THE CHESTERFIELD KINGS Interview: The House of Garage (1985)

© Robert Barry Francos / FFanzeen, 1985/2022
mages from the Internet unless indicated
Facebook page is HERE

A few times a year, weather permitting, I would fly up from New York to visit Buffalo Musicians’ Hall of Famer and friend since high school Bernie Kugel, and would pile into the car of record collector extraordinaire, Mad Louie, the Vinyl Junkie’s car, and head over to Irondequoit, a suburb of Rochester, to make a pilgrimage to the House of Guitars. Besides the obvious front room of instruments, given the name of the place, the back also had a very disorganized yet quite eclectic new and used recording section. But the main reason to head over was to visit the two members of the Chesterfield Kings, who worked there. Andy Babiuk, who took care of the front with all the instruments (and has written books on the gear used by the Beatles and the Stones, and Kings leader and voice/harp Greg Prevost (he also co-wrote the Stones’ book with Babiuk), who skillfully manages the mess in the back.

Greg is a very interesting and charismatic character, with his omnipresent eyeliner and 2-liter bottle of soda (Tab). He’s also a well-recognized collector of hopelessly obscure garage recordings and old television shows.

When we got there, he would be running all over the store at a customer’s request to fetch a recording, or answering the phone. Between, he’s smiles and laughs, and a bit of gossip. He had been there a long time, and eventually retired some years after this interview took place.

This was originally published in FFanzeen No. 13, dated 1985.

The Chesterfield Kings: The House of Garage (1985)

Without a doubt, the leaders of the new garage/psychedelic scene are the Chesterfield Kings. With their self-titled album and single, “She Told Me Lies” b/w “I’ve Gotta Way With Girls,” on Mirror Records, they’ve shown the world exactly how they think music should be a la mid-‘60s raunch’n’roll.

It is clear who they model their live shows after: the likes of the Rolling Stones and the Chocolate Watchband, circa Riot on Sunset Strip (1967), but their music goes beyond that, into an area of relatively unknown classic cult groups that have been cropping up in dozens of compilation albums on labels such as Voxx/Bomp! and Moxie. The more obscure, the better.

The Kings consist of Doug Meech (drums), Andy Babiuk (bass), Orest Guran (organ/rhythm guitar), Cedrick Cona (lead guitar), and as front man, Greg Prevost (vocals/hot harmonica). The Kings is a band who has opened a whole new chapter in how rock’n’roll could and should be played – no holds barred.

Last summer (1984), while vacationing in Buffalo, I headed over to the House of Guitars (the HOG to friends) in Irondequoit, NY, which is a suburb of Rochester. In this humble record and musical instrument store, run by showman Armand Schoenbroeck, who has a few cult albums under his own belt, works Andy and Greg. I didn’t have much of a chance to say much to Andy, as he works in the business front part of the store, but I did get a chance to talk somewhat with Greg.

On this trek, I dragged along two willing cohorts and record collectors, Bernie Kugel, of the band Mystic Eyes, and Mad Louie, the Vinyl Junkie.

What follows is a brief part of the conversation. Actually, I just turned on the cassette recorder and let Greg, Bernie, and Louie do most of the talking. In between constant phone calls by customers asking about purchasing Bruce Springsteen tickets and great music playing on the PA (supplied by Greg), there was a lot of harmless kidding around at the expense of many (myself included), all in the fun of conversation and admiration. Note that “[laughs]” indicates that we were all laughing at that point.

This is technically not an interview in the true sense of the word, but I like to feel it’s informative enough to hold the reader’s interest, and give some insight to at least a fifth of the band.

FFanzeen: Why don’t you have Armand (Schoenbroeck, Mirror Records) help you produce a (garage) compilation album?
Greg Prevost: I could do it, but –
Bernie Kugel: It must cost a whole lot.
Greg: Not a whole lot. Just make up a thousand.
Bernie: You can save it.
Mad Louie: Yeah, since you just blew $400 on singles a month ago. Plus, you took me out to lunch Saturday, so you’re broke for the next 10 years.

