JJ-201

Pete Fornatale: with my special guest today the New York Dolls...

[band jams]

Sylvain Sylvain: Well, if there's one thing that we did, whether it's right or wrong, it's definitely a rock and roll album.

David Johanssen: Yeah. That's what we do. We play rock and roll. It's true. We don't play that rock that military marching music

Pete Fornatale: But and it's also an album meant to be listened to from first track to last.

Sylvain Sylvain: That's really for you. I mean, you know for us, we just kind of go ahead and just do it. We don't intentionally like sit down and try to figure it all out. It is really rock and roll -

David Johanssen: It's a rock opera

Pete Fornatale: we'll get back to that later. Who deserves credit for this miracle of you guys being together and doing something so quality.

Sylvain Sylvain: Well, I think we should Yafo takes credit. If it wasn't for you... that means scrambled eggs. That's what this guy -

David Johanssen: Instead of bread and butter

Pete Fornatale: You know, there's a rock and roll reference in that to the original working title of yesterday by McCartney was scrambled eggs...How did you become a band a real unified band so quickly?

David Johanssen: We did that the first day, you know, we just kind of walked into a room and started playing because everybody's like minded about, you know what rock and roll should be.

Pete Fornatale: We will meet the new dolls not same as the old dolls in the second segment, but it really impressed me that, you know, yes, the name is legendary and has been around for four decades. But what I'm looking at and what I'm hearing in this room today, really can be said to be the New York Dolls.

Sylvain Sylvain: Yeah, we were big fans of morning television. You know, from our mom's old sets that gave us you know, in our East Village Apartments, black and white. Yeah. And so in the morning shows there was like the coolest like, you know, film noir movies. And there was one that was really always stuck in my mind. It's called the lipstick killers, or lipstick killer. And he did his nonsense. And he would write on the on the mirror in that New York Dolls kind of logo, you know, the lipstick killer. And so I kind of borrowed that, you know

Pete Fornatale: is there any way in which you guys feel like elder statesman at this point?

David Johanssen: No. We don't do like any demographic research and find out what they're playing on the radio, like, what we do is just folk art. It's like we make it for ourselves. And if other people like it, that's good, but we don't like it's not this isn't a job for us. We play music, you know, we're players so

Sylvain Sylvain: and we throw a little little rascals in there.

David Johanssen: You know, you said like being jaded and stuff. I feel like less jaded than I ever felt in my life. Because I think as you go through life, you get more and more information about, you know, It's unfathomable. But I mean, you get more information about what the universe is. And I think life just becomes more fascinating as it goes on. It's not like a matter of being jaded. I think people who are jaded have just a lack of imagination, or else they got that hang up that people have that don't accept the world and spend all their energy wishing that it would be the way they wanted it to be or like all I do is think that why can everyone anticipate my every need, but other than that?

Pete Fornatale: There are some who will say that you guys prefigured punk rock. But what I'll say to that is, punk rock was very nihilistic, punk rock was very we've got no future. I don't hear that.

David Johanssen: punk rock, you know, the what people do is yeah, put it on the dolls. But the dollss were always like, Let's make something happen. You know? So, people who want to like, sit in a dirty diaper? That's fine, but they should do it in a well ventilated room.

Sylvain Sylvain: Yeah, we could cut a lot of bags. You know, that was the good thing about the dolls. You know, although really, you know, deep. I mean, stripped them from everything else. It was really the blues that was under there. You know, blues, music, you know, three chord progressions, you know, improvised solos solid. Yeah.

David Johanssen: You know, like the dogs were all about individuality. And like punk is like, let's all wear the same clothes, exactly the same haircut and say how individual you are. I mean, Punk is like the army. And we're like, the most unarmed people that there are.

Pete Fornatale: Here's another thing. Here's another thing that has always distinguished you guys. Great, great rock and roll bands. Great, great rock and roll artists have a ballad side as much as they have a rocking side, whether you go back to Elvis, and chuck or take it through the years. The dance have that too. And they certainly have it on this record. You know, there are at least three or four examples that I can point to where you're showing that side of yourself.

