‘What The Hell Was I Thinking?!!’ - Confessions of the World’s Most Controversial Sex Symbol (29 page)

I continued shooting interviews for the
Hollywood Rocks
documentary that summer, including Tracy Michaels from the Peppermint Creeps, Pretty Boy Floyd, who was someone I always admired and thought it was really cool how hard he worked to promote his band. I also interviewed Chris Webber, who was the original lead guitarist in Hollywood Rose along with Axl Rose and Izzy Stradlin (who of course went on to found Guns N’ Roses,) and spoke with Marc Ferrari and Ron Keel as well from the ‘80s band Keel. It was really fun for me to be hosting this documentary interviewing all my rock and metal heroes from childhood on up, and I was having A LOT more fun with it than I was with wrestling at that point. To the point where I’d started almost dreading going to my own shows, if you can believe that.

I had grown so tired of listening to all these steroid-pumped, grownmen prima donnas bitching about their airline tickets or their hotel bills. I felt a lot of these guys needed to be humbled the fuck out, and no matter how I’d tried to keep 3PW grounded — even as we had continued to grow in popularity — it was getting out of hand. I hung in there because it was my fault in a lot of ways that we’d become as big an indie league as we had, it was my ambition which had been a big part of driving us to the top. Now that 3PW was competing at the level it was, some of the talent were starting to get big-headed, and I wasn’t having any of it. But it sucked having to be a hard-ass all the time to keep all these men in line, and I was one woman doing all of that side of it. Brian and Todd never had to be the bad guy, that role came with my title of BOSS, and I was finally starting to grow a little weary of it. In truth, it just wasn’t fun for me anymore, but I did my best to keep my head in the game, even as I started pursuing more and more opportunities in metal as the summer came toward a close.

Prior to the final 3PW show of the summer, I had another independent film to shoot called
Swamp Zombies
, which we shot in Pittsburgh. Everyone involved with the film was really in the game.They sent me a few weeks before the shoot to a Special Effects outfit in Burbank that made a plaster mold of my head for my decapitation scene. It was a hilarious process having a mold of my face made, because you can’t see anything while they’re doing it. The film was shot way out in the boonies of back wood Pennsylvania, and the director Len Kabasinski was really great to work with. The first day of shooting was in a hospital, and my character was a hospital manager who was in co-hoots with a surgeon played by Shannon Solo who was conducting illegal experiments on cadavers, trying to turn them into zombies. We actually shot the scene where I get decapitated on the second day, even though I didn’t die till much later in the movie, which I thought was funny. I had the requisite topless shower scene, but still was happy because I’d had A LOT of dialogue scenes in the movie as well.

We left the shoot in Pittsburgh to head straight to Philadelphia the following weekend for our August 3PW show, which we had billed as the ‘5 Star 4 Way.’ It was held on the 21st before a capacity crowd, and featured in the opening match, Ruckus defeating Slyk Wagner Brown w/ April Hunter. The ROYAL RUMBLE tag-team match, which featured Jack Victory & Rockin Rebel vs. Rob Eckos & Matt Striker, and Gary Wolf vs. Mike Kruel w/Me, and Slyk Wagner Brown vs. April Hunter; Monsta Mack vs. CJ O’Doyle; and Roadkill defeating Monsta Mack.  All of these matches preceded the title match, which was delayed because of our headlining wrestler A.J. Styles’ plane being delayed in Atlanta.  We were freaking out backstage, but trying to keep the crowd cool while A.J. — after landing at the Philadelphia Int. Airport, was rushed straight to the ECW Arena!  He ended up literally exiting the cab and entering the ring for what we’d set up as a 4-way title match between Chris Daniels, Joey Matthews and Chris Sabin.  It was nerve-racking, but the crowd LOVED the climax of the show, and I was relieved we’d pulled off 3 successful shows that summer, when most of the East Coast is traditionally dead.

That September, I began working on what would become the first volume of the
Metal’s Dark Side
DVD series, and my metal profile got an even bigger boost when I co-hosted the
Metal Sludge Extravaganza 9
with the Blue Meanie and Stevie Rachelle. I was excited about that because it gave me the opportunity to interact with Metal Sludge’s online fan base as well, which was huge at that time. I also moved that month, which was a huge pain in the ass, but I was excited because I had a trip to Europe planned for October. Basically, by that point, our 3PW matches had become very popular on the Wrestling Channel over in the U.K., and we were on T.V. twice a week in England, Scotland, and Ireland.The owners of the Wrestling Channel had invited me to come over to the U.K. to host a big promotional party of some sort, and as it turned out, they also had a wrestling-oriented talk show that aired out of Ireland.They had invited me to be a guest on the show as well. I had also planned to celebrate my birthday in Amsterdam while I was over there, and was scheduled to depart for the trip right after the 3PW show that month.

