"This new video is gonna ‘blow’ your mind (as well as other parts of your body),” laughs Johnny Martin of L.A. Guns about the new video "Highway To Hell'' by those feather boa-sportin’ gay rockers, GayC/DC.
Starring as the geek/nerd whose fatal car accident thrusts him into the Hades-headed tour bus, Martin joins dUg Pinnick (King's X) and John Bush (Armored Saint/ex-Anthrax) in the rock star-studded tribute to the popular AC/DC anthem which is released today. The band will also hit the road this year (tour dates below).
"When GayC/DC decided to do the ‘Highway To Hell’ video, Brian [Welch, drummer] asked me if I would be interested in doing a cameo,” says Bush. "He said dUg and Johnny were also doing it, so I said, ‘Let’s do it!”
Adds Martin about his decision to be part of the video, "It's quite simple, actually. I've known the sweet, amazingly talented, freakishly handsome GayC/DC gents for a while now, and they know that I'm always down for joining them onstage ... or in a music video ... or in a bear bar ... or … When they said that they wanted to cast me as a geek/nerd, I knew that I was born for the role.”
Directed by the multi-hyphenate Frank Meyer (director, journalist, musician in Streetwalkin’ Cheetahs and new guitarist for Fear), the "Highway To Hell” video finds the band lovingly paying tribute to the Aussie band with their trademark irreverent eye.
"We wanted to do something fun, so I immediately thought of one of my favorite videos from the ‘80s, Van Halen’s ‘Hot For Teacher,’ for inspiration,” recalls vocalist Chris Freeman. "I also thought of one of my favorite road movies, From Dusk Till Dawn and tried to think of a storyline involving the band that would somehow combine the two. I worked with director Frank on putting together the script and final shot list and we realized that there were now extra characters we had to cast.”
Pulling together their friends, the band and Meyer whipped up a sequined-studded version of Hell, with dUg Pinnick playing Satan ("It was quite an honor to be asked to be Satan in one of my favorite band's videos. I love GayC/DC. I love everything that they do and everything they stand for,” dUg says of his starring role). "Watching dUg get made over as Satan was uh-mazing,” chuckles Freeman. "Everyone was laughing and enjoying it, and Frank did a great job of keeping the energy and fun factor up. He was definitely the right director for this; he totally understood what we wanted. It was all filmed in one long day.”
Their cover of "Highway to Hell” comes at a pivotal time for GayC/DC. Having lost their long-time guitarist Clint Yeager who passed away suddenly and unexpectedly, they were tasked with finding a new guitarist for the ‘Malcolm Young’ position. "Losing Clint was a huge blow to the band and to each of us personally,” Chris says. "He was a long-time friend before he was even in the band. It was so sudden and there was no closure. We had shows that we were scheduled to play, so we had our original rhythm guitarist, Karl Rumpf step in to help us fulfill our obligations, as well as original Gay Gay’s lead guitarist, Chris Ganser and original Pansy Division guitarist, Patrick Goodwin. After that, we took several months off to find our center again.”
Eventually, Goodwin stepped in as the permanent member. "After rehearsing and playing with Patrick, the rest of us realized that we may have found our replacement,” he continues. "Being that I was in Pansy Division with Patrick for seven years (1997 – 2004) and knowing how big of an AC/DC fan he is, I knew he would nail the parts—and he did! He blew us all away, honestly. It felt very natural, and we all got along so well, so after a break, we got together and discussed having him join the band. The biggest hurdle was that he lives in Denver. But we knew we simply had to deal with it; he was going to be the one to help us move forward.”
Now with a new single and the band back on firm footing, they’re ready to unleash the fury once again. "The first thing we did once we felt whole again was resurrect our recording of ‘Highway To Hell,’ the last recording with Clint on guitar,” Freeman continues. "Now seems to be the perfect time to release it. It’s the ideal way to close out the old and bring in the new, introducing Patrick via video.”
Concludes Martin, wrapping a satin bow on the video, "Watching dUg walk around the neighborhood between takes dressed as Satan was probably my favorite part of filming the video. The look on people's faces was priceless."
Tour dates:
April
26 - Supply & Demand, Long Beach, CA
27 - Maui Sugar Mill Saloon, Tarzana, CA
May
3 - Ivy Room, Berkeley, CA
4 - Wayfarer, Costa Mesa, CA
10 - Wild Buffalo, Bellingham, WA
11 - El Corazon, Seattle, WA
June
21 - Oriental Theatre, Denver, CO
22 - Vultures, Colorado Springs, CO
28 - Rebel Lounge, Phoenix, AZ
29 - Brick By Brick, San Diego, CA
August
30 - Beat Kitchen, Chicago, IL
31 - Magic Bag, Detroit, MI
September
5 - TV Eye, Brooklyn, NY
6 - Broken Goblet, Philadelphia, PA
7 - Deep Cuts, Boston, MA
(Photo - Alex Solca)
