Hi everyone!

My guests on today's episode are the unbelievably creative and spiffing chaps in The Ex-Bombers! You may know some of their work from their work on The Jim Cornette Experience's theme, as well as Jeremiah Plunkett's theme in NWA wrestling. We talk all about their process in working on these themes, as well as talk about their own original music and their wild instruments like an 8 string bass. We also talk about how they approach their overall creative vision, as they are unbelievably involved in all facets of their videos, music, and art!

We also play our favorite game on the show, Music City Rumble, where The Ex-Bombers name the musicians they'd book in a wrestling match: one men's match, one women's match, and one tag team match!

Enjoy!

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About The Show:

Do you like wrestling? Do you like music and stories from the road? Join John Kiernan, wrestling entrance theme song composer, and professional musician of over 10 years for stories and interviews with your favorite wrestlers, rock stars, and personalities!

About the Host:

John Kiernan is a wrestling entrance theme song composer with over 150 themes written for wrestlers in various promotions such as NJPW, WWE, ROH, MLW, and many more. As a professional musician, a veteran in the podcasting space, an avid pro wrestling fan and wrestling personality by way of creating the soundtracks for your favorite wrestlers, John Kiernan forges his latest podcasting venture into diving into stories of music, stories from the road, and wrestling from all walks of life from your (and his) favorites of all time.

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Nancy and Kitty today joining us from the X-Bombers.

2

How y'all doing today?

3

Great to be here, John.

4

Amazing.

5

Yeah, the only thing is that people don't know this is morning.

6

Oh, yeah.

7

And we don't do morning so well.

8

Only for you am I going to get up before noon.

9

That's what I'm saying.

10

Well, that's legitimate.

11

And we were talking before we jumped on the air about just everything that you guys have

done, all the different pieces you've done, which we're gonna talk about.

12

But first and foremost, for everyone watching and for everybody listening, go check out

X-Bombers everywhere you can check out any videos of theirs, because their video, my God,

13

the way they shoot.

14

Everything that they have is like crisp pro quality and I just want to say as like

independent to independent You guys are doing that the way it's got to be done So I just

15

wanted to applaud you for the excellent videos Everybody because you guys are just

crushing that part

16

that means a ton.

17

We put a lot of love into those videos.

18

Everything from the costuming to the writing to the actual shooting and editing.

19

I mean, we've shot things on Super 8 film.

20

We've rented TV studios and brought in professional wrestlers.

21

We've, I mean, we've ran around the streets of Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

22

I mean, we've done some wild stuff in them and, you know, like we come from a visual, like

we love visual.

23

I love music videos.

24

Like they look awesome.

25

And our favorite part of pro wrestling used to be

26

when they would just go somewhere and shoot something.

27

Like no more like, I'm backstage or whatever.

28

It's like, nah man, you go somewhere, you shoot something.

29

Whether it's like a fun video package, edited something together, or you just went

somewhere and filmed it.

30

Like all those Smokey Mountain, WCW, USWA, I mean like all those things, they would just

go somewhere.

31

And I think our run and gun style is part MTV, part that, where you're like, let's get

everything we can on frame.

32

just on screen, all our best on screen.

33

We just read the book, Make Your Own Damn Movie by Lloyd Kaufman.

34

I don't if you do trauma.

35

Yep, I do.

36

Absolutely.

37

Toxic Avenger, yes.

38

And so he's just like, he's like, take every dime you have and put it on screen.

39

And that's, that's how we do it is like, there's a lot of a lot of lot of hook and crook

that goes into an X Bombers music video to make that happen.

40

And thank you for mentioning that it's like professional level like that, because it's, it

is what we're going for.

41

And we have a background in it.

42

But to do that stuff is just to

43

It's just to make it happen and have it on frame there and have it on screen.

44

And so anybody watching who watches it, please reach out.

45

Like we love talking videos and that our hearts on those things like it is on our record.

46

So thank you, John.

47

Absolutely.

48

like even look at, keep trying to fix bad with worse.

49

Like to me, I saw like the other stuff, which we'll talk about, obviously the themes, the

Jim Carnet stuff.

50

And I'm like, those are great.

51

But then being able to see like what you guys are able to do from that capacity too.

52

It's like, man, you're creating a story.

53

And I think people appreciate that too.

54

People appreciate like, Hey, this band's going out of their way to just make an awesome

video, a fun video.

55

And you hear it all the time with creatives too, right?

56

There are so many creatives that

57

have made it onto large screens, onto movies, just as far as the eye can see.

58

And you hear them saying, I just started off not knowing what I'm doing.

59

And then we just did what we thought was right.

60

And all of a sudden, here's this.

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And it's just like, it adds such a human feel, such a dynamic feel, and also such a feel

to who you guys are as performers and as artists, which at the end of the day, that's what

62

we all are.

63

Yeah, thanks again.

64

That's awesome.

65

So that that particular song which was a wild sort of shoot Yeah, the thing is music

videos can cost a ton of money if you let them but you know what's free is Creativity and

66

your friends and and story like we're saying narrative is free narrative is free Yeah, you

know narrative is causal one thing leads to another somebody wants something something

67

gets in the way of them getting that thing Chaos ensues action heats up

68

And so that video is wild because A, it's an uninterrupted A block.

69

If you notice, the performance and the story are all in one.

70

So we don't have hides and stuff, like it's got to move forward.

71

Two, if you watch it, that is legitimately shot in the back of a 1999 Plymouth Voyager

minivan.

72

And when we're about to be done, Kitty, what happened?

73

It caught on fire.

74

Are you serious?

75

on fire.

76

Yes, we were almost done shooting.

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And of course, like the engine overheated and smoke was coming out and we were like, just

keep driving, just go, let's finish this.

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It was idle, I couldn't get over like 15.

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I'm just like, I'm like, we need these.

80

And so was by the time everybody was kind of out of it.

81

But yeah, mean, because it's wild, because you don't know where it's going to go and why,

and it has a satisfying conclusion to it.

82

I mean, that's the thing, too.

83

Like, we like to punctuate our narratives.

84

They end at the end, but maybe it asks a new question or something going on.

85

I think there's a lot of like look at the camera and like shrug leaving things open.

86

I think we're in this weird post post postmodern storytelling world where things like

causality and what people want and you know logical coherence of a storyline are just out

87

the window so you know if we can do so in the back of a 99 Plymouth Voyager that's on a

little bit of fire you know we're contributing to the right thing.

88

That's crazy though too when you think about it because if you're talking about like the

creation of a video like that, you know, you guys have this story, you have everything

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that you're putting into it.

90

You have your fans who are supporting you with like you see at the end of the video, you

have the people come out and it's, all real cool.

91

And then obviously the car lights on fire.

92

Like that's, you know, obviously we're going to say that isn't part of it, but it is part

of it.

93

Like it's

94

It's now all part of like the whole story of the video.

95

And now whenever you talk about this song, you're like, yeah, at the end, we basically

one-shotted it, did all this stuff.

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And then at the end, the car lit on fire.

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So you're just like, we totally planned that.

98

Absolutely.

99

But it's like that kind of spontaneity, which I guess fire is, yeah, fire spontaneity.

100

Yeah.

101

When you're talking about those things, it's like, it adds so much more to like kind of

the ethos of everything and years down the line and like even days down the line.

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People are just like, man, what went into that?

103

And then they see the final product.

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They see what you guys are putting out.

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it's just, the song itself is a banger too.

106

And that's one thing about you guys, which I really admire too, is the sound that you

bring on all the songs that I've picked up from you guys.

107

Because as someone that writes entrance themes, as someone who is a child of like more

what I would call like the modern metal, like death metal and you know, all those things

108

and going to jazz and all this, and then being a composer, it's like, you know, for me,

whenever I hear somebody that has

109

what I would say is like that real authentic rock and roll style.

110

To me, it's something that I always really appreciate.

111

And it's always something that you could tell is real.

112

It's something you could tell comes from the heart, no matter what you're doing, no matter

what the lyrics are.