FFanzeen: What would you put on it?
Greg: Mostly Upstate (New York) stuff that nobody’s got.

[Phone interruption]

FFanzeen: Looks like you only have about 5 of these CDs [in the store].
Greg: I know. Now it’s like the big thing.
Bernie: The Index album on CD [laughs].
Louie: Rhino put the Turtles Greatest Hits on CD. It’s got an extra song that isn’t on the album.
Greg: Did you get the thing?
Louie: I don’t want a CD player. I heard the thing and I hate it. It sounds too clear.
Greg: I like those scratches.
Bernie: Yeah, you need them on old records. That’s why when we plug in, we don’t plug in all the way. That’s why there’s so much distortion [laughs]. Makes it sound like a ventilator or a fan, like that Jades of Fort Worth album. It sounds like someone has a radio playing through the amp, or something.
Voice over PA: Got any Springsteen tickets left?
Greg: That’s all I’ve been hearing. I think it’s time for some sounds [puts tape on PA].
Bernie: Is this the Phinx re-issue album, or the original?
Greg: This is the 45 [“My Baby Don’t Care”]. I didn’t get the album.
Bernie: Miriam (Linna) and Billy (Miller, d. 2016) keep writing about them in the magazine (Kicks).
Greg: Oh, that’s pretty good, isn’t it? I like that.
Bernie: “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg.” We were going through this whole thing – I think I was with you, Robert – all these crappy record in the Salvation Army. There were hundreds, and “Sid Herring! They let him make records after the Gants?” I almost spit up my Coke.
Greg: Somebody should find him. I tried, but no luck.
Louie: Probably in a fishbowl.
Greg: JD (Martignon, of Midnight Records in New York; d. 2016) told me he was puttin’ out a book.
Bernie: Robert saw it. It’s out already.

FFanzeen: It’s all [about garage] compilations. It lists every song on every album.
Greg: That’s not bad.

FFanzeen: But with all the albums being released, it’s outdated as soon as it comes out.
Greg: He’ll probably have to update it every week. “A new issue each week!”
Bernie: Back from the Grave, Vol. 300 this week. [Laughs] High in the Mid-Sixties, Vol. 16: Lake Placid, New York, 1963.
Louie: Vol. 18: Dumbfuck, Iowa. Boy, Greg (Shaw, Bomp! Records; d. 2004) is really putting out those High in the Mid-Sixties stuff.
Greg: I know. Why don’t they just call them Pebbles records anymore?
Louie: I think he wants to be more regional. Like Greg (Shaw) always says, “We have the Northeast, the Mid-East –
Greg: South. I really like “The South.” That was pretty – vague.
Louie: “16 Degrees West of the East.”
Bernie: “New York City, from Fifth Avenue to 125 Street.” [Laughs] Who’s this (on the PA)?
Greg: You don’t know who this is? It’s the Wild Things. “From Santa Claus, Indiana.” [Laughs]
Bernie: The Wild Things. Oh yeah, from the 19th Santa Claus: Early ’63 to January ’64. [Laughs]
Greg: That was good, Bernie. Santa Claus punk records. I’m surprised they don’t do something like that. There’s a lot of punk Christmas songs. ”
Bernie: Christmas Pebbles. [Picking up Hot Ones by theStandells, from the stacks] You get down to this stuff here; you get “99-1/2 Percent Won’t Do,” “Eleanor Rigby,” followed by Soul Drippin’.”
Greg: Then you know you don’t want to buy it.
Bernie: Primo stuff here. [Laughs] I like this Michael (Taylor, Bad Seeds) stuff.
Greg: [Laughs] You really like that?
Louie: Awful. I told you he likes it.
Bernie: “Zilch, Pt. II.” Aw, that’s a great one. [Laughs]
Greg: Oh, it is good. [Laughs]

[Phone interruption]

Bernie: [Holding up a Chocolate Watchband album from Eva Records, whose liner notes Greg wrote.] Oh, good liner notes. How much did you get for this one?
Greg: A free copy of the record.
Bernie: Did they actually do it?
Greg: They actually sent me a copy. It was bent in half, but they sent me one.

