WEBVTT - Questlove Supreme: Blondie 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:04.000 Quest Love Supreme is a production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:09.080 --> 0:00:09.840 Ladies and Gentlemen. 0:00:10.000 --> 0:00:13.880 This is a special Quest Love Supreme, your host Quest 0:00:13.960 --> 0:00:16.400 Love here with Sugar Steve. I'll say that our guest 0:00:16.480 --> 0:00:22.079 today are the founding Trailblazers and New York legends. Along 0:00:22.120 --> 0:00:26.880 with drummer Clin Burke, bassist Lee Fox, guitarist Tommy Kessler, 0:00:27.160 --> 0:00:32.120 and keyboardist Matt Kat's Bohen, they ushered in be very 0:00:32.159 --> 0:00:37.480 influential punk slash dew wait movement. I know musicians hate 0:00:37.640 --> 0:00:40.280 when things get a title. I often cringe when I 0:00:40.320 --> 0:00:44.879 hear the neo soul title. But you know this is 0:00:44.920 --> 0:00:50.720 too legendary to casually not spot spot on describe what 0:00:50.800 --> 0:00:53.680 they represent in the world of music. They to me 0:00:53.760 --> 0:00:57.680 are the epitome of cool and the epitome of style 0:00:58.240 --> 0:01:02.720 and practically dipping their toe into every genre of music 0:01:02.760 --> 0:01:08.720 that defined a movement and a city pop, rock, punk, disco, reggae. 0:01:09.080 --> 0:01:13.440 And they're especially noted for being one of the early, early, early, 0:01:13.520 --> 0:01:18.319 early co signers of the burgeoning hip hop movement. You know, 0:01:18.400 --> 0:01:22.319 there was a period where the first five, depending on 0:01:22.360 --> 0:01:25.160 who you ask and how conservative they are, ten maybe 0:01:25.200 --> 0:01:28.800 twenty years in which hip hop was hopefully going to 0:01:28.840 --> 0:01:31.479 be like a fad that went away, like a flu 0:01:31.600 --> 0:01:35.000 that influenza that goes away eventually. But they were one 0:01:35.000 --> 0:01:37.680 of the very first to co sign the movement and 0:01:38.040 --> 0:01:41.959 really brought it to a wider audience, going as far 0:01:42.000 --> 0:01:45.360 as to use the cachet to bring the light projects 0:01:45.440 --> 0:01:49.960 like the iconic score to Charlie Ahern's Hip Hop Classic 0:01:50.000 --> 0:01:53.120 Wild Style, and also being one of the first people 0:01:53.680 --> 0:01:58.120 to introduce hip hop to a worldwide audience. Of course, 0:01:58.160 --> 0:02:01.680 the legendary Saturday Night Live episode with the Funky four 0:02:01.680 --> 0:02:04.400 plus one that they literally just put their money where 0:02:04.440 --> 0:02:06.520 their mouth is. And you know, it's one thing to 0:02:06.560 --> 0:02:08.960 just say you're down with a movement, but to really 0:02:09.040 --> 0:02:12.120 use your your power, you know, to do so is another. 0:02:12.639 --> 0:02:17.560 They're currently celebrating the release of their Mammoth Against the 0:02:17.560 --> 0:02:21.240 Odds box set, which basically celebrates the hits, the demos, 0:02:21.280 --> 0:02:26.079 and the remixes of their illustrious career over one hundred 0:02:26.080 --> 0:02:29.200 and twenty four songs. In awe, this is an honor 0:02:29.280 --> 0:02:32.480 to say, please welcome to Quest Left Supreme Chris Stein 0:02:33.320 --> 0:02:36.880 and Debriye Harvey of Blondie. 0:02:37.080 --> 0:02:37.400 Thank you. 0:02:37.840 --> 0:02:40.000 I'm the only one clapping the day, So just pretend 0:02:40.040 --> 0:02:41.400 it's like fifty two billion people. 0:02:41.840 --> 0:02:43.959 That was very very generous. 