Kids Just Wanna Hear THE FAST (1980)

Interview by Robert Barry Francos and Stacy Mantel
© Robert Barry Francos / FFanzeen, 1980/2022
Images from the Internet unless indicated

Mandy Zone, Paul Zone, Miki Zone

The core of The Fast, previous to when this interview was conducted, consisted of the three Zone brothers from Brooklyn, Miki, Paul and Armand (aka Mandy). Miki Zone was the leader of the group, writing the songs and playing a wild guitar. With dark, spiked hair and pencil-thin mustache, Miki Zone drove the band, with flourishes that would have made Pete Townshend proud; he used pencils and other-purpose implements as picks, to achieve new and strange sounds. Paul Zone had long hair consisting of rows and rows of tight curls and movie star good looks. Mandy Zone, who played keyboards, usually sat in the upper left corner of the stage, with Phantom of the Opera type dark clothes. His falsetto background vocals helped give the band their distinctive sound.

And then, just as Dylan had gone electric, The Fast decided to go metal-lite. Armand left to form another band called Ozone, and Miki and Paul went all-out leather. The biggest physical shocker was Paul cutting off his idiosyncratic locks. One had the feeling The Fast were just tired of playing and not really getting anywhere out of Brooklyn. They decided to overhaul their sound. You can hear it in the band’s two versions of their song, “Kids Just Wanna Dance.”. Occasionally changing the band name/brand to Miki Zone Zoo didn’t help.

My then-Managing Editor, Stacy Mantel, arranged for this interview, and so she came along and therefore became an integral part of it. The intro, however, I wrote. It was published in FFanzeen, Issue No. 5, dated August-September 1980). – RBF, 2022

Kids Just Wanna Hear The Fast
By RBF and Stacy Mantel; intro by RBF

There it was, almost eight o’clock in the evening on May 19, waiting to be picked up by Miki and Paul Zone, the lead guitarist and vocals, respectively, of The Fast, one of the premier rock’n’roll groups that have been around since the early days (pre-1975), when the new rock’n’roll sound was known as “underground” and punk as we know it didn’t yet exist.

The first time I had seen The Fast was at a free concert they gave in Prospect Park (Brooklyn, where we all live), Summer of ’74, before Paul was in the group. Their songs included the “Batman Theme” and early Who stuff. Years passed and they added Paul and started playing at Max’s Kansas City and Rockbottoms. They went through a phase known as “super-pop,” but were unsatisfied with that sound. Eventually, brother Mandy (keyboards/falsetto) left to form his own group, Ozone, and Miki and Paul went “hard.” It took a while to get used to – and now their first album is coming out on Sounds Interesting Records, a label formed by Charles (Record Raves fanzine) Lamey – but that’s another story.

As we waited, there was a tension in the air. FFanzeen’s resident record reviewer Richard Gary had semi-panned the last Fast (Miki Zone Zoo, actually) single, “Coney Island Chaos” b/w “These Boots Are Made For Walking,” and we did not know what would be their attitude toward us.

Eventually their van pulled up and we climbed into the back. We stopped off to buy some beer and pulled up along the service road to the Verrazano Bridge, between 86 and 92 Streets, and drank and talked. And it went like this:

FFanzeen: Tell us a little about the album.
Miki Zone: It’s done and it’ll be out in July. One side was produced by Ric Ocasek [The Cars; d. 2019] and the other side is produced by Ian North (d. 2021) of Neo [also of Milk and Cookies – Ed., 2022]. It’s going to be on Sounds Interesting Records.

FFanzeen: That’s an independent label.
Miki: Yeah, and it’s the way we want to go at this point. It’s the best way. I’m in total control of the sleeve, total control of the recordings which I’ve produced, control over where I want it sold, how much I want sold, everything – even as far as where I want it distributed, what countries. At this point it’s cool because I can make a lot of money on it whereas if I was at a record company, I’d just be selling everything away.

FFanzeen: The album’s been done for a couple of months now.
Miki: The stuff we’ve done with Rick Ocasek. That was done in December.
Paul Zone: We did everything in December, except it’s going to have the “These Boots Are Made For Walking” 45 on it that we made over a year ago, and all the rest of it is “Cars Crash” and two new tracks than the old “Boots” single. So that’s six songs.
Miki: We had a tune on Sharp Cuts (compilation) on Plant Records [Elektra Records]. One of the tracks that’s going to be on our album is on the Planet Records compilation LP that Ric Ocasek produced, “Kids Just Wanna Dance.” We did a version of that with Ric; this is a new version of it – today’s Fast version. That’s out now and it’s getting a lot of airplay in a lot of cities, even New York.
Paul: WNEW’s playing it.

FFanzeen: How did your involvement with Ric start?
Miki: He came to see us at a club in Boston – he didn’t really come to see us, he came to see a band that was on the bill with us, and when the night was over, we had a date to play with them in a 20,000-seat auditorium and he offered to produce an album for us – and this was all in one night.
Paul: Just from seeing one show at a small club. We played with the Cars on Halloween at that 20,000-seater in Portland, Maine.

FFanzeen: How were you received?
Paul: All of The Cars were on the stage watching us after the first two songs, not believing it, because every band, with or without albums – name groups – were booed off the stage, and we did a 45-minute set and went down really well. By our second or third song, they were all in the wings watching us ‘cause they were flipping that we were able to pull it off for our first time at such a large place. We just did a concert up in Toronto with Mi-Sex. We do real well up there, like club dates. We sell advance tickets ... A lot of our friends had albums out and then the record companies sent them on tour and after their first tour they either broke up or had nervous breakdowns ‘cause they really weren’t used to it – they didn’t know what it was like to go out and struggle in all these little clubs.
Miki: That’s also an advantage where doing it ourselves is concerned ... where the album sales are the best is where they’ll go and play more often and that will be an easier thing for us to do, so we’ll have proof that there’ll be an audience for us and we’ll just zoom out there and do a show.
Paul: Two years ago we played in Washington, DC. with the Police and there were 50 people there three nights in a row.

