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 From the Metallica: Some Kind of Monster DVD
Intro: Virginia Fuel has the priviledge of interviewing Steven Wiig. This is our 3rd interview in our trilogy of interviews [Niclas (MetOnTour) in 2005 and Toby (MetClub) in 2006.] Steve has been a good friend of Virginia Fuel for the past decade. You may remember seeing him in the Fan Can #1 video. You may also remember reading the articles he wrote for So What! about his touring experiences with Metallica in the mid/late 1990s. And as you know by watching Metallica: Some Kind of What you might not know about Steve is that he's very musically talented (he's in several bands and plays several instruments. He was also voted "Most Artistic" during his senior year in high school); and he just made his acting debut in Into the Wild, the critically acclaimed movie directed by Academy Award Winner, Sean Penn, which is still playing in theaters, and it's nominated for 2 Academy Awards. Check the movie out. I did, and it was great! The film will be released on DVD on March 4, 2008. Steve took a break from washing Lars' Porsche...err...I mean took a break from his busy schedule to answer some of our questions. As this interview progressed, I could tell Steve enjoyed reminiscing about the "good 'ole days." I hope you enjoy it too! This interview is so HUGE, we had to split it into 6 parts (the links are at the bottom of each page for easy navigation): - Chapter Head Jeff
NOTE: This interview took place (in several parts) over the course of November 2007 and early January 2008. Virginia Fuel (VF): So Steve, tell us a little bit about yourself. Where are you from? Where did you grow up? Do you have any brothers or sisters? Steven Wiig (SW): I grew up in a remote little town called Negaunee (pronounced nee-GONE-nee), Michigan ("Northern Michigan"/"The Upper Peninsula" aka "The U.P.") near the shores of Lake Superior. I'm the son of two math teachers (a born problem-solver!) and the oldest of four (two brothers and one sister – Kevin, Brian and Kristen). VF: "Wiig" is definitely an interesting last name -- especially with two 'i's. Where is your family originally from? SW: Pretty much all of the towns and last names in that part of the country have Scandinavian or Native American origin. Most of my heritage is actually Finnish and Swedish. The name itself is Finnish but I believe it was shortened to Wiig. [Ed. Was it shortened from Wiigmeister??? HA! HA!] VF: Can you speak any foreign languages? SW: I can understand the languages a lot better than I can speak them. I took some foreign languages in high school, so I understand the root word, etc. I know some Danish words and phrases (mostly profanity) as well as some Finnish and German. I also took some French in middle school, but I don't speak any of them fluently. VF: Did you go to college? SW: I attended Northern Michigan University in Marquette, Michigan with emphasis on graphic arts and sociology/psychology. While attending, I worked as an artist at the local comic book store. I only stayed a couple years because I ended up chasing a certain "rock band" around in the Midwest. It was the only excuse that I needed. Once I set foot on that trail, I never looked back...
 VF: What were some of your jobs in Minnesota and Michigan? SW: I was working on my own music and paying the bills working at grocery stores or warehouses (paper recycling). I was also a morning DJ while at Northern Michigan University. That job was another creative outlet for me. I could play whatever I wanted. I ended up discovering all these bands that I ended up really liking a lot. I could also do comedy. I could start by playing a George Carlin bit from “A Place For My Stuff”, and then go right into “Green Machine” by Kyuss. Sometimes, as a cure for boredom (picture the isolation-like feeling from John Carpenter’s “The Thing”), I would have my friends call or come in and they would pretend to be Henry Rollins or Glenn Danzig, and I would be interviewing them in person, by phone, etc. It was pretty entertaining – especially at 7am! I also worked at a comic book store doing all of their window and in-store displays.
  VF: So when did you first discover Metallica? How long have you been a Metallica fan? SW: Throwing a baseball around in my neighbor's front yard in what must've been the late summer of '84 or '85. He played “Ride The Lightning” (along with Mercyful Fate’s “The Oath”) but I never knew (or cared – I was 11 or 12 years old at the time) who or what it was until I heard it again later from another buddy. I became a 'fan' pretty much upon hearing “Master Of Puppets”. The same friend bought the cassette the first day it came out and showed me the cover (Never underestimate the power of an album cover!). Hearing "The Thing That Should Not Be" was pretty convincing as well. That, and I also thought they looked way cooler than W.A.S.P., Twisted Sister and Motley Crue.
 SW: I REALLY remember thinking 'this is MY band' when I heard 'Garage Days Re-Revisited' for the first time. I really dug the energy and attitude. There was a fun, kind of looseness goin' on there too. It was a different album for them. I liked the sense of humor on 'Garage Days' (i.e., babbling in the background, humming, burping, etc.) This was a side of them I hadn't seen yet. After listening to that EP, I remember thinking, this IS the coolest band of my generation. I think that sealed the deal for me. Not to mention 'Cliff 'Em All!'...
