H R H - I N T E R V I E W S

Markus Allen Christopher (Miss Crazy)
Interview February 2006

Hardrock Haven: OK Markus, to start with, why don't you introduce the band and the members, and give a little bit of the history about how Miss Crazy got together.

Markus Christopher: OK, me, Markus Allen Christopher on lead vocals; Kim Racer on bass; Manford Swann, guitar; BB Michaels, guitar; and DT Harvey on drums. We formed in San Francisco in a rehearsal space-it was very small. We were just throwing around riffs and ideas … long story short we made a live recording demo or some songs, and it came out remarkably good. We got a deal presented to us with a good producer attached to it.

HH: Why did the band pick the name Miss Crazy and what's with the makeup?

MC: That was our nickname for Kim. That's real simple; it just worked its way up. The makeup … KISS, is a good reason. We like the mystique, the mystery behind it. The fun of it. It brings out the music so much more differently than if we were just a regular band. We wanted to get the masses in a different form of pushing out '80s style rock. The bands we are influenced by, we made sure we had those bands in our sound. It's like we invited AC/DC, Kix, Cinderella into our band. We are trying to keep the tradition going so when those bands quit we can keep it going for another 20 or 30 years.

HH: On the cover the CD, there is some Japanese writing. What does that writing mean in English?

MC: That's just an "M" and a "C."

HH: Your debut CD was just released on Metal Mayhem Records. How did you hook up with Metal Mayhem?

MC: Actually, have a friend who is doing some stuff in the Bay Area. Then, we know a producer who is out of L.A. that was working with Trixie. We heard the last album that he did, with Ronnie Borchert. We really liked the tones he was getting. When we met with him, we did one song first, we recorded "Billie" with him. We were so happy with him we decided to do the whole album. Ryan and Chris Northrup from Metal Mayhem were really into the songs, and OK us doing a whole record. The rest is just 100 hours of fun.

HH: I'm gonna have my review of the album up this week, but so far, have you gotten any reviews, and if so, what was the feedback like?

MC: Actually, the album has been out for three weeks now and we've got great European press. People who are fans on MySpace are giving us the links to all these places. I'm actually overwhelmed that it's doing so well, so fast. I think some of the MySpace fans, and fans of KISS and AC/DC those kinds of fans, are really catching on. MySpace has a lot to do with us generating action in a group we couldn't easily target, the younger generation. They have made their own underground coalition of Miss Crazy fans that has grown so quick.

HH: Who are your influences as a singer?

MC: I love Brian Johnson from AC/DC. He made me want to sing like this. Steve Whitman, Tom Keifer, Bon Scott, Gene Simmons … some of the greatest.

HH: Do you have any tour plans coming up as we get closer to summer?

MC: We'd like to see how the album does first. We know it's doing really well. We are doing the Cruefest in July. We are advertising doing one night but we are actually doing both. We might be doing the KISS convention; it's just a rumor right now. We haven't had any offers yet but I can't imagine us NOT doing this. We do have some European interest, and some Japan stuff already. So, I'm looking forward to bringing the live show to the fans.

HH: Do you have any videos in the works?

MC: We do, but once we again, we need to make sure the album sells well because the budget on something like that would set us back. But yes, absolutely, we are going to do a video for sure.

HH: Do you feel a Miss Crazy video would find a home on MTV or Fuse TV?

MC: Oh, absolutely. Fans that like KISS, and the weirdness of "The Crow," that image will definitely help with the understanding of what we are about. We are not just another band. We want to create with our image what Sting did for wrestling, what Brandon Lee did for "The Crow." Like Paul Stanley, when he's on stage in his makeup, it doesn't matter if he's 50 years old, he just commands it … the guy with that makeup is so much more with that makeup than he is without. That guy, live, just thrills me to death. The mystique of KISS when I was a child, when you see KISS, people were not just into KISS because of "Love Gun" and "Dr. Love." It was that "superhero" thing that made you like them. I didn't get dolls. I didn't have a Hendrix doll. I didn't have an Angus doll, although I think they exist now. But everyone had a Gene Simmons doll just like they had their Darth Vadar doll, you know? When everyone had their Barbie lunch pail, my older brother had his KISS lunch pail.

HH: Is there anything I left out that you'd like to leave with our Hardrock Haven faithful?

MC: Just that Miss Crazy is a real band. We are coming to change the way things are looked at for this kind of music. We are brand new … we are not old. We are something that has been in the general public for three months, we've had a record out now three weeks and it's been amazing. We want to thank all the fans who have been a part of it. We'd like to thank Melina who runs our MySpace page. She has done an amazing job and without her, we couldn't be where we are at now. And Metal Mayhem has been such a great supporter of use, and also people like you at Hardrock Haven and other fanzines.