Q: Let's start with your current line up. Who is playing with you now?
A: Right now, we have Hotomi on drums and Huromu on bass. They've been with me, I guess for close a year now.
Q: Where did you find Hotomi and Huromu?
A: Hotomi plays in a couple of bands in the neighborhood. Frank Wood, who is a local promoter, had been telling me that I had to meet this girl. She's only like five feet tall, but she's a power house drummer. Later that night I met her and I saw her play - Fucking Amazing Man. I don't know if you have ever been to Otto's Shrunken Head, but the drum set has a fifty pound plate in front of the bass drum so it won't move. She knocks it off the stage. She's really powerful,
So eventually we got together. I tried her out and she was great. The thing is, she hears our songs and she knows them. We don't have to practice. She's got the songs in her head. We go play and she is flawless. The same with Huromu. They both practice the songs on their own and I practice on my own. I don't like the band to practice a lot, because then it gets too tight and sounds too rehearsed. I just want to have an air of spontaneity, that walking on a tight rope thing. We might run through the set once before a gig, and that's it. I don't like to be over rehearsed; it just kills it.
Q: What do you think those two bring to The Undead?
A: Consistency, reliability. The biggest problem working with musicians is that people are not always reliable. They are going to get to the gig and they are going to know the songs. Their not going to be too stoned to play the songs. They're going to be on time. They're not going to keep you wondering if the show is going to happen. They are on time for everything, they are really responsible people. That is really rare with musicians.
Q: Can you talk a little bit about the inspiration for the title track of I Made A Monster?
A: It started out in 2006. We were preparing my 50th birthday bash at CBGB and somebody pointed out to me that there would be no East Village scene if it wasn't for The Undead. Then it hits me like, wow man I created this. But it also became this liberal hell hole, full of these fascist liberals. My dream kinda went sour at the same time. I was thinking this must have been how Victor Frankenstein felt when his creature came to life and he realized that it wasn't the perfect thing he was hoping for.
The song came to me as I was walking to an Indian restaurant. I thought to myself if I can remember this when I get home I know it is a fuckin' song. I got home and I still had the chorus going in my head. I just sat down and it took me maybe twenty minutes to write the song.
Q: What is the East Village scene like now?
A: It kind'a sucks, but at the same time it is kinda good. The bands that are around are some of the best bands that this neighborhood has had in a long time. We are all getting pushed into the underground. If you think where The Undead is in this neighborhood and the kind of places we have to play, you can just imagine how many other bands are just a step below us that are just being buried by this neighborhood. Basically, it is a crime to play Punk Rock in this neighborhood. They have the noise ordinances set up in a way that makes Punk Rock illegal. It's Tipper Gore's dream, but we are working on things. We have Otto's Shrunken Head, but most of the places we can play are the size of the old A7. This Place (Mama's Bar) is one of the bigger places. It is going to be a matter of challenging some of these laws and hitting these people hard. We have to build a stronger conservative base in this neighborhood that understand there are ways of straighten the government out when they get so controlling.
Q: Who came up with the idea for the cover of I Made A Monster?
A: I did. I wanted something that gave a hint of the Old East Village and the New East Village. Then I thought of the MAD magazine idea. So I got a hold of Gina Minichino, she has done several covers for me all ready and I told her the idea and she put it all together. I did the back cover with the picture of the original Undead superimposed over what Niagara (A7) looks like today.
Q: At your show in October at the Record Collector in Bordentown, NJ you mentioned that you are doing something different with the I Want You Dead cover. Anything you want to share about that?
A: Nope. No clues on that. That is going to be a surprise. It's something that no one has seen before, so I have got to keep it under wraps. I just got the posters for it and when they go up in the stores people are going to freak out.
Q: What is the history of I Want You Dead?
A: This was the first recording session we did. We went into a four track recording studio out in Brooklyn. It was going to be our first EP. I conceived of what the cover looked like and everything. It was just a matter of getting the money together. But, the concept I had was to impractical and too expensive. Then, Glenn Danzig came along and saw us play. He heard those recordings and he liked it, but he wanted to put us into a better studio. He didn't like one of the songs, he wanted to just use four of the songs out of the five. So, we scrapped "Pretty Baby" which was the one Patrick sang on. We went back and recorded the other four songs and released 9 Toes Later instead of this. So, this has only been circulated as a demo cassette back in the early days.
Q: When do you expect I Want You Dead to be released?
