L-R: Kimba, Ollie Wisdom, Smeg, Tim Huthert & Gere Fennelly
(photographer unknown)
The original Specimen was formed some years ago in England. Looking like rejects from a less than B-grade horror movie, they made a name for themselves amongst fashion conscious UK club-goers. And between their image, their records, and their club (The Batcave), they gave the music press (who labeled the innovative new scene "Death Rock") plenty to write about.
When things got beyond their control, lead singer and mastermind Ollie Wisdom moved operations to San Francisco. Since all the other British members chose to stay in London, Ollie reconstructed the band with musicians from the Bay Area: Gere Fennelly on keyboards, Smeg on guitar, Kimba on bass, and Jeffrey St. Pierre (who recently replaced Tim Huthert) on drums. Once again, Specimen is going full force!
Ollie Wisdom's flat resembles a Specimen show. Multi-colored crepe paper and plastic beads dangle from the ceiling; various parts of baby dolls are strewn about the floor. As we make ourselves comfy amid the rubble, Ollie switches on the tape player and the final mix of the new Specimen demo blasts forth...
Ollie: We're doing four singles right now. The first is "Indestructable"/"Brainburst!" The other songs on the tape are "Pink and Perfect," "Red Velvet Crush on You," and "Miss You" — which is the ballady one. We're also making a film for it. When
we finish the record, we'll edit the film to it, and it should be shown on MTV. We've also got alternative videos, in which we've been doing animation and stuff, which will go out to the clubs.
Rave-Up: Are you producing the record yourself?
Ollie: Yeah, I've done all the production on it and written all the songs for it. And it's come out great! I'm really pleased with it. I've never had the chance to do that in the studio before.
Rave-Up: The previous Specimen records were all done by producers telling you what to do?
Flyer for Specimen at Perkins Palace
March 3, 1984
Ollie: Very much so! It was a very necessary thing to go through, as well. When you first get let loose in a 24-track recording studio, which costs like $70 an hour, you've got to have some idea of what you're going for. Without what I learnt from past experiences, good and bad, I couldn't have done it.
Rave-Up: Is it because you're producing it yourself that the songs sound poppier? Ollie: I don't know if it sounds poppier. It's not so guitar-oriented; it's more song-oriented. The songs I played you are most likely going to be the singles, so they're the more poppy of the songs anyway.
Rave-Up: What made you move to San Francisco? Were you bored with London?
Ollie: Yeah, I was really bored. There's nothing happening in London at the moment. Everybody just tries to make out like there is.
Rave-Up: Why San Francisco over anywhere else?
Ollie: I would never even consider living in Los Angeles. New York presents a whole load of problems that San Francisco doesn't. And San Francisco's got sunshine. Unfortunately, the process of moving split the band up somewhat.
Rave-Up: You mean like all the original band members are still over there, and you're over here?
Specimen - San Francisco lineup circa 1986
L-R: Jeffrey St. Pierre, Smeg, Ollie Wisdom, Kimba, Gere Fennelly
Ollie: But they're all over there not doing very much, unfortunately. Rave-Up: So, what happened?
Ollie: Well, we had just issued an EP ["Sharp Teeth"] on a brand-new label [The Trust] in England. We'd spent a year getting out of our London Records deal; we wouldn't let them make us into the pop band they wanted us to be. And I said, "Look, I'm not going to do an album with Trust," which is what they wanted us to do. Other people wanted to go for it. They said, "Stay here and do this album." I said, "If that's what you want, keep it." I don't regret it in the slightest.
Rave-Up: Did you think about not calling the new group Specimen?
Ollie: It had occurred to me to change the name of the band, but I didn't see much point. When the original Specimen played Perkins Palace in LA, Jon [Klein, guitarist] and I went out to do a radio interview just after the soundcheck. There was a queue right around the block. We walked right past this whole lot — not one person recognized us!
I figure that they still don't really know the difference. You've got to use whatever you have to your advantage. There's no point in cutting your wrists for integrity's sake.
Rave-Up: Don't you think it's superficial for your fans not to notice the difference?
Ollie: No, not if they come to enjoy the show anyway. The people that really got into us early on, they know the difference. Some of them whisper, "It's not the same band..." Of course, we're not the same band. We're not trying to be the same band. But it doesn't stop it from being a lot of fun!
Rave-Up: The personalities of the new band members must be vastly different from the old members. Are American musicians easier to work with?
Ollie Wisdom
(photographer unknown)
Ollie: In some ways. I find that Americans are a bit more open to suggestion and a bit more excitable when something excites them. The British have seen it all before, or think they have, so they're not going to appear to be excited, even if they are.
Rave-Up: I wonder how the new members feel stepping into a sort of inherited image? What people expect Specimen to be as opposed to what they are...
Ollie: But you see, it's not like they have to step into something. They've just got to be themselves. If they tried to step into something, it would look really awkward. Because they're the right people for the job, so to speak, there's no transformation needed.
Rave-Up: I always saw Specimen as a fun, almost cartoonish group. But the British press always wrote about you guys as the leaders of the death-rock scene, which made you sound a bit doomy and dark.
Ollie: Yes, well, you saw much more what it was. People just took the name, The Batcave, and misconstrued it. It was never serious. It was never an "Oh, we're death-rock" kind of thing.
Rave-Up: Do you resent having your creative, fun ideas turned into what the press wanted you to be?
Ollie: No, not really. I mean, you don't think about it. You just carry on and try to put a few people right along the way.
Rave-Up: Have you thought about doing a club here, along the lines of The Batcave?
Poster for the 25th-anniversary
celebration of the London Batcave July 11, 2008
Ollie: I don't want to do anything as regular as a nightclub. It's something I could always fall back on if I need the money! But no, I don't really want to. The Batcave was great. Let it rest in peace.
Rave-Up: One last question, did you have any trouble getting through immigration? Or did you try to look "normal"?
Ollie: Even when I try to look normal, I don't! But I have a "gimp" outfit — it's my disguise to get past immigration. It consists of a pair of corduroy trousers, a little jacket, tennis shoes, a beige shirt, no nail varnish, no make-up at all, no jewelry. No "un-manly" things in my suitcase. It's such a performance, but it worked!
Originally published in American Music Press (October 1992)
By Devorah Ostrov
Legend has it that punk rock began on July 4, 1976. On that perfectly patriotic date, the Ramones — formed some two years previously in Forest Hills, NY — made their pivotal UK debut at the Roundhouse in London. And pretty much every Brit kid who went on to form a furiously fast, three-chord band was in the crowd that night. "We had hoped that the kids would see us and feel they could do it too," commented guitarist Johnny Ramone at the time.