0:02:44.120 --> 0:02:48.320 Thank you, No, you know, it's it's I've been a 0:02:48.360 --> 0:02:51.400 massive fan of you guys, you know, and so likewise, 0:02:51.960 --> 0:02:55.360 and I have to say, Debbie, thank you very much 0:02:55.400 --> 0:02:59.959 for my note. You happen to come on the show. 0:03:00.000 --> 0:03:03.840 Oh I'm talking with the tonight show, in which I 0:03:03.880 --> 0:03:05.960 was hoping to holler at you for a second before 0:03:06.760 --> 0:03:08.960 I went on stage, but I had to do something, 0:03:09.120 --> 0:03:11.000 and then by the time I got off stage, you'd 0:03:11.080 --> 0:03:15.200 already left, because it's like a very long show that 0:03:15.240 --> 0:03:17.960 we shot that day. But I saw the beautiful note 0:03:17.960 --> 0:03:20.120 that you left in my dressing room, and I really 0:03:20.160 --> 0:03:20.960 appreciate that thing. 0:03:21.000 --> 0:03:21.960 Oh, thank you much. 0:03:22.000 --> 0:03:24.120 I meant every word of it, even though there were 0:03:24.160 --> 0:03:27.040 some misspellings and scribbles. 0:03:27.720 --> 0:03:31.800 No, I appreciate it. I appreciate that acknowledgement. 0:03:32.000 --> 0:03:34.240 I want to thank christ for your nice notes that 0:03:34.240 --> 0:03:36.760 you left me on my recording console. 0:03:39.000 --> 0:03:39.360 Whatever. 0:03:39.480 --> 0:03:43.880 Steve, you know, I personally, I want to know, first 0:03:43.920 --> 0:03:47.320 of all, I really do love the box set, and 0:03:48.040 --> 0:03:53.000 as a person that's just starting to think about looking 0:03:53.120 --> 0:03:57.080 under the hood of my own career in terms of 0:03:57.920 --> 0:04:00.880 you know, looking at artifacts and going through storage units 0:04:00.880 --> 0:04:04.320 and all those things. You know, oftentimes you're so present 0:04:04.360 --> 0:04:06.960 in the moment you don't realize that the most minuscule 0:04:07.040 --> 0:04:10.360 thing you have is going to wind up being history 0:04:11.160 --> 0:04:12.200 ten years later. 0:04:12.400 --> 0:04:12.600 You know. 0:04:14.160 --> 0:04:20.000 So in terms of just getting all these artifacts together 0:04:20.279 --> 0:04:23.680 and keeping those demos and keeping those tapes and all 0:04:23.680 --> 0:04:28.040 that stuff, how what was the process, like how painstaking 0:04:28.160 --> 0:04:29.960 was the process and putting this all together? 0:04:30.920 --> 0:04:34.040 Well, it went on over a pretty long period. I 0:04:34.120 --> 0:04:36.159 just had all this stuff, you know, when we first 0:04:36.200 --> 0:04:39.320 started making money. You know, I always say the model 0:04:39.400 --> 0:04:41.479 for the rock star was different back then, or at 0:04:41.520 --> 0:04:43.960 least for me, right and Debbie was. We didn't think 0:04:43.960 --> 0:04:47.719 about buying Rolexes and Bentley's and shit we wanted to. 0:04:47.880 --> 0:04:52.160 We just I bought recording equipment, so I bought guitars, 0:04:52.560 --> 0:04:57.040 so I bought I had my own old MCI set up, 0:04:57.080 --> 0:05:01.040 you know, the automation whole thing. And I got around 0:05:01.080 --> 0:05:03.760 to a bunch of different apartments. We lived in different spaces, 0:05:04.320 --> 0:05:09.159 and tapes accumulated along with that, and eventually that stuff 0:05:09.200 --> 0:05:12.120 all died and I gave it all the way and stuff, 0:05:12.640 --> 0:05:16.200 and I wound up with a garage full of tapes 0:05:16.320 --> 0:05:20.160 of State New York, which was where we did the 0:05:20.200 --> 0:05:21.640 assault on the tapes. 0:05:22.040 --> 0:05:24.800 Okay, so like what kind of tape like two inch 0:05:24.839 --> 0:05:25.840 tapes or everything? 0:05:26.200 --> 0:05:31.640 Everything? Everything? No? No, what? Uh had a lot of 0:05:31.760 --> 0:05:35.160 half inch, A lot of two inch, Yeah, a lot 0:05:35.160 --> 0:05:38.760 of two inches. I mean I had I wound up 0:05:38.760 --> 0:05:41.960 with a complete copy of the Cuckoo record that we 0:05:42.000 --> 0:05:45.000 did with Nile and Bernard and now got the whole 0:05:45.040 --> 0:05:48.599 thing on like just like two or three tapes because 0:05:48.600 --> 0:05:51.320 he was running at seven and a half. You know, 0:05:51.560 --> 0:05:56.000 oh really yeah, it was it was economical. 