“Money’s what they’re fighting for... Money, such a crime” Crossbone Skully
Crossbone Skully is an avenging superhero from outer space, returning to earth to save the world and reconnect with his lost deity love Piper and Kid, the son he never knew he had. Evil World Machine is a rock concept album that echoes similar dystopian visions such as Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars and Diamond Dogs. The project, influenced by larger-than-life bands such as AC/DC, Alice Cooper, KISS, Iron Maiden and even the Sex Pistols, is the work of a collaborative team headed by veteran rock session bassist Tommy Henriksen and Tommy Denander alongside the legendary Mutt Lange, who emerged from retirement to executive produce the project.
For Henriksen, who has been a member of both Alice Cooper’s band and the Hollywood Vampires for the better part of a decade with Johnny Depp and Joe Perry, it represents what his good friend Depp referred to as “your own [Marlon] Brando moment,” a chance to work with his idol, Lange, who offered to help with the project after hearing the original demo of the title track.
“This has been an amazing journey,” says Henriksen, who began the project almost four years ago. “If you had told me back then that I’d be working with the greatest producer who ever lived, I wouldn’t have believed it.”
With a long history that stretches back to stints in Warlock with Doro Pesch and his own punk-rock band POL (Parade of Losers) as Da Skunk, Henriksen has also had a successful side career as a producer/mixer/arranger and songwriter for the likes of Lady Gaga, Meat Loaf, Lou Reed, Halestorm, Kesha and Daughtry. His metamorphosis into Crossbone Skully and the Alien Nation started when Alice Cooper’s lighting man, who used to work for AC/DC, heard him singing like Bon Scott and successor Brian Johnson during a sound check – and suggested he build a solo project around it.
The result is Evil World Machine, an album that takes on our current global crisis with the fury of a hellfire-and-brimstone prophet/preacher, condemning greed, avarice, racism and sexism in no uncertain terms, starting with the title track and including such screeds as “The Boom Went the Boom,” “I’m Unbreakable,” “Money Sex or God,” “The Last Night on Earth” and “Misfits of the Universe.” He creates a world that will be revealed by its own graphic novel/comic book inspired by the animated video which premiered at this year’s San Diego FanExpo. “You are all welcome here,” sings Henriksen in “Misfits of the Universe,” inviting everyone into his large tent, rich and poor, punks and metalheads, Democrats and Republicans.
Evil World Machine incorporates elements of David Bowie’s apocalyptic vision, the Sex Pistols’ rabblerousing anarchy, The Who’s bombastic fury (“The Boom Went the Boom”), ZZ Top’s power blues (“Everyone’s on Dope”) and even Dropkick Murphys’ Irish punk jigs by way of ‘70s glam band Slade (“Let’s Bust the Trust”).
The sterling group of supporting musicians includes guitarist Tommy Denander (who introduced him to Mutt Lange after collaborating on Alice Cooper’s 2017 album Paranormal with Bob Ezrin), keyboardist Jamie Muhoberac (My Chemical Romance, John Mayer, Seal), bassist Chris Wyse (Hollywood Vampires, Ace Frehley, the Cult, Ozzy Osbourne) and drummer Glen Sobel (Alice Cooper, Hollywood Vampires), the late UFO bassist Pete Way and producer/mixer Mike Plotnikoff (AC/DC, Cher, Aerosmith), who helped get him noticed by Allen Kovac’s Better Noise Records. Making spoken-word appearances are Johnny Depp as the voice of “The Evil Sorcerer,” along with Alice Cooper as “The Bringer of Light,” Joe Perry as “The Big Bad Bone Crusher” and Nikki Sixx as “The Crooked Crow,” with Kane Roberts as “The Alpha Watchman” among other guests. Henriksen developed the voice of Crossbone Skully with a vocal app that makes him sound like a disembodied Stephen Hawkins. Iconic creative/art director Mark Wilkinson, who designed for Iron Maiden, Marillion, Judas Priest and The Darkness, created the Crossbone Skully album cover.
“I want to keep the mystery and mystique, not just sell records,” says Henriksen, who has a tattoo that reads “Not for Sale” across his stomach. “Everyone is so wrapped up in their selfish, narcissistic space, and nobody wants to help anybody. Crossbone Skully just wants to save the world, but if he can’t, he’s willing to destroy it to start over.”
Henriksen came on the name of the project when he discovered the song, “Crossbones Scully,” recorded for the Library of Congress and famed curator Alan Lomax by Aunt Molly Jackson, an American folk singer and union activist of the ‘40s who became a member of the United Mine Workers and began writing protest songs such as “I Am a Union Woman, “Kentucky Miner’s Wife” and “Poor Miner’s Farewell,” after her father and brother were blinded in a mine accident.
“This album is not about politics or religion,” insists Henriksen regarding rock’s return as social conscience and protest music. “It’s about what you believe in. It’s a love story about the battle between good and evil, light and darkness... I’m not right, I’m not left. I’m for what’s right.”
Songs like “I am the Wolf,” “I’m Unbreakable,” “Flip the Bird” and “The Sin Eater” are all about Skully’s mission to save the universe or doom it in the process. Working with executive producer Mutt Lange (“In Mutt We Trust”) on the recording and writing process has been a lifelong dream come true for the veteran rocker, who is finally stepping to center stage after a career as a supportive “second banana,” a term he doesn’t dismiss.
“The greatest thing about this is having the freedom to express my own feelings and thoughts,” he says. “I want to inspire people with this story to never give up their dreams. I wanted to be a rock star at 20, but it didn’t work out that way. I had to figure out how to make a living playing music instead of digging ditches. Music saved my life. Without it, I’d be dead or in jail. I’ve already won without having sold a single record. I got to work with the greatest producer who ever lived.”
Henriksen has been living with his wife Sandra and son Finn in Zurich, Switzerland for most of the past decade, about 90 minutes from Lange, though the two only interacted on FaceTime. With a catalog of songs written, several of them with Lange – Crossbone Skully is here to come to the rescue of the human race, one song at a time. For those about to rock, Evil World Machine salutes you.
Like the mythical Crossbone Skully, Tommy Henriksen puts you between rock and a hard place, where he has lived most of his life.
“This is about people opening their eyes and doing the right thing,” he concludes. “It’s about hardships, people growing up poor, poverty, the bullshit of religion. Even the broken or alienated are welcome in this world, one where hopefully we can communicate and love each other.”
“In this hellhole, I am the wolf,” sings Henriksen in the song of the same name. Get ready to join his pack.
