Red Voodoo’s Dino McCord Recalls Guy Fieri’s Epic Birthday Party

On Thursday night’s Loudwire Nights (Feb. 13), Dino McCord joined host Chuck Armstrong to celebrate Red Voodoo‘s self-titled debut EP.

Listen to the full conversation in the player near the end of this article.

In the midst of their conversation, McCord talked about how Guy Fieri — yes, that Guy Fieri — financed their EP and what happened after he invited them to perform at his birthday party.

“We never played a birthday party, ever, so our first one is for Guy,” McCord said. “That was really fun, that was in Sebastopol, Calif., and this was at a 200-cap restaurant bar.”

McCord admitted that it felt a little weird, but they weren’t going to turn down the opportunity to play his birthday party. A few days before, he text them and asked them to learn “Killing In the Name” by Rage Against the Machine.

For Red Voodoo — a band that started as a cover band — this wasn’t a totally unsurprising request, though Rage doesn’t exactly fit their sound.

“We learn it, we pull up to the party, we’re nervous as hell,” he recalled.

“Sammy [Hagar] was there [and we had] rehearsed with Sammy a couple of days before to play some of his songs with him. We got there, play the set with Sammy. That was awesome.”

As McCord was recounting this memory, he says that the birthday party was ’80s-themed, and Fieri actually dressed up like Hagar.

“We’re about to play a Metallica song, right, just for fun, and dude, we fucking spot Lars Ulrich in the crowd,” McCord said.

At first, McCord just thought it was a guy dressed up like Ulrich, trying to fit into the ’80s theme. But Red Voodoo’s guitarist, Davin Loiler, was certain it was actually Ulrich thanks to the toothpick and backwards hat.

“That’s fucking Lars,” McCord said, laughing.

“We play ‘Fuel,’ and Lars was like, ‘You guys did awesome. You’re a new band?’ That was super cool.'”

As if that wasn’t mind-blowing enough for McCord and the band, as the night carried on, they were about to learn why Fieri requested “Killing In the Name” to be part of their set.

READ MORE: Tom Morello Recalls Day He Started Working on Guitar Riffs That Would Be on Rage Against the Machine’s Debut Album

“Brad Wilk from Rage Against the Machine is there,” he remembered.

“Oh shit, that’s why he wanted us to play the song. It was pretty cool [and now] we have it in our set when we just want to pull something out of our ass.”

What Else Did Red Voodoo’s Dino McCord Discuss on Loudwire Nights?

• How Red Voodoo first got hooked up with Sammy Hagar and what it means to them to have his support: “Sammy Hagar caught wind of us and we recorded our debut EP with his producer in San Francisco.”
• What the future looks like for their debut full-length: “We probably have 20 songs ready to go and [we’re just kind of] weighing our options and seeing who’s going to bite and what’s going on.”
• Why they love being on the road and playing live: “We have some dates on the East Coast with Vince Neil, we landed our first festival … At the end of the day, we really do thrive being a live band. That’s what we live for.”

Listen to the Full Interview in the Podcast Player Below

Dino McCord joined Loudwire Nights on Thursday, Feb. 13; the show replays online here, and you can tune in live every weeknight at 7PM ET or on the Loudwire app; you can also see if the show is available on your local radio station and listen to interviews on-demand.