113

And, you know, I think that's with the X Bombers, you really feel that whether it's on

themes, whether it's a Jim Cornett song, whether it's on this one or throughout the

114

catalog.

115

And I mean, you guys have been doing this since 2010.

116

So you've had time to really refine that sound to

117

have the ability to be like, this is the vibe that we're going for.

118

And the fact that you guys record everything analog, you know, you can record analog over

here on the other side of the screen here.

119

But for a lot of the work that I do, everything has been digital.

120

I don't know if that's pulling the wool back too far to my listeners and viewers here,

but...

121

You know, that is a lot of the times what you see, especially with us entrance theme

composers.

122

You plug in, sometimes someone's like, hey, we got a show at six.

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Can you record this at five and send it over at five 30?

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And you're like, what are we doing here?

125

It's crazy.

126

Yeah, it, it happens.

127

But like, you know, the fact that you, you do hear the difference a lot of the times

between recording analog, even then bringing it to digital and just kind of going right

128

in.

129

And, you know, I feel like that really comes through on the recordings that you guys do.

130

Thank you.

131

So one of the things that's maybe different than us and other people who write is that

we're a working band and that's why we do 70 to 80 live dates a year.

132

We envy Ric Flair being the 60 minute man.

133

I mean, we do a lot of three hour shows.

134

So like we got good at playing in front of people, knowing what works, seeing like the

physical solicitations of like things where you play something, you can see if it's

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working or if it's not.

136

So like a lot of what you hear like gets worked out.

137

out in front of an audience and you figure it out over dates.

138

And if you're a live band, that's just kind of where we come from.

139

We can do studio, but I think we excel at live.

140

Right?

141

Like we just have that energy to it.

142

I think our studio stuff is very live.

143

I mean, we literally don't track separately.

144

We do it together.

145

Yeah.

146

And if we could cut vocals at the same time, I think we would.

147

just really there's too much bleed when you do that.

148

Well, she's the drummer and singer, too.

149

So every drum beat you hear and everything is her playing it.

150

There's not one overdub or anything in there.

151

Like that's exactly how it happened in the room that time.

152

is like eight string bass and drums.

153

There's nothing else going on on it.

154

And so that's maybe a piece of it.

155

so, you know, as musicians, we kind of see, what's the person I'm talking to up to?

156

I'm like, I'm like, yeah, yeah, you're you're you're an orchestra and I'm a person with

like a Tom, right?

157

But like that's really cool too because we're writing from as you said a rock and roll

perspective We're writing from 60s bubblegum pop 70s punk rock where it's like these

158

catchy sorts of rhythmic sorts of things when something hits Something hits and we're

thinking in terms of like percussion movement that sort of thing and you know and then the

159

main melody of course is going to be like the vocal but the rest of it is like Everybody

else can write melodic.

160

We end up writing like a bowling ball.

161

If you listen to our stuff is actually mixed to mono

162

There's no stereo mix.

163

It is straight ahead.

164

You listen to that thing on one speaker, it's just going to hit you.

165

You know, I think that's the interesting thing is that we're just writing from this unique

perspective and that like that the wrestling world and people and themes in general have

166

said like, no, you do your thing.

167

You know, I'm like, I'm like, fantastic.

168

I like our thing.

169

But that's the thing too, is you're saying that it's like a foreign concept right now.

170

It wouldn't have been foreign 30, 40 years ago.

171

It wouldn't have even been foreign like 25 years ago.

172

But I think now with the way the music industry goes, where it's kind of like, you got to

start putting out this music and then you have a whole industry that's not even just based

173

about the art side, but kind of what I call the difference between like art music and work

music.

174

It's just like, all right, cool.

175

We have to go ahead and put out the music that has to...

176

fit this scene, fit whatever it is, you know, and sometimes you can lose a little bit of

the artistry, which I feel you guys don't.

177

And, you know, that's really a testament to what you guys do.

178

And the other thing too is when you guys are recording and writing the music the way that

you are, what people hear live is pretty darn close to what you hear on the records too.

179

I think that's a bit of a lost art now too.

180

you know, don't get it twisted.

181

You can go, you can do backing tracks, you can do whatever the case may be for like bigger

productions.

182

I'm looking at you, people that use 50 piece orchestras and I see six of you on stage.

183

I know what you do.

184

I've done it before.

185

But you know, it's one of these things where like you guys come on stage and you have this

just raucous sound.

186

It's this live sound at people that know you and people that are finding out about you.

187

If they're listening to the records, they're listening to this song, they're listening

to...

188

you know the fleet of songs that you guys have put out they're getting that same

experience live and i think that's something i think that's really unique to a lot of the

189

music nowadays

190

Thank you!

191

We actually try to point that out in the live show where we will call attention to the

fact that like, Nance doesn't have any pedals, just plugged directly into an amp, and I

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don't even play with toms.

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so there's no, you know, there's no trickery anywhere.

194

I mean, sometimes I wish there was.

195

real quick, real quick on that.

196

So how did that come to be?

197

Because even like for me, I play a decent level of drums and I love drums.

198

I think they're great.

199

I'm looking across at an electric kit that I have here and I see one, two, three toms and

I'm going, I don't know how I would function without toms.

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So tell me about that decision to go, you know what?

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I'm going to go sit behind the kit and take a bunch of these things off.

202

yeah.

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It didn't fit in the car.

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me?

205

you had to move and travel with a giant kit like over and over, I swear you'd cut your

toms too.

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You'd be like, no, no, no, no, no, not hauling these everywhere.

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I'm not doing it.

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Keep in mind, every show is you move that drum four times.

209

Yeah.

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From your space to the vehicle, from the vehicle to the venue, from the venue to the

vehicle, from the vehicle back to the space.

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So I'm lazy and I don't want to move those toms every single day.

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I remember the earliest days of this band.

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You looked at a bunch of other people with big kits and you're just like, I would like to

just pare this down.

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It's also because I was not any good at it.

215

And I seriously, I looked at those people and I said, I'm never gonna be them.

216

I'm never gonna be as good as they are.

217

So I have to do something totally different in order to like be okay with myself and you

know, and be able to do it period.

218

So that's why really, that's the honest to God reason why.

219

But you know what, too, I'm giving you a hard time over it now, but when musicians do

things like that, like even we'll talk about the eight string bass here in a second, but

220

you know, we think of little things like, okay, cool, you don't play with toms.

221

Now that makes you play a certain way.

222

Now that helps build your sound.

223

And so when people see and people hear you, they're like, man, they're only using these

parts of the kit.

224

And they may not, let's say, think about it if they're not like a musician, but they're

like, okay, cool.

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They're like, there's this sound that nobody else has.

226

And they're like, what makes that?

227

And when you talk to people on interviews or people see you live and they're like, oh,

there's no Toms here.

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You're basically just like, oh yeah, that makes me me.

229

And that makes me really unique.

230

I've also played in bands where drummers are bringing out for a show for like 30 people,

like a 15 piece drum set.

231

And you got five minutes to get that drum set on and five minutes to get that drum set

off.

232

And then a show that starts at 10 and is supposed to end at 12 ends at three because the

drummers can't get their stuff off quick enough.

233

We know those stories.

234

Yeah.

235

And if they take the cymbals off the stands on stage, that is a punishable effect.

236

Cardinal sin.

237

Cardinal sin of playing live.

238

That's a no-no.

239

That's one of those things where you just tell the first drummer, you put your drum set

on, and then everybody else uses that drum set.

240

And then that drummer is going to be like, yeah, how about you bring on a three piece, and

then we'll do that.

241

That'll be just a three piece.

242

We don't need these 15 toms.

243

We're fine.

244

We're good.

245

So you mentioned your drum set.

246

You mentioned how you don't have toms on it.

247

And then you brought it up before, my friend, about your eight string bass.

248

I write.

249

Now I play six string and seven string guitars.

250

I like eight strings because it's laid out in a certain way.

251

But even students are like, should I do an eight string?

252

I'm like, I don't know.

