Punk Turns 30

It's no secret that the times I've spent with Stiv Bators and the various guys in his bands, from the Dead Boys, Disconnected, Wanderers, Michael Monroe and Lords of the New Church are among the best times in my life. Stiv was always in the middle of things, he was an avid conspiracy theorist, practical joker and trouble maker...all with a touch of dry humor. Sure, there were days I would have liked to have beat his wiry little body to within an inch of his life because he could be so exasperating, but all in all, he was one of the best humans to have walked the face of the earth. Musically, he surrounded himself with the very best, ahead-of-their-time people from the late Peter Laughner to David Thomas, Miriam Linna, Chris Marlowe, Kirk Wood and all the fine players in his bands... Jimmy Zero, Jeff Magnum, Johnny Blitz, Frank Secich, George Cabaniss, David Quinton Steinberg, Eddie Best, Jeff Jones, Brian James, Nicky Turner, Dave Tregunna, Dave Parsons, Dean Klevatt, Ri...

These guys were such good sports about being photographed. Stiv was a good student of rock n roll. Not just an avid listener, record collector and performer BUT he was completely into the image. He knew every record cover and promo photo of every cool band that was out there. Our photos were homages to photographers and bands. The Doors inspired the color shot below... but just as much, so did the photographers like Joel Brodsky (who shot the most famous Jim Morrison photo), Art Kane, Henry Diltz and Ed Caraeff -- names you don't hear all that often anymore (though I sometimes cross paths with Henry Diltz at the Los Angeles photo lab we both use) but who shot some of the most memorable images of rock n roll people. Actually, if I can digress, I'm so elated to have met and made friends with Art Kane's son, Jonathan, who is a musician in New York. During the course of us working on a show about rock photography at VH1 that featured the works of his father, the l...

He keeps popping up in the background of many photos – but here, he is a photo in a photo. That adorable little boy in the photo that Joan Jet and Cynthia Ross are swooning over is Kent Smythe. Kent was LA Punk’s most trusted road warrior. As Runaways road crew head, he was their big brother, body guard, and all around loyal man behind the scenes. Joan’s joking around for the photo, but truth be told, there was a bond there as strong as family. Kent was also the guy trusted by the Dickies and the Dead Boys …and the Go Go’s and most of LA Punk’s bands that hit the road. That’s why he’s always in the background of so many LA punk rock photos. For many bands from LA that went on tour, the advice they shared with each other was: Kent Smythe: don’t leave home without him! Kent against the wall with the Dickies backstage at the Starwood Frank Secich told me a tale of how during a Dead Boys show at the Whisky, Kent chased down and retrieved Frank’s pea coat from a thief. The gu...

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Stiv Bators lords over the empty and trashed stage at the end of a show with the Disconnected band with special guest, Dee Dee Ramone. Another special guest is Dead Boy, Jimmy Zero. If this isn’t the triumvirate of punk rock royalty, I don’t know what is…A Ramone and two Dead Boys…. the best punk rock lyricists, too. Yes, for all of his exquisite poetry, beautiful pouty lips and wide eyes… Richard Hell may have been the crown prince of punk poetry alongside Tom Verlaine and the Bowery’s godmother, Patti Smith …but, they were in another league altogether. Dee Dee Ramone was the best bad-boy punk rock songwriter bar none. A wise-ass and clever as hell, he still had a terrific turn of phrase, and so did Stiv. You didn’t listen to the Dead Boys or the Ramones for their subtlety. And there was nothing subtle about this once-in-a-lifetime show. This is how punk rock was supposed to be. Unhinged and unpredictable, with stage diving and stage trashing before the night was over. Not...

Jimmy Zero! Oh, how I do regret that he was not at the studio the day I shot portraits of the Disconnected band for the album. Like all of them, he was such an adorable young man. I can't begin to explain just how much I love this man. First, let's consider the music of Jimmy Zero. Its no secret he's got a pop streak. He contributed the chimey Beatle thing to the Dead Boys sound...softening Cheetah's nasty punk edge, and that gave the band that certain extra je ne sais quoi thing that made you listen just one more time. He delivers a killer harmony and can shout and scream as well as the rest of them punks. Between Jimmy Zero and Cheetah Chrome, they covered the vocals during the Dead Boys reunion. They weren't Stiv, but they delivered the goods. Here's Jimmy during the last stand of the latter day Dead Boys, at a show in Los Angeles at the Whisky A Go Go. Stiv and crew had already opted for the black and red striped jackets, hearkening back to ...

Sometimes here we do make mistakes. And we correct them! In the Mumps tribute, I posted this flyer that I thought was made by Brad Dunning. Turns out that Dawn Wirth made the flyer! And all this time I never knew! but now I do, and so do you!

The Dead Boys live show really set the bar high for punk bands. They were unpredictable, raw and menacing, all with a sense of humor. So, if you're Stiv Bators, coming from that legacy, how can you top it? You get a teenager to be the driving force of this near-train-wreck! That's young David Quinton on the drums, propelling the pandemonium that was unleashed when Dee Dee Ramone jumped on stage. But it that wasn't enough... Stiv had already kept the crowd waiting. Impatient to perform, the band just hit the stage without him. That fantastic first chiming guitar sound of the Beatles "A Hard Day's Night" opened the show. Luckily, Jimmy Zero was on hand to up the pop factor with Frank Secich. (Let's not forget they had a George Harrison on guitar in this band, too!) Their Fab Four harmonies were interrupted by Stiv when he came to the stage wrapped in a towel and proceeded with his toilette, shaving and then blow-drying his hair, and getti...

“Fresh meat” is what Stiv Bators told me when he convinced David to join the circus. “He’s only 18!!!!” This teenager from Toronto… David Quinton was 18 years old when he stepped onto the formidable drum throne vacated by Johnny Blitz. And that took a lot –Blitz survived not only life on the road with Stiv, but a vicious stabbing in NYC (for which there was a much-celebrated benefit show featuring the cream of punk rock) to come back and help the Dead Boys annihilate everything in their path. But even Johnny could take only so much and he too left the Dead Boys. So, David grew up fast between me mothering him and Stiv & crew trying their best to corrupt him. He came to the Dead Boys from The Mods, a power pop/punk band that had its own sizeable following (and recent reunion too!) What Stiv knew about David was that he was already an accomplished musician and a songwriter worth collaborating with. Because of his youth, Stiv could count on David to go along for the wild ri...

When I first met George Cabaniss, he was playing Cheetah Chrome’s guitar parts in an ever-morphing version of the Dead Boys just before they called it quits in 1979. George on the far left, in striped jacket Stiv Bators found George in Akron, playing with Hammer Damage, probably the Cleveland/Akron area's BEST punk band, formed from equal parts of former Rubber City Rebels and local heroes. Back in those days, Stiv was referring to George as “Georgie Harrison,” and as you know, the first guitar player in a rock n roll band to bear that moniker just happens to be my favorite Beatle. Reminding me of the Beatle George is a good thing for any musician who does so. I can’t say that any one member of the Disconnected band is my favorite…I love each and every one of them equally, because they ARE indeed my brothers. Although, back then, in 1979, I must admit, I would do whatever I had to do in order to spend as much time as possible with George. Luckily for you, decades later,...