What could Paris Hilton possibly have in common with Filter's frontman Richard Patrick, Slipknot percussionist Clown and Ozzy Osbourne bassist Blasko -- besides a taste for Paris' homemade porn, that is? They've all contributed to the wacko horror film songfest "Repo! The Genetic Opera," the soundtrack of which comes out September 30. The opera also features Broadway star Sarah Brightman, Paul Sorvino, "House of 1000 Corpses" actor Bill Mosely, ex-From First to Last singer Sonny Moore, Skinny Puppy screamer Nivek Ogre and more.
The production was written by Darren Smith and Terrence Zdunich ("Chain of Souls") and directed by "Saw" franchise writer and director Darren Lynn Bousman, who helmed a version of the rock opera when it opened as a stage play in Los Angeles in 2001. The show has also been performed in New York. Repo! "The Genetic Opera" takes place in the future at a time when a worldwide epidemic of organ failures devastates the planet. Out of the tragedy, a savior emerges: GENECO, a biotech company that offers organ transplants... for a price. And those who miss their payments are scheduled for repossession and hunted by The Repo Man. Click "more" to read a guest blog from Bousman and stream eight songs from the offbeat production, which is best described as a cross between "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" and "Blade Runner."
Rock and Roll Fantasy
by Darren Lynn Bousman
When I was a kid I wanted to be a rock star...
I mean, come on, who didn't? The tours... the fans... the screaming girls... THE AFTER PARTIES! Take the 'douchiest' guy in the world, put him on a stage, hand him a guitar and suddenly he becomes - COOL.
Just the thought - take a dorky midwesterner like myself (I easily could fall into the 'douchiest' guy in the world) and put me on stage - and suddenly 'I'm a ROCK STAR'.
Well, I had two things going against me...
1. I couldn't play an instrument, other than a mean recorder, and
2. I couldn't sing.
So, no matter how you look at it, I was pretty much screwed in the rock n' roll department.
Even with the revelation as a teenager that I would never be the next Eddie Vedder or Trent Reznor, it never deterred my aspirations of being involved in music. I could never be in a boy band... but I still
had karaoke and singing in the shower.
But time passed, and I got older... like all pipe dreams, sooner or later we all come to grips with reality. I needed to find a real profession - something more realistic - something more obtainable...
I'll be a movie director.
Luckily for me, this was a much easier path. Okay, it wasn't.
For awhile in my very, very early career, I tried to stay in music. My first real directing job was for a little band called Static-X (okay, so they are not that little). It was great to do their video because for
a second I felt that tickle again... Maybe I could be cool like them... However that dream was shattered when at the end of the video shoot - WIREIMAGE told us all to get together because they
wanted a picture. Seconds before the photo was to be snapped, the publicist for the band runs over and pulls me aside. I remember this like it was yesterday...
She goes, "Um, Darren... Maybe you would be more comfortable in this," and hands me a leather Jacket.... Then she proceeds to take the glasses off my face. She quickly messes up my hair...
Then it hit me. F--k, I am the douchiest guy in the world... I looked so 'uncool' next to STATIC-X it required an emergency impromptu makeover by the band's publicist. Any last shreds of hope at being a cool musician died a horrible death that day. I would have to try to make it as a director...
Luckily for me I met a dude named Jigsaw, and things have been pretty good for me since... So good that after SAW IV I convinced the producers to let me make a ROCK OPERA.
If I couldn't BE a ROCK LEGEND, maybe I could hire a bunch of awesome musicians and hang out in the recording studio with them...
And so here we are, years later... and on September 3o my rock dreams will come true. The soundtrack for "Repo! The Genetic Opera" comes out... Or wait, I am suppose to say DROPS.
What the hell is Repo? I could try to explain it - but I promise it would only confuse you. Better to just wait and see for yourself. My life is now fulfilled. While I will never be a rock star, I can say I was involved with one of the most awesome, insane, out of the box records that has ever been made. Come on, where else can you hear Paris Hilton singing with Nivek Ogre? I mean seriously, Bill Mosely
singing next to Sarah Brightman against a track from Bauhaus????
Stream eight tracks from "Repo: The Genetic Opera" here.
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