FFanzeen: I’m so ignorant on so much of this stuff.
Bernie: Well, Greg’s gonna be opening up a school. He’s gonna have a punk summer camp.
Louie: All you have to do is sit there, eat shit, drink Tab, and watch videos.
Bernie: “This is a bottle of Tab I have from ’66. One of the test bottles. Let’s see how it tastes.” Have you seen the Richard and the Young Lions video yet? 
Greg: Naw. I heard there’s one out.

[Phone interruption]

FFanzeen: I hear you’re out touring a lot right now.
Greg: I wouldn’t exactly call it a tour. We just do weekend-type things. It’s not worth playing the middle of the week anywhere, ‘cause nobody goes out. Who wants to play for $300 in some hick town?

FFanzeen: It could be worse. Could be like when the Gizmos played at Max’s on a Tuesday and there was no one there. Except for a couple of drunks and me.
Greg: Really? Outrageous.

[Phone interruption]

FFanzeen: Who did this song (on the PA)?
Greg: “The World Ain’t Round It’s Square,” by the Savages. 

FFanzeen: Have you heard the Tryfles do it? 
Greg: The Tryfles? Yeah.

FFanzeen: They’re a fun band.
Greg: Yeah, I saw them once. At the Dive.

FFanzeen: Didn’t I see them open for you at Irving Plaza?
Greg: Was it that night? No, I don’t think so. I think it was the Lyres, the Vipers, Outta Place, then us, then Green on Red. I remember, I was real sick that night. It was horrible. It was the worst night I ever had. We had to cut the set short ‘cause my throat went out. All the way down (to NY) I had this sore throat, or somethin’ like that. All the way down, I’m drinking like two gallons of orange juice. “Maybe my throat’ll get better.” And by the time we got there, it was, like, three in the morning, and my voice was shot. I kept coughin’. It was horrible.

FFanzeen: Everyone there had a good time, though.
Greg: It was okay, but I don’t know. Then that guy was, like, somebody threw somethin’. Then he got beat up by some guy in the front.

FFanzeen: I remember once seeing Iggy (Pop) at the Brooklyn Zoo (club), and right in the middle of the first song, someone thew some ice at him. He stopped the song and said, “Don’t throw that fuckin’ shit at me, man. That ain’t a request, that’s a command.”
Greg: Really?

FFanzeen: Then he started the song from scratch. He was pissed off.
Greg: This (on the PA) is Monoman’s (Jeff Conolly, of the Lyres) favorite record (“What a Girl Can’t Do”).

FFanzeen: Who is it?
Greg: The Hangmen.
Bernie: This is like an oldie to me. It was one of my first records.
Louie: What about this (next song on the PA)?
Bernie: The Swamp Rats? Alright. 
Greg: “Hey Joe,” on CD.
Louie: Know how many versus they could put on one CD? About 30.
Bernie: What’s that ‘70s thing that the Swamp Rats were on?
Greg: Disco Sucks?
Bernie: Not Galacticus [post-Swamp Rats]. No, the other one.
Louie: Yeah, I remember that.
Bernie: Where he does, like, “Somebody Real Famous.” They put, like, some of the songs on an album. It says, “Everything on this album was recorded in a one-track studio in a radio station.”
Greg: They’re real mad about that [fantastic] DJ’s album [pre-Swamp Rat] that Eva (Records) put out. Their manager’s a DJ still, right , and he’s on the radio saying, “Any stores out there carrying this record, we’re gonna smash them all if we come find ‘em,” They’re really mad.
Bernie: What did you think of that Battle of the Garages, Vol. II album?
Greg: There’s some good stuff and some bad stuff.

FFanzeen: I liked it a lot.
Bernie: What did you hate the most about it, besides my song [a cover of the Stoics’ “Enough of What I Need”]?
Greg: I don’t remember. There’s this group called Mystic Eyes on there… 
Bernie: What did you think about that psycho-crap on side two?
Greg: I couldn’t hack some of that stuff. Side one’s pretty good, and side two, there was some stuff...

