The Broken Homes: An Interview With Bass Player Jimmy Ashhurst

Originally published in Rave-Up #17 (1989)
By Devorah Ostrov

The Broken Homes - publicity photo

"The band has been misunderstood over the years." Jimmy Ashhurst, bassist for the Broken Homes, isn't complaining about the lack of recognition his group has received so much as he's trying to understand why.

"It seems like it's been difficult for business people — record company people and agency people — to figure out what kind of band we are. We're just a rock 'n' roll band. It's not that difficult to figure out, but you can't sit 'em down and explain it. You feel like an idiot! You just kind of go, 'Fuck, what are you? Stupid!?' But that doesn't help your situation. And until they figure it out, you're fucked! I don't mean to sound bitter or cynical... but I am."

Although you wouldn't guess it from Jimmy's rant, the Broken Homes were easily signed to MCA and have just completed two major tours supporting the Georgia Satellites and Joan Jett. When he phoned, the guys were entering the studio to record a cover of Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Born on the Bayou" for an upcoming Oliver Stone movie, as well as preparing material for their third album.

The Broken Homes first grabbed my attention when Stiv Bators, an early fan of the group, played me a demo tape he'd confiscated. However, it wasn't until their second LP, Straight Line Through Time, that I actually had a chance to immerse myself in their bluesy rhythms and soul-searching lyrics.

Their next album promises to deliver more of the same, with a few slight variations on the theme. "There'll be a couple of weird influences this time," remarks Jimmy.

Straight Line Through Time LP (back cover pic)
Photo: Jim Herrington

It seems that singer Michael Doman has taken a profound interest in '70s super-funk group Sly and the Family Stone.

"That might creep into the album somewhere," warns Jimmy. "I'm kinda hoping it doesn't, but it may."

Andy Johns, whose credentials read like a who's who of rock 'n' roll, will be producing the new album, and Jimmy hopes this will give the Homes some additional clout. "You can't get much more famous than Andy Johns," he says. "If that's what it takes, we've got it."

And hopefully, MTV will treat the next Broken Homes' video with more respect than the last one. "The Howling," from Straight Line Through Time, was subjected to the ridicule of Smash It or Trash It during the "Yo MTV Raps" hour. Guest host Jazzy Jeff added insult to injury by declaring: "Broken Home boys... Go home!"

Not surprisingly, the video was soundly trashed and thrown into the abyss termed "light rotation." Or as Jimmy laments, "Whatever they call it when it's shown at 4:30 in the morning."

The history of the Broken Homes and Jimmy's own musical career follow no established pattern. In fact, until a chance meeting with the Damned's Rat Scabies, Jimmy had no idea what he wanted to do in life. He laughs as he recalls Rat's advice: "Rat basically convinced me that I would be useless unless I learned how to play an instrument."

The two met up while Jimmy was "dirt-bagging it" around Europe a few years ago. He ended up staying with Rat in London, where the drummer gave him a bass and taught him how to play it. When he eventually returned to Los Angeles, Jimmy kept busy by joining five different bands at the same time.

L-R: Kreg Ross, Jim Swahl, Michael Doman, Jimmy Ashhurst, Michael Graves

During a show with "some silly punk band," Jimmy found a note attached to his amp. It was from the one group he wasn't already part of — the Broken Homes. The note said: "We've got management and we've got a gig at the Roxy. If you wanna do it, ring us up."

"I'd never played the Roxy before," observes Jimmy, explaining what initially appealed to him about joining the band. "I thought that was really cool!"

After the Roxy, things happened fast. "We were virtually signed at that show," he says. "All of a sudden, all these guys in suits and ties appeared out of nowhere!"

Due to the dismal Hollywood club scene a couple of years ago, the Broken Homes found themselves gigless for almost a year between their first and second albums. But that didn't stop Jimmy from playing.

He can be heard backing up Stiv Bators on his solo single "Story in Your Eyes"/"Have Love Will Travel," issued through Bomp. "We were up for a few days and decided to make a record," remembers Jimmy about that collaboration. "It got really hairy after about four days with no sleep! At the very end, Hein Hoven [Damned producer] came in with a Fairlight computer and mucked everything up."

Straight Line Through Time 

 (RCA - 1988)

A second venture with Stiv also involved Slim Jim Phantom of the Stray Cats and Broken Homes' guitarist Kreg Ross. Although never released (to Jimmy's knowledge), the unlikely foursome recorded versions of Slade's "Gudbuy T' Jane" and the Hurriganes' "I Will Stay."

Jimmy also lent his talents to the Damned, playing bass on "Would You" (featuring Rat's girlfriend on vocals), which appears on the B-side of the obscure "Shadow of Love" Ten Inches of Hell mix.

More recently, Jimmy could be seen onstage with Finnish rockers Smack, who were in Los Angeles looking for a label deal. While they searched for a permanent bassist, Jimmy was recruited for their Southern California gigs.

"I really liked playing with Smack," says Jimmy. "I was getting real lazy with the Homes. Not only is our music more laid back, but we've been doing it for so long that rehearsals are just a joke. Playing with Smack woke me up. It was good for me to have to learn three albums worth of material in a week!"

Of course, no side project could pull Jimmy away from his commitment to the Broken Homes. And while he wishes his band was better known, he's taken a commendable stand on the subject of selling out. "We're sticking to our guns," he firmly states. "We're not gonna change anything for the quick buck. That could've been easily done, and it hasn't. People will realize that our music is good, whether they realize it now or five years from now. We will be recognized at some point in time. That's compensation enough for me."

It Was 1980! The Specials Were Doing Their First US Tour & We Were Publishing The First Issue Of Idol Worship: An Interview With Sir Horace Gentleman

Originally printed in Idol Worship #1 (May 1980)
Interview by Devorah & Joey

Devorah interviews Sir Horace Gentleman for Idol Worship #1

Photo: Vicki Berndt

The Specials were in the Bay Area awhile back, playing their "special" brand of reggae to packed halls. After we'd attended several of their shows, Sir Horace Gentleman was nice enough to let us interview him following the show at the S.F. Warfield Theater.

IDOL WORSHIP: Did you expect this big of a response in America?

HORACE: Not at all. I was very worried because reggae doesn't seem to have taken off here. I kept imagining that someone would come up to us and say, "It's alright, but your rhythm guitarist is playing a beat behind."

IW: How would you define the type of music you play?

H: It's dance music, based on early Jamaican music, which is SKA.

IW: Is there a large reggae or SKA scene in England?

H: There is now. We just had a number one single in the singles charts!

Chrysalis advert for the debut album

IW: Which one?

H: It's a live EP which was recorded on our last tour, with "Too Much Too Young," "Guns of Navarone," and a medley on the other side.

IW: What size halls do you guys play back in England?

H: On our last tour, it was these size halls [Warfield] and bigger — but without seats in! That was one of our prime considerations, that there would be no seats on the dance floor and that there would be no restrictions as far as age.

IW: Where did you get the band's name from?

H: We used to be called the Automatics, and then the Coventry Automatics, because we heard of a band in London called the Automatics and they had a record deal. We were offered some gigs on tour with the Clash in England in 1978, and the day we were to do the first show, we got a letter from the London Automatics' lawyer saying, "You are not to use the word 'Automatics' in your name or else you will be sued." So, we had like four hours to sort of change the name. We just threw some names around in the van and decided about five miles from the gig that it would be THE SPECIALS.

IW: How long did it take before everyone said, "Hey, this is great!"

H: About March or April of last year, it started to get good. We finally got "Gangsters" released — we released it ourselves, by an organization called Rough Trade.

IW: When did Chrysalis pick up the group?

H: After "Gangsters" was released. We met Rick, who's our manager, and he got our record out to the DJs. In England, there's a late-night show, done by a bloke called John Peel. He plays independent singles and new wave stuff four nights a week, and he played "Gangsters" a hell of a lot! Then it crossed over to the daytime DJs, and then it became one of the DJs "Records of the Week." Then we did some gigs in London and people began to take some interest, and then the record company thing started. Chrysalis was just the best of the bunch. We said, "We want our own label; we want to sign other bands onto this label and we want total control over it." It really got silly towards the end. WEA were ringing us up saying, "This Chrysalis deal, we'll double it." It was bonkers!

