The talented Robyn Von Swank directed the video of Combichrist’s “Sent to Destroy”. The music video features Andy LaPlegua and pals in a dystopian future cyperpunk sort of scenario.

In this original Blue Blood interview, Combichrist frontman Andy LaPlegua and I are drinking beer in, err, Mexico. I interview Andy LaPlegua about his Frost EP Sent to Destroy. We talk about horror movies, fetish, and what a dead hand smells like. How cute we look can be credited to Forrest Black who directed the video.

As you all have no doubt noticed, we’ve been working on some video stuff on BlueBlood.net here. It is still in beta, but we are making it live for your viewing pleasure. Feel free to point out anything which is not working perfectly yet, because we know Blue Blood TV is in beta.

We’ve been really enjoying putting together our first segments and I’m really excited to share them with you all. For the most part, Forrest Black has been directing and I’ve been producing. We’ve mostly been taking turns shooting, kinda the same as we do for still photography. We’ve gotten some behind-the-camera assists from the always enjoyable Michelle Aston as well. We are fortunate enough to have the incredibly talented Tim Skold on board for the project to do the Blue Blood theme music. As this is Blue Blood, you probably all know who Tim Skold is, but I’ll give you a quick overview, just in case. I first came across his work when he was in a band called Shotgun Messiah, which I thought was a great name for a band. Other bands he has been in include Kingpin, KMFDM, Marilyn Manson, and Skold. His eponymously titled Skold album is one of my favorite CDs of all time, one of those rare records I can play all the way through, enjoying every single song over and over again. Anyway, I’m really thrilled about doing this video series thang, and the way it is all coming together, and feeling very creatively inspired.

Our video section is just starting out, so, when it becomes a fabulous gigantic internet phenomenon, you can say you were in-the-know when. We’ll be both highlighting videos we think are interesting and bringing you original programming. I just posted our Deathrace Jason Statham interview and Deathrace director Paul W. S. Anderson interview. Coming up this weekend, I interview musician Andy LaPlegua of Combichrist. Forrest Black interviews writer/editor Rachel Kramer Bussel about her Cupcakes Take the Cake blog (and sex.) Forrest Black and I (and a lot of our unsavory pals) attend the Coilhouse magazine launch party and I interview editor Nadya Lev. And there is tons more to come. Feel free to message me or Forrest Black directly or in public (or sidle up to one of us in a nightclub and whisper) about what you’d most like to see us do because we are just getting started.

I know, I know, some of you were probably assuming I was about to announce the launch of a giant adult video section, probably in the members area over on sister site BlueBlood.com. Over the years, just about every major mainstream adult video company, both in Porn Valley and beyond, has pitched yours truly and Forrest Black to do the pr0nz vidz for them. I’m not saying that nobody could ever make me an attractive offer on that front, if we really were on the same page with a company which wanted to make something great. But it has been my experience that these huge multimillion dollar companies will come at us saying how much they want something gothic or punk or alt or tattooed, and then turn around and say that they figure the budget can be small because they can underpay talent with tattoos or black lipstick.

One of my personal rules is that I will work for free or cheap for someone who does not have an office, if I like them and I believe in their project. If someone has a big ol’ office, I expect a pro rate and I expect the same for those I work with. If someone owns one or more buildings, I expect them not to start being cheap when it comes to my subculture and my friends and my collaborators.

But, honestly, it really boils down to art. The thing about artists is that they do not always do what is the commercially perfect thing to do. Artists do what they feel like doing. What I really felt like doing was discussing the meaning of alternative culture with Nadya Lev and what appalling horror movies are fun to sample with Andy LaPlegua.

I hope you guys like what we’ve been making because I enjoyed the creative process and I’d like to make you more videos soon.

Today, Blue Blood’s design czar Forrest Black and I rolled over to band manager Jason Fiber’s lovely Hollywood Hills home to do some press on the always-charming and fun Andy LaPlegua. Andy is touring in supporting of the forthcoming Frost EP from Combichrist. So, uhm, naturally, we drank beer and Jason brought up that there was a new sex tape potentially coming out starring Verne Troyer.