253

Eight strings are crazy, but with an eight string bass, it's doubled.

254

Like each string is doubled.

255

So definitely go ahead.

256

I'd love for you to show us that if you have that around.

257

Oh yeah, so here's the thing, on ropes and riffs, so we're gonna talk music, we're gonna

talk wrestling.

258

So I brought it, so it's a Hakestrom A-string bass, so if you can see on top, it's octave,

like it's 12-string guitar, but it's still E-A-D-G, right?

259

it's, know.

260

So it's still riffing, but the thing is, you know, if you're playing just, you know, the

root note, you know, versus the chorus of it, you know, you get all the highs and stuff.

261

You get all the highs and it's like for riffing.

262

So like when she started not playing with Toms, I don't think it was like a conscious

decision, but every other two piece in the world is guitar and drums.

263

Like they go, guitar and drums, guitar and drums.

264

And we tried that for one practice.

265

And I was like, I hate this, I can't riff.

266

Because you know, you can't play a guitar alone, because we always say that music needs

ass.

267

Ass is this thing that makes you move and it makes you feel rooted to the ground and if

you're riffing on bass You know, I mean I think you know we talk influence like how can

268

you not talk about geezer Butler?

269

Right like geezer Butler has ass when it comes to a bass line It's just he digs in and the

geezer is the guy who taught us all to anchor with our pinky when we're playing right?

270

You know, you start off you anchor with your index finger you anchor with your pinky, you

know, you can get that like, you know

271

and then all of a sudden you're off and rolling.

272

But that was the case is that I didn't like the lack of lows and then I didn't want to use

a whole lot of pedals.

273

It doesn't sound right.

274

And then my uncle actually told me, was like, know, because I came from playing 12 string

guitar.

275

And so he was like, you know, they made an eight string bass.

276

I'm like, shut up.

277

So, you know, I had a pile of other stuff that I had to go and sell to figure out how to

get one, because they only made a couple hundred of these in the 60s.

278

And they're not a popular instrument because they are terrible if you're in a full band,

because they just take up way too much space.

279

They take up the trouble.

280

They don't really do like bass well either.

281

It's not like you want that like pounding Thunderbird or P bass or guilt B through a one

or something.

282

It like takes up its own weird space that's like a little bit higher on the bass and a

whole lot of trouble but not as much to be able to hit guitar.

283

It's a weird instrument and like I think that's the thing is that like that it just became

unique that I started hearing songs that way because you could riff on it you could hear

284

and you played differently and you end up playing bass and rhythm guitar at the same time.

285

So if you listen to our songs that's what's going on.

286

And there's no toms because toms would be competing with about the sonic space of the

8-string bass.

287

So like we didn't know that at the time.

288

It was like a happy accident.

289

Exactly.

290

But you touched on something there too.

291

And I think with the eight-string bass too, you kind of get the best of both worlds in a

way, especially if you're somebody who's writing and somebody who, dare I say, is kind of

292

coming from a bit of a guitaristic mind on it.

293

But at the same time, you're getting that low end too, because then you're kind of

approaching the instrument in such a way where you're using it to make rhythms, you're

294

using it to groove, though also like a bass.

295

So it probably changes a little bit of the way that you play and makes you a little bit

more...

296

a little bit more composer-esque than you would normally be on guitar, but a little bit

more melodic than you might be on a bass, for example.

297

And it's interesting that you are using that because you're talking about this

eight-string bass.

298

There's a band that I love called This Town Needs Guns, TTNG for short.

299

And when you see them live, I'm pretty sure they're still doing it now, but they use a

bass that's just a six-string guitar tuned down a complete octave.

300

And I forget what you call that, but it's literally the same thing, right?

301

It's just a...

302

a guitar in standard, they call it like, they don't call it a bass guitar, but they call

it something like that.

303

But like, it's basically a sixth string with the bass, with all bass strings, E-A-D-G-B-E.

304

And it's really cool.

305

And for me, it starts to show you like, okay, cool.

306

Like we're in this time where you don't just have to do guitar, you don't just have to do

bass.

307

There's all these different ways.

308

And for you, instead of having to throw like an octave pedal on it then just go all the

way down, you know, you're like, that sounds digital.

309

We got this and it works for the sound that we're doing.

310

And again, it gives like that loud, raucous sound.

311

It can do what you need to, but it really fits the sound that you guys are going for.

312

And it's cool that it's been like, yeah.

313

between the octave and the main.

314

So it creates all these wild overtones.

315

So like an octave pedal says, you are this, this is the exact equivalent of this.

316

The way that something shakes and yeah, they interplay and there's harmonics and stuff.

317

So the analog way of doing something is always the bigger pane, but always the more like

unique, interesting, like intriguing.

318

I mean, I think when we write songs and we play, our goal is to take you on a trip

319

somewhere, but also like to make it exciting where you're just like, I haven't heard this

before.

320

I haven't done this thing before.

321

So, you know, that kind of leads to that as well.

322

And talking about exciting stuff, you guys have a theme that you did.

323

I'm sorry.

324

Talking about exciting.

325

You guys have a theme that you did for Jeremiah Plunkett in NWA, which is as the name

implies a wicked bad song.

326

just named, I just used the bad from the title of it, but you guys know, talk to us a

little bit about that theme.

327

Cause that hits hard too.

328

And again, like we're talking about in the world of entrance themes.

329

You know, if you look at all the different companies, there's a lot of themes which are

kind of like, okay, they're a theme.

330

They're a theme that does a thing.

331

But when we think of really great entrance themes in wrestling, we think about something

that's a bit unique towards the character and really identifies them.

332

And with Jeremiah Plunkett's theme, definitely think you guys nailed that.

333

Walk through us a little bit on to how that came to be.

334

So we met Jeremiah, he was actually one of the people who was in our Get the Experience

music shoot.

335

So he was one of the dudes in the hood.

336

And what was cool is that like, we knew who he was before he reached out.

337

like, I know exactly who you are.

338

And so I mean I would say that over the course of working with them We kind of got to

become friends too.

339

So we kind of got to know him a little bit So we're inspired by by people like we meet

somebody and we kind of get to know him We're like, okay I kind of see who you are and

340

Jeremiah Plunkett is the nicest guy in the world who I would not ever ever want to mess

with

341

That's how it is with all wrestlers, by the way.

342

I've said this on multiple shows, I've said this for years.

343

I'm like, dude, some of the nicest people I've worked with in the world on projects are

wrestlers.

344

And like, there's this one girl I always bring up, girl Masha Slamovich, she's in TNA now.

345

She's just unbelievable.

346

And her moveset is just like, she hurts in all of the right ways.

347

And I always say, I'm like, we came up with this really heavy theme, but talking to her, I

don't mean to burst Masha's bubble.

348

one of the nicest people in the world, And that's always how it is.

349

Please, thank you, everything.

350

my gosh, you're so nice.

351

And I'm just like, dude, this is so cool.

352

So it's good to hear that he's also the same way on the other side of the camera.

353

Pro wrestlers will go to the end of the earth for you like Kitty how many you know how

badly did you hit them with like stuff that day?

354

Well, you know you're doing a million takes or something

355

And that was a one take.

356

So we had to do the whole thing over and over.

357

yeah, but they, mean, everybody was so professional and accommodating and just really

worked with us.

358

our whole thing was like, we're just like, man, this is is a legitimate concrete floor.

359

Don't fall on it.

360

And they're like, we know no other way.

361

And that's the thing, actually, that this is this is my like pet peeve.

362

It's a pure wrestling pet peeve is that like when places don't like

363

Like these people give their bodies entirely on these things.

364

I mean, the way that they go and the way that wrestlers who love that craft are willing to

walk through a wall for you.

365

Our thought is always you just have to like put them in the most, the best position for

success and to look their best and the safest sort of thing that gets the most out of

366

something.

367

And so with Jeremiah, was like a long-term sort of thing where we did that and we talked

and he helped like promote the video and he wore like one of our shirts at like a bull

368

rope match he was doing.

