Interview Archive

 

That's the white-hatted one talkin' at us....

(click for more on the Ditchdiggers)

Bryan Stuart: Tales from the Ditch

Stuart, the unflappable guitarist of the Ditchdiggers, Atlanta's hard-rocking Last Cowpunk Band on Earth, holds forth on all things rawkin'! Check out their albums Cow Patty Bingo and Light and Salvation (click to see our review of the latter) if you wanna git a little sweaty!

(Interview faked by the Reverend Wayne Coomers)

You seem to be one of the few American roots bands pursuing the

cowpunk route (so to speak). Since a lot of "no depression"-style bands have trouble rocking-out or painting outside of traditional lines, is it hard

to RAWK? How do you do it so consistently and is alcohol in liberal applications necessary?

We've never sat around and said to ourselves that we need to rawk, or rawk-out-with-our-cawk-out, or paint outside the traditional lines because that's not what we're all about. We don't manipulate a genre to suit our purposes like some of the alt.country acts do. I don't think that would be very convincing. We play it the way it needs to be played. No doubt that I have influences that rawk balls, but I don't consciously infect the band with it unless the song calls for it.

Some of those roots bands can't rock-out because they're trying to be all sensitive or intelligent and it doesn't make sense when they try to rough that up. I saw the V-Roys try to rock-out at the end of their show and they didn't seem to be able to shake the Mr. Softee thing. You can't do it with just volume and a distortion pedal. Most of that no-depression/ alt.country shit bores me to tears anyway...not necessarily because it doesn't rawk, but because I can only hear so many sad tunes about the tobacco barns a-coming down and black lung heroes of yesteryear, and how poor everybody on the farm is, and how the city's taking up all the land.

We're supposed to listen to all that wisdom they're imparting on us and all that angst they just can’t keep inside any longer. It's all too self-conscious and self-aware for me. Whiskeytown walked off stage here a few years back because people were chatting during their set...they're fucking lucky the people weren't snoring! It’s like, c’mon Ryan Adams…it’s tough to play hardball with teardrop. Boo fucking hoo. I bought the Backsliders’ first one because it was promoted as country-punk but it wasn't punk at all in my not-so-humble opinion. They looked all tough on the cover…like some inbred, redneck Ramones and I was thinking ‘fuck yeah!’, but that was as tough as it got. I would give it a big break if it was promoted as honky-tonk, but punk...give ME a fucking break. It was a good record but I certainly wasn’t buying the whole punk aspect.

You have traveled a twisted personal musical path to get where you are (a pretty damned fine place): garage rock to blues to surf to whatever you wanna call what you do now, cowpunk or better. What's been the rope that's pulled you through all that sludge?

I disagree that it’s a twisted path because all those genres have common elements to them in the WAY they're played and not necessarily WHAT's being played. I've never been the type to just get religion over something but I will get involved with a style of music that moves me. I've had my day in the sun liking bands that weren't all that great, but I definitely had a slew of great bands in my collection too. Some good friends who helped me along with my tastes too. You may know some of them, huh?!

My path started long before I picked up a guitar though. My mom was a huge fan of rock-and-roll and I grew up listening to it. Everything. The whole mixed bag of great rock-and-rollers. It moved me at an early age. I started collecting records early and I’ve always been fascinated by the savage element that comes from a performance and not from the posturing. Either it moves or it doesn't. Link Wray moved. Iggy moved. The MC5 moved. The Dolls moved. Elvis in 1954 moved so much he scared people. Fuck, a lot of bands move. The Devil Dogs fucking move. The Michelle Gun Elephant from Japan moves. There are some new releases out on Crypt called Teenage Shutdown that make me realize that there WAS a whole lot more shaking going on than what was on the radio. Just like there is today. Bands are good all over, even though the cynic might say that it’s all about big, commericial acts. I don’t think it’s ever been about the big acts…the money’s there for the big acts, but the shit gets laid down in the small clubs and house parties.

What's the significance of your band name and the title of your last album (LIGHT AND SALVATION)? Does Chris come by his preacherly

"yellocution" honestly?

The band name was given by Lars and Chris who formed the band as a two-piece in 1995. They're big fans of Rocket From The Crypt and they named the band after one of their songs. It's as good as any. Not too limiting or descriptive. Just a name. Like Phil. Or Bob. Joe. You know, nothing fancy Haha. I could come up with all kinds of philosophical bullshit, but it's just a name.

However, the album's title is a product of Chris Gray's bottomless wellspring of biblical references and contradictions. He was very religious at one time, and he may still have a private affair still brewing, but he doesn't seem to practice openly. There's also a very dramatic sense of religion in the South and a lot of the culture is based on the belief that things will get better when you're dead. That breeds in my mind a bit a tragic humor to it all, and maybe we're trying to give a little back to those who are still breathing. Offer up something that goes beyond the boundaries of most southern tales and weave some spirituality and debauchery back into it. You know, like what all good things are founded on: faith and sex.

In just the space of two albums, your band's evolving, in my opinion away from the country toward the city.

We're a southern band and we're living in a big city so we're always reminded of the opposing elements around us, somehow trying to maintain a balance between the country and the city, and I think that tension comes out in our music. Our songs are based on the experiences we collect along the way, but of course there are some liberties taken when revealing them to the public.

Does the band do anything to control this evolution, or are you simply following where your respective slightly subconscious muses lead you?

We're a five-way collaborative with our songwriting and we tend to play what interests us. We don't consciously write a hard tune or a honky-tonk tune, or a city tune. More often than not it starts as a discussion about some occurrence that will eventually turn into a song. Like the song Holy Roller...I was telling them about The Rink in Fayetteville, Arkansas and how they turned an old skating rink into a bar during the Urban Cowboy days of the early 80s, and how they put all these mechanical bulls and mattresses in there. Then we talked about the social status of being a bar bullrider and how that might entice the women with the prestige of riding high and riding long. It's kind of like scripting a movie to tell you the truth…b-movie, but a movie nonetheless!

From both a commercial and performance standpoint, what are the most stressful difficulties in being a REAL indie band?

Commercially it's never been easier to get your music out there for the independents. The independents are running the show in that regard, but there are so many independents. They may not be making shit for money, but they have several avenues to promote what's hot and what's not and that’s better than it used to be. Kids don't need radios and some dj’s new 45 to have a party. The internet has been a great resource for us. We're selling on Amazon, etc. We sell through our website. We sell at shows. We have MP3s that get distributed. We have major distribution. We're in the record stores. There are constant solicitations from people looking to push our work. They come out of nowhere, but most of time they're no bigger than our own buying power. The stress comes in when we want more I guess. When chats of world domination enter the ring, that's when it gets tense! Nobody in rock-and-roll is innocent these days though, so when someone gets involved with it they know that the carrot of stardom is out there dangling. We do what we can. We try to concentrate on the songs and hope they carry us through year after year.

As for performance, there really is no stress: We play towns that want us. We sometimes have to foot the bill initially, but it always pays off for us one way or another. Then we get screwed haha. That’s always inevitable, but we keep going. Back before the drinking age changed to 21 (remember those days, mi amigo?) and bars were offering the drink specials out the ass, the bands could get paid big as long as they kept the people drinking. But bars can’t shovel the kids in anymore and get them all liquored-up all night, and pay bands the big bucks like they used to, so the bands have to recruit and keep the elders drinking and dancing. The pay for bar bands that play original material has dropped and unless you can pull a crowd every night, and in Atlanta’s saturated band market that’s an impossibility, you have to take a dive on the pay.

What are some of your goals in these areas; in other words, is this "just a hobby" for you?

Now the 'hobby' word pisses me off. My day job is the hobby that happens to pay better than my night job! If I could turn a solid dollar with the music I’d go at it full time, but it doesn’t seem to be the case for me. It's so easy for people to believe that old rock-and-roll model that portrays a band as this poor, traveling gang of minstrels living on nothing but the joy of their songs. They want to believe that tired old tale. It doesn’t add up for me though. There’s no immaculate conception in rock-and-roll today…you don’t just wake up pregnant with a record deal because you write some songs and then limp along from town to town playing them. We have to work to pay for our recordings, merchandise, gas in the trucks, and whatever else is required to be a band. We don’t want to be some local hero band that can’t get out of town because we’re broke. I've known so many bands that have burned themselves out in about a month by living some distorted dream that usually leaves them broken-up without any recordings. It’s not like you can just shit money and studio time by playing in Columbia on some Tuesday to four people. I mean, the street cred you get from being broke won’t buy your next fucking record!

I guess if I worked at the local pizza place and had a tattoo on my neck, the band life might not be seen as a hobby. I don't even know what that fucking word means in relation to a working band. A hobby is collecting stamps, or knitting, but it certainly isn’t playing all-night bars and making cowpunk records. We do what we can, when we can and we blow most full-time acts off the fucking stage. If that’s your idea of a hobby then so be it.

Since all the writers for our page are married, we are interesting in how being in a rip-snorting rocking unit affects that aspect of your life.

Well, I don’t get to bang the bar sluts for one Haha! That’s the most obvious. I can’t answer for all of the guys, and Lars is the only single man in the band, but Julie and I have been together for almost thirteen years now and when we met I was in a band so there really hasn’t been any misunderstandings about what I do. She knows what it takes to push a band around the southeast and she gives me room to do it. It takes time away from the relationship whether it’s touring or practice or songwriting and that can get tedious, and it’s a completely selfish endeavor but most passions are. Time will tell if the sacrifices have been worth it. Both the marriage and the music haha!

Does geography play any part in your sound or viewpoint?

Our sound does reflect the geography in as much as we are a southern band playing in the south. We’re also living in a major city so there’s a contradiction to the real southern influences that a rural town might have. Our songs blend the big with the small or the metropolitan with the rural. Much the same way that cowpunk blends country and punk I guess. I think we stay true to that. It’s not a conscious effort really, but more of just being observant.

