Latest / HEAVY Music Interviews / The Art Of Revenge With MICHAEL LOMBARDI From THE RETALIATORS
Transcript
- 0:23Well, Hey, what's up everyone. I'm Michael Lombardi and I'm here to
- 0:28speak about the crazy, twisted roller coaster of a ride horror film that I
- 0:35hope you check out. It's called The Retaliators. Thank you Chris so much
- 0:39for having me pleasure, Michael, thanks for joining us today. Happy to
- 0:45be here, man. So let's just say we're here today to talk about
- 0:49releasing The Retaliators by a video on demand on Apple TV and Google TV in
- 0:54Australia on October eighteenth, which means a whole new audience they're about to have
- 0:58the pants skate often. Mate, what warning label would you put there for
- 1:02first time viewers of the movie. Oh, man, there's a few warning
- 1:07labels, like it's not about bad words, it's not about nudity, it's
- 1:12just about you know. I think this movie is really twisted and it gets
- 1:19dark, but then it also doesn't take itself too seriously at times. Right,
- 1:26But you know, I guess I would hope that there's truth in the
- 1:30film and it poses a question as wild as the film gets, and a
- 1:34topic matter that will make you think a little little bit and maybe that you
- 1:38can actually like go out for a drink afterward and talk about a little bit
- 1:44on top of just hopefully being entertained. You know, the movie first came
- 1:51out back on August thirty of twenty twenty one, so that was more than
- 1:55two years ago, which is a long time for it to actually get to
- 1:57the Apple TV and the Google platforms. It's going to say something about the
- 2:00quality of the film that has taken two years to get from the theater to
- 2:04the small straining now in normally these days it's six months turn around. Yeah,
- 2:08dude. It also took like freaking three years to shoot because it was
- 2:13through COVID. Yeah, shooting in a long journey with this movie. But
- 2:16I'll tell you what you see when you see twenty one. That's when it
- 2:21had its first festival premiere, and that was at Frightens in the UK,
- 2:27and then it premiered a few months after that at Screenfest in LA and those
- 2:31are two of arguably the top horror festivals in the world, so it was
- 2:36really special. And then it takes some time after that to get distribution.
- 2:39We came out a limited theatrical release and then we came out on vod in
- 2:44the States and then here we are. So it's a little tricky, and
- 2:47I've learned so much along this journey, you know, of producing and directing
- 2:52and being on the other side of the camera as well, and that's one
- 2:54of the things the whole distribution cycle on how that works. So it's crazy
- 3:00because, like you know, it shows that as the release date, but
- 3:04that was like at the beginning of the festival run. We did festivals year,
- 3:07then we hit vod in America and now we're global. So yeah,
- 3:12that's kind of the way it went, I say, for that is not
- 3:15familiar with the Routally, it's essentially a horror story on the past to John
- 3:20Bishop yourself, his life's rocked by the brutal murder of his daughter. But
- 3:23can you elaborate a bit more like put the whole film in perspective? Yeah,
- 3:28I mean, I think at the end of the day, the movie
- 3:30poses a question like what would you do if you had a minute alone with
- 3:32the person who hurt your loved one? You know? So bottom line is
- 3:37is like it happens in this case to a small town guy beloved by his
- 3:43community, a man of the cloth, someone who you'd never expect to have,
- 3:49you know, that that sort of retaliation, that that within him,
- 3:52But I think we all do as human beings, you know, And I
- 3:54think that's the that's the interesting thing. You put a guy like that in
- 3:59those circumstances, and what can happen? You know? And he goes on
- 4:02a hell of a journey from the beginning to the end. I think he
- 4:05completely transforms, and there's a bunch of mayhem and craziness on the way to
- 4:12that. But I think what's interesting about it is, you know, you
- 4:16can you can say, hey, if someone you know hurt your child or
- 4:21you know, your niece or your nephew, and you had that minute alone
- 4:25with him, can you can you take revenge on that person? And you
- 4:30know, I think it's easy to want to say yes, you know,
- 4:32if they did something really brutal to you. But then I think there's the
- 4:36side of if you're sitting in a room across from another human being, you
- 4:41know, could you really you know, draw blood on that person or hurt
- 4:45that person? You know? And I think it goes there, you know,
- 4:48and it touches upon So it's a sensitive subject matter. Actually, Even
- 4:54though again this movie hopefully is entertaining kind of twisted, there is that underlying
- 4:59message that hopefully allows you to put yourself in that situation, you know.