The Ramones' Mondo Bizarro tour comes to
Cologne, Germany - December 5, 1992
Sixteen years and more than a dozen albums later, the Ramones are still going strong. The group's latest offering (and their first on Radioactive Records) is called Mondo Bizarro, and it features some of their finest material in a decade.
"It's a good one!" declares drummer Marky Ramone when I call him in New York. "We took our time. We selected the best songs. We practiced them a lot. And this is the end result."
"Poison Heart," the first single release, is a classic sounding pop tune co-written by Daniel Rey and former Ramones' bassist Dee Dee (who left the band in 1989 and took some pains to distance himself from the guys by issuing a solo LP as Dee Dee King).
Surprisingly, Dee Dee also co-wrote (again with Rey) two other songs — "Strength to Endure" and "Main Man" — both sung by his replacement, C.J. So, they don't hate Dee Dee and vice-versa?
"No! No way!" exclaims Marky (who replaced original drummer Tommy Ramone in 1978, after stints with Dust, Wayne County's Back Street Boys, and Richard Hell's Voidoids). "Maybe, in the beginning, there was a little animosity because he left us. But it all worked out. We're still friendly with him; he's still friendly with us. He's a Ramone!"
Marky Ramone - recent publicity photo
Another big surprise is the amount of radio play "Poison Heart" is receiving. While lack of airplay was once the bane of the Ramones' existence, Bay Area station Live 105 (KITS) is spinning the song so often you could actually get sick of it.
"It's weird, right!" laughs Marky. "It's strange because when we came out, we were just a bunch of aliens. There was no one like us, so they were afraid of us. And a lot of radio stations didn't want to play us because we went against the grain. You had your Foreigner, your Journey, your Fleetwood Mac... rock was really soft at that point."
He continues, "Eventually, you had all these bands wearing leather jackets and holes in their pants. They started playing fast songs and, obviously, they were influenced by us. These people admit it. And now, I guess, a lot of people who owe us are saying, 'Maybe it's the Ramones' time.'"
Is he talking about Skid Row covering "Psycho Therapy" on the "B-Side Ourselves" EP?
"And Motorhead did 'Ramones' on their last album. And Guns N' Roses always wear our t-shirts, and they've always said that we're one of their favorite bands. I don't necessarily like or dislike these bands, that's just their way of showing gratitude to us. Now they're playing 'Poison Heart,' which is great. But I hope they recognize the fact that there's other songs on the album that are just as good."
L-R: Joey Ramone, C.J. Ramone, Johnny Ramone & Marky Ramone
Photos from the Mondo Bizarro CD
Marky particularly likes the opening track, "Censorshit." Written by vocalist Joey Ramone, the lyrics reference a certain politician's wife and those irritating P.M.R.C. stickers that alert us to the imagined evil lurking in our favorite records: "Tipper, what's that sticker sticking on my CD?/Is that some kind of warning to protect me?/Freedom of choice needs a stronger, stronger voice/You can stamp out the source, but you can't stop creative thoughts..."
"We feel censorship is very un-American," asserts Marky. "I think a conservative minority is trying to push their view on the majority of the country."
"We were at the Berlin Wall when it came down," he adds. "I chipped away pieces of the wall for myself! There's no more communism in Russia, so why the hell are they gonna have censorship here?"
What does he think about the possibility that Tipper Gore (co-founder of the P.M.R.C. and wife of Bill Clinton's running mate, Al Gore) might soon be in the White House?
"Clinton's opposed to censorship," Marky notes. "When he gets in, he's probably gonna tell her to cool off. But if she screws around during the first four years, he'd better watch out. The [entertainment] industry will go against him and not vote for him in four years. And then he'll lose because the industry has a lot of influence."
Poster for two shows in Mexico City - 1992
Will he be voting for Clinton?
"Yeah, I have to," Marky responds a little reluctantly.
Getting back to Mondo Bizarro, fans of the group's early efforts will enjoy "Heidi is a Headcase," a direct descendant of "Suzy is a Headbanger," as well as the '60s surf-inspired sounds of "Touring" — so reminiscent of Jan and Dean, it could be a cover!
"That's what's so good about that song," observes Marky. "It could be a cover, but it isn't!"
Speaking of covers... Known for their speeded-up interpretations of simplistic pop ditties, another shocker on Mondo Bizarro is their cover of the Doors' "Take It as It Comes." Which is — how do I phrase this properly? — sort of complicated with oodles of keyboards!
How did that happen?
"One day, John said, 'Let's do a Doors' song.' And I said, 'What!?' I didn't wanna do 'Light My Fire.' But when he brought in this obscure album track, I agreed it was a good idea. It wasn't a single, and no one has really heard of it. We just put our style to it, and that's what happened. Very simple."
Have any of the surviving Doors heard their version?
Richard Hell & the Voidoids - featuring Marky Ramone (Marc Bell)
Photo by Kate Simon (from the "Blank Generation" 45)
"Ray Manzarek… He's flattered that we did it. As a matter of fact, we were gonna have him on keyboards, but he said he doesn't play music anymore. We used some other guy from some other band [Joe McGinty, ex-Psychedelic Furs]."
Marky (in collaboration with a mysterious character called Skinny Bones) also supplies two new numbers: "Anxiety" and "The Job That Ate My Brain." The first is a bit of stressed-out silliness; however, the second is an interesting tale about day-job woes: "Out of bed at 6:15, in a rush and you can't think/Gotta catch the bus and train, I'm in a rush and feelin' insane/I can't take this crazy pace, I've become a mental case/Yeah, this is the job that ate my brain..."
Promo poster for Mondo Bizarro
(Radioactive Records - 1992)
"In this fast-paced society, there's a lot of things that people wanna do," elaborates Marky. "They've got families to raise, they want to relax, they want to play, but they gotta get up and work for some company. They don't have time for themselves. It sucks!"
That last sentiment sounds like Marky is speaking from personal experience. Has he ever held down a day-job?
"I used to mix cement. I used to put up wrought-iron gates... y'know, construction stuff."
When was this?
He briefly falters. "This was before... this was around... after I left the Ramones in '83. For four years, I was doing stuff like that because I didn't wanna be involved with the music business anymore."
I'd been wondering how to bring up his temporary departure from the group (during which he was replaced by Richie Ramone). From what I've read, it wasn't pretty. Creem magazine documented one especially divisive moment: "Johnny is on the phone, obviously agitated, saying things like, 'I'm pissed about this! … If he doesn't wanna do it...!' Turns out that drummer Marky has pulled a walkout with the Toronto date just three days away."
"Me and Dee Dee..." Marky starts to explain, then hesitates. It's clearly still a sensitive subject.
