Starin' into the Night Cheetah Chrome's wild punk rock odyssey
by Chris Parcellin
In the mid-to-late '70s the scene surrounding the Bowery-based club CBGB's was truly electric. Such local luminaries as the Ramones, the Heartbreakers, Talking Heads, Blondie, and Suicide were tearing it up on a regular basis, as the burgeoning scene began to attract media and record label interest. Although initially lumped together as being "punk", the bands each had their own sound and followings.

Having relocated from Cleveland into this seemingly insular scene, the Dead Boys played their first gig at CB's in July, 1976 and quickly attracted a rabid following. The band was fronted by a talented singer named Stiv Bators, whose vocals and stage persona recalled Iggy Pop. And on lead guitar was the volatile Cheetah Chrome, co-writer of such tunes as "Aint It Fun", "Caught With the Meat in Your Mouth" and "Sonic Reducer."

Both Bators and Chrome had left the legendary Cleveland band Rocket From the Tombs (lead by guitarist Peter Laughner) to form the more glam-based Frankenstein with drummer Johnny Blitz and guitarist Jimmy Zero. But by the time the band hit NYC they had a new name and their transformation into a more punk-friendly sound was under way. The Dead Boys ended up recording two albums for Sire before self-destructing at the end of the decade.

Bators went on to do some solo recordings as well as cofounding the Lords of the New Church with Brian James. He died in Paris in 1989 from injuries sustained in a traffic accident. Chrome did some recording with Jeff Dahl and also recorded an e.p.'s worth of tracks with a band called the Ghetto Dogs. In recent years he'd relocated to Nashville and was leading a quieter existence.

But that may be changing for good with the release of his new CD "Alive in Detroit". Recorded in 1999, the disc has all the firepower of a Dead Boys performance and Chrome obviously still knows his way around an electric guitar. The songlist includes blazing renditions of Dead Boys favorites, as well as his equally compelling solo work. With more tour dates set to support the CD, this seemed like a good time to talk to Chrome about his past and what lies ahead.

Your new CD "Alive in Detroit" kicks ass. Did a lot of planning go into the recording of that gig?
First off, thanks. Glad you like it! Actually, I had no clue we were going to do a live record when the gig was booked. Doug Giovanni (DUI records) called me out of the blue, after getting my # from Hilly, and asked what it would take to play a gig in Detroit. I wasn't really into the music biz at that point, just playing around Nashville once in awhile with my band. So I named a figure, he met it. And now I had to get the %&*$# band to Detroit! We got there; the DUI guys and the club treated us great. We had a packed house and a great gig. Doug asked before we played if we would be interested in having the show taped, so he had Pete from Dark Carnival set up and that was it. After we heard the playbacks we decided to put it out.

These tunes really span your whole career. What criteria did you use in choosing the material for the CD?
I just didn't want it to be all Dead Boys stuff. At that point, the recordings with Genya from Woodstock were in the can, just gathering dust. And I thought it was a shame to not use that material. I also went thru a lot of the stuff I've done since the DB's and picked a couple of favorites. Actually, the set I'm doing now with the new band is even more varied, a couple of RFTT songs, Ghetto Dogs, stuff I've written since the Detroit show, MC5 cover, etc....I think I'm gonna do a Jeff Dahl song that I played on too, but it's hard to pick one. I love 'em all!
A really cool bonus is the inclusion of the 1979 studio track "Still Wanna Die." How come you decided to put that on the CD?
Actually, Doug stuck that on there as a surprise! I got the test CD's and there it was!! Go Doug!

Is it still fun to play the old Dead Boys songs?
I love playing them live--hate rehearsing them. They tear up my voice--make me miss Stiv more!

You have a really unique lead guitar style. Who were/are your influences?
The usual- Stooges (both Ronnie and James), MC5, Thunders, also Glen Buxton from Alice Cooper, Keith Richards, Alvin Lee, Zal Clemonson from the Sensational Alex Harvey Band, Wally Bryson from the Raspberries. I've also always wanted to play piano, finally starting to get competent on it. But I think that influenced my mindset on guitar--that melodic, dynamic thing.

When the Dead Boys first came to New York was the CBGBs scene already in full-swing? Or was it still a case of where people were in the process of discovering it?
Oh yeah, we didn't bring anything to the party they didn't already have. Maybe our attitude-we weren't as laid back (!!!) as those NYC folks! It was really cool, getting up to NYC, we didn't feel as alienated as we did back in Cleveland. Everyone we met there at first was very supportive of the scene and happy to help us get gigs, places to crash, etc. We were lucky to have friends like the Ramones, Blondie, Dictators, CBGB's, JT...they all welcomed us right from the start. Of course, we pissed off all the "purists". But hey, fuck 'em!


What are your memories of recording that first Dead Boys album? Did it turn out the way you wanted?
Well, it was very exciting to actually walk into Electric Lady (add Hendrix to that list in ? #5,can't believe I forgot to mention HIM),and I think the first person I saw was Peter Frampton. He looked at me, I nodded. He looked at the drum cases with the swastikas all over them, looked at me again. I smiled and growled at him,and he took off up the stairs! Seemed like a pretty damned good start!We'd never been in the studio before, except as guests. So, it took a TON of getting used to...hearing Stiv sing for the first time (never heard him at a gig or rehearsal, really, no monitors), really INSISTING that my amp HAD to be on 10...drinking beer, taking speed, tuinals,these Hell's Angels hanging out we knew from CB's, no girls,didn't know any in NYC ....it was fucking great! Genya really did a good job with us,she understood recording and production,and being an artist herself she understood that we were PERFORMERS, and she went for performances. Genya has that whole 50's Tin Pan Alley, Phil Spector hit song mind set when it comes to recording. And she looked for and found things in our songs that we never looked for or cared about. So we had a good teacher (in MY opinion, other buttheaded individuals in the band were less kind) for the first time out. And when I listen to it now, it only strengthens that for me.