0:05:56.839 --> 0:06:00.359 I was going to say that at the time, like 0:06:00.480 --> 0:06:03.760 when did you realize I mean, most artists I know 0:06:04.480 --> 0:06:06.360 are not sentimental at all. 0:06:07.000 --> 0:06:07.719 There's a story. 0:06:07.800 --> 0:06:10.200 Well, I mean he's not a musician, but you know, 0:06:10.240 --> 0:06:15.240 I consider a historian Don Cornelius in order to save 0:06:16.560 --> 0:06:20.920 maybe hundreds hundreds of dollars, would I mean, you know, 0:06:20.960 --> 0:06:23.799 when it came time to look through the Soul Training archives, 0:06:24.560 --> 0:06:26.760 you know, the staff there was stat to announce to 0:06:26.800 --> 0:06:30.680 me that, you know, Don wasn't too sentimental. So you 0:06:30.720 --> 0:06:34.320 know this the stage and the lights and the all 0:06:34.320 --> 0:06:37.760 the designs of the shows, of the Soul Train show 0:06:37.800 --> 0:06:39.560 within you know, the forty year history of it. 0:06:40.160 --> 0:06:43.800 He just had it all destroyed and crushed, crushed and 0:06:43.880 --> 0:06:45.159 thrown away. 0:06:45.279 --> 0:06:48.680 And I was like, none of you at all were like, 0:06:49.320 --> 0:06:51.440 you know this will be historical one day, like we. 0:06:51.360 --> 0:06:52.320 Should save this stuff. 0:06:52.360 --> 0:06:54.920 And you know, at the time, Don was just thinking 0:06:55.040 --> 0:06:58.600 like uh uh, storage, storage space is too expensive and 0:06:59.320 --> 0:07:03.039 I can't afford it. So I mean oftentimes, you know, 0:07:03.120 --> 0:07:06.640 I'll tell new artists now like don't throw away that 0:07:06.720 --> 0:07:10.600 concert poster, don't throw away your itinerary, don't throw away 0:07:10.800 --> 0:07:13.320 I mean even Prince, Like when Prince passed away, Like 0:07:14.040 --> 0:07:17.080 literally anything he wrote on is almost damn near like 0:07:17.520 --> 0:07:21.720 five figure worthy in auctions now, like even directions to 0:07:21.760 --> 0:07:25.720 the house or or you know, Prince was world famous 0:07:25.760 --> 0:07:30.440 for writing. Whoever, the lady of the moment was like 0:07:30.560 --> 0:07:35.840 poetry and stuff like you know, thing revealing too much. 0:07:35.880 --> 0:07:40.520 But what I'm basically saying is, did you guys realize 0:07:40.520 --> 0:07:44.120 in the beginning, like I should save everything, like even 0:07:44.120 --> 0:07:48.440 with besides the music, Like are you saving the outfits 0:07:48.480 --> 0:07:54.400 and the wardrobes and old posters or ticket stubs or itineraries. 0:07:54.640 --> 0:07:58.720 I got a lot of junk left still, But you know, 0:07:58.800 --> 0:08:02.520 I mean you hoard totally. My wife is like, I 0:08:02.520 --> 0:08:04.640 can't go in there because it's like freaks me out. 0:08:04.720 --> 0:08:07.240 It's so hoarded out the room in the you know, 0:08:07.240 --> 0:08:11.000 in the basement where we are. Uh but uh, you know, 0:08:11.040 --> 0:08:13.560 there's so many stuff fell by the wayside. I sold 0:08:14.000 --> 0:08:17.320 so many damn guitars that I could retire now on 0:08:17.440 --> 0:08:20.240 what those things are worth in today's market. You know, 0:08:20.880 --> 0:08:23.160 it's just really yeah, it's just crazy. 0:08:23.920 --> 0:08:24.880 I would like to know. 0:08:24.920 --> 0:08:26.640 Well, I asked the both of you'll start with wri 0:08:27.520 --> 0:08:29.440 what was your first musical memory. 