Sylvain Sylvain: I love real true rock and roll. And we you know, we feel that it should always be new and different and exciting every time you do it. It shouldn't you know what happened to rock and roll. And the reason why we even got we first got started with this many moons ago, is because we were so bored against what the industry was. They were really inventing rock and roll, they were putting it together was more, you know, a corporate instead of like a bunch of kids in a basement or in a garage someplace in some corner of the world that's you know, frustrated and wants to, you know, do something about it, you know

Pete Fornatale: New York Dolls live version of plenty of music Pete Fornatale mixed bag radio. I'll have more with the dolls after this one down two to go in this one. It's got to get away from Tommy and maimed happiness. Okay, and this one we'll talk about what I'm going to do actually is go around to each of the new guys for a brief bio sketch. Does everybody have a mic? When? Danny will, we'll need one for Brian on drums. Oh, you know what? When we come to you, Brian, maybe you can move over to to that one. Okay. All right. Are you are you ready for me then? Okay. And we'll do it alphabetically. So I'll start with you. Here we go. In five. Sorry, sorry. Sorry...anybody see the gore documentary? No. It's wonderful. If that guy had run for president in 2000...Oh yeah. Okay. We're gonna do we're gonna go we're gonna go to David. David. Here we go. No, we'll do little sketches. Okay, leading up to leading up to Tommy. Okay. Here we go. Ready, Danny? Okay. Pete Fornatale back with you on mixed bag radio. As promised. Let's meet the new dolls. Not the same as the old dolls. And doing it again alphabetically. We have Steve Conte on guitar. Now, Steve. I know that you've played with with my friend Willie Nile. Yes. And that your brother is a regular in that. He plays with Willie once in a while too, but he's a bass player. Great bass player. Where are you from?

Steve Conte: Upstate New York, New Jersey and then Manhattan.

Pete Fornatale: When did you pick up that instrument for the first time Who are were will be your guitar heroes.

Steve Conte: after drums age 11. I mean, Hubert Sumlin, Jeff Beck. Keith Richards, Chuck Berry.

Pete Fornatale: the masters, the masters. You are a welcome addition to the to this ensemble. moving along we've got Brian Delaney on drums. Brian, I understand that you like to be that you'd like to be referred to as de Lancey?

Brian Delaney: Yeah, I grew up in St. Louis, and I moved here in '94. And I was never called De lancey, Oddly enough before I moved to New York.

Pete Fornatale: I just wanted to say that I understand I understand why I had the same fixation growing up in the Bronx with Belmont Avenue, as in Dion. And so it made perfect sense to me when I heard that about you. Same question. When did you when did you first take on that instrument that you're playing in this band

Brian Delaney: seventh grade, or sixth grade, seventh grade, I just kept pound I saw a band in grade school. And then I kept like, pounding on the table and on the walls, and my mom was like, you know, take up drums. I don't know what she was thinking. But so I started in

Pete Fornatale: top three players from any kind of music, jazz, rock, whatever on the on drums.

Brian Delaney: Bonham, Buddy Rich... I guess. I've known David since what? 97 or 98 or something. playing gigs with him like the Harry Smith. And Brian did that. So and one day he was like, Hey, we're gonna do the dolls.

Pete Fornatale: Okay, you do a good you do a pretty good. That leads us to the to the other. Brian in the group who has been on the show before? Actually. Brian was with us when David came on with the Harry Smith's and Brian nickname question for you as well. The professor?

Brian Koonin: Oh, yeah. Well, I don't really know where that one came from. He just started saying that one day. And I guess that struck me because I went to music school

Pete Fornatale: Now, you're the keyboard player in this band. I knew you that day as as a guitarist? Is it some kind of I mean, I would I would ask David this as well. Is it some kind of culture shock for you to go from doing something like the Harry Smith's segwaying into the New York Dolls?

Brian Koonin: A bit, I guess it's kind of 180 degree turn around. But you know, it's all great music. I mean, you know, the Harry Smith stuff is terrific. And I think this is also when it's all music and I enjoy playing it.

Pete Fornatale: I'm gonna have to split this one for you because we're talking about two instruments. But if you had to pick a keyboard player, or a guitarist that influenced you who would get the nod? When did you start playing?

Brian Koonin: Victor Borger? Actually, yeah, Gary Adler is influence on my keyboard playing. I used to play melodies. And then my parents had a guy come over to the house and he was going to give me violin lessons. And somehow they steered me towards the guitar instead of vocally. But then I did continue to play piano all along to all right.

Pete Fornatale: The fourth new doll is a name that I knew I recognized and I couldn't place from where it first but it's Sami Yaffa on bass. And I know you because of the band that you were in previously. How did you get from Hanoi rocks to the New York Dolls? You're from Finland. You grew up there and started playing music there? favorite bass players?