Our band has members from the north and the south although all of us have lived in the south for a large part of our adult lives. We’ve never tried to out-redneck someone or try to show how rural or city we were in hopes of gaining credibility. We write songs that please us and write about things that are interesting to us. I like to rough up the sound and give it an edge because I like it that way, and not because I’m trying to show how much of a city badass I am, or how backwoods I am.

Who have been some local "angels" who've really helped you along?

The only angels around Atlanta have been the writers. Greg Nicoll and Lee Smith of Southeastern Performer magazine have been great to us. Greg has championed my bands since I was in the Strychnines and I owe a great deal to him for that. Frederick Noble has been really great too. He writes for Degenerate Press and Insight magazine here in Atlanta. Those three have given us support when most of the local scene was turning their backs. It’s a real fickle scene here in Atlanta. I’ve never seen so more fragile egos than in this town. It’s like some of these local bands are killing each other over nothing. I mean, it ain’t like us bands down here in the trenches are going to be playing the Philips Arena any time soon, but by the attitude you get from some of these southeastern bands you’d think so. I think it’s tragic really…oh, and the worst town for attitude locally has got to be Athens. Athens had it all fifteen years ago and now it’s a worthless shitheap of a music scene there, but…psssssst…they still don’t know it’s over. It’s like they think it’s 1984 and Reckoning was still breaking haha. I don’t get it either. Athens is the perfect town for bands, but it’s a desert. What the fuck was I talking about?!

Who are some known and unknown current bands who've given you inspiration lately, and who've proven to be real comrades on the lost highway?

Lately? Probably Sylvain Sylvain. He’s playing with a local rawk band out of Atlanta called the El Caminos (no relation to the Japanese surf band). The Caminos are so very rock-and-roll and they are bastard sons of the Dolls just like a lot of rock bands are, but they’re a real southern band too and have more soul and not as much glam. Sylvain lives here in Atlanta and he’s become a good friend to a lot of the bands in town. He’s a great inspiration, not only for his history, but also for his unrelenting energy and enthusiasm that he brings to the table. He asked the Caminos to back him, and I got to see them live here in Atlanta. It was a great show because it didn’t have all the trappings that some (dare I say) retro acts might have. He was great. His playing is great. It’s like you can watch his hands and see where the Dolls’ riffs came from. The show was so sincere and he is so generous and kind that it’s a real inspiration to see it in action. It wasn’t a time capsule show by any means either. People were screaming the old songs, and hopping on stage and truly enjoying the explosion of pure rock and roll, and the Caminos added a heavier edge to Syl’s newer songs. Honest rock and roll. It had to be one of my favorite shows that I’ve ever seen.

In Atlanta, it’s hard to see what’s behind the mask with most of these bands, but with Sylvain it’s all right there. If you think about it, most bands tend to give off attitude because they might know the Dolls records, or have a Dolls’ song in their playlist or they liked the band from way back, blah blah blah, but here we have a fucking New York Doll and he’s more approachable and giving than most hack bands who’ll break up in two months. I admire him for his work with the Dolls, but mostly I admire him for being a straight-up human being.

How does the band tend to write songs?

Our band writes songs the old-fashioned way…we kick and scream and fight each other every step of the way haha! It’s a fact: we have a collaborative writing style where someone brings something to the table and we all get to contribute, but most of the time it’s very frustrating. Lately we pair off and get the foundation laid and then bring it to the band at practice. It’s easier that way.

What guitarists have changed your life as an axe-slinging warrior?

The usual roster of greats. Link Wray, Johnny Thunders, Dick Dale, Mick Green of the Pirates, Sylvain. Kenny Wright from Wayne Coomers gets the big award though. Maybe he’s not as realized as the previous roster, but he was there to show me how to play their songs. Far and away, Kenny was the most influential for me. He was cool as shit and we all knew it. He and I are joining forces once again to do a project band called the Shitrockers that’s an original project with some covers tossed in for good measure. We’re going to record some of the classic Coomers material and we’ve written some new stuff that will make its debut. I think it will fit nicely into the Rawk world, as well as the Holy Church. Sylvain said he’ll play a song on it too. We’re going to do a song called 1973 that Kenny and I wrote. I rewrote the lyrics a little to be a jab at David Johansen and Syl said he’ll sing it.

At 38 (right?), what does "the rawk" still mean to you?

Yeah, I turned 38 this October. It either rawks or it doesn’t. I doubt I’ll outgrow that idea no matter how old I get. The rawk to me means that I can get so lost in a good thing that nothing else matters. The best rawk show I saw this year was The Michelle Gun Elephant…a Japanese garage band that smokes. Bomp is releasing their amazing Gear Blues and it does for me what Outburst by the Nomads did. It’s that fucking good. You can bury me with those two records as far as I’m concerned!

Also, where are you gonna be playing in the near future, and when?

We’re settling in to a recording cycle which means that we may not be playing out as much for a few months, although we’ve teamed up with Hot Rod Cherry Productions in Charlotte, NC and they’re trying to book us on a mini-tour of the west coast. They’re good friends with someone in the Social Distortion camp so maybe we’ll get to ride on their coat tails. Who knows? Also, Sylvain Sylvain is touring with El Caminos backing him, and he’s asked us to play a southeast tour as an opener. We’ll see how it all shakes out.

Give me a list of your top 10 most indispensable cowpunk records as of RIGHT NOW!!!!

Bryan's Top Ten Greatest Cowpunk Records:

1. We’re In It for the Corn, The Hickoids

2. Axeman’s Jazz, The Beasts of Bourbon

3. Fervor, Jason and the Scorchers

4. Fire of Love, The Gun Club

5. Pizza Deliverance, The Drive-by Truckers

6. Boiled Alive, Dash Rip Rock

7. Smokin’ Taters, Nine Pound Hammer

8. Green River, Creedence Clearwater Revival

9. Social Distortion

10. Cowboy Junkie A-Go-Go, Charlie Pickett and the Eggs

 

The Skunks, circa '79, Bill's on the left.

(photo by Jack Kinslow for the Austin Chronicle)

Live Skunk:

An Interview with Bill Blackmon, drummer for the Skunks, Austin's First Punk Rock Band

Back in the days before Austin was overrun with roots-rockers of every stripe and quality, before it was defiled by The Dubya, before SxSW...there was some loud, scruffy punk rawk a-goin' on. The Skunks--Bill Blackmon, Jesse Sublett, and Jon Dee Graham--were among the first to bring threechordsandacloudadust to the stages of the Texas state capitol, and they've returned with a reunion show and a hoppin' live document from those, shall we say, less-processed days, Earthquake Shake: Recorded Live in Austin and New York City 1980 (click to read our review); interested parties should go to the Skunksweb home (http://www.wgblackmon.com/skunks.html) to purchase it]. Recently, Bill Blackmon, the power in the Skunks' engine room, took some time to answer some questions of serious historical import....

What was the musical climate for garage and punk rock in Austin when you all were getting started, and how exactly did you get started?

The ‘climate’ was non-existent when we first started (early-mid 1978). The music had to be forced upon people. Austin was firmly in the grip of progressive country music at the time. There were rock bands of every stripe and jazz-rock as well, but the focus was on the shows at The Armadillo World Headquarters, which were predominantly progressive-country. I saw the Ramones there in 1977 and Roxy Music in 1975 and Frank Zappa and some other interesting acts, but the big thing in Austin, and Texas, was country music. Having grown up in a small town with a ranch in the family and several near-death experiences with horses and cattle, I found no glamour in cowboys. I'd been threatened by them many times because I had long hair. Now your average redneck could move to the city and have long hair and smoke pot and listen to Willie and Waylon and the boys and feel special. To me they were still rednecks. I really DO like Willie Nelson and have a lot of respect for what he's done for country music, but the whole cowboy scene was something I never fit into.

     Your average Texas music fan didn’t want bands like us around--we looked like fags and played too fast. They didn’t want the Sex Pistols around (or for that matter, English bands in general). The first club we played was called Rauls. It was near the University of Texas. The owners were Mexican-Americans who had no idea what they were getting into. We made friends with them and just kept playing as often as possible, many nights to no people. We played there for 4 or 5 months until Elvis Costello and Patti Smith sat in with us and we got some press. The 'scene' was then recognized. Countless band followed us to Rauls. Finally other clubs opened up and let us in and then another and another. By the end of 1979, we could play in any major city in the U.S.

     We put up with a lot of crap from a lot of stupid people--including critics, other musicians, agents, club owners, etc. I was driven to succeed by proving our detractors wrong more than by any great affinity for the music we played or to make the fans happy. It was really like a war to me and I feel that we won. After we won, I lost interest.

What was the idea behind the Skunks?

There was no idea behind the band at all, contrary to what has been spouted by others in interviews and the hype in some liner notes. We were guys who had similar tastes in music, got along well, liked to cause trouble and didn’t like cowboys. So we gave it a shot just to see what would happen. (Rev's Note: That is rock and roll, brethren!)

Who were some of your inspirations?

Writers--John Lennon, Frank Zappa, Ray Davies, Pete Townsend.

Bands--Beatles, Stones, Kinks, Who, Police, David Bowie, Roxy Music, Velvet Underground, Mothers of Invention, Small Faces.

Drummers--Charlie Watts, Ringo, Keith Moon, Stewart Copeland, Kenny Jones, Tom Holden

The only other vaguely punky band in the Austin area I've heard of were the Delinquents and Carrasco and his bunch. Were there brothers-in-arms that got lost in the dustbin of rock and roll history?

     There were a lot of good bands that came out of the Rauls scene, among others, the Standing Waves, the Explosives and D-Day. There were also a lot of bands that came later that I missed. I was offered a job with Joe King Carrasco but stupidly turned it down. He was a great guy and I really admired him when he first started for having the nerve to do what he did. He was extremely uncool and I loved him for it.

How close did you come to the "big time"? What would you describe as the high point of your time together?