FFanzeen: As long as I can remember, you’ve had this big cult following. These Long Island/Queens girls would stare and swoon.
Miki: You see, that was like a different stage for us. In ’75, the band was different then it is now. Then we had a couple of weird looking people in the band.
Paul: Now we still can’t realize what we’ve got.
Miki: We had so many crossovers of images that we were attracting different audiences, like young girls, people who came for crazy guitars, and we still maintain that image today. The reason we benefited by changing around The Fast today is that the music is better. I haven’t changed in two years. It took me this long to find a band I was happy with. I realized that I didn’t want to play with a keyboard player, that had to come out of me. Not because he was my brother.
Paul: It just wasn’t right for the sound.
Miki: Right. The songs that I was writing, certain sounds I was hearing, were too much for keyboards.

FFanzeen: On stage, you have changed a lot – like Paul used to have long hair with those amazing curls, and Miki’s hair was forked.
Miki: So many people would just look at us and say, “What the hell is going on?” like we were the rock’n’roll Village People because everyone was so totally different.
Paul: We didn’t plan on anything; I guess it’s just what happened, as we are now. We didn’t go in for thinking of things, things just came natural; the way we acted on stage and looked. We just act as we are personally and visually, and maybe enhance it a bit. We don’t go out of our way; it’s just not comfortable.

FFanzeen: I realize this is not a very intellectual question, but I’m really curious: Paul, why did you cut your hair?
Paul: I just got tired of it. I didn’t like it any more.

FFanzeen: Miki, your guitar style is very varied, ranging from very rock to avant-garde. Who are your influences, if any?
Miki: Pete Townshend – not today, but up to about 1970. He, at that period was, like, my mentor, but not like anything after late ‘60s because what he was doing with guitar then was not really playing – he was playing it like a machine, playing the electronics of it, getting sounds out of it that Eric Clapton never could have gotten. That’s why when we do extended things on stage, I’ll play every piece of the guitar and get as many sounds out of it without even using the fret board.

Miki (ffoto by Robert Barry Francos)

FFanzeen: Pencils.
Miki: Ha, yeah, pencils or feedback – you could do such amazing things. We have a couple of tapes of live performances and I didn’t even hear those sounds when I was making them on stage. It sounded like a plane or something and I said how it’s great that you don’t know where it’s coming from but you’re making it. Coming out of your guitar and amp put together. That’s where guitar could be as revolutionary as synthesizer, if you just take it that far and not play it as a conventional instrument.

FFanzeen: Isn’t “Cars Crash” done with synthesizer?
Miki: No, it’s guitar. I’m using some phasing on it, which I have in my amp, and everyone asks us who’s playing synthesizer and it’s totally guitar.
Paul: Queen never used synthesizer, it’s all guitar and you’d never know it if you listen to Queen albums.

FFanzeen: Isn’t it done with the aid of the mixing board in the studio?
Miki: No, it’s just if I layer or overdub certain parts over each other, it doesn’t even sound like guitar after a while. I like to do things where the voice comes in and matches with the guitar and you don’t know what’s what, and there’s a part in “Boys Will Be Boys” that’s like that. This new single, “Cars Crash,” I’m playing the guitar in a different way than I do live for the first time. It’s very spacey and danceable. We just wanna do something different.

FFanzeen: So I guess there’ll be no more go-go dancers.
Miki: Ha-ha, no, that’s not true. I mean, there’s so many things we got to say. I’ve got a backlog of material that The Fast did years ago that just had to be shelved because I was writing so much new stuff. All that will be out eventually.

FFanzeen: Who writes most of the lyrics?
Miki: I write all the music and lyrics. The only thing I’ve ever co-written with anyone was this last single with Charles Lamey (“Cars Crash”). I agreed to write a couple of songs with him because I like the lyrics that he writes, so I put music to them and it worked so well that we said, “Let’s do a single,” and then from there the whole album stemmed.
Paul: I’m the interpreter.
Miki: After the year’s end we may probably have a 12-inch live EP. You see, that’s the thing about independent labels. Whatever I think is a good idea they think is good and they‘re just as into it as I am. The big money isn’t there, but a lot can be made.

FFanzeen: Aren’t you afraid of producing “culture shock” with people expecting to come in to see the old Fast?
Miki: No, because they’re never disappointed. All they find missing is the keyboard. What we lost in a keyboard and high-pitched voice, we gained in different songs and in different live presentations, which is a lot more forceful and gutsier – what The Fast should have been all along. We didn’t lose any of our visual things.

FFanzeen: On stage, you said that heavy metal will make a comeback. Did you mean that or was it said because of the way the song was going?
Miki: Ha-ha, well, I don’t know ...
Paul: I guess it was the way it was going. Heavy metal is very big in England.
Miki: Yeah, that’s kind of why I said it ...
Paul: Listen to Blondie’s “Hardest Part” – it’s as heavy metal as you can get. Heavy metal and pop is the result of “power pop,” which everyone’s been using for a while. It’s just harder sounding pop songs.
Miki: There’s a lot of things we do that I would consider heavy metal that we do live because there are some things that I would like to hear heavy. There are just some things that I don’t want to hear harmonies and “la-la-las” with.

