Supergroup is an American reality television show which aired on VH1 in 2006. The show followed five well-known hard rock and heavy metal musicians over a 12-day period during which they lived together in a Las Vegas mansion owned by Nico Santucci in order to create, plan and perform a live show together. The show, which aired in seven segments, starred band members Sebastian Bach, Jason Bonham, Scott Ian, Ted Nugent and Evan Seinfeld. Doc McGhee, who had previously worked with Bach and his band Skid Row, appeared as the band's manager.
Journalist Lonn Friend and photographer Ross Halfin, who were long-time contributors for other VH1 features such as Behind the Music, appeared on the show.
Band
The members of the band dubbed their band project Damnocracy, suggested by lead singer Sebastian Bach after hearing Scott Ian say "a god damn democracy, but we can't use 'god damn'" in response to their inability to come up with a band name everybody liked. Previously, the name Fist was also suggested by Sebastian Bach, saying that it means the five of them coming together, like fingers forming a fist. Eventually Sebastian and Ted agreed they had grown to dislike the name Fist.
Another name that was suggested was "Rawdog", then flipped around to "Godwar" by Evan Seinfeld, to which Bach replied that he did not want a band name that he "...had to think about". Ted Nugent suggested the name "Hunting Deer With a Bow and Arrow".
Yet another name that was suggested by Bach was "Savage Animal", but no one else liked the name. Bach liked it because it "rolled off the tongue" and because "rock and roll is a 'savage animal'." Savage Animal became one of the more popular names and became associated with the show, as many people laughed at its cliché title, despite Bach's ardent enthusiasm for the name. Bach's enthusiasm for the name Savage Animal became a popular subject of parody over the internet, with websites like YTMND and YouTube having made videos referencing that particular instance. The "Savage Animal" mania has gone as far as for Bach to be listed as a member of "Savage Animal" instead of "Damnocracy", intentionally or not, on some websites.
One initially proposed name was "Celebutard", a name suggested by Bach prior to "Savage Animal". This name was quickly laughed away.
The band's assumed manager was Doc McGhee, who has managed the likes of Kiss, Scorpions, Mötley Crüe, and Night Ranger. Doc had previously worked with Sebastian Bach in the rock band Skid Row.
The band did not release any albums and disbanded in 2010. Its members returned to their original bands or moved on to new projects.
Band members Sebastian Bach – lead vocals Ted Nugent – lead guitar, backing vocals Scott Ian – rhythm guitar, backing vocals Evan Seinfeld – bass guitar, backing vocals Jason Bonham – drums, percussion
Episodes
Original airing dates Episode 1 – May 21 Episode 2 – May 28 Episode 3 – June 4 Episode 4 – June 11 Episode 5 – June 18 Episode 6 – June 25 Episode 7 – July 2
Episode 1
The band members and Doc meet for the first time for the project. The band starts to explore their "creative space", a large mansion in Las Vegas. On the first rehearsals, they click musically, but are unable to come up with a name. They also meet Danushka Lysek, their chef for the upcoming two weeks, who immediately becomes a constant and easy target for tormenting, and a two-man PR team, whom they immediately disregard as business professionals. The first song also starts to take shape, but an unexpected problem occurs when the rehearsal space turns out to be less proficient for studio recording than expected.
Episode 2
Jason Bonham has to leave because of two Foreigner shows he has to perform at, so the management gets Kid Beyond, a human beatboxer to fill in, as well as a fashion stylist to "update their image" — the band protests vehemently to both approaches (with Bach literally slamming the door in the beatboxer's face).
They do, however, manage to settle on a name, "Fist", which Sebastian explains by "five fingers coming together". Evan and Sebastian start to shape up the lyrics for their first co-written song, but while Evan insists on leaving for a dinner that he was hosting for the group, Sebastian stays and decides to work on the song, along with newly arrived recording engineer Kirk Moll, while Ted leaves to jam with Joe Bonamassa.
Episode 3
The band shows Doc their first song, but Doc is not impressed. Sebastian considers that it's because of an old rift between him and Doc. Evan decides to figure out what happened and talks to Doc, who explains his side of the story.
The band meets two graphic artists, who are to design the band logo. Valerie, the PR person, tells the band that Ross Halfin is coming from England to photograph them later that day. Sebastian insists on taking a jog and a makeover against the majority's will, seemingly upsetting the rest of the group, especially Jason.
During the wardrobe-check for the shoot, the group meets "Heatherette", a styling team, who presents the group a (perhaps deliberately) outrageous set of clothes. (Jason calmly remarks "I'm English", upon being presented a star-spangled jacket.) The group protests, except for Sebastian who picks out a jumpsuit, but is outvoted by the rest of the band, after pointing out that his choice is embarrassing to the rest of the band. At the photoshoot, Ross matches up Sebastian in verbal swashbuckling, much to the amusement of the rest of the band and the PR-team.
The next day, Evan explains his talk with Doc to Sebastian, who decides to settle things with Doc later. Sebastian also discovers the wine-cellar, and shows his discovery to Scott, who explains that the wine he's drinking is "two-buck Chuck", an extremely cheap brand. Sebastian pulls Doc aside at dinner and tries to talk to him, but neither of them shows any enthusiasm to settle things long-term.
