Jeremy Wheeler – The Bang!, comics, movies and life in the Midwest.

STI: Have you been approached by other venues or clubs outside of Ann Arbor to put on a Bang! at their place?

JW: Yes. Some we’ve agreed to. The Bang! on the road hasn’t been the most successful for many different reasons that were just kind of out of our control. So in a way we’ve kind of nestled in in Ann Arbor because it’s comfortable and because we at least know what to expect from our own venue and out of our own equipment.

STI: Home base?

JW: Yeah, yeah yeah. I mean, there’s definitely something very comforting in that. We have been approached by other venues but you really get a sense that people don’t really understand what we’re about. You  know, bookers don’t understand what we’re about. They want to put us on a Thursday night somewhere and things like that. Really, it needs to be a weekend thing. It needs to be this or it needs to be that. I think bigger clubs are a little more hesitant to give us any kind of a spot just because, you know… someplace like the Necto. The Necto is very secure in their Friday and Saturday nights. They’ve been doing them how long? They get the crowd they get – - why change it, you know? So, that’s fine. We’re totally fine with that. But another really cool thing is that we’ve been invited, just this last year we were invited to the D.I.A. (Detroit Institute of Arts), to do an event. They were having an art show of ash can art featuring some paintings of, like, boxers so then they created this event where there was live boxing, live wrestling, a band AND they invited us.

STI: All at the same time?

JW: All at the same time, all at the D.I.A. In the marble room, you can look up to the balcony and you can see centuries old, you know…

STI: Priceless works of art?

JW: Yeah, priceless works of art and we were invited and we got to project Rocky movies around the marble room.

STI: Onto rock!

JW: Yeah, exactly, onto rock! So, it’s just amazing to be able to do that and frankly, there were no problems with that gig which was really great so, we hope to be open to more things, it’s just a matter of having the right kind of thing — opportunity presented to us.

STI: That’s a pretty heavy thing, but what’s the craziest thing you’ve ever seen happen at a Bang!?

JW: We had a riser collapse at a Bang!. We had a runway and I think which one it was, I think it was a New Years, and so we had, like, a walkway running off the front of the stage and I have distinct memories of dancing on it during Led Zeppelin and bouncing around on it and for some reason the riser failed later that night. All I know is that I was roaming around the party and then I kind of looked towards the stage and I was just like, “Well, where’s that riser? What happened to it?” And I found out later that it completely collapsed, people were on it, but then what was genius — Well, what was one genius was no one got hurt, thank God, and number two what was genius is, they just picked up all the pieces, put them to the side and kept on dancing.

STI: There’s your rabid fans, right?

JW: Yeah! Yeah!

STI: That’s your hardcore base right there.

JW: Destruction is a part of The Bang!, you know? Whenever we build something, we take into account that, this might get broken or this might get pulled down and what do we do from there?

STI: So at that point it’s not just a clever name…

JW: Oh yeah! We definitely mess shit up, absolutely. If we have a backdrop that’s hung from the ceiling, it’s amazing if it stays up all night. It’s amazing.

STI: Speaking of, where did the name come from?

JW: The name came from — there’s a whole group of Bang! nights around the world, really, that use the name, especially in L.A., that’s just Club Bang. They’re still going now. They were going before we were and their pictures were fantastic, so when we were talking about what we wanted to do, we were like, “Well, why don’t we call ourselves THE Bang”, you know? Something like that. So that’s kind of where it stemmed from and then since then, since then it’s kind of an interesting thing that all the nights were sort of connected. It hasn’t happened in a few years and we haven’t really acted on it the way we should, but there is some sort of connection between the different nights, which all use some variation on the “Bang” name. But its weird, you know? It’s been a hindrance in a way just because you can’t really trademark a name like that if other people are using it, but then again we are “The Bang! Mix Tape Dance Party.” There is nothing like that. But we were definitely inspired by other places.

STI: The Bang! aside, you’re also a comic artist. What work of yours is currently on the racks for people to pick up?

JW: If anyone’s in town, they can head to Vault of Midnight and they can check out — they should have various stuff there, most having to do with the Age of Sinnocence line which I am involved with with my best buddy, Matt DeLight. We went to high school together and have been doing Age of Sinnocence, I guess now for over ten years which is crazy and I should call him and congratulate him for that.

STI: He writes and you do the art?

JW: He writes and I do the art. We both star in the comic and it’s just about our exploits of, you know, being either sex-crazed twenty-somethings to us complaining about why we’re not huge or any number of things. You know, being up Abe Lincoln’s nose or… you never know what you’re going to get.

STI: Kind of like your Ornery Boy or your Penny Arcade or your Mac Hall of Ann Arbor.

JW: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But, we’re not Ann Arbor specific. He lives in San Francisco now so he’s kind of hooked into the whole ‘zine culture of the west coast and stuff like that and I’m kind of keepin’ fort in the Midwest. So that’s where we’re at, but they can find stuff at Vault of Midnight on Main St. and if you go to Vault of Midnight the murals on the wall you see are mine. I painted the robot and the Godzilla monster. I created their logos so anytime you see a Vault of Midnight logo, chances are it’s mine.

STI: I’ve seen that logo in tattoo form as well.

JW: Absolutely. There are many people who have that tattoo on their body and its fantastic and I love them all and I think it’s great and I’m a chump for not having one myself.

STI: Little shout-out to Vault of Midnight there?

JW: Absolutely. Curtis and Liz and Steve, you guys are the best. I love ya.

STI: I can’t go in there without spending a lot of time.

JW: Yeah, absolutely. There’s tons to look at. I’m very happy that I was able to help them grow to a bigger spot and they are one of the most fabulous comic places I’ve ever been to. Their spot is fantastic and I can’t wait to see what we come up with next.

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