FFanzeen: You were talking about your influences ...
Miki: Yeah, beside Pete Townshend and the early Who, next has to be early Alice Cooper, even though what he’s doing today – his new record [Flush the Fashion] is great. I think it’s smart of him to get contemporary – Love It To Death, I was totally blown away by. That and, of course, the early Stooges. I like people in their initial years – that’s when their best stuff comes shootin’ out. If you can follow that stuff, great.
Paul: Iggy isn’t famous now for the stuff he’s putting out now, because the records he’s making now really aren’t that great. The only reason he’s big now is because of the things he’s done with the Stooges.
Miki: It’s always that way. We used to listen to a lot of pop. I like to listen to a lot of vocalists, too. I like Gene Pitney. [Miki would later go to perform Gene Pitney solo shows; see HERE – Ed., 2022]. He’s my idea of pop. No one will ever be able to put that stuff down. At one point, rock’n’roll was just one sound you heard on AM radio – WMCA was the Good Guys – that’s what rock’n’roll was. And whatever you heard there would influence everybody if you were a certain age at that time. Now you just have to go and decide what you want to hear, from reggae to hardcore punk to whatever, country ... I don’t put any style down, it’s just that there are so many different categories where people are taught to be enlightened to it.
Paul: Like New Wave, anything is really New Wave and every other New Wave artist that’s making it is just taking an old style and reworking it. The Police and Joe Jackson are taking every old reggae riff there was and they’re New Wave now. You’re New Wave if you have a nice sounding pop record – that’s New Wave: Blondie, Linda Ronstadt ... It’s just really strange, like anything that comes out now in the ‘80s is New Wave.

FFanzeen: Can you tell us a little about the band before Paul joined?
Paul: They were just a band for about two years and that was it. I was too young to be in the band then.
Miki: I guess the band was first conceived in 1973 where I’d be sitting in school and failing everything because all I would think about was having my own group, and it came about because I was influenced by all the groups I mentioned before. I just put together friends I went to high school with in Brooklyn ... we’d do “Batman” and we’d dress in polka dots and stripes and do things like throw Cheerios boxes all over the place.

FFanzeen: The Speedies do that now. 
Miki: Yeah, I wonder where they got it from?
Paul: I wonder where they got their name from?
Miki: We’d just throw Cheerios and use fire extinguishers, and every song would be a “la-la-la” in it. That’s when we were set up like we are now. There was still no keyboards – just guitar, bass, drums and vocals, and we’d have, like, two stacks of amps behind us painted with arrows. I didn’t even take them seriously when I look back. I don’t even remember having a real guitar until maybe 1974, when I finally bought a real amp, real guitar, and took myself seriously. But the two years from 1974-76, we started playing New York clubs. We were one of the first groups to play. It was like Wayne County, us, Teenage Lust. Blondie wasn’t even around as the Stilettos then.
Paul: It was just like, The Dolls, the [Forty-Second Street] Harlots.
Miki: Maybe Suicide ... and we’d play the Coventry, any place you could play. You’d either play at a loft party or you’d rent your own place out. Clubs wouldn’t book us then, any group then.
Paul: All there was, was a place called the Mercer Arts Center and Max’s.
Miki: Max’s, which didn’t have anything except label acts that would attract a huge following.
Paul: Max’s used to have Bruce Springsteen, Sparks, Aerosmith, the Stooges.
Miki: This was late ’73.
Paul: They didn’t have, like, rock’n’roll – I guess you’d call it Glitter Rock, except the Dolls, and of course the Dolls were number one – the biggest thing, locally.
Miki: The thing that really started it all, of course, The New York Dolls and their popularity, and then everything started bursting open. The Hotel Diplomat would be able to rent you out a ballroom to have your own shows, like three or four bands together that would spring up overnight like they do now.
Paul: It’s just like, the Dolls were just kids that didn’t know how to play their instruments. And once everyone started going wild over it, every other person in the world wanted to be in a band.
Miki: We formed after seeing the Dolls.
Paul: Just like thousands of bands formed after seeing the Ramones.
Miki: Exactly ... and we played Max’s for a while, and then a guy took us into the studio to record like an album’s worth of songs in late ’75, and while we were in there recording we decided to let Paul become the lead singer because he was just as popular as the rest of us because he was always seen with us so...

Paul (ffoto by Robert Barry Francos)

FFanzeen: So this is your first band.
Paul: Yeah, when we played at Max’s, our first show, I was only eighteen.

FFanzeen: A lot of people thought you were in the navy, because of “Boys Will Be Boys.”
Paul: I was in the navy, for three days; I got a dishonorable discharge.
Miki: Ha, and then we recorded this whole album’s worth of material, which “Boys Will Be Boys” came off of, the Max’s version [Live at Max’s, Vol. 1]. The rest of it got canned.
Paul: Except, “Wow, Pow, Bash, Crash.” Someday it will be on the “Long Lost Fast Album”. I have demos that big New York bands did before they got their deals, like the Ramones, Blondie.

FFanzeen: I’m surprised; you were so popular, that a major label didn’t sign you.
Paul: We had all the offers also, and we weren’t going in any good direction. We weren’t really happy with the band. Everybody liked us but we knew something was wrong with the sound. We made that “It’s Like Love” and “Kids Just Wanna Dance” single and it just didn’t spin our heads around; we liked it but we knew we wanted to do something different.
Miki: You just can’t keep it going if there’s clashing in the band. Now, these members of The Fast [Miki Zone, guitar; Paul Zone, lead vocals; Louis Brian Bova, bass/vocals; Joe Poliseno, drums], we work together as one, musically and personally; we don’t have any management problems so everything we’re doing now is coming totally from us, even negotiating our record contract and putting out our albums; it’s just down to what The Fast believes – we have nobody telling us what to do. We get references and help from people, but it comes down to us in the end. If we fail we don't have anyone to blame but ourselves, and if we succeed it will be all ours. We’ve seen all our friends make it.
Paul: Experience in the music, too. The different versions of “Kids Just Wanna Dance” is like day and night, really.
Miki: Sometimes I wish that [first] version didn’t exist, but I wouldn’t be here now if it didn’t.
Paul: We’re not gonna put it down.
Miki: I’ve changed my style of writing, because being that we played so much live in the last two and a half years all around America and played in front of every kind of audience.
Paul: It’s not like New York.
Miki: No, not at all. Everyone dances from the beginning to end of your set. If they’re not out on the dance floor after two songs, you know you’re not going to get anywhere.
Paul: Just recently, all that started in New York with Heat and Hurrah and Club 57, but about two-to-three years ago at CBGB or Max’s, no one would ever think of dancing. But we were playing Philadelphia and Boston, and they had dance floors right in front of the stage and tables all the way in the back.
Miki: And people don’t look at you when they’re dancing.
Paul: They’ll watch for the first two or three songs and then it looks like a movie from the ’60s where everyone grabs each other’s arms and runs to the dance floor.
Miki: At first, I thought it was weird. I thought that they thought we must be the ugliest band they’ve ever seen, but then you realize that they’re just going crazy ... New Wave is everywhere now, it’s happening in every city.
Paul: You go do a discotheque in Arizona and you’re gonna hear the B-52s.