For such a groundbreaking album, it didn't really get the attention it deserved when it was first released, but those were some classic tunes. Do younger kids seem to know about it these days, as well as your new stuff?
Ah,we didn't sell,but so fucking what?Everybody knew who we were then,and kids now know who we were!Money ain't everything(again,this is MY opinion,other buttheaded..etc),would have been nice,but we had everything else.The music has stood the test of time,we're remembered as one crunching motherfucker of a rock and roll band live,4/5 of the band came out of it alive,and a couple of us are still making music!Not bad for kids who thought we'd never get out of Cleveland to begin with.

The CD "3rd Generation Nation" is the rawer remix you did of the second Dead Boys CD "We Have Come For Your Children". What was Sire's rationale in putting you guys in the studio with ex-Cream bassist Felix Pappalardi?
Besides the band not being too good at sticking together when it came to standing up to Sire(and our management),and Sire wanting us to fail so they could write off on taxes,there was no rationale.Felix was a nice guy to hang with,an asshole to work with.He was high all the time,wouldn't listen to our ideas,had too many of his own,couldn't take criticism.There were so many alternatives open to us,I mean,why fucking Miami???Why some hippie nobody has heard of in years?Lou Reed wanted to take us to Germany!!!!Genya wanted to do it in NYC!!!!I'm gonna stop now,but I could go on...

How come you hate the song "Big City" so much? Were you guys forced to record that by Sire?
Because we didn't write it, this kid from Venus and the Razor Blades wrote it, Seymour (Stein, of Sire Records) knew them and they had an obscure connection to Kim Fowley, who Stiv thought was cool.The lyrics are extemely wimpoid,"big city,ain't too pretty,big city, much too loud",WE LIVED IN NEW YORK FOR CHRIST'S SAKE!! We loved it there! Now we're gonna whine about the big bad city? That song made us look like ass kissing, record company pleasing phonies--and a couple of us were.

(Oh, that explains it. I always thought Stiv was saying "Big City, nice and loud.) "…What did you think of the "Please Kill Me" book. Accurate, or a lot of exaggerations? Did you feel that you and the band were portrayed fairly?
I think it should be taken with a grain of salt the size of it's characters' egos. A great deal of the stuff about us is true. A great deal isn't. Don't know about anybody else. Legs did a great job with it, and considering the shifty bunch he had to work with, any truth is gravy.

Another book I wanted to ask you about was "From the Velvets to the Voidoids" by Clinton Heylin. He seemed to have an attitude about the Dead Boys. Any idea what was going on there?
I thought a lot of this was more accurate than Please Kill Me, but it seems like a couple folks from the old Cleveland art crowd we were never part of got to him first. I know he never asked me any questions,never met the guy.Us torturing the road manager is true!

You've done some work with Jeff Dahl, too. Is there any unreleased stuff that might see the light of day?
You would have to ask Jeff, he was the maestro on that stuff! I know we've recorded a ton of shit together. Those were some of my favorite sessions I've ever played with anybody, anywhere, and that includes the Dead Boys! Jeff is one of the few people that I feel loves rock and roll as much as I do, and it's always a real pleasure to work with him. Live, studio, Jeff needs me, I'm there! If there isn't anything left in the can, hell, we can always open a new can!

You recorded a (as yet unreleased) solo album produced by Genya Ravan. What was that like?
I think it came out great! We went up to Applehead studios in Woodstock, NY, around October of 1996, did about a week in the studio, then another few days a bit later to do guitar and vocal overdubs. Genya and I had always wanted to work together again, and it was a lot of fun

Do you think that'll come out eventually?
I don't know if it will ever get released. At the time, I didn't feel that the label planned to put ANY sort of real budget into promoting it,it was just going to get thrown in the pool and if it didn't swim that was it. Hell, I can do that myself, so there it sits. I am working on tracks for the new one, most likely recording at Pete's studio in Detroit early next year.

How was it working with her all these years after that first Dead boys album?
Working with Genya is cool for me, because she knows her shit enough that I can really trust her in the studio. If she says something don't work, she's usually right. Not that we didn't disagree sometimes, but she sees the end product she wants from the start. And sometimes it's different from what I see.That makes for a lot of nice surprises--and I'm always happy when I hear the final mix, and that's what it's all about.

From the interview I read with you in "Hit List", it sounds like you met Axl Rose a couple of times and he acted jerky. What was up with that?
Yes, I've met Axl a couple of times. He's never actually been rude to me, just very stuck up and full of himself. You know, can't scratch his ass without two wrestlers with walkie talkies checking the rooftops. The other guys are all very real, down to earth people.

Any bands out there now that you think are worthwhile?
Yeah-Bob Dylan and Ozzy.

What inspires you to keep rockin' after all these years?
What else am I gonna do, quit? I play my guitar and write music because I love rock and roll.Whether or not anyone ever hears it, I'm gonna be doing it, it's been the focal point of my life since I was 8 years old.If you stuck me in the wilderness naked for the rest of my life, I'd figure out a way to build a guitar. Probably before I got around to building a house!

What's next for you?
Hopefully not being stuck in the wilderness naked, though with the Shrub in the drivers seat we all might be!! I guess I'll do a little touring behind the CD, keep recording new material(I promise more will get released soon). I just got married in March, so we're buying a house--maybe have a kid. It's all open at this point.

What's your message for America's youth?
Think for youself, always question authority, and don't settle for less. And LIMP BIZKIT IS NOT ROCK AND ROLL!!!!!
Special thanks to Dimitri Monroe for getting me in touch with Cheetah.
© 2001 Chris Parcellin & D-Filed, All rights reserved.