20 Questions With Matt Karp, 2/19/02

20 QUESTIONS WITH…

That’s right, our 20 Questions for this week is with one of the most legendary and famous guitar players in the history of music! It’s been speculated over the last weekend that we’re doing 20 Questions with everyone from Eddie Van Halen to Agnus Young to Slash and Joe Perry. But you’re all wrong! It’s even bigger than any of those so called guitarists!

It’s Matt (Steavanz) Karp from the Wild Boyz!!!

In case you’ve been living under a rock for the last 20 years, the Wild Boyz are 15 times Platinum in Uganda! Bon Jovi and Aerosmith open for these guys in Bhutan. These guys have had the #1 song for 52 weeks in Qatar! They are on the cover of every magazine in the Pitcairn Islands! These guys are truly huge!

We are so stoked to have a member of the Wild Boyz agree to do 20 Questions with us because of how they’ve influenced modern music.

Actually, we’re full of shit, in case you were too stupid to figure it out.

But our 20 Questions for this week is with Matt from Wild Boyz.

A few months back, bastard boy floyd did a Retro Review of the Wild Boyz cassette “Unleashed.” He wasn’t even sure if it came out on CD or not, but we eventually found out it did. They had a CD come out in 1991 on Polaris Records, not to be confused with Perris Records. Floyd actually purchased a cassette of the band and ever since has been wondering what happened to this band. Anyway, Matt sent us an email a few weeks ago saying,

“Your review on Wild Boyz was totally on the money. What an absolute joke they were. Total pretenders and followers of the scene…and bad ones at that.

I should know….I was the guitar player.

This was the only press I’ve read on us for ten years. I laughed until I fell on my ass thinking of someone who lives in a trailer hiding the disc to save his reputation. That was great.

Thanks again and keep it up.

Matt

So we thought, “How funny would it be to do 20 Questions with a member of the Wild Boyz and build it up as a huge interview? That would be hilarious.” Because lets face it, how many of you have even heard of the Wild Boyz? Exactly.

This is actually a very entertaining 20 Questions and is how most of our 20 Questions should be done. This will definitely bring back some memories if you were on the Sunset Strip in the late 80s because you’ll be seeing names you haven’t seen in over 12 years! If you weren’t, then pay attention because you just might learn something. This is the story of what it was like for the typical Sunset Strip band back in the day. Matt put in a lot of effort in answering these questions and if you’re a Sludgeaholic, who should enjoy the humor throughout this interview.

Enjoy!

1. Who are you and what do you do for a living?

First of all let me start out by asking the same 3 questions everyone else is asking right now….”who the Hell is Wild Boyz, who cares what they think and can’t Metal-Sludge find anyone else of value to interview?” Well the answer is…we are the poster Boyz for all that was wrong in the ’80’s and I feel like the responsible one to make sure no one else tries being a talent-less hair band. Don’t try this at home kids.

My name is Matt, (Thumper, riff-master, wolf) I decided to break the self-imposed Wild Boyz vow of silence and refusal to do any interviews for some personal reasons. Oh, not the personal reasons Jani Lane won’t sing “Heaven” even though people put money in his pocket for that song…(Jani, here’s a quarter go buy some humility) but as the events of 9/11 fade, I felt the time right to “come out” if you will. The running from the press and the paparazzi just got too grueling for us…and when Metal Sludge found us, well lets just say they were the first ones to treat us like…well…humans, not like the gods that all the others were categorizing us in.

A little more on the serious side, (yes Floyd I will get serious soon)…I’ve been a screenwriter in Hollywood for a number of years and although it doesn’t show…I write comedy. I’ve written everything from kids t.v. (Nickelodeon, a “Beethoven” sequel) to writing for VH1 original movies and have done a lot of script doctoring which has brought in slightly more bank than the Wild Boyz did in their glorious days of stardom.

My screenwriting days began when I optioned a script about the last of the 80’s hair bands that were enjoying an ego-filled tour when Grunge hit and all their big shows were canceled. Then they had to fight to make it back to Hollywood. True story. Okay that’s the last about me?.now let’s get to some good Sludge.

