes up and hits them. It’s kind of like that between Travis and Izzy. She is so much fun to play because it’s so real and you can totally relate to it. It was fun for me to play this character because I typically play the nice girl. I’m always the goody two shoes. So it was kind of fun to play the girl that gets in trouble and puts her foot in her mouth. And a little more on the sexier side because she’s still trying to overcome the fact that she never felt pretty. It’s was really fun. I loved it.

MG: You are currently in production, tell us about the shoot so far?
BM: The film is about a group of friends that go to help out Dean’s grandma who is getting infected. There is a company that is developing an anti-virus so they can make money. And it turns out, lo and behold, that we all start getting involved and, one by one, we start getting infected. The film is about whether the group can overcome the virus and if they can survive and take down the huge pharmaceutical company that is trying to make money by making people sick.

MG: How is it working with Vinnie Jones, Danny Glover and director Jason Dudek?
BM: It was so much fun. Jason is such a fantastic director. He’s so involved and has every beat clearly choreographed in his head. As an actor you trust absolutely everything that he brings…he doesn’t miss anything. He was so supportive and so understand…just a perfect “actors” director. I’ve seen a little bit of the footage (the film is currently in post-production) and it looks amazing. It is going to be one fantastic film. I’m so excited about it. It’s one of those films where I was excited to go to work every day. 16 hour days. YEAH! And I’ll do it all over again tomorrow! And that doesn’t happen very often. It was a great set. Every actor brought his “A” game every day. And then you have a phenomenal director who continues to remind you why we do this. It was really exciting. I just love that.

MG: Sticking with sci-fi/horror genre, tell us about working on “Pennhurst,” directed by Michael Rooker?
BM: “Pennhurst” was quite an experience because we actually shot at the actual Pennhurst in Pennsylvania. It’s….well I don’t know if you’d call it haunted or what…but there is definitely something going on at Pennhurst. And while we were shooting there we saw all of it! It was crazy. We were there for eleven days. Batteries kept dying…cell phones went wacky…cameras began taking random photos on their own. Everything that they say happened there, which made the filming experience more interesting…just to be able to shoot on the actual location of Pennhurst. To see the beauty of the buildings and learn what Pennhurst is all about. For the audience it’s going to be interesting. And creepy. And scary. (laughs)

MG: How is it working on a show like “The Secret Life of the American Teenager” and how does it compare to when you worked on “7th Heaven”?
BM: Obviously the subject matter is much different then what we dealt with on “7th Heaven.” We talk a lot about sex on “Teenager” and a lot of other stuff we never talked about on “7th Heaven.” But what’s fantastic about “Secret Life” is that a good portion of our crew also worked on “7th Heaven.” So it’s like going home because it’s the crew that I grew up with. We just had our 15th Anniversary of when “7th Heaven” started, which is crazy to me. It doesn’t feel like it’s been 15 years. It’s so fantastic to go to work with everyone. The cast on “Secret Life” is fantastic. They’re so talented. They’re so much fun. They’re so welcoming every time I come back. Brenda Hampton (creator of both “7th Heaven” and “The Secret Life of an American Teenager”) is such a genius. I owe so much to her. She’s always been so supportive. She started this all out for me with “7th Heaven” and I can’t thank her enough.

MG: While you were working on “7th Heaven” you did “Saw II.” How hard was it to work on two completely different projects almost simultaneously?
BM: Believe it or not, I’m really not a horror film fan. I can’t stand horror movies because they scare the crap out of me. I am not good at watching anything horror. I totally freak out. I’m the girl who has to watch the movie during the middle of the day in daylight and then have to watch a comedy immediately after. It took me seven times before I finally got through watching the first “Saw” film. But part of me was really excited. You can’t describe it. And you certainly can’t compare “7th Heaven” to “Saw II.” But I was really excited. And I had no idea it would become the franchise it is today…what are they on, “Saw 17” by now? (laughs) But it was a lot of fun. Working up in Toronto was amazing. I love actually making horror films but I don’t love watching them. And I have a new found respect for the art of blood. “Saw II” was where I got my first lesson in blood and I loved the fact that I was able to tell them “throw more blood on me…make me look worse.” (laughs) It was so much fun. It’s fun to be able to do something that’s completely different then what you’re used to. That’s why I like to take roles that pull me in different directions and scare me. “Saw II” was definitely the thing that scared me most. I didn’t know if I could scream. I knew I could yell but I didn’t know if I could scream because I never really had the need to. So when I got to Toronto I thought, “I hope I got this.” And apparently I’ve got some good lungs on me because it worked out just fine.

MG: Besides acting, you’re also a country singer. Are you still recording?
BM: Actually, I’m not. I’m not doing anything currently. The whole country music thing was something I wanted to do my whole life. We were wrapping up “7th Heaven” and I talked to Brenda about it and she said, “just go…go to Nashville and do it.” Which is so not like me because I’m an Aquarius and I always have a plan. So I started writing. I met with producers and we did the album. It was such an experience. I equal it to being naked in front of everybody and just showing your soul and everything you have to the world. That’s what music is for me. Acting is very different because you get to hide behind other characters and you get to immerse yourself into them. But music is very much about who you are and what story you’re trying to tell. It was just a great experience allowing me to be me and to tell the story I wanted to tell. I absolutely loved it. I’m not doing it now because everything right now is going in a different direction. I’ve been doing a lot of writing. And I’m actually currently signed on to produce a Broadway play. It’s going to be off the chart…so fantastic and so much fun. It’s going to be like nothing anybody has seen before. So my time has been taken away from music. But that’s alright. I know that whatever I’m supposed to be doing I’m doing right now. And writing and creating and getting into the producing side is where I believe that my life is taking me. And I’ll always act. That’s like breathing and you can’t take that away from me.

MG: What is the name of the play?
BM: It is called “The Fabulous Lives of Hollywood Whores.” (laughs) Isn’t that fantastic?

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Filed Under: Film Interviews, Interviews Tagged With: beverly, interview, mitchell

Interview with Greg Jacobs

Greg Jacobs is one of the directors of the documentary film “Louder Than a Bomb”. The film takes a look at an annual poetry competition held in Chicago, IL and follows four schools preparing to compete in the event. Media Mikes had a chance recently to talk with Greg about his work on the film.