[Phone interruption]

Louie: Did you sell any copies of this?
Greg: The Lyres album (on Ace of Hearts Records)? Yeah, check your Lyres album. Hold it up to the light. Monoman says if you can see through it, like this purple color, it’s real rare. Mine’s like that.

[Phone interruption]

Greg: Know what I found out? Did you ever hear of the Storytellers? “Cry With Me.” It’s this great snotty-fuzz record. They’re from Jersey. And all the guys or most of them are Asbury Park, in Springsteen’s group.
Louie: Really?
Greg: Yeah. Rick Noll was tellin’ me.
Bernie: [Singing like Bruce:] “Baby, I was pushin’ too hard.”
Greg: This is the best version of “Maggie’s Farm.” The guitar player is great.
Bernie: Who’s this (on the PA)?
Greg: Defiants.” I like the guitar playing. He plays two notes the whole song. Except it does change. I was a bit disappointed when he did the change. Right here. Then he goes right back into the two notes. Oh, up a step.
Bernie: Do you find that there are a lot more independent records still undiscovered out there?
Greg: Yeah, never ending, really. I keep thinkin’ I heard them all but they’re there. Real great stuff.
Bernie: And you thought you could stop with Nuggets. [Laughs]
Louie: It’s getting to the point where you find stuff repeating on albums.
Greg: Yeah, it’s real bad.
Bernie: It seems the guys putting out the records are getting real desperate.
Greg: Yeah, they are.
Bernie: That’s why you’ve got to get into it here.
Greg: Yeah, I’ll put out 30 volumes to start. [Laughs] Box sets. 10 album boxes.
Bernie: Unreleased Independent Punk…January ’65 through March ’65.

FFanzeen: That’s the first box set. [Laughs]
Bernie: “From Bernie’s basement recording studio. We use just a plastic recorder in the corner.”

FFanzeen: “July 7^th, 7:30 to 9:30.” [Laughs]
Bernie: Yeah, that’s it. [Laughs]
Greg: “Three-hour live tape.”
Bernie: “Rising Storm arriving for rehearsal.” 
Greg: “Hear them drive up in a car.”
Bernie: “You guys ready to play?” Record goes on, that’s it. “Next month, Rising Storm, Vol. II.

FFanzeen: They oughta release a record of the guy in Bill Haley’s band who stands there during the applause at the end, just saying, “Bill Haley” over and over. It’s always the same guy.
Greg: Yeah.

FFanzeen: Probably his brother.
Bernie: Yeah, Alex Haley! [Laughs]

FFanzeen: Why do you think they call it the “Roots of Rock’n’roll”? Sorry, ‘couldn’t resist.
Bernie: Heavy metal [on the PA]?
Greg: The Merlyn Tree. “Look in Your Mirror.” 
Bernie: Where can I find more Stoics records?
Greg: I got a whole lot of them in my basement.
Bernie: Acetates? All unreleased stuff?
Louie: He’s got the master tapes, to hell with the acetates.
Bernie: “Bill Ash [of the Stoics] is in my closet.” And the guy, Rich Marachalla, whoever they put on the record [“Enough of What I Need,” as co-writer]. [Laughs] 
Greg: That Stoics record is pretty rare.

[Phone interruption]

Bernie: What about this record [picks up 45 of Alvin Cash and the Registers, “Twine Time”? 
Bernie: What does it sound like?
Greg: It’s soul, but it’s good. It’s like James Brown. It’s Doug’s favorite album, our drummer -

[Phone interruption]

All things must pass to others, so at this point, so did we.

Greg Prevost and Kings in-store performance,
Virgin Records, Times Square, NY, with Nancy Neon
(ffoto by Robert Barry Francos

The conversation, you may notice, is quite dated. The timeframe was obviously before CDs became the standard, and it was discovered that CDs were actually cheaper to put out than vinyl. Now we all have large CD collections of the even rarer cuts that could not be afforded to put out on LP form. And while we all agree that the feel and sound of vinyl is something we all still cherish, the material available on more cold and harsh CDs and now digital has become more of a boon and less of a curse. This especially became true among rarity collectors with the advent of CD-Rs.

