20 Questions with August Worchell, 3/23/04

 

20 QUESTIONS WITH…

Ex-Johnny Crash Guitarist August Worchell

Johnny Crash were a Sunset Strip band that got signed to CBS Records and put out their debut album “Neighborhood Threat” in 1990. They toured with Motley Crue on the Dr. Feelgood tour and then basically vanished like most of the bands from that scene. And this being Metal Sludge, our job is to find every one of these bands, dust off a band member, and grill him on stupid shit. Enjoy!

1. What are you currently up to? This is your only chance to promote your shit, whatever it is.
I currently own a company called “SKINCANDY” skincandy.net and skincandy.org. Skincandy.net is a tattoo ink supply buisness. I make colored pigments by hand, the “old school way” and sell them to tattooers all over the world. You can find my advertisements in any TATTOO AND SAVAGE magazines. Skincandy.org is a really hot womens underwear line I started a few months ago, weve had 3 runway model strip shows, yes some models were naked!!! and on valentines day I had a full blown fashion show that M.T.V EUROPE covered! That’s about it for now.

2. You guys toured with Motley Crue on the Dr. Feelgood tour but never got to the next level. Who would you like to blame and point fingers at for that?
W.T.G RECORDS. and choice of producer. There were virtually no records in the stores of the cities we played in and we hardly ever did in store promotions. We did 2 shows at alpine valley in Wisconsin with Motley, Tesla, Joe satriani, Bonham…We happened to play first both days at 1 p.m. the stadium was about 1/16 to capacity and that happened to be the day C.B.S came down to check on us. Not many people were interested, I mean how interested would you be at 1 p.m. for a new band. Thats when the label stopped promoting us, not like they ever did anyway..The rest of the tour was mostly us and MOTLEY, those shows were mostly great, people seemed to dig us, we were only booed once in IDAHO.

3. You quit the band after you got done touring for the first album. Why did you leave?
It was an amicable split, I did different drugs then the other guys, we were all a mess, IMAGINE THAT LOL… and I was diggin what Alice in chains and Soundgarden were up to. Our sound was over. I knew it early on when ALICE IN CHAINS opened for us at the PALACE in hollywood, can you believe that, they opened for us..lol I was innamered, is that how you spell it? with those guys, I saw them play in front of 4 people when they first got to L.A. There was nothing like them, at that point they were wearing huge mushroom alice in wonderland hats, they did alot of acid in those days. My musical backround before JOHNNY CRASH was very diverse as well, I was getting tired of sounding like AC/DC, but unfortunately most of the guys in the band were musically limited, and Im not saying that in a derogetory sense, they rocked! but it was like a good dog that only knew one trick.

4. What hard rock/heavy metal band should give it up and call it a day?
thank you for asking……CREED!!! and anywone else that sounds like em.

5. Rate the following guitarist on a scale of 1 to 10. 1 being somebody who totally blows and 10 being a guitar virtuoso.
Tracii Guns = 7. Gets the job done but lukewarm. I hope he’s not mad at me anymore, we have history, sorry Tracy, You know what I mean.
Agnus Young = 8 and 3/4. I’d rate him higher, but he never evolves.
Mick Mars = 8. But for some reason I think he’s hiding more than we know about.
Brent Muscat = 5. but I haven’t heard him in years so he’s probably better now
Billy Rowe = 7. great rhythm player
Slash = 7. great writer/too much distortion
C.C. DeVille = 6. Verry old friend, pre POISON… I love you man/ get your shit together!!!!
Joe Perry = 9. that’s a given
Warren DeMartini = 8 1/2. great player.. too many notes…….
Steve Stevens = 9 and 1/2… back in the day he was my hero, but what have you done for me lately??