We didn’t have a record deal when I was in the band (although a later version of the band eventually landed a contract). My personal high points were opening for the Clash, the Police, and the Ramones and knowing Blondie well enough to get backstage to meet the Kinks when Blondie opened for them. (Blondie were OK, too)

     I was personally gratified by receiving compliments on my playing by Stewart Copeland of the Police, Clem Burke of Blondie (Rev's Note: Whatta compliment--that SOB can bash!!!) and Mick Jones of the Clash. I also enjoyed meeting and working with John Cale, who was very helpful and kind to us. I really enjoyed hearing myself on the radio and being recognized on the street because I knew I could soon quit my stupid day job.

Listening to the Skunks' live record, I was impressed at the emotion and energy you all put across, but it seems hard to really pigeonhole it: not fast enough for punk, too abrasive for pop, too four-square for new wave, too angry for pure fun, too eclectic and not that "Southern-sounding" for typical roots-rock. Was this a factor in whatever frustrations you might have had?

It wasn't frustrating to me at the time. It was probably frustrating to people at record companies who passed on us because they couldn’t figure out how label us and writers who weren't imaginative enough to describe what we did. At the time, I distinctly remember being proud of not being ‘punk’ or ‘new wave’ because I've always disliked fads and the role fashion plays in pop music. Not everyone else in the band felt this way. I always liked to think we were a rock and roll band in the purest sense--in the line of Little Richard to the Stones to the Who to the Police. People could dance to us. We moved the audience with the music and the energy. I think we were very successful – we blew a lot of the bands we opened for off the stage (Krokus and Savoy Brown come to mind here--don’t ask how we got those gigs). Unfortunately, we were never recorded properly in the studio. The new live CD is the only true representation of the band when I was a member (and of course, that was the best version of the band).

What necessitated the Skunks' break-up? What have the members been up to the interim? How did the the reunion come about?

I was unceremoniously thrown out of the band because I was sick of being on the road all of the time and sick of everyone else as well and had developed a very bad drinking problem. We had negligible management and everyone's egos had become terribly inflated. After 3 years, I was just tired of it all. Jon Dee Graham, the band's second guitarist, had left previously, and the new guitarist and I had absolutely nothing in common. Jon Dee was younger then the rest of us and treated like a child and taken for granted by our ‘management’ and their minions. When he left it was over for me, because he was the spark in the group. He has since gone on to do some great stuff with the True Believers and his own group and I’m very proud of him.

     Jesse Sublett, the bassist and singer, continued the band until around 1983 with the Red Murray Twins. I don’t know what happened to them. Jesse is now a writer and has had several books published. The original guitarist, Eddit Munoz, moved to L.A. and ended up in the Plimsouls. I don't know what he'd doing now.

     The reunion was a spur-of-the-moment thing. Very little notice. John Dee has a very busy schedule so it was difficult to find time for the gig, but it worked out well. Considering we hadn’t played together in 16 years and only rehearsed for 3 hours, it was quite a success. We packed the Continental Club. It was great seeing old friends again.

A lotta rock-lifers I've talked to lately have been damned frustrated at the state of music today. I don't really agree, but I can see that the commodification of even stuff like punk rock makes it hard to know shit from shinola (from a fan's perspective) and keep your head above water long enough for someone to notice (from the artist's perspective). What do you think?

I have absolutely nothing good to say about pop music these days. I truly despise rap-hop music, have no use for alt-rock or punk since I've heard most of it before. Since all of the record companies have merged, you probably have less of a chance to get noticed. There’s no concept of an ‘artist’ anymore. It's all prefabricated, lame swill. The music of McDonalds and George Bush.There’s little or no musicianship in pop music. I guess this is what happens when anyone can own a desktop studio, can sample anything they want, has nothing to say all on a $500 budget. I feel sorry for bands trying to do what they want the way they want to do it. It’s never been easy, but its probably worse now. I do think the internet has great possibilities but it's too young to tell what will happen. As a software engineer, I know we are only seeing the tip of a very large iceburg. I love the fact that anyone can create something and immediately make it available without the consent of a record company. It will change everything in the end and I hope BMG, Univeral, RCA and whoever else is left goes under. Maybe then there will be some truly interesting music available.

Considering the previous question, what does the Skunks' music have to offer that we're gonna have a difficult time finding elsewhere?

I don’t’ know what we have to offer that you can’t find elsewhere. We weren’t terribly original, we weren’t virtuoso musicians, we never got famous, none of us got to fuck Marianne Faithful (however, one of us came very close to shagging Lydia Lunch)(Rev's Note: Yikes!). However, I do think the new CD offers people a glimpse of a outstanding live band playing in an uncalculated style that was very different than what was going on at the time. It’s also a bit of an historical piece. We were from Texas, surrounded by Willie Nelson and his boys, and felt that heat everyday. We were the first band from the Rauls scene to make a record, to tour the country, to have a hit on the radio. We also stood out stylistically like a sore thumb when compared to our contemporaries And we were better than the vast majority of them. I think anyone who appreciates pure, energetic rock and roll served up live with no overdubs will enjoy the new CD. I’m my worst critic and I’m very proud of it.

You're in New York now, and mentioned to me that Austin's lost its charm for you. Compare the two cities from the point of view of being a hard-rockin', long-haul musician.

Certain people in Austin think it’s the center of the music universe and it's not. The city is great at promoting itself. A lot of very talented musicians come to Austin and it does have a great music scene. You can make a living as a musician in Austin if you stick with it. However, if you want to ‘make it’, you can’t stay there. It's too comfortable and cultish and easy. Very few people have outside connections, and if you’re not in the right clique at the right time, you’re not going to get anywhere. It might have changed now, but I imagine it's still the same. New York City has a lousy live music scene, you have to pay to play, the cost of living is insane, but the music industry is based here (and in L.A.), so if you can bear to stick it out here, you probably have a better chance. It's like winning the lotto in any case--it really has very little to do with talent. Perseverance is the key.

What's some music that's turning your crank right now?

Aimee Mann, Radiohead, Elliott Smith, Sidney Bechet, Art Tatum, the Kinks.

Anybody who digs the Kinks and Art Tatum is always welcome here! Good luck with your future endeavors and thanks for taking the time to "chat."

 

Charlie Burton: 12 Steps to Heaven

Don't fight the band that needs ya!

(click to see Charlie's web page)

Yep...CB at SxSW

Charlie Burton is the greatest rock and roll songwriter in the center section of our great land. After toiling in the wastelands of Nebraska for nearly 20 years, cracking whip on bands like the Cut-Outs and the Hiccups, he's now residing in Austin, running not only a record store but a damned fine roots-rock unit, the 12-Steppers. Their first album, Rustic Fixer-Upper, on Bulldog/SOB Records, excellently showcases Burton's creative wiles, and the 1999 release One Man's Trash: The Charlie Burton Story (1977-1999) will neatly catch up anybody who doesn't know who the fuck he is....which is too damn many of us. (See the Rev's recent feature on Charlie by clicking here.)

Recently, Charlie took some time to answer a few questions.

Are you a folk singer?

No.

How'd you get interested in music in the first place?

I grew up in a house where music was very important: my father was a record collector (classical and folk mostly) and he was a real literal Pioneer in FM radio: he started a commercial (meaning he had to sell advertising), classical FM station in 1957 in Lincoln. Nebraska, and sold Granco FM receivers at cost outta our garage to create a market for the station; nobody listened to FM at that time; there was no public radio or college radio. My sister was an accomplished pianist and I won an AM transistor radio when I was 12, in 1963--a good year for AM radio. You could still hear Wolfman Jack on the "Big X...XERF" playing Howlin' Wolf while you were falling to sleep with the transistor radio at your ear. It sounded like the terrifying voice from Hell. I was both drawn to it and scared by it. Need I point out that music was extry-good in the mid-60's when I was a teen??? And seeing Bob Dylan (on THAT tour) in March of 1966 when he played Lincoln's Pershing Municipal Auditorium really did a number on mah haid!!!

Where'd your world-famous sense of humor come from?

Sense of humor... Yeah, I guess I'm kind of a quipster. Dunno where it came from. Some of my favorite records as a Husker Youth included Peter Sellers comedy records on the Angel label; I always liked the track "Balham: Gateway To The South." which I seem to recall reading in a back issue of MOJO was THE favorite track of its producer, George Martin, who could have also picked many others, don'tcha think???

Were you good at book-larnin'?

I was good in English, yeah. I remember that we had to write our own obituaries in one class and I wrote "See the candle, burn out quick, no more wax, no more wick." Then I forgot it, and wrote and handed in some total mediocre shit. Twelve years later, I remembered the line and it became a lyric in one of my most requested numbers, "Breathe For Me, Presley."

Is there such a thing, do you think, as Midwestern rock and roll? You got the Skeletons, Freedy Johnston, Bottlerockets, and...hey, wasn’t Axl a Plains child?

Of course there is such a thing as Midwestern Rock and Roll, but I would cite such practitioners as Iggy, The MC5, Lonnie Mack, the SOMA label outta MPLS, and the aforementioned folk singer from Minnesota as being more of my Midwestern Rock and Roll Soul Brethren (at least in my dreams) than the artistes you mention. Also let's not forget the great Nebraska rockers like Carl Cherry, Sparkle Moore, Lou and Red Berry. But then, Philbert, you have a Show-Me State bias. I was talking to my old friend Peter Jespersen, he of Twin-Tone and Replacements fame, the other day, about being Midwestern, and he 'lowed as how it has something to do with being polite, and I would have to agree.

How'd you keep a band together for nigh-on 20 years without raking in the big bucks?

The bands stayed together with minimal/gradual personnel changes because, I think, we all believed in what we were doing. It's really that simple.

Any highlights from the Cut-Outs' life on the road?

Highlights? Hmmm... there was one night at the Rodeo Bar in NYC when I remember going over to Phil Shoemaker, the geetar player, and looking at him and saying, "Geeziz, we sound great tonight, and making eye contact with him and just knowing we really did sound great. And it was always a thrill and an honor to play on the same bill with the Replacements when that happened. There were lotsa fun nites at The Lifticket in Benson. I always liked the feeling of driving home after a good gig and maybe stopping at this all-nite BBQ joint in Omaha.

