There were only a few places to play in NYC during the hardcore punk era, but Even Worse played most of them. And when we went on "tour" it was to New Jersey. The first gig off of Manhattan that I remember playing was at Maxwell's in Hoboken.
The thing I remember most about that night was that it was the show in which we debuted the song "1984". I have no idea how I came up with the riff for the song but it remains one of the best (and certainly one of the most complete) songs I ever wrote. The lyrics were a take on the book which I had just finished reading (in 1982) for the second time. Lots of Big Brother talk and there was a break down in the middle that Kenny, our singer, could improvise. This was always my favourite part because Kenny would come up with some crazy stuff, usually from whatever the headlines in the Post were that day.
The song was kind of slow and plodding and the "crowd" (maybe a hundred people) started skanking around in a giant circle in the middle of the dance floor. After watching so many shows with mosh pits filled with flailing arms and legs, it was pretty cool to see the chaos become somewhat organized with a song they had never heard before.
Another "memorable" (more on why I have quotes there later) gig was also one of the most infamous. We had a show booked at a giant hall in Garden City, New Jersey. We were the first of three bands on the bill. The headliners were Millions of Dead Cops (MDC) and Hose, Rick Rubin's (yes, that Rick Rubin) band - sort of a kind of Flipper tribute band.
Rick lived in the same NYU dorm as Tim, Kenny and I. All of this stuff was before he started Def Jam with Russell Simmons. We all sort of moved in the same circles at the time (Rick Moreno, the front desk clerk at the dorm went on to direct a number of Beastie Boys videos including "Fight For Your Right To Party" - he plays the landlord in the bathrobe) and Rick asked me to join Hose. Now, it wasn't that I was so loyal to Even Worse but I really thought that Hose sucked and I couldn't see myself playing that kind of music. Rick was cool and totally understood. We stayed on friendly terms for years and would catch up every once and a while at a Warner sales convention or when I'd fly to LA for business.
Back to Garden City. We were running late and our car got stopped for speeding. We should have turned around right there, but we didn't. When we got to the hall, we set up the gear and took the stage to a sparse crowd of about 50. A couple of songs in to our set a girl hopped up and sat on the edge of the stage. Moments later she lit up a cigarette. There was a faction in the punk scene at the time called 'straight-edge" that didn't condone drinking, smoking or drugs. We didn't call ourselves "straight-edge" but we also didn't condone any of the aforementioned vices. We happen to be playing our yet to be released single "Mouse or Rat" and at the end of the song, Kenny went to kick the cigarette out of the girl's mouth. He missed the cigarette and clocked her right in the face.
Though he apologized immediately (by telling her she shouldn't smoke:) the damage was already done. It turns out that she was the Queen of the Jersey City punks and the crowd reaped its revenge by pulling Kenny off stage during the middle section of "1984" and kicking the crap out of him. It should be noted that neither Tim, Jack or myself came to Kenny's rescue (Thurston didn't play this gig with us) but we did play on. Kenny rolled himself back on to the stage and sang the rest of the set sitting on a milk crate behind Jack's drumkit.
Now, you'd think that that was enough but it wasn't. After our set (which we recorded) we were in the parking lot outside during Hole's set when the hall doors burst open and the crowd came running out. Somehow the sprinkler system had gone off soaking everyone inside.
Now about those quotes around the word "memorable". This story is how I remeber it but last year I got in tuoch with Jack Rabid and in an exchange of e-mails he corrected a few details:
"...that other show you mention was at a place called "city gardens" in trenton, whereas the traffic ticket we got was for speeding in connecticut on the way to a show in bridgeport's pogo's or some club in east haven, i can't remember which (we only played the latter once, with vatican commandos, now known as moby's former band if i have that right, and lost generation--or was it reflex from pain? they all started to sound alike apart from c.i.a. who were fantastic).
there's a paragraph about even worse in the book "american hardcore," but it's got about 12 factual errors including many missing members, misspelling the names of the members actually noted, and for some reason also includes my real first name which they got wrong as well! (it's paul; they had me as pete). a new edition is coming out and i sent a slew of corrections. i am not confident they will get it right or much care. but we will see."
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Cheap Trick
I just accepted an invitation to join the Cheap Trick group. I'll never forget the first time I ever heard Cheap Trick. I went home that night feeling like I was a member of a secret society.