We held our October 3PW show on the 16th, titling the event ‘Till We Meet Again’. The show featured matches including the Blue Meanie defeating Rockin’ Rebel and Rob Eckos defeating CJ O’Doyle. A triple threat match which featured A.J. Styles  vs. 2 Cold Scorpio and Chris Sabin; Roadkill vs. the Rockin’ Rebel and the title matches including Pitbulls 2000 (Gary Wolf & Mike Kruel) defeating Slyk Wagner Brown & April Hunter; Damian Adams defeating Matt Striker; and finally Chris Daniels defeating Joey Matthews to retain the 3PW Championship belt.  Following the 3PW show, I flew back to L.A. almost immediately, and turned around to leave for Amsterdam, which I’d planned to visit before arriving in London to complete my wrestling promotional commitments. It was an amazing time of year in Holland, and I had a blast, and tried hash and pot for the first time in years. It was just a very free time for me, away from all the stress of 3PW back in the States, and I remember my last night staying at the Sheraton before I was to leave for the U.K., I ran randomly into Cleopatra Records owner Brian Perera! He was there promoting some dance CD, and I ended up partying with him until sun-up, and had so much fun I even slept through my flight — which I NEVER do. I had needed a break with the trip, and definitely got it while I was in Amsterdam!

I arrived in London on the 23rd of October, which is my birthday, and celebrated at my aunt’s house with a lot of my European family. The next day, I flew from Heathrow into Dublin and was greeted like royalty by the people from the Wrestling Channel, which felt really cool. I was interviewed at a T.V. studio with an audience full of fans, and then they threw a big party for me after the show. I had a wonderful time, and as weary as I’d grown toward some of the grind of running 3PW back home, it was nice to see how much my — and our — hard work had paid off over in the U.K. It really made me feel like I’d accomplished everything I’d set out to in wrestling, and while I wasn’t anywhere near ready to walk away, I felt clear-headed about putting more of a focus on metal once I returned to the States. To put a fine point on that, the day I arrived back in L.A. I drove straight from the airport to San Diego to see a death metal band called 3 Inches of Blood that I was a huge fan of. They were playing with Metal Church in this DIVE bar called Brick by Brick. I was without a doubt the band’s biggest supporter at that show, and we all went out to eat at Denny’s afterward, and it was clear to me I was most at home hanging out with these metal bands. I could relate to them as a fan, but also a friend, and it just made me feel that much more excited about the
Metal’s Dark Side
DVD series I was starting production on in principle that November.

I spent Halloween at the Key Club rocking out to W.A.S.P., who I’d been a fan of since childhood, and started November interviewing George ‘Corpsegrinder’ Fisher, lead singer from Cannibal Corpse, as my first official interview for the ‘Metal’s Dark Side’ DVD series. I’d been a fan of CC since childhood, and I was SO nervous because he was an idol to me. We were both big fans of the horror filmmaker Daria Argento, and we really hit it off on a personal level, which helped because I was shaking in my boots throughout the entire interview, but he was really cool with me, and we’ve stayed friends since.

George ‘Corpsegrinder’ Fisher:
I met Jasmin in Philadelphia in 2003. We were playing at TROCADERO, and the day before we’d played in Pittsburg, and I didn’t play the show because I had come down with a viral lung infection, so it feels like every time you take a breath, someone’s putting a chokehold on your throat. It was the most painful thing to try to breathe, and went to the hospital, and I stayed in a good mood throughout because I knew the next day I was supposed to be interviewed by Jasmin. I was like ‘Wow, this is awesome’, and I couldn’t believe it, ‘Jasmin St. Claire!’

I remember when I was doing the interview, I was telling her ‘Yeah, I might not be able to play tonight,’ and my folks and brother were even at the show. I remember telling her all I could really handle was 3 songs, and she was like ‘Awe man,’ all bummed out I was singing more songs. And I was just shocked, and thought it was crazy she was a fan, and a real metal head, because you don’t think any star is going to listen to this kind of music. No offense to our fans, because they’re the best in the world, but I have a certain idea of metal heads, and just wouldn’t ordinarily think that anybody that’s had any kind of success in life is going to listen to this kind of crazy music. So I never knew before that interview that she was into metal, and was surprised she was a metal head — all the metal she was into, I was like ‘Wow, get the fuck out of here!’ She was a real metal chick, and I would never have assumed she listened to this kind of music.