I confessed that I already knew this as I’d started my day reading the adult industry trades mags, who were all abuzz with the info that SugarDVD had started the bidding on the Mini-Me sex tape. SugarDVD CEO Jax stated publicly that he would only be into distributing the celebrity sex tape, if it were possible to get proper performer releases from both the actor Verne Troyer and his naked co-star.

I gave my opinion that a Verne Troyer sex tape would be very marketable, but the one I really want to see is where the drug dealer club kid (or whatever he was) allegedly tied up Joe Francis of Girls Gone Wild fame and made him confess his love of receiving anal on video, and then left him in the trunk of a car. Upon reflection, I don’t really want to see a naked Joe Francis being abused, but the karmic justice of it appeals to me.

In the unlikely event that you do not know who Verne Troyer is, he is best known for his role as Mini-Me, the bad guy’s smaller doppelganger protege from Mike Myers’ Austin Powers. He has also appeared in everything from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas to Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone to rap videos and Apple commercials. Really Apple commercials tend to be sorta like viral sex vids for marketing anyway.

What would make a Verne Troyer celebrity sex tape so marketable is that he is famous, good-looking, and thirty-two inches tall. Which is a pretty rare combo. Fun facts to know and share: Verne Troyer was prom king in high school and is also an accomplished stunt man, the latter partly because nobody else would be the right build to body double for his stunts.

Warner Bros. subsidiary TMZ released a teaser from the video, pictured above, and it does indeed appear to actually feature Verne Troyer. The mere fact that Warner Bros. owns the gossip and scandal site TMZ really says something about the nature of fame and celebrity today. Apart from anything else, it points out that Warner is more on top of their approach to the online world than most media megacorps. Manager Jason Fiber was president of Cordless Recordings, the digital record label or “e-label” subsidiary of Warner Music Group. Today, Jason, whose background clearly shows he knows something about internet marketing, was joking that he was going to have to add consulting on celeb sex tape strategies to the list of what he did for clients.

I report that Jason was joking, but Verne Troyer’s STARmeter on IMDB is up 90% since last week. So, uhm, yeah, joking. Whether or not anyone ever sees Verne Troyer naked on video, he will definitely appear in this summer’s blockbuster from Mike Myers called The Love Guru.

The end of this month, Combichrist will kick off a world tour in Los Angeles. The name of the new EP from Metropolis Records is Sent to Destroy and the industrial dance club favorite Andy LaPlegua will be sent to destroy everywhere from the UK to Sweden to Spain to the Netherlands to Poland, France, and beyond. European readers should keep an eye out.

To get you all pumped for the EP release on July 10, Blue Blood has a few sexy photos of lead singer (and lead pretty much everything) Andy LaPlegua in the Combichrist Frost EP Sent to Destroy gallery.

You can’t go wrong with Japanese schoolgirls, big boots, and a nice iced beverage. Can you?

Forrest Black and I went out to Das Bunker last weekend to catch Andy LaPlegua’s special DJ set there. In honor of the occasion, we posted the first series of photographs of Andy and Kellie we’d shot. The shoot happened serendipitously. The plan was initially to just photograph Kellie by herself, but Andy was hanging out and a studio space with stage blood, Jack Daniels, and Kellie in it just really called for him to participate too. This photo session also resulted in the artwork for Combichrist’s last full length album and T-shirt design and a liner note shoutout. Kellie then interviewed Andy for a Blue Blood feature article and, by the time of their next photo session with us, Kellie and Andy were married.

So I came home from a fun night at Bunker and just kinda got on a roll, formatting photos for BlueBlood.com. We’ve got some naughty but dressed photos photos for your viewing pleasure here and some more provocative photographic series over on the dot com.