IW: How did you decide to do your promotions in black and white?

H: We were blessing the '60s, sort of the mods and skinheads. It's not just the mods and skinheads, but a complete mixture of styles. Black and white was kind of like pop art and op art. All of the mods used to have black and white checks on the handlebars of their scooters, so the black and white checks came in that way. Black and white was very simple. Plus, as far as the LP cover goes, it was cheaper. We could've had a full-color sleeve, but the album would have cost a bit more.

IW: Is it true that you guys don't like the London scene? That you want to stay in Coventry?

H: Yeah. Brad, our drummer, is the only one who lives in London. I tend to get complacent. The reason I don't want to live in London is because one day I looked in the paper and saw I could go to see the Talking Heads at the Hammersmith Palais, the Jam at the Rainbow, the Bodysnatchers at the Windsor Castle, and so on. But I get really complacent. So, we all live in Coventry, where nothing happens. But when something does happen, it's great! It becomes a major event. I like it there. There are people there who know me as a van driver, which was the job I had before I joined the band. And they keep saying, "When are you going to get a decent job?" That keeps your feet on the ground, which I think is important.

IW: What kind of music do you guys like to listen to?

H: When I'm off the road, I listen to anything but reggae, blues, and SKA. No, that's not true. Everyone has very individual tastes. I'm into sort of old Tamla-Motown. I don't know what the other people listen to.

IW: How does the English scene differ from the American scene?

H: The English scene picked up a lot faster. If a band is good, it travels very quickly by word of mouth. London is like the nerve center of England. Perhaps in America, it's split a bit between New York and Los Angeles. I don't know if you'd agree with that or not.

The Specials with SVT at Tresidder Ballroom

Stanford, California - February 15, 1980

IW: Yeah. Have you guys done any TV shows, like Top of the Pops?

H: Yeah. We've done TOTP and the Whistle Test.

IW: Did you hear what happened when they played your record on American Bandstand?

H: "Gangsters"? Someone said it was too punk!

IW: Yeah. Some girl from Texas said, "It's too punk! I can't dance to it."

H: Can't dance to it... That's ridiculous!

IW: That's what we said!

H: That's funny. It makes me laugh.

IW: Are you going to do any American TV shows?

H: There was a rumor that we might do a Saturday Night Live. They want us to do it sometime late in March, but we'll be heavily into recording schedules then, so I don't know about it. Stop asking me serious questions. Ask me some silly questions now!

IW: What's your favorite breakfast food?

H: Peanut butter on toast! Makes me very anti-social to the rest of the band.

IW: What brand of shampoo do you use?

H: The cheapest. Do you have a car? Could you give me a lift back to the hotel?

IW: Sure, but we have to take a bus to get to the car. We can lend you a quarter.

H: Alright, then.

IW: Is it hard for all seven of you to get along on the road?

H: Yeah! No, actually it's nice because if you're fed up with a particular person, you can go talk to someone else. There are three sort of cliques in the band. There's the blacks, the low-life humans, and the sensibles. Blacks are sort of like the marijuana culture. Roddy, although he's white, is a black because he's into the marijuana culture and he's sometimes a low-life human too. I tend to be king of the sensibles, although I have become a bit low-life of late.

IW: Did you get to see Alcatraz?

H: Only briefly. I didn't get to take a boat out to it, which is annoying. I bought some lovely postcards with a view of Alcatraz saying, "Lovely time, wish you were here."

IW: Well, you can go to Trafalgar Square and write us a letter about it, and we'll go to Alcatraz and write you a letter about it. We can exchange tourist t-shirts.

The bus ride to the car - Horace sits with Idol Worshiper Sue

Photo: Vicki Berndt

H: Yeah, awful Beefeater t-shirts! That's one of the nice things about coming out here. I can be a total tourist. The other week I was paddling in the Pacific, and the connotations of me living in England and paddling in the Pacific was like, something tremendous! Although it was freezing, and people thought I was stupid.

IW: Do you enjoy touring?

H: Well, I haven't much choice, have I? Yes, I do! I never thought, two years ago, that I'd be stomping around America. I've always wanted to come to America.

IW: How did you get the name Sir Horace Gentleman?

H: It's like the reggae names. Everyone's got funny names. Brad's name is Prince Rimshot, sometimes.

IW: Where do you guys get your suits?

H: Second-hand stores, mostly. Now some band members have money and have been known to buy full-price suits. I disapprove of that whole-heartedly. The suit I wore tonight, that grey one, cost me six quid — $12. I got some lovely button-down shirts in a Goodwill store the other day for $1.89 each. I bought six! This girl that works at ... was just telling me about that store, but their suits are $40. That's 20 quid!

IW: The thing is, the stuff they have you already own. That's why they stock it, so we can look like our favorite bands!

H: When we started out, we were dressing like our audience, sort of like skinheads. Now that we're getting popular, people are beginning to dress like us.

IW: How did you like working with Elvis Costello on your record?

H: Fine! It was alright.

IW: Are you going to work with him on the second album?

H: No, I don't think so. We're going to use Dave Jordan, who's the engineer on the first album and does our sound onstage.

Chrysalis advert for The Specials appearance on

Saturday Night Live

IW: Are there times you wish you had just stayed a van driver?

H: Sort of the split second before the plane's about to land and sometimes one or two minutes before I go onstage. I get a bit nervous all the time, but that's all. If I can cope with a hangover in Los Angeles, then I'm alright!

IW: What do English people think of Americans? Do they have any stereotypes?

H: Yes, of course, they do! We get the tourists — like the fat bloke with the Bermuda shorts and Hawaiian shirts, three cameras, and a hat. Or else those suits with the massive checks.

IW: Plaid!

H: I suppose you have the stereotyped Englishman — the pinstriped suit, bowler hat and umbrella, going, "Awfully, awfully nice to see you." It works both ways.

IW: Did you do any Midwestern shows?

H: Oklahoma City, Salt Lake City...

IW: How did those go?

H: Oklahoma City was really funny! The Police were meant to do two shows there, but they pulled out of the gig because of Sting's voice and Stuart Copeland's back. So, we ended up doing one show in Oklahoma City — actually, it was in Norman, which is just outside of Oklahoma City in a 600 capacity theater. I was really worried about it being a "redneck" state and the announcer saying, "I'm sorry, all you Police fans. The Police aren't playing, and now here's a band from England that you've never heard of, that doesn't play rock 'n' roll." I was really worried, but we went on and it went great. It was nice getting back to an audience that had never heard of us before, grabbing them by the throat and saying, "You will dance!"

IW: I noticed at Stanford that a lot of people don't know what reggae is, or how to dance to it, but they enjoyed it anyway. Even if it wasn't the punk rock they expected.

H: Yes, they sort of pogo slowly. Dancing to reggae is really fascinating; it's a lot slower... [Here Horace gives us a lesson in skanking.] You've got to see people like Neville and Lynval do it. Reggae is on the second and fourth beat, that's where the bass drum goes and that's how you dance to it.

Full-page Chrysalis advert
Trouser Press magazine - May 1980

IW: How long have you been playing the bass?

H: Do you have a lot of room in your fanzine? I've got quite a nice story. When we were doing those dates at the Music Machine with the Clash, on the last day, I spoke to Paul Simonon, who's quite a shy bloke actually, and he says, "I really like your bass playing. How long have you been playing?" I said, "I've been playing for eight years, but only seriously for the last three years." He turns around and scratches his head and says, "Yeah, I wonder when I'll start taking it seriously." Which was the perfect answer from one of the Clash.

IW: Do you get much time to look around the cities?

H: We had a couple of days off in Los Angeles, and it was really nice. I got to put my feet in Cary Grant's footsteps, and I got to see the Hollywood sign and all that!

IW: Did you go to Disneyland?

H: Yes! It was amazing! We went on Space Mountain and the Pirates of the Caribbean and the Haunted House... It was great!

IW: Did any movie stars come to see your shows in Los Angeles?