The Ramones
L-R: C.J., Johnny, Marky, and Joey
"He had a drug problem and I had a drinking problem, and it was getting to me. It was winning, y'know. I ended up drunk every day. So, I turned around one day and thought, What's more important? Acting like a jerk and embarrassing myself? Getting up off the floor every morning? Or playing in a band that I like? So, I just stopped. I went away for a while and did straight jobs just to get back to some other kind of reality."
What made him finally return to the fold?
"Well... John, ah... called me one day..." says Marky, still choosing his words carefully. "Richie wasn't working out, and he asked me to come back in the band. And that was it."
Marky Ramone on the cover of Modern Drummer
February 2014
Spin magazine recently acknowledged the Ramones' impact by naming them one of the most significant bands in rock history (the list of seven also includes Jimi Hendrix, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and the Sex Pistols).
According to Spin: "No group in the last eighteen years has been more important or more influential, including the Sex Pistols (who probably couldn't have existed without the Ramones). There's a real straight line from the Ramones to Nirvana, for anyone who'd care to trace it."
How did that make them feel?
"We were very flattered," states Marky.
The Ramones are an American institution, I point out.
"That's what I hear, but I don't know what it means. I'd just like to sell a few more copies of our new album. Y'know what I mean? That would be nice."
Originally published in Rave-Up #17 (1989)
By Devorah Ostrov
Girlschool at the time of this interview (Enigma publicity photo)
L-R: Cris Bonacci, Tracey Lamb, Kim McAuliffe & Denise Dufort
It's been four years since I last saw Girlschool, two years since bassist Tracey Lamb joined the group, and eight long hours since my bus pulled out of the Hollywood Greyhound station bound for Tijuana, Mexico, where Girlschool are playing at Iguanas.
According to the original itinerary, the California leg of the band's Take A Bite tour was supposed to kick off at the Country Club outside Los Angeles. That show should've been followed by Iguanas and a private party at Raji's. Then there was a day off to drive to San Francisco, where they would've played two gigs at the Stone before returning to Southern California.
Take A Bite (Enigma/GWR 1988)
And that's exactly how my cheapo/non-refundable/un-changeable plane ticket was booked. But with a week to go before the Country Club gig, the whole schedule was turned topsy-turvy. Tijuana was now the first stop, with other dates canceled, changed, and added on. And trust me, the airline industry really didn't care.
Iguanas is located just across the border, in a mostly empty shopping center. You can't miss the place: the building's architecture is recognizable as "Old Mexico," but the garish yellows, oranges, pinks and greens of its paint job actually pulsate in the bright afternoon sun and give me a headache. Apparently, the club caters primarily to young punk and metal fans from San Diego, which is less than an hour's drive away. The only Mexicans I saw inside Iguanas were the guards and the bartenders.
While Girlschool prepared to hit the stage later that night, I asked bassist Tracey Lamb (who replaced Gil Weston-Jones, following stints in UK all-female metal outfits Rock Goddess and She) why the band didn't tour the US back when she first joined.
"There was talk of a tour," she explains, "but it didn't happen. It didn't have anything to do with us. It was delayed by management hassles and record company hassles."
Cris Bonacci and Kim McAuliffe in Tijuana Photo: Devorah Ostrov
With Take A Bite (released last year on Enigma Records in the US/GWR in the UK), hopefully all those hassles will be a thing of the past.
"Things are starting to happen for us," confirms Tracey. "I think it's the right time, and we have the right record company."
"We're keeping our fingers crossed," adds vocalist/guitarist Kim McAuliffe.
The first single from the new album — a cover of the Sweet's '70s glam classic "Fox on the Run" — has already been picked up by 200 radio stations across the country. However, the promo video has received surprisingly little attention from MTV.
Directed by Jean Pellerin, the video incorporates scenes filmed on a park bandstand with live footage and quick cuts of the girls goofing around. Lacking any special effects, silly concepts, or staged choreography, much of it looks for all the world like a charming home movie.
"Our original plan was to shoot a live video while we were on the road with Gary Glitter," says Kim, referring to their support slot on the recent Gangshow tour. "But we didn't have our own stage set up, and Denise [Dufort, drums] was over to the right of the rest of us. So, we had to make it up as we went along. We went around to all these places and just shot film."
"There's this Victorian bandstand on the commons across from Kim's flat," reveals Tracey about the setting for the outdoor scenes. "We thought it was the ideal thing to do."
"It was ten in the morning when we were on the commons," grumbles Kim. "We'd only gotten back from the Gary Glitter tour at five the morning before. We were dying! But Jean was saying, 'Just jump around a lot and they won't be able to see how rough you look.'"
My backstage pass for the Girlschool show
at Iguanas - June 17, 1989
Plagued by a late start time, Girlschool played a blistering gig to only a handful of diehard fans in Tijuana. The crowd, which had been bouncing enthusiastically during TSOL's opening set, was already driving home by the time the headliners went on.
The next morning found all of us back in California, in the tiny border town of San Ysidro, debating over eggs and sausages for here or to go. Then it was time for Girlschool's tour bus to head up Highway 5 to their next show in San Francisco (with a quick detour to drop me off in Hollywood, because according to my plane ticket, I wasn't going home yet).
Plans for a stop at the beach and a boat ride were soon forgotten as signs for the Orange County K-MART loomed in the distance. And there was no stopping Kim as she strode intently across the acres of parking lot and into the ultimate American shopping experience.
"Kim becomes a different person when she's shopping," confides guitarist Cris Bonacci (who replaced Kelly Johnson in 1984). "She gets really aggressive!"
With bags stuffed and everyone satisfied that no corner of the store remained unexplored, the tour bus again wound slowly up the freeway. I took advantage of a mid-afternoon traffic jam to ask Kim if a rumored move to Los Angeles was true.
Girlschool - publicity photo
"It does seem like the best time to do it," she allows. "We've got this interest from Enigma, which is based in LA. We've never had that interest from an American label before."
She also points to Def Leppard's US success as a reason to concentrate on these shores. "I told Joe [Elliott, Def Leppard's vocalist] we were going to try to crack America, and he said that's exactly what they did."
As the bus finally turned onto Sunset Blvd., the conversation shifted back to how it all began. It was 1978 when the group changed its name from Painted Lady and played its initial shows as Girlschool. Now the band, which Kerrang magazine termed "a great British institution," is being cited by more and more young female fans as a musical influence. It's a compliment Kim takes with a grain of salt. "It makes me feel really old," she laughs. "But then there's bands like Heart that are still going, and I'd heard of them before I ever thought about picking up a guitar."
Originally published in American Music Press (March 1993)
By Devorah Ostrov
Damn Yankees pose for a Kerrang! centerfold
The Damn Yankees have just finished storming through Japan in support of their new album, Don't Tread, making sure each and every concert attendee got hit over the head with a hearty dose of American spirit.