- 5:03I, Like you said, there's so many people out there, like the
- 5:08Macho and the Provider, and they're always like, give me three minutes a
- 5:11line with that guy and I'll kill in. But the way the movie pans
- 5:14out like it, it really does ask that question, and then it makes
- 5:16you makes you question yourself whether you would be able to go through with it
- 5:20or a lot. But after so much time that you're sitting with it,
- 5:23bro like, do you think you'd be able to do if it had like
- 5:26you in person? Uh? You know? I I so, I have
- 5:30two boys, so it certainly helps if you have you know, a child,
- 5:38yeah, and you know it also, but again, even if you
- 5:42don't, I mean, people can relate to that with their freaking pets,
- 5:45right or or or a niece or a nephew. So you know, I've
- 5:50been asked this before, and it was the first run of the film,
- 5:54which was a while ago. I haven't even talked about the movie a time
- 5:58recently, which why this is so beautiful too to have a different perspective on
- 6:01it. You know, man, it's interesting because life is tricky, right,
- 6:09and life is tough we're all dealing with a lot at all times.
- 6:13So I think at certain times in my life I can answer that question and
- 6:17say, yes, this is crazy. I'm being pretty honest here and then
- 6:24because it's a crazy answer, not crazy that I'm being honest, but you
- 6:27know, I think the answer could be brutal. But I think, you
- 6:34know, depending on where you're at in your life, and you know,
- 6:38again, not with your frustrations or your struggles, but your happiness. You're
- 6:42ups, you're downs, you could be you know, when you're down and
- 6:46certain things happened to you, you might really be in a situation where you're
- 6:48like, you know, I don't like people. Maybe so if someone hurt
- 6:53my kid, yeah I could. I could. I want to answer yes,
- 6:59I would be well to do that, you know, at this time,
- 7:02But there are other times where I was like, I don't know,
- 7:05man, But for me, yeah, I think I could. You know,
- 7:10it's weird character a lot of the way you put your glasses on when
- 7:15you say yeah, I could, it's like, even, look a lot
- 7:18of this I could. That's pretty funny. I didn't even mean that,
- 7:25you know, I could tell you this that the story you know was written
- 7:30by the Gear brothers, who are great friends of mine, and you know,
- 7:33it's how this all came about. It is kind of twisted. I
- 7:36used to write music with them. I had a record deal back in my
- 7:40two thousand and nine ten eleven with MySpace Records. I don't know if you
- 7:45remember that label. They were They're pretty pretty old. But so I'm an
- 7:48East Coast guy in America. I live in New York, but I used
- 7:53to go out to La often and my music manager was like, you have
- 7:56to go write music with these guys. They're incredible. And it was Darren
- 7:59Gear. Our tastes were so aligned musically and creatively. I hadn't spoken to
- 8:03him in a long time from when we used to write music, and I
- 8:07reconnected with him because I was doing a charity event and a song we wrote
- 8:11when Heaven and Hell Collide. It was called it was in drop D already
- 8:16and it had to be. I wasn't with my band. I was going
- 8:20to be performing this song. So I called Darren after you know, maybe
- 8:22three or four years, five years, I hadn't spoken with him. He
- 8:24has a kids, his four kids, actually, so you know, we're
- 8:28busy with life, and I was like, hey, Darren Man, I'm
- 8:31how worrying about I'm going to play this song when Heaven and Hell colide.
- 8:35Dude, I remember that when we wrote it on what do you think it
- 8:39will? It be too muddy if I try to you know this band and
- 8:41not my band, And what have you been up to? And he's like,
- 8:45oh, my brother and I have been writing screenplays. And I said
- 8:46send him to me and it was the Retaliators and read it and within a
- 8:52couple of days, I was on a plane out to LA and I'm like,
- 8:56man, we got to make this thing. That's how it happened.
- 8:58And I think you know the aspect of Better Noise Music being behind it,
- 9:03of course, and Alan Kovak, who is a friend of mine and an
- 9:07incredible guy. Obviously Better Noise has so many amazing bands, Motley kruefe I,
- 9:13Finger Death Punch, Proper Roach, Eisneine Kills managing and the label for
- 9:18some of these acts, and the list goes on and on, and Alan
- 9:24get this serendipitous and crazy. Alan attended that charity event that I sung the
- 9:30song at in Friends and he was like, I was on a television show
- 9:37called Rescue Me for a long time and some other stuff as an actor was
- 9:39about New York City Firefighters. I did one hundred episodes of that show.