Adam Lawton: Can you tell us about your film “Louder Than a Bomb”?
Greg Jacobs: The film is about the world’s largest high school poetry competition. The competition is called Louder than a Bomb and it takes place each year in Chicago. The film follows four schools from the beginning of the school year until the end of the contest. Over the course of the film you start to see the film shift into being about something very different than what you envision at the start.

AL: What was it about the project that really interested you?
GJ: Documentaries have a funny way of finding you instead of you finding them. That is what happened with this film. I was driving down Clark St. in Chicago in the spring of 2005 and we went pass The Metro which is a famous rock club. I looked up at the marquee to see who was playing and it was the finals of the Louder than a Bomb competition. There was a line of kids made up of all different shapes, colors and sizes stretching down the block. Chicago is such a segregated city that it was really weird to see that type of crowd on the North side of Chicago for a poetry competition on a Saturday night. I mentioned this to my partner and everything sort of got started from there.

AL: Were you aware of this type of performance prior to the project?
GJ: We were both aware of slam poetry as it was something that came out of Chicago. We didn’t know that it existed as a high school thing or about the Louder than a Bomb program. It was really fun getting to know everyone involved and the culture of the teams.

AL: How did you go about choosing the four teams featured in the film?
GJ: Kevin Coval who is one of the founders of the program served as our tour guide. Over the course of a year he kind of directed us towards the school that had really serious programs. We visited about 12 schools to begin with. We attended the competition in 2007 on a scouting mission. The kids who made it into the film really jumped out and it was clear who we were going to follow. A lot of the kids we met at the event kind of pointed out who we should really follow as well.

AL: What do you think was the hardest part of shooting the film?
GJ: Everyone involved was really co-operative. We in a sense were part of the family. The real trick came when we took the 350 hrs. of footage we had shot into the editing room. Editing for the film took about 2 yrs. It really took a lot to get the film cut down and to get the story right. We have a really great editor.

AL: Over the course of shooting did the kids ever get you to try your hand at any poetry?
GJ: I don’t think anybody wanted to see that! (Laughs) That would have been catastrophic.

AL: Can you tell us when we can see the film?
GJ: The film will be airing on the Oprah Winfrey network January 5th. It’s a huge honor to be one of the first dozen documentary clubs to shown on that network. We also are planning a DVD release for early March.

AL: Do you have any other upcoming projects?
GJ: Jon Siskel and I also do television series. We have been doing a series of shows for National Geographic. We actually just won an Emmy for one we did on Hurricane Katrina. “Loader than a Bomb” just keeps growing and over the last year we have really been able to expand the outreach of the program. We are very slowly taking this thing that’s in Chicago and turning it into a national thing. Doing all this has really taken up a lot of our time and energy so we haven’t really been open to the next big idea.

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Filed Under: Film Interviews, Interviews Tagged With: greg, interview, jacobs

Interview with Dan Byrd

Dan Byrd plays Travis Cobb in the television series “Cougar Town”. Dan has also appeared in a variety other television series and films. Media Mikes had a chance recently to talk with Dan about the series as well as his role in the film “Norman”.

Adam Lawton: Can you tell us the current status of Cougar Town?
Dan Byrd: As far as I know the show will start airing in March. We still don’t have an exact date yet as a lot depends on a new show the network is going to start airing. If that show ends up being a success our show will start in March however if that show doesn’t do well we will probably start airing around early February.

AL: Can you give us some hints as to what we can expect this coming season?
DB: There’s a lot going on this season. I think it’s going to be our funniest season so far. Jules and Grayson are going to be sort of venturing into the land of being together and getting married. Travis is back at school while the story line between him and Laurie continues to grow. The thing with our show is that every episode is an entity unto its self. A lot of the story threads that were started in season 2 will continue on into the new season. Each episode is really its own adventure.

AL: How is it working with such a great cast?
DB: It’s great! It has been a huge learning experience. I have been working since I was young but I feel like I have learned more being on this set than I have on any other set. I have especially learned a lot about television and how shows are run. The cast is really awesome and it’s great to be surrounded by such talented people.

AL: What can you tell us about your film “Norman”?
DB: That film was made prior to me starting work on “Cougar Town”. The film is about a kid who perpetuates a lie to deal with events that are happening in his life. Because of this lie he is put on a pedestal and looked at completely different. The film deals with how my character Norman deals with this new found attention. There is also a love story intertwined with everything as well. Norman is really trying to balance all the good and bad that are happening to him at the same time.

AL: What are the release plans for the film?
DB: We released the film in 5 different markets a month or so ago. There are still screenings happening as well as the film being sent to SAG voters. I am not sure what will happen next release wise but, I think you will start to see the film out early next year.

AL: With the year wrapping up do you have any favorite films from 2011?
DB: I just saw “The Artist” which I thought was phenomenal! That’s definitely the best film I have seen all year. The concept is really great and I think the actors in that film should and will get nominated for an Oscar. Other than that I really haven’t seen much in the way of Oscar contending type movies. Shooting keeps me quite busy. There are still a bunch of films though that I want to check out.

AL: Do you have any other projects planned for the upcoming year?
DB: I don’t really know at this point. We will probably be done shooting “Cougar Town” around late January or early February. After that we are going to have a pretty substantial hiatus. This is going to be the first year that I really go out and try to pursue other things. I have been sort of lax in our previous hiatuses because it was the first time that I didn’t have to immediately jump back on the audition grind.

AL: If you had your choice are you looking to do something comedy based or do you want to work in a different genre?
DB: I have been doing sitcoms for some time so it would be nice to flex a different muscle. The only real criteria I have is that I try to find roles that will turn out well. The genre that I am working in is kind of secondary to the quality of the project. The role has to be something that I think will benefit me in the long run.

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Filed Under: Interviews, TV Interviews Tagged With: byrd, dan, interview

Interview with Josh Hammond

Josh Hammond is an actor with a resume of around 35 films. Josh is probably best known for his role as Jake Spencer in the horror film “Jeepers Creepers II”. Josh has a new film coming out titled “Agua Caliente” which also features Jason Mewes and WWE Veteran Al Snow. Media Mikes had a chance to speak with Josh about the film and some of his upcoming projects.

