MIZ ON MUSIC BLOG: "I CAME TO PLAY"
As I write the new “Miz on Music” I am sitting on a 14-hour plane from Sydney, Australia, to Los Angeles. I just did a three- day media tour down under and had a blast. I started my radio interviews, TV spots, magazine photo shoots, etc. at 6 AM and ended around 8 PM each night. Was I tired? Yes. However, on my free time I still got to go to a footy game (Rugby more or less), eat a meat pie, and perfect my aussie accent. So you all should feel very lucky I'm finding time to talk about music. What am I talking about, there's always time for music. This month I've decided that I'm going to talk about my new entrance music. I've always been asked "Miz, how do you get your entrance music? Do you get to pick it out? Are you hands-on in writing the lyrics or music? Do you pick the band?" Well, here's an insider on my process of getting “I Came to Play” by Downstait as my new entrance music. First of all, I liked my old music but I felt I grew out of it and needed something to represent who I've become as a WWE Superstar. I wanted a song that I felt represented me. A song that told a story while I walked to the ring. A song that'd get me pumped and wanna bang some heads. Something the Mizfits and Miztakes would know that I'm about to come out. So I went to the WWE music department and they agreed that I needed new music. They asked me to give them five songs that I thought would suit me. My No. 1 song was “Undead” by Hollywood Undead. I'm a huge Hollywood Undead fan and thought that song had attitude and I related to the lyrics. No. 2 was “Never Enough” by Five Finger Death Punch. Side note: I think they have the greatest band name ever. No. 3 was Framing Hanley and the reason I put them in was Nixon, the lead singer, contacted me through Twitter and said he was a huge WWE fan and they always wanted to do a WWE entrance song. I loved how motivated he was and after listening to their CD, I thought they'd do an amazing job. They are a very talented, hard-working band - gotta love dedication and passion. I also put Bullet for my Valentine and All That Remains on the list. I gave the list to the WWE music department and they said they are fans of Framing Hanley and thought they'd do a great job as well. We were all in agreement that Framing Hanley was going to do the song. So it was all set, but if you know anything about the entertainment industry everything changes. About a week later I was told the music was done and they went with a different band and a different direction. As I was listening to the song I instantly thought it was good, but just wasn’t for me. I think it was the same guy that did Ezekiel Jackson's music. It reminded me of Mark Henry's or MVP's music and I just couldn't get behind it. I gave my opinion and everyone agreed so it was back to the drawing board. About two weeks later I was handed a new CD with my entrance music on it and let's just say I was excited and nervous at the same time. When I listened my stomach sank. I liked the first one better. It sounded like a bad/wannabe Kid Rock. Definitely not the statement I wanted my new music to make. I felt I needed to talk one-on-one with Jim Johnson, the main music guy. This guy wrote almost all of the WWE Superstars’ entrance music so to say I was talking to a musical talent was an understatement. We talked for a bit and I have to say this guy is a true talent and knows how to make a song work for the right WWE Superstar. After my conversation I waited about three weeks, so we are already two months from when we first started. But I'm a person that knows if you’re patient good things will come and they did. When I came to TV on Monday I received the next CD and was told with confidence that this is it. They said that this band, Downstait, are up-and-coming and threw it down. Now I've been in this situation before so I was hoping but still had my doubts. Plus, I wasn't sure how many more times and mixes I was going to get for new entrance music that if I didn't pick one I'd be stuck with my old music. I put the song on in my rental car and I don't think I stopped listening to it for an entire week. I thought of how it'd feel to walk out to the ring with it playing. I dissected this song musically, lyrically, everything the feel, the rhythm and in the end I knew this was it. Now we weren't done yet because I was handed a different cut then the one the WWE Universe hears on Raw, SmackDown, or WWENXT - yeah I'm on every show. You may have heard three different versions because I had to find the right “Awesome” to go out to. Sounds stupid, but I was in a studio for 15 minutes just saying awesome a million times. It took three times of going out to different cuts till we found the right one and it is finally AWESOME. Great job to Downstait and I can't wait to see them in concert. Better not disappoint. There's the story of how I got my new entrance music. My flight is about to land and my butt hurts … I had to sit through Twilight: New Moon. Screw Team Edward and Jacob, go for Team MIZ. Thank God for my iPod and Bullet for my Valentine's new single “Your Betrayal.” I think it's the best work they've done. Can't wait for the CD. Also on the playlist was 30 Seconds to Mars "Kings and Queens," The Used "Blood on my hands," and Atreyu "Storm to Pass." Time to get up and not feel my legs. Till next time I'm the Miz and I'm Awesome. Miz Source: The Miz on WWE Universe - fans.wwe.com/themiz
Posted by Kristy, 11 Mar 2010. Post Discussion: (0) Comments Posted »