Dukey Flyswatter

Flyswatter first began acting as a teenager in community theatre, where at one point he received improvisation lessons from Del Close.{{cite web |url=http://dorkswithoutfaces.com/newmicroshock/?p=2127 |title="Hey You, In the Front Row – You Want a Wish?" (An Interview with Michael "Dukey Flyswatter" Sonye) |publisher=dorkswithoutfaces.com |date=November 29, 2012 |author=Baughman, Rhoda |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131219003746/http://dorkswithoutfaces.com/newmicroshock/?p=2127 |archive-date=December 19, 2013 |df=mdy-all }} His earliest screen credit came in 1975, when he worked as a script doctor on a draft of the screenplay for the horror film Frozen Scream, which was famously listed as one of the original "video nasties"; though the film was not banned outright, it still remains unreleased in the United Kingdom.{{cite web |url=http://www.realmofhorror.co.uk/nasties2.htm |title=Video Nasties – A review of all 74 films that made the DPP hitlist. |publisher=realmofhorror.co.uk}} Nearly a decade later, Flyswatter struck up a partnership with prolific low-budget director Fred Olen Ray. With Ray, Flyswatter penned the screenplays for his films Prison Ship and Commando Squad, both of which he acted in, and appeared in minor roles in films including The Tomb, Cyclone and Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers.

In 1987, Flyswatter wrote the screenplay for the campy horror comedy Blood Diner. A loose remake of the 1963 Herschell Gordon Lewis film Blood Feast, Blood Diner has since been dubbed a "cult classic" by horror fans and websites such as Dread Central,{{cite web |url=http://www.dreadcentral.com/news/47150/exclusive-interview-and-photos-tim-sullivan-adam-rifkin-and-anton-troy-chillerama-road-to#axzz2ngMby2t1 |title=Exclusive Interview and Photos: Tim Sullivan, Adam Rifkin and Anton Troy |date=September 12, 2011 |publisher=Dread Central}} HorrorNews.net{{cite web |url=http://horrornews.net/67266/film-review-blood-diner-1987/ |title=Film Review: Blood Diner (1987) |author=Martin, Todd |date=February 24, 2013 |publisher=HorrorNews.net}} and GeekNation.{{cite web |url=http://geeknation.com/podcasts/killer-pov-ep-5-the-flocking-of-a-birdemic-2/ |title=Killer POV: Ep. 5 |publisher=GeekNation}} The same year, he appeared in a co-starring role as the villainous Mengele in the infamous Troma-produced Surf Nazis Must Die, itself also considered a "cult classic", albeit as one of the worst movies ever made.{{cite web |url=http://www.allmovie.com/movie/surf-nazis-must-die-v47931 |title=Surf Nazis Must Die (1987) |publisher=Allmovie}} In 1988, Flyswatter provided the voice of Uncle Impie, the primary puppet antagonist of David DeCoteau{{'}}s Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama.

Since the 1990s, Flyswatter has mostly played cameos in smaller-budgeted independent horror films, though also appeared in a string of adult films playing comedic non-sex roles such as "The Clit Master" in the Extreme Associates film Terrors from the Clit and "P. T. Bone 'Em" in the superhero parody Super Quick 2, the latter of which earned him a nomination for "Best Non-Sex Performance – Film or Video" at the 2002 AVN Awards.{{cite web |url=http://www.avn.com/movies/20473.html |title=AVN – Super Quick 2 |publisher=AVN.com}} In 2004, Flyswatter had a major role playing fetish filmmaker Irving Klaw in the Bettie Page biopic Bettie Page: Dark Angel.

File:DukeyHaunted14.jpg

In 1985, Flyswatter formed the horror punk/heavy metal band Haunted Garage in Los Angeles, where he filled the role of lyricist and lead singer at the behest of the band's bassist – as he recalled in a 2013 interview, "I hadn't done any singing, except [while] being drunk".{{cite web |url=http://weirdestbandintheworld.com/2013/11/03/weird-interview-haunted-garage/ |title=Weird Interview: Haunted Garage |publisher=The Weirdest Band in the World |date=November 3, 2013}} It was during the formation of the band that he created his Dukey Flyswatter nickname and stage persona. Wanting to be an "Isaac Hayes/Escape from N.Y./Duke of LA-type character", he adopted the name "Dukey", while "Flyswatter" was suggested by a bandmate. As he said in a 2012 interview, "Michael Sonye was gone and Dukey Flyswatter stayed...Michael Sonye was the reserved one and Dukey Flyswatter was the persona, the artist, and he was really out there".