If you are reading this, odds are good you know this, but BlueBlood.com is the digital evolution of the seminal magazine of counterculture erotica founded by yours truly in 1992. There are currently approximately four hundred photos of popular hottie Kellie LaPlegua on BlueBlood.com and more on the way. Kellie has also interviewed a variety of luminaries of the goth-industrial world for BlueBlood.net feature articles. She also helps mental patients and is at work on a spooky comic book. Because Blue Blood hotties do more than just look cute.

We are also celebrating pictorially and otherwise right now because Andy LaPlegua is entering his ninth week on the Billboard Dance charts, alongside such perrenial favorites as Nine Inch Nails and Madonna, with the single “Get Your Body Beat,” the video for which regular Blue Blood contributor Chad Michael Ward worked on the production design.

If the industrial music scene had an ” A ” list, Rev John’s name would be somewhere near the top. He is one of the promoters of Das Bunker, Los Angeles’ premier industrial / noise dance club, and one of their resident DJ’s. He is also the man behind industrialshirts.com. You can find him on any given day at Titos Tacos, on Supulveda & Washington Place; and even sometimes on stage with the band “Combichrist” as a live member. I thought it would be pretty awesome to interview Rev John, since he is such a staple in not just the Los Angeles industrial music scene, but all over the world. So here it is, Enjoy!

How long have you been DJing, and where all have you done it?

I’ve been DJing since 1999, and aside from my current gigs at Das Bunker (LA) and Infirmary (OC). I’ve also held residencies at Los Angeles clubs “The Vault”, “Algorythm”, and “Produqt”.

How long have you been running industrialshirts.com? What are the best sellers on industrial shirts, and is there anyone you dont have that you would like to?

I started Industrial shirts in 2003 just hoping to help club kids find shirts of their favorite bands. 3 years later it’s exploded into something way bigger than I ever imagined. My best sellers are Combichrist, Suicide Commando, Feindflug, & Hocico. In a perfect world, I’d carry shirts from everyone, but sometimes European import paperwork gets in the way…

What are your views on downloading music vs. buying cds?

I’m a big record buyer. my favroite media is still vinyl, and there is something special about finding the perfect record after a long day of digging in the crates. It’s been said a thousand times over, but downloading hurts bands every day, and not only leads to less musicians being able to support themselves, but also for higher prices for stuff like shirts, concerts, etc.

How did you hook up with Combichrist, and become a live member?

I guess you could just say I was in the right place at the right time. Maybe you should ask Andy why he invited me to be a live member =3D)

How long have you been a part of Bunker, who are some of the coolest people to have shown up at Bunker to party?

I’ve been a part of Das Bunker since the summer of 2002 (wow, time flies), and in that time we’ve had a ton of really cool and amazing people come through. If I had to name just one, it would probably be standing at the bar and realizing I’m standing right next to Orge (of Skinny Puppy fame). Maybe one day we can get L.L. COOL J. to come down…

Whats your fav thing to order at Titos Tacos?

The bean and cheese buritto is the “must have” item IMO (covered in Guac & salsa of course).

What is a stupid fashion trend you would love to see end in the goth/industrial scene?

Dread falls, hands down.

What industrial releases are you looking forward to in 2006?

Panzer AG, Soman, Imperative Reaction, This Morn’ Omina, Caustic, and of course Combichrist.

You are personal friends with a lot of bands, who hooks you up with shit way before its released, or with things that will never be released?

Yes indeed, it’s always nice to be able to drop a track in the club months before it’s out. By the time “Everybody Hates You” hit the street, THis Shit WIll FUck You Up was hands down the biggest dance floor track.

What is the most obscure or prize possession in your cd collection?

Ooh, this is tough. If it has to be a cd, it’s Noise Unit’s Responce Frequency – though I would gladly part with that before losing the Skinny Puppy CF&M hospital gown/mask fan club kit.

What are some industrial songs that you will never play, no matter who requests them?

Dead stars- Covenant & love never dies – Apoptygma Berzerk. No one needs to hear either these songs again. Ever.

Who would you love to book to play at Bunker?

Feindflug, Klinik.

Whos your favorite blueblood model?

Kellie Laplegua of course!