As a side story, after this interview was published in FFanzeen, a friend of Greg, Bernie and Louie’s was riding the subway in Manhattan late one night after a long squawk. Asleep across the seats, he woke up and saw a newspaper on the floor in front of him. “Is that Bernie, Greg and Louie? What they hell are they doing in the paper?” Obviously, he was looking at a discarded copy of FFanzeen. Freaked him right out.

During the summer of 2001, on the way back from a photographic road trip, I made a stop off to see Greg at the HOG. It was the first time I’d been there in a least a decade. The phones were just as busy and the customers just as questioning for material (this time, for rap), but shooting the shit with Greg was as light and fun as always. And I made sure to assure him that there was, indeed, no tape recorder. And the Chesterfield Kings are no more. Greg has gone solo and now goes by Greg “Stackhouse” Prevost, singing Americana blues, and is still releasing music. On CDs. 

 

The METAL MIKE SAUNDERS Interview [1978]

Text by Gary Sperrazza! / Big Star fanzine, 1978

Introduction by Bernie Kugel / Big Star fanzine, 1978

Introduction © Robert Barry Francos / FFanzeen, 2020

Images from the Internet

This interview was originally published in Big Star fanzine, issue #3, dated Spring 1978. It was written by Gary Sperrazza!, who passed away in 2016 (but his exclamation point lives on). Thanks to Bernie Kugel, the fanzine’s publisher, who kindly granted permission for this reprint.

Metal Mike Saunders is a name that was a much larger known West Coast punk personality than in the East, but he had quite an influence through his early punk rock journalism at both national and fanzine levels, and later with hardcore bands like VOM, and especially the Angry Samoans (who have been touring again in the last couple of years). However, his biggest claim to fame that no one seems to remember is that he is credited with coining the phrase “Heavy Metal.” – RBF, 2020

* * *

In the early ‘70s, Mike Saunders was one of the leading and best writers around, especially when he was writing about the topics most near and dear to him: heavy metal and punk rock of the ‘60s, in such diverse publications as Flash magazine, Phonograph Record Magazine and Buffalo’s own lamented Shakin’ Street Gazette. He also was partly responsible for the legendary Brain Damage mag, the great one-shot parody of the big fanzines a few years back. He was also one of the guys initially responsible for the quickly-becoming-legendary West Coast rock critic punk band, VOM, even though he seems to have stepped back from taking a major role in the band, preferring to just “churn out heavy metal riffs.” Some of the classics he’s written over the years includes such underground hits as “Got a Dagger for You Jagger,” “Just Killed My Dad,” “Getting High with Stephen Stills,” “Gary Gilmore is my Friend,” and many others which will hopefully find their way to vinyl in one form or another, eventually.

Lester Bangs [d. 1982 – RBF] recently told me that Metal Mike was truly “ahead of his time.” So to satisfy the needs of all the Metal Mike fans across the globe, we present this little interview recently done by Big Star West Coast Editor, Gary Sperrazza! – BK, 1978

* * *

Big Star: What have you been doing lately?

Metal Mike Saunders: Well, from 1973 through mid-’75, I worked a 9-to-5 office job here in LA that truly inspired me to go back to Arkansas and get a second college (degree) so I could become an accountant. I saved a lot of money those two years. A lot for what I was making, but… so now I’ve got the degree, got suits in the closet, my hair is cut short, (and) I’m hunting for that first accounting job. I guess my goal is to have $100,000 in the bank at the age of 35. That’s really sick, you know! But accounting is a vehicle through which to achieve that goal, and it’s (a) great profession, besides. Do you really think anyone cares about this trivia, outside of my mother?

Big Star: Not really.

Metal Mike: So let’s talk about something interesting. How about the Dodgers?

Big Star: What about ‘em?

Metal Mike: Well, what it amounts to is that in this town (Los Angeles), the Dodgers are bigger than rock’n’roll, TV, and movies all combined. They’ve run these surveys showing that 71.7% of all males (females, 54%) over 18 listen to the Dodgers games on the radio or TV. And the team is amazing anyway… manager Tommy Lasorda is a bona fide future legend in the making. What it amounts to is that in LA, the Dodgers kill any current rock’n’roll phenomena with the possible exception of KISS.