H: Randy California from Spirit came on the last night and was seen dancing but was probably drunk. I did get to meet Rod Stewart's bass player...

IW: Was Andy Warhol there when you played New York? [One of the IW editors has an Andy Warhol fetish — Other Ed.]

H: No, but Ian Hunter and Mick Ronson were going to come to the gig in New York, but only if they could stand in the sound booth. We said, "Either you're in there with the punters, or forget it."

Here Horace gathers up his clothes and we all catch the bus back to the car. On the bus, Horace clears up a misunderstanding...

IW: Is it true you guys don't like the Clash? I saw you tearing up the cover of a magazine with a picture of Joe Strummer on it at the record store.

H: NO! NO! That's not true at all! The reason for that was because they were giving them to us for nothing. They had to rip the top off so they could send them back as damaged. Christ, the Clash are great!

Idol Worship #1 featuring the Specials,
the Clash & Madness
(Clash photos by Vicki Berndt)

On the ride to the car, we pass Haight Street, which Horace was excited to see since he was somewhat of a hippie a few years back.

We met up again later at the Mabuhay where Horace, Brad, Terry and Jerry were watching the Go-Go's, who'd opened for them in LA. After advising him against the Mab's fare, Gwen, Spike, Vicki and Sue took the famished bass player to Zim's for a late-night snack.

Everyone laughed as he showed us his Roddy Radiation imitation. (Suck in your cheeks, bend your ears out, and say "Bollocks!") And the wire-rimmed glasses Horace wears offstage are fake! He picked up several pairs in Seattle so he can "look like a professor on a lecture tour rather than a pop star." We also got clued in that one of the Clash is married! It seems that some years ago, a member of the group married a European girl for several hundred pounds so he could buy his first guitar and she could get British citizenship. (When the Clash were here, this story was confirmed by sources close to the group — they're still married legally, but he "hasn't seen her for years.")

Finally, in the early morning hours we dropped Horace off at his hotel to get a bit of rest before his 7am flight, and these IWers headed home with some memories of a very Special night.

Syl Sylvain Talks About The Teardrops (And The Dolls And The Criminals)

Originally published in do-Wop #2 (1981)
By Devorah Ostrov

Syl Sylvain and the Teardrops (RCA Records 1981)

"In America today it's like... well, like beating your head against the wall." Syl Sylvain is sat beneath the covers in his Los Angeles hotel room, telling me why it's been difficult getting his songs heard. 

"They just want a lot of hype," he says. "They want to see the Plasmatics or something."

Syl arrived in Los Angeles on tour to promote his new group, the Teardrops, and his new LP, Syl Sylvain and the Teardrops.

So far, all the shows (New Orleans and Texas) have gone smoothly, although Syl hasn't been pleased with the advance publicity — or more specifically, the lack thereof — for the tour and the album. "They [RCA Records] don't seem to realize... Even though we're a brand-new act, we don't need a hype-type advertisement. But you still gotta tell people that we're around! That's why we came here. If it were up to them, we wouldn't have even come out here."

"They see us as an East Coast-regional sort of band," he continues. "We just want to entertain period. We're not trying to entertain kids just in New York or anything like that. We want to go anywhere that they want us."

L-R: Danny Reid, Syl Sylvain, Rosie Rex

RCA publicity photo by Kate Simon

Even RCA's refusal to support a Teardrops tour couldn't stop Syl from doing it anyway.

"You know how we got out here?" he asks. I tell him that I heard something about how they drove across the Mojave Desert in a borrowed Chevy Chevette.

"After RCA passed on the tour, we got a couple of vehicles and decided to make the trip. Somebody stole the car like three or four days before we started out! But this fan of ours had moved out to New York. She doesn't drive her car, so she lent it to us. That's how we made the trip, in her little Chevy Chevette."

It should be added that a few days later, while in San Francisco, the Chevy Chevette wound up in the middle of a Teardrops vs. Cholos war outside the York Hotel and came out of it with a smashed front windshield. Syl has the worst luck with cars.

Syl was born Sylvain Mizrahi in Cairo, Egypt, and spent several years of his childhood living in Paris before his family immigrated to the US. "I always had a hard time," he giggles. "People were making fun of my clothes even when I first got over here. I had brown shoes, and brown shoes were like, WHOA! And I had 'suiciders' [platform shoes so big you could supposedly jump off them and commit suicide], and that was WHOA too!"

Sylvain Sylvain (circa 1981)

Photo: Vicki Berndt

This seems like a good place to insert a condensed history of Syl's first (and some might say most notorious) group: The New York Dolls. Sylvain was going to school in Queens, with his best friend Billy Murcia (the Dolls' original drummer, he died before their first album was recorded) and Johnny Genzale (Thunders), when he decided to form a band.

"The name Dolls is mine," he states, despite some reports that give Johnny the credit. In the beginning, Syl actually tried to kick Johnny out of the group because he was "a bit of a hard-on." However, Johnny returned, proved his worthiness, and wasn't sacked after all. Lead singer David Johansen was introduced to the guys by the same friend who later introduced Syl to Rosie Rex (now the Teardrops' drummer) — and the New York Dolls were unleashed upon the world!

New York Dolls publicity photo

L-R: Arthur Kane, Jerry Nolan, David Johansen,

Syl Sylvain and Johnny Thunders

As well as being accountable for the Dolls' moniker, Syl was also largely responsible for their look. Before the Dolls, Syl had been a fashion designer. In fact, he made the first pair of láme jeans! And he designed the silver lamé jumpsuit that he wore on the back of the Dolls' debut LP. He describes it as "the wet look before the wet look came in."

When I beg Syl to divulge the sleaziest story he can about the Dolls, he hesitates and says that everything they did came naturally. But he doesn't have any problem when it comes to the sleaziest person involved with the Dolls — that would be Malcolm McLaren.

"Malcolm used to say he was our manager," remarks Syl. "Well, that's the sleaziest story I've ever heard! Anybody that could've gotten us red pants could've been our manager."

The pants he's referring to were part of the controversial Red Patent Leather — "better red than dead" — outfits the band once wore. Since the Dolls were never politically inclined, it's interesting how Malcolm, the Dolls, and the red pants became entangled in that infamous performance.

Advert for Syl's first solo album

Sylvain Sylvain released in 1979 (RCA)

"It wasn't as much of a political thing as people think," asserts Syl. "Like I said, it started with one pair of red pants. Then everybody said, 'I want red pants!' And then... 'Let's get the red shoes.' Then, when it was all red, Malcolm's great idea was, 'Let's hang up the red flag now.' David thought that was a great idea, and basically, they were the only ones who liked it."

"David wasn't my spokesman," Syl points out, "but people would look at that show and think, 'Well... Johnny and David are the leaders of the band.' They said that today in the LA Times — that I was a sidekick in the Dolls. And that now I have such a good band, that I'm still a sidekick!"

It's a little-known story, but shortly after the Dolls broke up, Malcolm approached Syl about becoming the lead singer of the Sex Pistols. "He kept telling me about these kids [Steve Jones, Paul Cook, and Glen Matlock] who hung out at his store, and how he could get them to do anything he wanted. It just sounded to me like another Dolls, and I didn't want to be part of another thing like that. I didn't want to be a politician. I wanted to do something musical."

After he turned down Malcolm's offer, Syl went to Japan and carried on working with David Johansen. He also put together his own band called the Criminals (featuring Tony Machine on drums). Sadly, although the Criminals were one of the finest groups playing in New York, their material was difficult to pigeonhole. And according to Syl, at a time when everyone was concerned about what was punk and what wasn’t, that doomed them.

Criminals 45 "The Kids Are Back" b/w

"The Cops Are Coming" (Sing Sing Records - 1978)

"To the kids, we had a jazzy sound," he explains. "But back then ['77/'78] they just wanted like, Television or Patti Smith — a real punky, anarchy sort of group. Then, uptown, the business people said, 'The Criminals? Forget it! That's punk and we want disco.'"

After the Criminals broke up, Syl issued a wonderfully poppy self-titled solo album, and in 1980 he formed the Teardrops with Rosie Rex and Danny Reid.