A: We were planning on having it come out at the end of November, but we are going to delay it a little longer. Maybe around Christmas, we have to find a place to have a nice big record release party.
Q: I was watching the "Sometimes You Gotta Laugh At Yourself" Video, can you talk a little about the video?
A: It was fun to make. We made the video out in Brooklyn, right where they are tearing down everything to make the new stadium.
Q: Are your friends in the video?
A: Dave street is a friend of mine, but most of the other people involved were friends of the film maker, Michael Lee Nirenberg.
Q: As I was scrolling down, I saw a couple comments that you left, Basically; talking about how you are going through your archives, including the set The Undead played on the night you opened for the Misfits. Anything you like to share on the topic?
A: It's coming out. I'm just fishing up all the stuff for I Want You Dead. There was a problem with the CD jackets so I had to send those back and get the jackets redone. As soon as I get those back I'm getting back to work on it. What I have been trying to do if to get a hold of people that were at at show to get their eye witness version of what went down. So far I've gotten my own, Ira, who was one of our roadies, I have Rockey who was the Misfits manager at the time. Rockey wrote a great one. I'm trying to get a hold a few more people that were there to tell the story. The whole thing in retrospect is hilarious. This thing turned into a near blood bath and to me, when I was doing it it was all just a joke.
Q: Anything you'd like to share on what happened?
A: You got to hear the recording. Knowing how things turned out today and listening to the stuff I said then - I was committing complete career suicide live on stage. It is hilarious to think how it all turned out. It is literally a punk comedy record, is what it comes down to in a lot of ways.
Q: Recently you posted a reinterpretation of London Dungeon - Delta Dungeon. Can you discuss what went into the making of that song?
A: The guy who runs my show here (Mam's Bar) every Thursday night wanted me to do some Misfits songs. I kept saying to him it's not just a matter of sitting there and playing the cords. It would sound kinda hokey. I have to rework the songs in a way that they are going to work out on an acoustic guitar with me singing it instead of Glenn Danzig singing it.
London Dungeon is the first to come out of that. I had been screwing around with different ideas on it. Then I started fuckin' around with the phrasing of the main riff and it came out with that more blues feel. I did that on one take and thought I better record it just in case I never get it again. It was one of those deals.
Q: You are working on a 12 Hits From Hell unplugged?
A: That's what I did last week, that's what it turned into. I decided to do something special for Halloween. I worked out all of the 12 Hits stuff and did it here unplugged. It went over really well. I'm going to keep some of the songs in the set because they came out really good like "London Dungeon, Vampira, and Skulls."
Q: Any chance you are going to be playing any of this set at your January show at The Record Collector?
A: O yeah. There is a pretty good chance of that.
Q: On Halloween you were at the Chiller Expo. How did things go there?
A: Really Good. I had a good time, aside from Hilton Hotels not having heat. We played a short set late at night. We spent the whole day signing autographs and meeting fans. The craziest part was after doing a late night set we had to get up early in the morning to go to Morristown, NJ so we could play for the NJ Tea Party at 11:30 AM. That set came off good, I don't know if you saw the video, but that came off better then I expected a 11 o'clock in the morning gig to be able to sound.
Q: Are you getting connected with other Tea Parties?
A: We have all ready been approached by Philadelphia and Harrisburg. We are just trying to network it out. What I am trying to do is get a network going so we can go across the country playing shows that are sponsored by the Tea Parties. Somebody's got to change this shit around.
Q: How do you think Punk music can help the Republican and Conservative movement?
A: I think it can help out greatly. It is the music that appeals to the youth. It is the music of real revolution. It started out really as a conservative revolution. If you look at what was going on in England, people were on welfare and they didn't want to be on welfare - they wanted jobs. So you had bands like Chelsea coming out with songs like "Right To Work" and The Clash singing "Career Opportunities." It was all about the exact opposite of what punks are crying for now.
Back then Punks were crying; I don't want welfare, I want to work, I want have a job and I want to be somebody. Now you have this new breed of Punks that have been brainwashed by hippies that go around saying that they want to be slaves, we want everything to be given to us because we are inept and stupid. So conservative punk turns that around and says, your not inept and stupid, you have a brain and you can use it if you just try.
Q: Have you always had more conservative view points or is that something that is new?
A: I always did, I just never knew that is what they were. Even as a kid I'd be up at 5 o'clock in the morning out in the yard digging a hole because I wanted to have turtles and I wanted to have a turtle pond. My whole life I have always been a person who liked to work. I don't like to be idol and doing nothing. I'm very hyperactive. Even at fifty-three I'm still super hyper. To me having a work ethic is second nature. I couldn't imagine how anybody would want to be laying around doing nothing and talking shit.
