Piggy D (Rob Zombie) Rock on the Range 2010

I had a chance to sit down with Rob Zombie's multi-talented bass player, Piggy D at Rock on the Range in Columbus, Ohio May 23rd.  The result is amazing! 

MsBrandyRock: Have you heard of Muen Magazine?

Piggy D: I have seen the name before, yeah!

MsBrandyRock:  You’re my forth live interview I have done.

Piggy D: Wow, Wow!

MsBrandyRock: I have a message to pass along to you from Eric13 of the Sex Slaves.  He said ‘thanks for being put on the list for the Philly show’. 

Piggy D:  oh yeah yeah yeah, of course.  That’s awesome, tell them I said hi. 

MsBrandyRock:  I love those guys!

Piggy D:  Yeah they’re awesome.

MsBrandyRock:  How did you get your stage name?

Piggy D:  The first touring band I was in, in ....Texas...., I was 16 years old.  The band was called Spunk.  All the guys in the band were 8 to 10 years older than me and their slogan that was painted on the side of their kick drum said ‘Burly Pig Rock’.  Since I was the youngest guy in the band they would haze me, kinda like fraternity initiations.  When I would fall asleep in the van, they would write with permanent maker ‘the burly piglet’ on my chest, draw a pig, cut my hair, all kinds of horrible things.  And it just stuck they called me Piglet.  And it stuck through every band I was in.  And I knew a hundred Matt’s so it was just easier, ‘oh this Piglet guy’. 

MsBrandyRock:  So you decided to go with Piggy instead of Piglet? 

Piggy D: Yeah, it would insinuate that not only am I very small but I’m also very young, which I’m not anymore. 

MsBrandyRock:  Have you ever heard of the local band Noise Auction?  They played early today and one of the guys, he’s really short and he goes by Shorty. 

Piggy D: Yeah that wouldn’t make sense if he was tall. 

MsBrandyRock:  They are going on a cruise with the Genitorturers. 

Piggy D:  Oh cool! 

MsBrandyRock:  How did you cross paths with Rob Zombie?

Piggy D:  I met him as a fan years ago, when I was a kid, several times.  But I met him through some mutual friends.  His old bass player and I got to be friends and actually did some writing together for Rob, 3 years prior to me being in the band.  His bass player called me up one day; I’m actually a guitar player.  He was like ‘hey I’m gonna join Ozzy’s band, do you want to take over for me?’  And I’m like well I’m not a bass player. 

MsBrandyRock:  Blasko right? 

Piggy D:  Yeah, and he was like you can do it.  He asked if I could be there tomorrow.  I was in ....Boston.... at the time making a record.  I flew out to LA and two weeks later I did David Letterman with Rob and that was it.  That was 4 and a half years ago. 

MsBrandyRock:  I recognize his name because of the band Hydrovibe, whose guitar player; Mat Dauzat was selected a while back to go on the road with Kelly Osbourne.

Piggy D:  Oh okay.

MsBrandyRock:  Since you were a fan of Rob Zombie, did you ever think that would happen?

Piggy D:  I did actually.  It’s a much longer story than I just made it out to be.  We were talking about me playing in the band before and it didn’t work out.  I always knew I would end up doing something with him.  I have this weird thing that happens to me, with the people that I appreciate the most, it’s happened with Alice Cooper several times, I always end up doing something with them.  The longer I celebrate something in my life, the more it comes back to me.  It’s very strange. 

MsBrandyRock:  That’s kinda like me being here right now.

Piggy D:  Yeah.  So I think that you can actually will things into existence.  And this is one of those things.  So yeah, I knew it was going to happen. 

MsBrandyRock:  Do you prefer to play guitar or bass?

Piggy D:  The more time that goes by, I’m actually considering myself a bass player.  Guitar is always going to be my first instrument and I write on a guitar.  When I’m at home I play guitar.  I don’t know.  I guess I like them both equally now. 

MsBrandyRock:  With your solo work, it’s you playing the guitar right?

Piggy D:  Yeah, it’s me doing everything except the drums. 

MsBrandyRock:  Do you have plans on touring with your solo work?