2. By doing 20 Questions with us, is it safe to say this is the biggest thing that has ever happened to you?

Absolutely. After reading some of the other 20 question interviews, I now have the definition of clarity?Time + 20 Questions = Clarity. I mean look at some of these guys. What world do they live in? It’s the new millennium boys?time to grow up.

3. Where are the Wild Boyz now?

Let see this is where I’m the most fuzzy on?Everyone’s in Calif except for Val who last I heard was employed by a traveling Canadian wrestling show. Val’s the guy that comes out and lays down for the star wrestler?or so I’ve heard. Seems to fit him since he was the one we found sleeping on a tree on Hollywood Blvd in 1988. Everyone else is happily married (twice or three times now, I forget) with wonderful children and leading normal productive service-oriented jobs just like me. Except for Kurt?oh sorry K. Lee. Last I heard he was a physical trainer in the Valley. I think he’s getting serviced. No one is trying anything musically, praise the Lord.

4. The band started out as Dorian Gray and eventually evolved into the Wild Boyz. Tell us how this elite transition took place and why the change?

K. Lee and Joe were in this band Dorian Gray with some other guys who were real musicians (but they were Armenian so obviously they had to go). So K. Lee and Joe set out to find normal American replacements whose scalp could support three feet of hair extensions and smoother skin?more conducive for base make-up and some light rouge. Enter Willie, Val and Matt. We were set to continue to use the Dorian Gray name but our intrepid and fearless legal department got scared by this garage band in Ohio who had mailed themselves the name Dorian Gray and kept it sealed in a letter, thereby copyrighting their name. We were dealing with some damn geniuses?

Anyway, we went through a variety of names all according to K. Lee’s world-renowned three syllable rule. Ready for this one? Any band name that has more than three syllables is a band that will never “make it”. Go ahead see if he’s right. Aerosmith, Led Zeppelin?But if you can get two syllables?instant stardom. Warrant, Extreme, Tesla, see what I mean. Although when “The Smashing Pumpkins” and “Alice in Chains” came around?we were totally baffled. That’s when we knew that we no longer could figure this music scene out?time to hang it up when bands with those names start kicking you off of the charts.

To make a long story short, (you’re readers are probably thinking “this guy likes to ramble”?) sorry you called me, right? Wild Boyz was Krest’s idea (K. Lee’s brother). He wanted Wild Gang or Billy The Kid but he struck brilliance with Wild Boyz. Besides, Dorian Gray had four syllables.

5. Pick your Poison & tell us why the choice..

Guns N ‘ Roses or Poison = Poison, of course. Style always wins over substance, (or substance abuse, that is)

The Body Shop or Tropicana = The Trop. Going and seeing girls as mentally screwed up as you is so good for the self-image.

Warrant or Wildside = I say Warrant, even though when we played with them at Gazzarris in 1989 I was popping a chubby for Jerry when he asked me to use my guitar. Then he promptly broke some strings, tossed me back the guitar and stepped on my foot when he walked by?then we had to play. I was crushed. BUT I FORGIVE YOU JERRY, COME HOME!!!

Rock City News or Screamer = Rock City hated us. In turn, we hated them?so there. But yet Screamer was too expensive for full-page ads, so I guess I’ll say Rock City and swallow my pride.

Pair-a-Dice or Paradise = Gee wasn’t that a snapshot of the 80’s hair bands? Here’s a sample dialogue between those two great bands: “It’s our band name” “No, it’s our band name!” “We thought of it first” “No we mailed it to ourselves in a sealed letter two years ago!” Here’s a quarter guys, go buy some creativity!!!

Cathouse Tuesdays or Bordello Thursdays = We lived up near Magic Mountain, a good hour from both of those places so we’d pick our times to go down to the city. The weekends were it and even then half of us would fall asleep in the car on the way down. You know what hair-sprayed hair looks like after a sleeping car ride? Not pretty.

Taz or Tuff = K. Lee looks like Stevie and I think at some after-party K. Lee once impersonated Stevie and hooked up with his drunk girlfriend. Ah, yes, the quality ladies of our past. Anyway, I used to work for Warner Bros. Cartoons, so I’ll say Taz. (Floyd, you still with me?)

