Stacking The Deck with Butcher Babies
Stacking The Deck is a feature exclusive to Adam’s World where I bring packs of 1991 Pro Set Superstars MusiCards to artists, and we discuss who they find in each pack.
When Butcher Babies were putting together their upcoming tour, Heidi Shepherd (photo: R) says that in the aftermath of the pandemic they had one idea in mind – “We wanted to go on tour with our friends.”
Heidi, Carla Harvey (photo: L), and the rest of the crew are about to make that happen, as their Butcher Babies vs. Goliath tour, which begins August 28th and runs through October 8th, will also feature Infected Rain, Stitched Up Heart, and Kaleido (on select dates). (tickets available at butcherbabies.com)
Infected Rain frontwoman Lena Scissorhands is Heidi’s neighbor, and the two developed a close friendship during the pandemic, while Stitched Up Heart and Butcher Babies have known each other since their bands’ respective infancies, and came up in the scene together.
“We know it’s gonna be a good time,” Heidi says, “every artist on the bill performs so well, so it’s just gonna be an all-around, energetic, great evening. That’s kind of where we wanted to go with it, and why not celebrate some of the fiercest ladies in metal? We all kind of broke down barriers together, so it’s fun to be able to celebrate that together.”
Butcher Babies will also be celebrating their 2013 debut album Goliath, which they’ll be playing in full, along with other singles.
With the band ready to head out on the road, I caught up with Heidi and Carla via Zoom to open up some packs of MusiCards, and the artists we found sparked conversations about influential icons, how the duo gets hyped up before a show, and some of the artists that remind them of loved ones.
We’re gonna have to start with Richard Marx, because your reaction when we pulled this card was the most excited anyone’s been about Richard Marx this side of Daisy Fuentes.
Heidi: Richard Marx was one of the first records, and I’ll say records because I listened to my parents’ records, I heard, and I’ve always been a huge fan of his. I just thought that the piano intros, and everything, were so beautiful.
And then I was in Las Vegas visiting, I live in Las Vegas now, but I was visiting, and I spent my evening at a Richard Marx concert, and I cried. {laughs}
Carla: Did you have PMS, or something?
Heidi: I cried at a Richard Marx concert, so everyone has to know that. {laughs}
Was it for one song, or was it for like three songs?
Carla: It was like a two hour cry.
Heidi: {pretends to bawl}
Yeah, it was amazing, it was so fun, and I’m so lucky the friends I went with equally loved Richard Marx. They didn’t know they loved Richard Marx until they went and saw him, and then they were like, “Oh, I love all these songs,” because they reminded everyone of our parents.
Let’s go with Lita Ford next, because I know there’s a focus on women in rock with this tour, and Lita Ford in the ‘80s was everything.
Carla: She was everything in the ‘80s. I remember, clearly, singing into my aunt’s hot comb, singing “Kiss Me Deadly.” I was obsessed with that song.
I grew up in the ‘80s a huge fan of glam rock, cock rock, whatever you want to call it, and she was the queen of that kind of stuff. There was also the Chris Holmes - Lita Ford love story going on. She was just iconic.
She was blonde, and I’ve always been obsessed with blondes. I’ve always loved that big blonde hair, and you know, a chick that can rip on the guitar and sing like that, she is an icon. We got to actually play a show with her.
Heidi: It was amazing. It was the Loudwire Awards in 2017. We got to get on stage with Lita Ford and sang “Cherry Bomb.” It was so fun. It was us, and a bunch of girls in rock. It was so cool. It was Lzzy Hale, we had Ash Costello, Mixi (Demner), Jill Janus – rest in peace …
Carla: Pearl (Aday) was there.
Heidi: Pearl, and then us.
Lzzy brought us out on stage, and she said, “Welcome to the stage the women of rock.” It was so cool.
Off stage we got to have a full on conversation with Lita about how she broke down all the barriers for us females to really go out there and kick some ass.
She is so sweet, just one of the sweetest women, and honestly a huge inspiration to all of us.
I was fascinated when you chose this card.
Carla: So, Heidi and I, you would think before we go on stage we listen to metal to pump ourselves up for our metal show, but actually we love listening to hip-hop before we go on stage, and there’s one LL Cool J song – he’s fabulous, always – but there’s one song in particular that gets us going, and it’s “Headsprung.” So that’s one of our jams. Anytime that song comes on, and we’re together, we’re dancing to it.
Heidi: “Headsprung” was one of my favorite songs in high school, and to this day if that song comes on the radio, that’s just crankin’ all the way up.
High school??? I consider that a recent LL Cool J song (editor’s note: it came out in 2004, and yes, I consider that recent).
Carla: Sometimes you think about your favorite song and you’re like, “Damn, that came out 30 years ago?” Then you want to crawl in a hole for a minute, but ya know, more years for us to love music!
Heidi: Yeah.
It definitely had to be in high school, because I remember I choreographed a dance to it for my cheer team in high school, and I tried to do it again in college, but the song wasn’t current enough.
Is there a video that your family has somewhere of your cheer team dancing to “Headsprung”?