0:08:30.320 --> 0:08:32.880 Oh wow, I know. 0:08:35.120 --> 0:08:39.360 Oh that's it really goes back, doesn't it. I had, 0:08:40.440 --> 0:08:44.000 you know, children's records back back then. I had a Victrola, 0:08:44.920 --> 0:08:48.520 at least that's what my dad called a Victrola. And 0:08:48.640 --> 0:08:51.920 it was in a box, you know, a little suitcase, 0:08:52.520 --> 0:08:56.480 and it had a speaker that was attached to the 0:08:56.640 --> 0:08:59.400 arm where the you know, where the needle was and 0:08:59.440 --> 0:09:02.480 you would just drop it down onto the record. And 0:09:02.920 --> 0:09:07.040 so that those were my earliest things. And I think 0:09:07.120 --> 0:09:10.040 one of my one of my favorites was a thing, 0:09:10.800 --> 0:09:16.040 oddly enough called Little Toot. 0:09:16.120 --> 0:09:19.480 Yeah, was that a Disney record or enough? 0:09:19.559 --> 0:09:20.720 It was a Disney record. 0:09:22.000 --> 0:09:22.679 It might have been. 0:09:22.880 --> 0:09:26.880 It might have been, but it was a really great 0:09:27.320 --> 0:09:30.800 little song that went through a lot of different emotional 0:09:30.880 --> 0:09:35.319 interpretations because it told a story of this little tougueboat 0:09:36.000 --> 0:09:39.120 and you know, the worthlessness of this little and little 0:09:39.160 --> 0:09:42.200 togueboat and how the big togboats always you know, pushed 0:09:42.240 --> 0:09:45.679 it around. But then little little too became like the 0:09:46.160 --> 0:09:48.760 hero of the day and uh. 0:09:49.040 --> 0:09:56.840 So, basically off the ret nose Reindeer. Where were you born. 0:09:57.480 --> 0:10:00.320 I was born actually in Miami, but I grew up 0:10:00.360 --> 0:10:04.439 in Hawthorne, New Jersey, which is just outside of Patterson, 0:10:04.520 --> 0:10:09.680 New Jersey. Well, my parents and all my grandparents lived 0:10:09.679 --> 0:10:10.400 in Patterson. 0:10:11.160 --> 0:10:14.120 Okay, Chris, what was your first musical memory. 0:10:14.280 --> 0:10:19.440 Well, I don't really remember locking onto any little kid music. 0:10:19.720 --> 0:10:23.960 My first affinity for music started when I was like, 0:10:24.080 --> 0:10:28.160 I guess, you know, around ten or eleven, with movie scores, 0:10:28.720 --> 0:10:32.080 which was and man, some of those novelty songs, you know, 0:10:32.240 --> 0:10:35.679 like the Chipmunks and Purple People Eater and stuff. But 0:10:36.640 --> 0:10:39.319 I you know, I don't know how much that moved me, 0:10:39.480 --> 0:10:42.920 that stuff. But then I started, you know, like Lawrence 0:10:42.960 --> 0:10:46.360 of Arabia's West Side Story. I mean, I I it's 0:10:46.480 --> 0:10:49.440 very hard for me to explain to younger people what 0:10:49.559 --> 0:10:54.160 a huge cultural touchstone West Side Story was. West Side 0:10:54.200 --> 0:10:57.120 Story was as big as the damn Beatles, There's no 0:10:57.240 --> 0:11:00.160 question about it. I don't think people people have at 0:11:00.200 --> 0:11:01.480 that the nowadays. 0:11:01.760 --> 0:11:04.000 My oh god, my mother got so mad at me 0:11:04.080 --> 0:11:06.600 because I took my sister, who is seven years younger 0:11:06.640 --> 0:11:10.240 than me to see West Side Story and she almost 0:11:10.320 --> 0:11:10.920 had a heart. 0:11:11.120 --> 0:11:13.080 Oh no, you took her. 0:11:12.920 --> 0:11:13.920 You took her to see that? 0:11:14.480 --> 0:11:16.959 Oh no, how could you? But it was fabulous. It 0:11:17.000 --> 0:11:20.640 was so wonderful. And you know, Leonard Bernstein was never better. 0:11:20.720 --> 0:11:25.240 Really, I was going to say that, I'm currently reading 0:11:26.480 --> 0:11:33.320 Little Stephen Stephen van Zant's autobiography, and he too has 0:11:34.080 --> 0:11:39.160 an immense obsession with West Side Story and pretty much 0:11:39.200 --> 0:11:41.160 described it as the way that you guys did like 0:11:41.160 --> 0:11:41.840 when it came out. 0:11:41.880 --> 0:11:42.200 It was. 0:11:43.800 --> 0:11:46.000 Such a huge deal, I know. I mean, you're probably 0:11:46.040 --> 0:11:48.400 on your soundtracks that I was praying more obsessed with 0:11:49.080 --> 0:11:54.000 Lawrence Arabia soundtrack, MAURICEI alre, you know, great story. 