"It was two years of every day working on this stupid thing," Mroz says. "I had to build a whole computer from scratch. It was a big learning curve."
Mroz didn't know how to do it at first, but through his will to make it happen he was able to produce something unique and wonderful. The efforts of his and his band's hard work are documented in the film My Stupid Tribute Band, which chronicles Back in Black's journey from a fun side project to what's become a full time job for guys like Mroz and vocalist Darren Caperna. The band has now celebrated its 20th anniversary.
"Like I say in the movie, when I started this thing, I thought it was silly," Mroz says. "I struggled. I wanted to be a musician my whole life. I wanted so bad to be in this shitty business and dealing with knuckleheads just trying to rip you off. So we've got this stupid band, but we're gonna have some fun, and it kept getting bigger and bigger, and now I do it for a living."
Mroz just finished his final cut of the film after two years of filming and editing. He screened it last November to a test audience of 250 people, where Caperna says Mroz "got teary eyed."
The band will fly to Hollywood for the film's West Coast premiere on Wednesday at the TCL Chinese Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard for the Dances With Films Festival. Back in Black will also perform in front of the theater before the screening.
"To see it put together like that, it was a surreal experience because I didn't realize a lot of footage and the things he put in it, I didn't even know we had it," Caperna says. "So it was fun to see that footage and the transition also from where we started and how we grew. It's amazing to me. Twenty years flew by, but we came a long way."
The film opens with Mroz being interviewed on Vokal Now's digital alternative music station Fuzz Box, talking about Caperna's invitation to audition as a replacement for the actual AC/DC lead singer spot in 2016 when Brian Johnson had to step back from the band because of hearing issues. It's an ideal jumping off point because there is no greater sign of a tribute band's success than getting approval from the group to which it is paying tribute, and Caperna says AC/DC had been following Back in Black for a long time.
"That was surreal," Caperna says of the audition. "I almost missed that call. Mike was sleeping and had his phone off, and he doesn't get up until noon or 1 p.m."
It was also a brave move and the culmination of Back in Black's 20 years of hard work and dedication to be just as good as their inspiration. However, even when you're at that point, Caperna says it's hard to still not act like a fan.
"I got there a day early and we couldn't sleep that night, man," Caperna says. "I was just like oh my God, I'm playing with them. That was the most amazing thing, just being in the room with them, and the hardest part was trying to be professional. I wanna stare at them and watch them play. I knew I had to be the frontman and play my part and they said they appreciate that. They had this one guy who auditioned and he just could not stop staring at them."
Back in Black formed in 2000 with Mroz and Caperna, whom Mroz referred to as his "secret weapon" in the movie because of Caperna's uncanny vocal re-creation of Johnson and original AC/DC singer Bon Scott's loud, high-pitched, commanding voices. The documentary depicts the group's struggles to keep going even in the days when it was just as a hobby, while some of the guys had day jobs or other bands.
"We just had a goal of just getting a gig on a Friday night," says the band's original drummer, Jay Benzi, who stayed with the group for about 12 years and now runs his own marijuana dispensary in southern Oklahoma. "We were not playing at House of Blues every night for 10 years straight."
The band found an audience of 36,000 fans a few years later during a performance at the Bone Bash in Fort Worth, where they went from a supporting act to a featured one when the crowd kept screaming for more songs. They've since gone on to headline thousands of gigs, including at least one show in every House of Blues in the country as well as opening for and performing with groups such as Cheap Trick and The All American Rejects.
"I remember I told Mike when we first started the band and did that one show in front of five people, which was a horrible experience," Caperna says, "I told Mike, 'One day, we're gonna play in front of thousands of people.'"
Just like any endeavor that becomes a full-time job, obstacles got in the way. The film's timeline includes a few instances when Caperna's struggles with alcohol created tension within the group.
"I remember most of the things," Caperna says. "I was aware of all those things, but when I saw them [in the film], I said, 'Wow, I drank a lot.'"
Back in Black's lead guitarist Mike Mroz does his stage imitation of AC/DC's Angus Young while opening for Cheap Trick in 2016.
Courtesy Mike Mroz
"It sucks having that chick come in and screw us, and I always believed in bros before hos in a band," Benzi says. "The truth is I never laid a finger on the girl until after it all went down. She'd show up at my work and show up at my house."
Mroz remembers filming Benzi discussing the moment with him for his documentary at a time when he said the two of them barely spoke to each other.
"It was a little uncomfortable at first," Mroz says. "I said, 'I gotta ask you about this first, and I gotta film it.' It was pretty emotional, and it was good to see him and I realized she manipulated us in the lowest parts of our lives. Now [Benzi and I] are talking and we're good friends again."
All of those moments, no matter how private, still made it in the doc to show the band's growth into a renowned tribute group that's still on tour today.
"Of course, there's drama in every band," Caperna says. "We had moments, but most of the guys we had, we were friendly, and we made sure it was a fun experience, and I think what got us lots of gigs is we had a reputation of working well with sound guys and we just rolled with it. We never got upset or aggravated, and we just flowed with everything and made sure it was fun for everybody."