In the summer of 1976 I answered an ad in the Toronto Star in which a exotic Japanese electric guitar was up for sale. It turned out that the seller lived a few blocks from our apartment so I went over to take a look. After ringing the bell, the door opened to the world of Jim Parrott and Dee Dack. Jim and Dee were a husband and wife who's lives were dedicated to rock 'n' roll. For years they had published an underground fanzine called Denim Delinquent and had first hand stories of Iggy Pop and Ray Davies.
The guitar was red, ugly and a horror to play but I quickly became friends with Jim and Dee who used their extensive record collection to give me my earliest music education. They introduced me to the Stooges, MC5, Amboy Dukes, Dictators, Blue Oyster Cult and a million other garage bands from the late sixties. In addition to Denim Delinquent they also wrote for Backstage Pass, a magazine published by CPI for its preferred Cheap Thrills ticket holders and handed out at concerts.
On a particular evening that summer they asked me to babysit their son Eric while they went to an album launch. It was an uneventful night with Eric who watched TV with me until he fell asleep. Jim and Dee came home around 11 o'clock and he had a white 12" album cover under his arm. I had never seen an album advance before and I was curious as to what this new band sounded like.
I remember that the advance folded open and the four band members popped up from the gatefold. From the moment the needle hit the record and the first chords of "ELO Kiddies" came out of the speaker I was hooked. At school the next day I told anyone who's listen about this band Cheap Trick. Once pictures started to show up in magazines I put together homemade buttons that marked me as Toronto's first Cheap Trick uber-fan.
A couple of months later, Cheap Trick was on tour with KISS and playing in Southern Ontario. I went to the concert in Kitchener with Jim and Dee who were scheduled to interview Cheap Trick (they already knew Gene Simmons who was a fan of Denim Delinquent). It was the first interview I ever saw with a band. At the end I asked Rick Neilsen if he had any tips for a new guitarist. His suggestion was that I pay attention to how sloppy he was - and play very loud. When I watched him that night, I saw exactly what he meant.
Right before In Color came out, Cheap Trick played two nights at the El Mocambo. CHUM FM broadcast one of their six sets. I went to both nights and I don't think they repeated more than two or three songs at those shows. Rick Neilsen ended the first night by jamming his Explorer shaped Hamer guitar in to the ceiling.
When their Budokon album became a huge hit I was, of course, repulsed by the screaming little girls. For my money, Cheap Trick was a hard rock band with witty songs and great melodies - not a pop band! But I am nothing if not loyal and I kept going to see Cheap Trick concerts and buying their albums (even though I realized that Dream police was only half good). I didn't really turn my back on them until "The Flame" but then I turned my back on Aerosmith too when they started playing girl ballads.
Years later, Cheap Trick put out the album Monsters Under the Bed on Warner and I got to work with the band and I related the above story to them. Rick claims to remember Jim and Dee though he didn't remember my question about playing guitar.
Anyway, that's why I joined the Cheap Trick group on Facebook.
In the summer of 1976 I answered an ad in the Toronto Star in which a exotic Japanese electric guitar was up for sale. It turned out that the seller lived a few blocks from our apartment so I went over to take a look. After ringing the bell, the door opened to the world of Jim Parrott and Dee Dack. Jim and Dee were a husband and wife who's lives were dedicated to rock 'n' roll. For years they had published an underground fanzine called Denim Delinquent and had first hand stories of Iggy Pop and Ray Davies.
The guitar was red, ugly and a horror to play but I quickly became friends with Jim and Dee who used their extensive record collection to give me my earliest music education. They introduced me to the Stooges, MC5, Amboy Dukes, Dictators, Blue Oyster Cult and a million other garage bands from the late sixties. In addition to Denim Delinquent they also wrote for Backstage Pass, a magazine published by CPI for its preferred Cheap Thrills ticket holders and handed out at concerts.
On a particular evening that summer they asked me to babysit their son Eric while they went to an album launch. It was an uneventful night with Eric who watched TV with me until he fell asleep. Jim and Dee came home around 11 o'clock and he had a white 12" album cover under his arm. I had never seen an album advance before and I was curious as to what this new band sounded like.
I remember that the advance folded open and the four band members popped up from the gatefold. From the moment the needle hit the record and the first chords of "ELO Kiddies" came out of the speaker I was hooked. At school the next day I told anyone who's listen about this band Cheap Trick. Once pictures started to show up in magazines I put together homemade buttons that marked me as Toronto's first Cheap Trick uber-fan.