Piggy D:  Not really, at some point, yeah.  Maybe on the 2^nd or 3^rd record, I’ll go out and play some shows.  I stay so busy with Rob and all the other things we have going on, that I don’t have time to do it the right way.  And I would like to do it the right way.  I don’t want to get an acoustic guitar and go play coffee houses.

MsBrandyRock:  That would be interesting though, to say that you’re playing coffee houses that would be a lot of interesting press to do it like that. 

Piggy D:  Yeah, you never know.  Paul Stanley from Kiss once said ‘if a song doesn’t sound good on an acoustic guitar, it’s a crappy song’. 

MsBrandyRock:  Do you play any other instruments?

Piggy D: I play trumpet, tuba, and a little piano.

MsBrandyRock:  One of your songs, I don’t remember the name off the top of my head, but it sounds like saxophone in the background.

Piggy D:  Yeah, that was a friend of mine, Scott Gillman, he plays saxophone on a song called ‘Chemistry’.  It’s a The Replacements, Paul Westerberg, ‘Can’t Hardly Wait’ type of song.  It’s a very ....Minneapolis.... sound and I wanted some horns on it.

MsBrandyRock:  Yeah, when I was listening to your solo work for the first time, I was thinking there is something for everyone in here.  And I wasn’t expecting that. 

Piggy D:  Thank you.

MsBrandyRock:  Ok so, you directed a 10 minute movie with three of Alice Cooper’s songs tied together.  How did you get into directing?

Piggy D:  It’s something I have kind of always done, on my own time, videos for indie artists and stuff like that.  Alice and I have a cool working relationship.  I’ll call him up and be like ‘hey I want to try this’.  And he’ll go ‘OK’.  I’ve been fortunate that he’s pretty open with everything I bring to the table.  My company did all the art and the promotional material for that record.  And we’ve done the costumes for the show and we do merchandise and everything.  We were just talking about videos and I said I could do it and I did it.   I know Alice Cooper better than I know most anything else.  So anytime I have to do anything for him, I’m like ‘I got it’; I know exactly what to do.  It’s like walking and chewing gum at the same time.  I can do it.   

MsBrandyRock:  How did Slash get involved with that?  Whose idea was that?

Piggy D:  He played on one of the songs, on the record, that we shot the video for and we called him up and we were like ‘hey do you want to be in the video?”  And he was like ‘Yeah!’. 

MsBrandyRock:  Are you looking forward to seeing him today?

Piggy D:  Yeah!

MsBrandyRock:  Have you ever seen him solo with other band members?

Piggy D:  We saw him at the Revolver Golden God Awards a few weeks ago, in LA, and he did a few songs off the new record.  I’m looking forward to seeing a whole show.

MsBrandyRock:  I heard Myles Kennedy from Alterbridge is doing the vocals today. 

Piggy D:  Oh really?

MsBrandyRock:  The video, with Alice Cooper, the ‘Vengeance is Mine’ thing.  I love it because my mother worked in personal care for old people and so many of the other people she worked with treated the older people so poorly and whenever I was listening and watching the video that is what I was thinking about.  What would all the old people, who can’t help themselves, do to all the people that were treating them like crap if they had a chance? 

Piggy D:  That’s really interesting you bring that up, because one of the difficult things about that video was getting them to agree to…

MsBrandyRock:  …allow everything to happen? 

Piggy D:  …well not just allow it but, I wanted ....Alice.... to look frail at certain parts.  I wanted him to look like he’s not capable of doing anything on his own because he’s crazy, not because he’s old but because he’s crazy.  So when he does start killing people, you’re like oh okay don’t underestimate that guy.

MsBrandyRock:  So that’s what it was meant to be, because the stories my mom told me that was the first thing I thought of…

Piggy D:  That is so funny, yeah that’s pretty cool. 

 MsBrandyRock:  not like I’m calling Alice Cooper old……

Piggy D:  Yeah, no no.  People who are handicapped in any way, mentally, physically, or whatever.  Don’t underestimate them because they may strangle you or kick your ass. 

MsBrandyRock:  You look a lot different now than when you are on stage.  How much of yourself is there when you are on stage with Rob Zombie? 

Piggy D:  It’s all me and it’s none of me.  I think every single human being has another side.  It’s the Batman thing.  I’m not calling myself Batman.  Well, actually I am calling myself Batman.  And I feel pretty cool. 

