Toxic Holocaust & The Wizard of Gore!

Hope things are going well for everyone out there in the wasteland, for myself it's been very busy!! Got lots of new songs written for the next Toxic record as well as working on some new Tiger Junkies stuff. We are gearing up for our upcoming west coast tour as well as our dates with Municipal Waste on the east coast, as well as Japan.Come out and rage!

April:
4th – Portland, OR @ Satyricon
5th – Seattle, WA @ The Morgue
6th – Everett, WA @ Tony V's
7th – Bremerton, WA @ AFU
8th – Spokane, WA @ Cretin Hop
10th – Oakland, CA @ The Metro
12th – San Diego, CA @ Radio Room – FREE SHOW!
13th – Los Angeles, CA @ The Blvd Cafe
14th – Sacramento, CA @ On the Y

With Municipal Waste:
April:
21st – West Chester, PA @ The Note
22nd – Brooklyn, NY @ The Knitting Factory
23rd – Asbury Parkm NJ @ Asbury Lanes
25th – Washington D.C. @ The Rock and Roll Hotel

Japan with Municipal Waste and Warbringer:
May:
12th – Tokyo @ Club Quatro
13th – Nagoya @ Club Quatro
14th – Osaka @ Club Quatro

Chaos in Tejas Fest:
May 28th – Austin, TX @ Red 7

For this blog I decided to interview a living legend. Horror movie director Herschell Gordon Lewis....the creator of splatter films!! If you don't know who he is, by all means rent Blood Feast or Wizard of Gore tonight!

Hello Herschell, how are things? What's the weather like in Florida today, sunny as usual?
The sun always shines when I’m in motion. One of the happiest moves I ever made was from snowbird country to Florida.

First things first. What are you currently up to these days? Any films in the works or new books you're writing?
My newest book, “Internet Marketing: Tips, Tricks, and Tactics,” has just been published. And the editors are completing the final touches on the movie, “The Uh-Oh Show.”

I know you are an expert on direct marketing, what is that exactly? Your list of books in overwhelming! Just how many have you written?
I claim 31½ books. The reason for the half is that the new book – the title I mentioned earlier – wasn’t supposed to be a book. I wrote it as a Report for the Direct Marketing Association, and somehow it appeared in book form. (Direct marketing is causing someone to perform a positive act as the direct result of exposure to the marketing message.)

What brought the switch from film making to direct marketing?
It wasn’t a switch. I always had one foot in the marketing world, and when the movie business seemed to dry up it was a logical shift. The two worlds have a common denominator: the ability to create a desire.

You are known for creating an entire sub-genre with the making of Blood Feast back in 1963. How did you come up with idea to make the world’s first gore film? Was it really because you saw a gangster movie and the murder in the film was too tame?
Precisely. The driving concept was to make a film the major companies couldn’t or wouldn’t make … and some theaters might exhibit … and some moviegoers might pay to see. It was a short list.

When you were growing up what were you like? What got you interested in making films, and what were your influences?
As far as I know I was just an average kid, growing up first in Pittsburgh and later in Chicago. I was interested in sports and had a good grade average, but nothing in the early years pointed me toward what has become my ultimate destiny.

How was the gore created in your movies?
Originally, by experimentation. What I’d have given in those early years, using pieces of department store mannequins, to have rubbery limbs and realistic blood!

What can you tell us about the making of these movies? I picked these ones because I found them to be especially unique. Budgets, locations, anecdotes, criticisms, etc:

Something Weird
A fellow named Jim Hurley, who was a faculty member at a Chicago-area college, was an aficionado of extra-sensory perception. He came up with the idea and the usual no-frills budget. This movie had only a moderate success.

Blood Feast
This was an original concept of my partner Dave Friedman and me. “Blood Feast,” as primitive as it was, out grossed any following splatter movie. We wrote the script as we went along and never anticipated the wild success this movie would enjoy (and still enjoys, to this day).

Wizard of Gore
It was time to make a movie, so we made this one. I’m still surprised at the business it has generated.

Two Thousand Maniacs
Of all the films I’ve made, this one, about a small Southern town that gets even for the Civil War, is my personal favorite. I sing the title song … and even now, when I appear at film festivals, I’m sometimes called on to sing that song. I always say “Yes.”

Linda and Abilene
This wasn’t my movie. It was produced by Tom Dowd. I was the director and cameraman but had nothing to do with script or distribution.

As well as director you are also listed as a composer for the music in Blood Feast, what musical background do you have? I have seen the Blood Feast / Two Thousand Maniacs Soundtrack LP, but never heard it. Who released it and how was this recorded?
When I was quite young, I took violin lessons. Every boy took violin lessons. Some of the background stayed with me. A number of companies have released music from these films. I can’t pinpoint one.

What about the record you did with the Amazing Pink Holes? Did you write both of these songs, and is that you singing?
Yes, they’re my songs and I’m the lead voice. We recorded in Cleveland.

If you had to pick one movie that you've been involved in, what would be your favorite and why?
As indicated, “Two Thousand Maniacs.” We got a lot of movie for our money, and the film plays well, even more than forty years later.

I've read that you thought of remaking Wizard of Gore because you said it was a jinxed film, did you have any part in the remake with Crispin Glover?
No. Jeremy Kasden made that one.

Well, I'm gonna wrap this up. Thanks for your time! Anything you'd like to add?
I’m not only grateful but also bewildered that I haven’t been forgotten!
HGL