Adam Lawton: What can you tell us about the film “Agua Caliente”?
Josh Hammond: “Agua Caliente” is a comedy about 4 misfit film makers who receive $100,000 to make a film. However instead of using it for the film they blow all their money on one night of debauchery and are left with the task of shooting a film in 48hrs. We decide to shoot a horror film at a Halloween birthday party. We end up delivering the film but that’s all I am going to say. (Laughs)

AL: Can you tell us about your character in the film?
JH: I play a guy by the name of Lake Palmer. He is an out of work C-list actor working in construction. One of my friends in the film gets this money from my Uncle played by Al Snow to make a film. The film will hopefully make it so I don’t have to work in construction my whole life. I am pretty much a deadbeat alcoholic. (Laughs) he is sort of the zero to hero type guy.

AL: How did you get involved with the project?
JH: I had done a film a few years ago with Bill McAdams Jr. and Jessica Sonneborn. We had stayed in contact over the years and one holiday weekend we all went out to Palm Springs. The house we went to is actually the house we used in about 90% of the film. Bill brought up the idea of making a movie and we just started bouncing ideas back and forth while we were sitting in the pool. Over the next couple months we kept going out there and writing more and more around the location. Next thing I know we had a finished script and we started looking for money. We called in favors from friends and had some crew member friends come in to help us out.

AL: Had you worked with your wife (Kristina Page) on screen prior to this film? And how was the experience?
JH: I had actually never worked with her before this. We had been attached to a film together but we shot our scenes on different days. When you are producing, starring and writing it can be a little stressful. When you finally do go home I pretty much didn’t want to look at her even though I love her. (Laughs) It is hard to work together on that many levels and then go home and have to cook and clean.

AL: How was it working with Jason Mewes?
JH: Jason was very fun to work with. I have actually worked with him twice before. We worked together on “The Tripper” and “Noah’s Ark”. It was fun to be his boss and be able to tell him what to do. (Laughs) Jason is very creative and a lot of fun. Jason’s mind is so far out there that you have to be going his speed in order to keep up. It was exciting to have him attached to the project. It was a pleasure working with him.

AL: What are the release plans for the film?
JH: We have just submitted it to the Palm Springs Film Festival. I think the decisions are going to be made on that in the coming weeks. We are really hoping to get in there because we shot the film in the Palm Springs area and my wife grew up around there as well. There is also one or two other festivals we are looking to get in to. At the same time we are shopping for distributors. There are a lot of options out there to get the film out.

AL: What other upcoming projects do you have in the works?
JH: I have one film in the can titled “The Penny Dreadful Picture Show”. That film was done by Imaginarium and Dreadful Pictures. We shot that in Connecticut with Lee Scott directing. The film is 3 short films combined to make the picture show. I play the lead in the middle film titled “Slaughter House”. The story is based around a Charles Manson type family. I am slated to do a film in January titled “American Girls” where I play a serial rapist. In March I am supposed to start on a film called “Gallows Road” with Kevin Sorbo. I am also in the process of writing a Christmas film with Bill and my wife. I have a lot of things on my plate and am very happy.

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Filed Under: Film Interviews, Interviews Tagged With: hammond, interview, josh

Interview with American Idol’s James Durbin

James Durbin was a contestant on season 10 of “American Idol”. James recently released his debut full length album titled “Memories of a Beautiful Disaster”. Media Mikes had a chance recently to talk with James about his experience on the show and what it was like singing with Judas Priest.

Adam Lawton: What was the “American Idol” process like for you?
James Durbin: I originally auditioned for season 8 of the show however I was not in the right spot mentally at that time. I just wasn’t there what so ever in my life. During my time between the two auditions I started a family and really got my life and my priorities together. I was working at a Domino’s pizza and had put in for the day off so I could go an audition. No one knew that I wanted to be a singer. Everyone figured I was just going to be one of the joke contestants so my boss said I couldn’t have the day off. Two days before the audition the owners sat all the employees down and told us they would be closing due to not having any more money. Everyone was laid off and we weren’t doing very well financially at the time. My fiancé and I went to San Francisco and waited and waited to audition. I just ended up going for it and never looked back. I had no idea what things were going to be like once I finally got on the show. You do a lot of waiting in between rounds for your chance to sing and then it’s over. The show is almost like a marathon.

AL: Did you start off auditioning for the main judges?
JD: You actually have 3 pre-auditions before you are in front of the cameras. All that they really show on TV is the final round of auditions and tons of people in the stadium. They never show the first round where upwards of 20,000 show up to sing for 5 seconds in hopes of getting their opportunity.

AL: What was your initial reaction when you were told you would be singing with Judas Priest?
JD: I was told right after I sang “You’ve Got Another Thing Coming” during the Top 24 guy’s week. Judas Priest had contacted the show stating they really enjoyed my performance and if I made it to the finale would I be interested in signing with them. I thought holy crap! It’s Judas Fucking Priest and they want to play with me. I was in complete shock. I still am.

AL: What can you tell us about your album “Memories of a Beautiful Disaster”?
JD: The album is being released via Wind-Up Records and was produced by Howard Benson. The title comes from me looking back on moments in my life that I thought were disasters. However after meeting my fiancé and having a child those things that bothered me from the past I can now look back on them and see the beauty and the pain. Those events made me who I am today.

AL: What was the recording process like for you?
JD: Everything on the album is entirely new material. I enlisted the help of some writers who wrote songs specifically for me. They call it personalized song writing. All in all I finished the vocals in two and a half weeks as we were working with a deadline in place. I finished way ahead of time. The process of recording was really fun and learning about everything related to recording was great. I had never done anything of this magnitude before.

AL: Can you tell us about your involvement in the film “Different is the New Normal”?
JD: I was asked by a production team if I would be interested in talking to a young man by the name of Ariel Small. Ariel has tourettes syndrome and was in the process of making a documentary about himself. I immediately jumped on the opportunity. The film isn’t just about tourettes but it brings life to tourrettes and makes it well known. Ariel was inspired by me to make this film. I really respect that and am very honored. Meeting Ariel and seeing how much insight he has for such a young man was great. The title of the film actually came from one of my quotes.

