Each night Edgy goes to bed in the back of an old tour bus with a bleeding throat, and his notebook and tape recorder close by. The next morning his band’s tour bus pulls into a different city where their name is misspelled on the marquee.
“It’s been incredibly tough,” he said. “But if we’re not on the road, we’re not eating dinner.”
Edgy is the lead singer of Sinisstar, a heavy metal band determined to take the world one city at a time.
After their song “Psychosexy” appeared on the Heavy Metal 2000 soundtrack, Sinisstar began shopping their demo.
In early 2000, they signed with Fred Durst’s Geffen imprint label, Flawless Records. After a few dates on the Anger Management tour, there was plenty of hype about the Limp Bizkit frontman’s latest discovery. But the hype soon turned into aggravation. After a year and a half of holding back their record, Edgy now says the Flawless logo will not appear on their release.
As for discovering the band, Edgy said Durst took too much credit.
“We showcased for 15 labels,” he said. “So as far as discovering us, that did not happen, because there were tons of labels wanting to sign us.”
Edgy says life has been hard for the quintet as they wait for their debut to drop. “I don’t have a home to go home to,” he said. “Staying on tour is one of my prime directives right now so that I have a bus to stay on.”
The band — completed by Shadow (bass), Breck (guitar), China (guitar) and Sid (drums, programming) — has made a career out of their confrontational attitudes and obsession with music.
“Each member brings their own influences to the table,” Edgy said. “Collectively it runs the gamut from classical music to industrial noise. For me, I saw KISS when I was 10 years old and it pretty much set me on this path.”
Born in Mississippi and raised in North Carolina, Edgy said his life has revolved around music and his bands since he was 15, moving him from North Carolina to New York to Seattle.
“All the moving revolved around my bands,” he said. “Pretty much everything in my life revolves around my bands.”
Before his stint as vocalist with the Seattle-based groups Junkhalo and Burning Witch, Edgy played keyboards and guitar.
“I started singing because our band didn’t have a vocalist and no one else had the balls to do it,” he said.
While in Seattle, Shadow and Edgy met through a common friend. They formed Sinisstar as a three piece with a drummer named Tweety, who departed shortly after the group moved to Los Angeles. Over the next year they struggled to find the right personnel for the band.
Members soon fell into place, as did a record deal with Geffen Records.
Since recording Future Shock, the band has been traveling the road on an old Eagle tour bus.
“For me, being a complete social outcast, life on the road is fairly boring,” Edgy said. “I’m on the bus by myself, while everyone else is out running about town.”
When alone, Edgy keeps busy by taking care of his throat and observing life for lyrical ideas.
“I’m never without my notebook and tape recorder,” he said. “I write a hundred stupid ideas for every good one.”
Edgy said each day is regimented to keep his throat and voice in good shape for the next concert.
“I steam my throat for over an hour before every show,” he said. “[I] use herbal throat spray and I still end up bleeding every night.”
With their current tour supporting Rob Zombie, Sinisstar’s seven-song set is balls-out rock and roll.
“It’s just absolute abandon,” Edgy said. “This is the best response we’ve ever gotten on tour. The fans have gone insane and when they give me that much energy back it just sends me out of control.”
Though Edgy is frustrated waiting for Future Shock to make its debut, he has learned a lot along the way.
“I think everything is a misconception in the music business,” he said. “There’s nothing on the level about any of it — it’s all fake — the only thing that matters to me is my 35 minutes up on the stage.”
Sinisstar will open for Rob Zombie on April 21 at the Electric Factory.
Chris Powell can be reached at clpowell@temple.edu
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