Interviews

Interview with Chris 51

Published

5 years ago

December 17, 2018

What’s up folks? Anthony here with another killer interview with the one and only CHRIS FITTY ONE! You all know him from A&E’s Epic Ink and don’t forget the Geekster Ink Tour. So how did I get so lucky to get an interview? Between touring to cons and always having something up his sleeve and doing tattoos he took some time to chat with me and this is what we talked about.

EE: Just a few short weeks ago you put on the very FIRST ever Headbanger Con, and I was lucky enough to be there. I wanted to thank you personally for one of the most epic times of my life. Us at Empire Extreme are truly honored that we could be apart of this event.

C51: Im so glad man thank you for coming dude that’s exactly what I wanted to accomplish that kind of response you know.

EE:Lets get into your past a little what were your musical influences? What inspired you to the metal genres?

C51: Umm, Megadeth. Anthrax and Metallica. But it started way back in the day with Zeppelin when my dad would play Zeppelin records, and then I discovered Megadeth and Motley Crue’s Shout At the Devil that really changed my life.

EE: So what was your favorite song off that album?

C51:umm Looks to Kill. I mean I loved them all, my buddy and I used dress all up in leather and moms make up and she had these big wooden fork and spoon that would hang in the dining room that were three feet tall we wrapped bandanas into an air guitar id be Nikki Sixx and he would be Mick Mars and we would air guitar the whole album. On repeat over and over in my room it drove my parents crazy.

EE: What was your first show?

C51: My very first show kind of screwed me and it was how do you top this. It was AC/DC The Who Made Who tour that was my very first concert ever. Let me tell you like about a middle school kid going into an arena and see a giant bell raise from the stage and smoke comes out and Angus Young playing under it. You know Who made Who tour my mind was blown forever from that point on

EE: If you had a theme song what would it be and why?

C51: oh boy that is a question I have never been asked, probably welcome to the jungle I would say. You know to me that song has so many changes to me musically you know I can relate that to all the changes I have had in my life and so much ups and downs lyrically you know we got fun and games and we have everything you need blah blah blah. Its kind of fighting that adversity you know and umm lyrically and musically I can relate to that song. So yeah rite off the top of my head with out really pondering it.

EE: So lets get to the present how did you come up with the idea of a Headbangers Con? How did you make the impossible possible?

C51: My wife actually came up with the idea, so in a nutshell I had a reality TV series on A&E and that lead me to tattooing some celebrities and then that lead me to tattooing some rockstars, that’s what kind of got my foot in the door. I started tattooing Charlie from Anthrax and he introduced me to other and eventually I met Morgan Rose from Sevendust and now I have a Sevendust tattoo they are one of my alltime favorite bands. And when I met Morgan I was like a giddy little school girl. I don’t know what it was him and I became long lost brothers, we hugged each other the moment we met and its was like I fell in man love a true bromance, and we became instant best friends. And have been ever since. We were at a Walking Dead convention and Morgan was getting tattooed by Bret. And I was doing another show about my tattooing and I was interviewing Morgan as a fan. As I was interviewing him my wife noticed something and as we got on the plane she was like you know I noticed as you were interviewing Morgan he was all looking at the place and the costumes and was in awe and kept mentioning how awesome it was and so was Charlie, he is a huge geek and was in complete awe and he goes to conventions. So she said babe I know you’re a metalhead and like going to these conventions why not do something for them. That pretty much sealed the deal. I mean you have all the connections in the entertainment industry why not. I asked her if she was sure about it you know you wont have any attention for a year. And she said okay so thirteen months of Planning.

EE: Now that its all said and done how do you feel about it now? Are you going to go to Disneyland?

C51: Oh man I cant shut it off, im still riding this high. The next morning I woke up and I wanted to get going on the next one. So I am already scouting areas and sponsors, it takes sponsorship money and I already working on that, but I am starting this headbangers love to keep the brand going.

EE: So are you ready for Christmas?

C51: yeah my wife has all that covered and I am grateful for her. She had been amazing,

EE: So if you had to choose Star Wars or Star Trek what would you pick?

C51: oh man I love that question, I am apart of the one percent that loves them both. You know what I mean. To me its really hard to choose just one. You know its like the Beauty and the Beast. Star Trek is the beauty the brains you know it’s the intelligent scientific make you think show and then Star Wars is the beast it’s the bron it’s the war and epic battle between good vs evil you know. Its like apples and oranges. Its two completely different things and its not even fail to lump them in the same category you know. I love them both dude you can even go sub genres like Star Trek from the cheesy classic stuff to the new generation where you have academy caliber acting in It and story telling to the new stuff. With theatrical filming and acting,

EE: omg man its an honor brother and I appreciate what your doing to the metal community.

C51: Brother anytime and its pleasure.

Wow what a chat, this proves that there is no rest for the wicked is there? This man is one busy SOB and there isn’t anything from stopping his dream. This is what happens when hard work and dedication pays off. So what’s next? I guess we are going to have to wait and see what Chris has up his sleeves for us at the second HEADBANGERS CON!!! Check out Chris’s Website https://chris51.com

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Anthony Bernardi

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Interviews

INTERVIEW WITH MERCURY OF PRIEST

Published

2 weeks ago

April 23, 2024

Ron

Empire Extreme got to sit down and talk to Mercury of Priest when the band came into PA at LoveDrafts.

The show was amazing all the bands that we seen put on a great show for the fans. Vampires Everywhere killed it once again. Last time we seen Priest we only got to see them open for Powerman5000 and got like 6 songs, this time Priest was headlining and we got to see much more which I was excited to see.

