Mutant Puppet Rock Band Roolz

It ain't easy being a radioactive carrot . . . or remembering to pretend to be one on the phone.

Do you prefer to do interviews in character?

I can do it either way. I'll do it in character.

What's the origin of the Radioactive Chicken Heads?

We're all, uh, genetically modified experiments to make super . . . super Frankenfoods, giant, uh, sorry. It's been a long time. But, um, we're all part of this experiment. We didn't know it at first. We've been modified mutants to become, um . . . giant chickens, giant vegetables . . . um, I'm sorry. I'm actually not in my character right now. I'm sorry. Let's start over.

We can come back to that.

Let's come back to that.

Do you call what you do “puppet rock”?

I've never called it that. You can call it puppet rock.

Your site referred to Green Jellö [now called Green Jell] as puppet rock.

I did call them puppet rock. We're pretty much puppet rock. We were a band, but we didn't do anything until we saw Green Jellö. They've helped us out a lot over the years. Green Jellö, GWAR, the Residents—we love all those bands.

Why do a “puppet rock” band?

This is who we are. We're not all one persona. We already were the Radioactive Chicken Heads before it was a band.

You already were those genetically modified . . . ?

Yeah. [laughs]

There was a band called Joe and the Chicken Heads. Do you avow any relation?

Joe was our original manager, and originally, he put his name on our band, but he was a human and he had nothing to do with us. Since then, we've become the Radioactive Chicken Heads because the government has insisted that all radioactive products be labeled as such. We didn't really have much choice in the name change.

Maybe it's asking you to step out of character, but are the masks homemade?

They're all homemade and made out of different junk we have laying around. We don't have a method or anything. It's mostly chickens on the farm . . . just the chicken, carrots, tomatoes that were raised around chickens. . . . I don't know. I don't know why we do what we do. Maybe I should redo this interview.

I think it's gone well so far.

Okay. We try to be entertaining whether people like our music or not.

Your band was onThe Tyra Banks Show recently?

Yeah. It was very strange. They gave us 45 seconds to play. They didn't really tell us what was going on. They gave us peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and then told us to get onstage. The audience didn't really like it. We had a lot of fun. They edited it down to make it safe for television. We didn't say anything inappropriate. It seemed like Tyra was taken aback.

It was sort of aGong Show competition?

They tried to find the worst acts they could. But we weren't as bad as they thought we'd be.

Who did you lose to?

We lost to a man who painted a portrait of Tyra Banks while running on a treadmill. It looked nothing like her. It was definitely a fix.

Do you tend to end up on weird shows?

We almost never end up on normal bills. We've played at parking lots, bar mitzvahs, with freak shows. We'll play anywhere that will have us. There really aren't many places for us to play in Orange County. The actual clubs in Hollywood are more open to what we do. In Hollywood, everyone's a freak. We walk down that street in Hollywood, and people don't take a second glance at us. In Orange County, we'll get hit by fruit and soda cans.

Did you want to attempt the origin question again?

Um, I could say that the Radioactive Chicken Heads . . . we . . . I'll just leave it, I guess.

How do you feel about rabbits?

Probably our mortal enemies are rabbits. A big bunny rabbit ate two of my friends, a radish and celery. His name is Bad Bunny, and he's a rabbit that's the size of a dinosaur. He's still out there somewhere looking for me.

How do feel about the comedian Carrot Top?

That's another one of my nemeses. Well, more of an annoyance.

VISIT WWW.MYSPACE.COM/CHICKENHEADS AND WWW.RADIOACTIVECHICKENHEADS.COM FOR MORE ON THE RADIOACTIVE CHICKEN HEADS.