Text by Julia Masi / FFanzeen, 1980
Introduction by Robert Barry Francos / FFanzeen, 2020
Images from the Internet
This article / interview was originally published in FFanzeen, issue #5, dated August/September 1980. It was written by the Managing
Editor of the magazine, Julia Masi.
The band 3-D had a couple of hits, two albums, and even played on “Saturday
Night Live” (hosted by Steve Martin). Despite the protestations in the interview
below, they were very New Wave, as we understand it in hindsight.
Since the break-up, lead singer Rick Zivic opened up his own recording
studio in New York, and is fronting the Rockin’ Red White and Blues Band. For Ted
Wender, he joined with Zivic in 1989 and created a production company that specializes
in videos for commercials, television programs and industrial companies. Ted
also formed the group Jazzmatik, and created MusiCan, a philanthropic organization to help kids with music programs in indigent
neighborhood public schools. Keiv Ginsberg’s other claim to fame is that he
played guitar for the Blues Brothers, including on their albums (which may explain how they got to play on "SNL"). Producer and
bassist Nick Stevens has worked with many artists over the years, including Impulse
Manslaughter. – RBF, 2020
“The basic premise of the group is that
we’re songwriters and we’re evolving. We don’t write one type of song. We write
about a lot of different things. We’re a band with a lot of visual ideas,” says
Rick Zivic, winsome, brown-eyed lead singer and lyricist of 3-D. The group is
best known for the songs “X-Ray Eyes,” “All Night Television” and “Telephone
Number,” which reflect that philosophy.
3-D includes keyboard player Ted
Wender, drummer Mike Find, guitarist Keiv Ginsberg, and Nick Stevens on bass,
all native New Yorkers. Zivic hails from Pittsburgh. Recently, 3-D returned to
New York City after completing a 40-date national tour with the J. Geils Band,
to do a very successful spot on “Saturday Night Live,” and work on their second
album for Polydor Records.
Zivic seemed relaxed and ambitious as
he sat in a spacious white room of the band’s Greenwich Village loft and
recounted stories from the road. Touring is nothing new for 3-D. They’ve been
on the road before with the Fabulous Poodles, the Romantics, and Mitch Ryder.
But this was the first time they experienced a backlash from the audience over
the band’s visual image:
“Initially, when we started the tour,
we played Providence. This was our first experience hearing and seeing the
Geils crowd. And it was 10,000 of them, and they were gonzo-Geils people. We
came out to do our set and all of a sudden it was like a war zone. Nickels
being thrown up (on stage). Quarters being heated with their lighters and thrown
up. Bottles and every type of debris coming up. I did a jump and in mid-air saw
a coin come up and hit me right below the eye. For 2-1/2-3 weeks, I had this incredible
black eye.”
Despite the unfriendly welcome they
received, 3-D was undaunted by the crowd. “I just finished the set and left the
stage. I said, ‘Fuck you,’ which was really stupid. It was very new for us. At
that point, I should have gotten the hell out of there.”
The band stuck it out and was well received
on their next few gigs. Once they got to know the Geils crowd, they started to
re-evaluate their set. Much of 3-D’s material borders on a new sound, “But to
get a lot of the gonzo mentality you wanna power-drive them,” he smiled, “so we
started trimming out some of the things that give people time enough to react
and maybe obliterate us.”
Their precautions were in vain. In
Tampa, someone threw a bottle of Jack Daniels on stage. It hit Nick Stevens in
the face, but luckily bounced off him before it cracked on the floor. Zivic
decided to fight back with his audience. “I started to get like a mad dog,” he
recalled, but the more he answered back and singled out his hecklers, the
better they liked it. Their record company even received fan mail about it, but
Rick tends to be naturally nonchalant, and isn’t ready to reembrace a stage
personality. “You’re here to play music and it’s like tripe. Out of 10,000
people, there are just 100 people who are rowdy about it.”
Most of the bands who have toured
with J. Geils have left the tour early, but nothing could make 3-D throw in the
towel. Not even the festival seating at a concert in Oakland. “There are no
seats,” Zivic explained, “and the kids stood in front of the stage, all the way
back. And they’re either belligerent, or they’re gone. At this point, you had
to be a gladiator to go out there.”
The band is already looking forward
to their next tour when they hope to include some video work into their show. “We
had a big plan on ‘X-Ray Eyes’ and ‘All Night Television’ to do two videos on
the new material. But we’re definitely doing a 3-D film for the next tour.” He
speculated, “I think 3-D’s a thing we have to do ‘cause it’s definitely a thing
of the future. And I think we should be the first ones to get into it.”
Posts
