Interview: Wrestling legend Vampiro on his new documentary, the 80s Montreal punk scene, Milli Vanilli, and much more

Ian Hodgkinson has lived so many different lives, it can make your head spin. Originally from Thunder Bay, Ontario, Hodgkinson headed down to Mexico City in 1991 to pursue wrestling and quickly became a sensation. Dubbed the “Canadian Vampire” due to his punk/goth appearance, “Vampiro” became a true star in Mexico, making a lasting impact on the culture of Lucha libre wrestling. Inspired by the likes of Iggy Pop, The Clash, and the Ramones, Vampiro merged a punk rock look and attitude with an aggressive wrestling style to create a new kind of performer, inspiring countless watered-down imitators in the process.

A lifelong musician, Hodgkinson has also played in numerous bands over the years, worked as a bodyguard for the infamous Milli Vanilli during their coke-fuelled heyday, collaborated with the Misfits in the ring for WCW, and continues to wrestle, alongside his behind-the-scenes role as a commentator for Lucha Underground.

Decades of punishing hits have taken their toll on Hodgkinson, including numerous broken bones and a recent diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease, all of which is chronicled in Nail in the Coffin: The Fall and Rise of Vampiro, a new documentary by Michael Paszt that focuses on Hodgkinson’s love of Mexican wrestling, and his relationship with his teenage daughter Dasha.

One might think that the film would be a cause for celebration, but in his typically straightforward manner, Hodgkinson is very blunt about his feelings on the movie, which he participated in as a way of leaving a lasting message for his daughter.

“The ending of the movie, if I think about it right now…I will become a bad person,” says Hodgkinson. “It’s not the story I would have told.”

Putting aside Hodgkinson’s issues with the film, Nail in the Coffin is a thrilling look at the enduring legacy of Vampiro, as well as a moving character study about a father-daughter relationship in the midst of extreme circumstances. We caught up with Hodgkinson to discuss how the film came about and his issues with it, his time in the Montreal punk scene in the 80s, the surreal situation with Milli Vanilli, and much more.

Nail in the Coffin: The Fall and Rise of Vampiro is currently making the rounds on the film festival circuit. For more information on Vampiro, follow his official Facebook and Twitter accounts.

Bad Feeling Mag: The film screened at Fantastic Fest in Austin recently; what was that experience like?
Ian Hodgkinson: There was so many people, they had to open up three other theatres at the same time. It was fucking packed. [Laughs] It was crazy, huge standing ovation, all that shit.

How did the film come about? There’s interview footage from 2006; was that the beginning of this film?
No, that was another project that just kind of sucked. Somebody tried to do a documentary before…I didn’t even see that, I don’t even know what it’s called. It just didn’t work out. And while this movie was gong on, they contacted each other and the guys who did the other movie offered this footage. So, I tell people that this isn’t the story I would have told. It was Michael Paszt from Raven Banner, his dream to do the doc, and I said, “OK, I think it’s best if I don’t get involved in the creative storytelling. ‘Cause it’ll be a different story if I put my fingerprints on it.

They cut out my whole life as a musician. We recorded for three years, everything that I wanted they didn’t put in, everything I didn’t want, they put in. There was about three times during the movie I almost stood up and walked out, I was angry, I was very angry. It’s not the movie I would have made. [Pauses] But I appreciate somebody else’s point of view on my insanity. So, it was a great turning point for me, realizing that I was mature enough not to explode. And understand that’s what they did, and I’m OK with that. Does that make sense?

Of course. Is it strange to be out promoting the movie now?
That’s why I’m telling the truth. I don’t give a fuck. That’s why I said it like I did. [Sighs] I got involved because I wanted to leave a message for my daughter. [The film] is not the message I wanted to leave. But just the fact that a whole crew of people dedicated three years of their lives to that, I would be a fool not to recognize that and appreciate that, because I’m an artist as well. So if I play with my band, I make an album, I go on tour, and I get judged by somebody who wasn’t involved in the process and the commitment, I’d be offended. So I’ve learned, after becoming a producer and a writer and an agent, you can’t take anything personal in the entertainment business. Because whatever the initial spark is or was, it’s over that moment, because it becomes somebody else’s vision. I have an idea, and they run with it, and that’s what comes of it. If it was my movie, it would be one hundred million times different. [But] if it has an impact, then they did their job.

If it was my movie, it would be one hundred million times different.

After that experience, do you have any desire to come out with a memoir, or tell your story from your point-of-view?
Not at all. Because I’ve tried — this is my second documentary. And they got it wrong both times. There’s 700 million shoot-style interviews with me, where I don’t pull any punches. There’s nothing left to say. I’m a pro wrestler, that’s it. I didn’t change the world, I didn’t get the Nobel Prize for curing cancer. I had an enormous impact on the industry, and culturally in Latin America, I changed everything. [The filmmakers] missed the point. The ending of the movie, if I think about it right now…I will become a bad person. I detest the end of the movie. Because they did it without me. And that bothers me. Because that was my agreement — I have to do the end of the movie. It’s my message to my daughter. They changed everything. I don’t want to come off as if I’m angry or negative towards it, it’s a beautiful movie — it’s not the story I would have told.