KNAC or Pirate Radio = We walked into Pirate radio one day posters and cd’s in hand, hair sprayed up, open vests and bracelets, snakeskin boots, (ouch that memory hurts) determined to make their rotation. They were very nice, then nicely asked us to leave. So KNAC RULES BABY!!!!! Anyway, they once played our single at three in the morning I hear.

Creature or Fatal Attraction = Oh Fatal baby! A good friend of mine was in that band. We became friends we he asked me what those little red bumps on the end of his shnitz were. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that it was Herpes Simplex, so I told him to cut down on his masturbating and they’ll go away. “Thanks Matt!” What a bonding moment. Anyway, he’s probably figured out by now what’s up with his red bumps.

Ten Masa Sushi Bar or El Compadre Mexican = Ten Masa. We filmed our one and only video there. What do you mean you never saw it??? MTV lied to us, those bastards! Ten Masa was our place. We strolled up to the front of the line every Friday night and got the royal treatment from mamason and papason. We were kings of the sushi, baby. Take your Rainbow Club Jesse Harte, who needs it.

Hooligan Stew or Rings of Saturn = We used to say “Rings of Your Anus” back in the day. Ha?we were so damn witty back then.

Drum Riser or Stage Ramps = I’d love Stage Ramps, but K. Lee was the “show” in our record company’s words and so his drum riser got priority when it came to space. He had these cool fans attached to the front of his riser that would blow his massive lion’s mane blond hair away from his face. It was a show let me tell you.

Cherry Street or Jones Street = Jones Street was the far superior band, but we were better than Cherry Street, so my answer has to be?Cherry Street.

6. What hard rock/heavy metal band should give it up and call it a day?

Let see?Wild Boyz?Wild Boyz?and oh yeah, Wild Boyz! Wait a minute they already did! Whew! Other than that just the bands that are happy to age and tour and leave nothing for their offspring but their wonderful interviews. (check out 20 questions with?pick any one).

7. List these items in the order of importance (1 thru 8) using your mind like an eighties band from the Sunset Strip.

booking rehearsal time = 3, practice was important, but not like shopping for leathers

getting longer hair extensions = 8, you have to ask?

designing a new stage costume = uh oh another 8

paying for a full page ad in BAM = 1, because I had to foot it

making flyers for the weekend = 7, did Anna Marie make me look balding with that light?

new logo painted on stage scrims = 5, We had no creativity even for logos.

being in tune during the show = 2, details, details.

scoring a stripper to pay the bills = Is this really Floyd asking me this or Mom. I’m sorry mommie, never again.

8. Your drummer for Wild Boys posed nude for Playgirl. Did you feel like he might of been a little on the fence after showing the world his asshole, balls and ding dong?

I’m surprised you guys missed a big piece of Wild Boyz lore on this one. K. Lee was married first to Diana Lauren, the world-renowned XXX star and then Tera Heart the not-so-renowned XXX star. IMDB.com is a wonderful thing. So I guess K. Lee was just keeping the business all in the family. By the way, I didn’t think Playgirl accepted photos of non-circumcised members. Hey, the world’s a funny place, huh?

9. Of all the bands on Sunset Strip who were the biggest dicks and who was the coolest to the Wild Boys?

Ana Black – cool, Scratch – dicks, (the lead singer slept with my girlfriend one night and she actually liked it) Southgang – cool, Pretty Boy Floyd- dicks, Warrant – cool, Warrant – dicks

10. Rate these 80s clubs 1-10 and explain your reason for the score.

The Palace = 7, we never played there. Took a date one time, she thought I was a big spender. Good night that was.

Country Club = 8, saw the best band in the world there, Great White. I LOVE YOU GREAT WHITE!!! Wild Boyz had better things to do than play at the C.C.

Gazzarris =10, we broke Warrant’s attendance record there. So there! It took us about thirty more shows to break their record, but hey?details?details. Bill was an interesting guy. Looked better dead than alive, so I was told. He always treated us nice but always introduced us as the “Crazy Boyz”. He was the real ‘Beautiful Mind’.

The Roxy = 9, we felt like the second coming of Warrant selling out that place. (Are you picking up on a little Warrant fixation we Wild Boyz had?)