At the time, I felt like, ‘Wow, I’m just some schlep in a death metal band.’ We have this magazine down here called
Rivot Rag
, and she did an interview for them but I was shocked beyond belief when they asked her who some of her favorite people to interview for Metal’s Dark Side were, and she said she was nervous when she interviewed me! I was like, ‘What? I was nervous when she was interviewing me.’ And I didn’t think she was nervous at all, and thought — even starting out — she was just as professional as anyone we’d ever done interviews with.

 To me, she’s not just a pretty face they hired to do interviews, which unfortunately seems like all they ever do, like when MTV had Headbanger’s Ball, they had hosts who weren’t really into metal, and SHE IS, and she was before she started doing this. She’s into the scene, and she knows what she’s talking about, she knows what’s going on, and knows as much as I do about metal.

Jasmin:
Later that month, we held the last 3PW show of the year on the 20th, the weekend before Thanksgiving, and titled it ‘For the Gold’ because of the multiple title matches at stake.  Highlights from that show included Low Ki defeated Slyk Wagner Brown w/April Hunter; CJ O’Doyle defeating Rob Eckos; a Tag-team title match between Pitbulls 2004 (Mike Kruel & Gary Wolf ) vs. Double Trouble (Monsta Mack & Damian Adams). As well as other title matches between Chris Sabin defeating Joey Matthews; Road Kill & Blue Meanie vs. Rockin’ Rebel & Jack Victory; April Hunter vs. Don E. Allen; Simon Diamond vs. Matt Striker; and finally Christopher Daniels defeating AJ Styles during the Championship Belt title match.  We also named Bill Apter, a big Wrestling journalist, the new Commissioner of 3PW during that match, which went over really well with the packed house of fans!

As successfully as that show had come off, I had reached a breaking point with everyone’s greed and bad fucking attitudes. At that point, was seriously considering my accountant, Richard McDonald’s offer to come in and take over the financing of the company, and having Brian take over as general manager. I was sick of everyone’s mountain of bullshit, and was really starting to hate what I’d once loved so dearly, and had worked tirelessly to build. I can’t give something 100% if my heart isn’t in it, and at that point, my love for metal had overtaken any other professional ambitions I had driving me.

As November came to a close, I interviewed Damage Plan and Shadow’s Fall, Bleeding Through, and Himsa for
Metal’s Dark Side
, which marked the first time I met my future husband Matt ‘The Mooch’ Wicklund, who at the time was playing lead guitar for Himsa. I’ll never forget, at the outset of my interview with his band, our eyes locked out of nowhere and I felt like I’d been hit by a thunderbolt. It was my first and only case of love at first sight, and I believe was the same for him. Even within our first conversation during the band’s interview, I felt he was sexy, well spoken, and we had this chemistry that would NOT quit. The only damper on the moment came when he went to get us drinks and didn’t have enough money to pay for them, so naturally I covered the tab — which should have been the first fucking sign.

We hung out all that night during an Arch Enemy concert, and even after I had to leave to drive home, I was getting text messages from him at 3 and 4 in the morning, telling me he didn’t want our conversation to end. I have to admit, I didn’t either. He invited me the very next night to come see his band play in Anaheim, and getting to see him play on stage added a whole other level of attraction to our mix. He had energy and talent, and I instantly believed and bought into the idea that he was on his way to somewhere big. His band still had a very long way to go at that point, but I felt sure they would get there, a fact that, when I shared it with him, brought us even closer together. We were both very ambitious and driven at that time, and though I was a lot more established than he was in the business, he didn’t initially seem to care how I’d gotten to where I had, which was also a very big deal to me. I would be lying if I didn’t say I started falling for him almost immediately, and the feeling was clearly mutual by his almost constant text-messaging in the first few days after we’d met while his band was on the road. He would tell me how much he missed me and how I made him melt, and as with any long-distance romance, our time apart just fueled the passion that was building up in his absence. He called me every day from his band’s Canadian tour leg, and it felt right to feel what we were for one another — no matter how quickly it was happening.