The end of the movie shows me exchanging punches with a guy — I think it’s even in the contract, that I don’t want that guy in my movie. And he’s a major part of the movie. I can’t tell you how…I’m so angry, that if the movie was right now I wouldn’t go. The end of the movie, after my diagnosis and being sick and everything, when I came out in that building [at TripleMania], there was 22,000 people that didn’t know I was there. They hadn’t seen me in years. When I came out, it’s one of the first times that I can guarantee you the building swayed. It was a once-in-a-lifetime moment, and they missed it. They put the exchange of punches that meant nothing. If you’re seeing me broken, if you’re seeing me a mess, if you’re seeing me fighting, if you’re seeing me suffering, if you’re seeing me struggling, and my daughter is asking, “Who’s my dad?” That moment, after 40 years, when I came out and I — fuck Mick Jagger, Justin Bieber, all of them — when I came out, it was mind-blowing. And they took it out. The moment is, “Who’s this broken old man?” It’s that guy, who shakes buildings, that’s who he is. You blew the movie. And everybody’s like, “Well, how can you be promoting a movie, and you’re negative?” Cause you fucked up my story, that’s why.

They’re heartbroken. And I understand why. But how can you…do that to me? Their version of the story was this insane guy, who’s a single dad. So they wanted to show that guy, the relationship between the father and the daughter. I understand it. That part is insanely great, it’s beautiful. I’m assuming my daughter is going to enjoy that.

The film gets into your time in Montreal in the 80s; were you wrestling when you were here?
Yeah, I was wrestling, doing other things that I shouldn’t have done, and playing in bands.

What kinds of bands or shows were you seeing?
Yeah, I used to go to the Rising Sun all the time, I used to see The Nils a lot. I used to see all that stuff. The band at that time in Montreal was The Nils, and Doughboys, Asexuals, that whole thing. D.O.A. would come, SNFU would come, all the New York bands would come up. Foufounes was rocking. I used to work at The Business, that bar that was in front of Di Salvio’s [on St-Laurent Boulevard].

Was that a punk club?
It had punk, it had industrial, there was rockabilly. It was the place to be. Probably one of my biggest influences in Canadian bands was Teenage Head. I’ve played in bands my whole life. Now I’m in a band we’re called Vigilante, and we’re pretty much like Agnostic Front, that kind of New York hardcore. That’s my real passion. And all of that I wanted in the movie. The real reason Vampiro was successful was because of my involvement in alternative music, and what I got out of that. And I took all of that intensity, attitude, drive, and I because this wrestling character based on music. And it bothers me very much that that wasn’t mentioned, because my hero, that I based Vampiro off of, was Iggy Pop. Because of the bleeding, the cutting, the violence. I used to just go out into the ring and be Iggy Pop. And that bothered me that that wasn’t mentioned. I was like, “Don’t lump me in with wrestlers, because I’m not a wrestler. I hate wresting.” People in pro wrestling, they’re so protective, and they’re so easily…all these macho, steroided-out dudes, and they’re so offended. It’s like, “Get over it dude.” They all suck, they’re all idiots. That’s why I don’t have any friends in the wrestling business. I believed in the opportunity I was given, to motivate, inspire, present a lifestyle. That’s the only reason I was in wrestling. I didn’t like my matches, I lived for the entrance and the exit, that emotion, that explosion of intensity of the communication with the fans, that’s what made Vampiro famous. My entrance was a punk rock show.

“Don’t lump me in with wrestlers, because I’m not a wrestler. I hate wresting.”

Another thing that I hope came across in the movie was authenticity. Because most guys that had my opportunity, to become god-like in that industry, I just walked away from it. I never sold out, never went to the WWE, never went any of these places, ’cause it’s like, “We want to change your name, we want to own your name,” I was like, “What the fuck are you talking about?” I said, “I used to live under a car in Montreal, I used to have to eat out of garbage cans, I used to do stick-ups so that I could eat, to become this person. This leather jacket’s 32-years-old, what the fuck do you mean change my name?” No dude.

