Interview with Doyle Wolfgang Von Frankenstein 6/14/2017

Following the release of his first album, Abominator, on his own record label, Monsterman Records, I interviewed Misfits guitar player and Doyle guitarist Doyle Wolfgang Von Frankenstein before his Mesa, AZ tour stop supporting his June 2, 2017 album release "Doyle II: As We Die". This is a rare interview in which Doyle talks...A LOT.....about some of the cool stuff he's been up to since his last album, "Abominator". Fun vegan stories, Monsterman Records, hot sauce, and movies!

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Red Sun Rising at Pub Rock Live April 17, 2016

I remember the first time I saw Red Sun Rising. I walked in the gate at Carnival of Madness at the Time Warner Amphitheater in Cleveland. There was a band playing off to the side with a small stack of mains and a couple of monitors. With an incredible amount of energy exploding from this corner, it was impossible to walk past them without stopping to have a listen. That listen turned into an entire set, and I even got a look at the kick drum head so I could check them out later, and check them out later I did! This little band has such an impact on the  people around them...enough to make you remember them even long after an exhausting all-day festival with all your favorite national acts. A few days later, I found myself the proud owner of their first (and only) self-produced album. Out of all the music I own, that Red Sun Rising record (and subsequently every one after that) became my favorite. If it was vinyl, I would have worn it out twice by now. I started stalking all the band guys on Twitter. I found a link to their only video, ''Beautiful

Suicide'' on YouTube. Wow...they have presence, they have energy, and more than anything else....they have real talent. This isn't a couple of college kids banging out some chord riffs. Ryan can play...and I mean PLAY. He makes that Gibson SG sound like hot butter on a greased up griddle. I've heard a lot of music in my time, but these guys are crafters. They have that classic rock sound with a modern rock feel. You know, that groove from the glory days when those guys really knew their way around a fretboard and the songs were more than a couple of cookie-cutter chords strung together to satisfy a formula. And when Ryan isn't soaring above the groove, Mike is. His vocals are reminiscent of an era where rock 'n' roll was about feelings and things you thought about and things that happened to you: They are gritty and real and you believe him. He's engaging. He has an incredible stage presence that makes you want to participate: This ain't no sittin' down music. No, it's true. It was hard to just sit and listen to this band without checking their Twitter for concert announcements. I went to all their shows. I dragged my sister to all their shows. I even sent copies of their album to a friend in S Carolina. 

For the next couple years, this band would put the same amount of energy into their music career as they did their music. There were many bumps in the road. There was a time when, after years of hard work, the unthinkable occurred and they had nothing but a legal pad to write down email addresses for a newsletter. They didn't have anything to give the crowd except themselves, and that's exactly what they did. They never wavered. They just kept swinging for the fences. RSR wasn't done. They had big plans. Huge. And what's more, they were humble throughout, and they continue to be so. They are stand-up guys. So, when they called upon their fans for help with their next album, they were met with overwhelming support, and in true RSR form, in a swing-for-the-fences move, they hurdled the next mile stone, which led them to the break that sent them to the top of the Billboard charts.....twice.

From the beginning, this has always been a band that was about music and people. They write their own songs, and they do it their way. They never use pre-recorded tracks at their shows. What you see is what you get, and what you hear on the record is what you get live. They have integrity both on and off the stage. People are what got them where they are, and they have never forgotten where they came from. I am old enough to remember the old time rock 'n' roll, and yet here is a new band that I can sit and listen to with my teenage daughter. It is music for all generations, and this was no different at Pub Rock Live on Sunday night. To my left were college kids. To my right, well, let's just say I'm not sure who loved the band more...the elderly gentlemen or his wife. The stage was smaller than the festival stage they'd played the night before, but but that doesn't mean the show was. This band only knows how to go to 11. The crowd pressed closer to see them.