0:11:54.000 --> 0:11:55.880 And the other thing that I listened to a lot 0:11:56.040 --> 0:11:59.679 was like the Cowboys Singers, which is you know, Western, 0:12:00.160 --> 0:12:04.200 not even country western, it was really Western music and 0:12:04.880 --> 0:12:08.319 those were those were great, you know, great songs and 0:12:08.760 --> 0:12:10.800 people like Burl Lives and stuff. 0:12:10.880 --> 0:12:14.040 Burl Lives. Yeah, we know she is. 0:12:14.520 --> 0:12:17.640 Okay, So now that you you know, declared your love 0:12:17.679 --> 0:12:21.319 for Lawrence of Varibia, I gotta ask. You know, it's 0:12:21.320 --> 0:12:24.680 important because the very first okay, So, I grew up 0:12:24.679 --> 0:12:29.440 in the household with an older sibling who you know, 0:12:29.600 --> 0:12:35.080 because of my sisters, because of her school situation. You know, 0:12:35.200 --> 0:12:38.200 she was fitting in with her girlfriends what they were 0:12:38.240 --> 0:12:40.199 listening to at the time. So you know, she's bringing 0:12:40.200 --> 0:12:43.400 in a lot of you know, the classic new wave 0:12:43.440 --> 0:12:47.959 and punk stuff or whatever. But the one album that 0:12:48.040 --> 0:12:50.920 I remember, even though she had like you know, each 0:12:50.960 --> 0:12:53.599 of the and all that stuff, like I remember the 0:12:53.679 --> 0:12:55.120 day that she brought Auto American. 0:12:55.840 --> 0:12:59.800 Okay, okay, okay, okay. So now on the orchestral session, 0:13:00.280 --> 0:13:03.080 there was a bag one of the bass players played 0:13:03.120 --> 0:13:09.040 on the Lawrence of Arabia soundtrack and that so that. 0:13:09.440 --> 0:13:11.920 I was gonna ask, is your obsession because you know 0:13:11.960 --> 0:13:14.360 the way that you open up Auto American with the 0:13:14.360 --> 0:13:15.600 Europa score. 0:13:15.720 --> 0:13:17.600 Yeah, I mean, you know you know that by then 0:13:17.679 --> 0:13:20.440 I was at Adito Roda very deep and all this 0:13:20.480 --> 0:13:25.280 other stuff, you know, I always had a thing for soundtracks. 0:13:25.280 --> 0:13:28.240 I think soundtracks nowadays, that's a whole other topic, are 0:13:28.360 --> 0:13:32.280 way over used. Uh They're becoming like laugh tracks, you know, 0:13:32.280 --> 0:13:35.640 where they steer your emotions in the direction right of 0:13:36.120 --> 0:13:39.240 where whoever, whoever, the committee that wrote the thing, they 0:13:39.280 --> 0:13:42.240 think you should be feeling, you know. And then, you know, 0:13:42.480 --> 0:13:46.640 gradually I started assimilating the pop music that was around me, 0:13:46.679 --> 0:13:50.480 like the locomotion. Everybody loved the locomotion, no matter what, 0:13:50.559 --> 0:13:55.880 you know. And you know, this stuff like the Shambra Laws, 0:13:55.920 --> 0:13:58.720 I didn't really appreciate till a little later when we 0:13:58.760 --> 0:14:01.520 were doing the band. I was kind of like commercial 0:14:01.559 --> 0:14:02.480 to me at the time. 0:14:02.840 --> 0:14:05.720 You know, well, I'm older than Chris, and I remember 0:14:06.320 --> 0:14:09.400 this thing. I used to listen to radio a lot. 0:14:09.559 --> 0:14:12.280 I had a little radio and I always had my 0:14:12.360 --> 0:14:15.360 ear right next to the speaker. The speaker was only 0:14:15.840 --> 0:14:20.760 at this big and they had a radio thing called 0:14:20.760 --> 0:14:25.560 the Hit Parade. Yeah, and all those like crooners and 0:14:25.640 --> 0:14:29.560 you know, band singers and stuff like that. There was 0:14:29.600 --> 0:14:32.200 a lot of that. It was kind of great, yeah 0:14:32.840 --> 0:14:34.000 before yeah, and. 0:14:33.960 --> 0:14:36.120 Then it was And then I went into folk music 0:14:36.280 --> 0:14:39.360 of course, you know, because I was fifteen and sixty five, 0:14:40.000 --> 0:14:42.080 and by that time I've been playing I've been playing 0:14:42.120 --> 0:14:45.800 guitar for since I was twelve, and folk music was it, 0:14:45.880 --> 0:14:48.600 and I remember learning how to play house at the 0:14:48.640 --> 0:14:51.720 Rising Sun was such a big deal to me, you know. 0:14:52.440 --> 0:14:57.680 So can you describe to me what the New York 0:14:59.040 --> 0:15:03.720 nightclub scene was in terms of like the pre punk, 0:15:03.760 --> 0:15:06.560 the pre New wave movement, Like if it's seventy four, 0:15:06.600 --> 0:15:10.120 if it's seventy three or seventy four, you know, where 0:15:10.160 --> 0:15:12.080 are you playing or like where are you hanging out? 0:15:12.160 --> 0:15:16.080 At least well, we met Debbie was doing a show 0:15:16.120 --> 0:15:19.080 in a bar, so I don't even I hadn't didn't 0:15:19.080 --> 0:15:21.600 go out to many clubs before I was in the 0:15:21.640 --> 0:15:24.160 band situation. I mean, Maxis was kind of the first 0:15:24.480 --> 0:15:26.440 thing I was going to regularly. 0:15:27.640 --> 0:15:31.280 Mostly it was bars, you know, people just setting up 0:15:31.320 --> 0:15:36.240 blah on the floor and bars and stuff. And then 0:15:36.600 --> 0:15:41.520 a little bit later on they became officially became clubs, 0:15:42.240 --> 0:15:45.320 but initially they were bars, Okay, I. 0:15:45.280 --> 0:15:47.640 Mean, well, the stuff that we were involved with was 0:15:47.680 --> 0:15:50.760 like Martin Mercer Arts Center came out of the art scene. 0:15:51.360 --> 0:15:54.400 I mean Maxis was an art bar, you know, all 0:15:54.440 --> 0:15:57.880 those all those guys all those people went on to 0:15:57.920 --> 0:16:01.080 be famous, and the art world had tabs Maxes. 0:16:00.640 --> 0:16:04.280 You know, the post Warhol movement or were Andy. 0:16:04.320 --> 0:16:06.280 We know he was always in the middle of everything 0:16:08.200 --> 0:16:10.960 for us anyway, for you know, he was just there. 0:16:11.000 --> 0:16:11.800 He was a staple. 0:16:12.440 --> 0:16:13.200 I wanted to know. 0:16:13.320 --> 0:16:15.680 Well, they mentioned Maxis Kansas City, and it's hardy not 0:16:15.720 --> 0:16:16.840 to think of the Velvet Underground. 0:16:16.880 --> 0:16:19.160 Did you guys see the Velvet Underground play live there? 0:16:19.480 --> 0:16:21.720 I opened up for the Velovet thats when I was seventeen. 0:16:22.520 --> 0:16:23.320 What was that like? 0:16:23.560 --> 0:16:26.240 It was amazing and it was a pivotal moment in 0:16:26.280 --> 0:16:29.720 my musical life. It was they were playing in a 0:16:29.720 --> 0:16:33.200 place up town called the Gymnasium, which was Andy had 0:16:33.280 --> 0:16:38.160 connections to the like these Polish hall people you know 0:16:38.200 --> 0:16:41.000 who were in these old world halls, and his place 0:16:41.120 --> 0:16:44.000 was was the Gymnasium and also did show this. This 0:16:44.080 --> 0:16:47.240 was nineteen sixty seven. I me and my friends all 0:16:47.320 --> 0:16:49.800 knew who the Velvets were at that point. And I 0:16:49.800 --> 0:16:52.080 had a really close friend who a guy I grew 0:16:52.160 --> 0:16:55.120 up with known for fifty years who was working for 0:16:55.160 --> 0:16:59.320 Andy at the time. His name Joey Freeman, still my buddy, 0:17:00.000 --> 0:17:04.000 and he showed up my house in Brooklyn one afternoon 0:17:04.080 --> 0:17:05.800 and he said, listen to the opening band for the 0:17:05.880 --> 0:17:08.000 Velvets didn't show up. Do you guys want to do it? 