By Ryan Sparks
he New York Dolls are the original lipstick killers. In the
early 70’s they burst upon the scene and instantly made
headlines not only for their glam and proto-punk sound but also
for their propensity towards wearing stack heels and makeup. The
bands lineup consisted of vocalist David Johansen, bassist
Arthur “Killer” Kane, drummer Jerry Nolan and the twin guitar
assault of Sylvain Sylvain and the original punk himself, the
legendary Johnny Thunders. While the bands outlandish image may
have garnered them more attention than their music, this classic
lineup went on to record two studio albums that would firmly
establish their place in rock ‘n roll history.
By 1975 tensions within the band had reached an all time high
and the increasing drug problems amongst certain band members
eventually derailed The Dolls by the end of that year. Thunders
and Nolan were the first to go, bailing ship in mid tour to
eventually form The Heartbreakers, while Johansen and Sylvain
tried to keep the ship afloat. Sadly the classic version of the
band would never play together again.
While Johansen was able to redefine himself by finding success
in the 80’s with his Buster Poindexter lounge lizard alter ego,
Kane and Sylvain toiled away in relative obscurity throughout
the 80’s and 90’s. It can be argued that both Thunders and Kane
didn’t fare much better. Johnny unfortunately carved out more of
a name for himself as a notorious rock ‘n roll junkie until he
passed away in 1991. Nolan died of stroke the following year.
Both of them didn’t live to see fifty, Thunders didn’t even make
it to forty. This wasn’t the first time tragedy had struck the
band, as original drummer Billy Murcia was a victim of rock ‘n
roll excess at only twenty one in 1972.
For a band that influenced so many that came in their wake The
New York Dolls deserved a better fate. Then in 2004 the
remaining surviving members were urged to reform by ex-Smiths
vocalist, and Dolls fan club president, Morrisey. Their comeback
performance at The Meltdown Festival that same year led to a
live album and DVD. It looked like their fortunes were beginning
to turn for the better, until tragedy stuck once more that
summer as Kane succumbed to leukemia. Undaunted Johansen and
Sylvain forged ahead and recorded the bands first new studio
record One Day It Will Please Us To Remember Even This in
2006. This record featured a brand new lineup of David and Syl,
plus guitarist Steve Conte, former Hanoi Rocks (another band
obviously influenced by the Dolls) bassist Sami Yaffa and
drummer Brian Delaney.
Now in 2009 the band has returned to producer Todd Rundgren who
helmed their self titled debut back in 1973, for their fantastic
new disc ‘Cause I Sez So. If there were any doubts that
this version of the band could cut the mustard, the first song,
the title track, with it’s all out ballsy attack should quickly
erase any notions of these guys being washed up. Over the course
of these twelve songs the band displays that while they can
still kick plenty of ass, they aren’t afraid of showing another
side of their musical personalities as well.
I had a chance to talk to founding member guitarist Sylvain
Sylvain about the band’s new found creative energy, the
pressures of recording on a tropical island paradise as well as
the special commercial potential of their new version of their
classic song “Trash”.
Ryan: With the release of the band’s new album ‘Cause I Sez
So does it feel kind of weird that this incarnation of the
band has equaled the original band’s studio output?
Syl: [laughs] Well god bless that I guess. Yeah it’s kind of
weird you know? I didn’t even think that it would ever happen
again, although that was always my want and my need all through
the years. Thank god it did happen when it did, and the reason
why we’re back together is because of our audience and our
public at large, who keeps on wanting to see us come and
perform, and make new records. They seem to enjoy what we do and
I really think that’s the thing that keeps it going. If not I
guess we probably wouldn’t be talking right now.
Ryan: To me the music on this new record retains that classic
New York Dolls sound, and at the same time it also sounds fresh
and exciting. You’ve acknowledged the past so to speak in a
couple of ways by bringing back producer Todd Rundgren and also
by revisiting a track off of your first album “Trash”.
Syl: Well you know what? Nothing was planned. Nothing was
planned but everything was gained because of that. We usually
fly by the seat of our pants and create as we go along, and what
works, works. It’s not like there’s any romantic or magical
thing to it, we pretty much work organically. If its right and
it feels good in the gut then we keep it, if it doesn’t we’ll
throw it away or save it for another time. With Todd it was a
great opportunity, although we had a small window of time to
work together, where we both available. Sometimes things like
that happen because you’ll say “Hey who’s around, who just got a
deal?” So we got a deal and he was around. It was pretty funny
because we’re both connected with the same company so that was
an easy gig. Not to mention he’s a jewel. What a talent just him
alone, so who would pass that up you know?
Ryan: How would you compare the two recording experiences with
Todd?
Syl: Well let’s see… I guess we’re a lot older and probably a
whole lot grumpier [laughs]. David and I are still growing as
musicians and still learning stuff, but I think all musicians
are like that. The only thing is I wish we had a little more
time to work on the stuff. If it came out good in the small
amount of time that we did invest into this whole thing, which
was only a month by the way – The first week we wrote the songs
and basically put them together. The second week we rehearsed
the songs, and on the third week we actually tracked them. We
used the fourth week for overdubs, the vocals and backgrounds
and any additional guitars if there were any, but there wasn’t
much because we just didn’t have the time. So the sound that we
got laying down the original rhythm tracks that was pretty much
it and we hardly overdubbed anyway. If you had a solo then you
took it right there.