- 9:43That was like my big break into the business. But anyway, he was
- 9:48like, you know, we got to do something together someday, and I'm
- 9:50like, oh my god, I would love to. And then a few
- 9:54weeks after I brought him The Retaliators and I was like, I think this
- 9:58movie would be a beautiful fit because it leans into the horror, but that
- 10:05which leans into the heavy metal side of things. You know, I think
- 10:07that in this script has that fun wink at the eighties and remember all those
- 10:11great movies with awesome soundtracks, you know, The Crow and on. And
- 10:16I'm like, and Alan's like, let's go, let's do it. So
- 10:20well it was beautiful, is we Uh? He was my guy behind me
- 10:22every step of the way on this thing. Awesome story. Yeah. And
- 10:28you know the other part of that is being able to have like five Finger
- 10:33Death Punch and Tommy Lee and Jacoby Shaddocks and but you know, it was
- 10:37crazy because I didn't. I wanted it to be a film first, you
- 10:41know, with a story and a real movie and not you know, really
- 10:48and be very no gratuitous and which manner all these incredible musicians were put in
- 10:52the film, like so I and I think this happened where you have Jacoby
- 10:58Shaddocks, who's so good in the movie, he's the bad guy, so
- 11:01we work together a lot. What are your point of views, your objectives,
- 11:05what's your perspective on the other character? His emotional preparation before he got
- 11:09the set, and all these guys were way in man But of course they're
- 11:13storytellers anyway, right, but they're just on stage telling the story with their
- 11:16lyrics and their songs. But to have it in here and do the work
- 11:20and behind their eyes and just you know, put their two feet on the
- 11:24ground and be truthful was very beautiful to see. So for me, I
- 11:28thought they all did such an incredible job that you might just think that was
- 11:33an actor and then go, no way, that dude's the lead singer of
- 11:35popa Roach afterward, you know, and the way in which they were cast.
- 11:39So you know, for me, I'm proud in the sense that the
- 11:41movie has all these beautiful little golden nuggets and Easter eggs and this incredible these
- 11:46bands that not only are on the soundtrack, but they're in the movie.
- 11:50But they're also really great in their roles and they bring them a lot to
- 11:54it. You know, that's definitely right. You actually you played the role
- 11:58of John. The movie's by the serious nights of the subject meta was it
- 12:03still a good experience for it. It was amazing. I got to produce
- 12:09this film and I and I directed some as well, and I felt,
- 12:15you know, getting on the other side of the camera. You know,
- 12:16the thing I learned was it's it's just unbelievable how much work it is to
- 12:22make a film and what you're up against. I mean, I knew that
- 12:24anyway, but as a direct as an actor, you jump on set and
- 12:26you do your thing. But when you're producing and you're dealing with COVID and
- 12:31all the things that go wrong and egos and to get your vision of the
- 12:37Skier Brothers script that I loved so much, and you know, me and
- 12:41Darren, he was like my guy. We just worked so closely together,
- 12:45you know. I was on the phone with them all the time creatively.
- 12:46When I'm on sets, I'm in Vegas, La, Connecticut, all over
- 12:50the place and doing this movie because of the bands were in different spots,
- 12:54you know, and our locations called for different spots. So anyway, it's
- 13:00a heavy lift. Man, it's hard, you know. And look,
- 13:03it's not like I'm digging ditches, So I get I am. I love
- 13:07what I do and I'm so lucky. But to make a movie that you
- 13:13believe in, that you could be proud of, that actually gets from the
- 13:18page to the screen is not easy. So and look, the film's not
- 13:20for everybody, right, it's a it's a niche movie, you know.
- 13:24But I don't really think you want to go out trying to make a movie
- 13:28that everybody's gonna love. Anyway, you know, you make the movie that
- 13:31you believe in, and you try to make it the best you can.
- 13:33And like I said, get those the little winks at the eighties. The
- 13:37way it doesn't take itself too seriously some of the you know, the way
- 13:41the story is the slow burn and then it blows up into this crazy you
- 13:46know ending. I think it's all just a challenge. And yeah, being
- 13:50the lead in it is tricky too, mainly like dude having to deal with
- 13:56all that fake blood and so sticky. Man, it's like syrup and it's
- 14:05in the worst fight. It's like, I hate anything I guess meet up
- 14:07as an actor, any of that stuff I hate. So you get back
- 14:11to the hotel room, take these long showers, and then have to deal
- 14:15with all the fires, put them all out for the next day. Oh
- 14:18you lost this location. Oh this actor is this? You know? So
- 14:20that that was all crazy? You know and shot the movie Like it's your
- 14:26transition from just being like a religious man at the start to I won't get
- 14:31too much way, but to what you do towards the end. It's it's
- 14:35really amazing to see it. Like I've sort of I'll be brought up in
- 14:37a world that isn't too disimilar to what you did. We'll put it that
- 14:41way. But what shouldn't your transformation from being the nice guy too? That
- 14:46Like the stages you go through to get there, it's so realistic, bro,
- 14:50Like you do a really good job with it, But what sorts of
- 14:52things did you have to do to put yourself in that mindset to go from
- 14:56there to there? Like it's it's it's not an easy thing to do with
- 15:00out without really killing someone first. I got to hear some of your story.