MsBrandyRock:  Maybe you will have another nickname.

Piggy D:  Yeah maybe.  You know you get to express another side of you.  You’re not gonna walk around the mall with a skunk on your arm, war paint, and all of this stuff.  You’re not going to do that to put gas in the car.  So to have that outlet, to be that guy that I think about is pretty cool.  And it saves me from walking around a mall with a skunk on my arm, whatever you know.  It’s my other side.  I’m not gonna walk around the house like that.  I’m passionate about the music, I’m very animated when I play,  I feel every beat when I play, I know every word, every note, that’s me with music.  The artistic side I get to express a little more. 

MsBrandyRock:  I listened to another project you used be involved with called Amen.  There have been a lot of people involved with that, people that I recognize.  I had never heard of it, did it help you make contacts?

Piggy D:  Amen was a punk band from ....Los Angeles.....  Amen was self-proclaimed as the ‘most dangerous band on the planet’ and it was.  An Amen show was a living car accident, for 45 minutes or however long it would last.  Going through the, I like to call it, Amen boot camp, you learn 101 things not to do, not to put in your body, not to stick up your nose, not to drink, and how to survive in probably the worst situation you could ever put yourself into.  So it was a blessing and a curse.  I’ll leave it at that. 

 Piggy D has posted this to official website.

This his since been posted on  Road Runner Records website as well.

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Press pass courtesy of Brian Cade and Muen Magazine.

Very, very special thanks to Eric13 of Sex Slaves.

Airbourne (Rock on the Range 2010)

This interview is far from earth shattering status and I am very much aware of this.  It was very rushed at this point of time in the media tent and it was also very loud.  I know people that can say this is fact because they were doing interviews with members from Airbourne at the same time.  I will be interested to see if my media tent buddy Luie from  http://www.splattertribe.tv/ even posts his.  He gave me a shout out on the site a while back so this shout out is way past due. 

MsBrandyRock: I just wanted to let you know I am representing Muen Magazine and if you haven’t heard of them, they keep up with a lot of the ‘underground’ bands and help bands network through their street team. Have you ever heard of Taddy Porter? They played the festival yesterday on a smaller stage.

Joel: Okay, cool, nah.

MsBrandyRock: They are from Oklahoma. I don’t know them but, their music, its like old rock, more so 70’s and I think that you would like their music.

Joel: I will check them out.

MsBrandyRock: How old are you, are you allowed to tell me that?

Joel: 26

MsBrandyRock: Ok it says on the site that everyone is between 19 and 23.

Joel: Yeah we haven’t updated it.

MsBrandyRock: When you got signed to Capital and that fell through do you feel like that was a blessing in disguise?

Joel: Yeah…I do….yeah its like things work out, ya know?

MsBrandyRock: All of the bigger tours you have been on, like with the Rolling Stones, did that happen before or after Capital came across Airbourne?

Joel: Before.

MsBrandyRock: What do you think about bands that do not write their own music?

Joel: Each to their own.

MsBrandyRock: Airbourne has a lot of upcoming dates in Europe and you have played a lot there in the past, being an outsider, do you think there is a difference between music fans in the United States and Europe? Do you see a difference in the crowds overseas, are they more involved?

Joel: Well, today for example, there was a circle pit, crowd surfing, same thing going on over there. People come to drink; people come to drink over there. I find it similar.

MsBrandyRock: Now you’re from a small town in Australia that I can’t pronounce, how many kids were in your school?

Joel: ahh about 500.

MsBrandyRock: Really? That’s about as small as my school in Pennsylvania. So being from that small of a town, did you ever expect to be playing shows this size?

Joel: I mean, when you start out you just want to get out there and play. You don’t think too far ahead. You don’t think oh your going to be over here on the other side of the world.

MsBrandyRock: Now, I now you just toured Canada with Motley Crue. What has been your favorite tour so far, the one that was unforgettable?

Joel: A tour we did with Motorhead and Rose Tattoo in Australia.

MsBrandyRock: When you were recording the CD you slept in the studio, why?

Joel: We like to be where the action is. We used to live together in a house.

MsBrandyRock: Were you really on welfare for three years when you were trying to make a go of the band because you would have been playing shows. How did you get away with that?

Joel: Yeah, yeah. A lot of smoke and mirrors.

