With a major-label distribution deal right out of the chute, Candy Butchers seemed destined to follow in the footsteps of other smart, song-focused, melody-driven, ’90s outfits like Ben Folds Five and Fountains Of Wayne before the proverbial window of opportunity slammed shut circa 1997. Since then, seemingly unflappable leader Mike Viola has kept plugging away, fending off adversity in his personal life (his first wife died of cancer) and overall public indifference to get his music out there, whether as himself, under the Candy Butchers moniker, on film soundtracks or elsewhere. Viola’s new solo release, Electro De Perfecto (Good Morning Monkey/Hornblow), is a slickly produced celebration of a versatile songwriter in his prime, one who deserves a little more love. Viola will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our brand new Q&A with him.
Viola: We all know Charlie Manson scared the shit out of everybody. We’ve all wondered how … and why he did it. I grew up with the book Helter Skelter in my house. My mom had it along with The Fear Of Flying, Valley Of The Dolls, books on ESP and the Encyclopedia Britannica. Helter Skelter has the famous crime-scene photos in there that are so gruesome even though they’re in black and white and the gore is whited out, the blank bits left up to a child’s imagination. They are the ones that really stick with me after all these years. Just having the book itself in our house when I was growing up scared the crap out of me. Reading Helter Skelter won’t help you discover the whys and hows because there really are no why and hows. Manson was a career criminal with a compelling and believable Jesus complex who believed black people were taking over the world and he would be the only white survivor along with his family who would rise up and lead the blacks. I’m serious, this is what he thought. And yes he thought the Beatles were sending him messages that only he could hear. The chosen one. His family of followers were young outcasts (as young as 14), desperate, disillusioned and on a lot of drugs at a time when everybody was on drugs. The book never tells you why, but it gives you the context for how. Helter Skelter was written by Manson’s prosecuting attorney Vince Bugliosi. Turns out he’s brilliant and plain spoken in his writing, making the whole story and trial itself a page turner. I fell into a Manson wormhole for the whole summer after I read Helter Skelter. I read three more books about the Tate/LaBianca murders (Ed Sanders from the Fugs wrote The Family, another good one) and watched endless clips of “Family Movies” on YouTube. I did this not out of bloodlust, but for the curious, scared-out-of-his-mind, little kid in me.
Video after the jump.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7Cu_9pkbrs