Noted for their bloody and prop-filled live shows, irreverent B movie-inspired lyrics and Flyswatter's manic shock rock stage antics, Haunted Garage became a prominent fixture in the Los Angeles underground throughout the late 1980s and early 1990s, recording music for and appearing onscreen in several low-budget horror films including Cyclone and Nightmare Sisters before eventually signing to Metal Blade Records to release their sole LP Possession Park in 1991.{{cite web |url=http://blogs.laweekly.com/westcoastsound/2013/10/haunted_garage_dukey_flyswatte.php |title=These '80s Horror Punks Are Back From the Dead |date=October 25, 2013 |author=Hermann, Andy |publisher=LA Weekly}} Following their disbandment in 1993, Flyswatter sang in several other groups including the cross-dressing riot grrrrl parody band Fox Twat,{{cite web |url=http://www.sfweekly.com/1998-10-07/music/house-of-tudor/ |date=October 7, 1998 |author=Tudor, Silke |title=House of Tudor |publisher=SF Weekly}} the Dead Kennedys tribute Hemorrhoid in Cambodia and the Dead Boys tribute Moronic Reducer, the latter of which was showcased in the 2001 tribute band documentary Tributary: A Study of an American Pop Culture Subculture.{{cite web|url=http://www.j51.com/~gnome/HG/related.html |title=Related Bands |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20011227122555/http://www.j51.com/~gnome/HG/related.html |archive-date=December 27, 2001 }}{{cite web |url=http://www.sfweekly.com/1999-03-17/music/the-house-of-tudor/ |title=The House of Tudor |publisher=SF Weekly |author=Tudor, Silke |date=March 17, 1999}} During the 2010s, Flyswatter fronted another Dead Kennedys tribute band, the zombie-themed Undead Kennedys, which, in 2015, was ranked 14th on LA Weekly{{'}}s list of the top 20 tribute bands in Los Angeles.{{cite web |url=http://www.laweekly.com/music/the-20-best-tribute-bands-in-los-angeles-5422207 |title=The 20 Best Tribute Bands in Los Angeles |publisher=LA Weekly |date=March 10, 2015}}

After a series of one-off reunion shows spanning from 1995 to 2008, Haunted Garage re-formed in 2013 with an all new line-up, featuring Flyswatter as the only original member. In 2016, with producer Paul Roessler, the band released the EP Slenderman and Other Strange Tales, their first studio release in twenty five years. The EP was re-issued on vinyl in 2020, featuring two newly-recorded tracks.

In 1991, Flyswatter made a cameo appearance in the music video for Green Jellÿ{{'}}s "The Misadventures of Shitman", which was later released on their video tape Cereal Killer. In 1992, he appeared with Haunted Garage on The Montel Williams Show alongside Sean Brennan of London After Midnight in a special about gothic rock and the vampire subculture.{{cite web |title=London After Midnight F.A.Q. |url=http://www.londonaftermidnight.com/construct.html |publisher=London After Midnight}} Flyswatter's eyeball is featured as the cover of Transmissions from Planet Awesome, a 1998 album by punk rock band ADZ, a side project of Adolescents singer Tony Cadena. ADZ additionally recorded a song called "Flyswatter" in tribute to him which appeared on the 1999 compilation Odz 'n' Sodz.

Flyswatter has also appeared in numerous projects by the comedy punk band the Radioactive Chicken Heads, including a cameo appearance in their 2013 music video "Atom the Amazing Zombie Killer" and portraying Elvis Presley in their 2015 stage play The Radioactive Chicken Heads Tanksgiving Special at The Steve Allen Theater. For the release of the band's 2017 concept album Tales From The Coop, Flyswatter played the role of the narrative's antagonist Dr. Baron von Kluckinstein, contributing vocals to the album and playing the character in the Chicken Heads' accompanying television pilot The Radioactive Chicken Heads Show.

Flyswatter is an avid fan and collector of vintage horror and exploitation cinema, and served as a creative consultant on Fred Olen Ray's 1985 Sleazemania!, a video compilation of exploitation trailers from the 1930s through the 1960s. He has written articles about horror and Halloween-related media and events for The Los Angeles Beat,{{cite web |url=http://thelosangelesbeat.com/author/dukey-flyswattery-flyswatter/ |title=Dukey Flyswatter – The LA Beat |publisher=The Los Angeles Beat}} and has also written several unproduced scripts and projects.

At one point, a nude portrait of Flyswatter as the god Pan painted by lowbrow artist Stacy Lande was hung in the home of Clive Barker.{{cite book |last=Lande |first=Stacy |year=2001 |title=The Red Box: The Phantasma-Allegorical Portraits of Stacy Lande |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8hLmJS7pDaUC&q=%22dukey+flyswatter%22&pg=PT16 |location=p. 13 |publisher=Last Gasp of San Francisco|isbn=9780867195002 }}

In late 2018, it was announced that Flyswatter would receive brain surgery to remove a tumor near his visual cortex, for which Haunted Garage performed a benefit show nine days prior to his surgery.{{cite web |url=https://thelosangelesbeat.com/2018/11/benefit-for-dukey-flyswatter-at-cafe-nela-saturday/ |title=Benefit for Dukey Flyswatter at Cafe NELA Saturday |date=November 27, 2018 |author=Thompson, Elise |publisher=The Los Angeles Beat}} As detailed on the band's social media, the tumor was successfully removed and declared benign, and Flyswatter returned to performing live with Haunted Garage just six months later with a show in Los Angeles on May 18, 2019.

All with Haunted Garage.

:See Haunted Garage#Discography

{{reflist}}

• {{IMDb name|id=0814516}}
• [https://www.facebook.com/pages/Haunted-Garage/118248623938 Haunted Garage] on Facebook
• [https://www.facebook.com/UndeadKennedys Undead Kennedys] on Facebook

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Category:1954 births

Category:20th-century American male actors

Category:American heavy metal singers

Category:American male film actors

Category:American punk rock singers

Category:Horror punk musicians

Category:American male screenwriters

Category:Jewish American screenwriters

Category:Male actors from Los Angeles

Category:Living people

Category:Screenwriters from California

Category:21st-century American Jews