"Our show is all history," comments Syl. "We even do a couple of Dolls' and Criminals' numbers. It depends. If people call out stuff and they know things, we'll do it for them."

Of course, Syl has his own definition of the Teardrops' bopping beat: "We call it Puerto Rican-reggae. You know, the record company didn't like that. They said, 'We won't be able to sell that.' And I said, 'With the advertising you put out last year, I need something that's going to self-advertise.'"

What was the advertising like last year?

"It wasn't!" he exclaims. "That's why I was trying to get it this year. The name Teardrops is such a great name. And you know, like with all great things... You make it up and you put it together. They take it, they take things out, and then they put it out. That is life as it is right now."

Syl Sylvain and the Teardrops 

L-R: Rosie Rex, Syl Sylvain & Danny Reid

Needless to say, Syl Sylvain and the Teardrops is a terrific LP! As Syl puts it: "It's dancing, romancing music."

"That first album is very influenced by my years in the Dolls," he observes, "and what happened afterwards. This album is very influenced by what's going on with me now. The music is growing a little more. But basically, it's still me!"

* You can read my extensive interview with Sylvain spanning his life up to the early days of the New York Dolls here: devorahostrov.blogspot.com/2017/09/sylvain-sylvain

Rox Rocks From Hayward To Japan

Originally published in East Bay Band Calendar, December 1979
By Devorah Ostrov

Rox with vocalist Dyan Buckelew center. Dyan left for a solo career

after the group returned from Japan. She later married Rick Derringer.

They're not the Runaways, and they're weary of the constant comparisons to that heavy metal outfit. "We try to interest the audience with our music," says Rox bassist Toni Falconio. "We can't avoid the fact that we are girls, but we hope that the audience will like our music and not just us."

And after listening to these East Bay rockers, the only comparison to be made is that both groups are all females. Rox — consisting of Falconio, vocalist/guitarist Nina Markert, keyboardist Gere Fennelly, and drummer Christie Nehlick — are all highly accomplished musicians, each with many years of musical experience behind her. There's a toughness in each one, a defensiveness that comes from having to prove herself in a male-oriented field where females are barely tolerated.

While they were rehearsing at Pearl Studios in Fremont, it became a running joke that neighborhood boys would appear at the door wondering who was playing such hard-core rock. And they'd always be taken aback to find GIRLS behind the instruments.

In fact, according to Markert, the only people who don't think Rox is equal to comparative male bands are "guys who don't want girls to make it because they don't want us to show them up."

Cover of the "American Kan Kan" 45

Although recognition has been slow for them in the Bay Area, a recent seven-month tour of Japan found them on the same level as most top American bands, playing to packed halls, being chased for autographs, and hounded for television commercials.

Rox (spelled Roxz before the tour) had been together for less than a year when a rep from Shinka, Japan's largest music publishing company, saw them perform at San Francisco's Mabuhay Gardens and signed them to a Japanese contract.

In Japan, the girls were well taken care of, with all their expenses paid for by Shinka (including chauffeured transportation). They were also given extensive promotional advertising, such as a "shopping tour" of Japanese malls, several TV appearances (two were "dubbed," the rest were filmed live) and dozens of radio interviews.

And, of course, at each promotional stop, the fans were waiting for them. "We had some fans that would follow us to radio stations and wait three hours just to see us," comments Markert. "And when we'd drive away, they'd chase our car!"

L-R: Christie Nehlick, Gere Fennelly, Toni Falconio & Nina Markert

(Photo of Rox originally used in the East Bay Band Calendar)

"At concerts, they would throw all these little superballs onstage and streamers and balloons," adds Falconio. "They have guards standing in the aisles to make them sit down, but you know, if they didn't, it would be total insanity."

Not bad for a group that got its start scarcely two years ago by taking first place in the Hayward Battle of the Bands with a set featuring Kiss' "Detroit Rock City," Thin Lizzy's "Jailbreak," and Montrose's "Rock the Nation" — during which Falconio slipped and fell and Markert's guitar somehow got out of tune.

While they were in Japan, Rox recorded an album (half in Japanese) called Tantrum (only available by import), and two 45s — "American Kan Kan" and "Okay Boys" — written for them by Japanese songwriter Tokura.

They weren't allowed to record their own material because "the company didn't think we could sell anything." But Markert argues that it was the other way around. "You should have heard it ['Okay Boys'] before we rearranged it. We were pulling our hair out, saying, 'We can't rearrange this. It's too far in the pits!'"

As for the album, Nehlick says they're happy with their playing but that the production "could have been a lot better. When we went into the studio, the Japanese producer said, 'Use this amp, use this... this... this...' Next time we go in, it will be nice because we'll know how to use the sound the way we want to."

Rox pose with Abba for a Japanese music magazine!
(Photo courtesy of Gere Fennelly)

Although the LP won't be released in America, it supposedly shows a totally different side of Rox. With the Japanese idea of hard rock being the Bay City Rollers, the girls were forced to record tunes in the commercial pop vein.

"Not pop like power pop," states Fennelly, "but pop like puppy pop." Quite a change for these rockers whose sets usually include Van Halen, Scorpions, Cheap Trick, and Led Zeppelin covers, as well as their own self-penned heavy rock numbers.

Still adjusting to the culture shock of not being chased down the street and only recently returning to Bay Area stages, Rox want to dispel any rumors of their demise. They are still together and rocking harder than ever!

Punk Magazine: The Birth Of A 'Zine And A Genre

Originally published in American Music Press (February 1994)
By Devorah Ostrov

Debbie Harry & Anya Phillips as Nazi Dykes in "The Legend Of Nick
Detroit: A Film Starring Richard Hell" — a "lost" panel from Punk #6.
(Photo by Chris Stein with graphics by Bruce Carleton)

Magazine staffs are a lot like bands. And the best magazines, like the best bands, are infused with a heavy dose of their creator's (often warped) personalities. Such was the case with Punk, which existed for 17 issues between 1976 - 1979.

"Punk wasn't about the bands," emphatically states its founding editor and art director John Holmstrom. "It was about us."

In 1971 Holmstrom graduated from high school — where he had been the star of the school play, winner of the Kiwanis English award, and the first to be caught by the police for smoking pot. In '72, he moved from the small town of Cheshire, Connecticut, to New York, where he attended the School of Visual Arts. There he studied cartooning under such masters as Will Eisner and Harvey Kurtzman. But when Kurtzman offered him a job (albeit at a non-existent magazine), Holmstrom felt he was ready for the real world.

After stints at Screw ("It wasn't considered smut back then. It was this radical underground magazine that explored the frontiers of sexuality.") and Scholastic's Bananas (his "Joe" strip paid the rent for ten years), he went back to Cheshire. It was here while working with a theater group called the Apocalypse Players that Holmstrom met Eddie "Legs" McNeil, the troupe's P.R. Agent.

John Holmstrom

"Legs was supposed to get us gigs and make us famous," laughs Holmstrom. "See how famous we are?"

At the time, McNeil was a high school freshman who, says Holmstrom, "would drink one or two beers and pass out."

Before Holmstrom returned to New York, the two, along with a third friend, Ged (G.E.) Dunn Jr. collaborated on a 16-millimeter film called The Unthinkable (in which four mentally retarded gangsters escape from a mental institution and steal all the town's toilet paper; McNeil produced).

Soon after, McNeil dropped out of high school and followed Holmstrom to New York to pursue a career in film. Dunn, bored with university life, joined them, using his school money to finance the threesome's new venture.

Initially, there was talk of two enterprises: a film company headed by McNeil and a publication headed by Holmstrom. And Holmstrom already had the magazine's unique blueprint in mind. "I always thought that if you could marry comics and rock 'n' roll — kind of Zap and Creem — you'd have the perfect hybrid," he remarks.

A 'Zine and a Genre Are Christened: "Let's see... I think it was while we were stealing trees..." reminisces Holmstrom.

CBGB Summer Rock Festival advert

It was the summer of '75, and McNeil's film company needed trees to transform a rooftop into a forest. While driving back from digging oaks out of the nearest woods, Holmstrom proposed they call their 'zine Teenage News (after the New York Dolls' song). McNeil thought that name was "stupid." Instead, he suggested Punk.