Q: Have you caught any hell in your neighborhood for being so politically outspoken?
A: I get stopped on the street and harassed. I can take it. I'm a cripple. The definition of cripple is a person who has survived the unsurvivable. These people don't understand that when they are up against me they are up against the most immovable fuckin' force on this planet. I've been through the worst and I have defied death in more ways than most people could ever imagine.
I've been abused since I was a kid, bullies beating me up and shit like that. In fact one them just apologized to me some forty five years later. The funny thing was is that his seventeen year old daughter thought I was really hot. I don't let shit like that get to me. People have got to learn to grow a fuckin' spine and not let shit get to them so much. Socialism is all about whining and I don't buy into that shit. They try to lay shit on me around here. They are dealing with the wrong guy. I didn't start shooting my mouth off thirty years ago. I hung out here for thirty years, watched what was going on. I observed and developed my own opinions and now I know what the fuck is going on. I can speak knowledgeably to these fuckin' morons and they don't like that.
Q: With all that said, what are your thoughts on this current administration?
A: I'm just thoroughly disgusted. I'm not as disgusted with the administration as with the freakin' assholes that voted them in. This was the guy that promised transparency and that is about all we are getting out of him because we can clearly see that this guy is trying to destroy America. All you had to do was listen to what he was saying in the first place and ask a few fuckin' simple questions and you can see where things were going. If you have a basic understanding of history and the tactics that Hitler used; you can see the parallels. I know imbeciles that were able to see though it.
There was one time I was out on the street talking to a friend on mine about Obama and the whole administration. There was this homeless guy who was going through a garbage can and he can hear what we are saying. Then he starts to look at me. Finally, he drops the garbage can lid and walks over and shakes my hand and goes: "Finally a white guy who has got it." All the blacks that I know in this neighborhood; none of them voted for Obama. They knew, they weren't falling for the race card. You can't call a black person that didn't vote for Obama a bigot.
Q: What was going on with the toilet situation at your place?
A: O man. My landlord has been trying to drive me out of the building since 1986 when he bought it. He ripped out the bulkhead, which is where the stairway goes up to the roof, right above my apartment. Rain poured in for a year back in 2002-2003. That caused millions of dollars of damage to the building and to the two adjoining buildings. So he lost all that money trying to get rid of me and I'm still there. I basically turned my apartment into a tent. I got all this fuckin' plastic and put it up everywhere, so the rain was funneled into buckets.
Then they tried to slap me with a quarter million dollar lawsuit claiming that I was responsible for the damage to the building. They lost that law suit. So now they try it again. They try to make things uncomfortable for me. When I reported my toilet was broken, they dragged their asses. They waited to see what I'm going to do. They actuality think I'm going to back down. You talk to any super, that is something they fix immediately. Look at my history. Everything they have tried to do so far I haven't backed down on. They basically tried to kill me and I didn't back down. So why do they think fuckin' with my toilet is going to hurt me? They spent millions trying to get rid of me. Instead of just coming to me and saying; here's a half million dollars, do you want to leave? But that's stupid greedy people for you.
Q: Is the situation resolved now and everything cool?
A: The toilet has been replaced, but that doesn't mean everything is cool. There is still a hole in the outside wall that rain comes in through. Basically, the exterior wall is explode with mold. They won't do anything about that. I've been trying to get them to do something about that for six or seven years now. The whole things is this is eventually going to go to court and I'm going to own the building plus them having them have to pay for the repairs the building still needs. That's what happens to greedy people.
Plus, they had a women arrested earlier this year claiming that she stole three buildings from them. The titles to the building are all in her name. But they are trying to say she stole the buildings from them. Because they have so much money and so much power, they were able to influence they city to believe them and arrest her. Then they get the press to write all this negative stuff about her without ever going to her for her side of the story. Normally, you see a story like that and the press will ask for a comment - but this time, nothing. They didn't want to hear her side of the story. So, I tracked her down through facebook and I let her know that I had all the evidence in the world to prove that this guy has no credibility. I can show that he lies in court. The subpoena that he filed against me and the statements he made on audio and video tape while he was in my apartment, show that he will knowing lie in court on matter what. And that will bury him. Even if she did steal the building from him. He's not going to have a leg to stand on, because his testimony will be impeached.