369

I mean, like it was like a long-term sort

370

of thing.

371

And you know, he brought up something we do an annual award show called the Bommie Awards,

recognizing excellence in excellence.

372

And so he mentioned something about doing a theme and I was like, I was like, I got an

idea that I've kind been working on for it.

373

And so, you know, we went from probably our last record, New Love is Easy, from this like

more kind of psychedelic jazz background to just one day we put on a few years ago, it was

374

a

375

like bad classic rock record comp.

376

And it was like foreigner and foghead and all and like we had this guttural feeling to it,

right?

377

Yeah, you see you just said bad.

378

It's not bad.

379

It's amazing.

380

It just has all the best like kind of classic rock and we just I don't know.

381

It's something in our little brains broke and we were like this.

382

This is what we want to do.

383

We want to make this kind of music.

384

feeling.

385

Yeah.

386

You know, and if you we grew up at WCW house.

387

We were both in WCW House.

388

We loved world championship wrestling.

389

When WCW went away in late 1999 and you're like, went out of business in 2001.

390

I'm like, no, my WCW left in October 1999.

391

But all those themes, all those Jimmy Hart themes, the idea that an angle could get over

because of music.

392

Three count.

393

How brilliant is that?

394

Everyone hated boy bands.

395

They go out there and they dance.

396

Disco Inferno.

397

Glenn Gilberti is a talented wrestler, but he never would have gotten over like that if

everybody didn't hear Disco Fever, yeah, yeah, yeah.

398

And like, Surfer Sting, a man called Sting, there's, you know, he comes out.

399

You kidding me?

400

I still sing that one, I love that one.

401

I think you've heard of that.

402

No, yeah.

403

it's on repeat, ladies and gentlemen.

404

m

405

back to the back to he's a bad, bad man.

406

That was the thing is that we wanted something that was just like this like piece of

classic rock, something, you know, something that like Judas Priest or the Scorpions or

407

Brownsville Station would be doing.

408

We're like in that mindset these days, but we wanted it to be this thing that like is

exciting to hear in person too.

409

So when he comes out, you want it that speed where he kind of walks out that way, you

know,

410

And Jeremiah, like legitimately, like I ran into him on one take of the experience video,

like, because I, you know, if you watch it, you should, it's 96 seconds.

411

It's wonderful.

412

I have to smear him with this eight string guitar, with his eight string bass.

413

And on one take, I took a step too far.

414

And it's like, I ran into a cement wall, a hundred year old oak tree.

415

And like, it was all my fault.

416

It's like, he felt so bad.

417

I'm just like, you feel bad for not moving.

418

um And so, you know just to kind of get that like where it's in his mind and I think that

was the other thing too is that like We wanted to give him a gift anybody we write a theme

419

song for we want to give them a gift and Like we wanted to say like no we see you this way

420

Like you are this thing, you know, cause people are like, it's plunky.

421

And in my head, I'm like, people should be calling a Mr.

422

Plunket.

423

Only like, cause he's like, you know, like he's the Arne Anderson of our day is he just

goes ahead and he's a beast.

424

he just, you know, we just want it to be where it's just everybody else has like these

kind of like other themes that are like that, but we want to slow burn.

425

But then we ended up putting the hook in the beginning of it.

426

We're like, let's start it with the chorus.

427

Let's, let's jumpstart it and start.

428

Hotsy you know what's going on and then the story that we wanted to tell was all these

sorts of situations and you know us we're not we're not a trusting pair so any song that

429

we write we want to be able to record live we want to be able to play it live at shows

tell people about it every theme song that we've done is part of our lives that we tell

430

everybody who's there who this person is we always make a joke it's like we're in you know

we're in Darien Illinois tonight go ahead and follow at plunkitis so you confuse him you

431

know and so we you know our friends

432

our friends for a long time but also like we didn't we wanted to do a song that we loved

so we didn't necessarily totally trust that he would use it

433

Because it's wrestling and so we wanted to write a song that was like kind of two levels

and so lyrically It's like part bad bad Leroy Brown And and and coding by the charlatans.

434

It's about this like bad influence That's going on that you don't want to mess with in any

kind of way And so we thought that instead of writing about a very specific person We

435

would use pieces of Jeremiah to kind of inform this holistic sort of thing so then he

would see himself again in

436

in as well.

437

But you know, and then there's like little sprinklings of like wrestling things in there.

438

Like if he shoots, he doesn't miss, right?

439

So like if you know, don't mess with him in the ring or else, you know what I mean?

440

You're going to wind up on the bad side of a hold, right?

441

And then, you know, his sugar hold is never sweet.

442

So it sounds like drugs, which it partially could be.

443

But sugar hold, of course, is made famous by Bob Roupe.

444

And then, you know, he would use it in some of his matches.

445

So like it's these two layer sorts of things, because we think if you write a theme song

that's just all

446

about like wrestling like he's gonna slam me through this table and do this and that it's

like

447

Well, then you get Piledriver.

448

That's basically what you get at that point.

449

which Piledriver was great, but that was so on the nose.

450

Like it can't, it's gotta be like, I agree with you on that too, because as I've done a

lot more entrance themes over time, I've kind of gotten to the point where originally I

451

was like, I'm not a fan of lyrics and songs because it gets in the way of commentary and

things like that.

452

But over the years I've become like somebody who

453

really sees the value in the lyrics.

454

And for me, one of the things I specifically don't do a lot is vocals.

455

So for me, writing lyrics is always a little bit like, okay, it's a little more

challenging, I think, playing drums or doing guitar or doing the comp side of it.

456

And I'm just like, okay, so how do I get there?

457

But there have been a couple of themes I've done recently where I've taken the same exact

approach as you guys did, where it's kind of multipurpose.

458

Like if you know who the talent is and you're in the wrestling ecosystem,

459

then it really amplifies that talent that much more and it really connects and resonates

with them.

460

But if you're not in the wrestling bubble, you can still resonate with that song.

461

There's a song I just did with a friend of mine, Alex, for a wrestler named Leila Hirsch.

462

And it tells all legit Leila Hirsch, absolutely.

463

And she has this amazing story.

464

But like one of these things I've asked over the years to Jim Johnston was, you you talk

about a wrestler like The Undertaker.

465

Yeah, you can write

466

something spooky and creepy and dirgey for someone who is obviously dead.

467

But what do you do for somebody who's just like a really good wrestler?

468

And I remember he was saying, he goes, everyone has a story.

469

And so what is that person's story, right?

470

You think of Cody Rhodes theme and that theme, if you really know all of his like

backstory and all, you see the things in the theme, you're like, wow, that's layers.

471

But if you just like the song kingdom, you can like kingdom.

472

If you listen to Layla Hirsch's theme, it's just the story about proving that you are

473

the baddest person and proving that no matter what you're overcoming everybody's

expectations.

474

But if you know Leila Hirsch, you hear all these little tie downs to like, okay, cool,

this is a reference to, you know, where she came from.

475

This is a reference to how people perceive her.

476

This is what she's going to do if given the opportunity to throw hands with you, you know,

all those things.

477

So it's like the fact that you have these beat points about Jeremiah and you're just like,

it can work.

478

for him and amplify his character and exemplify that.

479

But also, if you don't know who he is, you can still get something out of this song.

480

I think that's a real testament to it.

481

Well, it ended up, that song ended up getting played on 400 different radio stations.

482

So it hit 48 on the Radio India Alliance charts, which was mind blowing.

483

Right?

484

And so like, we always are going to write a song that like does two things.

485

Like number one, we want to, like it has to stand alone.

486

Like it's like, that's the thing is it has to be, if you don't care about wrestling one

bit, it's got to stand alone.

487

And then two, like if we take the challenge of like writing a song and listen, we're an

acquired sort of taste for this thing, right?

488

Like it's different, it's retro, it's that 60s, 70s, 80s kind of like rock, punk, glam,

glitter, all this sort of stuff rolled in there.

489

Our goal is like, we're like, it's the Jimmy Hart school of songwriting.

