For the fourth installment in No Echo’s Comedy x Hardcore series, we interviewed Stanley Sievers, the Writer/Director that brought you the now legendary The Moshumentary short film. Sievers has also recently been featured in the Netflix series Tires in season two. He also contributes reels and commentary on hardcore and metal consistently to his social media.
We caught up with him to see what is next for Mosh Guy.
Thank you for taking time out to answer questions for No Echo. Will you tell No Echo about your roots in hardcore and how you started satirizing the weird world we live in?
I started going to shows when I was 12ish, and saw my first proper hardcore band by accident when a touring band jumped on a local show. I think it was Go It Alone. I went to a lot of shows and eventually started being in bands. One of those bands was Dead Icons. We did a lot of touring.
I was also in Call to Preserve for about a year. After touring kinda ended for me, I pivoted to wanting to try filmmaking. I moved to Chicago where I got involved in the improv/sketch comedy scene. I spent years performing there before moving to NYC.
While there, COVID hit and I couldn't perform live anymore. TikTok started up around then and I started making stuff on that app, really bad stuff at first, but eventually I found my way. I started making videos about hardcore/metal just to make my friends laugh but they really got spread super far.
The Moshumentary was a crowdfunded endeavor. How has the response been since the release of the short? The short features some heavy-hitting cameos and guest segments. Are there any plans to do some sort of follow up or another feature with Mosh Guy?
The response was great! It got like 50k views, a huge success IMO. No plans right now, that was so much work. For now it's a stand alone.
The Mosh Guy character is highly relatable in the realm of comedy. Comedy and hardcore are seemingly starting to converge. Do you think comedy and hardcore will be a more common occurrence with the scope of comedians working closely with hardcore and metal musicians?
Honestly, I have no idea. I would hope so, but so far there's only a handful of comedians that are into hardcore and maybe a few people that do characters like me. Maybe just me [laughs]. I have no idea. I'd love to see more of this though.
You also have other characters like the restaurant guy or the deathcore guy that are also very relatable. Do you have plans on making more short features about these different characters?
I would love to do that. The Moshumentary was such a long process and was crowdfunded, and I don't want to do another crowdfunding thing unless it's really something special. So I am kinda waiting to figure out what that is.
Recently you landed a spot on the Netflix series, Tires. Can you tell me how that came about and could you tell No Echo about your experience as a hardcore dude on the set of a Netflix show?
I have an agent and manager for TV/Film acting and writing, and I do a lot of auditions. There are lots of things I didn't get, and the things I do book are rare (which is normal). For Tires it was nothing special process wise. I got the audition, sent in my self tape, and they thought I was right for the part so they booked me.
The Tires experience was pretty scrappy. I was just in a tiny little half trailer, was on set for like maybe 1-2 hours at most, then I went home. It shot in Philly, so I wanted to try and hit a show while I was there but I was literally only in town for 48 hours.
Are there any comedians or musicians working in hardcore/metal and comedy that you would like to mention?
Shapel Lacey, Ian Fidance, BK Sharad.
You recently did a reel highlighting the new track from Militarie Gun in a pretty hilarious bit for the track "God Owes Me Money." Are there more plans to do bits directly with current bands?
Yeah, I've been doing some like that here and there like for Amon Amarth, Frozen Soul, Poison the Well, and others. MG was great though because the concept was really cool. I'd love to do more stuff like that for bands, and in fact I'm working on a few things right now.
Have you done any stand-up dates or do you plan on doing any open mics? Or do you prefer to work where you are now?
Honestly, I don't really do stand up. I used to do improv and sketch comedy, but I really like doing stuff on the internet now the most. I also like doing things like the MG video that's sort of pseudo real-life performance and also part internet.
What are your best tips for surviving a festival when you have to pick between bands like Hatebreed or blink-182? How do you walk away from that decision?
Oh, so easy. I pick blink-182 because I'd never fork over the cash to go see them on their own and I've never seen them. I've seen Hatebreed 20 times probably and I'll see them 20 times more. I might only see blink-182 one time, though.
What are any new projects you are working on or is there anything we should be on the lookout for?
I'm working on a TV show idea with a few other writers and a couple producers that I'm really excited for!
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Check Stanley out on social media (@stanleyws) and watch the Moshumentary on YouTube.
Tagged: comedy, comedy x hardcore, stanley sievers