Ted and Sebastian start to have second thoughts about the name "FIST". Sebastian has an interview scheduled, but he becomes hard to find and to convince after he decides to "be ready". During a rehearsal, Jason's thumb becomes numb and painful, so he visits a doctor and gets an X-ray, who advises a week of rest — something Jason obviously does not have time for. While Doc tries to enlist famed producer Rob Cavallo to help the band, Scott is visited by his wife (listed by VH1 as "fiancee") Pearl Aday. The band also disregards the idea of writing a ballad.
Episode 4 Doc enlists Rob Cavallo to tell his opinion about their first song, "Take It Back". Cavallo voices his dislike of the song, telling the band that it's "dated" (which Ted considers an insult) and that the beat should be "more punk-like" (which insults Jason). The band, nevertheless, realizes that their views on the song are far too subjective, and sometimes they need a reality check.
Evan finally gets his revenge on Ted, and with the help of Scott, he wakes Ted up by putting his bass amp in front of Ted's door, cranking it up to the maximum and placing the bass nearby so it feeds back and resonates loudly. Ted acknowledges the effort, although he states that his door handle broke, so he could not display a white flag to surrender.
The band, much to the dismay of the management, decides to ditch the name "FIST", and starts wondering about another one. Evan and Scott come up with "Godwar", partly because it's "raw dog" spelled backwards. Sebastian (according to Jason, not entirely surprisingly) disregards the name, and insists on his choice, "Savage Animal", albeit at this radio interview, he only mentions that the band has a couple of ideas. During the final band meeting, Scott notes that things would work much better if it was not for the "damn democracy", which ignites Sebastian to come up with "Damnocracy". The band (and the management) finally agrees. Sebastian's wife Maria Bierk and Evan's wife Tera Patrick also arrive.
Sebastian also starts to show the repercussions of his wine consumption, at one point having a near-romantic talk to a quite puzzled Scott about how he would never change a guitar player. He also insists that the band should watch his performance on TV in the show Gilmore Girls — something no one really seems to enjoy besides him.
At dinner, Jason notes that Robert Plant and Jimmy Page recommended the band to do a cover of the Led Zeppelin song, "Out on the Tiles", because Zeppelin never performed it live. Since it is a song that was born after an idea by Jason's father, John Bonham (whose death also had its 25th anniversary in 2005), the band decides to pay tribute and rehearse the song, albeit all of them point out that playing a Led Zeppelin song recommended by Led Zeppelin comes with a large responsibility. The song's vocal range, however, seems to be a difficulty for Sebastian, who also insists on having constant eye-contact with Jason during songs, something that Jason does not quite understand.
Tera and Evan decide to do a photo shoot, only to later convince Maria to join in and make some photos together. Sebastian enjoys this immensely, but Ted says he is turned off by public displays of sex and leaves.
Episode 5 The band discusses their next day warm-up performance, during which Sebastian and Jason debate their stage show, and while Sebastian insists that the drummer look him in the eye, Jason simply prefers to play his own thing and others to follow.
Ted takes Scott and Evan to a shooting range, where they fire various heavy weaponry. Jason stays home, because he does not like the idea, while Sebastian stays to take a rest. Ted's wife Shemane also arrives, and voices concern about her attitude not being a "rock-star wife" and not fitting in with the other wives, and the band's constant swearing.
Chris, a graphic artist, brings a promotional painting of the superheroic likenesses of the band that he was working on, which amazes the group, save Scott, who's a bit sad about his character looking like "mashed potato". Jason suggests to auction the picture for charity.
Sebastian eventually reaches a low point in inebriation, and starts to ramble during a rehearsal and recording session of a ballad they recently wrote. He insists on Evan to noogie him, and when that happens, the two jokingly start to wrestle on the floor. As soon as Scott can be heard "Here we go..." (and later noting that "I just looked at Jason and said, 'This is gonna get serious in about ten seconds'", possibly referring to experiences he previously talked about in Behind the Music when Anthrax's Charlie Benante and Frank Bello would fight the same way in the studio), Sebastian turns Evan over and pushes him on the floor, not realizing that Evan hits his head on a nearby amp. Evan becomes furious, pushes Sebastian away and tries to punch him. While Sebastian insists that he's just playing, Evan storms out from the room. Scott and Jason try to mediate, but Sebastian also storms out.
The next day, while Jason updates Ted with the news, Evan is still furious about Sebastian being out of control. Sebastian goes to him to apologize, attributing his out of control behavior to the wine. They end up settling things, but Evan clearly states that Sebastian has to cut down on his drinking.
The band gets ready for the performance, although Scott and Jason are worried about playing to "five tourists and ten people holding up Skid Row album covers". The gig eventually turns out to be quite popular, as the band plays "Sin City" (AC/DC) and "Cat Scratch Fever". The group is satisfied, although Doc points out that the songs were not as tight as they could have been, something which the band decides to work on.
The band decides to celebrate at a sushi restaurant, joined by Nikki Benz and Lexie Marie, models for TeraVision, invited by Tera. Evan is shocked to notice that Sebastian is drinking again.
Episode 6