Andy Laplegua is a busy man. In the past year alone he has released three full length albums. Icon of Coil, his most popular band in the US, did Machines Are Us, Combichrist, a noisier EBM project, did The Joy of Guns, and Panzer AG did This Is My Battlefield, a darker, more goth/industrial album. Andy Laplegua is the frontman of Icon of Coil, but Combichrist, and Panzer AG are his solo projects.

He has produced a track for Apoptygma Berzerk, and done numerous remixes for bands such as VNV nation, Funker Vogt, Apoptygma Berzerk, Hocico, De/Vision, Mesh, and just about any other electro project you can think of.

I caught up with him after a Combichrist show at Das Bunker in Los Angeles. He was still covered in blood from a photo shoot with Amelia and Forrest earlier in the day. Heres how it went.

Kellie: Great show. Nice fake blood by the way.

Andy: [laughs] Thanks.

You usually wear latex on stage. Are you into the fetish scene, or just the fashion?

I’m not so much into the fashion itself, I love the look and feel of it. I am very much into the fetish scene. I love rubber.

What other fashion do you like to wear?

House of Harlot, Skintwo, Marquis, Cyberdog, DSL, Lipservice. And anything else I see that I like.

What are you drinking?

Jack Daniels.

Straight?

On ice.

I see you have a Johnny Cash tattoo.

I got this tattoo by a great artist named Deacon at Holy Mother Tattoo in Atlanta, Georgia. He actually did this whole half sleeve. It’s a tribute to Johnny Cash, when he died. He is one of the most important artists to me, the whole reason to do music. The way he was a story teller, a great inspiration to all artists. Always the man for the little man. Always true to what he did.

What other music do you listen to at home?

I listen to a lot of cock rock, and real industrial. Not the shit that’s mostly played in this scene. Everybody seems to copy each other in this scene. I go out of this scene to find inspiration. Turbonegro, Manowar, Nitzer Ebb, Klinic, Backyard Babies. You know, they play Backyard Babies at the Kentucky Fried Chicken here in Germany.

KFC huh? You live in Germany now, right?

Yes. Everyone I am working with and everyone I want to work with is in Germany. I’m closer here than anywhere else in Europe. It’s a music metro. And Hamburg has got a great red-light district. You can do what the fuck you want, and no one will bother you.

You’re from Norway though. Do you know the guys from Zeromancer, or Apoptygma Berzerk?

Sure, they are all good friends of mine. We all started making music at the same time, going in total different directions. But ironically enough, we all ended up in the same scene. Being quite successful.

So, all you rock stars hang out together regularly?

We hang out as often as we can, we have an unbelievable time together. I hang out with Ronan from VNV Nation, Eric from Catastrophe Ballet, and Bjoern from Fortification 55, mostly, since we all live near each other. But when we go out, it’s everyone together. Suicide Commando, Dimmu Borgier, Mayhem, Hocico. Good times.

What are your immediate plans for the future?

A new Icon of Coil single is coming out. A new Combichrist EP is coming out in October, the same time I’ll be doing my Icon Of Coil US tour. The new Combichrist album should be out by January. I will be playing a lot of festivals this summer. WGT, Mera Luna, Industrial for the Masses, Infest, Summer Darkness.

You’ve got a very sexy accent. What languages do you speak?

Norwegian, Swedish, English. My German is Okay.

Say something hot to me in Norwegian.

Noe Varmt paa norsk.

What does that mean?

[laughs] I could show you.

And last, besides anyone here, who is your favorite Gothic Slut?

Hmmm…what’s the girls name with the blonde dreads and the tattoos from her arms to her legs?

Voltaire.

Yes, yes. Shes hot. They’re all hot. You want to introduce me to some? Then maybe I can give you a better answer. [laughs] I’d love to see more of the
Rubber Dollies site. I’ve only gotten to see what comes out in Marquis every month.

Thank you for the interview, the show was great. Everyone seemed to enjoy it. I look forward to seeing you live again.

No problem, thanks to you too.