***BANDS WITH GIMMICKS***
I can’t remember the exact year, but Nickelback frontman
Chad Kroeger once gave an interview where he poked fun at Slipknot for relying
on their horror mask gimmicks too much. As much as I love listening to
Nickelback, I’m going to strongly disagree with Chad
But in all seriousness, what’s wrong with having a gimmick?
It’s not just limited to bands, either. Pro-wrestlers have gimmicks. MMA
fighters have gimmicks. Artists have gimmicks. Basically, if you take any
profession and add a character quirk to it, congratulations, you’ve got one
fun-loving motherfucker. A corporate suit with a gimmick? Sure, it can happen.
Suppose a corporate stooge walks in the office one day wearing a Slipknot mask
and blasting “People = Shit” from his smart phone. I’d want to hang out with
that guy all day long!
Having a character trait of some kind doesn’t detract from
the actual profession. In fact, as a writer, I encourage it in my characters. I
want to write about abnormal characters with creepy face paint. I want to write
about elven warriors with superhero costumes. I want to write about highway
drifters who dress like Prince. If there was ever a time to talk about
three-dimensional characters, a fun and goofy gimmick could be one of those
many dimensions.
But let’s get back to the topic at hand, which is about
musical acts who use gimmicks in their art. Chad Kroeger can be as bland and
vanilla as he wants, but gimmicked bands have been around since rock and roll
was even a thing. Pink Floyd could be considered a gimmick band, especially
with the many trademarks surrounding their act. The putty faced masks, the
floating pig, the rainbow prism, the ass judge, basically, anything from The
Wall could be considered a part of Pink Floyd’s gimmick. They made an entire
movie out of that album, so who says gimmicks don’t mean anything? By the way,
that movie is one of my favorites of all time, not just as a musical, but as a
full-fledged story about a man going absolutely bat-shit crazy.
You know who else has a gimmick to go along with their
music? Ghost. Their lead singer dresses in a Pope outfit and has creepy paint
all over his face. His band mates wear black robes and demonic masks. Their
presentation has satanic symbols all over the stage, which reflects a lot of
their lyrical content. Ghost is a fun band to listen to and see live, which I’m
about to figure out for myself this coming September when they come to Seattle
Any other bands with gimmicks? Babymetal has an anime
gimmick. Starset has a space opera gimmick. Rob Zombie and Marilyn Manson both
have horror movie and satanic gimmicks. Not only do these bands look awesome in
concert, but they also produce high quality music to boot. So again, what’s
wrong with a musician having a character trait? Anybody? Can anyone answer this
without sounding more vanilla and ignorant than Chad Kroeger? Maybe Bill Maher
would like to weigh in on this topic. Just kidding, we already know he’s a boring
person!
So what kind of gimmick would you like to see in your own
characters? A skull-decorated necromancer? A heavily-tattooed alien warrior? A
fiendish goblin with a fiery dagger? The possibilities are as endless as your
own imagination. But not all characters in your stories have to have gimmicks.
They don’t have to be elaborate, especially if they’re passive side characters
who don’t add a whole lot to the story. That’s okay.
But if your character drives the entire story, he’d better
be interesting in some way. He doesn’t have to have pentagrams tattooed all
over his pale body, but he does need to capture your reader’s attention and
hold onto that motherfucker for the rest of the story. While gimmicks aren’t
always necessary, they shouldn’t be shrugged off so easily by the conformists
of the world. In fact, I’d dare say we need a…corrosion of conformity! See what
I did there?
I know you all are waiting for me to give examples from my
own writing of gimmicked characters (you totally aren’t). So here they are.
Beautiful Monster’s main villainess is femme fatale with a libertarian business
model and a penchant for vanilla ice cream. Beautiful Monster’s main hero is an
elven warrior who worships a lion god and lashes the shit out of his opponents
with a chain whip. Incelbordination’s main villain is a Matrix parody who
complains about not getting laid and exacts vengeance with a machete and
brainwashed followers. Incelbordination’s main hero is a dwarf with a boxing
background and plenty of angry reasons to use his fists. Need more examples?
Here’s one…
From 2016 to 2017, I wrote a first draft novel called Demon
Axe, a chosen one narrative about a titular heavy metal band with a dark
fantasy gimmick. They wear robes on stage, they wear creepy masks, they drink
bubbling potions before they perform, they have satanic symbols everywhere, and
the lead singer’s microphone looks like a war hatchet. This story only a shitty
first draft and it’ll be a while before I take it to critiqueville, but I’m
proud of it all the same. Plus, Demon Axe brings us back to the original topic
of this blog entry being about musical acts. Yay!
Got any fascinating gimmicks you want to talk about? I’m all
ears! I’m Garrison Kelly! Until next time, try to enjoy the daylight! Hey, there’s
another gimmick right there! That sign-off phrase is from a horror anthology
called Tales From the Dark Side! Nice!
***MOVIE DIALOGUE OF THE DAY***
WOLVERINE: Aren’t you going to tell me to stay away from
your girl?
CYCLOPS: If I had to do that, she wouldn’t be my girl.
WOLVERINE: Well, then I guess you’ve got nothing to worry
about…Cyclops.
CYCLOPS: I bet it just burns you up inside that a boy like
me had to save you. You’d better be careful. I might not be there next time.
Oh, and Logan
-X-Men-
***POST-SCRIPT***
Yes, Wolverine and Cyclops are both gimmicked characters.
They’re not only superheroes, but they’re awesome to watch on screen.
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