Around the same time, the groups playing at a Bowery bar known by the acronym CBGB were starting to get some media attention, but their stance and sound didn't yet have a label. Owner Hilly Kristal was calling the music of the Ramones, Patti Smith, and Television "street rock." However, says Holmstrom, the term "punk rock" was already in use amongst some journalists.

"Bomp magazine would use it to describe the garage bands of the '60s. Lester Bangs had used it to describe Iggy and the Stooges in the early '70s. The Bay City Rollers were then being called punk rock; Eddie and the Hot Rods were being called punk rock. The term was all over Creem, but I don't think Legs knew this. I knew it because I read Creem. That's why I liked the word."

In John Savage's tome, England's Dreaming, McNeil recounts the conversation that followed the naming: "John said, 'I'll be the editor'; our friend Ged said, 'I'll be the publisher'; and they both looked at me and said, 'What are you going to be?' 'I'll be the resident punk!' It was all decided in seconds."

In July, Holmstrom went to the CBGB Summer Festival, where he discovered the Ramones. "This was it! I thought it was the greatest thing I'd ever heard!"

In October, Holmstrom, McNeil, and Dunn moved into their new headquarters — an abandoned trucking company storefront at 356 10th Avenue, which they rented for $195 a month.

Debbie introduces Joey to her dad.

"Mutant Monster Beach Party" - Punk #15

In November, they began gathering material for the first issue. Their first interview was with the Ramones.

"Lou Reed was there with [Ramones' manager] Danny Fields," states Holmstrom. "Legs went up to Lou and asked if we could interview him. Lou was just about to lose his label deal over Metal Machine Music and said, 'Okay.' We ended up hanging out with him for hours!"

By the end of the year, there were posters up all over the city announcing:

Watch Out! Punk Is Coming!

The folks who hung out at CBGB thought it was some cheesy out-of-town band they were supposed to be watching for.

"Everybody at CBGB was waiting for New York Rocker," states Holmstrom. "We beat New York Rocker's first issue by a week or two and flipped everybody out!"

Printed on 50 lb. offset paper in a broadsheet format, Punk #1 was published on New Year's Day 1976. Instead of typesetting (they couldn't afford it), each and every word was painstakingly handwritten; photographs were turned into cartoons, and cartoons were used to tell entire stories.

David Johansen imparts his wisdom

to Legs McNeil.

John Savage describes the visual impact of one story: "...the surrounding artwork is as important as [Lou] Reed's insults: the Ramones play on the interview tape and one can see them in photograph form. When the interviewers follow Reed down the block, there they are in the cartoons. The effect was both immediate and distanced, a formal innovation on a par with Mad magazine..."

Much like the music it chronicled, Punk could be silly, as in this exchange between Legs McNeil and Richard Hell in issue #3:

Legs: I'm gonna throw up.

Richard: Go in there first okay?

Legs: Yeah, will you talk...

Richard: While you're gone? No, I'll turn off the tape recorder.

Or it could be intellectual (from the same interview with Richard Hell):

Richard: Did you ever read Nietzsche... he said that anything that makes you laugh, anything that's funny indicates an emotion that's died.

But its real accomplishment was in unifying all the disparate CBGB's groups into an identifiable "scene." Holmstrom's opening editorial — Death To Disco Shit — was an ultimatum:

Editorial - Punk issue #1

ISSUE #1: Published on January 1, 1976. A Holmstrom-drawn caricature of Lou Reed graces the cover; inside is a four-page comic strip interview with Reed. "A lot of people told me, 'It's the best thing you've ever done and it's the best thing you'll ever do,'" says Holmstrom.

There's also a feature on Marlon Brando: The Original Punk, as well as a Legs McNeil "Famous Persons Interview" with cartoon personality Sluggo ("It gets tiring playing a stupid tramp..."), a Ramones centerfold, and a photo essay called "Cars and Girls" which outlines McNeil's dating tips.

Lou Reed - cover of Punk #1

Dunn put up the $5,000 needed to print 5,000 copies. Folding the 17x22 sheets would have cost extra, so this was done by hand. Two thousand copies were given to a distributor who was "supposed to" put them on newsstands all over New York. Supposed to? "He didn't," says Holmstrom. The remaining copies were all sold or given away.

In fact, the first issue became such a sought-after collector's item that back issues were priced at $25 to discourage ordering. "We heard that somebody broke into an apartment in Detroit, and the only thing they stole was a copy of Punk #1," boasts Holmstrom.

Creem, Rock Scene, the Soho News, and The Village Voice all gave the first issue enthusiastic write-ups. Lester Bangs said he wanted to leave Creem, so he could move to New York and write for Punk. Danny Fields proclaimed Holmstrom a genius, and Lou Reed said the 'zine "knocked him out."

"Everybody was falling all over themselves to praise us," verifies Holmstrom. "Girls who wouldn't look at us before were suddenly trying to pick us up. It was great!"

ISSUE #2: Published March 1976. Using two different photos of Patti Smith on the cover was, reflects Holmstrom, "dopey." As well as an interview with Smith, this issue includes the Talking Heads, Marbles ("What a mistake"), and Television ("Boring"). A three-word review of Bob Dylan's Desire album reads: "Sludge, mud, suds."

Patti Smith - cover of Punk #2

"It was a mess," sums up Holmstrom of #2. "The whole issue is so wimpy. People said it was horrible. And it killed us because we printed more [7,500] copies."

ISSUE #3: Published April 1976. "Boy, that came out quick!" marvels Holmstrom. A brilliant issue, beginning with a beautifully illustrated cover of Joey Ramone drawn by Holmstrom. Inside, Joey reveals that he likes girls who are fun and out of their minds. Tommy's fave TV show is Zorro. Dee Dee's pet peeves are crummy sound systems and nagging, pushy girls. And Johnny's dream date is a meal at Jack in the Box. There's also a year-by-year diary that tracks our heroes from high school in Forest Hills to the release of "Blitzkrieg Bop."

Half-a-dozen pics taken by then-novice photographer Roberta Bayley accompany the Ramones story. Holmstrom remembers the photo session and how it led to the cover of the Ramones' debut LP: "First we shot them in their loft in front of their banner. Then Legs said there was a cool playground around the corner, 'Let's take them there!' So, we took all these pictures in front of a brick wall for the magazine. Then Danny Fields called us up, 'Have you got anything? Any pictures at all?' The Ramones had hired some famous photographer to do their record cover... 'The pictures look horrible.' They looked through Roberta's and found that one great picture from the session that became the album cover. They only paid her like $100."

Joey Ramone - cover of Punk #3

Plus, the gang interviews ex-New York Doll David Johansen, who observes: "We maintained [the Dolls] on a very democratic level. I mean, you can ask Jerry about that." Pam Brown interviews the Heartbreakers, and Jerry Nolan says: "There was a certain member of the Dolls that sorta had most of the say and I disagreed with him completely."

Holmstrom's mother writes a Letter to the Editor: "Please pay your bills. Find a job that will pay you and let the cartooning be a sideline. You have wasted a lot of time already. Love, Mom." Debbie Harry models Punk t-shirts, and Legs conducts a "Famous Persons Interview" with Boris and Natasha:

Boris: We have certain members of de so-called "Free World" which have plagued our organization for years... a certain squirrel...

Natasha: And a very dumb moose.

"This issue was really sharp!" enthuses Holmstrom. "$850 worth of ads in it according to my copy."

By this time, Rough Trade was distributing Punk, air-shipping thousands of copies to the UK. "I would have to say that Punk helped create and fuel the English scene," states Holmstrom. "I don't think it ever would have happened like it did if it weren't for this magazine. When Blondie went over there, Chris Stein told me that everyone was throwing up because Legs threw up in the Richard Hell story." (And there's no doubt that Punk influenced such British do-it-yourself fanzines as Sniffin' Glue and Ripped & Torn.)

Beware of Imitations! Punk is the BEST! Advert from issue #11.

