Members
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Timeline
Mentors | |
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| Origin | Seattle, Washington, U.S. |
| Genres | heavy metal, hard rock, punk rock, shock rock |
| Years active | 1976–present (hiatus; 1997–2000) |
| Labels | Mentor, Mystic, Metal Blade, Ever Rat |
| Members | Steve Broy Marc Mad Dog DeLeon Cousin Fister Paul Van Rijswijk Manuel Galati |
| Past members | Eldon Hoke Jeff Dahl Chris Jacobson Wayne Daddio Mike Dewey Ed Danky Lucinda Rezabek Keith McAdam Clark Savage Jeff Solberg Jake Huber Eric Carlson |
| Website | thementors Church of El Duce |
The Mentors are an American heavy metal band, known for their deliberate shock rock lyrics. Originally formed in Seattle, Washington in May 1976, [1] they relocated to Los Angeles, California in 1979.
The band garnered attention both from noted hard rock acts and pro-censorship movements such as the Parents Music Resource Center, [2] but the death of drummer and lead singer Eldon Hoke ("El Duce") in 1997 brought them unprecedented attention. The band remains active today with a different line-up: Sickie Wifebeater (Eric Carlson) on lead guitar, Dr Heathen Scum (Steve Broy) on bass guitar, Mad Dog on Vocals and drums.
Founding members Eldon Hoke ("El Duce"), Eric Carlson ("Sickie Wifebeater") and Steve Broy ("Dr. Heathen Scum") attended Roosevelt High School together in Seattle, [2] and began experimenting together with crude punk and primitive heavy metal. Upon formation, the Mentors began to tour the Northwest, playing shows with their trademark executioner hoods (it was the idea of El Duce, who adored a horror movie called Mark of the Devil) and bawdy lyrics. In the early days of the band, El Duce would contact venues saying they were a Kiss cover band and send them a dubbed cassette with Kiss songs on it and say it was them, on one occasion he sent a copy of Deep Purple Live in Japan to what they thought was a club. It was later revealed to be a pizza place and they ended up playing a kid's birthday party, they were forced to stop after one song and were eventually given $50. [3] Broy was in and out of the band during its early career due to his preoccupation with pursuing a degree in engineering. [4] Other bassists from this era include Jeff Dahl, Chris Jacobsen (Jack Shit), and Mike Dewey (Heathen Scum Wezda). [5]
Through Mystic Records, the Mentors released their first EP, The Trash Bag, in 1983. [1] Their first live album, Live at the Whiskey/Cathey de Grande, came out the following year; both records were produced by Phillip (Philco) Raves. In 1985, they signed to Death Records, a subsidiary of Metal Blade, and released their debut studio LP, You Axed for It! , with Broy returning on the bass. [4] During this time, Hoke maintained a strong public presence, making a controversial appearance [6] alongside fellow metal band GWAR on The Jerry Springer Show , where Hoke's band, beliefs, and public image were criticized. [2]
The Mentors did not achieve true notoriety until the 1985 Congressional hearings orchestrated by Tipper Gore's Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC). The relatively obscure Mentors caught the attention of the PMRC with their song, "Golden Shower", prompting a reading of some of its lyrics on the Congressional floor.
Broy was briefly replaced by bassists Wayne Daddio ("Ripper"), Ed Danky ("Poppa Sneaky Spermshooter"), Lucinda Rezabek ("Scum Bitch"), and Keith McAdam ("Zippy"), but later returned to the group. In 1989, the Mentors released their third album, Sex, Drugs & Rock 'n' Roll , a faux-live[ citation needed ] record. This album caught the attention of the band Revolting Cocks, who invited the Mentors on tour with them. [2]
They released Rock Bible in 1990, with Rick Lomas ("Insect On Acid") [7] sitting in on drums. To the Max followed the next year. Clark Savage ("Moosedick") [1] often filled in for Hoke on drums at live shows, as Hoke's alcoholism had made it difficult for him to play drums and sing simultaneously, eventually taking the position as drummer while Hoke became vocalist exclusively.
The Mentors remained sporadically active thereafter. Hoke began a solo career, while Carlson formed the band Jesters of Destiny. [4] In 1997, while being interviewed for the documentary film Kurt and Courtney , Hoke claimed that Courtney Love had offered him $50,000 to kill her husband Kurt Cobain, [8] whose death was ruled a suicide. Two days after being interviewed, Hoke died after being struck by a freight train while intoxicated. His death was alternately described as an accident and a suicide, [9] however, some conspiracy theorists have claimed there is evidence suggesting foul play. [10]
Carlson, Broy and Savage continued the band and were joined by guitarist Jeff Solberg ("Sickie J") and vocalist Jake Huber ("El Rapo"), releasing Over the Top in 2005. In 2006 Singer and drummer Marc DeLeon ("Mad Dog"), of the Mentors tribute band The Mantors, replaced Huber and, later, Savage. 2009 saw the release of Ducefixion, their eighth full-length record. DeLeon left the Mentors in 2014 during the making of full-length documentary film called The Mentors: Kings of Sleaze Rockumentary, directed by April Jones.