MsBrandyRock: Have you ever played in the state of Pennsylvania? Have you heard of the football team the Pittsburgh Steelers?

Joel: Yes, Yeah.

MsBrandyRock: Your song, ‘Steel Town’. They need to use that song.

Joel: Yeah they gotta use that song.

MsBrandyRock: You need to make that happen. The city of Pittsburgh, that is what it was founded on.

Joel: We will have to send it over.

MsBrandyRock: Yeah, they would love it. They would probably make it their anthem.

MsBrandyRock: Ok well, I am all about the live show and this was my first time seeing ya’ll live and I was exited about that.

Joel: Aww, well thank you.

MsBrandyRock: Ok originally I was told the interview was going to be with you, then it changed, and now you are sitting here. So I did find out about the book that is coming out in October. What is up with that?

Joel: A good mate of mine Paul Miles, he is releasing a book called ‘Sex Tips from Rock Stars’. He has this big list of big name dudes. It will be a funny book.

Press Pass courtesy Brian Cade Photography at Muen Magazine.

Thanks to Luie too!

Killswitch Engage (Rock on the Range 2010)

My first in person interview!

MsBrandyRock: Are you planning on playing the ‘Holy Diver’ song today as a tribute to Ronnie James Dio?

Mike D: I think at this point we have to play it everyday for sure. It’s probably the one people gravitate the most towards. It’s gotten the most radio play and we don’t want to jip the fans by not playing it. I suppose, we have played it the last few years not in tribute, but I suppose you could call it a tribute. Either way we are going to play it.

MsBrandyRock: I don’t like classifying music into genres; I look at it all as being rock, because I think the specific genres stereotype.

Mike D: Mmmhmm

MsBrandyRock: But, what is your definition of American Metalcore? What does it mean to you?

Mike D: hmmm, it just like blends hardcore and metal, blurring the lines of chuga chuga hardcore and chuga chuga metal

MsBrandyRock: Now, I was originally told the interview was going to be with Joel and I watched the behind the scenes video with his mom.

Mike D: You can ask me about his mom, we all know his mom very well. She was actually at the show last night because we took Joel’s brother’s band on tour with us and it was her first chance to see both her son’s bands play together on the same stage.

MsBrandyRock: Do you still practice at her house?

Mike D: Not so much anymore, we don’t really practice at all; we tour so much there’s no reason to. We see her a lot, she bakes cookies for us all the time.

MsBrandyRock: ‘The End of Heartache’ was nominated for a Grammy in 2005. Did you ever think that would happen?

Mike D: Not at all, never, never ever ever ever ever. It was never something I thought about because it was so far beyond reality. But, boy did it mean a lot to my parents. It didn’t necessarily mean a lot to me, but my parents all of a sudden said ‘wow, we have to come see you play’. After playing music for 20 years they finally wanted to come see me play.

MsBrandyRock: So they never saw you play before that?

Mike D: There is not reason to invite your parents if you playing a show to like 10 kids in someone’s basement. We played a lot of shows that weren’t necessarily meaningless, but now we are at the level where it’s easier to get them through the door, get them a cushy spot, and they can watch from a good area. And not get bumped into.

MsBrandyRock: Were they supportive of what you were doing before you made it a little bigger and got a record deal? Or did they think you were wasting your time?

Mike D: Yeah, they thought I was wasting my time. They forced me to go to a technical school which was actually a great thing because I have a career out of it. They would tell me I shouldn’t be concentrating on playing music. I should be concentrating on getting a job and doing other things. But, as it turns out it was sound advice, now I have a graphic design career as well as being a musician.

MsBrandyRock: Killswitch Engage has a history of playing festivals, like Mayhem Fest last year, do you seek out festivals or are you asked to play them?

Mike D: 9 times out of 10 asked. I can’t really remember one we have asked to play on.

MsBrandyRock: Why did you choose to self produce the second record?

Mike D: We self produced every one except the last one. Adam our guitarist does it. It costs a lot less money; it’s more do it yourself, than let everyone else do the work for you. More control over your product, more control over your music. And it’s more relaxing, there is no stress involved, a friend doing all the work instead of a producer that may want to tell you what to do.

MsBrandyRock: Who did you work with?

