High off the maple leaf sweetness of Canada, the chariot of evil rolls into Thunder Bay on Tuesday, March 29.
On it is the menacing Detroit hardcore hip-hop duo Twiztid. Rolling 30 people deep in their entourage (crew and artists), the ominous painted faces of these rappers are looking forward to bringing their brew of hip-hop, rock, horror, cinema and theatrical stylings to the Crocks stage.
Twiztid is the brainchild of diabolical duo Monoxide (Paul Methric) and Jamie Madrox (Jamie Spaniolo) who formed back in 1997 with a love of all things that go bump in the night.
For the past 19 years it’s been a strong and steady climb for the pair.
“The best way to sum up Twiztid is horror movies come to life through music,” says Methric during our phone interview from his home base of Michigan.
Hip hop stereotypes aside, themes of money, drugs, women and bling have no place in a Twiztid song.
They’d rather rap about their main inspirations; nightmares and horror flicks.
“We were extremely into horror movies that’s why I believe we’ve been able to last almost 20 years. We stayed true to what got us to where we are. We wanted to find a way to take it and do it justice on a different level.”
Monoxide and Madrox are definitely on a different level.
Contacts in, face paint on, these guys are the definition of DIY.
Rising from the Detroit underground with their own definitive style of hip hop featuring sinister lyrics and infectious beats, Twiztid have done it their way and on their own terms.
Twiztid reigns supreme as a self-operated media giant and one of the world's most popular independent hip-hop acts, with twelve major albums/EPs released to date and more than one million albums sold worldwide, all of which have charted on Billboard's Top 100. Even their fiercely loyal fans have names, Juggalos.
The numbers don’t lie.
Twiztid has an army of die-hard, dedicated Juggalos behind them and crazy social media numbers.
“People have it easier now than I ever had it when we started,” Methric says of their popularity and success.
“With social media, you don’t need anyone. But you can miss out on the direction by doing it yourself, that’s why so many artists are here today and gone by the end of the week. It’s not organically grown.
“They become overnight sensations and they can’t tour because they only have 2 songs, and they can’t put out a record because they don’t know how. That flame only flickers for so long. Longevity is a truly different thing. We’ve survived the past 20 years.”
Twiztid are getting ready to tell their incredible story, and are slated to release two books in the near future; a coffee table book and an autobiography.
“It’s been a crazy ride,” Methric says.
Their latest album, The Darkness, exercised a different writing and creating process.
They made sure to not prematurely name the record until it was recorded, to avoid the plague of a theme.
As the Twiztid Canadian Juggalo Invasion Tour arrives, I ask how this theatrical show has evolved. I really do not know what to expect.
“We are some of the greatest live performers you’ll ever see,” Methric says. “Hands down, we put every ounce of energy into every word that comes out of our mouths. We put on a show.
“There’s nobody that sounds like us, even though they try to look like us. We’re doing something other people can’t. I don’t want to do what everyone else is doing, that’s easy. We never have.”
Twiztid is easy to spot and identify. They do their own creepy makeup. And they go through a couple thousand dollars of it every tour.
It’s black and white, and that is the signature look.
Make-up on or off, Methric holds onto his Detroit roots.
“I wouldn’t trade my up-bringing for anything. We have a will that’s second to none, the will to survive that came from there. We were raised from the jungle, you live or you died. It’s amazing that we made it out, believe that. Detroit has a way of letting success know when it’s time to leave.”
Twiztid play Crocks on Tuesday, March 29 with special guests Blaze ya Dead Homie, Boondox, Lex the Hex Master and Trilogy.