FFanzeen: Why did Armand leave?
Miki: We made an amicable split because he wanted to do a lot of writing.
Paul: He wanted to have his own band, to sing and write his own songs.
Miki: He’s got his own band now called Ozone. So, it’s cool, you know, spread the family out.

FFanzeen: Any more at home?
Paul: Ha-ha, there will be someday.

FFanzeen: What happened with the Miki Zone Zoo name that you reverted back to The Fast?
Miki: I wanted to put out a 45 under my own name. It just showed people who was behind The Fast, which I wanted to see happen. If I called it The Fast featuring Miki Zone, it would have done the same job.

FFanzeen: What I think is strange is that you have such a big following and you have had very little written about you.
Miki: I’m not really worried about what a critic has to say about my music. It could destroy a lot of people and it has, I think that if we were to put out an album when we had a lot of prospective offers, if we didn’t fuck it up management-wise, we would have had a very credible relationship with the press, and people taking us seriously.
Paul: You can never boil it down to people taking you seriously. The Cramps are on the cover of Melody Maker every other week. Do people take them seriously? Yeah ... I guess they do.
Miki: I’m just glad to put out records. We should have had a record out (every) year from ’77 on, and we didn’t. This is the first Fast record since 1978, and at the rate we’re progressing, we hope to have something out every three or four months. In a lot of places we play at, we’re not The Fast from ’76, we’re just a New York band they’re happy to see and that’s the neat thing about it. A lot of people heard “Boys Will Be Boys” and know us because of that. A lot of feedback came to us from Europe. We may go there in September to do a tour with Jayne County, and the promoters all know us from “Boys Will Be Boys,” and they said it will be great. A lot of groups got their names known from just one song. It should be out on an album and it possibly will be. We’ll make the 1980 version of “Boys Will Be Boys.”

FFanzeen: Every fifth record will be “Boys Will Be Boys.”
Miki: Ha, different ways.
Paul: Electronic.
Miki: Ha, that’s a good idea.
Paul: A cappella, country-western ... reggae.

FFanzeen: Did you ever think of working with video?
Miki: We did a video for our last single, “It’s Like Love.” Full-color, animated, it looked like something from “Wonderama.” It looked like the ultimate cartoon-pop group.
Paul: It’s way before anyone did any sort of comical video – way before Devo or anyone. If you would see the old Fast one, you’d flip. It never got released, though.
Miki: We’re going to put it on cassette and have it shown at places like Max’s.
Paul: It will flip people out because it was at the peak of the wildest looking Fast you could imagine.
Miki: It’s wild. I’m wearing yellow rain-boots up to here, big double neck guitar, and my hair is green and there were no amplifiers.
Paul: It was done in a large TV studio and each member was on a big block platform with no microphones, all lip-synched. And there’s acting in it, cutaways to people riding horses. Donna Destri’s in it. We like to use our associates. She sings on “Cars Crash,” too. [Note: Video is at the bottom of the blog – Ed., 2022]

FFanzeen: Since you’ve been through so many changes, how, if at all, do you think your music will change in the future?
Miki: Whatever I do in the future I want to do in this format – guitars, bass, drum and vocals.
Paul: When people listen to “Cars Crash,” they’ll say it’s not us. The tapes we did with Ric Ocasek are great; he caught whatever we were live and put it down and polished it up. We didn’t go into the studio for five months to arrange every little piece.
Miki: He said we sound like the early Stooges if they knew how to play.
Paul: He had a lot of tricks up his sleeve in the studio, but we never got away from guitar, bass, drums and vocals, so you’ll hear weird sounds – but mostly done with guitar and bass. We used feedback and backwards playing, too. We did all the vocals live. He made us set up together like a real band because he was turned on to us live. He made us do the songs an amazing amount of times just to get the energy up there and we got a real adrenaline going.
Miki: I think if I produced the stuff Ric produced, I would have made it sound pop, but I’m glad to have someone look at our sound another way.
Paul: It’s good to have someone who believes in you and not getting paid to believe in you ... it’s different when someone is coming after you and saying they really want to do it and they really want to play with you. He was just as excited as we were and that was really special.
Miki: Want to know our favorite colors?

FFanzeen: No.
Miki: Shoe size?

FFanzeen: Nah, ha-ha. Where’d you get your tattoos?
Miki: Rick Martin. She did Johnny Blitz’s skull, she did Helen Wheels. The tattooer of the stars!

The album that came out was The Fast For Sale, whose name and cover were reminiscent of the Who’s Sell Out. Most of the record, put out as a joint venture by Recca Records (Miki’s label) and Sounds Interesting Records, is just what you’d picture some leather boys to be producing, but there were some fine moments, like the remake of “Kids Just Wanna Dance” and “Love Me Like A Locomotive.”

The next year, 1981, they released the album Leather Boys From the Asphalt Jungle, also put out by Recca/Sounds Interesting. A couple of notable differences include that the group were no longer The Fast, but just Fast. They were also down to just Miki and Paul, with other musicians listed under the category “Special Thanks to” (including Armand, back for one cut). With the exception of a cover of the Stones’ “Paint It Black” and Ian North’s “Girls in Gangs,” all the songs were new and by Miki. The cover had photos taken by Cathy Miller (who was one of FFanzeen’s photographers). While they are wearing lots of leather and chains, they are also looking like they stepped out a techno sci-fi experimentation. The next stage for Miki and Paul was an electronic dance band, Man 2 Man, which had some international hits.