ISSUE #4: Published July 1976. Iggy Pop is on the cover. "We let Pam Brown interview him," says Holmstrom, "and that was kind of a mistake. Iggy wanted to talk to me. I met him later on; we talked about insects and stuff." In addition, there's an interview with Richard Hell's female alter-ego Theresa Stern; Legs goes to Gilligan's Island; Debbie Harry is the pin-up centerfold; and Lester Bangs contributes "Diary of a Cabby," a story based on Taxi Driver.

Iggy Pop - cover of Punk #4

"Lester was obsessed!" discloses Holmstrom. "He would play the movie instead of music, and he would force everybody to listen to it."

Perhaps most surprising was a Holmstrom-penned review remarking favorably upon the new Donna Summer record. Did he really like Donna Summer?

Holmstrom: Yeah...

What about that "Death to Disco Shit" editorial in issue #1?

Holmstrom: I wrote that as a joke! I was shocked when everybody took it seriously, and this big anti-disco movement happened.

ISSUE #5: Published August 1976. Holmstrom dubbed #5 the Ultra Wimpy Dull Issue. "It wasn't that interesting," he acknowledges. "I ran into Lou Reed at a party, and he told me how fucked up the magazine was. That's when I got determined to do something cool." This decision led to...

The Monkees - cover of Punk #5

ISSUE #6: Published October 1976. "The Legend Of Nick Detroit: A Film Starring Richard Hell." Legs McNeil wrote and directed; Roberta Bayley and Chris Stein (among others) operated the cameras.

The first of Punk's photo/comic special issues follows the adventures of Government Agent/ inhuman killing machine Nick Detroit (Hell) and his faithful sidekick Norris McGillicuddy (McNeil). The cast features a plethora of New York's finest, including Lenny Kaye (Special Agent Victor Martino), Tina Weymouth and Chris Frantz (ruthless murderers in barbershop), David Byrne (Special Agent Reed), David Johansen (Tony the Rose), Tuff Darts (a squad of armed goons), the Marbles (coppers), Helen Wheels (General George the Dyke), and Debbie Harry and Anya Phillips (Nazi Dykes).

It had been a couple of months between issues #5 and #6. "We had pretty much stopped publication," states Holmstrom. "We ran out of money after #5." 

Enter Tom Forcade, publisher of the very successful High Times magazine.

"The Legend Of Nick Detroit: A Film Starring
 Richard Hell" - cover of Punk #6.

"Tom came into the office in the summer of '76," recalls Holmstrom. "He put his feet up on the table and said, 'I'm gonna make you rich and famous.' He was going to distribute Punk and set up a company to sell advertising for us."

With the publication of "Nick Detroit," Holmstrom and McNeil were the toasts of CBGB. "I remember after it came out, Legs got mobbed! Twenty people surrounded him! He was freaking out. He didn't know what to do."

An optimistic 10,000 copies were printed, but the issue bombed, and High Times backed out of its deal.

"In retrospect it's wonderful," muses Holmstrom about issue #6. "But nobody wanted to read it then. Everybody wanted to read record reviews, I guess."

(Update: According to illustrator Bruce Carleton, the "Nick Detroit" panel featuring Debbie Harry and Anya Phillips used at the top of this article "didn't appear in #6, but was done a year or so later for a version that was supposed to be published in Germany. That never happened, and I had thought all the boards were lost.")

ISSUE #7: Published February 1977. The special Upside-Down issue — every other article was printed upside-down. "I went nuts!" declares Holmstrom. Patti Smith was on the cover for a second time. "It was between her, Blue Oyster Cult, Eddie and the Hot Rods, or Satan," says Holmstrom. This issue also includes Lou Reed's rapidograph drawings, an interview with rock journalist R. Meltzer, and comic strip record reviews.

Patti Smith - cover of Punk #7

Punk was back in business thanks to Tom Katz (a pseudonym). Katz had received a $20,000 settlement from the City of New York for the wrongful death of his brother; he gave the entire amount to the struggling magazine.

ISSUE #8: Published March 1977. For the first time, there's an English band on Punk's cover — the Sex Pistols, of course!

Johnny Rotten discourses while Bob Gruen takes photos; Holmstrom does a phoner with Frank Zappa; McNeil interviews Hitler; there's an advertisement for a Battle of the Bands between the Ramones and the Dictators (it never happened — "The gig fell through," comments Holmstrom); and a letter to their landlord exposes the conditions in which Punk was produced: "Front door lock must be installed and secured properly, raw sewage leaking from ceiling frequently, gaping hole in the ceiling must be patched, leaky toilet and plumbing fixed, regular heating — we have not had any heat in two days..."

"I'll never forget when they came to fix [the leaking sewage]," says Holmstrom. "Somebody flushed the toilet upstairs, and sewage was gushing all over Legs. He was sleeping, and he wouldn't wake up. I was like, 'Legs! Raw sewage is on you! Get up!' And he was like, 'I don't care. I wanna sleep.'"

The Sex Pistols - cover of Punk #8

Publisher Ged Dunn was fired after this issue. "He didn't know what he was doing," asserts Holmstrom, emphasizing that the $20,000 given to them by Tom Katz was now gone.

According to Holmstrom, "He wasted what little money we had on some typically crazy publishing philosophy: put out a glossy product and get the advertising... blah, blah, blah. We should have just been run efficiently and economically. Instead, we were going out of business every six months."

As an early indication of the problems to come, Holmstrom refers back to the naming of the magazine: "Ged wanted to call it The Punk Journal. He wanted it to be very pretentious."

ISSUE #9: The first of the fabled "lost" issues of Punk. If it had come out, it would have featured the Damned on the cover. Inside, you might have read the interview with KISS. "We ran into them at Lou Reed's party," mentions Holmstrom. "Paul and Gene made a point of talking to us. They seemed like cool people, and I didn't mind their music." You could have perused the excerpt from William Burroughs' Junkie or chuckled over a comic strip entitled "Life of a Fly." Alas, #9 never saw the light of day.

Holmstrom states that the printers had been paid in advance and adds, "We gave them the original layout, so they'd have high-quality artwork to reproduce from." However, when he went to collect the 'zines, the print shop had disappeared — along with all the artwork.

"All the machines, printing presses and stuff were gone! The worst thing about it was we had rare, one-of-a-kind photographs of William Burroughs hanging out with Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac — priceless stuff. The last thing I expected was that the printer would evaporate into thin air."

David Johansen as Tony the Rose & Cyrinda Fox as Tony's Lady.

"The Legend Of Nick Detroit: A Film Starring Richard Hell"

Punk #6

ISSUE #10: Published Summer 1977. A cartoon version of Debbie Harry strikes a Betty Boop pose on the cover. The issue opens with photos from the Punk Benefit Concert hosted by CBGB. The two-night affair (May 4 & 5, 1977) raised $2,000. Performers included Alex Chilton, the Dead Boys (joined by the Dictators' Ross the Boss), Suicide, the Patti Smith Group, the Cramps, the Lester Bangs Conspiracy (Bangs' stage debut, not counting playing the typewriter with BOC), Richard Hell & the Voidoids, and Blondie. An auction also helped raise funds. "Debbie Harry's underwear went for $25 or $50!" exclaims Holmstrom.

Elsewhere in this issue: Eno gets philosophical ("...the most embarrassing aspects of the things you do are normally the ones that are most interesting..."); Blondie goes on tour and Chris Stein snaps some pics to prove it; Twiggy chats about fashion ("I think people are gonna do what they want, which I think is lovely"); and the Ramones are #1 on the new Top 99 list. (Other stuff deemed cool by Punk readers: towels #16, carbon monoxide #51, and parking lots #71.)

Debbie Harry - cover of Punk #10

Lining up acts for the benefit was easy. Holmstrom says the CBGB bands were grateful for Punk's coverage, and in return, they were always happy to lend a hand.

"What happened was, we would often write an article on a band and the next month they'd get a record contract. At the time it happened, the Ramones credited us with getting them signed. Danny Fields told us, 'Thanks a lot for the publicity you did. It helped get us the deal.' Blondie told us the same thing. They said, 'We'll be forever in your debt.' And the Dead Boys the same."