AL: What are your plans for 2012?
JD: Surviving the Apocalypse. (Laughs) I am going to just keep living my dream of being able to sing and make a living by doing so. This really is a dream come true. Huge thanks goes to everyone who has helped me in the process especially my family and fans. I owe everything to my fans. I am working on securing the right tour for 2012 as album sales have been going well so knock on wood things will keep going well.

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Filed Under: Interviews, Music Interviews Tagged With: american, durbin, idols, interview, james

Interview with Barbara Nedeljakova

Barbara Nedeljakova is known best for her role in the film “Hostel”.  She has also been in a bunch of other genre films like “Children of the Corn: Genesis” and the upcoming “The Hike” and “Strippers vs. Werewolves” with Robert Englund.  Media Mikes had a chance to chat with Barbara over Skype and chatted about her roles to date and working with such great talent and directors.

Mike Gencarelli: Looking back on “Hostel”, what was the most challenging part for you on the film?
Barbara Nedeljakova: It was my first major role and I was new to the horror genre. The first scene we shot actually was my death scene. I think the whole story was a challenge. I wanted the audience to like me in the beginning and to be all sweet and innocent. The whole transformation to become evil and cold-blooded was interesting and challenging. To find the truth in a role in a good challenge to have.

MG: Tell us about working with Eli Roth?
BN: It was great experience. It is probably my best experience on a set. Eli is great and is very excited about being on a set and working with his actors. He makes you feel very confident. His energy was great and so fun to be around. When we were shooting bloody scenes, he was jumping around and all excited and has had such energy. I would love to work with him again definitely.

MG: Tell us about working on “Children of the Corn: Genesis”?
BN: It was a very small cast. We shot the film in a desert outside of Los Angeles. I play a mother of one of the boys and that was pretty interesting. Billy Drago plays my husband. He is this creepy preacher and I am his abused wife, right out of Russia. There is this couple that comes to our house and they have no idea what they are getting into. It was interesting playing a mom in this role and it was definitely a different kind of part.

MG: What can you tell us about your role in “The Hike”, directed by Rupbert Bryan?
BN: It is a very dark film and also very violent. They had a screening and I took a bunch of my friends and they left feeling sick. It is very realistic. It is a about a reunion of a few girls that haven’t seen each other in a few years and they go for this hike and, of course, everything goes bad. It is going to be for people who can take real gore.

MG: The film looks like a “Hostel” in the woods, tell us about the shoot?
BN: Yeah, there was a lot of dark and difficult scenes that we had to shoot in the woods at night. There was also a lot of bad weather and rain during the shoot. We also had to be some pick up shots like a half a year later back in the forest in the same outfits…in the snow. So yeah, it was a little challenging.

MG: Tell us about working on the film “Isle of Dogs” and when can we see it?
BN: “Isle of Dogs” is basically a story about a betrayal. It had a lot of fighting and drama scenes. The whole film is about chasing and we had a lot of stunt work, so it was exciting for me. I know they are currently editing and doing some re-cuts.

MG: Tell us about your role of Raven in “Strippers vs. Werewolves” with Robert Englund?
BN: [laughs] Yeah, I just finished that one a few months ago. It is a horror comedy. It was fun. My role was a sexy but strong girl who takes the gun and shoot them in the balls. I had a lot of fun doing it. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to be on the set the same day as Robert and didn’t get to meet him.

MG: What film did you recently film in London?
BN: I worked with the same director from “Isles of Dogs”, Tammi Sutton. The film is called “Whispers”. It is a mystery drama. It is a small cast. It follows two couples and a house. Not sure how much I can giveaway but there is a woman who recently lost her child. I am playing this Russian girl, who is a real bitch. Things go wrong and one by one we get picked off. It was a fun film to work on.

 

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Filed Under: Film Interviews, Interviews Tagged With: barbara, interview, nedeljakova

Interview with Biohazard’s Billy Graziadei and Danny Schuler

The legendary NY hardcore group Biohazard has a new album coming out in January titled “Reborn in Defiance”. Media Mikes had a chance recently to speak with Biohazard members Billy Graziadei and Danny Schuler about the upcoming release and their plans for 2012.

Adam Lawton: Can you tell us about the new album “Reborn in Defiance”?
Billy Graziadei: We worked really hard on this album. It actually was a culmination of us coming together on the reunion tour. We had a lot of fun playing together again and everything just worked. We didn’t sit down and say we were going to make a record. It was just something that happened. I can’t wait to get the album out and play the songs live.

AL: Did you guys try any new approaches to the recording process?
BG: To be honest we had all kind of forgotten how to do everything. It had been so long since we all worked together we just didn’t know how to approach things. It was interesting to figure out how to all work together again.

AL: Have you guys settled on a favorite track off the album yet?
BG: I think they are all our favorites. I don’t think they would be on the record if we didn’t like them. Time will tell as to which songs will stand out the most.
Danny Schuler: Some songs just have a different vide when you play them live while other work better just listening to them on a CD. There is a certain energy level with the band that we like to keep around 10 or 11. We will just have to see.
BG: I remember after doing our first album in 1990 we had been touring and writing new songs for what would be our next album. We played some of them live and you could just tell they were different from our previous songs but they still fit. The songs on “Reborn in Defiance” I think have that same feeling. We are pretty excited.

AL: What are the release date/plans for the album?
BG: January 28th the album will be available worldwide.
DS: The record will actually hit Europe first. We have been talking about doing some cool release things here in states. We love vinyl and it would be cool to see the album released that way however we will have to wait and see. Everything will start unfolding in the coming weeks.

AL: Can you tell us what Evan Seinfeld’s involvement is with the band these days?
BG: The album was recorded with the original band lineup. We actually recorded the album at the end of the reunion tour. We finished this album around spring time of 2011. Evan called us out of the blue in June and quit the band for personal reasons. We love what we do and decided to keep on going. I look at it now as this being a different era. The time frame is a little confusing but we just wanted to leave the record as it is.

AL: What will the tour line up look like?
DS: We are going to have someone else there with us.
BG: We have been touring with a friend of ours lately. We took him to China with us recently and we also did some shows in the UK. I think the back and forth Biohazard vocals are something that we all love and can’t do without.