490

It's like, man, we are gonna get you over.

491

Like this song, if you can play it enough, like it's gonna, like, and so that's why then

like we're in talks with a few people.

492

to write things to.

493

But like until I've got a take and until I'm confident I can play it at our live shows and

by the way I'm gonna get it over at our live show too and then if it does that.

494

That's how I find out what works and what doesn't you know.

495

With an audience.

496

Yeah if I can play it at one of my shows where people have no idea you know who this

person is this wrestler is and I can get people to like it then I know great I can now

497

give it to this wrestler and say like use it because this is good.

498

And I should also be able to see the song in my head, like where it would play.

499

so like when I got a hold of Jeremiah, Jeremiah and I were talking about this, we have the

longest text chain in the world.

500

I apologize.

501

We must be friends because anybody else would have killed me by now when we come back with

like 18,000 ideas for him.

502

like, you know, I was like, I was like, man, this is is this is Jim Crockett 1986.

503

Like this dude is coming out and seeing this.

504

But it's also like I can see it in the nastiest parts of a city walking around like we did

with the video for He's a Bad, Bad Man.

505

And so it's just visual.

506

So if I can see the moment that like that I'd

507

seeing it for like a music video and then like how that wrestler would be seeing it or you

know we've written things for like book series like the 24-7 Demon Mart and Gates of

508

Divinity if I can see that in action where it's like the outcome of what that would be

visually so if I can see our music visually I know we're on to a good track

509

I love that.

510

And so you have this song for Jeremiah that he's been crushing it to.

511

He's in NWA.

512

You guys are putting it out.

513

You guys are doing all this stuff for it.

514

But before that, you guys had something that you did for Jim Cornett, which that song is

awesome.

515

And that's where, when I was watching like the ending video, we were like, okay, cool.

516

Here's the omnibus version of him bringing it up on the show.

517

And then

518

You basically just like keep telling him that you want it to be the theme and you kept

doing the stuff against the cardboard.

519

was like, I love that.

520

So that song is awesome too.

521

And it's gotten play on Jim Cornett show.

522

And I just love, I love the vibe of that too.

523

Again, just very rock and roll.

524

That one is a lot more, I think in terms of that one, that one's a lot more fun.

525

That one is a little bit more on the nose, you know, but in intentionally, right?

526

Like you guys are making that decision to make it more on the nose.

527

So.

528

When you're writing that theme, tell us a little bit as to how that comes to be and the

reception from Jim and the fans.

529

Well, one last thing about Jeremiah before we move on to is that like he's using it in

National Wrestling Alliance, which is amazing.

530

And that video actually went across Billy Corgan's desk.

531

And so they talked about actually doing something with it on TV.

532

But I think it got caught in production hiatus because they're on a weird schedule.

533

But he started.

534

So Jeremiah is working as a heel in all these places.

535

And like despite that, the crowd is singing it at him.

536

And so I'm like.

537

That's exactly what you want.

538

for like, I mean, we were heading back from Wisconsin, right?

539

So the funny thing about the Jim Cornett theme is that people think that it's like a work.

540

It's not like people think that we knew Brian last or something and that he just like was

like, you know, do this or whatever.

541

I'm like, no, no, we legitimately listen to the show.

542

We drive.

543

Obviously, we spent a lot of time in the car.

544

Yeah, that's our show.

545

And there was an episode where at the very end of the

546

drive through, they were like, hey, we need a theme song.

547

We need a new theme song.

548

This has been going on.

549

I think Brian was like, this has been going on too long.

550

Somebody send in like this thing.

551

And it's two in the morning.

552

It's two in the morning, you know, and we're tired.

553

And then I think we just turned to each other and we're like, we're a band.

554

We can write a theme song for Jim Cornette.

555

Why not?

556

Like, let's just try it.

557

Let's just do it.

558

And we knew it.

559

And so like the approach of it is kind of funny.

560

We had about a three day window between like day

561

when we can get in a studio and writing it and everything so she's like this isn't gonna

happen with it is it and so my rule is that if I have an engaging opening line to the song

562

it's gonna happen

563

And so we're like, like again, it's like if I can hook you right from the beginning.

564

like the Midnight and the Rock and Roll, right?

565

And so it's like, if you listen to Jim Cornette at all, you refers to the Midnight Express

as the Midnight and the Rock and Roll Express as the Rock and Roll, but it also kind of

566

sounds like, Midnight, Rock and Roll, that's interesting.

567

But it's like, you know, what greater struggle has there been in pro wrestling history

than the dastardly Midnight Express using things like karate illegally?

568

Right?

569

You know, versus the rock and roll express.

570

mean, like, nobody suffers like, you know, nobody suffers like Ricky Morton, right?

571

So it's just...

572

back and forth and so you know I think we knew what it could be but then we wanted to

build in all the things we loved about WCW themes and glam rock like there's a whole lot

573

of like sweet and the queen in there and stuff like that but also it sounds weird but we

wanted to write something we don't believe that Jim is totally done making appearances so

574

we didn't just want it to be a podcasting we wanted him to be able to come out to it but

we also kind of wanted it to almost have like a

575

vibe to it.

576

Like, so when it hits like that, like it's just, mean, the Jim Cornette part's just DCE,

right?

577

It's like, I mean, there's nothing to it because it just hits that way.

578

And you know, so it hits, so it physically does it.

579

So we'll know if somebody watches the show, if we start playing it they turn their head at

a show, you know, they karate punch through the Jim Cornette.

580

Jim Cornette!

581

But we wanted it to be like a heroic entrance, like a superhero sort of thing.

582

So he's up there and everybody like shouts it and is into it.

583

And the other piece we really wanted too is we wanted to throw, it takes you on a trip,

right?

584

Like it's an 83 second song with like low verse chorus, high verse go chorus.

585

bridge breakdown coda out right like and so like it's a lot in a little but you don't

recognize what's going on because it takes you for that trip you know and i think that was

586

like a big thing about it too and then like also lyrically you know you know so we we have

a couple of hate threads devoted to us on reddit that we took away people's like parody

587

themes first of all i love that so many people can have such a strong opinion about

588

like people they've never met.

589

I'm sure that you know what I mean, because I'm sure people...

590

Yeah, I was gonna say, I am sure that you have your own haters.

591

Listen, think the Brian Myers theme is a panger, but there's probably others who are like,

592

And that was Hinder and I'm like, I'm never gonna bash that song but listen to this one.

593

This one's great.

594

Yeah, and they're a little bit, and so like, you know, obviously, like everyone knows it's

corny and James, they're super fun songs.

595

they're super fun parodies.

596

So was, so was No One Is a Nice Guy.

597

Well, and also, like, if you think about it too, we wanted to write something, you know,

like, we didn't want to write songs about two things lyrically.

598

One, we didn't want to use it to bash other people.

599

No.

600

All right, like, and then two, we didn't want to talk about all the stuff that he did.

601

Like we wanted to talk about the reasons why we like Jim Cornette now.

602

You know, like it's true.

603

the line in the British, he's never fake or phony.

604

He never backs down from a fight.

605

And those are the things like when he's talking about wrestling, he hates, right?

606

It's like this fake phony sort of thing, right?

607

watch him on X, watch him going after everybody, however he goes about it, whether it's

wrestling, politics, whatever.

608

He's himself, no matter what.

609

You know what you're getting with him.

610

He's authentic to himself.

611

And we've worked with people.

612

Jack Doan was the referee in our music video for that.

613

So he worked with Jim for years when he was there with managing Bulldog and Yoko and all

sorts of things on Creative.

614

And the more people we met who have worked with Jim, they're just like, he has the most

respect for these people, for this industry, loyal, and he just wants the best for

615

everybody that's involved.

616

And he's opinionated, but his opinions are based in stuff.