Big Star: KISS???

Metal Mike: Yeah, I think they’re the ‘70s Beach Boys. The best American rock group, hands down. I love their records.

Big Star: Care to elaborate on that assertion?

Metal Mike: No, not really. KISS are just the commercialization of heavy metal that I was really waiting years for. Plus, they got the most and best riffs of any band around. Like, “I Stole Your Love,” man – any of you MC5 fans who can’t get into that, I’m having your record collections repossessed tomorrow! Or “Love Gun,” to stay current – that’s as good a 45 as anything.

Big Star: Anything else you like in the current rock scene?

Metal Mike: ABBA are really, really great; they’re the only other group whose albums I’d pay four bucks for. Aerosmith are OK, Rush and Starz ditto, Ted Nugent, eh… I really liked all those rock’n’roll Top 40 singles from the past year: Boston, Foghat, KISS, Steve Miller, ELO, the Bay City Rollers’ rock’n’roll singles; paid 99 cents at K-Mart for all those groups’ 45s. Basically, I’m just a heavy metal purist. AM radio finally caught up with heavy metal guitar via Boston – so my taste now is really mainstream. Don’t ask me about New Wave, I hate that stuff. “God Save the Queen” was a great record, both sides, but otherwise… Limeys can’t do anything right, y’know. The Ramones albums literally make me ill. Their 45s are neat though – I bought “Sheena is a Punk Rocker.”

Big Star: Any other hobbies or fandoms you like better than rock’n’roll?

Metal Mike: Oh, yeah, I’ve been back into wargaming since 1975. It’s a great hobby… a couple nights a month, anyway. Baseball is really the king, though.

Big Star: Tell us about R. Meltzer and VOM.

Metal Mike: Gregg Turner came by one day and mentioned that Meltzer wanted to do a group; he was really serious about forming a band. So I said, “Okay,” and the next time I plugged in the fuzzbox to write some metallic riffs, I did a song tailored to Meltzer’s voice, “Getting High with Stephen Stills.” Then a couple days later Turner came by with a lyric he had called “Too Animalistic,” and I wrote some Fred Smith/Wayne Kramer riffs for it, and it was obviously a VOM song! So it all took off, and the concept of VOM has been expanding ever since.

Big Star: Which is?

Metal Mike: Sort of a cross between heavy metal Fugs and the first Stooges album.

Big Star: Who’s gonna be in the band?

Metal Mike: Three friends of Meltzer’s on guitars and bass who’ve knocked around in bands, we’re auditioning drummer, myself on anything from guitar to drums to vocals, plus Meltzer and Turner handing a plurality of the vocals. So things as of this date (10/77) are in that embryonic stage of finding the right musicians, then rehearsing for a couple months.

Big Star: So what’s the musical genre?

Metal Mike: Various levels of heavy metal, because that’s all I write – Black Sabbath/Stooges, mutated ’66 metal, or whatever level of tightness is attained, but with Meltzeroid lyrics and stage presentation. Heavy metal Fugs is really a good description. Unless it’s both stupid… and funny... then we’re not gonna do it.

Big Star: You have a really big backlog of songs of your own, don’t you?

Metal Mike: Oh, yeah, around 300-350 from over the past eight years. I love making up riffs; it’s like working algebra problems. Quick and easy, (in) 10 minutes ya got it, another song. It’s like permutations – 10 different basic chord changes in 10 different sequences, 10 different tempos. 10 x 10 x 10… a thousand songs. You’ve just got to know the basic riffs really well, like very good punk rock or heavy metal record ever made. I think Paul Stanley of KISS is really one of the best riff-mongers ever; his output is just great.

Big Star: What’s your personal experience in rock bands?