Priest played a good mix of old and new and even a few songs off the album “Dark Pulse” which is out in May. We got to see 13 songs played and even Mercury come out into the crowd a few times and when they played “Obey” even blessed some of the crowd. It was great hearing songs like “BlackListed”, “Signal in the Noise”, “History in Black” and “Vaudeville”. It was such a great night of music and a great conversation with Mercury. If you get a chance to see this band play in ur town, it’s a must

About Author

Ron

Ron has keen eye for new talent, a love for the underground, and a tremendous passion for music of any genera. You’ll probably bump into him at a horror convention or some seedy club checking out the next need-to-know band.

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Interviews

INTERVIEW WITH OF VIRTUE

Published

2 months ago

March 4, 2024

Ron

Where does the band name come from? Wanting to be the best version of yourself at all times. The name is a reminder to hold ourselves accountable.

How is the music scene in Michigan? The Michigan music scene has always been vibrant and in my opinion, important. Do we get the credit we deserve? Absolutely not. But for the state that brought you Motown, Eminem, Lizzo, The White Stripes, I Prevail and so many other incredible artists – it’s kind of hard to believe that Michigan remains a hidden gem.

How’s the reception from the fans of the latest album “Omen”? It’s been incredible. From seeing people singing along at shows to us seeing new supporters of all different ages, colors, and creeds joining the journey. Omen has been a pivotal album in our career and we’re proud of it!

If you could tour with 2 bands, which bands would you want to tour with? Spiritbox and Bad Omens. They’re both making waves, changing who the metal audience is, and surely they’d be fun to hang around with.

Where do you draw inspiration for the lyrics? Honestly, the lyrics are our stories. The stories of our struggles, our trials and our tribulations.

What’s been your favorite tour or show? We just got off of a tour with our labelmates, Any Given Day. They treated us to a handful of sold out shows over in Europe, which at this point we call our second home. Those were great shows, but any show we’ve done in Europe is typically one for the books!

If you could bring back a dead musician, who would it be? Prince for sure. An incredible musician I would love an opportunity to chat or make music with!

About Author

Ron

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Interviews

INTERVIEW WITH TWIN TEMPLE

Published

3 months ago

February 16, 2024

Ron

Being Married and being in a band together. Do you feel that makes it easier or harder?

We love to do the Devil’s work together so for us its a match made in hell.

What’s your favorite horror movie?

That’s hard to narrow down but the first few that come to mind are Rosemary’s Baby, The Devil Rides Out, Wickerman, The Devils Reign featuring Anton Lavey, Mario Bava’s Black Sunday, anything starring Vincent Price. We also got to see an advance screen of “Late Night with the Devil” featuring a very evil performance from our friend Dave Dastmalchian. We’re also looking forward to Bryan Fuller’s “Dust Bunny” and are positive it will be a new favorite. The list goes on…..we are huge horror fans.

Favorite Non Horror Movie?

Alfred Hitchcock’s Rebecca (which is horror/noir adjacent) and The Burbs (also horror adjacent…haha.)

All of Quentin Tarantino’s films- our latest favorite is Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, because 1960’s LA…

What misconception of Satanists would you like to educate people on?

We’re not here to proselytize, force our beliefs on people, or educate people on them Selves, Satanism or anything else. If people are interested in exploring Satanism, we encourage them to do their research and question everything.

If you could bring back any dead musician, who would you pick and why?

We would have loved to do a song with Ronnie Spector who recently passed. Also would have been amazing to collaborate with Jack Nitzsche who arranged so many amazing songs.

If you could tour with any 2 bands, who would you want to tour with?

The Ronnettes & The Shangri-Las.

What has been your Favorite Tour so far?

The God is Dead Tour that we’re currently on is definitely the most evil and blasphemous tour yet. We find it very pleasurable to be able to continue expanding the rituals and seeing our nightmares come true on stage.

You were on “Dragula” with the Boulet Brothers, how was that experience?

It was a fiendish delight to collaborate with some of our fav monsters.

What was it like Touring with Danzig?

Another nightmare come true! We’ve both been fans for a long time and we’re obviously inspired by the wicked world Glenn has conjured. So to get to spend time with him and watch him live every night and to now call him a friend is completely surreal. He’s a legend— but was also one of the coolest, kindest, most unholy people we’ve had the carnal pleasure of touring with.

How’s the reception of the last album “God is Dead”?

Personally, we love the record and are very proud of what we’ve accomplished. As far as other peoples’ reactions…. we don’t know and don’t care! We pleasured ourselves and that’s what matters most.

What got you interested in the style of music you play? And how would describe your music?

We’ve always loved classic American music from jazz to blues to country to rock and roll and so on. We also love the pageantry of heavy metal and theatre. So for us it was a very organic culmination of our obsessions. Rock and roll has always been the devils music.

Have you visited the Satanic Temple in Massachusetts?

No we have not but Lucien did attend one of our rituals so we had a chance to share where we get our babies blood and all things Satan.

Have you had any bad encounters at shows because of the misconception of satanism?

No! We purposefully foster a live show environment where all are welcome, all should come being the most important person in the world which is themselves, whatever that may be. Even Christians! We believe music is meant to bring joy, transcendence… We just want to share the things we love; pink, rhinestones, big hair, great rock ’n’ roll, Satanic ritual, you know… but we have had churches assemble outside our shows, screaming through distorted PA speakers that God is not dead & wishing us all a “terrible time”. Why would their God not want us to have fun? This kind of behavior is only makes us more proud to be who we are and do what we love.