Sami Yaffa: until I was 16. And then I took off, and I've been in New York for about 17 years. The killer Kane, Bill Wyman and Lemmy. There you go. There you go.

Pete Fornatale: There's a song on the on the new CD. That reminded me of the Newhart Show where he played a innkeeper in Vermont. Do you know the show? It was not the one where he's the site college just in Chicago. Bob Newhart. Oh, he's an innkeeper in in Vermont and he's got these three strange neighbors who come in every episode and they say Hi, my name is Larry. This is my brother Daryl This is my other brother Daryl the song it reminded me of could be introduced by saying hi my name is Tommy This is my brother Thomas This is my other brother Tom would you do that one for us

Pete Fornatale: you know what? Why don't we Why don't we do the talk part up to it and then you get comfortable talk now we're going to talk before we get to this. So right now we're coming out of gotta get away from Tommy okay. And we're going to we're going to talk for a while I got a question for David and we'll get make our way to maimed happiness. standby there we go here we go in five New York Dolls and a live version of gotta get away from Tommy from their new CD one day it will please us to remember even this. David, I have a I have a question for you about death. But I don't want to hear about your grandfather who died peacefully in his sleep you fool me with that once...You know, first of all you snookered me with that when you were in with the Harry Smith's, but I tell you, I've told it about 100 times since then, and it always gets a good one. It always gets a big laugh. I love it. Look, I don't want to make light of this. But there is something almost Spinal Tap esque about the fatalities that have been connected to the New York Dolls. Do you think about that at all?

David Johanssen: I think it's yes, very Spinal Tap esque. A lot of bands vying to be the most Spinal Tap. But I think they they don't hold a candle to us. In that regard, in a lot of regards.

Pete Fornatale: But, you know, it's it's kind of a question that came up with the Harry Smith's album, because so many of those songs dealt with mortality. And this is a band that has had to face mortality almost from the earliest days, right up to the reunion two years ago, I really want to know what kind of an impact that has on you. And, you know, how you consciously make the decision to keep on keeping on?

David Johanssen: Oh, you mean like to make music? Because that's like what we do, like, you know, I think, you know, there's, there was a time when, you know, when there was like Gene Vincent and Little Richard and people like that, who had to do what they did. And then they came up period, like, I guess in the 70s, where people thought, Oh, I could either be a dentist or an accountant or a rock star. And then they started making like, really mediocre music. And maybe they had some success, but then once they stopped having success. I think they went on to like what fate had in store for them. But we're the kind of people just have to do what we do you know, there's nothing else. It's either like, make music or rob banks. It's not really a question of keeping on. It's just, it's not even a thought it's just natural. Yeah.

Pete Fornatale: This is obviously a question for Sylvain and yourself. But at this point, having gone through what you've gone through, on some level, do you feel like survivors? And do you think about what makes for the difference between those that are gone? And you to still getting the job done?

Sylvain Sylvain: Well, you know, we we think about all that, you know, but we don't really harp on it every day. I mean, if you did, you couldn't really live your own life, you know, so you just, you know, what happened to us is, is, you know, it was great also, it's just that everything happens for a reason. You know, and you and you carries, you know, people's love and your soul, and your heart. And, and you carry on, because you just gotta keep on going, you know, it's just you got to be like, the shark in the water. You know, you got to keep on swimming. If not, you're gonna sink, you know?...And you can't just you know, you can't just, you know, read a write about it and stuff. You just got to live that life, you know, and let it manifest on its own. Love is what you know, is the glue that keeps it all together.

Pete Fornatale: I did a book a couple of years ago, the working title for it was rock wisdom. And the publisher said to me, isn't that an oxymoron?And after I hit him the name of the book I changed to All You Need Is Love. Right? There's a song on this album, that I think some might say is an oxymoron. It's the one called maimed happiness, can someone tell me a little bit about it.

David Johanssen: another way of saying nothing's perfect. But, you know, I think you know, life with I just think where there's time, their sorrow, right? They, they, to me, they're equated. So if there wasn't any time, maybe there wouldn't be any sorrow. But being that we, as humans have this concept of time. There's sorrow so you have to figure if you're gonna live in joyful sorrow or just succumb to the inevitability of life which is being with the majority of the people