You’re now located in Austin, which many folks in my parts consider the Mecca of American music.  Have you found relocating there to strike your fancy?

Well, as Sonny Boy Williamson the Number once said, "Don't start me talkin' I jes' might tell everything I know!!!" Let's just say that as a Mecca of American Music, Austin may be somewhat over-rated.

Tell us a little about the genesis, progress, and future of the 12-Steppers.

The Texas Twelve Steppers are what I call the people I play with here in Austin; they are a pool of some of the finest musicians in Austin and there are many fine musicians in Austin, yew betcha!!! They play subject to availability, in other words if there is a higher-paying gig with someone other than myself when I get a gig they can...and will!!!... take it. Hence the pool. Progress??? Progressive!!! Future??? Unknown!!!!

Has the resurgence of interest in roots rock and roll had any impact at all on your, uh, career?

Resurgence in roots rock and roll??? Impact on my career??? Geeziz, if this has been a resurgence then I AM screwed!!!

How hard is it to write “funny”?  How do you normally go about writing your songs?

Y'know, I don't really try to write "funny." I just approach an idea the way I approach it and I usually don't like songs where the songwriter tries to make a Big Statement About Life. I try to deal with what's left.

Describe the typical Charlie Burton fan.

Men: Well hung and intelligent. Women: Beautiful and intelligent.

Based on the evidence of some of your songs, you gotta be a major record collector. Do you have any “Holy Grail” records you’ve yet to find?

I am an avid rekkid collector and have uncountable LP's, 45's and CDs, many of which are totally rare and which my fellow collector friends will never own. As far as any "holy grail," for which I still search, there really is (are) none simply because I am well aware of the countless great "sides" that await discovery by us one and all and regret that there is not time enough in life to listen to them all. Sigh. I do love the Thrill of the Hunt For Music. In fact I shall now impart to you my current 25 fave listening items. They include both all-time faves which I never even bother to file away, and current acquisitions.

In no apparent order:

1) Vernon Oxford--Let Me Sing You A Song. (Westside).

A new release and a dream come true for me, reissuing on a single CD all of  this great hard-core honky-tonk singer's classic 1966 recordings for RCA. Minor (major) Quibble: They shoulda used the original LP cover.

2) I work at a CD store and gazed longingly at the Frank Sinatra "Capitol Years" UK box for about a year before I finally traded in a buncha shit, including all my US remastered Frank-on-Capitol stuff, to acquire this SHOEBOX o' DISCS. Gulp!!! Well, it's the BEST DECISION I HAVE EVER MADE!!! Simply astonishing sound--I mean I'm no audiophile,--BELIEVE ME--but if you "dig" Frank on Capitol ...YEOW!!!

3) Los Shakers, "Por Favor!" (Big Beat) Another dream come true for me, an entire CD of the best of Los Shakers, the Uruguayan Beatles. I stumbled on Los Shakers when I got a reissue on Raven of their "Break It All" LP and wuz ah evvah HOOKED!!! Cynics will cite similarities to the Rutles, and, okay, there is something of the pastiche about 'em, but I just love these guys. You will too.

4) Iggy & The Stooges "Raw Power" The greatest Hard Rock LP of all time. The remixed-by-Iggy-version is best, but I will part with my original with the last grip o' mah dyin' digits.

5) Percy Mayfield "My Jug & I" Why hasn't anyone reissued this PULVERIZING AND INFLUENTIAL LP (on Ray Charles' Tangerine Label, with backing by RC & band)on CD???

6)Johnny Bush, Texas Legends Vol. II--(Texas Legends) These are earlier recordings than Vol. I which covers his RCA period, which I adore also, but there is something so SOULFUL AND MAJESTIC AND SPECIAL about the STOP recordings of Johnny Bush, ca. '68 when the Country Caruso was at the absolute height of his honky-tonk power. Totally over-the-top and totally devastating music.

7) Elvis 60's Box From Memphis to Nashville. "Elvis is Back" and "From Elvis In

Memphis" with the hugely under-rated no-sountrack studio recordings in between. My favorite period o' the King.

8) MC5 --"Back in the USA"

9) Elvis Costello "Get Happy!!!" (Ryko) I like Elvis Costello and this is my favorite by him.

10) Bob Dylan -- Royal Albert Hall CD's (SONY)

11) "Otis!" Otis Redding Box on Rhino. He was so great.

12) Buddy Holly Complete LP's. Hopefully someday soon all the legal shit will get hashed out so there will be a CD update with stuff currently only available on bootlegs added. It's a National Crime that you can't get it at this time.

13) George Jones - Live at Dancetown USA-- (Ace) I love George Jones and have been looking for this for a while. It's great.

14) Dave Godin's Deep Soul Treasures Vols. 1 & 2 (Kent) These are great "northern soul" compilations for which I tend to be a total sucker. There's a new Volume on the horizon for which I have high hopes.

15) French Accordion Music 1913-1941 (Vol. I) and 1925-1942 (Vol II) (Fremiueux & Associates) One of these came in "used" at work and I hadda get Vol. II!!! Like the Harry Smith Archive of American Folk, these things give yew a glimpse into another time and world alltogether, this world being French.

16) Ernie Kovacs' Record Collection (Varese Sarabande) I have always adored the great Tee & Vee Pioneer Ernie Kovacs, and I remember Where I Was When He Died like I do Marily Monroe and JFK. This wonderful CD collects the music that was so prominently featured in his shows and ah jes' love it.

17) Anything by Johnny Paycheck on the Little Darlin' label

18) Clyde McPhatter--Love Ballads-- (Atlantic) Wotta voice!!! Sheesh!!!

19) Willie Nelson--Complete Liberty Recordings

20) Various Artistes --Brown Eyed Soul Vols 1-3 (Rhino) & Huggy Boy's Presents Oldies But Goodies (RCA) Love that triplet Barrio Soul style like a fiend likes his dope and a drunkard his wine. Why isn't there a full length CD by Thee Midnighters any more???

21) Dusty Springfield/Walker Brothers/Ivor Raymonde arrangements. You don't have to be gay to dig the over-the-top melodramatic vertigo-inducing string arrangements featured on these 60's Polydor recordings outta the continent!!!

22) Rockpile--Seconds of Pleasure (Colombia) and Live at the Palladium (CDR offa friend). What a rock and roll band oughta sound like. The Live thang is so blisteringly HOT it'll take the paint off yer walls!!!!

23) Arthur Alexander--the Greatest-- (Ace)

24) Charlie Rich: the Smash Recordings (Mercury)

24 1/2) My 45 rekkid collection -- always within an arms' reach is my mysterious and huge and randomly organized 45 collection from which I love to stick in my thumb and pull out a plum or three. Whether it's the medium itself, the EQ of same, or my short attention span, the 45 is my favorite form of ingestion of da shit from snotty punk to honky tonk to soul to ???

25) Replacements--Pleased To Meet Me (Sire)

What are your favorite recordings from your own oeuvre?

1) "Rock and Roll Behavior" (original Wild 45)

2) "(You're Not Playing Fair) Elise"

3) "Is That Wishful Thinkin On My Part???"

4) "Spare Me The Details"

5) "Embarrassment of Riches"

Charlie, I've done my level best to convince the congregation that One Man's Trash is an absolutely e-fucking-ssential purchase. With your last words of this interview, why do they need this hard-hittin' compilation of your work?

You should buy The OMT compilation because it is essential to have if you

ever want to get laid again.

RRR: Drinkin' deep from the nectar of the Rawk!

THE RICK ROSE RUDE INTERVIEW

(grilled by the Reverend Wayne)

In Florida, as I write, politicians stand in legions with their dicks in their hands, while the one-man rock and roll dynamo from Florida, Rick Rose Rude, demonstrates to the world how live oughtta be lived. Rick Rose who? Dig in, brothers and sisters.... (for more on/from Rick, click this link)

Q: All you have to is listen to the radio, MTV, or whatever the fuck your typical retail outlet is playing to know that, here at the turn of the century, there's some major confusion about what ROCK AND ROLL is. Your music--and your personal inertia--seems to me infused with the original rock and roll spirit. What's your personal definition?

RRR:Basically I'm just doing what I believe in, which is rare these days. Everybody wants to be a star & be on MTV & the radio & make a million bucks. They're so caught up in that, that they're running around like beheaded chickens. I mean, they jump from one trend to another & there for never find themselves musically. It's no different than if someone had a different personality every time you talked to them. I don't see how someone can have a different musical personality all the time. These bands are ridiculous. They hate me so much but if I were to become the next big thing, they'd all be dressing like me, playing like me, acting like me, the whole 9 yards. But as always, they'd miss the big picture & give totally watered down re-interpretations. I miss dangerous rock & roll for rebellion's sake. Where the people were overcome by mental & soulful anguish & it drove them to drink & do drugs & be loud & wild & to play each note like it could be their last. People that had to help others if they couldn't help themselves. I'm one of those people.

  You see, I am who I am. When I started, I was this way, when they find me dead, I'll be this way. I am rock & roll. You can always count on that. When a new Rick Rose Rude CD comes out, if you're a fan, then you don't have to worry about liking it. If ya liked the last one, you'll like the new one! You don't have to worry about me going techno or anything. My career has been very consistent & I'm too stuck in my ways to change!

  Basically, I'm tryin to reclaim rock & roll for the working class. I'm sticking to it's original ideas & I'm applying the punk DIY ethos to it. Don't wait for shit to come to you. Make it happen yourself! Fuck the middleman! Do it & get it out there! With my releases, I'm trying to prove that production doesn't matter & neither does the packaging! If you have GREAT songs & they're comin from the heart, they'll shine through! All the production in the world & all the glitzy packaging in the world isn't gonna make a shitty song good, even though most musicians seem to think so. Besides, the real rock & roll was raw as fuck anyway! They slung a mic over the band & recorded straight to record! Now that's PUNK!