The end was the death of both Miki (d. 1986) and Mandy (d. 1993) to AIDS. Paul moved out to California to start a new life focusing on his amazing photography, putting out an excellent collection in the book, Playground: Growing Up in the New York Underground, and has released a compilation of their releases on CD called The Best of the Fast 1976-1984.

Documentary Review: Freakscene: The Story of Dinosaur Jr.

 Text © Robert Barry Francos / FFanzeen, 2022
Images from the Internet

Freakscene: The Story of Dinosaur Jr.
Directed by Philipp Virus (aka Philipp Rockenheim)
Rapid Eye Movies; Virus Films; Utopia
82 minutes, 2021 / 2022
https://dinosaurjrmovie.com/#modal
https://rapideyemovies.de/2020/08/19/freakscene-the-story-of-dinosaur-jr-2/

An infamous story about the Western Massachusetts-based trio that formed in the early 1980s, is that the band was originally named Dinosaur and had their first album titled as such on the highly influential SST Records label. A classic rock cover band, also called Dinosaur, who never went anywhere, got lawyers involved, and the threesome had to change their name to the new moniker. Dinosaur Jr.

Wikipedia lists Dinosaur Jr. (DJ) as “alternative rock.” While most people would simply put them into the “hardcore” label, it could be that AR is a bit more accurate than hardcore. DJ were different than most of their label mates at the time, such as Black Flag and the Minutemen in that they were often a mix of melodic verses and much more explosive and experimental sounds, especially during the bridges of songs. I would go so far as to say guitarist J. Mascis is as innovative as, say, Johnny Thunders in that the sound is almost undefinable and, for most, unrepeatable.

That is not to say, however, there were not some equally brilliant guitarists that broke the boundaries, such as Greg Ginn (in his post-Black Flag days, such as with his band Gone, for example), Sonic Youth, and Bob Mould (Hüsker Dü), but we are here to discuss power noise trio Dinosaur Jr., consisting of J. Mascis (vox/guitar/songwriter), Lou Barlow (bass), and Murph (aka Patrick Murphy), drums.

Even before I start the documentary, one of the points I am really interested in is that Mascis is known to be quite contentious. I’m not sure if it’s punk anger, ego aggrandizement, or that he’s just an asshole, but (a) there is no argument that he is influential, and (b) I am hoping to find out a bit more about the band beyond the vinyl (yes, I have all of DJ’s early albums in first-pressings LP form).

We are musically introduced to the band right off the bat, with a for-the-documentary music video of one of their early tunes, with a mixture of photos and videos, both archival and present day. When we actually meet the trio in the modern day during their interview stints, the mixture of old and new continues, which makes it truly interesting, especially their early days as a hardcore band called Deep Wound, when they were still in high school. Even at this beginning you can see the rumbling of Mascis’ need for control of every aspect of the band, more than even Johnny Ramone. The amps had to be right, the guitar sound, the songs themselves, etc. It’s hard to please a perfectionist.

One of the highlights – if not the highlight – is the live footage of the band onstage during their early years. Watching Mascis just shred is a sight to see. It is like he is taking all his emotions, frustrations, and anger out in his thrashing.

The band was a bit contentious, and soon found themselves blacklisted from venues in Western Mass. Funny, because these places obviously had no idea about New York bands like Suicide and Red Transistor, who physically assaulted the audience. But they did get on the EVOL release tour opening for Sonic Youth. Both Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore are interviewed (not together; to find out why, read Kim’s book, Girl in a Band), and home movies of the two bands intermingling is fun.

Also interviewed in the doc are some of the band’s friends and relations, Henry Rollins (is there any documentary about the 1980s that he is not in?), Bob Mould, and Frank Black/Black Francis (the Pixies), along with members of other groups.

The second most famous thing about DJ (in my opinion), is the conflicts within the band. Even early on, Mascis and Barlow were going head-to-head. Still, though early on Mascis refers to the band as “family” here, he kicks out Barlow in 1988, and he did not rejoin the band until 2005, but it did give Barlow a chance to form other bands like Sebadoh, and a lengthy solo career. As the rhythm section, Barlow and Murph seemed to get along, and then the relationship with Murph and Mascis proceeded poorly after that. Murph exclaims here, “this band was never fun. It was never about fun. It was always blood, sweat, and fucking tears.” To which he followed by leaving the band to keep his own sanity.

To most people, J. Mascis = Dinosaur Jr., and he even did an DJ album practically by himself. For touring, he picked a revolving door of musicians during the height of their fame in the 1990s, when they signed with Sire Records, and after Nirvana broke everything wide open.

There is a couple of interesting clips of Mascis playing with the Ashton Brothers and Mike Watt, performing Stooges songs. Now, from what I understand, Ron Ashton is similar to Mascis when it comes to attitude and demeaner, and one has to wonder how fire and fire combined. Also, these clips were ones I would have really liked to see completely, as every piece of music is abbreviated for time.

I find it interesting that none of the other members of DJ while Barlow and Murph were gone are interviewed. By the time the original members reformed in 2005, Mascis’ hair is white and Murph is cue-ball bald.

One thing that drove me a bit crazy was that for a man who likes to play as loud as possible, it’s ironic that Mascis’ voice is so rumblingly deep and quiet, it’s was hard for me to hear him onscreen sometimes, and I had to back-up to catch it. Mind you, my ears are affected by live music in clubs since 1975, so it may not all be Mascis’ fault.