A couple of months later, Cheap Trick was on tour with KISS and playing in Southern Ontario. I went to the concert in Kitchener with Jim and Dee who were scheduled to interview Cheap Trick (they already knew Gene Simmons who was a fan of Denim Delinquent). It was the first interview I ever saw with a band. At the end I asked Rick Neilsen if he had any tips for a new guitarist. His suggestion was that I pay attention to how sloppy he was - and play very loud. When I watched him that night, I saw exactly what he meant.
Right before In Color came out, Cheap Trick played two nights at the El Mocambo. CHUM FM broadcast one of their six sets. I went to both nights and I don't think they repeated more than two or three songs at those shows. Rick Neilsen ended the first night by jamming his Explorer shaped Hamer guitar in to the ceiling.
When their Budokon album became a huge hit I was, of course, repulsed by the screaming little girls. For my money, Cheap Trick was a hard rock band with witty songs and great melodies - not a pop band! But I am nothing if not loyal and I kept going to see Cheap Trick concerts and buying their albums (even though I realized that Dream police was only half good). I didn't really turn my back on them until "The Flame" but then I turned my back on Aerosmith too when they started playing girl ballads.
Years later, Cheap Trick put out the album Monsters Under the Bed on Warner and I got to work with the band and I related the above story to them. Rick claims to remember Jim and Dee though he didn't remember my question about playing guitar.
Anyway, that's why I joined the Cheap Trick group on Facebook.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Even Worse (pt. 1) - Thurston Moore
Once upon a time in a band far, far away I played guitar in a little punk rock combo called Even Worse. The singer's name was Kenny Tantrum. The bassist was my college roomate Tim Sommers who went on to work on MTV News, play in Hugo Largo and sign Hootie & The Blowfish to Atlantic Records. The drummer was Jack Rabid, who remains true to his punk roots to this day publishing his long running punkzine The Big Takeover. The other guitarist was a fairly tall fellow named Thurston Moore. You might recognize Thurston as the guitarist songwriter for the extremely popular and influential band Sonic Youth. Our version of Even Worse made one single, "Mouse Or Rat," that you can occasionally find on eBay for about $100US. I'm pretty sure that copies cost that much because it is a limited edition single of a band that Thurston once played in. Truth be told, he's not actually on the record.
If you're paying attention you might have noticed that I refereed to "our version of Even Worse." You see this was actually Mach 3 of a band started by Jack Rabid. They got their name the night of their first gig. They opened for a band called The Worse. You figure it out from there. In the summer of 1982 Even Worse Mach 2 had fallen apart and Jack asked Tim to help him keep the band together. Tim had a popular hard core punk radio show on WNYU at the time called "Oi! The Show". What Tim didn't have though was any musical expertise so I offered to teach him how to play bass. From there it only made sense to sign up as the band's new guitarist. Kenny lived in the same dorm as us so he was asked to come try out as the singer.
When we all arrived for our first rehearsal, Thurston was there too - invited by Jack to round out the line-up (this was before he was Thurston of Sonic Youth - though he had already started Sonic Youth (more on that in a bit) - this was when he was Thurston, formally of the Glenn Branca Guitar Orchestra). Jack got us started by teaching us some Even Worse songs and then we played a few covers (including Motorhead's "Ace of Spades" which was a big song at the time). What was most curious to me at the time was that Thurston's guitar need to be re-tuned after every song and I had to walk over and do the tuning. The reason for his faulty tuning became clear to me a couple of weeks later when he invited us down to the Mud Club to see Sonic Youth play one of their earliest gigs. I was aghast to discover that his guitar playing consisted of jamming a screwdriver in to the strings and banging them with a drum stick. I figured that his tuning problems were the cost of originality.
A few weeks later Even Worse returned to the Mud Club to play our own gig. Halfway through our show Thurston and I were having some fun imitating some of KISS' choreographed moves, swinging our guitars up and down when the stock of his guitar came down "CRACK" on the skull of a skinhead whose smile grew bigger the more blood he sensed falling from the wound. After the show Thurston tried to apologize to the guy who waved him off. If he remembers that night he's got a great story to share with his grand kids. "See this scar? Thurston Moore did this to me before he was ever famous!"
If you're paying attention you might have noticed that I refereed to "our version of Even Worse." You see this was actually Mach 3 of a band started by Jack Rabid. They got their name the night of their first gig. They opened for a band called The Worse. You figure it out from there. In the summer of 1982 Even Worse Mach 2 had fallen apart and Jack asked Tim to help him keep the band together. Tim had a popular hard core punk radio show on WNYU at the time called "Oi! The Show". What Tim didn't have though was any musical expertise so I offered to teach him how to play bass. From there it only made sense to sign up as the band's new guitarist. Kenny lived in the same dorm as us so he was asked to come try out as the singer.