What was the feeling like when Vampiro first caught on in Mexico?
I knew it was going to happen since I was 8-years-old. When I saw The Clash album, London Calling, that photo confirmed what I was going to do in life. That image changed the world. When I saw the Sex Pistols album, just the letters, I was like, “I get it.” When I saw The Stray Cats, when they first came out, before they even had a record deal in America, I was like, “Yeah, I’m one of those guys.” I just knew I was going to be that guy. And I just knew that when I got put in front of people — because I worked for Milli Vanilli, and I spent all those years in Hollywood. And I was watching, and I would just watch all the stars. I would watch Paul Stanley and KISS, and I would watch Madonna, and I would see Cher, because that was the crowd right? And I would see New Kids on the Block, because they were all on the same tours. I would see all these people and I was like, “They’re all just fucking idiots, every single one of them.” They’re just stupid people who were in the right place at the right time and they’re marketed. I said, “There’s not one authentic motherfucker here.” The only authentic guys were Billy Idol and Steve Jones from The Sex Pistols. And Mickey Rourke. I just understood that the message needs a messenger. And the messenger has to be a gypsy, the messenger has to be somebody who lives to fall down, and then stands up and falls down again, and enjoys it.

And it happened instantly because it’s a mind-set. It’s not like, “Oh, I hope they like me.” It’s like, “I don’t give a fuck if you like me.” And it came like a tsunami, it was pretty intense. Which was the scene they cut out. Because the tsunami lasted 40 years, and it’s bigger now than ever. It’s huge, especially because I’m dealing with the mental health stuff and people are responding. But I told them, “Are you putting that in the movie for Montreal?” And they said, “I don’t think so.” And I said, “You best tell me now. Because if I see this movie in Montreal and the ending is not changed, that’ll probably be the last time we talk.”

Were you with Milli Vanilli when they were exposed for lip singing?

I was right there. They all did it, but they got caught. And they deserved to take the hit. It was a really weird way how I got the job. But when I met them, I knew right away, ’cause they didn’t speak English. It was us three that knew, and the producer. Everybody else didn’t know, not even their manager. Basically what they did was, Terence Trent D’Arby was supposed to be Milli Vanilli, Suit, braids, Black guy, looks good. And he was like, “Nah, I got my own thing.” So Rob [Pilatus] and Fab [Morvan] were breakdancers, and Frank Farren, who did Boney M, who did all these other things, made Milli Vanilli. And he needed these two guys that looked like Terence Trent D’Arby to do the video. He saw them in a club and they did the video, and it went #1 worldwide. So Rob and Fab took Frank’s money and moved to L.A. and hired an L.A. talent agency, who got them on the MTV tour. So the guy Frank, he was like, “If you don’t give me a cut of the money from the tour, I’m going to expose you.” And they were so coked out of their minds, they were like, “Fuck him.” And I was like, “Is someone going to come and kill us? What’s going to have to happen here?” Then it kind of got out a little bit. And the talent agency in L.A. was like, “Keep these fucking guys alive.” And I said, “Well, do you know that they’re travelling with two drug dealers from Miami, and they have suitcases of cocaine?” So it was like that. Frank was following these guys for a year and a half all over the world, and we would always beat them, like we were one step ahead. They’re trying to make it a movie, but no one wanted to talk about it.

“Well, do you know that they’re travelling with two drug dealers from Miami, and they have suitcases of cocaine?”

So it finally got to the point where people started to catch on, because the equipment they used back then, in one live show it got stuck on a loop, and they kept repeating the phrase. And the fans started to boo, it was in Detroit. Then all of a sudden they were like, “Fuck it, we’re going to sing live.” So they started to do the rest of the tour live, and one had the French accent and one had the German accent, and they were out of tune. But the fans were so hysterical that nobody really paid attention, until the night of The Grammys, they were so blow-out on cocaine that Rob sang Fab’s part, and Fab sang Rob’s part, in the accents of the original version. And the people were like, “What the fuck just happened?” This was the Grammys. And that was when it came out.

How did the Misfits team-up come about? 

‘Cause I’m a fan dude. I think they’re the biggest sell-out’s on the planet. Because it came out that they’re doing [the reunion] just to settle a lawsuit. They’re not doing it for the love of the music. So I will not support that at all.

What about the line-up that you worked with? 

Oh, the band was rockin’. It’s 10 times better. The Misfits were awesome, the one who was a prima donna was Jerry Only, back then. Now he’s even worse. I was just a fan and I loved it. They were playing in Minneapolis across the street from where we were doing the Monday night show, and I just went into the bar and said, “Hey, I’ve got this idea.” And we literally walked in. I didn’t ask permission, I just brought them onto live TV.

What’s coming up next for you? 

Recording with the band, we’re doing a video and going on tour. Tomorrow I wrestle in Kentucky and come back for this movie, Saturday I wrestle in New York, Sunday Philadelphia, and Monday in Mexico City. I’m producing a TV show right now, I’ve got two other movies that I’m going to start doing, and I’m just going to do a tour with the band.

Nail in the Coffin: The Fall and Rise of Vampiro is currently making the rounds on the film festival circuit. For more information on Vampiro, follow his official Facebook and Twitter accounts.