Philadelphia Region Local News

Ted Scheid
PHILADELPHIA (CBS 3) ― They say that everyone wants to be a rock star at some point in their lives. Likewise, many also have dreams of starring in the cinema. Actor Shane West has the rare gift of being both in his latest film What We Do Is Secret.

West, who is probably best known as his role opposite Mandy Moore in A Walk To Remember or his long running spot in "E.R." as Dr. Ray Bennett, was awarded the Rising Star Award at the Philadelphia Film Festival on April 12.

In What We Do Is Secret, West becomes the spitting image, literally, of punk rock legend Darby Crash, the vitriolic lead singer of Los Angeles-based band The Germs. The film follows the life of Crash up until his death in 1980.

West's standout performance has not only gained attention with cinema-buffs, but it also garnered him the position as lead singer of the reunited Germs. He sat down with CBS3.com to discuss the film and why he is only one of two people alive able to give "Germ Burns."

CBS3.com: How did you get involved in What We Do Is Secret?

Shane West: It was a while ago, I feel like it was four years ago at this point. I had a meeting with Rodger Grossman, the director of the film, and I was interested off the bat of getting the chance to play such an iconic character of Darby Crash…We hit it off. We had drinks in Los Angeles and talked for several hours and I told him I was very passionate about this and he believed it thankfully and we jumped into it headlong."

He had been working on this project for a good 10-15 years and I was part of it for about four. Thankfully we were able to finally finish this film.

CBS3.com: Were you a fan of the Germs before this film?

SW: I was a fan of the scene. I knew of the Germs and new a couple of their songs from whatever may have slightly played on the radio with "Rodney on the Rock" back in the day.

My parents were in bands. My dad was in a punk band when I was born in 1978. They listened to more of the British scene and the CBGB scene in New York. The L.A. scene was a little unknown for me. I knew of the bands, but I wasn't a fan of all the music because I just didn't know about it. This film helped me get back into that and discover more of the bands that have come closer to my heart.

CBS3.com: Darby Crash was quite the character himself. How do you step into shoes like his?

SW: Research and preparation of getting yelled at and being pretty much criticized. I would think that it doesn't even necessarily have to do with Darby or music, for any actor to go into the shoes of anyone who was a real person, to have to play that person, is a difficult to do.

I didn't have much video of Darby. There was The Decline of Western Civilization there was a little bootleg video called "Media Blitz", which was a live show with him, mainly audio, I met and hung out with his family, practiced for months and months with the real band, with Pat, Lorna and Don, to learn his songs, hung out with a lot of his friends.

I got surgery done on my teeth, where I altered my teeth to look like his, had blue contacts for the character. When we actually got into this movie, it was a difficult, difficult movie to make. There was not a lot of money. It was built completely D.I.Y. and all on passion."

CBS3.com: After joining the Germs lineup, was it hard establishing credibility with their fan base?

SW: Absolutely. Nearly impossible. If I wasn't confident in what I was doing, it would have never have happened. I think what kind of turned the tide was touring around with the band, being able to sing with this band.

To play a show in Orange County or play San Francisco, San Jose, San Diego, it was huge for the band now 25 years later.

They threw me to the lions, I mean my first two shows, one was a secret show at the Adolescence at the Echo in Echo Park and I was pretty terrified, and the second show was the very next day in the huge Olympic Auditorium with Suicidal Tendencies and Fear and Flipper and this collection of classic bands. Once I survived those two days, they knew I could give it a shot.

It went from 90 percent negativity at most the shows at to about 15 percent at this point and that's easier to mess around with. It's hard to deal with a whole group of people attacking you. If Pat, Lorna and Don want to do this, they're not going to damage their legacy and tour around with a band they feel is tight, if not tighter than they were back then.

We've amassed a lot more fans, it's been great. The classical punksters have had a blast watching this and the new kids are figuring it out and we're getting the music out there again.

CBS3.com: So now as a member of the band to you have the ability to give Germ Burns?

SW: You're only allowed to have the ability if you've been burned yourself and I was after the show at the Olympic Auditorium. They anointed me as part of the band and Lorna burned me.

What's really funny is that Pat never got one and Don never got one, as a lot of people don't know, so they're not allowed to do it. The only one in the band that can is Lorna and, now of course, myself. But when we went on tour, no one wanted to get a burn from me, they wanted it from Pat or Don, and they couldn't do it, so they could only get it from Lorna and she didn't want to burn everyone.

Eventually, they'd kind of come with their heads tucked down and kind of slap me on the back and go 'Hey, can you…', just not really wanting to talk to me at all. I said 'no' for a long time and I saved it for Chris, the guitar player for the Foo Fighters.

We're trying to keep it for people who truly know the meaning of it and are not just drunk and trying to do something that's tradition.

CBS3.com: How does it feel to be getting the Rising Star Award?

SW: Strange, in a good way. For me, it's more of a shock. It's an amazing surprise and I'm excited about, I'm honored. It's always nice to be acknowledged for the work you've put out. I'm glad that it's come through this film, because it's a film, from an acting perspective, that's worth it more. It's not too teen based or saturated, it's something that's real.

(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

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