concert at the auditorium. After we sang that night, I signed my first autographs. I fell in love with performing and also suddenly,
I was getting laid a lot and I thought: “Soccer never got me laid before--so I think I'm gonna stay with music and singing!”
Pressing on, I probed “If Metal did not exist what other genre would you slap on a death mask
for?”
Says Prophet, “1982 was the year I gave myself to Metal music and I have never looked back or regretted that decision.”
Hmmmm…me thinks that Metal is the way, truth, and light for this zombie/cowboy.
In order to gain insight to the theatrical treatment of his performances, I posed “You have added characters to enhance the
presentation of your stage show--do you find your audience more invested in the actors’ presence than the production itself?
How did that decision evolve?” I then layered on more lipstick and hit him with “So, what’s up with the face paint?”
Prophet’s response: “I don't know what people think. I will say that whenever we have Kim, Olga, or any of the other lovely
ladies that we have dancing onstage with us that, yes, the crowd tends to look at them more (as in--we become invisible)…
LOL! Our number one focus as a band is to write the best songs that we can. We never want to be a band where the show
is better than the music. With St. Madness, the music will always come first. As far as I am concerned, as long as the audience
is happy and having a good time, then we did our job. We're entertainers, not rock stars.”
He adds, “From 1993 to November of 1995, we had banners, lights, smoke machines, etc., but not face paint or anything like
a dark, theatrical production. The thing that made us change really was the sudden popularity of the Alternative music
movement. When NIRVANA and Grunge music came onto the scene, it seemed like instantly many people who used to say
“Long live Metal!” or “Long live Rock 'n’ Roll!”, changed, and they started to put Metal down and make fun of the people who
still believed in it. By then, even one of my favorite bands, METALLICA, had started to change from Thrash to more
mainstream.”
Prophet continues, “A crazy idea hit me. MARGE (“Boss Lady”) JOHNSON and I were out shopping and after feeling so
frustrated over seeing Metal dying right before my eyes in Arizona, I said to Marge, ‘I'm going to wear face paint and I don't
care if the band does it or not, but I am going to.’ So, when I told the band that I was going to wear face paint, I thought they
were going to laugh me out of Bad Manor. Instead, my bass player at the time, RANDY AX, said, ‘Well, if you're going to do
it, then we better do it too or we'll look stupid.’ From that moment on, face paint became our war paint and battle cry against
anyone who was against Metal. We went heavier and darker--with lots of theatrics to make sure that we stood out like a sore
thumb in the midst of all the Alternative bands. I guess we have the Alternative music movement to thank for why St. Madness
is what it is!”
Keeping with the St. Madness theme, I asked of Prophet, “What dead musical legend would you dig up and reanimate to
share the stage with?”
“ELVIS PRESELEY.”
I then countered “What living entity would you slap face makeup on to perform with?”
“LEMMY KILMISTER.”
And regarding the “revolving door” of many bands, I inquired, “St. Madness--like many bands, has seen musicians come and
go. Are you still friends with past band mates? And if not, where are the bodies buried?”
Prophet: “I have huge love and respect for all the former members of this band. I am still friends and in contact with most of
them to one degree or another. That's not to say that I haven't had some really bad disagreements with a few former members,
but I don't believe in airing negative band bullshit publicly. I believe that the reason DIMEBAG DARRELL was murdered was
because PANTERA had a very public break up. Fans of bands don't really want to hear all that negative crap--like all the
public bickering between the original members of KISS recently over The Rock N Roll Hall of Fame appearance, I think that