- 15:05Damn, you could make two or three movies out of my life,
- 15:11bro, trust me. That's amazing. I got to hear that. Wow,
- 15:18that's awesome. Yeah, I think or is it awesome? It is?
- 15:22Now put it on my thirteenth birthday. I had two people stabbed in
- 15:26the guy. So two people shot and one guy stabbed to death. That
- 15:31was my thirteenth birthday. Way like you saw that. Yeah, he got
- 15:35stabbed once in the guy, once in the lung, and once in the
- 15:39heart. So they got him three times and they got him in the right
- 15:41places for what he was recovering heroin addict And we were at a party and
- 15:50there's a bit of a fight breakout and then this guy insteader and he poured
- 15:56out his gun started shooting them and got first guy in the stomach and he
- 16:03went down. Then his mate rushed him with a knife to stop it.
- 16:07She shot him twice. One of them just skipped his thigh, the other
- 16:11one hit his bite keys in his other pocket and deflected and then finish it
- 16:17off. But yeah, they found a full magazine in his magazine clip in
- 16:19his back pocket, so he was ready to ready to go out iron Oh
- 16:25my god, man. Yea asy movie script right there, bro, I've
- 16:33sort of when the transition you went through through it. I've seen quite a
- 16:37bit. Yeah, it was just it was really fucking really cool to what
- 16:41you do it bro Like, it was believable to someone who's seen it.
- 16:45Thank you so much. You know, I did a lot of research on
- 16:48that kind of trying to feel that way, and I told you having having
- 16:52young kids definitely helps a lot, you know, and you think about you
- 16:55have to put yourself in that horrible headspace. Yeah, there you go.
- 17:00So you know, I think that makes it easier in terms of trying to
- 17:03go. It's not easy to go to that place, but if you get
- 17:07use your imagination and you think about that and how much our children mean to
- 17:11us. But again, if you if you don't have a kid, you
- 17:12can still go there with a niece or nephew or anything you love. But
- 17:17you know what was interesting, man, is I watched this, uh this
- 17:21this YouTube video just earlier early on, just in playing with the idea.
- 17:26It's one aspect, there were many because you try to build from every angle
- 17:30to make it truthful. You put it all in you and then you let
- 17:33it go, like you don't want to like throw it up on screen and
- 17:37be too You just have to try to get it in you and then like
- 17:38I said, just put your feet on the ground and be there. But
- 17:41anyway, this guy was in court the surreal life and he literally looked like
- 17:49if you were to cast a characterture of like a math teacher, right,
- 17:52like I mean, the skinny sort of like guy. And he's there and
- 17:56he had like, uh, you know, the glasses and he was just
- 18:00very skinny looking guy, not intimidating at all, okay, and he was
- 18:08he had a moment. The police, the court police were on each side
- 18:15of him, and they brought him up and he had a moment with his
- 18:17daughter, with his son's killer, and he got to tell him how and
- 18:21he went up to him and all of a sudden, he just dove and
- 18:27he and he had a pencil and he started screaming in this howl that he
- 18:33let out from within this animalistic leg like it was so it was it was
- 18:41scary, right, it came from the depths of his soul. Didn't even
- 18:45sound human. It wasn't scary, like ah, it was like and he
- 18:51dove at the guy and that you know that they had to pull him back.
- 18:55And it was that was my first sort of toe in the water of
- 18:59like whoa Seeing that animalistic caveman mentality of going after the guy who harmed his
- 19:11son was my first, as I said, step into like this role and
- 19:15what that meant to him and that sound that he made when he went after
- 19:19him, you know, and he didn't care. He was in court right
- 19:23what happened to him? So yeah, that that was that was something that
- 19:30would have been. It was a couple of years ago, now more than
- 19:33a couple of years ago. Do you did that, brother? Like,
- 19:34do you have any any lingering memories of that experience? Like it's sort of
- 19:38it's not the sort of thing you just brush off straight away and go all
- 19:41right, lies back to ol again now, you know, like even though
- 19:44you were just playing a role, you still get memories of it being that
- 19:48person. Yeah, it's a good question. You know you do and what
- 19:52you do though, was like not there are things that I like think about
- 19:57that happened, and then I compare them to the experience. So maybe that
- 20:03is still inside of me, you know what I mean, Like, because
- 20:06everything you do in life is part of who you are, So it's just
- 20:10interesting. You just learn every day. And I learned from that and then
- 20:12I realized the things I learned in that how I apply to certain situations now.
