Welcome to part-two of our interview with AEW superstar and God’s Hate frontman Brody King! In part-one of our interview with King, we talked all things God’s Hate and music. He spoke to us about discovering nu metal as a kid, his friendship with Code Orange, and a whole lot more.
So while that first installment was all about music, it only makes sense that part-two is all about wrestling! We asked Brody about how he discovered wrestling, what it means to him to be a member of the House of Black, and even what kind of pop culture has shaped his persona in the ring.
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The Pit: When you were a young dude, what came first – Hardcore or wrestling?
Brody King: Wrestling’s been in my life forever. My earliest memories are watching wrestling with my dad, stuff like that. So since I was probably two or three years old, I was watching wrestling.
The Pit: So your dad was a hardcore fan of wrestling and that’s how it rubbed off on you? When did you start going to shows?
BK: I wouldn’t say my dad was a hardcore fan, but we would watch WWF every week probably. I remember him taking me to a couple live shows when I was a kid. You know, I would say that I was more than a casual fan, but less than like a hardcore fan.
The Pit: What wrestlers had a big impact on you and may have inspired you to get into wrestling?
BK: I mean, I probably wouldn’t be a wrestler if it wasn’t for The Undertaker – that was my guy. I didn’t like the cookie cutter babyfaces. I always liked the darker characters, so The Undertaker was my guy for forever; and then obviously guys like Stone cold Steve Austin and The Rock. Stuff like, you know, the guys that kind of blurred the lines of being a good guy and a bad guy – they were just kind of cool.
When I became a wrestler, then I started diving into Japanese wrestling and [then] really started to deep dive into who I wanted to be as a wrestler.
The Pit: The other day we came across a video on YouTube that absolutely was a blast. It was a video on fellow AEW wrestler Ethan Pages’ channel; it was his toy vlog where he and guests go toy hunting, and we saw that you were involved in one of those videos. Has there been anything from pop culture that has shaped your persona in the ring?
BK: Oh for sure. I mean, there’s constant inspiration. Like McFarland [properties], like Image Comics, anything like Spawn. Obviously you know the House of Black has very dark imagery and we have a very macabre presentation; when we started the House of Black, we wanted to have this persona. When we’re outside of the ring, we do these interviews in suits – we’re like these aristocratic, almost like the Marvel Hellfire Club; it’s like this cult, weird aristocratic society.
But then it’s like, when we’re in the ring, we turn into [these] animalistic-like Bog Witch-like [beings]; we wear fucked up masks and have cloaks and stuff. We’re all covered in tattoos and stuff. So definitely I pull a lot of inspiration from comic books, Magic The Gathering, The Gathering artwork, and stuff like that. And then obviously death metal and black metal imagery, and just metal imagery in general. Like there’s so much to pull from there.
The Pit: Speaking of the House of Black – and we imagine there are several things you could list off – but what is the most rewarding thing that immediately comes to mind regarding being a member?
BK: I feel like having representation for the weird kids on national TV has always been kind of important to me. ‘Cause it’s like I grew up as… I wouldn’t say like a weird kid, but just as a kid that was against the grain. I was into the stuff that wasn’t the norm and it was always hard to find representations outside of, you know, your friends at school or like the bands that you’re listening to. You would see guys on WWF with like a Type O Negative shirt [on] or something like that, but then it turns out that they’re not really into that; someone was kind of styling them or whatever.
But now you have guys like the House of Black, like me, Malaki, Darby Allin, and Ruby Riot, and you have all these guys and girls that are legit into like punk rock, hardcore music, metal music. Like we are the legitimate thing that I wanted to find as a kid. When I see kids come up to our meet and greets and they tell us like, “Hey I wanna talk about music with you guys. What’s your favorite bands?” I see their eyes light up when they talk to us; it’s like we’re doing something for these kids and we’re giving them an outlet that I wanted to have when I was a kid.
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We would like to thank Brody for his time talking to us! You can watch Brody King kick ass on AEW, and check out the latest God’s Hate album via the band’s Bandcamp page. Follow the link below to check out part-one of our interview with Brody King.
Interview: Brody King Of AEW Talks God’s Hate, Hardcore and Nu Metal + Friendship With Code Orange