When we all arrived for our first rehearsal, Thurston was there too - invited by Jack to round out the line-up (this was before he was Thurston of Sonic Youth - though he had already started Sonic Youth (more on that in a bit) - this was when he was Thurston, formally of the Glenn Branca Guitar Orchestra). Jack got us started by teaching us some Even Worse songs and then we played a few covers (including Motorhead's "Ace of Spades" which was a big song at the time). What was most curious to me at the time was that Thurston's guitar need to be re-tuned after every song and I had to walk over and do the tuning. The reason for his faulty tuning became clear to me a couple of weeks later when he invited us down to the Mud Club to see Sonic Youth play one of their earliest gigs. I was aghast to discover that his guitar playing consisted of jamming a screwdriver in to the strings and banging them with a drum stick. I figured that his tuning problems were the cost of originality.
A few weeks later Even Worse returned to the Mud Club to play our own gig. Halfway through our show Thurston and I were having some fun imitating some of KISS' choreographed moves, swinging our guitars up and down when the stock of his guitar came down "CRACK" on the skull of a skinhead whose smile grew bigger the more blood he sensed falling from the wound. After the show Thurston tried to apologize to the guy who waved him off. If he remembers that night he's got a great story to share with his grand kids. "See this scar? Thurston Moore did this to me before he was ever famous!"
Friday, January 9, 2009
The Musical Brain
“The Musical Brain” airs on January 31st at 7pm ET on CTV.The documentary is based on the studies of Professor Daniel Levitin, who wrote the best seller This is Your Brain on Music.The show features three artists in different genres, Michael Buble, Wyclef Jean, and Feist. The context focuses on what is happening within the brain when an artist works out different ways of making music. Sting is the “guinea pig” for this show, working one on one with the scientist, having an MRI etc.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Totally Not Cool
After I published my last post about meeting Walt Frazier, I got to thinking about how uncool I have acted when I've met some of my "heros" over the years.
My friends and I waited over an hour at the rear entrance to Maple Leaf Gardens for jeff beck to emerge after his Wired concert in '77. We then chased his limo for 15 minutes while it circled the neighbourhood traying to loose us (finally stopping only a block away from the Gardens at the original Four seasons Hotel). Once he stepped out of the car he autographed my ticket stub. As I sat on the subway going home, I stared at the ticket and realized I had nothing to say to him.
I met Muhammad Ali at the corner of 53rd and madison, my last week of living in New York. I crossed the street, and stuck out my hand and said "Champ, you're the greatest." He thanked me and shook my hand with his giant maw. When he walked away I had a story to tell people who only smiled kindly and acted like they cared.
A few years ago I met Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page in short succession. I figured that as a guitarist I'd have something profound to say or ask. Wrong.
Same thing with Stevei Ray Vaughan. I met him in the elevator at the Mayflower Hotel in New York shortly before he became a superstar. Everyone was already talking about him though because of his guitar playing on Bowie Let's Dance album. I'll spare you the boring details one our one way conversation. Needless to say, I'm sure I didn't make an impact.
Nor did I make an impact on Zenon Andrusyshyn. The Argo kicker mocked me and my chubbiness as I chawed on an ice cream bar and vowed to be a better football player then he ever was.
Glamour, glamour, glamour. That's all my life has been.
My friends and I waited over an hour at the rear entrance to Maple Leaf Gardens for jeff beck to emerge after his Wired concert in '77. We then chased his limo for 15 minutes while it circled the neighbourhood traying to loose us (finally stopping only a block away from the Gardens at the original Four seasons Hotel). Once he stepped out of the car he autographed my ticket stub. As I sat on the subway going home, I stared at the ticket and realized I had nothing to say to him.
I met Muhammad Ali at the corner of 53rd and madison, my last week of living in New York. I crossed the street, and stuck out my hand and said "Champ, you're the greatest." He thanked me and shook my hand with his giant maw. When he walked away I had a story to tell people who only smiled kindly and acted like they cared.
A few years ago I met Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page in short succession. I figured that as a guitarist I'd have something profound to say or ask. Wrong.
Same thing with Stevei Ray Vaughan. I met him in the elevator at the Mayflower Hotel in New York shortly before he became a superstar. Everyone was already talking about him though because of his guitar playing on Bowie Let's Dance album. I'll spare you the boring details one our one way conversation. Needless to say, I'm sure I didn't make an impact.