- 20:18So it's not like, you know, I've been in any situations like
- 20:25that or had to deal with that kind of emotion, But I still think
- 20:30about it often. Yes, right, because it's inside of you, right,
- 20:34you know. It's a crazy The writers of this film, something happened
- 20:40to them, you know, in real life that inspired them to write this
- 20:45movie. The movie was sort of like therapy for them. So even though
- 20:49the story of the film is different than the thing that happened in their life,
- 20:57the concept of what would you do if you had a minute alone applied
- 21:03to something that really happened, which they openly talk about. The story is
- 21:07crazy and it's so. The thing that's crazy is there's so much truth built
- 21:14into the words even though it's this entertaining, fun, twisted film. Because
- 21:18it's truthful, it should hit you in the right spots, hopefully, if
- 21:22we did it right. You know, I watched your interview where you describe
- 21:26the situation that inspired the movie, and it is harrowing. Harrowing if you
- 21:33want, we could go there, but it's up to you. Like I
- 21:36said, it's openly discussed. Yeah, you have discussed it. Before Now,
- 21:40I encourage anyone listening to this to go back and watch some of Michael's
- 21:42previous interviews because I watched a few of them, and you feel a little
- 21:47bit more in every interviewer that it's gone through them all made It puts the
- 21:51whole pieces together a little better. Yeah, it's crazy, right, and
- 21:56again you know their family is very open with that story, but it's really
- 22:03it would that's when you'd say to yourself in real life, these guys had
- 22:07to go, man, we just had a minute alone with this guy,
- 22:12you know, and then and then that it struck them, and then they
- 22:17because they're so creative, they put it into their writing the concept. But
- 22:21it's wild, Well, it is love. The other reason, of course,
- 22:25as we've alluded to before that we're talking about Retaliator is one which elevates
- 22:29the movie to one of the best horror movie soundtracks of all time. It
- 22:33is a theme of where heavy metal and horror combine. My it's honestly the
- 22:36best movie soundtracks in Judgment NIGHTE in ninety ninety three. Other all right,
- 22:41that's sick. You know why Dennis Leary's in that, and it's a good
- 22:45movie and the soundtrack is great, dude, It's awesome. And uh,
- 22:51you know, I was on a show with Dennis Leary for a long time.
- 22:53Oh wow that Yeah, it was called Rescue Me. It was about
- 22:57New York City firefighters. I did a hundred episodes of the show, and
- 23:00he was like the main guy and it was like his firehouse, and I
- 23:04was one of the guys, you know, in his crew. So we
- 23:08all had our own stories lines. I was a series regular, and it
- 23:11blah blah blah. But anyway, what I'm getting at is that Dennis,
- 23:15I didn't realize how much I learned from the guy, actually because I was
- 23:19pretty young when I started on that TV show and he's a producer and you
- 23:25know, he writes. So during that experience with him of like seven or
- 23:33eight years by the side in that TV show, I hear he is starring
- 23:37in the show but also the creator of it and the producer. I was
- 23:41able to put myself in his shoes in this process when I'm producing, directing,
- 23:48and starring in this and just how much goes into it. It's a
- 23:52labor of love, you know. And it's funny how you know what everybody
- 23:55like, what the crew member is, what actors a pain in the ass.
- 23:59Who's this you know? Like what I was looking at is like who
- 24:03gave an attitude to this person? You know everything that's going on, and
- 24:06you know who your team is and who's really strong and who's who you want
- 24:11to work with. Again, it's a crazy uh, it's a crazy trip.
- 24:15But yeah, judgment Nate, the soundtrack was sick and I mentioned the
- 24:19crow earlier. Yeah, so that element of music is so wonderful in this
- 24:23you know. Yeah, And as you just said before me, like some
- 24:26of the bands include this, Papa roach to who Asking, Alexandria, Tommy
- 24:32Lee, five Figure Death Punching More Like a lot of those actually act in
- 24:36the film too. So you've got Tommy Lee, Anders, Jacobie shaddex As
- 24:40Ivan Me, Spencer Charmers, Craig Mabbitt, Like they all had actual parts
- 24:44in it. Which it's a fresh and really cool idea, Mate, But
- 24:47normally only the songs are actually on the soundtrack, but using the actors,
- 24:51And like you say, watching through the movie for att metal fan, it's
- 24:53like it's the spot the actor, you knowing what they're doing, and they
- 24:57did. They all did such good. They didn't look like may Well musicians
- 25:03trying to act. They looked like actors acting. Yeah, that's so beautiful.