  SW: I not only loved their music, but I also had a great respect for HOW Metallica did things. Metallica's standard of excellence was so much higher than everyone else around them -- from my point of view. They were more professional than everyone else; they always had the coolest tour books; their liner notes (thanklists!) were the coolest; their albums covers were the coolest...all of that stuff factored in. They surrounded themselves with the best – from Q Prime to Pushead to Ross Halfin… If it had the Metallica stamp on it, you knew it would be cooler than anything else. It wasn't a bunch of drunk guys in spandex who messed with girls and drove around in fast cars. It was the real deal and that was attractive to me. VF: In your Shortest Straw #7 winning entry, you talked about being raised in a Christian home and how your parents didn't like heavy metal. This is somewhat similar to how James grew up. Do you feel a special connection to James in that way? (NOTE: Steve's winning entry is discussed in more detail in Part II.) SW: Listening to James' lyrics, I would think to myself, "This guy is speaking my language...he's saying the things that I feel." There was definitely a connection there content-wise.
 Steve makes a 'connection' with James (from So What! 11.4) VF: When was your first Metallica show? SW: Because I grew up in such a remote area of the country, the shows I remember the most are actually the ones I missed because it was so frustrating – ‘cause Metallica was only 5 hours away from my town and I couldn't see them. When you're a 13 yr old kid, a Metallica concert was more like a fantasy. Plus, not many bands frequented the part of the country where I lived. SW: I remember the first show that I missed was in Green Bay, Wisconsin on the Ozzy tour (July 11, 1986). I couldn't catch the Justice show (April 19, 1989 in Green Bay) because it was a school night (I had some older kids buy me a tourbook and a t-shirt). Then I finally caught up with Metallica in '91 when I was able to drive myself to a show. SW: The first actual Metallica concert that I went to was on November 12, 1991 in Green Bay. I waited out after the show by the buses and got to meet everybody. It was a cool experience. It also kicked my passion (for Metallica) into high gear cause I thought to myself, "I can actually meet these people!" Up to that point (in my life) I thought movies, music, etc. happened somewhere else...not in my little remote world. I also think this was the springboard for me to go in the Metallica stuff full force (i.e., following them around on tour, etc.). I didn't have that opportunity when I was growing up.
 Lars and Steve (picture courtesy of Steve Wiig) SW: This was the point in my life that I was still trying to find myself after high school, after college, etc. - like when people go on these life-altering adventures (like the movie, Into The Wild). With the timing of Metallica touring and all these shows in the midwest, I took that opportunity and they seemed to be pretty welcoming. At the time it was cool...it felt like it was going in the right direction, and that's all I really knew. SW: I remember at another show in Michigan, not long after my 1st Metallica show, I couldn't find a way to get backstage, so I just waited until the security went home. Then I snuck in a partially open back door and hung out with Lars for like 45 minutes and drank Coors Light. He was amused with me saying, "Wow! That's what I would have done!” VF: When the MetClub started in late 1993/early 1994, weren't you one of the first Metclubbers to start a local chapter? SW: Yeah – I was among the initial batch of MetClubbers (that joined/started a local chapter). I didn't know exactly what a local chapter was or meant, but I figured I'd start one anyway. I didn't know if there were any rules or if we had to do something specific as a local chapter. I wondered if there were any perks/advantages to being in a local chapter. I immediately established Creeping Duluth (which was where I lived at the time), which later became Creeping Minnesota (upon moving to Minneapolis).
  (Left - from So What! 1.2 / Right - from So What! 3.5) VF: Tell us more about the 2 local chapters you started/helped run -- Creeping Duluth/Creeping Minnesota and Chapter of the Mad (COTM). Chapter of the Mad ended on January 1, 2000 (I think the Y2K bug was the cause of its demise.) Is Creeping Minnesota still around/still active? SW: Creeping Duluth/Creeping Minnesota - We had a great bunch of people and some pretty wild times, but I don't believe they're still together. It was basically an excuse for a BBQ, drinking and jamming.
 (from So What! 4.5)
SW: Chapter of the Mad - Those guys [Ed. The co-heads of COTM were Jameson Calantoc (California/
 VF: Didn't you start the 'Chapter Messiah Project' (a survey of all of the local chapters at that time to find out what the local chapters wanted out of the Metallica Club) or was it Tony Smith's idea (former MetClub President)? Was the project successful? SW: Haha – wow – I forgot about that. When the local chapters were beginning to form, there was all this confusion on what a local chapter was and what local chapters did. Tony and I went back and forth on some ideas. It was basically about getting feedback/ideas from MetClubbers/chapters – trying to create a dialogue and seeking positive improvement. We were trying to give MetClubbers blueprints for possible ideas on what to do in a local chapter. I don't think that one ever really got off the ground.
 Artwork by Steve (notice the "Creeping Duluth" shirt that James is wearing) (from So What! 1.4) VF: So towards the late 1990s, your involvement with local chapters came to an end? SW: Right around that same time I was getting more and more serious with my own bands playing shows, recording, etc. And it seemed that my Metallica fandom had kind of run it's course. I felt that I'd taken things as far as they could go, so I focused all of my time and energy on my own shit and sort of let go of the Metallica thing – along with the local chapter involvement. That’s right about when when Jason Newsted called and offered me a job, but we’ll get to that later…
 Alternate lyrics to "Bad Seed"???
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