Mike D: Brendan O’Brien. He did Pearl Jam, Bruce Springsteen, the new AC/DC, Mastadon. He had contacted us and said he was a fan of the band.

MsBrandyRock: Did that surprise you that he contacted you?

Mike D: Yes, totally, because he doesn’t like metal at all. He’s more of a song structure guy, someone who concentrates more on the overall sound of a song, rather than if it is metal or not.

MsBrandyRock: Well, like I heard Killswitch Engage for the first time on satellite radio. So there is that appeal to a wider audience. Has that helped or hurt you?

Mike D: Definitely helped, for sure, absolutely 100 percent.

MsBrandyRock: Did you expect that to happen when you first started playing shows?

Mike D: Not at all. Everything that has happened to us has been a dream, a whirlwind dream; I never expected any of it. I come from bands that never even got paid when they played. Drive like 10 hours to a show, play for 10 people, and not get paid. It was just the love of playing at that was it.

MsBrandyRock: Yeah a lot of people think that if you are in a band and ‘touring’ you get paid but sometimes you don’t even have the gas money to make it to the next town.

Mike D: Right, yep.

MsBrandyRock: Your known for pointing out people during the live show, do you pick people that are singing along to the songs?

Mike D: Well from experience from when I was in the crowd and that would happen to me. I would remember that show forever. It was out of the bounds of reality. Usually people on stage don’t quote on quote break character or even acknowledge the audience, or do something really lame like yell at them or spit at them. So I had always said to myself, you know, if I got any sort of statute, I would relay to the audience that I was excited and stoked. And that they in turn were as excited and stoked to be there as what I was. I don’t know a lot of people that I do say hi to, will come up to me afterwards and say ‘thank you that meant a lot’. I do it all the time now. It means so much to people why not keep doing it.

MsBrandyRock: Other bands say that Killswitch Engage helps keep the underground alive but also helps define the genre. Bands that you probably look up to say that, what do you think about that?

Mike D: Cool, we are just doing what we do.

MsBrandyRock: The positive messages that you put out, are you involved with the song writing?

Mike D: I write the music but not the lyrics. The lyrics were put in motion by our first singer, Jesse Leach, who wrote nothing but positive lyrics. When Jesse left the band and Howard joined it was sort of a necessity that the songs had to be positively aimed. Have some sort of outcome that was a little bit brighter than most of your metal songs. Most metal stuff is total downer stuff. There is always something that is not great about someone’s life. We kinda wanted people to come to our shows and have fun. And not come there scowling and think about their life being crappy. We wanted it to be an escape from all that garbage that goes on in everyday life. We let people participate, shake their hands, yell, scream, and laugh at us. And it’s kind of our whole vibe.

MsBrandyRock: What band are you most looking forward to seeing?

Mike D: Deftones. And they are playing right before us so I’m going to miss them, have never seen them.

MsBrandyRock: What advice would you give to bands that are on that level playing to 10 people?

Mike D: Don’t expect to ever get paid. Do it for the love, not because you want to be a rock star, because you will never be one. It’s like winning the lottery to get to a spot like this or just being so ridiculously good you just make it there on your own. Do everything yourself. Don’t pay anyone if you don’t have to. Make your own flyers. Book your own shows. Go out there and play every weekend you possibly can. Make sure you have band members that actually want to do it and are not just doing it because you want to do it. And play music you like, not music you hear.

MsBrandyRock: So, don’t try to be like anyone else?

Mike D: Well, that’s the only way you really learn is to play music by other people, but at the same time if you can take that and bring it to the next level, not copy but add your own spin to it, it takes the genre up to another level, if someone else is adding something to the pot. If people just continue to copycat it just kills the genre. I feel like punk rock is going that way right now. Every band sounds exactly the same, the same whiny voice, the same guitar riffs.

MsBrandyRock: What do you think about radio in the United States?

Mike D: Seems like its being squashed. I come from listening to Howard Stern on regular radio then he went to satellite radio and he’s so much better now that he is not censored. Censorship is ridiculous on regular radio. Regular radio is just a dead medium to me.

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Press Pass courtesy of Brian Cade Photography at Muen Magazine.

Special thanks to photographers Lindsey Martin, Jason Goetz, as well as Jeff "Chainsaw" Griffin.