Q: Could you describe the genesis and development of your rock and roll career thus far?

RRR:It all began in pieces, here & there. I think All the shit that my biological parents put me through definitely fucked me up & lead me down the path I've taken. Music was always around & something about the more personal performers always attracted that wounded side of me.      

    When I was 4, my cousins had to stay with us because they're Mom had to go in the hospital unexpectedly & they were gonna go see Kiss. Their Mom was gonna go but as she was in the hospital I got her ticket! I don't really care for Kiss but at 4 that made a huge impact on me! Then, when I was 6, Johnny Angel's mom was takin' him to see the Stones & I begged & begged & begged my Mom to let me go! She finally agreed & that really knocked me on my ass!

    Then, when I was 9 I asked to see my real mom & she said "No". I flipped! I didn't realize it at the time but looking back, that's when I dived headfirst into Johnny's record collection, began wearing suits everyday, refused to go back to church & became a juvenile delinquent.

    By the time I was 11, I was playing bass in a middle-school band called Frankenstein. Very punk. I'd been writing songs & when I joined I talked them into doing those. We did 2, "Regurgitated" & "So, Sue Me!" for a compilation someone put together of bands at the middle school & high school. They were done in a garage, on a cassette tape & were pretty funny! I was becoming pretty popular & then my grand-parents(Who I call Mom & Dad because they raised me) decided they needed to move to FL & live out their "golden years". My life ended!

    They bought a house in Ocala. FL. A town filled with inbred red-necks! I constantly got into fights at school & began to hate & despise most "Floridians". I really began to rebel! I eventually found some like minded souls & started a band called Roxie Rocks, named after Roxy Music & Hanoi Rocks. I was the singer & in the end, I ended up being the singer & guitarist. We wore make-up & our girlfriends clothes. Keep in mind, this was/is a red-neck town! We lasted from 86-89, during which time I ran away from home repeatedly, began taking & selling drugs & decided I hated the world! We folded when the drummer joined the army(he was older than us) & the bassist was sent packing to a reform school.

  I did nothing of note through high school except quit to become a full time drug dealer & write songs. At some point in 91 I put a group together called Father Love Dog with an old school acquaintance named Brian Johnson on lead guitar & we went through several rhythm sections, offended everyone in Ocala & released some demos & one impossible to find cassette before breaking up in late 94 with a mix of confusion & regret. I do have to give Brian a little credit though, he was the first one to support my ballad streak but that's all I'll give him credit for. Our story & break-up is a novel in its self & since I'm getting long-winded enough, I wont go in to it.

   After that, I tried getting tons of groups together but nothing worked. Everyone was a trendy MTV wannabe & I packed my bags & moved to Orlando. Things there weren't much better & by 97, after years of trying & trying to no avail, I got bogged down in the daily grind & just ceased to exist. Eventually I saw a promising ad in a local mag from a kid influenced by the Dolls, Stones & T.Rex & gave him a call. We hit it off & started a group called Heroin. Months went by & we had no rhythm section. Just unanswered ads. I went to rehearsal one day to find all of Jamie's stuff gone, along with everything I had laying around there. Most missed is my vinyl Atlantic pressing of "Sticky Fingers" with the zipper.

  Then I started hanging out a lot with this girl named Shasta who I'd met back in 94. We'd sit around all day doing acid & listening to the Vaselines & one day she just started singing along & I was like "Hey! How come you never told me you could sing?!" "You never asked." she replied & with that, the Teenage Jesus Superstars were born. We decided to be an acoustic duo, her on vocals & me on guitar & that we would shock & offend coffee-drinkers EVERYWHERE before moving on to alcoholics! She was bi & didn't make ANY gender changes when singing my songs! We made one unreleased album called "The Bible Of Pop" before Shasta opted for a modeling career & left me stranded.

  Next pit stop, the Love Drags. My friend Chris Boitano had recently bought a bass & we had a common love for groups like the Knack & the Romantics & decided to start a band that would be something like a bug bomb, only it would kill lameness instead of bugs. We were both disgusted by radio & the local bands & had absolutely nothing better to do. We asked drummer Steve Nettles to join us for a demo session & we knocked out a few tunes. Then Steve bailed on us.

  Chris & me devised a plan. Why not make a demo, use it to get press & then find a drummer & lead guitarist?! Maybe it was just crazy enough to work! Halfway during recording, Chris lost interest. He said he'd rather work on cars in his spare time. He did leave his bass at my apartment for several months though, which allowed me to finish up what became "Have Faith". I sent copies to every fanzine I could & the reviews, & then the orders started pourin' in! I've just kept at.

    To be honest with you, I don't really think I've progressed since then & I haven't wasted my time trying to get a band together. Once I find a new locale, I intend to try again though.

Q: You are one aggressive, fearless, expressive SOB! What drives you?

RRR:Love for rock & roll & hatred towards the son of a bitches who've did their part in murdering it & are now trying desperately to cover it up! Plus, I believe that I truly am the bustard son of either Johnny Thunders or Keith Richards & there for, Virtually Indestructible! Love letters from fans & hate letters from detractors! Bi-Sexual girls. William S. Burroughs, Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, Sylvia Plath, suits, Raymond Chandler, Charles Bukowski, Spinal Tap, amphetamines, wine,

Mel Brooks movies, speed, Drew Barrymore, cocaine, champagne, Christina Applegate, The God Father movies, female models, Charlize Theron, Comedy Central, Les Pauls, Cameron Diaz, amplification, Vincent Van Gogh, reefer & Tiffany-Amber Thiessen.

Q: You've definitely taken hold of all of the possibilities that the digital and internet revolutions offers the rock and roller to re-invent yourself as a star.

RRR:I basically had no choice. There was no other way! One of my many motto's is:"Make due with what ya have". & that's all I'm doin'. I'd never really touched a computer before I'd met this guy named Chris Seabury. He made me a web-page & made me a MP3 site & got me going on it. We were gonna go to CA & he backed out at the last minute & I told him to go fuck himself! He then changed all the passwords to everything. I no longer have access to my MP3 site or that original web-page & I've tried to have them removed with no success.

    Then I met David MacKay, who became my manager for a while. He really got me goin' on the internet. I'd stay at his & his fiancee's place for days at a time doing nothing but checking out the internet! I was AMAZED at the possibilities! I'd already invaded the mailbox of virtually every fanzine known to man so I next decided to invade the e-mail boxes of every fanzine known to man! I started doing the JunkiE-Mails. This was December of 1999. Much to my surprise, very few people asked to be removed & people actually enjoyed them & wanted to hear music! The list kept growing & growing & growing & growing! I now have to do 2 separate sends on those because the lists are so big. I think I do so well with them because I have a blast doing them! Most bands take themselves so seriously & I don't! I mean, it's music! Not a job! It's suppose to be fun! Most musician's report their news so seriously & I make it into jokes! People were e-mailing me telling me they laughed all the way through it & they wished more bands had such charm & humor! I even lampoon myself, NOTHING IS SACRED! ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!

    I would get hate-mail, but it would be from anal-retentive musicians who are so up-tight they're bound to explode like those poor white mice in "Rock & Roll High School"! I built a new web-page & it gained me even more fans! I now get orders from all over the world for RRR CD's & stuff. I get love & hate letters almost daily via e-mail & hardly a week goes by that several orders don't come to my Mother's house. A month before the wreck I'd even quit my job. Between the mail order & selling stuff on E-Bay I was making enough money to survive.

Q: Take us through the process, from  where your song ideas come from to recording to the final product (plus merch), 'cause maybe some of  us can do the same thing!

RRR:Basically, they all come from my life. What you hear is me. It's my diary. I'm the same lovable, adorable screw-up that I am in the songs. Honestly, I have a lot of issues. I think most of them stem from my birth parents neglect but I have this huge hole in me that I'm always trying to fill. I don't handle rejection from the opposite sex very well. It sends me on these unbelievable drinking & drug binges. When I sober up & come down, there's usually a tape deck near by with a tape in it. I'll just play the tape & there's the acoustic demos of the songs. Then it all comes back! Next, I'll work out an arrangement for them & start recording multi-track versions. I won't do something more than 3 times. If it ain't jiving I let it go for another time. I also go for feel over perfection.

I'll record at least 30 songs for a project so that I can pick the best ones. I think that's a mistake a lot of musicians make. Once they get 10 songs they say, "OK! Got it! Let's make the album!" I don't think everything that I write is good. Most musicians think that anything they come up with is great! That's the wrong attitude to have. Plus I'd rather be over prepared then under-prepared. I just say to myself, is this something I would listen to? Would I like this? If it's yes & only yes, then it gets approval & goes out. & I like everything to be just like the songs, immediate & catchy. So, I like an album title that says it all & will stick with ya. Same for the covers that I make. With the Merchandise, I just try & convey my spirit, ya know? It's the same process as the music. It's one & the same really. Just me expressing the frustration that's inside of me & hoping others can relate to it. That's the ultimate pay off.

Q: What are your ambitions, beyond the considerable feats you've already accomplished?

RRR:To make a living playing music. To be as big as Thunders was or Hanoi before they split. I'd love to be wealthy but I don't want the fame. I think it's ridiculous. You lose your hunger & are less creative. You can fart & the masses will buy it. Ya know why, cause they don't understand. They just do what MTV tells them to do & I don't care for fans like that. MTV have them programmed. So their opinion doesn't really mean shit to me. One of the new songs even says:

        "You program the hits like you program the viewers,

        Think you're so cutting edge, you're so fucking clueless.

        Damn the MTV Generation,

        I don't give a fuck about your new sensation.

        It's got no heart, it's got no soul,

        It's just plastic passion, beyond control.

        Whatever happened to rock & roll?!"

I just wanna keep on playin' music & be able to do it my way. I REFUSE to do it any other way!

