Metro Pulse/Music/Will Fist

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What:
Damn Creeps opening for Rev. Vince Anderson and His Love Choir

When:
Saturday, Nov. 8, 9 p.m.

Where:
Pilot Light

Cost:
$5

Will Fist pushes buttons with his many bands

by Brad Ridenour

It may only be rock and roll, but Will Fist not only likes it, he lives it.

After slicing his hand in an accident, Fist had to have major surgery. He also had two upcoming shows within a week of the accident, and his bandmates figured that they would just have to cancel.

But Fist wasn't having any of that; he says the show must go on.

He not only sang in the shows but figured out a way to play instruments as well. By sticking a stick down his cast, he played the drums and laid his guitar across his lap to play slide guitar.

"There is nothing that would stand in the way of him playing a show," says Jeff Scheafnocker, member of The Damn Creeps and a friend of Fist's for over seven years. "He is 110 percent rock and roll. Maybe 210 percent...maybe even 510 percent."

When the 26-year-old isn't working his day job at Broadway Sound, Fist runs Whisk-Hutzel Records, which has a "conservative estimate" of about 30 bands. Fist plays in many of those, including Fistful of Crows, The Electric Blues Band, The Damn Creeps and at least eight more. (Fist is in so many bands that he has trouble remembering all the names—but he's always game to be in another, asking this reporter if he'd like to start one.)

He practices with Fistful of Crows, The Electric Blues Band and The Damn Creeps on a much regular basis than others, but he is dedicated to them all. "He would sacrifice sleep to practice with his bands if there is a reason to do it," Scheafnocker says. "He takes a great deal of responsibility for his label and his music."

Fist plays just about everything—guitar, bass, synthesizer and drums—but his charm comes from his rock 'n' roll attitude more than technical chops.

"It's serious good fun," Scheafnocker says. "It's not a job, it's not a chore, it's great fun. And I think that is what really fuels his enthusiasm."

Fist created the label as a way to get gigs for his groups. "The whole reason was so I could fool bars into letting us have shows," Fist says. "They look at your CD, and they see it is on a record label, and they think, 'Well, somebody is putting this out and endorsing it.'"

All different genres are represented on the label, including a rap band, a one-man band, blues punk rock, punk, and electronica.

When he was 12, Fist took up the guitar, but he didn't learn the way most teenagers do. "I was always into doing fucked-up shit like putting all of the same strings on there," Fist says.

He formed his first band, The Roadkill Slurpees, when he was 13. "It was a really shitty band that lasted like only three or four weeks," Fist says. Since he's been 19, Fist has been in around eight bands at time.

Deep Dish, one of his first bands, while he lived in Cookeville, had a guerilla-style approach to playing live. "We'd go in to places like the Waffle House and just jump into booths and start playing and shakin' our dicks in people's faces. Of course, under the pants," he says. "We would just run in there and say, 'Hey, you guys wanna live band?' and before they could answer we would just start playing." The band played a slide whistle, tambourine and guitar. One member, "Bee Keeper" was a "helluva bass player, but it's kinda hard to carry a big bass and haul ass," Fist says.

Deep Dish played an obscene style of bluegrass, with songs like "Motherfucker" and "My Meat." "It was very offensive stuff, but really good," Fist says.

Sometimes when playing out on the streets, Fist would use his car battery to power the amps and mic. "There were a bunch of guerilla shows like that in Murfreesboro and Cookeville," Scheafnocker says. "It allowed him to have a lot of exposure most folks can't really have. Now that is enthusiasm."

The shows aren't to everyone's liking. When his band the Plunger Factory played at The Backdoor Playhouse in Cookeville, there were about 10 to 15 people on stage. "I wore a gig bag over my head and a graduation gown. We all just acted stupid and just pitched a bitch up there. We made a racket beyond racket, and they wanted us to stop, but nobody would look up long enough," Fist says. He isn't sure what happened at the end—"I was pretty lit up"—but he's pretty sure they turned the power off.

"When I'm playing live, that is what I really want to do, so it is hard to have a bad time up there," Fist says. "It's really what happens before or after the show that can be the bad shit. Having the cops called on you is the worst that can happen. And we've had that happen a million times.

"Most people who don't understand it or don't get it or don't want to get it, man, they're just square idiots," Fist says. "I like to push people's buttons, I think it is funny. It seems like we are always running into people who think that they can change us with their opinions."