Most band documentaries tend to focus on a specific time period, such as the formation, or their rise to fame, but this one is broken up basically into three sections. The first, which is the formation and beginning of their recordings up until Barlow and Murph are gone, the second is the middle period with others filling their spots, and the third is the reformation in 2005 and going forward to the present. Wisely, the focus is on the first and the last, with the Barlow-less and Murph-less DJ given short time. I love how much they spend on the third act, the relative now, showing them backstage, on stage (including their 30-anniversary show in New York City at the Bowery Ballroom in 2015), and more interviews (Murph comes out the most sympathetic). There is not a weak moment in the film, and it is just the right length.

While there are a large number of great both archival and newer footage, interviews and still photos for all the parts, it’s the interviews I found most interesting, getting to know their personalities (well, the public ones anyway), and how they managed to reunite and get along (unlike most of the Ramones who hated each other).

Mascis put it well towards the end of the film: “We’re more like family than friends. A dysfunctional family.”

IMBD Listing HERE 

 

Documentary Review: In Search of Tomorrow: A Journey Through ‘80s Sci-Fi Cinema

Text © Robert Barry Francos / FFanzeen, 2022
Images from the Internet

In Search of Tomorrow: A Journey Through ‘80s Sci-Fi Cinema
Directed by David A. Weiner
CreatorVC
301 minutes, 2022
https://80sscifidoc.com/
@80sscifidoc
www.creatorvc.com

Science Fiction can run from the sublime, like 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) or Silent Running (1972), or it can fall into the B-level category of the likes of The Green Slime (1968) and It! The Terror from Beyond Space (1958; this was the basis for 1979’s Alien, as 1951’s The Thing from Another World was remade as John Carpenter’s The Thing in 1982). Despite some well-done classics such as the first two mentioned above, by the mid-1970s, Sci-Fi was a second-rate citizen as a genre, producing mostly cheese with bad effects.

This all changed in 1977, with the release of a little film called Star Wars, which reignited the genre aflame, giving rise to both big budget bonanzas and cheapie imitations, but the spark was set. In a perfect storm, this upswing came right on the advent of the VHS market, further spreading the fever. Please note that I am writing this intro before actually watching the film, so I am not sure it will reflect my sentiments. And so, it’s time to start the show. Cue Bugs and Daffy.

The focus of this all-star documentary is that period in the 1980s when everything exploded like all those ships in the film version of Battlestar Gallactica (1978).

After the initial introduction, which briefly goes as far back as Georges Méliès’ 1902’s A Trip tothe Moon, and various other highlights, with Wil Wheaton explaining how before Star Wars, most sci-fi was nihilistic and was a warning of things to come, such as The Day the Earth Stood Still (remember, sci-fi is not about the future or the past, but about the present of when the film was made).

This is followed by a host of hosts: interviews with actors, directors (such as Joe Dante, Paul Verhoeven, and John Carpenter), writers (both screenplays and critics), production crew, composers, and vloggers, etc. What is really nice is that the documentary does not only talk about the top-tier releases, but also the relatively smaller ones that did not raise as much of a blip as the multimillion-dollar mega-effects bonanzas. Year by year, they focus on film by film, so while there are the obvious ones like Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, E.T: The Extra-Terrestrial, and Blade Runner, I was pleased they went into detail about the likes of Saturn 3, Yor, Galaxina (RIP, Dorothy Stratton), and Spaceballs.  

One thing I hadn’t made the connection to before, while watching the segment focusing on Flash Gordon, is that the top effects in that film and many others of that period, are now in-reach and equal to numerous low budget Sci-Fi/horror film genres of the present day. In the less sophisticated CGI of the 1980s, it was a wow factor, but now one sees it compared to what the major studios are putting out, say the superhero releases, this was pretty basic by today’s standards. Sometimes modern films will try to purposefully look like the ‘80s as a “flashback,” but technology for indie and low-budget films have actually caught up to the ‘80s majors in their technology, especially with green screens. This is especially true with animated films discussed here, such as Heavy Metal, Tron, and the amazing anime Akira. I’m rambling a bit, so I hope this makes sense.

Among the looks back at particular films, between each year there are also segments of about 15 minutes each that give some grounding to the genre of the period, such as “Cold War Kids,” which talks about how people of that generation – especially kids – were immersed in the threat of the possibility of a nuclear bomb going off at any moment. As a child, I still remember the drills in elementary school where we would practice getting under our desks to practice in case of a regular bombing attack, and lining up in the hallways and crouching down in case of an atom bomb. Of course, in reality, neither of those would really do anything, but we heard about it all the time, including in the cinemas encased in the messages from the films we watched. Even those like Goldfinger (1964) had a big, scary bomb. Where’s McGruber when you need ‘im, right?

While not inclusive, some of the between-years other segments include how films were marketed in a pre-Internet world, visual effects, creature effects (among two of my favorite topics), and music scores. The last one is about the technological implications of the vision in the movies, very briefly focusing on the whole “the future in the story represents the now.” There should have been more about technological determinism, and perhaps throw in a bit of Neil Postman’s Amusing Ourselves to Death when describing the likes of Cherry 2000.

Another interesting point the documentary more hints at than is explicit, is that Sci-Fi is almost always blended with something else, such as a Western (Outland; Star Wars), horror (Alien), war stories (Aliens, Enemy Mine, Predator), or social commentary (Final Countdown; Alien Nation), for example. I find it especially the latter, and the nuclear aspect or the rise of computers, robots and technological determinism (e.g., The Terminator) as expounded by the likes of Marshall McLuhan or Jacques Ellul. This “layering” is part of what makes Sci-Fi not only effective, but makes the future relatable. As I said, whenever it takes place, it’s about the present.

The only sort of repetition in the film, which is unavoidable and yet still enjoyable, is the number releases of a franchise, each of which are covered individually if they came out in the ‘80s. This includes Superman, Star Trek, and of course, Star Wars. Lot’s of “Return of…”, “Part II,” and “The Wrath…” to deal with, but these films are classic and pleasing to rehash, so it still goes relatively flying by.