617

And that was the biggest thing is we go around and there'll be somebody who, like, listen,

618

admit we watch AEW as well because we want it to work so bad again we're at WCW house and

we're just like like Tony Tony fixes please somehow Tony Schiavone has something to do

619

with it right but like we go around and people are like geez I can't believe you like that

guy or whatever it's like no like like that I mean we put it out on our fan club seven

620

inch too

621

And like, just to say what people Brian Last and Jim Cornett are, they both bought it.

622

They could have asked us for it for free, you know, like we sent it to their house.

623

Jim bought an extra t-shirt with like an ex-bomber's t-shirt.

624

I think that just reveals a lot about their character.

625

They didn't have to do that.

626

We would have happily given them, you know, And people complain on like threads where

they're like, bring back the old themes and like they don't blink.

627

I think part of it is that they just genuinely, I mean, they're both music people.

628

That's the other thing.

629

You go on the Arcadian Vanguard channel 15 years ago.

630

Brian Last is like filming bands in New York City and they're all the bands he likes and

he's trying to like book shows of it.

631

And obviously like Jim, if you watched as he booked in Smokey

632

Mountain and OVW music was such a huge piece of that for him so like we're not often

looking to do things but we're just like all right we're music people they're music people

633

you know I think this can work and that's why if somebody is like geez that Jim Kornecke

we're like like like you do not know him like not like we're like friends with them or

634

whatever but like when you work with somebody on something like that it tells you who they

are

635

Yeah, and he's always somebody that I've wanted to have on the show because there was one

show that I was listening to of his and I he has thousands of shows so I'm not gonna sit

636

here and hit you with a timestamp or an episode but I remember that he had said something

and it was around the time about a year that I started getting into doing the entrance

637

themes and he was just like years ago we used to not even have entrance themes and I was

like that's interesting and then I think he had said that then they started

638

with not doing like custom entrance themes, but it was like music that people knew.

639

You know, exactly.

640

Yeah.

641

And I was like, that's really interesting too.

642

And the narrative behind that was, you know, if you were going to give somebody a piece of

music when they came out, number one, you were sold on them immediately.

643

And just having music told people that you need to care more about this person than the

others.

644

But then over time they saw how good it was.

645

And then they were like, well, you know, let's use music that's on the radio because

people know it and they'll associate it with it.

646

And it was interesting to me because like, you know, I'm 36.

647

And for me, my first wrestling match that I, that got me into wrestling was Bret and Sean,

Iron Man match, WrestleMania 12.

648

And so like, that's more of like a timestamp there.

649

Right.

650

And it's like, you know, for me, everything else is historic.

651

I didn't see in real time, Hulk slam Andre.

652

You know what I mean?

653

I didn't see the free birds in their time.

654

I didn't see killer Kowalski obviously in his time.

655

So for me, it's like learning about how the industry was and like,

656

Now the industry that we sit in, like you guys, me, we're in this industry where

everything is like a TV production, right?

657

And like every single character has a theme, even if they're only on like two times a year

or something like that.

658

Everybody's got to have a theme.

659

Every show has to have a theme.

660

Every pay-per-view has to have a theme, whether it's like licensed music or not.

661

And you're just like, it's so different than how it used to be.

662

So for me, I'd love to even have him on the show and just be like, look, obviously you're

using the stuff with X-Bombers and it's awesome.

663

But like,

664

These are conversations where it's like you've been in the industry so long to where you

know how it was without music to get people over and amplify a character.

665

I just love to have a conversation on that dynamic in real time.

666

Cause that's like, that's the other side of the themes, right?

667

What happens if someone doesn't have one you see, you know, in NWA the early part during

COVID and whatnot, they started to not use the entrance themes again to Mossach Tampa.

668

ring.

669

Yeah.

670

Yeah, Tomaso Ciampa early on when he turned heel in NXT, he just came out to booze.

671

And I was like, this is the best thing ever.

672

Don't have him have music.

673

My thing has always been like the Jericho thing in 2008.

674

Why would you have merch if I don't want you to like me?

675

Right.

676

And it's like, that kind of thing.

677

And you see like the, when someone doesn't have music or music isn't a factor, it's like,

not only what does music do if you have it.

678

the absence.

679

Right.

680

wrestling?

681

And so that'd be an interesting conversation to have,

682

Yeah, that would be that.

683

That silence that kind of goes with it.

684

And I think the other thing is at some point with kind of modern music when it comes to

this stuff is they just find a bed, they go with it.

685

think like it just lack.

686

There must be.

687

Wrestling is an art form.

688

I mean, I always say this and so do you know who was at ringside at WrestleMania one who

always I always cite Mary Tyler Moore one of the greatest producers of television all the

689

time.

690

You're Tyler Moore.

691

What are you doing here?

692

She's like there is no finer theater than professional wrestling in this world And I'm

just like Mary Tyler Moore has this right when this thing is done Correctly, you know,

693

that's the case

694

But I think the thing is that ultimately we're all in this kind of world where if you

watch, let's say, AEW.

695

Crowds don't know when to cheer or when to boo.

696

They pop for a spot or whatever.

697

But you know, watch Jeff Jarrett work a match, they all want to count the 10 punches in

the corner, right?

698

He outsmarts somebody with an arm drag, they cheer.

699

I mean, like, I think there's these basic human things that we need to set up and then go

from there.

700

So like to us, you know, if I'm...

701

looking to put over somebody as a wrestler, we gotta come up with something that's like

catchy, true to them, where people get excited to hear it in the moment.

702

And if we're looking to get over like a heel where you actually like them, you need to

make some terrible music for them.

703

So like in AW, they use a weird bed for Don Callis to come out.

704

It's dissonant, it's like just a synth being held.

705

similar to what he had when he was the Jackal like early on, yeah.

706

right.

707

Yeah, yeah.

708

Was he using the Cyrus the virus too in ECW?

709

I'm gonna guess Paul probably has something to do with everything.

710

But like yeah, like you just you hate it.

711

You're like, this is uncomfortable.

712

It's a brown note get out of here And so it invokes that feeling so like if you had

silence, that's cool if you have like but yeah I think there's just this like layer of

713

noise and barrage that comes at you and I can't distinguish different themes from each

other whereas if I go back and I watch like WCW I'm all like man called sting.

714

I'm getting Steiner eyes, right?

715

It's true.

716

I love that.

717

Give me one

718

to your example, like, right?

719

Like, I'm just a sexy boy.

720

Oh my God.

721

Right?

722

why?

723

It tells you everything you need to know.

724

It just, it just, it just, he's so punchable with that line.

725

And so Bret Hart, you know, we're Bret Hart people.

726

We love Hitman, right?

727

And so like you wanted Bret Hart to mess up the sexy boy just because of that theme.

728

And he's prancing to it and he's taking off the earrings.

729

you're just like, yeah, he thinks he's a sexy boy.

730

Let's see what happens when he runs into the guy from the dungeon, right?

731

the fact that you bring up Shawn Michaels, I could this is a Shawn Michaels stand podcast

at some point, ladies and gentlemen.

732

Now we're going to go ahead and shift gears here because we're going to do two questions

at the end.

733

But we're going to go ahead and play a game here called Music City Rumble, where

734

I have our guests booking musicians versus musicians, one singles match for men, one

singles match for women, and one tag team match using only musicians in the squared

735

circle.

736

You are in charge of the wrestling match.

737

So you're going to be pitting musician against musician.

738

you get to choose the participants and who would win those matches.

739

And so like, not like modern day, right?

740

So like if I want Billy Joel in there, we don't got modern day Billy Joel.

741

got like...

742

do that if you want.

743

could choose modern, could choose living, you could choose dead, you could do living

versus dead, but I'm assuming a dead guy or a dead woman would be a very easy opponent.

744

Let's pick, we're gonna go with people in their prime.

745

So like, so if I say like, this is Jimmy Page, you know, let's go ahead.

746

mean, Jimmy Page in his prime.

747

That's what you're saying?

748

Yeah.

749

Okay.

750

All right.

751

I'm going to start with the singles match.

752

that okay?

753

Men's singles?

754

I don't even know if you heard all the rules.

755

You didn't let him finish.

756

there more?

757

Yeah.