- 25:08Thank you. It was so important to me. Like I told you,
- 25:11I really respected the script. You know, in a horror movie,
- 25:15look is a horror movie. But I think the script has a message,
- 25:18and I thought the reason I was attracted to it as an actor and a
- 25:21producer is because I'm like, it has something you could go talk about after.
- 25:26It could touch you. But yet you're on this crazy metal horror journey,
- 25:30right and it's fun. But that was the thing. I said it
- 25:36earlier, when I knew that we were able to get all these musicians,
- 25:38I was just they were all they put so much effort into their roles,
- 25:42and they all spent a lot of time talking to me before they got on
- 25:48set, and they were really really all amazing man and funny and good and
- 25:53open and free and willing to go there. So it was so it was
- 25:59just so beautiful to see them do something maybe a little different, but you
- 26:03know, they are in front of the camera too. They do their music
- 26:06videos, so they're they're pretty open. But yeah, acting is different than
- 26:10than than music. But obviously the two have gone together all these years for
- 26:15a reason. You know, they're they're both they're both in the and they
- 26:19compliment one another. And you know what's funny too, As an actor,
- 26:22I like to listen to a certain song, you know, to maybe bring
- 26:26me up or maybe knock me down, you know, be happy, sad,
- 26:30you know. So it's it was so cool, man. They were
- 26:36all like really really fucking cool people too, you know, and they gave
- 26:40so much. Like I said, they came, they were ready, man,
- 26:42they were ready to work. It was really they they because again it's
- 26:48all about like the work ethic too, and the effort. Look, we're
- 26:51having fun, I get that, but you really have to these guys man
- 26:55on the road touring and what they put into their craft is unbelo evil bal
- 27:00It's such a discipline. It's a long journey, you know, doesn't happen
- 27:03overnight. So they knew what it what it take, what it would take,
- 27:07and they all took it pretty seriously. And I thought they were great.
- 27:10So that's one of the biggest compliments. And that was the thing too.
- 27:12I wanted you to be like be in the movie, in the character.
- 27:17And there's a few guys like there's some of the baby bands on Better
- 27:19Noise labels, who are awesome bands, by the way, but they're in
- 27:22the movie too, and you don't even in a couple of years. So
- 27:26I've been able to be looking back now and its bands to be up here
- 27:30and they be going, oh my god. Totally another good aspect of that
- 27:37too, man, Like I've seen movies before that have had metal soundtracks and
- 27:41they're basically just token soundtracks or they're there to sell the soundtracks, but then
- 27:45they don't contribute to the movie. But then the retaliators like watching through it,
- 27:49the songs are well placed, like they actually fit the mood, and
- 27:52then the lyrics in some of the songs actually fit the storyline. They say,
- 27:57they're not just right in there so middle heads to watch the movie.
- 28:00They're actually integrated into the storyline really well. Was that difficult? Yeah,
- 28:06yeah, that was a big part of it too. And it was like,
- 28:07you know, me, Allen and Darren spent a lot of time doing
- 28:11that and taking our time and making sure and Randy Bricker edited the film and
- 28:15he was the perfect guy to edit. I went through a long time seeing
- 28:21who do I want to edit this film? And I'll tell you about Randy
- 28:25for a second. He's a guy who has done both horror and story.
- 28:30So like he was an apprentice on the film The Firm with Tom Cruise,
- 28:33he was on Legend as an editor, then he was on Halloween. He's
- 28:37done some increase. He's literally the head editor on the Chucky series right now,
- 28:45so he knew both worlds. So he was great in post production.