Each release covered gets about five to ten minutes, and includes lots of clips of the film itself, backstage footage and bits from the trailer, and interviews, none very long (hey, there are a lot of films here). They switch back and forth between the present-day discussions (no historical interviews, happily) with the likes of Alex Winter, Barry Bostwick, Dee Wallace, Billy Dee Williams, Nancy Allen and multiple dozens of others, that it is easy to keep the viewers’ attention and interest, even over the extended time frame. I know I had to break up watching it over two days, which was no problem as it’s individual segments, rather than a narrative where plot points can easily be forgotten. Many of the anecdotal stories told by the casts and crews are especially compelling and often humorous, such as someone discussing the pomposity of Shatner on the set of Khan.

The film is not afraid to shy away from pointing out the flaws of some of the films, such as Howard the Duck and Dune, and glorifying those that deserve it, like The Fly and Back to the Future. And while the film is joyfully comprehensive, it is not inclusive. There are many films not selected for discussion, and yet clips are shown, such as Heartbeeps and Night of the Comet. But, considering the information presented and the immensity of the time, I find no fault in that regard.

This release is a follow-up to a three-part series of documentaries by the director titled In Search of Darkness (2019), In Search of Darkness Part II (2021), and the obvious In Search of Darkness Part III (2022). I have not seen these yet, but it is interesting that it is broken up into three, rather than one honkin’ five-hour extravaganza.

The whole film is a big, “Oh, yeah,” if you were a fan of the genre back in that timeframe. And seeing the people involved and what they look like now is a lot of fun, as well.  And if you are wondering, yes, I did sit through all five hours of the documentary, and smiled through most of it.

IMBD Listing HERE 

NERVUS REX – or – “I Was A Caucasian Runner” (1977)

Text © Robert Barry Francos / FFanzeen, 1977/2022
Images from the Internet unless indicted

Nervus Rex – or – “I Was A Caucasian Runner”

Very soon after I had published the article on the Cramps in the first issue of FFanzeen, dated 7/777, Miriam Linna left the band as drummer. She next joined up with artist Shaun Brighton (whose father was a famous painter) and Lauren Agnelli (a rock writer for Creem Magazine with the nom de plume of Trixie A. Balm) to form the core of the Nervus Rex. Bassist Lewis Eklund rounded out the group.

[In a sidebar digression with a weird twist, when I mentioned the Nervus Rex and its members to my clique at Queens College at the time, friend and drummer of The Glands (who wrote the insane “Mutants on Motorcycles”) Richie Shapiro said, “Hey, I know Lauren. We used to date in Cardozo High School!”]

Two days before interviewing the Nervus Rex, I saw their first public performance, opening for the Mumps at CBGB. The set was hot and the songs were riveting, relying on more than just love songs. Even the love songs they did had unusual little bends and twists. I fell in love with their material – popish, but with a razor-sharp edge. That they did “She’s Not There” by the Zombies seemed appropriate, since that was the kind of sound they were achieving.

The loft on Mercer Street where I interviewed the band belonged to Shaun’s father, so I had a chance to see a number of his paintings. I remember rows upon rows of them.

I felt very comfortable with the band.

(photo by Robert Barry Francos)

Nervus Rex – or – “I Was A Caucasian Runner”

Do you believe in omens? The first time I interviewed a group in which Miriam Linna was a member (the Cramps, last ish), the weather was lousy, the tape got wet and all I ended up with was five minutes of recording before the sound died. Now Miriam is in a new group called the Nervus Rex and I interviewed them, September 24, 1977. The weather? Increment. The tape, once again getting wet, went out after five minutes. Is Miriam vexing my tape recorder or the weather? Whatever, it is getting very frustrating.

The new group is really good. I caught their very first pubic performance at CBGB September 22. I liked them from the first soundcheck. For a group that has been together for only a few months – since the middle of July – they are amazing.

Actually, the lead singer / guitarist Shaun Brighton, met rhythm guitarist / singer Trixie A. Balm (yes, the Trixie A. Balm, writer for such papers as Creem and The NY Rocker) at CBGB, where they both hung out, about a year ago. Shaun then met bassist Lewis Eklund on the Staten Island Ferry. Trixie, a Cramps fan, interviewed the group and became friendly with Miriam (which, I might add, is not hard). When Miriam took her leave from the Cramps, Trixie asked her if she wanted to drum for her group. Together, although it’s a little over two months, the combo of Shaun, Trixie, Lewis and, of course, Miriam, is a tight one.

As of right now, their repertoire consists of about ten songs, all of which are amazing (most written by Trixie A. and Shaun). The set I saw (remember, it as their first), consisted of “Duplicators,” “Third World,” “Love Affair,” “Dubrule 1250,” “No Regrets – Sort Of,” “I Love You Or Whatever” (my personal favorite), “December Pledge,” “The Index,” “Rachel In Ruins Again” (my second fave), and for an encore, the Zombie’s great “She’s Not There.” They are practicing some Troggs songs and possibly some Flamin’ Groovies stuff, too.

Walking into their loft on Mercer Street forty-five minutes late, I was soaked from the rain. As I mentioned last time, the stereo was blasting out, now with the brand-new released Talking Heads album (Talking Heads 77). Throughout the interview, many records went on, like some early Beatles (both Shaun and Lewis are avid Beatle freaks – meant kindly – and Shaun even collects Beatle memorabilia, along with really old books and material about art and painters; Shaun claims that “most rockers seem to forget about paintings”) and the Velvet Underground. They agree they like Cale a whole lot, but Lou is tops.