On May 25, 2017, the Mentors released The Illuminaughty, their first studio album in eight years, with Broy and Lomas sharing the vocal duties.
In 2019, a documentary about the band and Hoke, The El Duce Tapes, was released to the festival circuit, featuring unreleased interviews with Hoke from 1990-91 and discussing the Mentors in the context of modern-day cancel culture. The film was released on Blu-ray, streaming and limited-edition VHS in 2020.
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Kurt Donald Cobain was an American musician who was the co-founder, lead vocalist, guitarist and primary songwriter of the rock band Nirvana. Through his angst-fueled songwriting and anti-establishment persona, Cobain's compositions widened the thematic conventions of mainstream rock. He was heralded as a spokesman of Generation X and is highly recognized as one of the most influential alternative rock musicians.
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Eldon Wayne Hoke, nicknamed El Duce, was an American musician best known as the drummer and lead singer of the shock rock band the Mentors, as well as other acts, including Chinas Comidas and the Screamers.
The Screamers were an American electropunk group founded in 1975. They were among the first wave of the L.A. punk rock scene. The Los Angeles Times applied the label "techno-punk" to the band in 1978. In the documentary Punk: Attitude (2005), vocalist Jello Biafra of the Dead Kennedys cites the Screamers as a key influence on their group and as one of the great unrecorded groups in rock history.
Earth is an American rock band based in Olympia, Washington and led by the guitarist Dylan Carlson. Initially active between 1989 and 1997, their early work is characterized by distortion, droning, minimalism and lengthy, repetitive song structures; their 1993 debut album Earth 2 is recognized as a pioneering work of the drone metal genre. The band resurfaced in the early 2000s, with their subsequent output reducing the distortion and incorporating elements of country, jazz rock, and folk. Earth's current lineup consists of Carlson and drummer Adrienne Davies.
"Scentless Apprentice" is a song by the American rock band Nirvana, written by vocalist and guitarist Kurt Cobain, drummer Dave Grohl, and bassist Krist Novoselic. It is the second track on their third and final studio album In Utero, released in September 1993.
Eric Carlson is a founding member and lead guitarist of American heavy metal band The Mentors. Under the stage name Sickie Wifebeater, Carlson started The Mentors in Seattle in 1976 with bass guitarist Steve Broy and singer/drummer Eldon Hoke who attended Roosevelt High School together.
On April 8, 1994, Kurt Cobain, the lead singer and guitarist of the American grunge band Nirvana, was found dead at his home in Seattle, Washington. Forensics investigators later determined he had died three days earlier, on April 5. The Seattle Police Department incident report stated that Cobain was found with a shotgun across his body, had suffered a visible gunshot wound to the head, and that a suicide note had been discovered nearby. The Seattle Police confirmed Cobain's death as a suicide. Following his death, conspiracy theories that Cobain was murdered were spread and reported to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, partially due to an Unsolved Mysteries episode dedicated to Cobain's death.
You Axed for It! is the first studio album by American heavy metal band, the Mentors.
Up the Dose is American heavy metal band The Mentors' second studio album. The cover features adult model and singer Candye Kane.
Get Up and Die is the debut EP released by American heavy metal group The Mentors.
Sex, Drugs & Rock 'n' Roll is a live album by American heavy metal band the Mentors. Tracks 1–9 were recorded in Seattle in 1977.
Rock Bible is the third studio album by American heavy metal band the Mentors. The lyrical content changed from sexism to the band's personal turmoil, although there were some sexist songs and one, "My Daughter Is a Strawberry", had racist lyrics :
Gonna get my shotgun out tonight
And show her the power of the White
A bullet in the gun
And down to Compton to have some fun
To the Max is a 1991 American heavy metal band the Mentors fourth album, and final studio album with original lead singer El Duce.
Over the Top is American heavy metal band the Mentors' fifth album. Released in 2005, it marks the first full-length album since To the Max in 1992, and the first without founding member and drummer-vocalist El Duce, who died in 1997.
Live in Frisco is the second live album by the Mentors. It is an extract of three tracks recorded at a concert in San Francisco in 1983. Live in Frisco was also released as in a double pack with the Get Up and Die EP.
Kurt & Courtney is a 1998 British documentary film by Nick Broomfield investigating the circumstances surrounding the death of Kurt Cobain, and allegations of Courtney Love's involvement in it.
Steve Broy, also known by the stage names Dr. Heathen Scum and Pope Heathen Scum, is an American musician, best known as a founding member and current bassist of the heavy metal band the Mentors. Broy has also collaborated in related bands and released solo records under the Dr. Heathen Scum moniker.
Houses of the Horny is a studio album by the Mentors released in 1994, containing demo versions of tracks from what would have been their next album. The album was the last Mentors release in El Duce's lifetime, and was sold at Mentors concerts and via mailorder. It was only available on cassette. The title parodies the Led Zeppelin album Houses of the Holy.
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