MURDERDOLLS frontman Wednesday 13 will reunite with onetime MURDERDOLLS members Eric Griffin and Acey Slade on stage for the first time in over a decade this Thursday, August 16 at Lucky Strike Live in Hollywood. The event, which will celebrate the life of former MURDERDOLLS drummer Ben Graves, will see the trio performing some of the group's classic songs. Graves, who also worked with PRETTY BOY FLOYD and DOPE, passed away on May 9 after a year-long battle with cancer. He was only 45 years old. Concerns about Graves's health were first raised when he collapsed during a PRETTY BOY FLOYD gig in Denver last year, according to LA Weekly. Graves was a member of the MURDERDOLLS from 2002 until 2004. He later told Metalliville in an interview that the experience changed his life. "It took a world that I had always fantasized about and made it my reality, which was the whole reason I moved to Los Angeles in the first place," he said. "So joining that band was definitely a good starting point for me." According to Ben, the chemistry between the MURDERDOLLS members was unlike anything he had been involved with. "The original MURDERDOLLS lineup was one of those rare and unique situations where the right people are in the right place at the right time of their lives, and all of those ingredients come together in a way that's not at all premeditated," he said. "I think that happens every once in a while, whether it be in music or art, where something is created that people really respond and connect with." In the same interview, Graves said that he "always wanted to be a drummer. When I first got started, there was really never a question as to what instrument I would play," he said. "When all my friends went out and bought guitars, which seemed to be the instrument that everybody wanted to play, it never crossed my mind to follow — not once. I always just felt very attracted to the drums for some reason. I related to them a lot more naturally than any other instrument. Whenever I would go to a concert, my attention would always be focused on the drummer. Or even when we would hang out after school and watch music videos, I always wished that they showed more shots of the drummer. It just looked incredibly fucking fun to me, and I remember sitting there thinking, or probably even saying out loud, 'I wanna do that!' I think another reason I felt drawn to the drums is because they were 50 percent physical, 50 percent mental. Before I got into drums, I was completely obsessed with martial arts for that same reason. Even before I started playing drums, I always felt very connected to rhythm in general, so it was a natural choice. There's something about drumming that is very primal, and that aspect has always appealed to me."
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