Nor did I make an impact on Zenon Andrusyshyn. The Argo kicker mocked me and my chubbiness as I chawed on an ice cream bar and vowed to be a better football player then he ever was.
Glamour, glamour, glamour. That's all my life has been.
Friday, October 10, 2008
I Met Walt Frazier
Forget all the rock stars! This is Walt-Freakin-Frazier! I was at the Park Hyatt to pick up Miss Thang and there he was - resplendant in a bight blue suit with a pink cotton shirt festooned with pink satin flames. Clyde still dresses super fly!
You see, Walt's the reason I'm a basketball nut. When I was a kid I watched him lead the Knicks to a waold championship. The games were on tape delay in Toronto and my folks let me stay up late to watch the post-11:30pm broadcasts. I drove my mom crazy, anxiously bouncing my basketball against the wall making little black marks that I spent most of the next morning cleaning. When I played hoops, I was always Walt Frazier dishing off a hot pass or driving (my version of driving) down the lane.
I took this once in a lifetime opportunity to tell Walt the story. He thanked me with a big smile on his face and then folded himself into a cab to head of to the ACC for his gig as a color analyst with the Knicks. Walt Freaking Frazier. Sweet!
You see, Walt's the reason I'm a basketball nut. When I was a kid I watched him lead the Knicks to a waold championship. The games were on tape delay in Toronto and my folks let me stay up late to watch the post-11:30pm broadcasts. I drove my mom crazy, anxiously bouncing my basketball against the wall making little black marks that I spent most of the next morning cleaning. When I played hoops, I was always Walt Frazier dishing off a hot pass or driving (my version of driving) down the lane.
I took this once in a lifetime opportunity to tell Walt the story. He thanked me with a big smile on his face and then folded himself into a cab to head of to the ACC for his gig as a color analyst with the Knicks. Walt Freaking Frazier. Sweet!
Friday, October 3, 2008
More AC/DC
There's a new album coming out in a couple of weeks, Black Ice. There has been a lot of anticipation among those of us who have longed for their return to form. Advance word was overwhelming that this new record was going to be a nugget.
Well, with the arrival of the first single, Rock N Roll train, came disappointment. This is B level AC/DC at best. XM radio channel 53 is programming all AC/DC all of the time and it not only revs up the engines for one of the world's greatest rock bands but it also shines the klieg lights on some of their duller moments. Certainly RNR Train cannot stand up to anything previous to For Those about To Rock. And then yesterday I heard, for the first time, War Machine and it was aweful. A second listen a few hours later confirmed the worst. And yet, as a diehard fan I STILL hold out hope against hope that the new album will rock.
My favourite AC/DC album remains Powerage. maybe it's because it was the first AC/DC album I ever bought (certainly not the first I ever heard) or maybe it's because of all of the records the band ever recorded, it sounds to me like their most diverse without sacrificing the quality of the material.
Bob Lefsetz pointed out that the band hasn't had a consistent album since the death of Bon Scott - with rumours of Scott's involvement with Back In Black before his death. Sadly, that seems to be the case. Half of For Those about to Rock is great and after that every album has had one, maybe two, shining lights.
AC/DC's coming back on tour and I'll be there. I hope that Black Ice is better than the first two songs suggest.
Well, with the arrival of the first single, Rock N Roll train, came disappointment. This is B level AC/DC at best. XM radio channel 53 is programming all AC/DC all of the time and it not only revs up the engines for one of the world's greatest rock bands but it also shines the klieg lights on some of their duller moments. Certainly RNR Train cannot stand up to anything previous to For Those about To Rock. And then yesterday I heard, for the first time, War Machine and it was aweful. A second listen a few hours later confirmed the worst. And yet, as a diehard fan I STILL hold out hope against hope that the new album will rock.
My favourite AC/DC album remains Powerage. maybe it's because it was the first AC/DC album I ever bought (certainly not the first I ever heard) or maybe it's because of all of the records the band ever recorded, it sounds to me like their most diverse without sacrificing the quality of the material.
Bob Lefsetz pointed out that the band hasn't had a consistent album since the death of Bon Scott - with rumours of Scott's involvement with Back In Black before his death. Sadly, that seems to be the case. Half of For Those about to Rock is great and after that every album has had one, maybe two, shining lights.
AC/DC's coming back on tour and I'll be there. I hope that Black Ice is better than the first two songs suggest.
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