Q: What are your views of this current generation of Punks?
A: They're not Punks. I look around and see mostly rich upper - middle class posers who are playing Punk today and in three years they will be wearing suits and ties, being your typical Democrat fascist that they planned to grow up to be.
Q: What about this whole Emo thing?
A: Fortunately, I have never got exposed to it enough to have an opinion about it. From what I get about it and from what people say it sounds like a bunch of whinny ass fuckin' pussies. You know what I mean. Look at the life I've lived with multiple disabilities. Do I fuckin' whine? I can't respect people that whine. A lot of people think I'm cruel and cold hearted, but when you grow up with some of the worst disabilities in life and you go as far as I did, and do what I did - I can't have pity for fuckkin' pussies. Look at me and toughen up a bit.
Q: What's your favorite song to play?
A: That's always the hardest question. Out of the current line up, probably "Be My Ghoul." It goes off really cool. It's kinda different from a typical Undead songs. Songs like that always turn out to be a favorite; like "Put Your Clothes Back On, and Be My Ghoul." That's like trying to ask a mother who her favorite kid is.
Q: Some musicians like playing the most technically difficult songs. What about you?
A. I just love to have fun. The technically difficult songs I try to avoid. I try to avoid writting them too. "Hollywood Boulevard" was a nightmare. I wrote this song, then I realized now I got to fuckin' learn how to play it.
Q: On the album Act Your Rage you did "Eve of Destruction." Why cover a protest song? It seems so different and out there.
A: It is appropriate. It is a protest song and I like it. Even today the words have even more meaning. I'm just ahead of my time. I saw this shit with Obama going on when Clinton was president. When Clinton was president he had people in his administration coming out and talking about how disabled people don't really have a very good quality of life. And that they are really just an economic burden. And shit like that.
I keep saying that they were talking Holocaust. Back then everyone laughed at me and now everyone is going: o my god, listen to what they are talking about - Holocaust. I'm so tired of people coming to me and saying if they only listened to me fifteen years ago. Well, listen to me now. I get hunches and my hunches are always fuckin' right on the money.
I auditioned for a band and said that this band is going to be the biggest thing since Kiss. And look what the Misfits fuckin' turned into. If things had been a little more organized the band would have been bigger than The Beatles.
I have a knack. In 2004 my father died and left my mother a house in New Jersey. I was a little worried about how well she would be able to handle things. I said to her kinda jokingly - why don't we sell the house now and buy it back in five years for half the price. I was right. At the time the house was worth like almost $600,000 now it is like worth maybe $300,000. She would have been $300,000 bucks ahead of herself.
It is little off the cuff remarks that I make like that turn out to be totally fuckin' on the money. I use to freak out this old girl friend of mine. We would be watching the news and there would be a report of a murder. And they would be showing the scene of the crime and there would be somebody walking through the picture. And I would be like - THAT'S THE KILLER. And it would be.
I get these fuckin' hunches and they are always frighteningly right on. The minute I started hearing Obama talking I started saying - this guy is doing everything Hitler did. He saying the same thing and people are buying it in exactly the same way.
Q: Nobody read Mein Kampf back in the 1930's. They're probably not going to listen again....
A: You know what you got is a bunch of people that voted for Obama saying, why didn't anybody tell us. They think they are rebels, but when someone says don't listen to Rush Limbaugh - they say OK. That's their idea of rebellion.
Q: Any modern bands you like now a days?
A: I guess The Bad Whoremoans is one. I don't really get to listen to too much stuff, 'casue I'm so busy with my own shit that I don't really get to hear bands. The Bad Whoremoans is one of the bands that has been working with me. This guy Paul is coming up with some great songs. He's got this song Vampire Pin-Up Girlfriend. It's classic fuckin' Misfits. It's one of those songs that Glenn would wish he had written. It's that good of song. I've got a lot of hope for him. The Accelerators are still around. Beside from that, I'm kinda out of touch. I've been so wrapped up with the business shit and the politics and other legality shit.
Q: What are your thoughts on the hundreds of Misfits cover bands out there?
A: They're all better than the Misfits. That's the one thing that is wrong with them. If you are going to be a true Misfits tribute band, you gotta really suck live. That's the way it has always been. At least with the original band we could blame all the drugs and alcohol. Now, there is no excuse.
Interview occurred November 7, 2009 @ Mama's Bar In NYC. Special thanks to Amy and Matt for all their help in the interview process.