The Rainbow = 1, Ten Masa BABY!!!

Trobadour = 5, Saw Guns & Roses there. Said, “Geez these guys are going nowhere fast”. Need more hair spray.

Cathouse = 3 Too timid to go in.

The Central = 2 Another club too cool for us.

Whisky-a-go-go = 9. Loved being on the guest list there. Otherwise it was $12 to get in and $5 a beer.

FM Station =8. My first gig in a band called ‘220 Live Wire’. You see I was already destined for a band like Wild Boyz with a name like that.

X-Poseur 54 =1 Waaaay to cool for us.

Bordello = 0 Fell asleep on the way there. Turned around and went home.

11. So many bands got deals off Sunset Strip but even more did not. Which bands truly deserved a record but fell short and which ones did not deserve their deal?

I always thought Ana Black would get a deal. They were an amazing live band. Canadian. Short. No one was taller than 5’3″. I couldn’t get how Southgang got a deal and got to work with Slaughter, when we were just as good-looking. Who else?oh yeah?Warrant. If we were five years earlier and Warrant was named 220 Live Wire and we were named Warrant, they would have never been signed. They sucked live anyway. Broke too many of my strings.

12. How many total live shows did Wild Boyz play out side of California?

Believe it or not, we fooled enough hicks around the country to have two small tours. New England, Buffalo, N.Y., Akron, Cleveland?San Antonio?uh oh I better stop I’m sounding like C.J. from Firehouse. (Actually he slept with a girlfriend of mine, but she hated it).

13. Who’s brilliant idea was it to spell any word that ended with ‘s’ with a ‘z’ in your album booklet?

That stroke of genius was a band-stroke. I think K. Lee put it forward and the rest of us said “Oh yes! Z’s instead of S’s, this will make Warrant wish we never existed!” You can see the flowering of creativity starting to unfold.

13. How did you discover Metal Sludge, and how much of an impact do you think we would have had providing we were around during the late 80s?

Someone told me we had a song on Napstar. (By the way, I love Napstar! I’m a consumer now, so screw the bands!!!) Then for kicks, I did a search on the Internet using our name and came across your lovely web site. Which I might add has given me laughs for days. To read these interviews and see the assine attitudes that are still there with these bands, made me both sick and repentant. Metal Sludge is a true public service. You guys would have been the Beavis & Butthead of the 80’s. Sifting out the crappy bands from the?well crappy bands.

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

Kip Winger for sure should take this quarter and buy himself some “lighten up” drugs. I know how ballet is so serious and all, but geez?didn’t 9/11 change anybody? Uh?Jamie St. James has got to get a small grip. I mean come on, read his 20 questions again and remember that you’re now in the 21st century. Who says “if you’ve got the burn to do it?” Who talks like that? Get over yourself “St. Self-Important”. How about that Bobbie Brown? The “love of her life” is a guy who beat the crap out of her and left her outside on the highway to flag down the police?! And the feminists want us guys to take women seriously? They need to get to Bobbie fast and shut her up. And of course there’s Jani?what can I say?I LOVE YOU JANI!!!

15. Sunset Strip memory lane. What do you remember about the following years:

1985 = First taste of stardom when we won the battle of the bands at Saugus High.

1986 = Tears welled when I heard “She’s a little runaway”.

1987 = Sent in my audition for Ozzy’s new guitar player. I was packed and ready and waiting for his call.

1988 = I was selected to be a part of Metal-Sludge history when K. Lee and Joey called me. I was in DORIAN GRAY, BABY! First flyering experience. Too scared to hand any out. Handed out two?to my brother. Broke up with my girlfriend, I was getting too big for her.

1989 = First hair extensions. Trying to convince a girl to ignore the rails under my hair and continue making out with me. “Forget about them, they’re hair-growing devices baby.”

1990 = Giving bad advice to a guy with bumps on his schnitz. Getting bad advice from everyone?like this, “You guys rock! Don’t change a thing!”

1991 = Telling my faithful girlfriend that I will never cheat on her no matter how huge the Wild Boyz get. Fortunately for her we never got huge.