Q: What have been your biggest obstacles so far?

RRR:The brainwashed, idiotic, trendy, pathetic, self-serving, uncultured, moronic masses! That & not having a band!

Q: In what songs of yours do you feel you've gotten closest to what you hear in your head?

RRR:I don't think I have yet. I've always been horrible at analyzing my own stuff! Ha ha! I do wanna try & create some kinda hybrid of Glitter, Punk & Power-Pop. That's what I go for each time I record. Have I succeeded? I dunno. As long as people like it, I'm flattered.

Q: Do you view the influence and style of your models (Thunders, Stones, T-Rex) as a specific response to the pervasive lifelessness of today's musical world?

RRR:I just love this stuff! If it was popular, I'd still be playin' it. I'm the Chuck Berry for the 21st Century! It's what I was born to do. So the current state of things has made it rougher for me? Well, bring it on, Baby! I've always been a fighter! I survived a car wreck that no one can believe didn't either kill me or paralyze me, so let the masses do what they want to me! As Oscar Wilde said "Bad taste is in the majority". I'm Jesus Christ & they haven't nailed me yet!

Q: What current artists feed your fire?

RRR:Oh shit, Rev! Tons! There's GREAT rock & roll out there! It just ain't in the mainstream! The Beat Angels, the Dimestore Haloes, Nutrajet, The Malakas, The Black Halos, Mr.Ratboy, The Beatings, Silver Star & The Jukebox Angels, Texas Terri & The Stiff Ones, man, I could go on & on & on! Anyone who contacts me knows that I plug these bands & others non-stop! That's another one of my better traits, I genuinely care about the scene. So many bands don't because they consider it "helping the competition". Bullshit! I'm still a fan, ya know?

Q: I dig your full-on rocking songs, but I also admire your willingness to wear your heart on your sleeve and write late-night doomed-love songs, an often-ignored rock and roll genre. How closely do these songs come to the real life of Rick Rose Rude?

RRR:Very! I can tell ya the names of the girls I wrote 'em for! I think love songs are the best. Those are the problems that most people face. I use to be a very heavy lyricist but one day I realized, the biggest threat I face each day is the opposite sex! I've got a new one that goes:

        "Can't you see? It's World War III?!

        We've been drafted into...the Battle Of The Sexes"

Besides, I'd always liked performers who wrote about their lives. Prime examples, Johnny Thunders, Peter Perrett & Ian Hunter. I don't know any other way to write. I'd feel like a fraud if it wasn't real, ya know? "Can We Go Steady Again?" is about Anna, "Try So Hard To Smile" is about Crystal, "The Girl Won't Come", "Space Cadet", "Amphetamine Blues" & "Hung-Up On A Pin-Up Girl" are all about Shasta, "Dearest Girl" is about a childhood friend named Jessica who took her life & so on & so forth. There's 2 new one's called "Celia Cool Charm" & "The Disappearing Girl" about this girl I'm into now named Celia. Why am I so honest? I don't really know. I guess because I believe if you're gonna sing about somethin' & expect people to relate & respond you've gotta believe in it. But then again, falseness has sure sold a lotta records, but I think anyone who's read this far has already figured out I don't care how many records I sell.

Q: Who's in your current band?

RRR:Me, myself & I! Man, NO ONE wants to be seen with me! Look at the crap FL has spawned! Manson, Matchbox 20, 7 Mary 3, Sister Hazel & trust me, there's more comin'! There is no end in sight! & FL is PROUD of this! No one will give me the time of day here! & aside from Focus, not even the local mags! That's why I turned my attention towards getting reviews in fanzines & the internet. With no band, I had to find other avenues of promotion.

Q: How do your live performances differ from your "studio" recordings?

RRR:Everything's done acoustically. Just me. Sometimes Jessi Sanders will join me on back-up vocals but it's usually just me. Now, note, I can rarely get booked. No one will book me! The last show I played was in November at the K & K, here in Ocala. The response was great & the kids seemed to love me. The K & K booked me for 2 more shows in January & then pulled the plug on both a week before each show. Crap was given as a reason & they promised to rebook me & never did. I call & harass everyone in FL but when they find out I'm by myself they just tell me they're not interested. They hang up before I can call them a prick!

Greg Reinel said "The Orlando music scene goes out of their way to disown him. So he's gotta be doin' something right."

Q: What's the typical Rick Rose Rude fan like?

RRR:Someone who's been to school in one form or another. Either college or the school of Hard Knox! HA HA! They seem disenchanted, frustrated, bored, intelligent, educated, cultured &  desperately in need of some honest to God rock & roll action! They're people that I try to become friends with. I answer every letter & send them loads of free stuff. They also seem to have a good sense of humor & enjoy their JunkiE-Mails.

Q: Your recent postings on a 311 message board raised some eyebrows. The whole dialogue is one of the most hilarious--and revealing--rock and roll moments of the year (see excerpt below), and a great example of why what you have to offer IS PURE ROCK AND ROLL. Looking back on it, what's your take now on the incident?

RRR:I've always had this thing about me. This knack to just piss people off. Kinda like the Dolls & the Pistols had. I was bored! I do stuff like that a lot & then lose interest. Several of the postings were lost somehow. One of mine & some by some others. I think it just goes to show what I'm trying to say about FL.

    The message board was that of Focus Magazine & it was all some local airhead who thinks he's a star because his band gigs in St.Petersburg. Notice I didn't tell them about my accomplishments! My world-wide press, my world-wide fans, etc. I just didn't care to. It's pointless. All the while they're(actually him) telling me how I suck. So I figure they must be really somethin'. So I asked them to give me somethin'.! Well, where's the proof?! He wouldn't give me any. He probably has none & was just jealous at what I've achieved. I'd do it over again. I'd love to see his face when he finds out Focus are doin' a feature article on me! That would be a priceless picture!

Q: What are the 15 records you'd take to a deserted island if shit got too ugly here?

RRR:I pack like a woman, Rev! So, I'd take the following 15 artists catalogues:(never do what you're told! Ha! Ha!)

        01.Johnny Thunders

        02.Hanoi Rocks

        03.Rolling Stones(I'd mostly just take the 60's & early 70's stuff)

        04.Replacements

        05.Dogs D'amour

        06.Stooges

        07.Beatles

        08.Ramones

        09.T.Rex

        10.Mott The Hoople

        11.Velvet Underground

        12.Big Star

        13.Alice Cooper(69-74)

        14.Faces

        15.Cheap Trick

TRANSCRIPT OF THE INFAMOUS 311 MESSAGE BOARD "INCIDENT"!

Why the Hell is there a 311 tribute?! Is the state of music getting THAT BAD?!?!?!?! Have mercy on my soul & just shoot me now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

http://www.rickroserude.com

Rick Rose Rude

12:51 AM On 12/3/2000

RICK--TELL ME WHAT CALIBER AND I'LL E-MAIL YOU A BULLET AND YOU CAN SHOOT YOURSELF PLEASE.

KEN

7:40 PM On 12/3/2000

So we have a critic who doesn't like 311 and must speak up and show his support of anti-bands. The president of i only like this band or that band. Never mind that it is all just music, that's too deep ,isn't it /

311 FAN

7:44 PM On 12/3/2000

Hey Rick Rose Rude-- I just heard a song of yours on mp3....I can't believe you are judging other bands who have already made it by listening to your garage-trash. What you think you can bring back neil young grunge.??? oh ha ha,he he

LAUGHING OUT LOUD

8:2 PM On 12/3/2000

Check out this guys website...rickroserude.com.. Man this guy is full of himself..a legend in his own backyard....I'm not a big 311 fan but it's like night and day compared to this guy as far as quality of musicianship goes...please give me a brake...This has to be Candid Camera.. anybody who sucks as bad as he does makes a judgment against a big act. whew.....somebody just shoot him.

still laughing

8:7 PM On 12/3/2000

why the hell is there a rickroserude web page. It is useless and stupid. what are you some kinda weirdo. It's a joke. you are a joke. your music is a joke. Why did you waste mp3 space with those garage band songs...good marketing, bucky..must be a republican.

Web Page police

8:11 PM On 12/3/2000

Aww, poor babies! Did my opinion upset you! Boo hoo! Have your "Mommy" call my "Mommy" & have her punish me! Pardon me for havin some style & doin my own thing! That's the biggest sin around here, isn't it?! God forbid I'm not tryin to be Matchbox 20 or somethin! Keep the hate mail comin, I'm gettin a GOOD laugh out of it!

Rick Rose Rude

8:41 PM On 12/3/2000

i checked out rick's web page and i thought i was really neat! i wanna meet him cuz i think he's right and the rest of you are wrong! and mr. web page police...how can someone with such a closed mind call SOMEONE ELSE a republican??

jenna rawk

11:15 PM On 12/3/2000

i have to agree with mr. rude on the "need" for a tribute to a band that is, uh, how should i put this, worthless. and, judging by the responses that his post has initiated i also wonder about the musical maturity of those responders. maybe a quick trip to RAWK SCHOOL is needed...or at least a re-look at spinal tap! oh yeah...who else thinks that limp biskit is as stale as last week tuna helper?

manthon

11:24 PM On 12/3/2000

O.K.--By reading the posts here about 311 and Rick Rose and a few other little tidbits. These bands that are getting smacked have already made it.... Once you make it a tribute to you is a good thing, in listening to Rick Rose music and seeing his website, saying you are doing something diffrent is not the truth. The style you are representing is very stale and actually lacks musicianship quality

BONGO

8:44 AM On 12/4/2000

I'll say anyone who is trying deserves credit, but to be so critical when you aren't as good as you project deserves the smacks you got. I've checked out the 311 tribute website and allot of the bands are amateurish, some are highly professional, the point is it's a tribute to them by their fans who are musicians. I read Rick's tribute on the board this morning. ooops. It's the Biz.

BONGO

8:54 AM On 12/4/2000

Checked out rickroserude.com. A great band like 311 has nothing to worry about.