AL: Going back into your guys history can you tell us how you got hooked up with the rap group Onyx?
DS: It was kind of a natural thing. We were managed by Def Jam back in the late 80’s early 90’s. We were pretty much the only heavy white band that was a part of their company for awhile. People didn’t like us too much because we were a real street band. We weren’t silly or anything. Billy had been approached about doing a remix of the song “Slam”. I don’t know how that quite happened but I did play drums on the track and some of us were in the video. That led to us doing some shows with Onyx as well as working on the soundtrack for the film “Judgment Night”. We got along well those guys and we were all from NY. There were a lot of parallels with what we were saying and with what hip hop was saying through our music.
BG: We got to work with Jam Master Jay through the “Judgment Night” film and that was really cool for us. We had grown up with bands like Iron Maiden, Agnostic Front and The Sugar Hill Gang. Everything seemed really natural for us. Where we were coming from was very similar. We never sat down and said “hey lets mix what you do with what we do”. We were friends and put some tracks together. After we did some other tracks with Cypress Hill and House of Pain we stepped aside and let Limp Bizkit collect all the money off that style. (Laughs)

AL: What are the rest of the plans for the band into 2012?
DS: We are doing the first group of shows here in the states with Madball. That kicks off towards the end of February. From there we go to Australia to do the Sound Waves festival. It’s going to be a lot of fun as we have five or 6 big festival shows across Australia. We have a short break and then we are going to start planning U.S. and European festival dates for the summer. We will probably make it back to South America as well this year.

Click here for our CD Review: Biohazard “Reborn In Defiance”

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Filed Under: Interviews, Music Interviews Tagged With: billy, biohazards, danny, graziadei, interview, schuler, ...

“Evil Dead” Interview Series

Who doesn’t love “The Evil Dead” series? Since 1981, these films has changed the way that horror films where made and have become a few of the biggest cult classics of our time. This also formed the birth of Ashley J. Williams aka Ash played by Bruce Campbell. Media Mikes has been interviewing various members from “The Evil Dead”, “Evil Dead II” and “Army of Darkness” over the last few months to bring you this amazing series. Please enjoy and leave comments.


Betsy Baker
Bruce Campbell
Danny Hicks

Theresa Tilly
Timothy Quill
Tom Sullivan

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Filed Under: Interviews Tagged With: dead, evil, interview, series

Interview with Danny Hicks

Danny Hicks is known for playing Jake in “Evil Dead II” and Bill Roberts in “Intruder”.  Media Mikes had a chance to chat with Danny about working on “Evil Dead 2”, working with Sam Raimi all these years and what he has planned next.

Mike Gencarelli: What would you say was the most difficult part of working on “Evil Dead 2”?
Danny Hicks: I would say the temperature. It was very hot and when you see close up shots of us that sweat is real it’s not spray on. We were in a gymnasium at an abandon school in North Carolina and they had built a two story long cabin so they could have a basement. We shot on the second floor of the cabin and it was summer time in North Carolina so it had to be 120 degrees in there. They had to keep the air conditioning off because it would mess with sound so that was probably the most difficult part of the shoot. The shoot was also pretty physical as well and we beat each other up. Bruce kicked me in the nads real hard once as we were shooting the scene where I hit him in the head with the shotgun. He fell off the porch and when he did his foot came up right between my legs. He connected really hard. So hard that as soon as Sam called cut I threw up all over everything. That was interesting.

MG: Tell us about working on the film “My Name is Bruce” with Bruce Campbell directing you?
DH: It was fun. We got to right our own parts and pretty much do whatever we wanted to do. Just before we started shooting he asked what I was going to do and I told him but then he decides to throw in that my character was gay. Bruce says action and I was trying so hard not to laugh that I think I peed myself just a little bit. I had worked with Bruce before doing some audio stuff for his books but this was the first time working with him as a film director. He is very focused and serious which is something you wouldn’t guess by watching his movies.

MG: Most of the cast from “Evil Dead 2” also worked on “Intruder”, including Sam Raimi in an acting role, tell us about working on that?
DH: It was fun but for me it was very difficult. It was very physical as I did a lot of my own stunt but it was interesting to work with Sam as an actor. Most people don’t know he is an actor but he is very good. I think the best part of the film was I got to kill half the Raimi family! (Laughs) It was fun.

MG: How was it working with Sam Raimi as he grew from “Evil Dead 2” to “Darkman” to “Spider-Man 2”?
DH: As far as I know Sam hasn’t changed a bit. “Evil Dead 2” was like a $3 million dollar movie and “Spider Man 2” he had some bigger toys to play with but he was same guy on both films. Sam likes to torture his actors and become part of the scene. That scene where spider man is holding the train back Sam instead of watching the monitor was standing in front of the wind machine throwing pieces of wood and gravel into the wind so it’s hitting us in the faces. (Laughs) Sam hasn’t really changed and he is the same guy I met in 1985.

MG: Tell us how you got started working with Michael Kallio on “Paranormal, Burbank” & Koreatown”?
DH: “Koreatown” was not a very good experience for me. We worked really hard for a few days and then I was cut out of the movie by the producer. I guess I am in the DVD version in the deleted scenes section but I have never seen the movie as it was not a pleasant experience. Michael is great to work with though. For “Burbank” Michael called me up and asked if I played guitar. I told him I did but I wasn’t that good and that’s how I got the role. He cut out most of the guitar stuff but it was really fun to do. It’s a wacky series.

MG: What was your involvement with the TV series from early 90’s “Ultraman: The Ultimate Hero”?
DH: They promised me that it would never air in the United States! (Laughs) I grew up on the original version of “Ultraman” but I actually got to say “Ahh it’s a Monster!” which is in every bad Godzilla movie ever made. I did that line with all the grace I could muster.

MG: What do you have currently planned upcoming?
DH: I worked recently with Ted Raimi on his new web series called “Morbid Minutes”. I don’t know when it’s going to come out but it’s supposed to be soon. It’s a series of stories which will be about a minute and a half and they are going to be in 3-D. How they are going to do that I don’t know. Ted really surprised me. He has a different style than his brother but he is very good. I am going to be at a few upcoming conventions such as Comic-Con as well as one in Kalamazoo, Michigan. In late November I am going to start work on Sam’s new movie. From what I am told it’s supposed to be the most expensive movie ever made in Michigan. I really love working with Sam.