Older folks were rocking out with younger, and from start to finish, Red Sun Rising put every ounce of energy they had into the  show. Mike even threw in their cover of Alanis Morissette's ''Uninvited'', which sent out a hypnotizing hush over the captivated crowd. Two guys were talking next to me, and I overheard one of them say that Mike Protich could be the next Eddie Vedder. This band carries with it a certain vibe. It brings people together, which is the true spirit of music. After the show, people were sharing their stories of how Red Sun Rising impacted their lives, sharing stories not just with the band, but with other strangers. There were fans from all over the Southwest, and even some from the home team in Ohio, who could say they knew them ''when''. I have been to many concerts in my time, but never have I made as many friends out of strangers than at RSR shows. The band just naturally facilitates a ''family'' atmosphere. So, in a way, their success is kind of a dream come true for us, too. At some point, every kid who picks up an instrument fantasizes about making it to the Big Time. Everybody has a song about the journey to shooting stardom and what it takes to be a jukebox hero, and if you're two guys from Akron, OH, you keep that dream alive. 

"Buried Alive" - Dropkick Murphys, 2003 (celtic punk)

Nothing they could do but sit down there

with the black coal all around them,

and the water rose so quick and cold,

an unlikely place to drown.

Nine in the mine, trapped down below

down, down, down in the ground

and this'll be the day I didn't kiss my wife goodbye,

take care of my family I'm buried alive

They held their heads up high

as they struggled hard to breathe

and asked the Lord to open his arms

for the nine souls he'd receive

Nine in the mine, trapped down below

down, down, down in the ground

and this'll be the day I didn't kiss my wife goodbye,

take care of my family I'm buried alive

They lashed themselves together

so in death they might be found

and prayed there for a miracle

some 24 stories down.

Nine in the mine, trapped down below

down, down, down in the ground

and this'll be the day I didn't kiss my wife goodbye,

take care of my family I'm buried alive

Down, down, down in the ground.

Few events since the safe landing of the Apollo 13 have caught the world's attention and emotion and ended with such a positive uplifting finale than the 5-day rescue attempt that followed the Quecreek mining disaster of 2002. From July 24 through 28, 2002, nine coal miners were trapped for 77 hours in the Pennsylvania mine. All survived. And of course, the champion band of the working man, Dropkick Murphys, who have a history of chronicling the events of blue collar workers, made sure to immortalize the event on their 2003 album, "Blackout".

Rolling pastures and quaint farm houses dot the landscape of rural Pennsylvania like images by Currier & Ives, and in this sprawling Midwestern bucolic expanse of farm and field lies Dormel Farms, the very picture of Americana. Yet juxtaposed beneath the romantic spread of fruit orchards and sugar camps lies a different scene: an expanse of rock, heat, and dust, long hours of darkness, and danger. On the evening of July 24, as workers began to extend the shaft of the Quecreek mine, which lie just beneath the picture of heaven that is Dormel Farms. They had no idea that they were about to find themselves trapped in a hell underneath.

The scene in which this story unfolds is typical of an area rich with resources. Often the landscape is unmarred and remains pristine in its appearance while tunnels and shafts riddle the area below. Pennsylvania is no stranger to mining operations, and it is not uncommon for one mine to close for various reasons and for another to be opened in fairly close proximity. Each shaft is carefully plotted, mapped, and recorded with the county as a reference for future digs. However, the method is not fool proof, and on July 24, unbeknownst to anyone, the Black Wolf Coal Company accidentally dug into the adjacent abandoned, poorly documented Saxman Coal/Harrison #2 Mine (last worked in the 1950's), which was underwater, flooding the room and Quecreek pillar mine with an estimated 50-60 million gallons of water.

Two hundred and forty feet under solid bedrock, ice cold water inundated the 4x4 foot chamber in which
nine men were working, blocking the entrance and any path of escape. Immediately, they used the mine's telephone system to warn the 2-Left panel workers, who were able to evacuate safely. The nine who saved their lives, however, would not be so lucky and would spend the next 77 hours trapped 24 stories below ground in a pillar shaft with nothing to do but pray. Struggling to stay alive, the nine tried desperately to escape the flood by climbing a 4-foot wide, 3000-foot long safety shaft, only to find that it, too, was flooded. The water continued to rise through the night and into the next morning. On the surface, rescuers scrambled to find a drill that could bore a hole large enough to raise the men from the pit.