Now the guys are back home, taking a brief respite before picking up the US leg of the tour where they left off. I spoke with guitarist/vocalist Ted Nugent and bassist/vocalist Jack Blades (ex-Night Ranger; this something of a supergroup also includes guitarist/vocalist Tommy Shaw from Styx and drummer Michael Cartellone).
My backstage pass for Damn Yankees at the San Jose Events Center Arena - February 21, 1993
Jack was relaxing at his Sonoma County farmhouse, reflecting on the mudslide that had recently wiped out his vegetable garden and tennis court.
"There's like two-feet of mud on my tennis court right now," he tells me. "It kinda flowed all the way down the hill. It was pretty awesome. That stuff's powerful! The ground was so soaked it just gave way."
Meanwhile... Ted could be found on his 1,400 acres of Michigan swampland, pursuing his well-known animal-whacking/nature-balancing crusade — which became personal when I mentioned Rocky, the adorable raccoon setting up house on the roof outside my bedroom window. (I damn well knew I was baiting the trap, so to speak.)
"God bless 'em, they're cute!" Nugent enthused, much to my momentary amazement. "Until they bite your kid. You've gotta be careful 'cause they develop rabies real easy, and there's no control factor other than squashing 'em on the road. There's gotta be a balance. And concrete doesn't quite do the balancing act."
Don't Tread (Warner Bros. Records, 1992)
Now he'd returned to form and was on a roll. "It's like California banned mountain lion hunting. Well, they shot more mountain lions in California last year than ever before. But instead of hunters and sportsmen killing 'em they had to have law enforcement people kill 'em, 'cause there's too fucking many. They're out of balance. Kids were chased home from the school bus in rural California last year. People's dogs and cats were being eaten by mountain lions 'cause they're out of control."
He wasn't done yet, although his spiel did go off the rails a bit as it wound down. "That's a perfect example of what we're trying to fight through my organization, Ted Nugent World Bow Hunters. It's a conservation/hunting organization that embraces and nurtures and guards over the spirit of the wild, very much in the same balanced lifestyle of the native American Indians. And those of us who refuse to turn our backs on nature, like a bunch of city geeks, are crusading to pass this on to young people who are mindlessly drooling on themselves in the malls and street corners of the crack cocaine hellzones. We teach 'em hands-on about how they can be responsible, accountable members of society."
Good thing I didn't tell him about all the peanut butter cookies I've been giving Rocky.
* * *
My friend Greg Langston & I meet the Damn Yankees!
I opt (as if there was a choice) to let Ted begin the interview.
Ted: Devorah, have you ever seen us in concert?
AMP: I saw you in concert in the '70s, but I haven't seen Damn Yankees yet.
Ted: We're pretty cool.
AMP: So I hear. I want to ask you about your recent shows in Japan. All the shows were sold out, which I thought was curious because the band and its music seem so truly American.
Ted: You noticed. Yeah, we reek of American attitude and spirit! And I think that's why we go over. We just exude an exuberance and a spirit of shit-kickerness that the Japanese really relate to. For example, one of the guys translated an article about me over there that said I was the John Wayne of rock 'n' roll!
Jack: Yeah, they love it! One of the biggest songs we play over there is "(You Can Still) Rock in America" from my Night Ranger days. The flag comes down, and people go ape shit! They get up and cheer and jump and yell and scream! It's so funny, 'cause you'll finish a song and they'll go "WHOOO!!!" for about two seconds and then stop, and it'll be dead quiet. It's very bizarre.
AMP: Do they understand the lyrics?
Damn Yankees (publicity photo)
L-R: Tommy Shaw, Ted Nugent, Jack Blades, Michael Cartellone
Ted: I doubt it. They kind of mutilate and bastardize our colloquialisms. It's the spirit and the energy of the show that blows their minds.
AMP: Do you include any other Night Ranger, Styx, or Nugent songs in your set?
Ted: Sure! Yeah! One of the reasons I was excited about playing with Tommy and Jack was because both of them had songs that I knew I would love to perform myself — "Blue Collar Man," "Don't Tell Me You Love Me," "Renegade"... We do all those songs. And we do "Cat Scratch Fever" and "Free for All."
Jack Blades & Tommy Shaw in an advert
for GHS guitar strings
AMP: Were you guys friends before forming the band?
Jack: I didn't know Ted or Tommy very well. Night Ranger had played some outdoor festivals with Ted in the mid-'80s, like Texxas Jam and the Iowa Jam. And I'd met Tommy at the American Music Awards in '84 or '85.
AMP: So, did someone put you guys together?
Ted: Yeah, John Kolodner [from Geffen Records] initiated the first cattle-prodding between Tommy and me. He said, "You guys keep talking about jamming. Just do it already!" So, I went to New York and we jammed. Within a month or so, Jack became available because Night Ranger had broken up, and John Kolodner said, "Hey, you gotta get Jack in there too."
Jack: I got a phone call from John saying, "I have Tommy Shaw and Ted Nugent in New York doing some songs." I said, "Man, that sounds wild!" He said, "Why don't you go check 'em out? See what you think." So, I flew to New York literally five days after Night Ranger had broken up, and we all got together over a weekend. Michael had played with Tommy on a solo tour, so he was there too. And the four of us just started writing all these songs. We've been the Damn Yankees ever since.
AMP: And how does the "gonzo rocker" feel about being back in a band situation?
Ted: I've always considered myself just a member of a band. Sometimes the band is called the Amboy Dukes, sometimes it's the Ted Nugent band, and sometimes it's the Damn Yankees. But I've always considered myself a team player.
Gig advert for Damn Yankees in Japan
AMP: Do you get three distinct types of fans coming to see their favorite band member?
Ted: I can't tell about distinction because there's such a vast, diverse wad of humanity at every show. You've got some Amboy Dukes fans out there that have to be wheeled in. And then you've got a bunch of Damn Yankees fans that are pre-pubescent.
AMP: Amboy Dukes fans still follow you?
Ted: Yeah, it's great! I did an autograph the other day for a guy who had a picture of me signed "Ted Nugent 1967."
AMP: I've heard the band wasn't completely happy with the first Damn Yankees' album. What was it that you guys didn't like?
Ted: I think the first album was a fantastic album! My only real complaint about it is the overall mix. I thought it was mixed real blandly. I don't think the drums had any punch. I don't think the guitars had any twang to 'em. I thought it was done real disrespectful to our R&B pulse.
AMP: And did you have more of a say with Don't Tread?