758

His cadence suggests that.

759

All right.

760

So it's the match that we all want to see.

761

It is, it is the...

762

toxic twins explode.

763

It's gonna be Joe Perry versus Steven Tyler.

764

Right?

765

The toxic twins explode.

766

And we do an angle where where Steven Tyler's love is too much for Joe Perry and Joe Perry

turns on him.

767

Right?

768

So we've got, we're shooting, we're shooting a vignette in the studio, right?

769

And they're recording an album.

770

And at some point, you know, Steven is trying to get a solicited take from him and he's

touching, he's like, why are you always touching me, Tal Rico?

771

And it's just like, I'm just trying to get this out of there.

772

And then 10 year thing, boom, Perry takes the guitar.

773

hits Talerico in it, Talerico gets color, he's on the ground there, Aerosmith is done, and

at insult to injury, Joe decides to record that piece where the tape was rolling as a new

774

45 that he's handing out at all the shows, listening to Steven Tyler crying.

775

Wow, I think you've thought about this.

776

I love this and this is great too because you have the recording of Steven Tyler being

like on the background.

777

Now the question is who who goes over in this match?

778

Okay, here's the thing is that man, I think I'm gonna put over Joe Perry this launch is

the Joe Perry project Right.

779

So here's the thing that's on it too.

780

Is that like because the thing is you'd have to have Tyler work is like a as like a

chicken

781

Babyface which is kind of weird.

782

He'd fight from underneath.

783

We want him to fight from underneath and do those things, but Perry's got to crush him.

784

What do you think?

785

Sure, I'll take it.

786

Yeah.

787

think so.

788

I mean, I'd watch it, And I've got Brad Whitford out there who's on Steven's side.

789

Ooh, in his corner, okay.

790

Until the last minute where it looks like he's gonna have the comeback.

791

Big, big Tom Hamilton reaches in.

792

One, two, three.

793

Now Joe Perry has a bass player for the Joe Perry Project.

794

Taurico's got color again.

795

uh

796

is just to give Telerico color.

797

yeah!

798

Yeah, it's a...

799

Wow!

800

I'm saying that, right?

801

by the way, we got his daughters at ringside, they're crying!

802

Sure!

803

Of course!

804

Right, right, and then he leaves, and then, and then, you know, and Joe Perry leaves the

ring and plays, off of Get Your Wings, You See Me Cryin'.

805

my god!

806

I love that.

807

And just, yeah, so we built it from here.

808

And the assumption would be if we had only turned based on this, it would be something

where Stephen had to go and get somebody else involved with it in order to do it.

809

So now we got our one-on-one women's match

810

Okay, Women's match.

811

I don't know who the other participant would be.

812

I can float one for you after this.

813

what's yours?

814

Because maybe it's the same as mine.

815

I've got it complete with MAC.

816

that's-

817

Yeah, yeah, that'd be good.

818

What do you got?

819

But I was thinking, Chrissy Hine from The Pretenders Joan Jett.

820

Because she, it's my understanding, she was very...

821

Yeah.

822

Like just, she was like a, she was a lot.

823

It's my understanding she was a lot.

824

And she annoyed a lot of other women.

825

So I don't know who her opponent would be.

826

Well, here's the thing, if I say Joan Jett, I've got steel versus steel.

827

You don't want that.

828

Okay.

829

So like, we all know that Joe Perry could take Steven Tyler in a fight.

830

Maybe.

831

Yes.

832

I'm saying Chrissy is from Ohio.

833

Totally.

834

She is scrappy.

835

So we can't have a Joan Jett because that's like that's a good fight, but it's not a fight

that you need to see.

836

So who do you want to see her beat up?

837

You know, it's like Big Bill versus Talos.

838

Okay.

839

Right?

840

You're like, they're both tall.

841

It's great.

842

But then I lose something if I've got that going on on it.

843

You need like, you need your like, you need a blonde who like is like, yay.

844

all right.

845

Okay, go.

846

I got a surprising.

847

All right.

848

man.

849

Chrissy Hine versus Tony Basil, who did Mickey.

850

I don't know.

851

I wouldn't count Tony out because she was like a gymnast or something.

852

Well, hold on though.

853

Like, so like with wow logic, which by the way, we are going to fully admit here, we love

women of wrestling.

854

too,

855

It's a great show.

856

Production is amazing.

857

But here's what I know on this, right?

858

Tony Basil presents as all American girl cheerleader.

859

the idea when we think Chrissy Hind is just going to hand it to her.

860

So we're going to get classic WCW sort of.

861

So the build in on this kind of thing is that Chrissy Hind has just released something

from The Pretenders like Brass in Pocket.

862

And what knocks it out of the chart?

863

Mickey.

864

Mickey.

865

She's like, oh God, Mickey knocked this out of the chart.

866

So, so, so she starts like talking in the press and menacing.

867

And at some point here, like it ends up being that the pretenders were supposed to have

Tony Basil open for her.

868

Ooh, okay.

869

But since Mickey's so hot, we swapped the bill.

870

Now all of sudden the pretenders are.

871

And she starts saying stuff on stage, walks backstage.

872

Chrissy Hind spits in Tony Basil's face right before she says, back there.

873

She's like, have Mickey wipe it off there.

874

You do your little cheerleader chants and whatever.

875

Me and the boys are getting out of here.

876

Mickey stands up for herself.

877

She gets the arms at the side and goes like, be like, you can say a lot about me, but you

can't say anything about Mickey in this sort of cheerleading and defending.

878

Wow.

879

Right.

880

And so we've got them in a match at this point.

881

The only way to settle it, the only way to figure out who opens for who on this tour,

because you got to have something at stake in a match.

882

If people are just going out there and wrestling, right?

883

Remember, can Joe break away from Steven?

884

Now who's going to win on this kind of like thing in order to be up on the card?

885

And so I've got him in there and we have classic 1980s heels got the advantage runs.

886

face is outsmarting.

887

So Tony Basil is doing the splits, cartwheeling out of the way.

888

I can see it.

889

It's infuriating until it's all fun and games.

890

The crowd is laughing until Chrissy hits her with a good right hand and just knocks her

down like a heap, right?

891

And like a little blood trickling out of the side of the mouth at Tony Basil there

reaching out to the crowd.

892

Chrissy stomping her saying, this is how we do it in Ohio.

893

Right, right, she's got eyeliner in her pocket and saying I'm making you punk rock now and

drawing it on her face, write something terrible on her forehead, making her clap like

894

doing the stomp clap with her hands got her in a hold, right?

895

The crowd is just so, now we got the comeback coming, right?

896

The crowd's behind Mickey.

897

Right, let's go Tony, let's do a chanza, T-O-N-I.

898

I don't know what it is.

899

didn't do cheerleading, so I don't know what it is, right?

900

Right?

901

Cheering for her, building the sorts of things up, right?

902

Can't keep her down, can't keep her down, flurry, flurry, flurry.

903

Our comeback, we put Tony over.

904

Tony goes over.

905

I love how well thought out these are too, because this is so like, again, with these,

it's not just who are we doing?

906

It's also a matter of like their story here.

907

I love this.

908

And now you got now you got one tag team too.

909

This is usually with like the band versus the band, like the full band versus the full

band.

910

All right.

911

So I'm gonna say who I like for character work and intrigue.

912

Okay.

913

So my one team is gonna be Soft Cell, the band who did Tainted Love.

914

They are sleazy, they are British, they use machinery, there's something there.

915

That's not a bug, that's a feature, John.

916

Yeah.

917

So, all right, the other side of this though, we would need like a rock and roll band.

918

Okay.

919

So like a rock and roll duo, who do you like on this?

920

I mean the easy one's gonna be like the Black Keys.

921

Sure, yeah okay.

922

Okay.

923

I can see that.

924

So Dan and my god I can't remember the drummer's name.

925

Drummer guy.

926

He's a producer.

927

He does everything I can't remember so the entire idea here is that we've we've got this

and soft sell is now Releasing all these awesome themes in wrestling.