Metal Mike: The mid- and late-‘60s, as a drummer and guitarist in a lot of garage bands back in Little Rock, Arkansas; some real megatonic heavyweights like the Rockin’ Blewz, the Living Endz, Society’s Outcasts, among others… A Standells member I wasn’t – by the end of high school I was a real basket case stage-wise… a walking time bomb capable of blowing a chord change at the worst possible moment. Like the chorus of “Talk Talk”… or the intro to “Louie Louie.” My position with VOM as musical director/dictator and utility infielder is really ideal… I only have to play on the songs I know I’m not gonna blow. All three of them…

Big Star: Back to rock writing –

Metal Mike: Rock what?

Big Star: Rock writing; magazines…

Metal Mike: Boy, ya got me. It was just something I did in lieu of working at McDonald’s during my college years, you know.

Big Star: Any writers you like?

Metal Mike: Oh, yeah. Nick Kent of NME was amazing during his hot period. Charles Shaar Murray is amazing. Max Bell also of NME has done real well at times. Over in this country you had or have Lester Bangs. All the rest of us turkeys were a good six notches below Bangs and those first two, I think you’ll agree. Like, I mean, Lenny Kaye for example had a couple great moments, but… Like Circus is really the best commercial American pro-zine at this point – don’t you think that kinda says it all?

Big Star: Compared to NME, yes. Any comments on Mark Shipper, Flash, or your Brain Damage fanzine from 1974?

Metal Mike: No, not really. At this late date it’s just all water under the cesspool… Let bygones be bygones. Who cares, y’know?? I’m still gonna let the air out of Shipper’s tires someday, though!

Angry Samoans: Metal Mike on far left

Big Star: Anything else about VOM?

Metal Mike: Yeah. At the first VOM business meeting, Meltzer was really drunk, knocking over things. We got into an argument on how you write songs, me being used to patching lyrics onto riffs I make up, and then he called me a folkie. I really wanted to deck him. But I calmed down… so Turner and I went into his brother’s bedroom, locked the door, and plugged in the guitar and took a couple of Meltzer’s finished lyrics, “Electrocute Your Cock” and “I’m in Love with Your Mom,” and I made up riffs for them. Good ones, right on the spot. So when we came back out in half an hour with finished songs, Richard saw we weren’t kidding about being just what he needed musically…. He’s going, “Hey, Blue Oyster Cult takes six months to write a riff… this is all right!” And it’s been easy working with him ever since; we write together when we can in the same genre, lyric-wise, so it’s a real songwriting mill. All that Meltzer needs is someone to crank out the music; he’s got the best lyrics around. “I Live with the Roaches” is hilarious – I can’t believe BOC [Blue Oyster Cult – RBF, 2020] wimped out on recording that! All that has to happen is for the group to attain a reasonable level of competence and keep up with the quality of material that’s gonna be coming out.

Big Star: How about records?

Metal Mike: Aw, that’s the best part… for records, we’re gonna bring in Ross Friedman [Ross the Boss, at the time in the Dictators,– RBF, 2020], that kind of thing. They’ll be real heavy metal 45s. I’m the musical Dictator of Vinyl – so they have to be, or they won’t happen. Back Door Man Records will have their first big chance to break the 1,000 sales mark… maybe even 2,000!

Big Star: Sounds Interesting.

Metal Mike: Well, y’know… heavy metal Fugs… I guess it beats watching the San Diego Padres on TV… unless they happen to be playing the Dodgers, that is.

15 Quick Questions with THE RAMONES [1976]

Text by Bernie Kugel and Robert Barry Francos / Foxtrot, 1976

Intro by Robert Barry Francos, 2020

Images from the Internet

This interview was originally published in Foxtrot, November 1976, credited to Bernie Kugel and “Robert Baa-ree Francos.” : Foxtrot was the student newspaper for Buffalo State College (aka Buff State), and they were open to the new music that was coming out of New York. The Ramones would play there not long after, sharing a bill with the Dictators that is now infamous among those of a certain age and music appreciation. I do not own the right to the article, even though I’m co-credited with it, but I also am not making any compensation by reprinting it either, i.e., the FFanzeen blog has no advertising.

On the night before the Ramones were due to leave for England on their first tour of the UK, in the summer of 1976, they played a gig a Max’s Kansas City. After the set, Bernie Kugel brought me along to the dressing rooms upstairs and we held an interview with the band.