Ted: I raised a big, greasy, toxic red flag and said, "Hey, goddammit, I played some sexy fuckin' rhythm guitar parts! If they're not on there, I'm gonna gut you with a rusty spoon!" And Jack and Tommy went, "Y'know, he's right." And Michael said, "Yeah, I'm glad somebody fuckin' said something 'cause there's no vibrancy to the blend of the music." And I think we got it this time. I'm confident that we did.
Damn Yankees (publicity photo)
L-R: Jack Blades, Ted Nugent, Tommy Shaw, Michael Cartellone
AMP: I'd like to ask you about some of the songs on Don't Tread. Firstly, congratulations on "Mr. Please" going to #1!
Ted: The number one rock track in America! Thank you very much!
Jack: That's not the pop/Garth Brooks chart. We're talking about rock 'n' roll charts. It's really cool!
AMP: The title track, "Don't Tread on Me"...
Ted Nugent on the cover of Creem magazine
May 1978
Ted:Great song! It's about independence. It's about people in the left lane — y'know, if you wanna go 55 get the hell outta my lane. If you wanna be gay, just don't come near me. I don't give a shit. I think it's weird, but I'm not gonna punch ya.
AMP: Uhmm... OK. What I really wanted to ask about was the use of the song during the US Olympics.
Jack: That was pretty bitchin'! They played one video a night for every 16 days of the Olympics, and it was cool that they wanted us to be the rock 'n' roll band. They wanted real American rock 'n' roll, and the one thing we are is a no-holds-barred, straight-ahead, dyed-in-the-wool American rock 'n' roll band.
AMP: I noticed that the Tower of Power horn section play on "Dirty Dog." How did that come about?
Jack: I've been a fan since... Y'know, I'm from the Bay Area. I've lived here since 1975. I was in this band called Rubicon when I was like 19, and Tower of Power were my idols. That and Sly and the Family Stone. That's the kind of music I loved. So, it was really neat that when we needed horns, I said, "How about Tower of Power?"
AMP: Do you have a horn section when you play live?
Jack: No... We don't play that song live.
Damn Yankees & Jackyl at the
McNichols Arena in Denver, Colorado
AMP: Another song I really like is "This Side of Hell"...
Jack: "This Side of Hell" is killer! That's my favorite song to play live. We just kill that tune. We absolutely kill it!
AMP: It's a great anthem to teenage lust! I guess I shouldn't be surprised that you're still writing lyrics about getting/not getting laid. But you are married with a teenage son of your own.
Jack: Yeah, I have a 13-year-old and a 10-year-old. I don't look at 'em as teenage-lust songs. I just look at 'em as lust period. And they just happen to have a good, strong groove happening. People might choose to call 'em adolescent or teenage or whatever... But that's just the fire I have inside of me, and when that burns out, I might as well fucking quit. I mean, the reason most musicians get into this business is to meet babes.
AMP: Do your sons like the Damn Yankees?
Jack: Oh, yeah! They think its killer! They dig rock 'n' roll. They're not into that rap shit. I'm so fucking sick of that rap garbage. On MTV, you see gangs walking around with guns; they should be shot themselves.
Ted: God damn carjacking, purse-snatching, rap pieces of shit!
AMP: Ted, the one song you sing on Don't Tread is "Uprising." You might think I'm crazy...
Ted: I already think that. AMP: ...but the general idea of what you're saying in the lyrics reminds me of the Amboy Dukes' song "Get Yer Guns."
Ted: Yes, ma'am! You're right on the money! It's about standing up and defending what you believe in. And it's about trying to change ugliness: "Another night of horror/ The streets are living hell/The gangland has no honor/Just that dying smell/Where is the vigilante?/He's better than the knave/Life's a penny-ante/I refuse to be a slave." Y'know, I keep seeing these reports on television — the left-wing, liberal pieces of shit media that say, "Oh, he took the law into his own hands." What're you supposed to do? Stand there and watch someone kill your family? Of course, you take the law into your own hands!
AMP: Would that be your defense in court?
Ted: There's a more important law than what's in the books, and that's your instinct to protect yourself and your family. I mean, my God, it's insane. I'd love to have been that cab driver [the taxi driver who was sued for using "excessive force" when he trapped a mugger by pinning him against a wall with his cab], except I wouldn't have just pinned him against the wall. I would've run over his fucking head 'till there was nothing left but a skidmark. Things are so fucked up! It's the same mentality that tried to put me in jail in Cincinnati.
Night Ranger with Jack Blades second from left
AMP: I heard something about that. What happened?
Ted: I shot a flaming arrow into my guitar like I do every night, and the Fire Marshall had a hard-on. I think he was a gay vegetarian from Cuba. No offense to Cubans.
Jack: There's some antiquated rule in Cincinnati where you're not allowed to have an open flame. It's like when kids light [cigarette] lighters during the show, the cops fine 'em $50. We didn't know about this. Nobody told us. So, we did our show like we do every night, and after the show the whole dressing room filled up with cops! They took Ted away in handcuffs!
Q: Did you have to pay a fine?
Ted Nugent in an advert for PRS guitars
Jack: The judge was such an asshole. He said, "Did you know about this ordinance?" Ted said, "Absolutely not! Had I known it was against the law, I wouldn't have done it." The judge says, "I don't know who you think you are, but the fine is $1,000 and three days in jail." We were like, "What the fuck?" The radio station in town paid the fine, and they waived the three days. It was kinda stupid.
AMP: Wasn't the singer from Jackyl [the support band] arrested at the same time for mooning the audience?
Jack: Yeah, he was standing in line behind Ted, and the judge said, "Next!" Jesse stood up and said, "Not guilty." They put his trial off 'till next week 'cause this judge was out to get everybody. The guy would've hung Jesse by his balls.
AMP: Ted, I can't end the interview without asking about your commercial for Energizer batteries...
Ted: Kinda cute, huh? They wanted me to shoot that fucking rabbit, but I told 'em I only shoot something I'm gonna eat. And I'm not gonna shoot a pink rabbit from California.
AMP: It's such a classic!
Ted: That's why I did it. I get a lotta offers for stuff like that, but it's gotta really be out of the ordinary and something I consider to be classic.
Damn Yankees (publicity photo)
AMP: And I loved your performance on Miami Vice! Ted: Did you see that one? It was the #2 rated Miami Vice of all time. I thought I died like a champ.
AMP: Would you like to do more acting in the future?
Ted: Y'know, I'd like to, but Jesus Christ, there's only 24 hours in a day and seven days in a week. It pisses me off! I need at least 50 hours a day and probably 20 days a week and about 150 weeks in a year. I'm just too damn busy. If I get a little break, and I'm still able to three or four years down the road, I'm sure I will. It's fun! And I'm good at it 'cause I've got a lotta attitude!