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Filed Under: Film Interviews, Interviews Tagged With: danny, hicks, interview

Interview with Timothy Quill

Timothy Quill is known best for playing the Blacksmith in “Army of Darkness”.  Timothy has also co-starred with Bruce Campbell in “My Name is Bruce”.  Media Mikes had a chance to chat with Timothy about working on the series and what he has planned next.

Mike Gencarelli: Tell us how you became involved with the film “Army of Darkness”?
Timothy Quill: We actually need to take a couple of steps back.  It started in the early 70’s I went to high school with a couple guys you may have heard back, Sam Raimi, Bruce Campbell, Scott Spiegel and Ted Raimi.  Back then we were making those super 8 classics way back then.  I went to business school and you know what those guys did.  It just so happened I shot this movie called “Thou Shall Not Kill” int he 80’s.  I let Sam Raimi know I was interested in coming out to California.  I moved out to California and he brought me to the set of “Army of Darkness”.  He told me “You shave your head and I will give you a role”.  I told him “Sam, I will shave anything to be in this movie.”  I figured it was a couple of days worth of work, so I agreed.  I go to wardrobe and I had this long blond surfer hair.  The girl said maybe we can just grease it back.  Sam said “Nope, off with the hair”.  I thought he was going to shemp me, make me show up on the set and put a helmet on me [laughs].  I showed up on the set and this was a real movie Sam Raimi actually built a castle in the desert.  It was a far cry from those super 8 movies, with a real budget.  Sam is up in his crane and he sees me with my bald head and the prosthetic mustache on.  He comes down next to me and screams “Perfect”.  He shows me this storyboard and it looks exactly the same as I do.  So he says “Your hired!”.  So the next thing I know I was working on the film for two and a half months.

MG: Would you consider the production to have been easy to work on?
TQ: For me it was just a new experience.  I never hung around my trailer.  I was always on the set wanting to learn and see what was going on.  Right in the middle of the movie, he decided he wanted to make it a full blown comedy and wanted to make the movie more campy than it already was.  Sam always has a great attitude on set.  He gets a lot out of his cast and crew because of it.  You learn to take care of cast and crew and the rest falls into place.

MG: Have you seen your character is in the recent “Army of Darkness” video game on the iPhone?
TQ: I just had a gentleman Scott contact me and I just signed like 200 cards. With every purchase of the game you will get a picture of me looking over the death pit, when the hand flies onto the guys face [screams].  So I think I am talking about the same thing you are.  So go out and buy that game and get an autographed picture.

MG: Tell us about working again with Bruce Campbell in “My Name is Bruce”, which he also directed?
TQ: Wow, it was really off the charts.  Danny Hicks and myself play the two tough guys in the film.  We were two farmers.  We didn’t really have any lines Bruce just wanted us to come and work on it.  Bruce is always like that their is a lot of ad libing.  He is a super director and producer.  He would take that hat off and become Ash [laughs].  Dan Hicks and I were just sitting in the courthouse.  We asked Bruce if we could throw in some lines because we really don’t like you in the film.  Danny says “I am going to brag about my character in “Evil Dead 2”.  I said “Hey I want to talk about the Blacksmith.  Of course Bruce says just go with it.  All the sudden Danny screams out “I would have gotten Jake from Evil Dead 2” and I screaming “How about that Blacksmith from “Army of Darkness”, that is one stud”.  Bruce gave this cock to his eye and said “Stud?”.  I gripped Danny’s hand and said “I don’t wanna quit you” and Bruce just started laughing.  Bruce really liked it and said “You guys are going to have more to say…but…you are both gay and walked away”.  So that is how we became gay characters the rest of the movie.  It went from 4 days on the set to a month.

MG: You continued to work with Sam Raimi on his other films like the “Spider-Man” trilogy, what was it like appearing in all three?
TQ: It has been very loyal to me since and I have appear in a few of his projects.  Those were great.  Bruce (Campbell), Scott Spiegel and myself were in all three of those.  If he found a part for you he would bring you back.  We were really fortunate.  I am next hoping to work with him next on “Oz: The Great and Powerful” this September.

MG: How did you get involved with working with Michael Kallio in “Paranormal, Burbank”
TQ: It was really cool.  I have worked with Michael Kallio on and off.  He was a lot of the behind the scenes on “My Name is Bruce”.  As we speak I have a new company called TheGreenManSolar.com, he is actually making our commercial.  We are doing a spot for Time Warner.  After all these years we are working together again on a project.

MG: What do you have planned next?
TQ: I have a script I am working on right now called “The Shemps”.  You know what a fake shemp is obviously.  It is about three gentlemen and all they inspire to do, in their 50’s, is to be a fake shemp.  They want to be just someone in the background or talking the background.  It is a very funny movie.  It is something that Sam is too big to do and Bruce is too busy to do.  So it is left for someone like me to do.  Then in September, fingers crossed, I will be appearing in “Oz: The Great and Powerful”. Shooting that in Detroit right in our home town.

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Filed Under: Film Interviews, Interviews Tagged With: interview, quill, timothy, with

Interview with Stepfanie Kramer

Stepfanie Kramer is appearing on the new hit TV series “The Secret Circle” on The CW this coming January. She is playing the role of Kate Meade. Stepfanie is know for her role of Sgt. Dee Dee McCall on the 80’s TV series “Hunter”. Media Mikes had a chance to chat with about her role in “The Secret Circle” and what we can expect from her character.

Mike Gencarelli: Can you tell us how you got involved with “The Secret Circle”?
Stepfanie Kramer: I went in for an audition much like everyone else. I must have delivered what they were looking for. My character Kate is a very interesting woman as she is rather complicated when making decisions. She loves her family and is a very strong lady who knows exactly what she wants.

MG: You character is described kind of woman who can warm you with a smile but freeze you with a single glare, how did you prepare for this role?
SK: (Laughs) I just patterned her after a family member. Everyone has someone like Kate in their family.

