"The Pepsi Adventure - September 2005"

On August 30th, I received an e-mail notifying me of a casting call; something about looking for a virtuoso electric violinist for a national spot for Pepsi. Oh really? Hmm…. The violinist they’re searching for must be able to play the “devil” for a hip hop version of the Charlie Daniels tune “Devil Went Down to Georgia.” Okay… Let’s see…Can I play a devious devil violinist? You mean, like I’ve been doing for the last 20 years onstage??

I immediately e-mailed back and said: “Look no further, I‘m your guy!!!”

I directed them to my website and fedexed a DVD containing excerpts of my work with Dee Snider’s “Van Helsing’s Curse.” They called back and, after meeting with the creatives, I got the gig!

The storyline of the spot focuses on two battling violinists (battling over Pepsi, of course); the great hip-hop violinist Miri Ben-Ari and me.  To Pepsi’s credit, they did not want actors simulating violin playing (I don’t know about you but I HATE seeing that in films) - they wanted the best electric/acoustic violinists around.

So here’s what happened…

The music tracks were recorded in NYC at the prestigious Sony Recording Studios and were produced by Grammy-winning hip hop artist Kanye West and features the rapper Nas.  He was a truly interesting guy to work with - extremely talented with a powerful “star” presence.  I was very impressed with him on every level.

My co-star is Miri Ben-Ari. She and I will be the dueling violinists in the spot. She would obviously be the beautiful and sexy chick violinist, and I would portray the deviant violinist in a virtuoso psycho metal/classical duel battle based on the Charlie Daniels tune featuring the rapper Nas.

On the “storyboards”, the two violin characters are supposed to play acoustic violins. Of course, I was seriously hoping they would let me play one of my instruments. Lo and behold, when they checked out my website they were blown away by the Vipers!

Not only did the director and the Pepsi executives modify elements of the spot to accommodate my instrument and my playing style, but they also purchased two additional “dummy” Vipers to use during the shoot.  So I had to scramble at my woodshop to put together these two instruments for the effects people to set on fire and have their way with.  More on that later…

We recorded the tracks over the course of two days at Sony and it was super fun…everyone was wowed by my 7 string fretted Viper and they all loved the crazy Hendrix distortion and flanged divebombs I produced. Miri played beautifully on her 1700’s acoustic violin (that featured a Barbera pickup, so I guess you could say Rich’s pickups were both our choices for tone; with me using it with massive distortion and processing, and Miri using it to make her violin sound like a Stradivarius).  She is definitely a smoking player!!  Two very distinct performances, and anyone how knows my playing will recognize my style immediately!!

During the session, Charlie Daniels (who obviously had to give his permission for his song to be used) was available by conference call to sign off on the new rapped lyrics. The final product sounded very different from his original song – they ultimately used a 5-second sample from the tune and Miri and I improvised the rest. We finished the tracking and mixes, and then moved the party out to Los Angeles!!!

Hollywood, here I come!

I fly first class to L.A. and they put me up at the spectacular Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills. This hotel is THE hot spot in L.A. In fact, on one evening after the shoot I’m back at the hotel lounge, and I find myself sitting between Kelly Osborne and Al Sharpton. Very freaky - very L.A.

Anyway, my first day starts with a custom fitting for my clothes. Wow, my final outfit is awesome! A velvet coat worth $2,000, custom fitted black pants, beautiful custom jewelry worth thousands, cool vest, etc… The entire wardrobe was probably valued at over $6,000. (When the shoot ended, the producers were incredibly nice and gave the entire outfit to me for free!) The costume is presented to executives from Pepsi for their approval and they sign off on it so we’re good to go.

I have to say that everyone involved in this entire production, from the casting people, the advertising agency executives, the Pepsi execs, and the director and crew, is really cool. The crew consisted of some of the best people in the entire film industry. In fact, every person was at the top of their field. Everything was “A level” all the way – no corners cut, no compromises, and it shows. . This is turning out to be a real dream gig.

So it’s back to the hotel to rest before the official first day of shooting begins…

I am assigned a personal driver to drive me anywhere and the next day, I’m dropped off at the location for a 7:00 a.m. call. The shoot takes place in an old theater in downtown L.A. and proves to be the perfect setting for the commercial.