0:17:08.400 --> 0:17:11.840 So we took our guitars on the subway and we 0:17:11.880 --> 0:17:14.320 went down. It was like up in the West Side, 0:17:14.359 --> 0:17:17.520 somewhere in the seventies or so sixties or seventies, and 0:17:18.600 --> 0:17:22.320 developers let us use their amps, and Marine took her 0:17:22.400 --> 0:17:25.080 let us put her bass from upright, you know, because 0:17:25.119 --> 0:17:27.320 she only played it like like a temporary you know, 0:17:27.440 --> 0:17:31.119 on its side right. And they were nice and we 0:17:31.160 --> 0:17:34.240 played our blues rock set. You know, I don't remember. 0:17:34.240 --> 0:17:36.480 I only remember we did you can't judge but book 0:17:36.480 --> 0:17:39.639 by its cover, But I don't remember much of the 0:17:39.680 --> 0:17:41.800 other stuff, you know, like Rude sixty six, that kind 0:17:41.800 --> 0:17:44.520 of joke we were doing. And we were really daunted 0:17:44.600 --> 0:17:46.399 because his place was big and echoey and it was 0:17:46.440 --> 0:17:49.119 like not there weren't too many people there. But then 0:17:49.119 --> 0:17:51.679 the Velvets came on and they took advantage of the echo. 0:17:51.760 --> 0:17:54.800 And that was also a life lesson for me, because 0:17:54.840 --> 0:17:57.360 you know, the place you're playing in becomes a part 0:17:57.400 --> 0:18:00.760 of your sound stem. You know that, you know, unless 0:18:00.760 --> 0:18:04.240 you're doing this all the time, and they were awesome 0:18:04.280 --> 0:18:06.960 and filled the room and Andy was there. We never 0:18:07.000 --> 0:18:09.600 saw him, and somebody came over and said, oh, any 0:18:09.640 --> 0:18:13.000 thinks you're great. That was terrific. That was That was 0:18:13.040 --> 0:18:16.000 the event, but it was a really wonderful thing. 0:18:16.600 --> 0:18:22.040 I saw them at this place called the Balloon Farm 0:18:22.680 --> 0:18:26.520 on Saint Mark's Place and Andy was doing the lights 0:18:27.520 --> 0:18:32.080 and Nico was with them that night and it was beautiful. 0:18:32.440 --> 0:18:36.840 It was just I mean beautiful visually and in sound wise, 0:18:36.880 --> 0:18:38.879 and everything about it was beautiful. 0:18:43.960 --> 0:18:47.240 Like I know that you were in separate bands or 0:18:47.800 --> 0:18:49.679 can you tell us how the band came to be 0:18:50.000 --> 0:18:54.520 as far as you know the official start of Blunde. 0:18:55.000 --> 0:18:58.200 Well, the scene was very incestuous and we all had 0:18:58.280 --> 0:19:02.119 mutual friends, though the two of us never met. We 0:19:02.200 --> 0:19:07.800 think we both were at Woodstock, but we didn't meet there. 0:19:08.440 --> 0:19:11.560 Debbie had a job working for the first head shop 0:19:11.640 --> 0:19:14.040 in New York, which was called the head Shop, which 0:19:14.080 --> 0:19:17.360 was on East ninth Street, and I remember going in 0:19:17.400 --> 0:19:20.840 there the day before shop. It's called the Headshop. 0:19:21.440 --> 0:19:23.960 What is a headshop is a headshot? 0:19:25.520 --> 0:19:30.359 They sell, yeah, bonds and posters and rolling papers and 0:19:30.440 --> 0:19:34.040 we'd supply you know, but it was it was where 0:19:34.080 --> 0:19:35.159 you've been, you. 0:19:35.160 --> 0:19:38.080 Know, dog, I'm I'm sorry, I'm the forty. 0:19:39.200 --> 0:19:40.880 And you know it was it was a little more 0:19:40.880 --> 0:19:44.080 clandestine and it wasn't like it was kind of understated 0:19:44.119 --> 0:19:46.480 that it was all based on weed consumption. 0:19:46.720 --> 0:19:49.920 I never knew that it was called a headshop. 0:19:50.200 --> 0:19:51.640 Headshop, Yeah, sure, hedshop. 0:19:51.960 --> 0:19:55.760 Well, because where weed where I grew up, it was 0:19:55.800 --> 0:19:59.520 always the you know you always uh at the mom 0:19:59.520 --> 0:20:00.520 and pop rec good store. 