MG: What can we expect from episode 10 in the show?
SK: I can’t really say too much. Other than I play the grandma to a 16 year which is sort of funny because in real life I am the mother of a 16 year old. This episode will bring a different dynamic to mine and my son’s relationship.

MG: Tell us about this rivalry with Dawn (Natasha Henstridge)?
SK: It’s not so much a rivalry for attention. Kate is aware of certain things that are underway that other characters are not. I really can’t tell much more than that as a lot has yet to be revealed. It’s a really fun show to work on in that respect. Everyone who works on the show is really great.

MG: How do you feel that “The Secret Circle” differs from other similar themed shows on TV?
SK: I have been very fortunate with my career. Work is just work and each environment is always different. The experience is always something new each time. I really just enjoy the process of everything.

MG: Can we expect more from Kate Meade the rest of the season?
SK: There have been talks of this being a reoccurring role. They haven’t killed me yet so it’s a possibility. The response from the network has been very kind and that has been great. It’s always nice to know people appreciate what you do.

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Filed Under: Interviews, TV Interviews Tagged With: interview, kramer, stepfanie

Interview with Ian Petrella

I would venture a guess that many of you reading this just finished watching “A Christmas Story” at least once this week. For almost 30 years, actor Ian Petrella has worked hard to keep the film alive in the hearts of it’s many fans.

I had the great opportunity to meet Ian this past August when I visited the original “A Christmas Story” house in Cleveland, Ohio. I was amazed at how comfortable I felt inside…how everything seemed so familiar. While there were privileged to get to engage in a question and answer session with Ian, who played younger brother Randy Parker in the film. After being asked to extend his arms and comment that “I can’t put my arms down” (a request he gets multiple times a day) he spent the next half hour answering visitors questions.

I spoke again to Ian this week from his apartment in Cleveland, where he is conducting his Q & A sessions through the rest of the year.

Mike Smith: Good to talk to you again. I see you’re still doing Q & A’s at the house.
Ian Petrella: Yes I am. It’s great to be able to answer the fans questions. And to say “I can’t put my arms down” over and over and over again! (laughs)

MS: How did you end up with the role of Randy?
IP: I was a child actor. I started when I was three years old. You just go on audition after audition after audition. “A Christmas Story” was just like the other auditions. My agent called me up and said they were casting for a new holiday movie and they need to fill the role of the younger brother. “Go get ’em tiger!” And I basically had the right goofy personality they were looking for and I got the role.

MS: Belated happy birthday, by the way (Petrella turned 37 on December 17th).
IP: Thank you.

MS: Do you think you had some extra help in getting the role being a Christmas baby?
IP: Probably not (laughs)

MS: I saw a workshop production of “A Christmas Story: the Musical” here in Kansas City in 2009. It’s currently running to rave reviews in Chicago. I know Peter Billingsley (Ralphie in the film) has recently signed on as a producer. Have you seen it?
IP: Yes. I saw the one in Kansas City and then I saw the one they did last year in Seattle. That’s when Peter stepped on board as one of the producers. I got to see it in it’s second revamp but I have not seen it in it’s new version.

MS: You’re credited as appearing in Ken Russell’s “Crimes of Passion” but actually aren’t in the film. Can you share the story about this?
IP: It’s funny you mention that because it’s one of those movies that I was in but I WASN’T in. I have a credit. What happened was I was supposed to actually be in it….I had lines…but they didn’t know if they were going to shoot it the day I was on set. That footage was never used. But I still got credit in the movie. When I auditioned for the film I auditioned for Ken Russell and he wanted me for the part of the young boy in the film. But the producers wanted this other boy who was actually a friend of mine named Seth – I can’t remember his last name. And he ended up getting the part in the movie. And out of the kindness of Ken Russell’s heart he wrote some lines for me to give me something to do. That was kind of cool.

MS: Ken Russell recently passed away (Mr. Russell died on November 27 at the age of 84). Do you have any memories of working with him?
IP: My greatest memory of Ken Russell is that he invited me to his wedding. He got married on board the Queen Mary, which is docked in Long Beach, California. It was a huge cruise ship….very Edwardian, like the Titanic. It’s a cruise ship that no longer sails. People get married on it. I’ve seen “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” done on it. (NOTE: film fans will also recognize the Queen Mary as the ship used in 1972’s “The Poseidon Adventure. Today the film is often shown, “Rocky Horror” style, on board the ship). Another cool thing about Ken’s wedding is that Anthony Perkins (who starred in “Crimes of Passion”) was the minister that married Ken. He got ordained so he could marry Ken and his wife.

MS: That’s better then being in the movie.
IP: (laughs) That’s how I got to know Anthony Perkins. I met him at the wedding and he was just a super nice guy. Later on there was a new series that was supposed to come out called “Ghost Dad.” It was going to star Anthony Perkins as a ghost writer. They needed to find someone to play his creepy, oddball son and I auditioned for it. When I met Anthony for the audition he remembered me. And I could tell it was one of those good things….basically I was it. I got excited because I thought I was going to be in this series with Anthony Perkins. And about a week after the audition I met him at the Rose Bowl. I went up and said “hi” to him and he recognized me and said hello. I asked him what was going on with “Ghost Dad” and he said as soon as he heard something he’d let me know. And then shortly after that he passed away (Anthony Perkins died on September 12, 1992).

MS: Wow. Seth Wagerman, by the way, was the young man in “Crimes of Passion.” And I looked that up while we were talking, I didn’t know that off the top of my head.
IP: (laughs) Oh. I wonder what ever happened to him?

MS: According to IMDB, he was the young John Travolta in “The Boy in the Plastic Bubble.” After “Crimes of Passion” he did a couple episodes of “The New Leave it To Beaver” and apparently never worked again!
IP: (laughs) Ah.