* * *
In case you missed it during its original run, here's Ted Nugent's advert for Energizer batteries. Enjoy!
Originally published in American Music Press (1991)
By Devorah Ostrov
Dramarama (publicity photo)
The name Dramarama always makes me think of a pretentious English synth band. And if there's one thing I hate, it's pretentious English synth bands. "Not so!" their publicist assures me when he calls with an offer to interview the group. Apparently, they just happen to be in San Francisco promoting Vinyl (their new CD on Chameleon Records) during the Gavin convention.
The publicist also notes that although they're LA-based these days, the guys originally hail from New Jersey and that "their sound can be compared to the Replacements and the Beatles." Now there's a helluva claim to live up to!
Vinyl (Chameleon Records - 1991)
It's Dramarama's affable John Easdale who greets me and my friend Michelle at the hotel.
"So, what do you do?" asks Michelle, as Easdale settles himself on the bed and lights a cigarette.
"I sing, I play a little guitar, I write the songs..."
"That make the whole world sing," mumbles Michelle. This is why I always bring her along to interviews!
The Dramarama story began several years ago when Easdale, bassist Chris Carter and guitarists Mark Englert and Peter Wood were attending high school in Wayne, New Jersey.
"We all grew up together," reflects Easdale, "and we started the band after high school. We weren't all gonna be college graduates, so we decided to become a band instead. First, we put out a 45 ["You Drive Me" b/w "A Fine Example" and a cover of "Femme Fatale"] and a 12-inch five-song EP ["Comedy"] on our own Questionmark Records. We got reviewed in Trouser Press and started corresponding with a French DJ who read the review. The record got to be No. 1 on this guy's radio show, and through that, we got a contract with [French indie label] New Rose Records for our first album [Cinéma Vérité]."
Dramarama pose in front of the Gem Spa à la the New York Dolls.
Back cover photo of the "Anything, Anything" 45 (New Rose - 1989)
Legendary Los Angeles DJ Rodney Bingenheimer gave the group its big break in America and turned their song "Anything, Anything (I'll Give You)" into something of a hit.
Easdale resumes the story: "Rodney started playing it — it had a picture of Edie Sedgwick on the cover, I guess that's why he picked it up. So, he played it a lot. He said we were from France. He pronounced our name, Dream-a-rama."
"Rodney's coming," interrupts Wood, who had entered the room a short time earlier and stood shyly against a wall. "I think he was on the plane behind us."
Before I can ask about "Anything, Anything" being used in one of the Nightmare On Elm Street movies, Chris Carter — all black hair and shades — bursts through the door. Someone's told him about our mutual love of old Creem magazines (really good publicist!), and he drops a dozen issues sealed in plastic on the bed.
Dramarama at the time of this interview
with drummer Clem Burke in the center (publicity photo)
"I didn't know how much of a collection you guys had," he offers. "So, I just brought some interesting ones."
I motion for Easdale to continue talking while Michelle and I try to discretely remove the protective plastic from issues featuring Kiss comics and Alice Cooper beer recipes. However, the singer has become distracted and is also making a grab at the magazines.
Easdale: I didn't see that. What's that one?
Carter: Kordosh [J. Kordosh, former Creem editor] gave it to me. I was gonna bring my Boy Howdy! beer can...
Cinéma Vérité (New Rose - 1985)
Easdale: He has a Boy Howdy! can. Plus, he has the actual sticker on the sheet so you can make your own can of Boy Howdy! But it doesn't work on today's cans. Back then, beer cans were bigger, and they had that bar down the side.
The liner notes to Vinyl pay further tribute to the group's fave magazine (and throw any chance of a favorable record review from the current edition out the window): Creem's old issues are listed under special thanks, while capital letters proclaim "NEW CREEM SUCKS!"
The liner notes also mention two guest artists of some renown. One is keyboardist Benmont Tench from Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, who dropped by to play on a couple of tracks and stayed for a total of five. "A magnificently amazing musician like that guy — everything he does adds something to the record," states Easdale. "So, if he wants to do it, I mean, geez..."
The other name that stands out is guitarist Mick Taylor who lends slide to the anti-classic rock radio treatise "Classic Rot." How did the ex-Rolling Stone get involved with Dramarama, I wonder? "We went to see the Replacements," explains Easdale, "and they said, 'Do you have any songs on your new album that Mick Taylor could play on?'"
Dramarama
Photo: David Perry
Having only had a chance to listen to Vinyl a couple of times prior to the interview, I compliment the one tune that has been stuck in my head all day and make a faux pas by referring to "What Are We Gonna Do?" as the "Earth Day song."
"It's not really an Earth Day song," points out Easdale with such exasperation I'm guessing I'm not the first one to call it that. "We were playing at the 20th anniversary of Earth Day up here, out at Golden Gate Park. And I was thinking about the irony of it being the 20th anniversary, but the 17th and the 15th and the 13th anniversaries had gone pretty much unnoticed — at least where I was living at the time. I don't know how it was in the Bay Area, but there was none of this ecological jazz going on from 1970-1990. All of a sudden, it's the 20th anniversary and it's like, 'Wake up! It's Earth Day again!' That's what the song is about."
Meanwhile, Michelle has been glancing at the press release for Vinyl. "You do 'Memo from Turner.' That's a good choice for a cover," she tells the band.
The (not-so-helpful as it turns out) press release also describes the song "Train Going Backwards" as being "Neil Young and Crazy Horse inspired."
"Everyone says that," grumbles Easdale.
Perhaps, it's suggested, everyone says it because it's written in the press release.
"What Are We Gonna Do?" CD single (Chameleon - 1991)
"I never listened to Neil Young while I was growing up," he insists. "I hated him! He was a hippie! There were all these flannel-shirted hippies in my school, all these burnouts. They sat on the lawn and sang Neil Young songs with their acoustic guitars. I never even heard Neil Young sing half of these songs, but I just knew them. Songs like [whines] 'Old man...'"
"Down by the river..." whines Wood. "They played that one for years."
So, you might ask (as I did), what was Easdale listening to in the '70s?
"T. Rex, Mott the Hoople, David Bowie, Roxy Music, Beatles solo albums... I know there was one summer where I listened to Yes and ELP, which I sometimes forget."
"He doesn't like to talk about that," laughs Wood.
"And then punk — some of it anyway. The Clash and the Sex Pistols were all right. I had a couple of Stranglers' records... Patti Smith... Dictators always! I saw a show where Styx opened for the Dictators and BeBop Deluxe!"
Advert for the "Anything, Anything" single
As luck would have it, Dramarama have their own strangely-billed gig to talk about — and it even involves a pretentious English synth band!
