METAL PULP AND PAPER: Hello, Steve, aka Dr. Heathen Scum to some, so, glad to be catching up with you. Thank you for taking the time to speak with us here at Metal Pulp And Paper. We appreciate it.
STEVE BROY: Thank you for asking, I am fine, and in good health. Turned 60.
MPAP: That's great to hear. I see you just got back from spending some time in India?
STEVE: Yes, five weeks.
MPAP: How was that? Were you up to anything over there, or was it just a vacation?
STEVE: I love India. I have been there more times than I can count. I was there to work with a company developing a product for my company Steve Broy Engineering.
MPAP: Well let’s not waste any more time and introduce you to everyone out there reading this. Of course there will be a few out there that don’t know who you or your band is. So, let's just drive right into the shallow end, how can we explain and sum everything about the Mentors music style in a mere few words?
STEVE: XXX Rated Rock and Roll for mature adults.
MPAP: X-rated will for sure get some attention. And I guess with everyone having a phone in their hand most of the time; they can take the time and watch The Mentors: Kings Of Sleaze Rocumentary, that was released in October 2018 to find out more if they want to.
STEVE: Thanks for the plug.
MPAP: Now let's say for someone that hasn't watched the Rocumentary yet, or still has no idea who your are, what do they really need to know about the Mentors point blank?
STEVE: That we are the best band of all time.
MPAP: The Mentors have been around for a very long time. Like mentioned in the beginning of the interview, you've been together for the most part since 1976. Now, would you say the Mentors are in a way an iconic band in some way shape or form?
STEVE: Yes, for sure.
MPAP: You could say there is a tremendous legacy behind those black executioner hoods that you wear if anything, right?
STEVE: The hoods were Duce's idea. Now we are like Superman.
MPAP: Either way, there is no denying what you, Eric Carlson (Sickie Wifebeater), and the late El Duce started back in Seattle, Washington in 1976 is there?
STEVE: Who would dare deny the Mentors? Antifa?
MPAP: Going back to how to sum up, or explain things again, let’s do this, what would you want an anywhere city downtown main street USA billboard to say that best describes the Mentors?
STEVE: The Mentors. Quality music that happens to be politically erect.
MPAP: The Mentors pushed the envelope everyday. Do you feel there is there no risk in the music industry today?
STEVE: I don’t pay attention to music of today, but judging from the numbers of overdoses in the biz, they are taking risks, just dumb ones.
MPAP: Who do you think pushes the boundaries in the music scene? Marilyn Manson, GWAR maybe?
STEVE: I haven’t listened to much of them, so I would have to say Tekeshi Sixty Nine.
MPAP: In your opinion, is there anyone out there who can even come close to the acts like the Mentors or GG Allin?
STEVE: No.
MPAP: Let’s talk about GG Allin for just a moment? He accidentally overdosed on heroin in June 1993, instead of committing suicide like he wanted to do on stage. I don’t know how close and personal you were with him before he died, but do you think if he hadn’t overdosed, he really would have eventually committed suicide on stage in front of a live audience as his band played on?
STEVE: I doubt it. He had reneged on doing it a couple of items from what I recall.
MPAP: I could imagine how he would have done it? His antics and everything else is one of a kind. Take away the overdose and the wanting to commit suicide, do you think he would have made it this long in the music industry today?
STEVE: Well, it would have been hard for him during grunge since all the grunge guys killed themselves. Had he survived, maybe he would wind up a Henry Rollins elder statesman kind of guy?
MPAP: Are you surprised you’re still around doing this for over 30 years now? Are you surprised that you’re still alive from all the debauchery?
STEVE: I never did that much bad stuff, except get really drunk maybe four times a year.
MPAP: Let’s go a bit deeper; let’s pull back the skin bck from the skull a little bit farther. What was it like on the road in the early days of the Mentors?
STEVE: I published a tour diary of our '93 tour. That is a good place to find out about shit. Not to mention my autobiography,
Truth Is Funnier Than Fiction: My Life With Eldon Hoke And The Mentors, both of which I sell through my email at sbroy@aol.com or facebook.com/thementors.
MPAP: Is there a wild story that no one knows about? Something maybe too crazy to tell, but perhaps it’s time now? Something that wasn’t seen or mentioned in The Mentors: Kings Of Sleaze Rocumentary?
STEVE: Around 1993 or so we were on tour with the band called Dead Orchestra from Kansas. They had a converted Greyhound bus that we toured that with them in. Halfway through the tour we had a gig in Detroit, I remember the guitar player for the group, a nice fellow name Miles, standing at the entrance of the bus proclaiming how much of a good time we had, how much he loves the Mentors and how great it was to be on tour with them. Precisely at this point, El Duce approached the bus and projectile vomited directly into the guys face unaware of the conversation with the fellow about how great he was.