Anyway, some of the interview that survived proceeded thusly:

 

FFanzeen: Have you ever been in any other groups?
Trixie A. Balm: When I was in high school, I was in this group with these guys from Elmont, New York, and we did stuff like, we did Janis Joplin; we did really ridiculous shit, like a Chicago song …

Miriam: [in surprised disgust] You did a Chicago song? A Chicago song!?!
Trixie: One Chicago song.
Miriam: Oh, one Chicago song.
Trixie: It was a pretty bad band. Other than that, I was in this band with Pink Floyd freaks who wanted to do “Astronomy Donomy” and shit like that, and I hated it. No, but off and on in groups in high school. In college I concentrated on writing, but now I’m almost done with college and getting back to music.

FF: Are you going to continue with your writing?
Trixie: Some. Not about music so much, but, you know, fiction and such things.

FF: How long has the group been together?
Trixie: Since July.
Shaun: The middle of July. Trixie and I have been playing together since January.

End of tape.

 

Once again, Miriam makes it quite clear that she hates “punk rock.” By punk rock, she means assholes with the safety pins who then go home and put on bell-bottomed jeans. If you’re gonna be a punk, claims Miriam, be a punk. (The following is a paraphrase) “I saw some guy at CBGB with safety pins all over him and he had on a leather jacket. He accidentally stepped on someone’s foot and turned around and said something like, ‘Oh, excuse me. I’m sorry.’ If you’re really a punk you don’t care and just say, ‘Get out of my way!’“ It’s sort of Miriam’s way to sayin’ that she don’t like poseurs.

When asked about fave movies, such names as What’s Up Tiger Lily (1966), Horror Hotel (1960, aka The City of the Dead), Night of the Living Dead (1968), and The Twonkey (1953; Miriam’s favorite) were brought up. Fave music turned up such names as, of course, the Troggs, the Zombies, the Velvet Underground, Flamin’ Groovies (Miriam’s top fave), Talking Heads, the Seeds, as well as the Everly Brothers (a Trixie fave), the Stones, the Beatles, and Bach (that’s J.S., by the way). As the group was eager to explain, this is how they feel now. It changes week by week, depending on what they are listening to at the time (isn’t that the way it is for all of us?).

The group is pretty cool looking. Of course, there’s Miriam with those dynamite eyes. She was dressed her usual casual way: sweatshirt, sneakers, et. al. Shaun dresses sort of a David Byrne style. Just as comfy as possible. He wore a tee-shirt with a sheet of iron-on letters ironed on. Just the letters (“I couldn’t think of anything to print”). Trixie, with flamin’ red hair, looks really cool. Lewis is basically a quiet type that absorbs everything. He tells how, for a while, he shut himself off musically to everything except the Stones and the Beatles, and is coming out of it now with just the opposite reaction. He goes to an uptown library and takes out ten of any type albums (except d***o), listens to them and then returns them a week later so he can take out ten more.

All their personalities overlap in such a way that they seem to be very compatible and comfortable with each other, which also makes the music seem that more real. I have to admit that I really enjoy listening to them play. A whole lot. And it seems I’m not the only one. When they did their sound check on that night (“Rachel”), they got a loud round of applause. This caught them a little by surprise. Trixie even exclaimed, pleasantly baffled, “It’s only a soundcheck!” When they finally did play, the place was not yet crowded, since it was the Mumps that was headlining, and they would not be on for a couple of hours at least; but those who were there were not disappointed. Far from it.

Saving this part for last in the interview, I asked Miriam about her break from the Cramps a few months back. She said that she missed some warning signs, like the group telling her to ease off her writing a bit and tone down her fan-manship, regarding some of the other groups, and to pay more attention to her own. Finally, they told her to choose between the two and she left. Unfortunately, the split was not on friendly terms. But time heals wounds. The Cramps have a new drummer and Miriam has the Nervus Rex (and visa versa) and all are happy in their niche. Now the Nervus Rex has nowhere to go but up. Ten to one they have a record out by this time next year – on a major label!

Last, for those interested, Miriam is now prez of the International Flamin’ Groovies Fan Club and has this really terrif fanzine called The Flamin’ Groovies Monthly. Look for Miriam’s article in FFanzeen #3 about the Groovies. It’ll be in unless Miriam’s power has the same effect on my typewriter has she does on my tape recorder.

After the Groovies fanzine, she would co-produce with Billy Miller one of the best fanzines the scene has seen, Kicks!

Some time, not too long after this interview, Miriam left the Nervus Rex to join Billy Miller in the Zantees, who in future incarnations would become the very-roots-rockin’ A-Bones. She would be replaced on drums in the Nervus Rex by Jonathan Gildersleeve. Together, the new band would release a single in 1978 called “Don’t Look,” which was not played on either of the nights I saw them perform (the other being at Max’s Kansas City). Lewis would also depart, with Dianne Athey filling his spot.

Three years after the interview (1980), the band put out an overproduced, eponymous-titled pop album on Mike Chapman’s Dreamland Records that seriously blunted their edge through overproduction, with high gloss and minimum bristle. While a decent, re-recorded version of “Don’t Look” was present, missing were all the songs they had performed that first night at CBGB, lost to the ages. The cover of the LP looked like something out of a John Hughes / Molly Ringwald movie, with cotton candy coloring and a style that was destined to be very shortly out of date.

Shaun changed his name to Shawn, and formed a band called The Puppets, which had a hit dance song “The Way of Life” which, in my opinion, sounds like many British synth bands from the 1980s. He is now an artist and art dealer.

Lauren followed this group with the innovative root rockers The Washington Squares, with Bruce Paskow (d. 1994) and Tom Goodkind (d. 2019 of 9/11-related causes). Ahead of their time by just a twinge, they dissolved when Paskow suddenly passed away, though Agnelli and Goodkind would reunite for occasional gigs. Next up was a stint with Teenage Head and Hamilton, Ontario, heartthrob Dave Rave Des Roches, including the Dave Rave Conspiracy, and Agnelli and Rave. Lauren has also shown up with a collection of torch songs, mostly originals, called Love Always Follows Me on the BongoBeat imprint. She has since become a teacher, in the wilds of New England. She has not lost her spark.