Shot To Hell
by David A. Kulczyk
September 2002
Shot To Hell on the cover of Maximum Ink in September 2002
It is not everyday that you see a band fly out of the starting blocks like Shot To Hell. Their enthralling version of Psychobilly has been burning the boards throughout the Midwest, uniting fans of multiply genres and age groups.
After a trying year that included three different drummers and a van fire, Shot To Hell has finally (hopefully) put their bad luck behind them with the addition of permanent drummer by the name of Daphna Ron, who also contributes backing vocals.
Shot To Hell has two full albums worth of songs to release, which they will record at their own Psyclops studio in La Crosse. Next month they are going to have a remix version of their song (If you) Think I’m Dumb on the Georgia based Illbilly Records compilation “Dropped On The Head - Vol. 2”
I interviewed bassist Brian Stehula via e-mail on August 30th.
Maximum Ink: What was your favorite show that STH has done?
Shot To Hell: Favorite show…how about a couple for different reasons. Hank [Williams] III with his band Ass Jack was a barnburner as it was a sold out show at The Maintenance Shop in the Iowa State University Union. They have a low stage there and the audience is right on top of you. Hank did two sets one which was all daddy and granddaddy songs and the other was his punk rock set. We kind of pissed off Hank a little by drinking some of his rider but made it up to him later by returning the favor and giving him a little something for the road. The other favorite was also at ISU when we played with Alejandro Escovedo. Alejando played with David Garza, and Eric Heywood on that tour…truly a spiritual vibe yet it still rocked. I remember we had a great set that night and won over the seated audience and sold a bunch of CD’s.
MI: What was the wildest moment at one of your shows?
STH: If I have to pick one it would probably be the time we played this bar in Decorah, Iowa. We played an all night show, which became more and more wild as it went on. The craziest part was when two women were shirtless and a third woman came barreling in and knocked them to the floor and dragged them out by their hair. Meanwhile, another woman was getting completely naked. The downside was that this last woman stalked the band for weeks after the show by calling us, and showing up at our houses.
MI: What advice would you give a band about buying a used van?
STH: Ha! Real funny Kulczyk. We can almost laugh about the van inferno now as it was almost a year ago. At the time we were pretty freaked out, as we barely were able to save all of our gear before the van was completely engulfed in flames. As far as advice, I’d say don’t buy a $1,000 van unless of course you’re a great mechanic or at least an amateur firefighter!
MI: When is the next CD coming out?
STH: Well, we have about two records worth of material recorded. We could release our next record soon but want to let the songs be heard by some labels first. Aaron is also upgrading his studio (Psyclops) and we will record some new stuff with Daphna in September and October. A Winter release of either an EP or full-length is what we plan to do.
Shot To Hell breaks up Bomblastica 2002.5 in the Regent St. Retreat on Thursday, September 19, hopefully they won’t start it on fire.
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