MPAP: I could imagine the shock that guitar player must have had with puke all over his face from El Duce. So, have you settled down in any way since those early days?
STEVE: I wasn’t the crazy one in the band the band. I was always settled down and in control at all times.
MPAP: That's good to hear. So, it seems like the trend is for bands to slap their name and logo on a beer bottle. Who would have thought that selling alcohol is a better business than selling music? We have Iron Maiden beer, Megadeth wine and beer, Motorhead whiskey and now, even Metallica has a beer. Everyone is jumping on that bandwagon if that’s what you want to call it. Will there ever be a Mentors beer by any chance? A 'Golden Showers IPA'? A nice sour stout called 'El Duce,' or better yet, a 'Chicks With Dicks' pilsner?
STEVE: Great idea, but Duce drank malt liquor.
MPAP: Moving forward, in a previous interview, you stated, that 'if you’re offended, the Mentors don’t care.' 'We’ve had that kind of reaction since the very beginning.' Now, wouldn’t you say it’s getting out of hand that everyone is offended by everything? And there is almost no real meaning of really getting offended anymore? People are getting hurt by a shirt or even a hat that someone wears? A band’s explicit lyric are almost considered mild now compared to what’s been going on with things lately don't you think?
STEVE: There is the problem with too much media bandwidth that has to be filled up. As Marshall McLuhan stated, 'the medium is the message.'
MPAP: In the music news recently, a band from Australian, The Amity Affliction, was touring the United States and called out a fan that was wearing a Donald Trump-branded football jersey. The lead singer told the fan, "I wish you didn’t like our band. I wish you hadn’t come to the show." Do you think that was right of him to say that to one of his fans that paid money to watch the band play live?
STEVE: I wouldn’t do that myself, but it’s cool to do it. I don’t think you would wear a Nixon for President hat at Woodstock and expect people to not give you shit. Hmm, well I wouldn’t do that. But if you run around with Trump hat on you are encouraging this anyway.
MPAP: What if all your fans are Trump supporters and are buying your music and merchandise at the shows, and then you tell them to don’t show up, and eventually the money dries up, what do you do then?
STEVE: Make a pro Trump album and sell out.
MPAP: Going back to people easily getting offended, it’s hard to believe that there were people out there offended by the song "Baby It’s Cold Outside" sung by Dean Martin and Doris Day. A song that was released in 1959 and everyone was all good with it until 2018? What are your views on it?
STEVE: I made a song called "Slut, It Is Cold Outside." It is on the usual download sites.
MPAP: This is an excerpt taken from Al Jourgensen’s autobiography Ministry: The Lost Gospels According to Al Jourgensen, 'Duce and his band the Mentors got paid $20, 000 in beer to record an album. They got so messed up they never got halfway through a song before passing out. To add insult to injury, they recorded the album on a microcassette (the type of tape that’s used in answering machines) and turned in the microcassette to the record label. I don’t believe that album was ever released.' So, is this story accurate? Is there an album recorded on a microcassette out there somewhere?
STEVE: No, not at all true, he made up most of his book.
MPAP: I know this has been brought up a million times. And this will be the one millionth and one time, but you can’t mention the Mentors without the conspiracy theories about Kurt Cobain’s death coming up with it as well? Does it just need to be left alone and everyone needs to move on and get over it?
STEVE: I did it, not Duce.
MPAP: In 1985, a group of politicians’ wives gathered by Tipper Gore created the Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC) and mounted a hearing at the U.S. Capitol in which they demanded that 'extreme' music be censored. As a result, the Mentors lyrics that rhymed "smell my anal vapor" with "your face is my toilet paper" are now a permanent part of the Congressional record. Is this almost better than a Grammy award? It’s something that makes you stand above the rest?
STEVE: Hard to top that.
MPAP: Are there any lost recordings of the Mentors with El Duce in a vault somewhere?
STEVE: Yes, since he died, I have made several posthumous releases, El Duce God, El Duce Merry XXXMAS, and El Duce Symphony. I am working on another release called Dead Man Rocking. I sell these also at facebook.com/thementors or sbroy@aol.com.
MPAP: Before we bring this interview to a close, one last question. Do you know what El Duce thought of the Dr. Know song "Fist Fuck" sung by Kyle Toucher that came out in 1985? I’m sure he had to of heard it?
STEVE: Yes, he liked it a lot.
MPAP: On behalf of myself and Metal Pulp And Paper, I’d like to thank you, Steve, for doing this interview. We look forward to what the Mentors do to finish out 2019 and beyond. Any last words for all your fans and everyone else reading this?
STEVE: Thank you, very much.
Steve Broy-The Mentors/ February 24th, 2019/ Interview #139