"We opened for Erasure," says Easdale. "It was the most ridiculous show I've ever seen. They gave us the space of about the width of this [twin] bed to set up in, and the rest of the stage behind us was all these gigantic..."
"...mushrooms and snails," fills in Wood. "And they had a chorus line of men wearing sequined G-strings. It was like..."
But wait! Easdale never finished telling us about Dramarama's history. We know about high school, the French record label, and Rodney Bingenheimer picked up their record because it had Edie on the cover... Then what?
"We'd heard of Rodney, so we said, 'Let's go to LA for a vacation.' And we just ended up staying. So, we moved here and made albums and we've had a million drummers."
Which brings us more or less up to date. Ex-Blondie drummer Clem Burke is the latest addition to Dramarama's lineup (although he was too late to play on Vinyl,that honor goes to Wire Train's Brian MacLeod). How did they secure his services?
"Rodney hooked us up with Clem," says Easdale. "At first, we were kind of nervous because it was Clem Burke. But we got over it. Just the fact that he was interested in the band at all was pretty flattering. He's the best drummer in the world!"
Originally published in Teenage Kicks #2(Fall 1997)
By Devorah Ostrov
Redd Kross - Show World back cover photo
L-R: Eddie, Steven, Jeff, Brian
Redd Kross (back when it was spelled Red Cross) played their very first show in 1979, opening for Black Flag (back when the lineup didn't include Henry Rollins) at a party in Redondo Beach. Their first "real" gig had them again opening for Black Flag (and UXA) at the Hong Kong Café in Hollywood. And for their next appearance, they opened for the Germs (back when Darby was alive). Guitarist/vocalist Jeff McDonald was 15 at the time. His brother, bassist/vocalist Steven, was 11.
But you probably know all that. So, we'll skip ahead to the present where the band (which now includes guitarist Eddie Kurdziel and drummer Brian Reitzell; keyboardist Gere Fennelly recently left the group) has a terrific new album called Show World (on the British indie label This Way Up) to talk about. And as we shall see, it is in no way heavy metal!
Redd Kross on the cover of Bucketfull of Brains #48
Teenage Kicks: I saw your show a couple of months ago with the Presidents of the United States of America. It was great 'cause the audience was filled with little kids, all excited and jumping around! That made it so much more fun than being in an audience of jaded 30-year-olds.
Jeff: We did that once before with the Lemonheads. It was a really young audience, a lot of kids with their parents. It was really fun!
Teenage Kicks: You've been with This Way Up for a couple of albums now. How does it work in terms of recording? Did you record Show World in LA and ship the tapes to England?
Jeff: Normally, we would do it like that. But Steven went to Abbey Road to master it. Teenage Kicks: The Abbey Road?
Steven: Yeah! It was cool, but I didn't get to go inside Studio 2 'cause Bush was recording.
Teenage Kicks: Was Studio 2 where the Beatles recorded?
Steven: They recorded in all the studios. But Studio 2, which is the mid-size studio, was the one where they did the lion's share of their recordings.
Show World (This Way Up - 1997)
Jeff: I wonder if you saw the studio where the Zombies did Odyssey And Oracle, or Pink Floyd did Piper At The Gates of Dawn?
Steven: Well, I did walk into Studio 3 briefly, but there was a British band recording in there. I don't know who they were. And then I walked into Studio 1, the tracking room in Studio 1, which is...
Jeff: The Sgt. Pepper room.
Steven: It's the "Day in the Life" room, where they did the string section. Mostly, I was in the mastering room, which wasn't built until the '70s. So, the Beatles never mastered anything there.
Teenage Kicks: I want to talk about the heavy metal leanings I detect on Show World...
Jeff: Heavy metal?! That's what Rodney Bingenheimer said! So, to you, "Secret Life" sounds like a Bon Jovi ballad? There's a couple of heavy songs...
Teenage Kicks: Not so much lyrically, but musically...
Jeff: Heavier than Phaseshifter?
The Presidents of the United States of America & Redd Kross
at the Fillmore in SF - April 11, 1997
Steven: Heavier than "Jimmy's Fantasy"? No way! On "Kiss the Goat," which I assume is the main track we're talking about, we use a drop D. It's the first time we've done a drop D, which is...
Jeff: Very heavy metal, very Soundgarden.
Teenage Kicks: But generally, you don't think that Eddie's fondness for Ted Nugent is carrying over into your sound?
Jeff: No. Well, he has his own little position where he exercises a certain amount of...
Eddie Kurdziel in a Fender advert
Steven: I would say this... "Kiss the Goat" is my least favorite song on the record, and it's probably Eddie's most favorite song on the record.
Jeff: But "Kiss the Goat" is Stonesy.
Steven: Yeah, the demo is Stonesier.
Teenage Kicks: I also want to compliment your cover of the Quick's "Pretty Please Me."
Steven: We basically do an exact replica of the Quick. Well, not exactly.
Jeff: It is exactly like the Quick.
Steven: I don't think that's heavy metal...
Teenage Kicks: And I love "Follow the Leader." Jeff: Which is not a metal song!
Steven: I'm assuming that heavy metal implies... Do you mean in a Sabbath-like sense? Or like a Ratt thing?
Teenage Kicks: Which will get me in less trouble? Like glam/pop metal...
Steven: I could see where "Pretty Please Me" might be mistaken for a Bowie/Cheap Trick deal. The term "heavy metal" just has such a negative implication.
Jeff McDonald (1997) Photo: Devorah Ostrov
Jeff: Well, y'know what? We were trying to make a metal record, and we failed miserably! Sorry.
Steven: But now, "Follow the Leader," which isn't a heavy metal track...
Jeff: "Follow the Leader," to me, is the exact opposite of heavy metal. It doesn't even have distortion on it!
Steven: At the end it does, but that's like Mudhoney.
Jeff: Pink Floyd...
Steven: The Stooges... Who even termed the phrase "heavy metal"?
Teenage Kicks: I think it came from a William Burroughs' book.
Jeff: I thought it was from Steppenwolf's "Born to be Wild." They say, "Heavy metal thunder..." but I think they're talking in terms of a Harley Davidson or something. Now, the first heavy metal band was... I'd have to say Cream.
Teenage Kicks: Blue Cheer!
Jeff: Cream predates Blue Cheer. "Summertime Blues," their first record was what — '68? Cream predates that.
Steven: No! It was Sabbath and Deep Purple!
Redd Kross on the cover of BAM magazine
Photos: Vicki Berndt
Jeff: Yeah, but... I would say that the two bands which took the original Vanilla Fudge/ Cream/Blue Cheer sound and made it into what would become modern-day heavy metal are Black Sabbath and Deep Purple.
