With a battle for the control of the Murderdolls trademark being waged amid several parties—primarily guitarist/backing vocalist Acey Slade and the band’s vocalist, etc. Wednesday 13, a former member of the horror punk outfit has waded into the dispute: Tripp Eisen.
Wednesday 13 has publicly accused Slade of “stealing” the trademarks to the band and attempting to cash in on it. The band’s trademark had lapsed at the time of Slade obtaining it, reportedly which featured late drummer Joey Jordison (formerly of Slipknot) was in poor health.
Wednesday 13 has since publicly labeled Slade‘s attempts to recently celebrate the 20th anniversary of the band’s 2002 debut album “Beyond The Valley Of The Murderdolls” a “cash grab” attempt. Both Slade and the band’s former bassist Eric Griffin were among those to celebrate the album at a convention signing.
While the pair did not perform on the album, they did serve as members on the touring cycle for it. Wednesday 13 has vowed to continue to rail against Slade‘s endeavors with the trademark, labeling him a “thief” for his actions.
In a press released issued today, October 20th Eisen has since weighed in. Eisen was among the early members of the group and performed on the record mentioned above alongside Jordison and Wednesday 13. Eisen (real name Tod Rex Salvador) has remained a controversial figure since 2005, when he was arrested for conducting sexual relationships with two underage girls.
He would eventually plead guilty to conducting sexual relationships with two separate girls as young as fourteen-years-old. He was 39-years-old at the time the offenses were committed. An MTV report at the time (see here) stated that Eisen was allegedly posing as a lookalike of himself on a gothic music site at the time to meet up with the girls. Eisen was sentenced to a year in prison on the charges and was later sent back to jail in 2008 following a parole violation.
Having publicly addressed his fractured relationship with his former bandmates in Static-X earlier this year, Eisen has since weighed in on the Murderdolls situation, offering:
“THE INCONVENIENT HISTORY OF THE MURDERDOLLS: TRIPP EISEN
I have been following the ongoing dispute with the MURDERDOLLS trademark controversy and the 20th Anniversary of the album and the public statements by the surviving members of the band I founded.
Why do I have to speak out about this? Because I am being cancelled. I did not have a small part in the history of The MURDERDOLLS. Acey Slade is relying on my being silent, but I just can’t. While I am Busy with my band FACE WITHOUT FEAR, I felt this issue needed to be addressed out of respect for what I helped to create and respect for the integrity of everything and everyone involved I have to unpack it.
Acey Slade was my dude. I brought him into this. I’ve known him since 1991, and we reconnected just a couple years ago and he gave me his number; so we kind of know each other.
Why should anyone listen to Tripp Eisen? Because I started the MURDERDOLLS with Joey Jordison in 2000. It was then called THE REJECTS, but the concept was already formulated and then taken further when I entered the picture with Joey and his singer at the time, Dizzy Reject.
It was glam-punk shock-rock. It already had a bit of a horror theme back then, too. We did several REJECTS shows from 2000 to 2002. Me and Joey were tight at the time and he was amazing to work with! Hearing the news of his passing cut me like a knife last year.
THE LINEUP: REJECTS & MURDERDOLLS
Acey Slade has said that it’s about ‘5 guys and 100,000 fans’. Well, it’s not as simple as that. For some reason, Joey entrusted me with finding the lineup for the band. I found Wednesday 13 as bassist for The Rejects in November 2001 and I moved him over to frontman and fired Dizzy in early 2002.
This led to one of the most important elements of the band: the songwriting collaboration between Joey and Wednesday! The songs!!! Killer!
I played most of the guitar solos on the album ‘Beyond The Valley Of The Murderdolls‘. These credits are clearly listed in the album booklet.
I found Eric Griffin and Ben Graves after the album was almost finished in 2002.
I tried to get Acey Slade into the project several times during THE REJECTS and then into MURDERDOLLS, but Joey didn’t want Acey at either time, or when he reformed the band later in 2010. Acey only came in when I had to make the difficult call to Joey to explain that I couldn’t do the tour due to my obligations to STATIC-X with the ‘Shadow Zone‘ album – I immediately suggested Acey to take my place.
Yes, it was about 5 guys, even before Acey joined the band. The MURDERDOLLS top-viewed video on YouTube in 2022 is still ‘Dead In Hollywood‘, which has the original 5 guys: Joey, Tripp, Wednesday, Eric, Ben. Those are the 5 guys that led to 100,000 fans. Acey was a fill-in for me and you’d think he would be grateful for me always looking out for him, in the band DOPE and THE REJECTS and MURDERDOLLS!; instead of cancelling, ignoring and erasing me. Acey, it’s hurtful, brother. You’re better than that. This is an inconvenient history of MURDERDOLLS and Acey Slade.
I am the prime mover of the lineup of the original MURDERDOLLS.
These were my dudes:
Racci Shay, Acey Slade, Wednesday 13, Eric Griffin, Ben Graves.
I made these moves because they were my friends from my circle. Joey agreed that they were great choices. He made the final call to put them in the band, but I set it all up and he trusted me. In Hollywood terms, I was the casting director.
I know this is a lot to claim, but I can back it all up with press interviews from those days and my podcast will feature guests that will recall these MURDERDOLLS memories. It will be interesting and will also show the creative genius of Joey Jordison, too. It was an awesome time and set up things to come!
THE TRADEMARK & CANCEL CULTURE
I find no fault in Wednesday 13’s position that the trademark was stolen while Joey Jordison was vulnerable. Joey was victimized and this is sort of about Acey’s revenge for not being invited back in 2010. Acey Slade is representing MURDERDOLLS and claims to own the name. He should have respect for the fans and tell the whole story. It’s not that hard. But he fell prey to the temptation of Cancel Culture. He even tried to cancel Wednesday 13 from the MURDERDOLLS bio on the site, but quickly changed it!
I reached out to Acey a few weeks ago because he invited all MURDERDOLLS alumni to be involved, but he is excluding me because he thinks he’s better than me. Unfortunately he is not. He does know the real history of the band.
It should be corrected if he has integrity. He’s been heard referring to me during interviews as ‘the guy that won’t be mentioned’ or ‘that guy’. Cancelling Tripp Eisen from MURDERDOLLS history is like cancelling Ace Frehley from KISS history; and that puts Acey sort of in the role of Tommy Thayer (KISS fans will understand the reference). But Acey’s scheme to obtain the MURDERDOLLS trademark while Joey was suffering with serious health and addiction issues doesn’t demonstrate integrity or honor. It’s sort of a cash-grab while claiming to ‘celebrate’ an anniversary of the band.
Acey did respond to my reaching out to him with: ‘I mean no ill will towards Tripp‘. But cancelling someone from history is in actuality very ‘Ill Will’.”
Comments