1992 = Greatest six weeks of my previous life. The tour to end all tours. Six grueling weeks. Living in a camper, rolling down the highway, pouting and posing for audiences in Boston. We were stars. Wine, women and bad songs?then?it all came to…

1993 = Grunge! Grunge! Grunge! I DESPISE YOU! All shows cut. All radio cut. Our video played once?on Beavis & Butthead. Wives divorce us, girlfriends leave us. Working in a sheet metal plant with some guy who has no left eye and ear and also used to play in a band. Begged my 1988 girlfriend back. She just laughed. We were a mess. Our only solace?Warrant is a mess too!!! YES!!! We’re finally on the same level!

16. Lyrics from the Wild Boyz song, “In Your Face”Here it cumz in your face

Hold yo’ ass we gonna shake this place

Get down a boogie, woogie

We got the groove that u can taste

2nite we gonna do some rock an’ roll

An shoot the rhythm right through your soul

Cum on let’s rock this place

Gonna stik it in your face.

Now being that it’s 2002, can you look back and see how those are probably the worst lyrics known to mankind?

I’m going to have to say “no comment”. I think the lyrics speak for themselves.

17. Honestly, what was the most amount of money the Wild Boyz were ever paid?

We got a check each for 5k and then a stipend for $800 a month after that for a couple of years. Food was paid for by the strippers?uh I mean wives and transportation was taken care of by the strippers?uh I mean girlfriends. We chose against a Wild Boyz I.R.A?maybe that was a wrong decision.

18. The Wild Boyz album was called “Unleashed.” What the fuck was unleashed because we must have missed it?

Unleashed was our way of saying, “look out Warrant, we’re coming to get you!” I think it worked, look at them now. If you look closely at the back of the album, you’ll see broken bars?you know like a jail break?get it “Unleashed”?? I actually have to take credit for that winner.

19. Could you guyz have been any less original?

See the whole “z” thing is catchy. We got you doing it now. And your answer is “no way”. The funny thing was that we thought we were so going to make it. We had the formulas down. We studied all the rock mags and gleaned our looks from them. When stuck writing a song we would go into the house and listen to what Def Lepard did on their last album. We would practice walking down Sunset Blvd. in our living rooms, to look just right. Our rehearsal room was papered with mirrors so we could pout and pose 24/7. We tried to do drugs like everyone else but we were suburbanites so we stuck to alcohol. All of that is absolutely true. We were SOOOOOOOO UNORIGINAL!!! And we knew it. At least I did. I knew it wasn’t going to last. And of course it never got off the ground. Sniff. Sniff.

20. Time for Metal Sludge’s Word Association. We mention a name and you give us your thoughts. Hot Rod Long = He thought we sucked. He was right, but we didn’t know it at the time. Bill Gazzarri = Mafia. Pizza. His funeral was a bunch of hair bands clamoring for the camera. Pretty sad stuff. Riki Rachtmen = We never got that big to know him. Always wanted to. Filthy McNasty = Never came out of his office. Hmmmmm. Ruben McBlue = See Hot Rod Long’s answer. Whoa Nelly = See Filthy’s answer. Hmmmmm. Al Bane for Leather = My first leather pants. Black & White spotted. $200 to look like a mad cow. Where is Al now? Music Connection = Great place to find a new band. Trust me, I tried. Kim Fowley = Sorry. Floyd, who is she? Orange County = Played twice. Long ride. Fell asleep.

Matt today, still in exile!

Thanks for this memory lane trip, Metal Sludge. I spent two weeks writing the best interview I could. I hope I didn’t come off too bitter. BUT I AM!!!! Damn that Nirvana!!! I’m now going back into my self-imposed exile. So don’t call me Jani or St. Self Important. Did I piss off any bands? Who cares. You guys called me, remember? See ya. Stay Wild.

p.s. Floyd, can you get me on the guest list at Metal Sludge’s Extravaganza? I don’t got the $12.

Now see, even though only about 5 of you remember the Wild Boyz, that was a damn good 20 Questions. If only everybody who did 20 Questions put in that much effort! Thanks to Matt for being down and having fun with the questions. That’s all we ever really ask.

Look for the Wild Boyz reunion to be playing stadiums near you this Summer! Or not.