(or Indie Band gets Rowdy with Roddy Piper)

I still remember the first time I saw Roddy Piper. I had turned on Georgia Championship Wrestling on cable station TBS and I heard a new voice speaking alongside the monotone announcer, Gordon Solie. Immediately, I noticed it was Different. The voice was praising the bad guys and putting down the good guys and was full of a brash, cockiness. Before I even saw his face, He had me hooked. I watched Roddy’s star rise as he became the dominant bad guy or “Heel” in GCW, moved on to conquer the then-WWF with his classic Pipers Pit interview segment and his headlining of Wrestlemania I against Hulk Hogan. Later, He would branch into Movies (such as the sci-fi classic They Live) and Television (Walker Texas Ranger, Highlander). But I had also begun to hear about a different Roddy Piper, The one who suffered a stab wound close to his heart defending some children and himself from a knife wielding maniac, and the one who had earned a reputation as an Excellent father and family man to compensate for the long time on the road away from home that the Wrestling business requires. Yes, Roddy Piper was the Most Hated Villain in the business, But Secretly had a Heart of Gold. Of Course if you mentioned this you’d probably get your butt kicked.

I first got in touch with Roddy a few years back when he opened his first official website. Rod and his wife Kit were very interactive with the fans on the website in the beginning, answering as many emails as they could. At this time, My band The Screamin’ DeVilles (AJ Mitchell, Mike Mitchell, Dave Masterjohn & myself, Barron Kaminski) were on a bit of a roll. We were performing a lot, Just went into the studio to record an EP, Had just debuted our own official band website on the internet and had been asked to perform on a local Seattle music program Sound City Music right after a performance at the world famous Crocodile Café in Seattle. The next logical step for us was a Music Video and as I worked on a concept for it, I thought who better to do a cameo in the video then my personal favorite, Roddy Piper. I knew it was a long shot but I figured “What the Heck?” and I emailed him at his website and asked how much he would charge for a short cameo in the video. (The original concept was for Rod to do a cameo as a hot shot mechanic who fixes the bands car, complete with a Rod name patch on his uniform). He was honest and said his normal rate was probably out of our price range, BUT he would consider doing it FOR FREE under a few conditions. Probably the most important of these to him was to find a part in the video for his daughter Ariel, which we were more than happy to do. So for the next couple of months we traded emails, phone calls & faxed storyboard ideas to set up a shoot date.

I mailed Rod & Kit some CD’s and Live video of the Band, so they could get a feel for the song we had chosen for the music video (Drive Drive 105) and also get to know the band a little better. Rod is an extremely busy man, so it took quite a while to set it up. Meanwhile, I asked my friend Leo Mayberry of Killing Frenzy Productions to direct the video and he agreed. I wanted Leo’s input because he definitely has a different view on things and I wanted it to counter my own concept and keep it fresh.

Finally, The day had come for the shoot. I had arranged for the cast & camera crew to meet up with the band while AJ (Our lead singer) had procured a limousine which had replaced the original video idea of the band riding in a red convertible with a “Rowdy” group of hitchhikers, etc…. We headed off to our predetermined rendezvous point to meet up with Roddy and his daughter Ariel. It took a while since we were unfamiliar with the area, But when we got there we were met with a wary eye & hearty handshake from Hot Rod himself. He introduced us to Kitty & Ariel, and we talked over the video shot list. All of his years in movies and In front of the camera really showed as Rod offered advice on many different aspects of the shoot, which we gladly took. He also is a master at improvisation, which he demonstrated on more than one occasion. Watching Rod guide his daughter thru her acting scenes, you could tell there was a genuine closeness there. You could feel that with his entire family. It’s funny because in one scene, Rich Coleman plays Ariels cruel boyfriend who breaks up with her and you could see the sweat on his forehead as he finished his scene with Poppa Piper looking on. But in Actuality, Everyone was in good spirits and the whole shoot ended up being laid back and fun. The video was full of funny bits, some of which didn’t make the cut because of the time restraints in the video. For example, During one take when everyone runs across the field out of site at the very end, Roddy grabbed my hat and did the strangest looking shuffle across the field I’ve ever seen but unfortunately it wasn’t captured on film because the camera had panned out to a different shot. Or take a close look inside the limo scene at the end with Rod brandishing a coconut (One of his most famous wrestling moments was when he clobbered Jimmy Snuka with a coconut on Pipers Pit). This subtle joke was edited down to a very quick bit in the video.

Our only problem was it started getting dark and we didn’t get as many good shots as we wanted. We knew this would probably be our only chance to shoot everyone together because of everybodys schedules, But we also figured we could shoot the rest of the video back home with each character role independently. Little did we know that it would end up taking over a year to finish all these pick up shots.

But the evening wasn’t over yet. Rod & Kit invited the band and crew up to their ranch to relax & finish a few camera shots inside the limo in their driveway. I don’t know how many people would do this for a group they had just met in person, But they were certainly generous beyond a fault. We waited inside Roddys “War Room” which is like a Huge den with Movie and Wrestling momentos from RPs career on the walls, until it was time for our shots in the limo. They really opened up to us all and everybody…..the band, the cast, the crew & myself will never forget it. I should also give Props to my wife who made a TON of sandwiches for everybody at the shoot, which they thankfully gobbled down (every last one of ‘em). As the night wore down, We thanked Rods family with some Screamin’ DeVilles T-shirts and I personally gave him a magazine I had saved for probably a decade that featured an article on him titled Wrestlings’ Youngest Living Legend and he seemed touched. He returned the favor by signing my Bass Guitar! It may seem funny being a musician, but his name on my axe probably means more to me than anyone in the music business. I could say much more about this whole set of events but this would turn into a novel. So I’ll just say “Thanks to Everyone involved in creating this music video”. And the offer still stands for Roddy to add Bagpipes to one of our songs in the studio anytime he wants.

Unfortunately, MTV will not show independent videos because they have contracts with all the Big Record Labels and only accept submissions from them, BUT The video Drive Drive 105 can currently be seen on The Screamin’ DeVilles official website . All I can say is, MTV is missing out on one cool video.

Bear
The Screamin’ DeVilles

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