- 28:51And you know what else we did. We got the Stranger Things guys Kyle
- 28:55Dixon and Niccolstein who scored Stranger Things, score our f So it was so
- 29:02view we were like, we're not going to hold back on the music now
- 29:04anywhere, you know, So those guys score it, and then you have
- 29:08and it's funny that song by popa Roach the ending, it's got that cynthy
- 29:12beginning which sits right in there. So yeah, we put a lot of
- 29:17time into thinking where the song would fit best within to also, uh,
- 29:22you want the song to enhance the experience for the audience member of what's happening
- 29:27between the actors or what's emotionally supposed to be happening, and very important and
- 29:32I feel like we put a lot of time in hopefully you know, it
- 29:34worked so absolutely NOWT of it because I went into the movie thinking with that
- 29:41in mind, Like I was watching the movie partly to see how the music
- 29:45fit in with it and how it worked. And and he now it bright,
- 29:48I haven't got I'm a I'm a criticize and break and if there was
- 29:52something wrong, I'll tell you, but I'll thought it at old Joe beautifuy
- 29:55mighte. So you did a great job. Thank you so much, Chris,
- 30:00Thank you mansure man. But this question, he is going to put
- 30:03you on the spot. Right, But out of all the bands that you
- 30:06had in the soundtrack, I want you to put together one messal retaliated supergroup.
- 30:11So you picking all the members from the band, give me a drama
- 30:14for your group. Oh my god. So now wait a minute, you're
- 30:21saying, pick each tell me again with that all the bands that you've got
- 30:26on the soundtrack, real, I want you to assemble one super group,
- 30:30or like a retaliated super group. So pick a drummer out of any of
- 30:33the bands, Pick a guitarist, pick a bass player, pick a vocalist,
- 30:36and that's the retaliated supergroup. Ohly, Well, first of all,
- 30:41I'm the lead singer, so you are. I don't worry about the Who.
- 30:47Don't worry about as on vocal Now, dude, listen, these guys
- 30:56are all so good man. I got oh, you know what. I've
- 31:00been directing music videos now a lot too. Yeah, because I've been tied
- 31:06into this world. So to see the musicianship first of all, have them
- 31:10come and set, like even from Masses to do they play in the church.
- 31:12Those guys hit so hard, man, They're freaking even from ashes.
- 31:18There's so many bands, so I'm like, wait a minute, I'm scrolling
- 31:19in my head the Who, Oh my God, the Mongolian, that song
- 31:27with Jacoby featured in it, Wolf Totem, Holy Cow. That that song
- 31:34is so good and that band is unbelievable. You know. I ended up
- 31:40doing a little documentary on the Who subsequent to the film. It's on YouTube.
- 31:45It lives on YouTube. It's like a three episode mini doc. Not
- 31:48that I went and shot them. I used existing footage and I talked where
- 31:52they talk about their instruments because I was so intrigued by these guys. So
- 31:56they're absolutely unbelievable. And I got to see them live since and I got
- 32:01to see them through the music video with Jacoby. Five Finger Death Pond.
- 32:07Jesus, those guys are incredible. I've seen them live a bunch of times.
- 32:10I've been so good in the movie. So is Zoltan and Chris Chris
- 32:15Kale the bass player, and Andy the guitar player. Unbelievable. Let me
- 32:21think, God, man, I know all these guys so well, probably
- 32:24better than they know me, because I've been following a fan boing out on
- 32:29them all right. And you know who's really great too. There's a band
- 32:32called Eva under Fire and they're really starting to blow up. And she opens
- 32:37the movie Eva Marie in the van and she's she I thought incredible in the
- 32:44movie, incredible woman. I just saw her play at Sirius XM. Her
- 32:47vocals are unbelievable. So I could go on and on, man, like
- 32:52I really, and I mean this because you put me on the spot.
- 32:54But first of all, I have the vinyl. You've got to see the
- 33:00vinyl that we made for this movie because it has this eighties throwback feel.
- 33:05I got to send you one. It's a double vinyl like blood Splat to
- 33:10post all the bands because again the Stranger Things guys, Because the Stranger Things
- 33:15guys themselves. Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein sell tons of vinyl just with their
- 33:22scores, that's how so they have some We have a couple tracks of the
- 33:25scores on there, so like, I'm all these songs and I watched them
- 33:30so much in post production where they belong. They've all just the bands have
- 33:34made such an impression on me, and and it's it's really hard to pick
- 33:38one because I don't think I could love one without the other, because the
- 33:45way they all came together for this movie, if that makes sense, they're
- 33:50all so important to it. And if we only had like three musicians,
- 33:53I don't think it would have been the same. We had like eight,
- 33:55which scared me at the beginning. It's too many. What kind of movies
- 33:59is gonna be? But I think it all happened to work, so now
- 34:02it's like, wow, it was a good thing we had that many,
- 34:06you know. And and again every band is also on Every musician in the
- 34:10film is also on the soundtrack. But I don't know, Mann, I
- 34:15don't know if this kind of formula or this recipe it's all baked into the
- 34:19cake, and the cake seems to taste all right at this point, you
- 34:22know. And look, like I said earlier, the movie's not for everybody,
- 34:25but hopefully, whether you're a fan of the band and that's why you
- 34:30go see the movie, or you're just a horror head and you're into the
- 34:35movie, maybe you'll be attracted to some of the bands because of it.