928

We're gonna bring it all together here Right all these people and they're starting to get

on TV because of it.

929

Okay, they're starting to be heard They're starting to be and everything they have all

these vignettes going on on it.

930

They come out They have machines and so the rock and rollers are just mad.

931

They're all like

932

These are instruments, man.

933

These are instruments and they do it and they come out and they play a set in the middle.

934

What would it be?

935

During the Soft Cell Sanitarium, which is their weekly sort of thing where Soft Cell is

having people on with their music and interviewing people too.

936

So everyone cools on there and kind of like blase or whatever.

937

And it's like height new wave.

938

Right, everyone's like this and whatever.

939

And in the middle of it, they have the black keys come out and everyone boo's them.

940

Right?

941

Everyone booze them.

942

And you think at this point that it's going to be like the case everyone from the Blase,

but then they start going on the road with these people and they start playing entrance

943

themes for everybody.

944

And wouldn't you know it, rock and roll is getting over.

945

Everybody's so sick of the machinery and that sort of thing that's going on in the past.

946

And they go rock and roll.

947

And so now all of a sudden they come back and do it again.

948

And we've got like a 50-50 split going on.

949

Now there's signs in the crowd that say machines will not replace us.

950

Stuff like that.

951

Right?

952

Yeah, all right.

953

the signs, right?

954

Long live rock and roll.

955

Okay, I get it.

956

Right, and so this is going on as an undercurrent.

957

We tag them on to tie everything together here, right?

958

So like, Coleman, seems like it's gonna culminate with the two of them playing the

entrance rings.

959

And wouldn't you know who they're playing to the ring?

960

The greatest rivalry of all time.

961

Soft Cell plays out the Midnight Express.

962

And wouldn't you know who plays out rock and roll?

963

Right?

964

The rock and roll express come out to

965

the black keys, right?

966

And so here's the match and everything going on.

967

But then like soft cell slinks to the side of the ring.

968

They're going to cheat for the midnight, right?

969

They're out there with Jim Cornette.

970

They get the big hug and everything that's on there too.

971

Mark Allman's got a glittery tennis racket, right?

972

And who comes to the aid of them from backstage running in with their instruments as well,

right?

973

To use his weapons?

974

To use his weapons, smeared with the bass guitar, right?

975

on there.

976

Corny takes the bump because he gets backsided by the way.

977

We never want to have somebody take it see it coming right?

978

Like they hit him from behind and then you know and then they slide a symbol into the

ring.

979

Love it.

980

Right?

981

How people don't do that more?

982

That's the finish right?

983

Right in the eye.

984

A bloodied Ricky Martin takes the symbol looks up right?

985

hits sweet Stanley and right in the eye he runs over, one, two, three, roll up, out.

986

But at this point, Jim Cornette is managing soft sell and says, my boys can take in this

thing.

987

We've really gone on a ride.

988

this is easy.

989

The idea is that you want to tell the story that never ends with everything so we could

keep this going indefinitely and bring people in take them out.

990

So then the next thing we're doing we've got a match here where it's like loser leaves the

territory.

991

The song will never be played, never be replaced again.

992

Never writes again.

993

Never write, never.

994

Like if your champion was using the black key song it's out now.

995

They gotta find something new.

996

And by the way, furthermore, anybody who is using a black key song now

997

to use the soft sell song is their entrance and anybody who's using the soft sell song

exactly all right so so what we got to do because we've got people in here who cannot work

998

in any way whatsoever so what do we got all surrounding the ring so no one can escape all

the wrestlers using the themes we got them they got a lumberjack match out of this

999

Right?

01:00:00,482 --> 01:00:01,893

Back and forth, right?

01:00:01,893 --> 01:00:04,895

Soft Cell is just doing the most cheating things possible.

01:00:04,895 --> 01:00:09,248

They are cheating in every human possible way that's going on.

01:00:09,248 --> 01:00:18,174

We've got powder, we've got fire, we've got just like other things where like they like

they cue the Light Man to blind him in the eyes with the same sort of thing.

01:00:18,174 --> 01:00:22,527

We've got everything we could possibly have because Soft Cell ain't winning a fair fight

here.

01:00:22,527 --> 01:00:23,537

I'm speechless.

01:00:23,537 --> 01:00:24,698

I don't...

01:00:24,732 --> 01:00:25,802

I don't even know what to say.

01:00:25,802 --> 01:00:26,363

Right.

01:00:26,363 --> 01:00:29,914

And then when things look worse, that the same sort of thing, right?

01:00:29,914 --> 01:00:33,777

The biggest rock and roller at ringside who's super pumped, right?

01:00:33,777 --> 01:00:36,129

They've been the biggest supporter of the black keys.

01:00:36,129 --> 01:00:36,849

Right?

01:00:36,849 --> 01:00:39,511

Like, like says, yeah, let's get them.

01:00:39,511 --> 01:00:49,055

Cold Cox, one of the black keys reveals the most new wave sort of space age shirt at the

same sort of thing and says long live synth, baby.

01:00:49,055 --> 01:00:49,656

Right.

01:00:49,656 --> 01:00:50,757

One, two, three.

01:00:50,757 --> 01:00:51,771

I'm sorry.

01:00:51,771 --> 01:00:57,606

two years, three years, it's nothing but synth wave and nothing but new wave and anything

like that for entrances.

01:00:57,606 --> 01:01:03,265

what happens when this punk rock duo called the X Bombers comes into the territory?

01:01:03,265 --> 01:01:06,423

You just booked yourself into this fictitious thing.

01:01:06,423 --> 01:01:07,004

I did.

01:01:07,004 --> 01:01:11,738

it's because we write Cornett off for a bit.

01:01:11,738 --> 01:01:15,663

But then Cornett comes back with our theme and we go, what?

01:01:15,663 --> 01:01:15,801

Wow.

01:01:15,801 --> 01:01:20,509

You know, it's a real shame that I don't have a time machine that I can't make this

happen.

01:01:20,509 --> 01:01:22,869

Can you imagine what I've done here?

01:01:22,869 --> 01:01:24,595

Can you imagine what I could do for AEW?

01:01:24,595 --> 01:01:25,635

Yeah, I can imagine.

01:01:25,635 --> 01:01:26,935

Hour and a half, man.

01:01:26,935 --> 01:01:28,747

I make you a month and a half of TV.

01:01:28,747 --> 01:01:30,218

And all music centric too.

01:01:30,218 --> 01:01:31,290

That's the beauty of it.

01:01:31,290 --> 01:01:35,534

Well, thank you to the both of you for making the time to come on ropes and riffs today.

01:01:35,534 --> 01:01:36,716

This was awesome.

01:01:36,716 --> 01:01:41,342

I love having a conversation with you about your music, music and wrestlers as we always

do.

01:01:41,342 --> 01:01:43,991

And I hope to have you back on coming up as well.

01:01:43,991 --> 01:01:52,100

Yeah, we love that we've got some exciting kind of projects going on for a couple of

wrestlers too that we don't like to talk about them until they're like concrete and

01:01:52,100 --> 01:01:53,161

they're using them.

01:01:53,161 --> 01:01:54,611

Yeah, because that's always the

01:01:54,611 --> 01:01:57,157

for wrestlers is you don't talk about writing for wrestlers.

01:01:57,540 --> 01:01:58,641

Basically.

01:01:59,623 --> 01:02:00,034

true.

01:02:00,034 --> 01:02:01,995

John, appreciate it.

01:02:01,995 --> 01:02:03,977

It's the merging of our two worlds.

01:02:03,977 --> 01:02:07,900

So when we saw that this show was in existence, we're all like, this is fantastic.

01:02:07,900 --> 01:02:09,001

This is our people.

01:02:09,001 --> 01:02:14,206

so we're a very small group of people who write in this arena.

01:02:14,206 --> 01:02:16,473

So I'm so glad we got to do this.

01:02:16,473 --> 01:02:17,000

Absolutely.

01:02:17,000 --> 01:02:17,733

Thank you guys.