Did Holmstrom ever use this power for evil? "I do remember one [unnamed] band who offered us $500 if we'd put them on the third cover, but we didn't do it. So, we were pretty committed to whatever vision we had, as screwed up as it was." (Hint: When the mystery group broke up, their newly solo lead singer did make it onto a cover. For free!)

ISSUE #11: Published October/November 1977. Handsome Dick Manitoba and an American flag fittingly share the cover. "We wanted to do the ultimate Dictators' story," says Holmstrom. And they did. Beginning in 1971 ("Andy started his first band — Grand Funk Salinsky..."), their history is charted on an almost daily basis. (October 31, 1974 — "Manitoba does his infamous White Castle french fries act, during which he ate hamburgers and threw bags of french fries at the audience, yelling 'Rock 'n' roll? BAH! Who needs it?!'")

Handsome Dick Manitoba - cover of Punk #11

In the news: Russ Meyers is directing Johnny Rotten in a major punk rock movie, and Blondie is recording their second LP. Plus, John Cale holds court ("People aren't stupid — they can tell when someone's disinterested in what they're doing") and Lester Bangs reviews the Dead Boys ("They are evil, they are everything you would not want your mother to marry"). And San Francisco's punk scene gets a nod with our representatives, Crime.

Putting Manitoba on the cover was a risky move. "We really went to the wall for the Dictators," confirms Holmstrom. The previous March, Manitoba was involved in what became known as "The Wayne County Incident." As Punk reported: "Dick was on his way to the men's room so he stepped over the stage. He called Wayne County a homo. Wayne County called him a fat fuck and slugged him with a microphone stand."

"Everybody was for Wayne County," states Holmstrom. "The Dictators were basically blacklisted. Everybody in New York hated them." Issue #11 was not a big seller in New York.

ISSUE #12: Published January 1978. Robert Gordon (recently split from Tuff Darts) is this issue's cover boy, and eight-year-old Nellie Kurtzman (cartoonist Harvey Kurtzman's daughter) is the "Punk of the Month." Meanwhile, the New York Dolls garner a five-page photo spread with text that contends: "If they stuck it out they could've been like the Beatles — leaders of a new sound/generation"; a photo/comic pairs Debbie Harry and DEVO in "Disposable DEVO"; the Turtle Mountain Community School in Belcourt, North Dakota, cancels its subscription in a huff ("We were under the impression the magazine was for kindergarten and elementary levels"); and the Ramones are still #1 on the Top 99.

Robert Gordon - cover of Punk #12

"I didn't like this issue very much," admits Holmstrom. "Legs was in the hospital for drinking." (One page features a fun maze titled "Help Legs get out of the mental hospital.") However, Holmstrom points out, "this issue sold fantastically!"

Issue #12 also saw the return of High Time's support (the full-color ad for e-z wider rolling paper is a dead give-away). "We didn't have the money to print this issue," says Holmstrom. "So, I went back to Forcade, and he said, 'That's funny, I was just going to get back in touch with you. I think it's time for us to try again.'"

ISSUE #13: The second "lost" issue. Some of the pieces scheduled for this issue were carried over to #14 (the Bay City Rollers interview), while others were scrapped (the cover story on boxer Sugar Ray Leonard). Ostensibly, they skipped this issue because of superstition. In reality, Forcade was pushing for "a big thing on the Sex Pistols," states Holmstrom.

ISSUE #14: Published May/June 1978. Johnny Rotten and Sid Vicious portrayed as puppets (perfect!), are on the front cover. The Bay City Rollers, portrayed as gigantic people-eating, building-crushing monsters (perfect!), are on the back cover. In between, Holmstrom reports on the Sex Pistols' tour of America:

Atlanta: Sid managed to get lost and gave himself a nice wound in his arm...

San Antonio: They played "New York," John spitting the words "You fucking little faggots" at the audience.

The Sex Pistols - cover of Punk #14

Dallas: A punkette from L.A. gave [Sid] a bloody nose so he wiped the blood all over himself. He was so out of it he was playing with three busted strings on his bass.

Tulsa: I walked to the elevator carrying a six-foot pair of steerhorns. John was waiting there with his bodyguard... "What the FUCK is THAT?" "Steerhorns," I mumbled... "Want them?" Greed overcame his face in a strange smile...

San Francisco: Malcolm was extremely depressed after the show. "Fuckin' awful show, wasn't it? They were just like any other rock band." Everyone connected with the band felt the same way.

For their part, the Rollers are shown to be even more heinous than the Pistols. The writer complains: "These guys never spend any money! They eat McDonald's food... They can't even buy their own cigarettes..."

This 56-page, action-packed issue also gives us Dorian Zero: "That was one of my finest moments!" chortles Holmstrom. "He says to me, 'Put it this way, if I can get over by being called punk rock, I'll do it.' He's not a punk, but he's calling himself a punk because he wants to be famous! How stupid can you get?" In other news: Amanda Lear — sex change or not? Legs conducts a "Famous Persons Interview" with Combat star Sgt. Saunders ("Live hard, fight hard and dig a lot of foxholes. That's my motto"), and Holmstrom talks about girls with Angus Young:

John: What kind of girls do you like?

Angus: Dirty ones.

John: Girls who don't wash?

Angus: No, just dirty cows.

Plus, Edith Massey gets aggressive about cereal: "Pebbles... that's what I had for breakfast, and these little punks better have the same thing. Maybe with a little raisin or two on it." Lou Reed's Street Hassle is reviewed ("Of course it's great" — J. Holmstrom), and it's not too late to order your 1978 Punk calendar featuring Suicide, Iggy Pop, the Paley Brothers, cartoons, and important dates — like Heckle and Jeckle's birthdays!

A Legs McNeil "Famous Persons Interview"

with Boris and Natasha - Punk issue #3.

Punk was looking mighty spiffy by issue #14. There were lots of full-color photos, and some of it was professionally typeset. "Forcade was trying to get us to come out on time and be a real magazine," moans Holmstrom. "It was killing me."

But now there was big-time competition in the form of a new bi-monthly, nationally distributed magazine ingeniously called Punk Rock. Published by a conglomerate called Stories, Layouts and Press, Inc., it was a shoddy attempt to cash-in on the bandwagon. Its staff had names like Nancy New Age and Sheena Ramona. And the editorials insulted its readers en masse ("Hello, all you spoiled, middle-class little assholes..." began one) and Holmstrom personally. "They called me an asshole," he says. "It was awful."

"Mutant Monster Beach Party" - Punk #15

In this issue, Punk responded to its rival: "We are not jealous of our honestly acquired position or of other worthy publications devoted to modern music," stated Holmstrom's proclamation, which urged "fans and readers" to check out other underground 'zines like Slash, Bomp and ZigZag. "These magazines, for the most part, are put out by people who believe in what they write. They don't write for money. They're not covering the latest youth fad."

ISSUE #15: Published July/August 1978. "Mutant Monster Beach Party: an original Punk International Production." Holmstrom designed this issue, while Bruce Carleton illustrated the cover; Roberta Bayley took the photographs.

Punk's second photo/comic special — and its most ambitious undertaking — stars Joey Ramone as a dreamy surfer boy and Debbie Harry as the beach bunny he loves. It's a simple boy-meets-girl tale. Until a mad scientist accidentally turns his assistant into a hideous blob of quivering nuclear slime which escapes from the lab. The slime helps some Bothersome Bikers stomp all over the surfers and kidnap the girl. Martians in a flying saucer help the boy get the girl back. The monster turns into Peter Frampton and the girl turns into Edie the Egg Lady.

The sizable cast included Andy Warhol (mad scientist), Chris Stein (Debbie's dad), Peter Wolf (head biker), Scott Kempner and Ivan Julian (surfers), John Cale and Lester Bangs (bikers), David Johansen (priest), and Joan Jett (maid of honor).

"Mutant Monster Beach Party" - Punk #15

The wedding photoshoot.

Advertised as "coming soon" as far back as issue #10, "Mutant Monster Beach Party" was two years in the making.

"We were shooting this all the time," says Holmstrom. "When Debbie introduces Joey to her father, that was shot at the sound studio when the Ramones were recording Rocket To Russia."