My makeup and hair person Gina starts to work on my makeup. The executives at Pepsi decide they really want to avoid any “devil” references so the makeup is subtle and I end up playing a character that looks just like me! The only exception is the application of a small goatee (and if anyone has seen pix from my “Against the Grain” days, the look is very close).

So the first day of shooting has begun…

I meet the effects director who had grabbed the two “dummy” Vipers the day before and had already started to paint them both to match my main Viper which has a beautiful sunburst finish on a quilt exotic top (done by Jeremy at LGM – thanks Jeremy!). So these artists had to match exactly the look of my Viper for continuity.

It was a very long and exciting day.

We film my entrance which has me bursting out of a cloud of smoke, and Miri and I meet in the middle of the stage for our duel. I pull out all my rock and roll metal performance stuff and they love it!

The directors were all wondering if I’d ever done any acting before. I said that I’ve been playing like this for the past 20 years - I’m just doing my stage persona - piece of cake!!  And you’re going to pay me for this!?!? Wow!! Boy, am I the luckiest person in the world!!

Everyone in the crew loved the playing and the Viper so much that after the shoot wrapped the first day, they all went to the Wood Violins website and flipped out over what we do here…

Day 2 was devoted to filming all my close-ups and getting shots of the Viper burning.

Throughout the day they rigged the coolest stuff to my Vipers. First they attached a razor blade on both sides of the wings for my bow hair to scrape against to create a massive shredding of bow hair for the climax of the spot (the production company bought about 20 bows for the project). They also attach a razor blade to the frog of several of the bows that would slice the strings on my Viper to dramatically pop at the climax of the commercial!

Now, I’ve done some crazy stuff with my violins over the years, but this was insane!! I had to be ultra careful when playing, since my playing was so ferocious and I didn’t want to hold back visually just because of a minor challenge of having a sharp razor blade right by my wrist as I flail away.

Of course I start to cut myself (as usual, every take I gave 200 percent!). Then I start to bleed a little too much, and personally I think it adds wonderfully to the character I was portraying but the Pepsi execs did not find this additional visual aspect appealing to the marketing of their product..Oh well.. we’ll have no blood on the Pepsi can…

Of course the producers are panicking , thinking I may have to go to the hospital, but I was like, “No problem man, lets just put on some crazy glue over the cuts and lets keep shooting!” A great rock and roll moment if ever there was one... Iggy Pop and Marilyn Manson would be proud!

So for my final shot, before I disintegrate into flames (yes that’s what I said), they have me put on the 2nd dummy Viper (that I had to play in synch with my previously recorded musical riffs) which was rigged not only with all these razor blades but for the final touch also had a smoke machine tube attached to it (which snaked up my pants leg connecting it to the back of the Viper) to smoke it all up.

Everything had to be timed perfectly. At the climax part, I first had to carefully shred the bow hairs on the razor blades on the side of the Viper wing, next move my bow (where the razor blade was attached to the frog) across my strings to make them “pop” and finally have the smoke pouring out all around me. I’ve never had so much fun in my entire life!!!

Now came the end of the shoot and the burning of the other “dummy” Viper…Since I’m a fire sign (Sagittarian), I LOVE fire so this is the part I’m really looking forward to.  They prepare this toxic brew to pour on my Viper, and then they electronically torch the instrument and drop it on the floor; filming in slow motion for the full effect!

The day was done..

Of course the burned and charred Viper will hang on the wall of my studio in all its full glory. It truly is a work of art.  Picasso would be jealous.

Some final thoughts…

I’ve been in this business a long time and I am well aware of the importance of professional etiquette. During the intense and stressful two days, I always made an effort to try and get to know people’s names and treat them with the utmost respect. Now, with over 60 people working on this project, remembering names can be quite challenging!  Nonetheless, being nice and available to people who work hard for you is essential. At all meals, I always ate with the crew and staff, and got to know them personally and I always received the gift of a great story or some interesting tidbit about their world. At the end of the shoot, I personally thanked everyone for their great work and talents. Of course, there’s no rule that says I had to do any of this but I felt in my heart that this was a truly wonderful opportunity for me and Wood Violins and furthering our mission of having string players celebrated and visible in the mainstream media.

There is serious talk of this spot premiering on the Superbowl in January, and then taking off from there.  Whatever happens, we all know that Pepsi doesn’t do anything small or halfway so this is going to be HUGE!

Once we get permission from the Pepsi folks, we’ll be posting more photos, mp3s, and video of the spot so stay tuned!