0:20:00.960 --> 0:20:02.440 Yeah right, Yeah. 0:20:02.520 --> 0:20:04.960 I would assume that the guy also sold we because 0:20:05.080 --> 0:20:08.520 you know, just the smell of the record store mixed 0:20:08.560 --> 0:20:12.200 with you know, lisol and incense like to try to. 0:20:12.000 --> 0:20:16.320 Well, he wouldn't head hups wouldn't back then in the 0:20:16.359 --> 0:20:20.040 sixties wouldn't sell weed. They because they were they were 0:20:20.080 --> 0:20:21.800 too big a target, you know, they would just sell 0:20:21.840 --> 0:20:23.120 the the stuff. 0:20:24.040 --> 0:20:24.560 I got it. 0:20:24.880 --> 0:20:28.159 Yeah, so I was. I was in the headgshop the 0:20:28.280 --> 0:20:31.480 day before it opened talking to a girl and well, 0:20:31.520 --> 0:20:34.560 I know that was us, and we talked to each other. 0:20:34.880 --> 0:20:38.080 But three years later, four years later, I guess that 0:20:38.160 --> 0:20:41.359 was like sixty nine or sixty or seventy or something 0:20:41.400 --> 0:20:45.760 like that. Then you know, everybody knew each other and 0:20:45.800 --> 0:20:48.359 I had friends and one of my friends. You know, 0:20:49.240 --> 0:20:52.959 a very long story, but a mutual friend said, I 0:20:53.040 --> 0:20:57.080 heard about this band is playing called the Stilettos Girls singers, 0:20:57.359 --> 0:20:59.960 go see them. And that was Debbie and two other girls. 0:21:00.760 --> 0:21:01.840 So that was it. 0:21:02.280 --> 0:21:06.399 Did that band have any any kind of startup or success? Debbie, 0:21:06.640 --> 0:21:08.119 you and the other two girls? 0:21:08.280 --> 0:21:12.320 Well yeah, I mean we had a small amount of notoriety. 0:21:12.359 --> 0:21:15.960 I suppose an interest. I don't think there was any 0:21:17.359 --> 0:21:20.720 real reality as far as you know, a professional career 0:21:21.080 --> 0:21:24.520 or you know, recording or anything like that. Everything we did. 0:21:24.520 --> 0:21:27.320 Was some stuff with the dolls. We did stuff with 0:21:27.359 --> 0:21:30.400 the dolls. Remember later on yeah you guys, you guys 0:21:30.440 --> 0:21:32.119 sang back up in a couple of dolls shows. 0:21:32.359 --> 0:21:34.080 So yeah, all right, it was that. 0:21:34.119 --> 0:21:38.520 Eighty two, Yeah, baby, or I think there's a picture. 0:21:38.200 --> 0:21:41.080 Of us at eighty two. Eighty two was another club 0:21:41.119 --> 0:21:45.800 that existed sort of in a even darker way than 0:21:46.720 --> 0:21:52.600 Max's or CBGB's. It was an old transvestite club from 0:21:52.840 --> 0:21:54.119 the nineteen forties. 0:21:54.720 --> 0:21:56.159 Yeah, it was very gangster. 0:21:56.880 --> 0:21:57.040 It was. 0:21:57.680 --> 0:22:02.000 It was number eighty to the east third Street, I guess, 0:22:02.080 --> 0:22:05.480 or something like that something the second first Street, all 0:22:05.520 --> 0:22:08.080 the way east and it was in the basement. It was. 0:22:08.200 --> 0:22:10.360 That was a great scene. A lot of bands played there, 0:22:10.400 --> 0:22:13.320 but we went there. All this stuff went on there, 0:22:13.520 --> 0:22:15.959 there's not a lot of okay. 0:22:16.080 --> 0:22:21.640 So one of my favorite kind of underground New York 0:22:21.720 --> 0:22:28.760 labels was Private Stock. Well, no, a lot of legendary 0:22:28.760 --> 0:22:31.080 records are on there, and especially for hip hoppers, there's 0:22:31.200 --> 0:22:35.159 like incredible breakbeats on there. But I gotta know, like, 0:22:35.720 --> 0:22:39.679 how did what was it like dealing with Larry Utel. 0:22:40.720 --> 0:22:44.120 Larry had come out of like the brill building scene. 0:22:44.520 --> 0:22:46.480 He had been He had been a part of Bell 0:22:46.640 --> 0:22:51.960