Flooding is a common occurrence in mining operations, and all mines are equipped with pumps. Immediately, the pumps began the race to draw the water out of the shaft faster than it could enter. The more water that entered the chamber and shaft, the less air there was for the nine men to breathe. A second operation began immediately to bore an air vent straight down from the surface into the tiny chamber. It took nearly two hours for the vent to be completed, but even though the miners could breathe, rescue monitors indicated that the water was still rising and threatened to completely fill the chamber in which the miners had sought refuge. They were running out of time. Desperate times call for desperate measures, and an untested theory was put to work:  If a pressurized air pocket could be created, it would slow the water flow and allow the pumps to catch up and perhaps even get ahead of the flood. The theory had never been tried before, and after a few calculations, air was sent rushing down the vent and into the chamber. The sound was deafening. The pressure hurt the miners' ears, but they didn't care. It gave them hope knowing that people knew exactly where they were, which raised their odds of survival, and their spirits.

By 9am Thursday morning, the water had already filled the entire mine just short of a few feet from the
entrance. The only thing keeping the miners alive was the pressurized air pocket that had been created the night before, but that couldn't stand long. More pumps were brought in to lower the water level, but it wasn't enough. A second entrance shaft would have to be dug to retrieve the men, but it would mean a coin toss:  If the water level wasn't low enough and the drill penetrated the mine, the air pocket would be lost and the miners would drown. By Noon, however, the water level had risen high enough to force the men 300 feet from their only air source, and the air quality within the shaft was beginning to deteriorate. If they don't drown, they'll suffocate. Crew Chief Randall Fogle, trapped below with his men, estimated they had only one hour left to live. He and his men said their prayers and wrote their notes. Then the men lashed themselves together to die as a family. If they were going to die together, at least they would all be found together.

Rescuers, however, did not give up, and on Thursday afternoon, the pumps had caught up with the flow, and
the water was reported as having leveled off. The trapped crew within, however, soaked and hungry, now fought for survival in the frigid 50 degrees 24-stories beneath the Earth's surface. With the water stilled, a 30-inch bit was located in W Virgina and was given a police escort to the site. The men inside could hear the bit coming closer, but as Crew Chief Fogle began to encourage them, certain of immanent rescue, suddenly the sound of drilling stopped. The drill bit had broken at 139 feet. It was now Friday. While it is not uncommon for bits to break, when it was retrieved and a second attempt forthcoming, it was discovered that a piece of the bit was lodged in the new shaft, and drilling was now impossible. A special tool would be needed to dislodge the broken piece so that the operation could continue. Building this implement takes 4-5 days, but realizing the urgency of the situation, a 95-man machine shop in Jefferson County built one in three hours. The tool was flown to Dormel Farms by the National Guard. After an 18 hour delay, drilling resumed. Again, the bit broke, along with the miners' spirits. Randall Fogue continued to hold his men together, confident of a rescue. A third bit was brought in. Finally, after many equipment failures and errors, the rescue shaft was complete.

Rescuers communicated with the trapped men by tapping on the air vent pipe, and were ecstatic to hear a faint return tap from the men below. All nine were alive and well. On July 28, a mesh rescue capsule with supplies was lowered into the rescue shaft. The men were given instructions to enter the capsule one at a time to be raised from the pit according to weight. Squeezing into the tiny 24-inch capsule, Randall Fogle was the first to be rescued. The ascent was slow, and on the surface 10 hyperbaric chambers awaited the men, who now faced a danger of decompression sickness from their lengthy stay at depth with pressure. However, at 2:45am on July 28, all nine miners were on the safe on the surface. None of them sustained injuries past a treatable bout of hypothermia and some chest pains.

In the aftermath, it was determined that the primary cause of the water inundation was the use of an undated and uncertified mine map of the Harrison No. 2 mine that did not show the complete and final mine workings. The rescue attempt could have been much more serious. If Fogle had not alerted the other nine miners, they too would have been trapped. His quick thinking and encouragement kept his team together, and their togetherness as a team in finding escape routes and procedures is what ultimately saved them all. All nine have sold the rights to their story to the Walt Disney Company, and they lived happily ever after.

The miners, in order of their rescue are:

• Randall Fogle
• Harry "Blaine" Mayhugh, Jr.
• Thomas "Tucker" Foy
• John Unger
• John Phillippi
• Ron Hileman
• Dennis J. Hall
• Robert Pugh, Jr.
• Mark Popernack

Sources:
http://www.quecreekrescue.org/
http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/12/us/quecreek-mine-rescue-fast-facts/
http://edition.cnn.com/2002/US/07/28/mine.accident/