Heidi: I highly doubt there’s video of me doing cheer anywhere. My parents didn’t take video.
Carla: There were no video cameras back then!
Heidi: {laughs} They were drawing pictures, animating the whole thing, that was really what was going on.
Probably fond memories.
Carla: My parents were going through a divorce in the ‘80s, so I feel like Luther Vandross was like the soundtrack to my mom’s world. Luther Vandross was always on.
My mom loved R&B singers back in the day, and I remember Luther Vandross. He was one of those singers that even when you’re a kid you know – oh that’s Luther, he’s the guy who goes from being rail thin, to real big, and then rail thin again, then real big again. He was just that guy, but his voice was so gorgeous, and I remember that my mom was obsessed with him, and she would sing along in the car.
My mom loves to sing, actually. She was always singing, always humming, and when I was a kid it would annoy me, but she just loved to sing. So now that we perform all the time I can tell that she lives vicariously through Heidi and I, because that’s something she would’ve loved to have done.
Heidi: That’s like both of our moms. Both of our moms are the metal moms who are singing along.
I also think he looks a lot like your father.
Carla: He does.
Heidi: He looks like Charles.
Carla: The thin Luther.
I would love to know how Vanilla Ice made it into this.
Heidi: He’s Vanilla Ice. He’s an icon. One of my first crushes ever.
Carla: Really?
Heidi: Yeah, Vanilla Ice. I remember, because he lived in Los Angeles when we did, and I remember going out to sushi with my ex-boyfriend, and we were sat next to Vanilla Ice. (My ex) knew I had always had a crush on him, and I was just sitting there like this the whole time {wide eyed, mouth agape}.
That boyfriend and I are no longer together.
Carla: Because you went home with Vanilla Ice that night?
Heidi: {laughs} I probably should’ve preferred that.
Carla: So here’s a little bit of trivia, Carla Trivia – I’ve seen Billy Idol on three different continents, just randomly. For whatever reason he’s always playing wherever I’m on vacation, and it’s awesome.
I’ve been in love with Billy Idol since I was a kid. Even to this day, if you go see him, the women, older women, like in their 60s, will be clawing at him like animals. It’s just funny to see. He’s just one of those guys that no matter how much older he gets he will always be a sex symbol.
Also, there was the “White Wedding” song, and it was on Star Search with Bobbie Brown dancing around to it every night. I remember that being really ingrained in my head, because I thought she was so cool. It made me love Billy Idol even more, because of the use of that song in those videos. I wanted to be on Star Search, and dance around to a Billy Idol song, too!
Heidi: Billy Idol is your Vanilla Ice.
Carla: Yeah. Billy Idol has cooler music, though. “Eyes Without a Face” is probably my favorite Billy Idol song.
Heidi: Yes! Tom Petty, for me … “Free Fallin’,” I heard it just the other night. I was down on The Strip somewhere, and every single time I hear that song it reminds me of my dad.
My dad and I used to drive around, he had a Camaro, we’d drive around and blast that song, and sing it. It was always my favorite thing to do with my dad, to sing that song with him, so (Tom Petty) will always hold a special place in my heart for that.
Carla: I love that Phil memory. I want to drive around with your dad and sing some Tom Petty with him. We have to make that happen.
Heidi: We can do it.
Carla: We can make that happen on the next trip to Utah. I’ve always loved Tom Petty.
I think the first time I really got into Tom Petty – I mean, I loved stuff like “American Girl,” he was just such a great songwriter. It’s insane how much good music came out of him – but I think the most iconic thing that I saw when I was a kid was the “Don’t Come Around Here No More” video. That blew my mind when I was a kid, the Alice in Wonderland video. I loved that song, loved the video, became obsessed with him.
I just covered a Tom Petty song with Charlie (Benante). We did “Yer So Bad.” I love the lyrics to that song, so it was really fun to do.
I also love the song “Wildflowers.” That song reminds me of my mom whenever I hear it. Whenever she dies – that sounds really awful – but I want them to play that at the funeral. It just reminds me of her. It’s a song written for my mom. It’s just gorgeous.
Heidi: I hope your mom does not see this interview. {laughs}
Carla: She’ll see it. She’ll like it. I was gonna make it a surprise for her, but …
Heidi: {laughs} Amazing.
Carla: This is a band I was obsessed with in high school. Kim Gordon is probably one of the people I don’t talk about enough. She’s hugely influential on me. She was a singer, obviously, she played the bass, she’s fucking awesome.
Their music was so cool. A lot of it is just feedback, and noise, but I loved the lyrical content. I felt like it was music that made you think.
I went from loving, again, I call it cock rock, glam rock, cheesy stuff, like Pretty Boy Floyd type of music, to evolving late in 8th grade, and early in high school, going to bands like Sonic Youth, and it just changed everything for me.
“Kool Thing” was probably one of the first songs (of theirs) I heard. I would dance around in my room to it all the time. Loved it. Was obsessed with it. “Are you gonna liberate us girls from male white corporate oppression?” I LOVE IT!
So they’re one of my all-time favorite bands, and I do not talk about Kim Gordon enough, she is really an iconic woman.
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