Dukey Flyswatter

Michael David Sonye (; born April 22, 1954), best known by his stage and screen name Dukey Flyswatter, is an American actor, screenwriter, and musician, recognized for his work on numerous low-budget B movies and as singer for the Los Angeles horror punk band Haunted Garage.

Career

Film Flyswatter first began acting as a teenager in community theatre, where at one point he received improvisation lessons from Del Close. 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. 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, HorrorNews.net and 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. In 1988, Flyswatter provided the voice of Uncle Impie, the primary puppet antagonist of David DeCoteaus 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. In 2004, Flyswatter had a major role playing fetish filmmaker Irving Klaw in the Bettie Page biopic Bettie Page: Dark Angel.

Music

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". 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". Following their disbandment in 1993, Flyswatter sang in several other groups including the cross-dressing riot grrrrl parody band Fox Twat, 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. During the 2010s, Flyswatter fronted another Dead Kennedys tribute band, the zombie-themed Undead Kennedys, which, in 2015, was ranked 14th on LA Weeklys list of the top 20 tribute bands in Los Angeles.

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.

Other endeavors In 1991, Flyswatter made a cameo appearance in the music video for Green Jellÿs "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. 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, and has also written several unproduced scripts and projects.

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. 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.

Filmography

As actor Year Film Role Notes1986 Cards of Death Shot on video feature film. Prison Ship Krago AKA Star Slammer. Directed by Fred Olen Ray The Tomb Waiter Directed by Fred Olen Ray1987 Commando Squad Directed by Fred Olen Ray Cyclone Haunted Garage Directed by Fred Olen Ray Surf Nazis Must Die Mengele Directed by Peter George1988 Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama Uncle Impie (the Imp) Directed by David DeCoteau Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers Jake the Bartender Directed by Fred Olen Ray Nightmare Sisters Omar Directed by David DeCoteau The Phantom Empire Picnic Guy Directed by Fred Olen Ray1989 Disgusting Space Worms Eat Everyone!! Ziegler Shot on video feature film. Roller Blade Warriors: Taken By Force Karp Directed by Donald G. Jackson 1990 Dark Romances, Vol. 1 Nightmare Man 1991 Shock Cinema Vol. 3 Self (interviewee) Documentary film on low-budget horror cinema 1993 Breakfast of Aliens Singer for Haunted Garage Directed by David Lee Miller 1995 Lord of Illusions Cultist Directed by Clive Barker1998 Terrors from the Clit The Clit Master Adult film. Directed by Slaine Wayne Zombie Toxin1999 Cool Air Street Bum Short film based on H. P. Lovecrafts "Cool Air" Debbie Does Damnation 2000 Callgirls Undercover 3 Adult film2001 Terrors from the Clit 2 Clit Master Adult film Super Quick 2 P. T. Bone 'Em Adult film. Nominated for Best Non-Sex Performance at the 2002 AVN Awards Wally Wanker's Candy Fuctory Adult film 2002 Deathbed Ghost Man 2004 Bettie Page: Dark Angel Irving Klaw Directed by Nico B. 2006 Dorm of the Dead Alf2009 Chatterbox: Biography of a Bar, San Francisco 1986-1990 Himself (interviewee) Documentary film on the San Francisco punk rock club The Chatterbox. The Crystal Lake Massacres Revisited Himself Mockumentary featured on several Friday the 13th DVDs. 2012 Reel Evil Homeless Man 2013 Lights Out Harry the Homeowner Short film That $#!% Will Rot Your Brain: How the Monster Kids Transformed Popular Culture Himself (interviewee) Documentary film on Shock Theater directed by Robert Tinnell2016Grindsploitation Hamburger2017The Radioactive Chicken Heads ShowDr. Baron von KluckinsteinTelevision pilot; segment: "Pox"

As screenwriter Year Film Notes 1975 Frozen Scream with Doug Ferrin & Celeste Hammond 1986 Prison Ship Story by Sonye, Fred Olen Ray & Miriam L. Preissel1987 Blood Diner Cold Steel Story by Lisa M. Hansen, Dorothy Ann Puzo & Moe Quigley Commando Squad 1989 Out on Bail with Tom Badal & Jason Booth

As composer All with Haunted Garage. Year Film 1987 Cyclone 1988 Nightmare Sisters 1990 Dark Romances, Vol. 2 2000 The Dead Hate the Living! 2009 Night of the Demons

Discography See Haunted Garage#Discography