I’m going to add my own favorites that I would rate a 10.
Johnny Greenwood/Radiohead 10 “Listen Closely”
Kim Thayil/Soundgarden 10
Brain May/ 10
The late Mick Ronson/ Bowie 10
Early Pumpkins Billy Corgan 10
Andy scott/Sweet 10
Jeff Beck/ 10

6. Johnny Crash’s album came out a few years before Sound Scan, so we can’t get find out an accurate number of how many albums you guys sold. So tell us, and try not to exaggerate too much, but how many albums did Johnny Crash sell that you’re aware of. What were you told?
Roughly about 50,000 records, i just got an $11 royalty check last week

7. You also spent a month or so playing in American Heartbreak with Billy Rowe from Jetboy. Why did you only stay in that band for like a month?
Because Their music was dated, they barely let me write 1 song, and I thought the drummer was mediorcre, Billy happens to be a great guy and a solid player. When we first started jamming, just he and I, I thought we were going in a more stonesy direction, instead we sounded like a sloppy wannabe punk band. It wasn’t very authentic, kinda like Johnny Crash..lol

8. Johnny Crash’s bass player Adam Rodgers died of a heroin overdose in 1992, and the rest of the members kinda disappeared after that. Do you still talk to any of them or know what they went on to do?
To this day Cris Stewart Is still one of my best friends, remember, cris and I met at boarding school at 14 and started our first band together with Eric stacy of FASTER PUSSYCAT, by the way Eric is currently living with me renting my guesthouse in Hollywood, for those of you who dont know, I am solely responsible for him becoming a bass player, I was his first teacher and bandmate. Cris is married and has 3 children makes alot of money in the movie industry, hes sober like me but he put on about 75 lbs.CRIS… I love ya man. Punkee emailed me about a year ago but I only heard from him once, Vicky became a d.j. at some stripclub in HOLLYWOOD.

9. What do you remember about touring with Motley Crue on the “Dr. Feelgood” tour, and how did you even get that tour? Any good stories?
That tour was a dream, The one moment I remember vividly is walking in an empty arena with TOMMY LEE and he said, “WELCOME TO THE BIGTIME DUDE” I made an effort to be totally sober at that time because I wanted to remember everything. Those Motley boys were on their best behavior because they were newly sober which kind of sucked because I was looking forward to getiing blowjobs alongside Tommy And Nikki. So unfortunatley their are no juicy stories. Heres a funny bit of info, I actually knew them back in the 80’s when they were a local band. I went to their first show at the STARWOOD in west hollywood. When we were finally introduced to them backstage at our first show in Portland Maine, Tommy recognised me from those years, we both had played with this one guitarist named GREG LEON from the band Suite #19. It was a classic moment, we were all eating together in the commesary and Tommy looked at me like JEFF SPICOLI and said, I KNOW YOU DUUUUUDE lol lol. We luckily got on that tour because our temporary manager, David Rudich, was the attourney for MOTLEY and KISS. Tommy heard a song I wrote called AXE TO THE WAX and loved it, the rest is history.

10. You now run a tattoo business called Skincandy. So rate the following tattooed rock stars on a scale of 1 to 10. 1 being somebody who has lame ass tats and 10 being a hardcover, tattooed motherfucker.
Tracii Guns = Tracii guns, havent really looked.
Nikki Sixx = 9 great oldschool japanese finger water, he has work by KEVIN BRADY AND MARK MAHONEY
Tommy Lee = 9. I think his back is LEO ZULETA,amazing tribalist, im not sure
Jani Lane =
Fred Durst =
Bret Michaels =
Josh Todd =
Marilyn Manson =
Axl Rose = 9 The great Bob Roberts, he buys his dark green from me.
Evan Seinfeld =

I never really looked at the rest of those guys tats, you’d have to send me photos so I could make a fair judgement