MS: You produced and appeared in the documentary “The Untold Christmas Story.” And now you’ve embarked on a project where you attend live screenings of “A Christmas Story” and provide audio commentary. I know you’re hoping the film will be released to theatres again in 2013 for it’s 30th anniversary. Talk about your new endeavor.
IP: It just started off as a quick idea…I thought it would be fun to do. To provide some funny comments while people watch the film. Normally I don’t make it a point to watch the film. I’ve been places where someone has put the film on and said, “I think it would be fun to watch the film with you.” And I thought, all right, let’s go for it. But when I watch it what it turns into is me talking about what went on on the set that day and making little jokes. And everybody always seemed to get a big kick out of it. They thought it was really cool to watch a movie with one of the actors and have him describe what happened in all of the scenes. The behind the scenes secrets and tidbits that went on. People enjoy that. Especially really die-hard movie goers. They love stuff like that. I thought it would be an interesting idea. So last year during the convention in Cleveland they let me try it. They played the movie and gave me a microphone and let me provide my own commentary. It went so well that I thought this is something that I think we could take on the road. I’ve done it again twice this year. Once in Pittsburgh and once in Columbus, Ohio. And the people really liked it. The commentary went the way of doing a bunch of one liners during the film. And that got a better response. But basically it’s just part of the campaign of trying to get the movie back in theatres so people can see it on the big screen. Because that’s what Bob wanted. (NOTE: Bob Clark, the director of “A Christmas Story,” and his son, Ariel, were killed by a drunk driver in a head on collision on April 4, 2007. The driver, an illegal alien with no drivers license, was sentenced to six years in prison and will be deported once his sentence is served. Bob Clark was 67, his son 22). Hopefully we can get the word out, these screenings will grow increasingly popular and will catch the attention of Warner Brothers.

MS: It would be great to see it on the big screen again at Christmas.
IP: A lot of people think of “A Christmas Story” as a holiday film. I know that Christmas time is when people expect to see it. But this movie has made it’s way into pop culture. As I look out the window at the “A Christmas Story” house I see dozens of people posing for pictures outside. They walk onto the porch and get their pictures taken with the leg lamp. This movie has obviously become a huge part of pop culture. So maybe with that in mind we won’t necessarily have to wait until Christmas time to do it.

MS: I agree, says the guy with the leg lamp sitting on his desk.
IP: (laughs) Exactly. That’s the thing. When you put your leg lamp up you leave it up all year. You don’t take it down after New Years. I want to let people know that you don’t have to wait for Christmas to love this movie. I should also mention a great contest that Warner Brothers is putting on. You just need to re-create on video one of the scenes from “A Christmas Story.” And if you’re one of the winners you receive a two-night stay at the official “A Christmas Story” house in Cleveland, Ohio.

 

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Filed Under: Film Interviews, Interviews Tagged With: ian, interview, petrella

Interview with Scott Schwartz

Scott Schwartz is known best for playing the role of Flick in the timeless holiday classic “A Christmas Story”.  Scott also starred alongside Richard Pryor in “The Toy”.  Media Mikes had a chance to chat with Scott about his experience on “A Christmas Story” and revisiting it every holiday season.

Mike Gencarelli: Tell us about your experience working with Richard Pryor in the film “The Toy”?
Scott Schwartz: Richard made the experience ten times more fun than what normal movie making was. He was very gracious and kind and he would let me go to him for advice and to ask questions. Whatever I needed I could always go to him. He was an amazing person and outside of my family Richard was probably one of the most influential people I have ever had in my life.

MG: What is your most memorable experience working on “A Christmas Story”?
SS: I don’t know if there is any one particular moment that stands out other than being out in the cold for the infamous tongue on the flag pole scene. It was about 25 degrees below zero with the wind chill and I was out there for that shoot over the course of a few days. It was great forming relationships with Peter Billingsley, Bob Clark and everyone else on the set. Every movie and experience is different but I had fun shooting in Cleveland and Canada. For kids movie making should not be a job. My Dad would tell me you are making a movie but enjoy yourself. Richard Prior told me the same thing so that’s what I have always done.

MG: How was it working with Bob Clark?
SS: Bob and I got along from the first time I met him during my audition for the film. He didn’t even have me read any lines. Him and I just sat down and shot the bull. He wanted to see if I was a decent guy and if I could carry on a conversation. He told me to do whatever felt right and that if I did something he didn’t like he would let me know. When I did the first take of the tongue on the flag pole scene I was kind of conservative. He told me that I had to bring it up so I did and then it was too much so we brought it down a little and it was great. I had a very easy time working with Bob.

MG: Did you get to keep any props or memorabilia from the shoot?
SS: No I have nothing from “A Christmas Story” at all! From “The Toy” they sent me a bunch of stuff like shirts, a jacket as well as the spider man pajamas and military uniform. I think you have to have at least one or two things from every movie you do because it’s yours and down the line it becomes your kids and its now something that Dad used or wore.

MG: This film is such a classic amongst many generations and new fans discover it every year, how can you reflect on that?
SS: That’s an interesting question. That movie was made to not be a generational movie. Yes it was made in the 1980’s however, in terms of a generation that really enjoys the film it’s more those from the 1950’s that enjoy it due to the film being a time piece film set in the mid-west . Most good movies are relationship films. You can say “A Christmas Story” is about a kid wanting a BB gun but when it comes down to it it’s really the father and son relationship between Darren McGavin and Peter Billingsley. At the end of the film when he gives Peter the BB gun you can see the pride in the fathers face because he gave his child the ultimate gift.

MG: Tell us about the development and your involvement with “The Untold Christmas Story”?
SS: We did that so we could have something of ours so that we would never forget this stuff. It’s about five friendships that have developed over the years as well as the back story to the shooting of the film as well as the following that the film has. It really is a multi generational film. Mom and dad grew up in the 40’s-50’s and know about the era Grandma and Grandpa also knew about that generation. Our generation didn’t know what it was like having to go to the radio and listen to our favorite show so the moms and the dads bring this film to us and as we have kids we bring the film to them. It’s a wonderful family movie about relationships and the holiday known as Christmas.

MG: How do you feel when you return to Cleveland each year for the conventions?
SS: I am thrilled that Cleveland is not the same city as it was when we shot the film there 20 or so years ago. Higbee’s square at the time of shooting was very run down and most of the stores were closed and boarded up. To go there now and see stores in places that used to be all boarded up and to see the city is a different light is really nice. Cleveland now has the Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame and “A Christmas Story” house.

 

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Filed Under: Film Interviews, Interviews Tagged With: interview, schwartz, scott
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