1996 was a year of rebellion for Billy
Blaze. Before dropping out of school early in the year, he formed a band
with the star of the Apogee game Monster Bash, Johnny "Dash"
Daniels and his own co-star from Keen IV, "Princess" Lindsey Lawrence.
Their band, Perigee, encountered
brief success - more for its celebrity members than its music, which
mostly involved Billy rapping about various computer games. Eventually,
Lindsey Lawrence was "discovered" by Sony Records Inc. and was
contracted to produce a number of songs in late 1996. After producing
her first record outside of Perigee, she became the international teen
superstar, Princess L.
"Yeah, I remember Billy. He was a really
good friend back when we were in Commander Keen... But when the
computer program-makers stopped doing Commander Keen, he got more
and more... I don't know, he just changed; I was sad when it was all over,
too, but he just didn't like to talk about it - he didn't believe it was
over, really. But that's a good thing, 'cause otherwise I wouldn't be a
famous singer like I am now."
"The only reason we did well in Perigee was that we were doing
something new. Everybody's seen Commander Keen, Princess Lindsey and
Johnny Dash before, but when we started doing music, it was new. Well,
Billy never ditched his old image, y'know? Well, okay, so I stuck my
old slingshot from Monster Bash onto my guitar, but he just
wouldn't let go of the Commander Keen image. So we never moved on from
that and that's why the band broke up. Well, that and Lindsey being
contracted by Sony. We really needed her back-up vocals, so when she
left, I left. And Billy just... I don't know. He was kind of nutty. He was
into some pretty heavy drugs. The next time I saw him was on
World's Wildest Police Chases."
Billy had a reputation amongst his band members as "the junkie". It
is also believed that he was taking skin pigmentation-altering drugs in
order to make his skin unnaturally pale. Perhaps Billy had hoped that he
might someday reprise his role as the Commander Keen computer graphic -
whose skin was albino white due to computer graphic limitations of the
time.
Suspected of dealing in ecstasy shortly
after the band's break-up, the 16-year-old Billy Blaze was hunted by
police and found in a small house in Denver, Colorado. Blaze refused to
come along quietly and a four-hour car chase followed.
Although no evidence of drug dealing was found against Blaze, he
served six months periodic detention for his reckless driving and
attempting to evade police arrest.
But this was not the end of Billy Blaze's fame and fortune.
Like the comeback of the computer game in 1991, Commander Keen was about
to capture the public's imagination yet again.