Ravishing Rick Rude

9:29 AM On 12/4/2000

Well then, who's doing what I'm doin around here? I didn't say I was original, I said I do my own thing. I'm sorry that your taste buds & standards have been so lowered by the biz that you wouldn't know the essence of R & R if it kicked you in the nuts! My main point was, have 311 even been around long enough to warrant a tribute?

Rick Rose Rude "mailto:rickroserude@hotmail.com"

9:33 AM On 12/4/2000

Hey Rick- Just do your own thing but lay off the other bands, the masses are into what 311 represents and your style is the stale sound. It's good you are doing your own thing but Johnny Winters meets Neil Young in a car wreck isn't gonna get it here. The coverbands here are doing better than what you are---It's a no sell here. But do what makes you happy. You can't judge what you don't know here.

MUSICIAN

12:41 AM On 12/4/2000

Mr. Rude describes his sound as "a mixture of punk, power-pop & glitter". Umm, the only punk about it is the cheap recording. Did you get that done at Full Blown by the guy that worked on the Barb Wire film? LOL!

Rufus "mailto:rickroserude@hotmail.com"

12:53 AM On 12/4/2000

Where can I hear all your guys awesome music at?! You guys must be burnin up the charts? So where can I hear your stuff so I can make fun of it?! You made up your mind to hate my stuff before you even heard it! Fact!

Rick Rose Rude

1:6 PM On 12/4/2000

Well 311 does have 5 albums, legions of fans and they made it out of Omaha, so I'd say yes! Can you claim that?

Lil glitter bug "mailto:"

1:30 PM On 12/4/2000

You're a rocket scientist aren't ya?! I mean all these people who are puttin me down!I wanna hear their music! Man, they way their talkin it must be somethin! I wanna hear it so I can review it on here! I don't care to claim! It's art not a popularity contenst!

Rick Rose Rude "mailto:"

1:58 PM On 12/4/2000

Now see what you did Mr. Rude. Anybody can fill their online locker with mp3s. I was saying we were on a tribute c.d. sold as units world wide which is the 311 popularity. Not just locally.. my band's original band is called HEMPUS. My cover bands are SKYWAY & SOULMATE. We play out all the time and we are into the local scene with tons of resources.

KEN "mailto:SKYWAYPROD@AOL.COM"

3:11 PM On 12/4/2000

Go to coffeestain.com and talk the smack there. To Chris @ Full Blown-- you guys have a great deal going here, don't let the twits get to ya man. Music is the scene not a judgment that's for the D section of the rags. But some do have 2 thumbs up (their ass).

KEN

3:14 PM On 12/4/2000

RudeDude, you came here with the attitude first! Don't talk smack if you can't handle it. I KNOW you'll be back tosee this.

Nick Hexum

4:9 PM On 12/4/2000

Rick would just like to add:"The only thing more stupid than 311 are their fans!"

Manthon: Rawk Purveyor Extraordinaire!

 

     Manthon, with his wife Janthon, is the co-creator of The Rawk, a dandy site totally devoted to holy noise. Anybody needing inspiration should click on the above link post-haste (hell, I do...every time I need to steal ideas):

FC: What inspired THE RAWK? What's its (oh god) philosophy?

MAN: Well, ever since I was a little child I have been searching for a way to share the word of god with those who...oh, bullshit!! The Rawk was inspired by its namesake...the Rawk! Music that gives you goosebumps...makes you dance (or at least wanna)...makes you wanna fight..makes you wanna cry...or all of the above. As far as philosophy...to hook up with the dwindling number of folks who truly dig music with balls, regardless of how it's classified, and maybe help turn them on to stuff they aren't familiar with and, hopefully, entertain them.

FC: There's an ungodly number of rock and roll web pages out there in cyberspace. What makes yours different, and worth going to?

MAN: We aren't know-it-alls and don't claim to be. We want to honestly share (being the Rawk-vacuums that we are) the best of what we hear with anyone who'll care to listen. We won't preach (well...we may preach if something is so ass-kicking that we can't even believe that anyone could live without it), and we aren't selling anything except our sometimes lame-ass ability to push someone to a record store to buy something. Our motto: music of any genre with grapefruits in its boxers and without any "indie" pretention. What other site can claim that?

FC: There's always a lot of pissing and moaning about rock and roll being dead. Your response to that?

MAN: Anyone who sez rock is dead has obviously moved on to"d-d-d-dance music" or has given up looking. There is no shortage of rawk out there. There's as much as there ever has been. You just have to dig through more crap than ever to find it. With the current overload of info available to everyone, it can take time. But if

you really want to...there's a goldmine waiting for you out there!! As long as you don't build a genre "dam" around yourself, you can find way more rawk than

you could ever swallow!

FC: Some would contend that music has offered a spiritual alternative to folks who just don't buy the denominational spiel. Would you say that's how it works for you?

MAN: There's music out there for whatever ails ya. Feeling blue? How 'bout some Little Richard! Sad? Put on some Fugs! Powerless? Maybe a little Clash'll do the

trick! Traditonal worship? What the fuck?!? Put on Funhouse and you're IN church! And if you want to see a true preacher, a preacher of and for the rawk, check out a Patti Smith show. At least she's lived it and REALLY believes it...how many

"men/women of the cloth" can honestly say that?

FC: You and your wife Julie are the creative forces behind this page, and I know that the everlovin' White Stripes (sister-brother or husband-wife or both?) are one of your favorite bands. How does rock and roll figure in your partnership? Does the partnership push the page to a different level? How do you deal with the inevitable disagreement?

MAN: The first time I saw Janthon she was sporting Chuck Taylor's and that was it. Bonus that she was a rawk chick, too!! We've turned each other on to much rawk

over the years, and now we're about even in rawk knowledge. We used to both work in the record retail biz, but now it's just me so I have to bring home the "bacon," so to speak. As for pushing to a different level...Janthon is a good writer and I'm always trying to get her to contribute more (if I can get her eyes off of HHH...some will know!) and she tells me when she thinks things are getting stale. Musical disagreements are few, but when we do have one, end result...we both know we're right!

FC: Rock writing is preaching, really: Get the unaware to lend and ear to something special. What are some acts that really need to be pushed to rawk-lovers...and why them?

MAN: Unfortunately, we are preaching to the converted. But even the converted need refreshers. In case you were asleep: early on--Collins Kids, Rock and Roll Trio, Hasil Adkins, Travis Wammack...a little later--Wailers, Monks, Beefheart, Pretty Things...when most shit sucked--Flamin' Groovies, Big Star, Blue Oyster Cult, Saints...recent past--Wipers, Thelonious Monster, Shoes, Lyres...currently--Reatards, Lazy Cowgirls, Gluecifer, White Stripes (duh!) and the Fastbacks. All of the above didn't or don't do it for money; they do it 'cuz they HAVE TO. Bet they'd all tell you they didn't really have a choice.

FC: I know you've recently started a station on Live365 (check out the links all over The Church pages). Tell us a little about the inspiration and thinking and frustrations behind that.

MAN: I was looking for a way to enhance The Rawk, and radio seemed like an

excellent way to help bring what we were spewing on about to another level. I really dig it when our lame ass computer can play it! The whole process is quite time- consuming, though. You have to record a song from cd to mp3, then upload the song to the host site. The process from beginning to end is about 10 minutes per song. Due to the cyberspace version of the FCC, a radio "loop" must be at least three hours long. You do the math! We're getting a cable modem very soon, so I will be able to load much quicker. Rawk Radio is on a shuffled loop, so it's very unlikely you'll hear it the same any time you visit.

FC: What are your dreams for The Rawk?

MAN: Don't really have any aspirations for greatness or anything like that. Just

wanna continue to be the best, most well-rounded true rawk site on the web. We

have great contributors now and would like to get more! So if anyone out there thinks they have anything worthwhile to offer, please let me know!!

FC: If you could pick one rawker to visit The Rawk, who would it be and why?

MAN: D. Boon. Because he inspired it and deserves it!

FC: You must have been to many rock and roll pages yourself. Any you wanna plug?

MAN: These sites kick butt and can all be found in rawk links on The Rawk: Search and Destroy, Blank Generation, ~cregan1/"I-94 Bar, and Perfect Sound Forever. They all are of and about the Rawk!!

Dimitri Monroe, Naked Flame

"SUMMER NEVER COMES" 

THE LATEST GANG OF DISENFRANCHISED WELTS

PANHANDLE FOR SMACK-OR STUDDED BELTS

FUSSIN',CUSSIN',WEREN'T YOU & I

BOTH DOWN HERE YELLIN' AT THE PASSERBY-

WHAT WAS IT-TWO WEEKS AGO?

BRILL-CREAMED HAIR,EIGHT-INCH CUFFS

THE ANGRY FOPS RUMBLED WITH THE PRIVATE SCHOOL TOUGHS

HEY,CAN YA TELL ME-WHAT THE FUCK-EVER HAPPENED TO US?

IT USED TO BE FUN-NOW WE'RE JUST BUMS

CUS SUMMER NEVER COMES,THE SUMMER NEVER COMES

YOUNG RUFFIANS UNDER THE SPELL

BUT CAN YA STAY THE COURSE YEAR AFTER YEAR

LIKE ALL US RUINED NE'ER-DO-WELLS

WHO HAD THE GUTS TO PERSEVERE

YOU CAN TRY TO CHANGE THE WORLD WITH A PRETTY SONG

YOU CAN SCREAM INTO THE WIND UNTIL YOUR NERVES ARE RAW

ME,I'M WONDERIN' IF I DONE IT WRONG-

REMEMBER ALL FOR ONE AND ONE FOR ALL?

DEFYING ALL SECURITY-DON'T WANNA FADE OR ASSIMILATE

INTO THE STRAIGHT WORLD I REVILE,THEY REELED YOU IN WITH COLORED BAIT...