Steven: And Black Sabbath did it in a couple of different ways. They had Master Of Reality and Vol. 4,where they sort of perfected that era, and then later with Dio when they did the Heaven And Hell record.
Jeff: That was Van Halen.
Steven: That's not Van Halen.
Jeff: But that's when they went post-Van Halen metal.
Steven: But they sort of created a whole other genre of metal. It was post-Van Halen, but Sabbath did it in such a way that it was once again completely influential to the whole genre of metal music. They recreated metal for the '80s.
Teenage Kicks: That's not exactly what I'm thinking about when I listen to Show World.
Steven: Right, you're thinking of that late-'80s Sunset Strip...
Jeff: And I hated that kind of music!
Show World promo postcard
Steven: The lyrics to "Peach Kelli Pop" [from the band's classic '87 album Neurotica] do nothing but make fun of those people — the assholes at the Rainbow! I think for Jeff, there was a Quick influence, which was a Sunset Strip influence.
Jeff: But that's like 1975.
Steven: '75/76... left over from the glitter era, just pre-punk.
Jeff: Post-New York Dolls/pre-punk rock.
"Secret Life" CD single(This Way Up - 1997) Photo: Vicki Berndt
Steven: Pre-Van Halen/pre-punk rock/post-New York Dolls Sunset Strip... Which was probably a really dead period for the Sunset Strip, commercially speaking.
Jeff: New York was starting to happen. LA only had like, Sparks.
Teenage Kicks: And the Runaways.
Jeff: But they were slightly post-Sparks.
Steven: Kim Fowley was trying to put something together.
Jeff: Kim Fowley was running the Sunset Strip.
Steven: You've seen Decline 2, right?
Teenage Kicks: Actually, I haven't.
Steven: OK, that's why... I don't wanna harp on the subject, but if you had seen Decline 2, you would know why we are so incredibly defensive about being associated with the words "heavy metal."
Teenage Kicks: But I don't mean it negatively. I really love this record!
Promo for the "Mess Around" single (This Way Up - 1997)
Steven: Well... Sorry, we were so defensive about it.
Teenage Kicks: So, getting back to Show World, and specifically "Follow the Leader"... Does that song refer to the cult goings-on in Southern California?
Jeff: I think that song predates the mass suicide in San Diego. You have to listen to the lyrics, and you'll find clues. Take the first letter of every third word; every two words take the second letter for five words. Then go back to the formula of first letter/ third word again. Do it like that through the entire song, and there'll be a nice little message.
Steven: Does that include a's and I's?
Jeff: Yeah... I said it right. It does make sense! You'll see.
Teenage Kicks: And what's the deal with the not-very-well-hidden track #14?
Steven: It's really retarded. It was supposed to be like a minute after the record ended.
Teenage Kicks: It's not...
Steven: It's right after the record. It made me sick the day I heard we couldn't change that.
Jeff McDonald, his wife Charlotte Caffey from the Go-Go's &
Evan Dando from the Lemonheads at a Live 105 show in San Francisco
Photo: Devorah Ostrov
Jeff: Never again will I be involved with a record that has a bonus track on it. I'm just gonna say, "No! Fuck off!" Steven: Basically, what happened was... We recorded like 17 songs, and we couldn't decide which songs to leave off the record. We originally only wanted to do 12 songs, but when we tried taking songs off, we thought it was unbalanced on some level. So, putting that song — it's actually called "Sick Love" — on the American version was some sort of compromise. We didn't put it on the British version because there's so many singles. There's all these B-sides, so things aren't completely lost.
Redd Kross with Gere Fennelly from the "Trance" picture sleeve 45
Photo: Vicki Berndt
Jeff: If you buy every British single, you'll get almost every track we recorded. Teenage Kicks: That's a lot of money! Jeff: And y'know... I have to apologize for that, for allowing it to happen. It shouldn't be like that. I can imagine if the tracks are really rare, where it's worth it. I dunno... The single thing is fine, but the bonus track on the various domestic and foreign CDs...
Steven: And it's a bummer for us because what happens is... They want us to make as many bonus tracks as we do tracks for the record.
Jeff: And we end up giving away songs that are way too good to be B-sides.
Steven: Right! We end up giving away songs that we've worked on just much as the single. And especially in America, where we don't have these singles. We felt like the songs were just completely lost. That's why we did the bonus track. But it was supposed to be a minute after the record, so that the record would at least have a 13-song feel to it. I blame someone at our label totally for that.
Teenage Kicks: Do your singles chart in England?
Steven: "Get Out of Myself" charted in the Hot 100, somewhere in the upper 60s. Which is mildly impressive. Especially if you liken it to the US charts. If you were in the 60s in the US Hot 100, you'd be a superstar!
"Stoned" promo CD single
(This Way Up - 1996)
Jeff: You could go gold. Steven: Over there it's not quite the same, but it's higher than we've ever charted. I dunno about any other chart positions.
Teenage Kicks: Have you toured the UK and/or Europe in support of Show World?
Jeff: Twice. We went over three times, but once was just for one show. We did two actual tours, one with the Foo Fighters...
Steven: Now, they are heavy metal!
Teenage Kicks: People have probably seen you more over there than over here lately!
Steven: In the last five years, definitely. When we signed to This Way Up, we ended up focusing our attention over there and sort of ignored...
Jeff: Neglected...
Steven: Yeah, neglected... not entirely. We toured so long for Phaseshifter — we did three tours of the West Coast for the last album, which was also like three years ago now. But it's a drag because I really like playing in the States, and I really miss concentrating on it.
Foo Fighters and Redd Kross at the Ancienne Belgique
in Brussels, Belgium - June 1, 1997
Teenage Kicks: We were talking about singles earlier... Wasn't "Stoned" supposed to be released as a single over here?
Steven: We tried to get "Stoned" on the radio, but it didn't get played anywhere.
Jeff: Because of the subject matter.
R.I.P. Eddie Kurdziel whopassed away on June 6, 1999.
Steven: It gotbanned!
Teenage Kicks: They thought you guys were encouraging it? Jeff: Yeah... I guess I'm too vague for simple people. And I'm not talking about the fans! I'm saying the people in charge of the programming. You have to realize that you're dealing with peabrains.
Teenage Kicks: Finally, what happened to Gere? Was the parting amicable?
Jeff: She was just too busy. She had so many things to do. Being in San Francisco is weird for me because it reminds me of Gere. And I miss Gere. I love Gere! It was traumatic, but I think we're still friends.
Teenage Kicks: Do you miss having a keyboard onstage?
Jeff: Sometimes, but we've adjusted our set, our sound, to not need it right now. But I do miss certain things that we can't do; there's certain places that we can't go musically. We're just playing as a guitar band right now.