During the creation of this issue, some of the cast went from obscurity to worldwide fame, but Holmstrom only recollects one slightly tense episode. "We were doing [Joey and Debbie's] wedding shot. It was one of the last pictures we did, and Debbie was visibly agitated. You can tell she's getting tired of hanging around all day waiting to do a photo shoot for us."

Sadly, like "Nick Detroit" before it, this photo/comic sold "horribly," states Holmstrom. "It put us out of business." Again.

ISSUE #16: Published March/April 1979. A cartoon send-up of John Travolta's Saturday Night Fever character is on the cover. "[The movie] had come out six months earlier," notes Holmstrom. "It was a very smart thing to do."

Inside, Shrapnel star in the "Brat Patrol" photo/comic ("Shrapnel — the janitors of justice, are out to sanitize New Jersey..."), and Bob Geldof insists he's not just in a band to get rich, famous and laid more often ("I'm in it for revenge as well, to prove to people that in fact I was never a nobody, that I was always a somebody and that the rest of them can eat shit!"). An interview of sorts with Sid and Nancy (an extract from the upcoming film D.O.A.) fills up the centerfold:

Mutant John Travolta - cover of Punk #16

Nancy: Wake up and answer him.

Sid: I'm answering...

Nancy: He asked you a question... It's no time to go to sleep!

Sid: Grunt... What was the question again?

Punk's new Resident Punk, 15-year-old Jolly (Legs retired from the post to manage Shrapnel), reviews some records:

The Doors/An American Poem
"Who said this was good?!? This stinks!!!"

The Ramones/Road To Ruin
"Best album of the year."

Plus, the Bottom 99 makes its debut (Studio 54 is listed three times), and the Ramones are still #1 on the Top 99.

It had been nearly half a year since the "Mutant Monster Beach Party" issue. The magazine was being sued for an old printer's bill and was declaring bankruptcy.

On October 13, 1978, Punk held its 1st (and last) Annual Awards Ceremony — as much to say farewell as to thank all the groups. Posters for the celebration promised: "Meet Jolly! Mutant Monster Live In Person! Be Able To Buy Drinks! A Special Concert By A Surprise Rock 'n' Roll Band!" The day prior to the show, Sid (or someone) killed Nancy.

Poster advertising the 1st Annual

Punk Magazine Awards Ceremony.

"Everybody flipped out," understates Holmstrom. "There were television cameras all over the place, and nobody wanted to talk to the media. Nobody wanted to be there."

Not quite the spectacular event he'd hoped for? "Oh, it was spectacular all right. Lou Reed [winner of the Class Clown award] hasn't talked to me since."

Some of the grisly details were printed in issue #16. "[Jolly] was the emcee and provided a fine target for the evening's beer bottles, glasses, pieces of table and assorted projectiles... The awards themselves — various novelty items such as plastic dog turd, lemons, brooms, or baseball trophies mounted on Budweiser cans left over from the night before — proved totally worthless as most of the recipients were too embarrassed or afraid or smart to go on stage anyhow."

Issue #16 sold "like hotcakes," and John Spacley ("the one drunk who was so obnoxious he had to be thrown out" of the awards show) became Punk's new publisher.

ISSUE #17: Published May/June 1979. The last official issue. In a Punk exclusive, Jolly interviews "that fantabulous rock band," the Rolling Stones:

The Clash - cover of Punk #17

Q: What's your favorite color?

Rolling Stones: Red.

Q: Are you playing any dates soon?

Rolling Stones: Yes.

Undeterred, Jolly also gives the Clash a go...

Jolly: I saw the show last night and it wasn't so great...

Topper: Then don't do the fuckin' interview, then.

David Johansen answers the musical question: Does rock and roll go in ten-year trends? ("I think locusts come out every fourteen years or something like that. That's about the only thing you can count on. Locusts.") McNeil and Alice Cooper compare booby hatch info (Alice: "There was one girl who smashed the stereo every three or four days... she went for the TV one night and I had to stop her... If she broke the TV, I couldn't watch The Odd Couple"). Holmstrom reviews the London Symphony Orchestra's new one and the state of things in general: "This record, more than disco, more than Billy Joel, or Sid Vicious, more than the fact that punk rock and new wave is being swept under the carpet by radio programmers, Jimmy Carter, and dullards, spells the end of rock 'n' roll." Destroy All Monsters' lead vocalist signs her pin-up centerfold "I love you, but you're dead," and Shaun Cassidy's mug is the backdrop for a graffiti contest.

From the outset, Holmstrom had wanted to produce an underground 'zine that combined rock 'n' roll and comics. McNeil's fondness for rock tilted the early issues in that direction. But as Legs became less involved, Holmstrom began working closely with illustrator Bruce Carleton, tipping the scales towards humorous art.

"Blondie In Punk" - Debbie Harry models the Punk t-shirt in issue #3.

Photos by Chris Stein

Carleton designed this issue's cover collage of rock 'n' roll mayhem. And inside, there were more examples of his work: a subscription coupon set amid the Monolithic Punk Meat Grinder, and a spread depicting Leonid Brezhnev as the Punk Playmate (Goals: "...to become a successful fashion model and to bury the U.S.A.").

Other cartoons included "Ze Artiste" and "Joe's Pimple Pop Boffo" — both drawn by Holmstrom. "By this point, I was really thinking of making Punk a humor magazine instead of a rock magazine," he confesses.

Holmstrom's disenchantment shows in his summation of issue #17: "This is sorta like the last Sex Pistols' gig — an Alice Cooper interview with [record company] publicity photos, some humor, but... who needs it?" The final issue sold "really badly."

ISSUE #18: Holmstrom owns the only extant copy of #18, nicknamed the "Rock 'N' Roll High School" issue in honor of the Ramones' movie it (would have) publicized. This issue also contains another comic strip interview with Lou Reed, and the Plasmatics take over the #1 position on the Top 99.

All pasted-up and ready to go, #18 never made it to the newsstands. "The owner of the printing company took one look at it and said, 'I'm not gonna print this shit!' We had trouble with printers. A lot of them refused to print the magazine. We were too sleazy." But fussy printers weren't the magazine's only nemesis. In the end, it was Punk's stubborn refusal to go corporate that actually doomed it.

Surf's up! Joey rides the waves in "Mutant Monster Beach Party." 

Punk #15

Schedules? We Don't Need No Stinking Schedules! Punk's printing schedule was, at best, erratic. A voucher in #10 inquires: "new address?" then warns, "You better let Punk know in case another issue ever comes out." Needless to say, this charming unpredictability scared off many potential advertisers. And although more advertising would have meant more income and thus more issues, Holmstrom stresses: "We were trying to do something creative and different and exciting, and you can't always do that on schedule."

And then there were the subscribers. There were just too many of them. One promotion with Creem netted 2,000 of the buggers alone! "So, we had to print at least 2,000 copies of anything we did," grumbles Holmstrom. "And when you get into the printing and mailing of 2,000 copies — who's got the money?"

But all in all, Holmstrom is content with Punk's historical niche. "I knew when I was doing it that I was doing something important, and something that would be enjoyed for a long time. And at the same time, something that wouldn't last long."

* * *

A few updates:

The 25th Anniversary issue

After the demise of Punk, Holmstrom worked for several publications including The Village Voice and Heavy Metal. In 1986, he contributed a comic-based chronology of punk rock for a special edition of Spin.

In 1993, Holmstrom and McNeil teamed up once again to produce the short-lived (four issues) but wonderfully eclectic Nerve magazine. Over the years, several special editions of Punk have been published. In 2000, an issue featuring Murphy's Law marked the magazine's 25th Anniversary, and they paid "A Tribute To CBGB" in 2007.

In 1996, Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain published Please Kill Me, considered to be the definitive oral history of punk rock.

The Best of Punk Magazine

book cover

In 2012 HarperCollins published The Best Of Punk Magazine, an oversized book containing high-quality reproductions of the original issues, behind-the-scenes stories, and an interview with Joey Ramone from the unpublished "Rock 'N' Roll High School" issue.

For more information about Punk, please visit: punkmagazine.com