IT USED TO BE FUN NOW I'M JUST A BUM

CUS SUMMER NEVER COMES,THE SUMMER NEVER COMES

THE SUMMER NEVER COMES THE SUMMER NEVER COMES

(Dimitri Monroe)

     Hellraisin', scene-makin', underground action-figure, friend of the People, Defender of the Meek, "the Last of the last of the Last of the Last", has been a primary catalyst behind the resurgence of "punknroll" and a vital, contributing presence in the glam-rock underbelly for the past fifteen years.Perhaps best known for his wanton lifestyle and seminal series of gonzo-style rantzines, Anorexic Teenage Sexgods, Ready to Snap, and Burntout Recluse, Dmitri also hosted the popular Boston cable-access cult-favorite,"Welcome To Weird City", is a contributor to the insurgent Hit List magazine,and singer for the All-Star Razor-Rock Super-Group, DIMITRI MONROE & THE NAKED FLAMES. He currently resides in resentful obscurity....

FC: How did rock and roll first enter and alter your life?

Dimitri: My father was a 60's activist and rocknroll singer who split for Europe soon after I was born to pursue acting. When other kids were into skateboards and sports or whatever, I'd discovered the Monkees "Headquarters" and Elvis Presley, like, by age 5 or 6. In second grade I wanted to be EP for Halloween, the Monkees naturally led to the Beatles, and I kinda used to pretend like John Lennon was my old man, right? Then, around age 11 or 12, I started hanging out at this old hippie headshop/recordstore in Elida, Ohio, called,"Mind Dust Music", where I met this local legend by the name of Billy Ray Bogart, this cool cat who'd made one

brilliant psychedelic blues album in the late 60's/early 70's, maybe a Seeds/13th Floor Elevators-type freakout, called The Original Mr.X, and by age14, I'd been turned onto, like, Jim Morrison and the Stones, and it was really all over from there. I remember he gave me the seven-inch "Get Off My Cloud", and the b-side was "I'm Free", and that song kinda became my junior high manifesto.

FC: When did you know it would BE your life?

Dimitri: I started getting sort of targeted by students and teachers alike at the

affluent, suburban school I attended, for askin' all the wrong questions, not being a jock, chasing the girls from the other side of the tracks. I used to get in trouble for all your standard, petty-teen-misfit stuff. Dress code violations,bad grades, "disruptive behavior," but I was sort of a latchkey kid in those days, and,despite the best efforts of a few compassionate English teachers, I was kinda left on my own to battle the preppie kids and these evil, class-concious administrators. They pressed charges on me for being unruly and I was declared "incorrigible" by the courts, and given all these strict conditions and labels and consequences,which only pissed me off. This one particular weasel, the vice-principal, Larry Cress, was his name, caught me skipping out of a last-period study hall, and blackmailed me into cutting my hair, which was basically illegal, it being a public school, he said I'd be expelled and put into detention hall if I didn't let him cut my hair, so he marches me down to the high school vocational department, and makes the cosmetology techer give me this military crewcut, and all the girls were crying and everything. I just kept getting shuffled off to all these weird reform schools--like the Oneida Baptist Institute in Kentucky, where you'd get paddled by these repressed marines if caught kissing a girl (I was caught many times and thrown face first in the pigslop/shit on the farm). Finally, I was voted President of my freshman class, by a landslide, at Lima Central Catholic High School in Lima, Ohio, and expelled a week later--they pressed Felony 4 charges against me in juvenile court for "malicious destruction of county property," and I knew I was gonna be sent "up the river" and I was tired of all these "diversion programs" obviously designed to break the creative spirit of anybody who stepped outta line. My mom's weird boyfriends started wanting to fight me whenever I was living with her,so I packed my bags, took a Greyhound to Columbus, the People's Express to Newark, the shuttle to Times Square, and a cab to "the Village," where I got real lucky and fell in with all the right people at the end of the Basquiat/Warhol/Nightclub glory days, met this beautiful 25-year-old Bianca Jagger-lookalike named Lisa, who let me move in and started teaching me about Jean Genet and cunnilingus and taking me to afterhours bars. I met all the lingering '70's rockstars and was sleeping with a model and doing drugs, while all my peers were back there going to soccer practice. I lived at 18 Rivington St. in the Bowery back when it was real dangerous, with all the Dominican dope dealers, and spent all my time at King Tut's Wah Wah Hut and CBGBs, following all the deviant filmmakers and Paisley Underground Mod Revivalists around, and, y'know, I finally fit in. I started sort of emulating all these characters I was drinking with, who I'd see around all the time, all the Lower East Side pirate has-beens: Rudi Protrudi, Scarlet from Angels In Vain, John Spacely, Nick Zedd, Peter Zaremba, Stiv Bators.After that,I went back to the Midwest to pursue my great new wave teenage unrequited love, Aymee Altenberger, whom I still write songs about...needless to say, that never panned out, but all of a sudden, Guns N Roses were getting popular, and I got to play big fish in the small pond for awhile. My first son,Christian,was born in 1988, then, Kurt fuggin Loder called to tell me Stiv was dead, right when me and my childhood guitarist Little Dave Weir were preparing to move back to NYC, hoping to ride his coattails some more...that was a devastating blow. My son's godfather,Anthony Howell, was murdered in front of Cappis Pizzeria. After that, I was on the run--Boston, Hollywood, Detroit, back to Hollywood...back to NY....it was shitloads of ill-fated glam rock groups,destructive relationships with complicated, fame-starved women, hotel rooms and niteclubs, pretty much a blurry, madcap misadventure back and forth from coast to coast. Jeff Dahl used to call me "The Heartbreak Kid," because every time I start a band somebody dies or goes to jail. The story gets pretty sordid,and sad--"Some of my best friends are phantoms..."

FC: Tell us a little about what you and the Naked Flames have been up to lately.

Dimitri: From the ashes of the Original Suffering Bastards came the Razor Rock

Supergroup, DIMITRI MONROE & THE NAKED FLAMES. You know that Jim Carroll lyric, "It ain't hip to sink that low/unless you're gonna make a ressurection.."? Well, that's what the Naked Flames symbolise to me. I had my heart broken badly a coupla years back, after a stormy long-term relationship finally disintegrated upon my return to Cincinnati to be close to my son, and I really went on a spiral....waking up in psych wards, detox, jail, fist fights every night. Getting beat literally to a pulp by Nazi skinheads and jock bouncers at the hipster bars. Everyday. Real grisly, awful shit...even waking up in other towns. My friends,the Cheater Slicks,used to have G.G.Allin stay with them for uneventful weeks at a time, but they had to throw me out twice. That song "My Friends" on Cheater Slicks Forgive Thee is about me and Alpo from the Real Kids. Then,one of my oldest, very, very best friends from Catholic school, who I'd always kept in touch with and who'd done all the right shit, Mitch Heber--he'd always been like,lifting weights and reading books while I was shootin' pool and taking pills--while attending graduate school in Seattle, he started dabbling in heroin and died, which really sent me over the edge. To add insult to irreparable injury, the family blamed me. Wow,it was too much. I stayed fucked up for years, sleeping on crackhouse floors, protected by thugs. Shameful fucking up. Then,I met this incredible woman, Paula, she's the most beautiful girl in the world, we got pregnant, I went into seclusion, and put the bottle down, bam, pregnant again, so now, I have two babies, Milton and Melody, Christian living with me, we're like, a quiet little family in this tiny cottage in the suburbs and the crickets are outside chirpin' up a storm. I'm pretty much in recovery, although the 12-Steppers say I'm just on a dry-drunk, but after 15 years of hard, Bukowski-proportion, two-fisted whiskey guzzling, all day, every day, I think a coupla slips a year in Detroit--is progress. Right?

    So then, fortuitously, things started happenin.' This sweetheart-of-a-man,Jim Rinn, got me back in touch with my old friend Ricky Rat, guitarist for AMERICA'S ONLY ROCKNROLL BAND, the Trash Brats, and we started trying to write songs together. Sparks flew almost immediately, so we decided to hit the ground running as they say...but then, our drummer, Boogie Jack, the Bad Joker, went to jail for wearing too much leather and consorting with homosexuals and Rastafarians in Findlay,Ohio. So we've been concentrating on writing songs for my Debut Smash Hit Chart-Topper,Trash Romantic". We've got a teaser cut on I-94 Recordings' Drunk on Rock, Volume 2 (http://community-2.webtv.net/i94rec/I94Recordings) and we'll be convening the rest of the Naked Flames in the Motor City to begin recording later this summer. I think the first single from "Trash Romantic",will probably be "Price I Pay For Lookin' Cool" b/w "Good Times Gone". In the meantime,my thankless busboy humiliations and three beautiful,righteous kids are keeping me busy while Ricky records the new epic, definitive, career-making, breakthrough Trash Brats record. He's in the studio right now as we speak. Let me just say, it's absolutely killer, the stuff I've heard so far. Alice meets Mott meets Exile on Main Street-quality rocknroll.(http://www.geocities .com /trashbrats/) So then, I drafted my brother Brian Morgan in on guitar (he's best-known for his work with the Carvelles, Sunset Strippers, and Sado-Sluts-On Smack) and Hollywood Bob Starker from the Sovines (www.sovines.com) in on Bobby Keyes-style saxophone, and my friend Pentagram Adumb from Wheelchair Bitch on thug-bass,as the nucleus of the NAKED FLAMES. We're additionally gonna have some real special guest stars appearing on the record, who we can't talk about, due to legal reasons, related to them being under contract. Also,I'll be appearing on that Desert Inn Records Tribute to the Boys and Hollywood Brats.(Desert Inn Records c/o Nick Barolo/Via Dotti 49 31100 Treviso, ITALY, or desertinn@tvol.it)

FC: You've produced a couple of the coolest fanzines I've ever read,

Anorexic Teenage Sex Gods and Ready to Snap: fun, manic, rock and roll on paper. Does the title of your new 'un (Burnt Out Recluse) signal a change? And how the hell do you manage rocking, rolling and writing? Are