First, we talked to the group as a whole in the dressing room, and then, with Joey by himself, we stood at the top of the stairs and had a really nice and long conversation. We’d seen the band quite a few times since early spring 1975. There are only minor grammatical tweaks made on the original article.

1.

Bernie Kugel: Do you foresee the Ramones being around in five years from now?

Joey Ramone: I think so.

2.

Bernie: I understand that in the beginning you guys didn’t all play the same instruments you play now.

Joey: Yeah, well, Dee Dee used to be the lead singer and play rhythm guitar. and we used to have a bass player, but he was like totally up the wall and had to be committed.

3.

Bernie: This is the famous Richie Ramone?

Joey: Yeah. I used to play drums, but I couldn’t keep up after a while. Dee Dee was originally a bass player and plays really good guitar, too. John was playing guitar… (Tommy was managing them - BK). It worked out really good. It was kind of weird in those days, too, yeah…

4.

Bernie: What was it like in the first few performances of CBGB’s and Performance Studios?

Joey: It was a small crowd then. But like there was one night we played at Performance and the place was jammed, you know? It was like fantastic cause everybody was so into it. It was like mass hysteria.

5.

Robert Barry Francos: How did you feel the first time you saw somebody wearing a Ramones shirt?

Joey: I was really excited, you know? I really get off on that, you know? I get off on little things probably and many people do, you know? I just find things like when we played the Bottom Line, and it was really loud, all the tables in the front people were going nuts, banging away on the tables and shit, all wearin’ Ramones T-shirts and yellin’ out for songs… it was really impressive.

6.

Robert: Do you get distracted when people start shouting in the audience? Like last time we were here and you played, (David) Johansen was screaming out from the audience things like “Heal me, I’m a cripple!”

Joey: Naah, naah, here’s to it, y’know? There’s always a few in the bunch.

7.

Bernie: Did you have aspirations as a kid to become a singing star?

Joey: I don’t remember when I was a kid… but I always did, yeah. I always thought I’d make it this way.

8.

Bernie: Could you tell us some of the things you were doing before the Ramones?

Joey: Yeah, I tried starting a business and writing, starting rock papers and shit like that, and I thought I could be good at all that, but what I really wanted was to perform.

9.

Bernie: Do you think any single member of the band would ever get too big headed and want to have a solo career?

Joey: Naah, it wouuldn’t happen. We wouldn’t let it happen. We’re all aware of why people break up and people get strong headed, and they think they’re too good, and get on big ego trips. We’re seen it. It wouldn’t happen. It just fucks everything up. Just fucks up our careers and everything, because people think they’re so good, and then then they’re just shit. Even if they are good, they’re not that good.

10.

Bernie: Are you satisfied with the way your career is going?

Tommy Ramone: Yeah. So far so good.

11.

Bernie: You think the early days were similar to what you’re doing now?

Tommy: Some songs, but they sounded different. They were in another dimension; now we’ve crossed into this dimension so that everybody could listen to it.

12.

Bernie: How would you describe the Ramones in the early days?

Dee Dee Ramone: Very positive… a bunch of nuts getting together. Then all of a sudden, we got obsessed with the whole thing, got new numbers in the group… then we just played; played all the time.

13.

Bernie: Did ay of you ever go to college or anything like that?

Tommy: A lot of us were thrown out of college… John went for two days, I think. He went down to Tampa University, right? And we all had a going away party for him, and he went down there. And I was walking down the street a week later and all of a sudden, I see him hanging out on the corner, and I say, “What the hell are you doing here? I thought you’re down in Tampa?” “Naah, I couldn’t dig that shit,” he says. They told him he had to do two hours of homework for every hour of school and he said, “Fuck it. I can’t take this shit, this is bullshit.”

14.

Bernie: Is it fun playing these days?

Dee Dee: Yeah, but people wanna hear the first album, and we’d rather play the new songs.

15

Bernie: Why don’t you other guys sing more?

Tommy: Sing? Joey is the singer! He’d beat us up if we sang!

Most of these remarks came from the conversations at Max’s Kansas City, in June of 1976.