- 34:37Hopefully it's sort of this symbiotic thing and we're not just milking off the bands.
- 34:42You know. Now, my recording's gonna run at in four minutes,
- 34:45so I'm gonna have to write this the last question unfortunately. But what's like
- 34:52that's outside before me? Like I've been involved that same before that you're talking
- 34:55about the movie and with white clubs and stuff like that, and like,
- 34:58I have to see in the end of the Like I know it does end
- 35:00definitively, but you're gonna have bike clubs come chasing you for what you did
- 35:05in that movie, man, Like, is it gonna be a retaliators too?
- 35:07Based around that? Dude? You know, we were fortunate enough we've
- 35:13gotten some pretty good reviews within our genre, right, Like I can help
- 35:16you right that script if you want, brother, Like, if you're going
- 35:17to incorporate the bike clubs into it, Yeah, there's so many places to
- 35:22go with this and we've got some we've got a script, not scripted,
- 35:28but like sort of bullet pointed out, and the idea is to make another
- 35:30movie. You hope that you people like this one, So within our genre,
- 35:36we're opening that path to hopefully be able to do another one. Yeah,
- 35:39it would be a hell of a fun ride and what a gift to
- 35:43do this. So anything beyond this would be amazing, you know, but
- 35:45we have some twisted, some more twisted places to go. That's right.
- 35:50Yeah, you have to bro because that second bike club where ill mate was
- 35:52from the wheelchair, they got killed, they come and looking for revenge.
- 35:55Brother, you're not getting away with that. That game is great. That
- 36:00was a fun scene, wasn't it twisted? Putting his health on the norse
- 36:05pipe, knocking his teeth out, like that's the drugs. He's like,
- 36:12it's whiter than snow. Wait to ask or some ass cheeks And that's a
- 36:16great liab. Good all right, Michael, Thanks very much for your time.
- 36:22I'd been an absolutely closure talking with it. The Retaliators is out on
- 36:25Apple TV and Google TV in Australia on October eighteen, and I recommend whether
- 36:30you like movies, whether you like music, whether you like to be made
- 36:34to think check it out. Thank you Chris be Well brother, appreciate your
- 36:38time. Man Camde hopefully makes out of Australia one day we get catch up
- 36:42and out of beer bro dude, now that would be awesome. Enjoy day,
- 36:46my friend, big man Well. I forne so for though dream never
- 37:21dies, he's sometimes it's choke. I wish you were here. They showed
- 37:29me away. Who would you kill? Who would you say? And now
- 37:37that sho go steps off the My afraid over fast, but I'm afraid I
- 37:45will fan because we lived over wellvently Jose recently racal of my hands. I
- 38:00see the Holy Father. It's the revenge and it is Great's only water raiside,
- 38:07Gracie. I'm going away on the plans I gave her twenty one,
- 38:15but he's stuck in the safer pull us twenty one guts, twenty one daughters
- 38:21and twenty one stacks, twenty one bullets and twenty one guns, twenty one
- 38:25daughters, twenty one stars, A thankful thing. The knock on the roof,
- 38:35the sound of the deadness, what gives me hood? Buckle, blood
- 38:42on my arm and the flatl on that you cannot run what jo for you
- 38:50left and know thy fad because we live well angels racally Razali, blood of
- 39:15my hands, I'll say, the Holy Farner take the revenge, and it's
- 39:19the streets only water Raceide Racide went away on the plants. The gaber twenty
- 39:29one bullet, but it's stuck in the safer twenty one bullets, twenty one
- 39:45twenty dollars, twenty one sauce twenty one bullets, Joy one jo twenty dollars
- 39:52twenty wiss race, Blood on my hands. I seen the Holy Father say
- 40:04some revenge, and this is sweetest holy water race race. I'm gonna went
- 40:13away all the plans, the gaper twenty one bullet. Buddy's stuck in the
- 40:16safer, raiseally ray, blood in my hands. I see the Holy Father
- 40:27take some revenge, and this is sweetest holy water raise had raise hand.
- 40:35I'm gonna went away all the plans, the gaper twenty one bully, budd
- 40:39it's stuck in the safer twenty four bullets, twenty one guds, twenty one
- 40:45dollars, twenty one sucks, forty water bullets twenty one guts twenty one dollars
- 40:51twenty one subs,