11. What do you remember most about playing the Sunset Strip back in the heyday?
The parts I was concious for??? what do you mean lol… It was the best and the worst of everything. I remember doing shows with together with G&R, BANG TANGO,POISON, LOVE HATE JUNKYARD,T.S.O.L… GOOD TIMES, BAD DRUGS, SEX, HERPES, Most of us fucked the same girls but the better bands got hotter chicks and in mass quanties, I was sooooooo jeolous. I think Johnny Crash got alot of respect from other bands in Hollywood because we were hard and ugly, while everyone else was pretty. Poison was really bad musically, but their show was spectacular and they worked harder than any other band at the time, mucho kudos. CC’S mother owned a printing company as well so they had unlimited flyering capability, plus they had crews of loyal fans and groupies helping them 24/7. It was really hard at times for me health wise especially, but I woulden’t change a thing from the past except our choice of producer.

12. You say you just started a line of women’s underwear. Uh, what exactly do you know about women’s underwear and how can you improve on what’s already out there?
Nothing really, I just envisioned the SKINCANDY logo on womens asses and started putting
rhinestones on them with sayings like “LICK THIS” the girls love it! plus im straight, I think im a good judge for a hot cut on a women. It started out as a hobby but now Im taking it more serious, My favorite aspect is I get to fit the models with my panties during the shows.

13. The last of August:
Last CD you purchased = ZERO 7
Last time you looked at Metal Edge magazine = 2 months ago
Last tattoo you got = 3 eyed fire woman on my right hand
Last time you signed an autograph = 2 weeks ago on a pair of pants I designed
Last time you were at the Rainbow = last weekend for dinner
Last concert you saw = JULIETTE LEWIS and the LICKS. You won’t believe how great they are! you wait and see!!!
Last book you read = New art of dog training, I have 2 pitts
Last movie you saw = Passion of the Christ
Last rock star you shook hands with = Brian Austin Green 90210, he’s actually my next door neighbour, his dad was some famous drummer, he plays DRUMS as well, GREAT GUY!
Last time you listened to “Neighborhood Threat” = LAST MONTH

14. What rock star deserves a smack in the mouth and why?
Anyone in CREED

15. List these items in the order of importance (1 thru 10) using your mind like an eighties band from the Sunset Strip. 1 being the least important and 10 being of the utter most importance!
getting good drugs = 10
booking rehearsal time = 10
getting longer hair extensions = 10
designing a new stage costume = 7
paying for a full page ad in BAM = 7
making flyers for the weekend = 10
new logo painted on stage scrims = 1
having a good demo = 10
being in tune during the show = 9
scoring a stripper to pay the bills = 11

16. What’s the lamest tattoo somebody could possibly get?
Barbed wire

17. Yes or no, has August ever:
Done drugs with Nikki Sixx = no
Shot heroin = yes
Regretted a tattoo = yes
Hung out with a member of Warrant = yes
Seen a Johnny Crash CD in a store within the last 10 years = no
Had somebody call you April instead of August = yes
Given a rock star a tattoo = not yet
Had sex with a Playboy Playmate = yes
Produced a gay porn = yes
Been in rehab = yes

18. Of the bands that got signed off the Strip, which band had no business being signed and which one should have exploded but didn’t?
“STRYPER” HAD NO BUISNESS BEING SIGNED
“LIFE SEX AND DEATH” SHOULD HAVE BEEN HUGE!

19. Is it safe to say Johnny Crash’s singer watched too many Guns N’ Roses videos?
Vicky definitely did, the rest of the band was too busy listening to BACK IN BLACK

20. Time for Metal Sludge’s Word Association. We mention a name and you give us your thought
Paul Stanley = RON JEREMY
Nikki Sixx = LAURIE BELL
Riki Rachtman = MY BEST FRIEND IS IN GUNS AND ROSES
Tommy Lee = SUITE #19
Poison = N’SYNC
Axl Rose = SOCIOPATH
Sebastian Bach = LOCAL DRUNK
Vince Neil = FAT
Vicki James Wright = PHIL COLLINS

For more info on August’s tattoo shit, you can visit skincandy.net!
For more on August’s panties, you can visit skincandy.org!