Ryan: I’d have to disagree with you because I think the record
came out great as it is. It has such a great feeling of
spontaneity running through it so I’m not sure what you could
have done differently.
Syl: Well that’s good because as a listener that’s how you
should feel. I’m just telling you what I went through, but as a
listener then that’s great because I guess we accomplished yet
another extraordinary feat if you like [laughs].
Ryan: You recorded at Todd’s studio in Hawaii. That must have
been a real drag.
Syl: Oh god it was such a no brainer since it’s so cold in New
York in January. I think that definitely benefited us because it
gave us a chance to work pragmatically instead of having the
company or management around. Sometimes a producer wants to
bring in an outside musician and the company wants some star
action involved if you want to call it that.
Ryan: Which you had on your last album.
Syl: Yeah and it was great to have people like Michael Stipe,
Iggy Pop and of course now the late Bo Diddley, I can’t believe
I’m saying that. So we had that on the last album and you’re
right we did that. This one was basically going with what had in
hand.
Ryan: So I guess it would be safe to say that the inspiration
for this new reggae version was influenced by the bands
surroundings.
Syl: Definitely. Here we are on this island – we recorded
“Trash” in two places. One was in this house that was on the top
of this hill, like a vacation rental house. It was really sweet,
we took the whole living room for the drums and we hid the amps
in closets, bathrooms, kitchens and bedrooms alike. That was for
isolation if there were any leaks, which is also good. Here we
are and we’re sitting on top of this rock, basically a cliff,
and you could see the ocean and the whales doing their thing out
there. I saw this cruise ship, like the Empire State Building
leveled in the water, just floating along, that kind of feeling.
We were taking a break, I had my amp on and I started strumming
my guitar and I went into that island version of “Trash”. David
came running in and he was like “Man that’s really cool, we
should do that”. Our drummer Brian Delaney started giving us
this kind of chugging beat and the others joined in. I was
imaging the cruise ship band in the ballroom or whatever playing
that song.
Ryan:
That’s a good way to get that song onto a cruise ship.
Syl: [laughing] Hey that’s good. Maybe we can use that to get us
some promotion.
Ryan: The sound is a little bit more stripped down this time
around, a bit rawer and less polished if you like, would you say
this is the main difference between One Day and this one?
Syl: Yeah I think One Day was to my taste, a little to
fuckin’ out there. There were too many guitars and too many
instruments in there, and you couldn’t determine one guitar from
the next. I call that rich, I don’t know everybody has their own
term for it. It was too rich for that and maybe that’s what we
interpret as polished. Maybe it’s a good thing we didn’t have
much time because maybe we could have ruined it that way as well
[ laughing], I don’t want to call it ruined, because Jack
Douglas, who was the engineer for Todd on our very first record,
he did a great job on the One Day album. Again I think we
were sort of not ready for it, but he really helped us to bring
out the songs and the arrangements. He would tell us to vamp it
this way or start it this way, the same way that Todd would.
Ryan: Todd let’s you guys be yourselves and just do what you do
best.
Syl: Exactly and who does he have as his guest? Liv Tyler! What
more can I say for inspiration to come up with something cool
and sexy [laughing].
Ryan: The record begins and ends with two aggressive
barnburners, the title track and “Exorcisim of Despair”, proof
that the old dog still has quite a bit of bite left.
Syl: Well yeah and in the middle we kind of get sentimental in a
way. We have the sock it to ya songs like “Better Than You”. The
songs that the other guys contributed Sami Yaffa and Steve
Conte, Steve with “Better Than You” and Sami with that, almost (Ennio)
Morricone-ish kind of whistle song “Temptation To Exist”, that’s
a beauty. I do the whistle on that by the way.
Ryan: It gives the album a bit more atmosphere if you like.
Syl: Yeah, I mean we don’t want to abandon anything, and we want
to be the musicians that we are because the name that we hang at
the top of the door is The New York Dolls. There’s such a thing
as a New York Dolls song, but unfortunately we’re not twenty one
anymore. If we were and Johnny was still alive he’d be on this
record you know what I mean?. I push the guys to write new
stuff, but when it comes to the shows it’s a whole different
ballgame. What we’ve really learned through the years is
performing our art. We learned our tricks in front of the
audience. We’ll wait until they yell and scream for that song.
We might introduce a song to see if it’s good or whatever and in
most cases they work seamlessly with the old songs. A lot of our
audiences are quite young and when they hear a song like “Cause
I Sez So” they’ll think “Hey that sounds like a New York Dolls
song, that’s a great old fuckin’ tune” because it has that
hook.
Ryan: I don’t want to discredit the power or the abilities of
the original lineup but this version sounds more together
musically if you know what I mean?
Syl: Yes we are. We’ve sort of evolved into this blossoming;
it’s kind of like an envelope opening up. If you hear the first
album compared to the second album there’s a lot of difference.
If we would have had the chance to really record our third
album, which was the Red Patent Leather show basically,
that would have been a pretty big step. I think as musicians
that’s the one thing about The New York Dolls then and now, and
would have been had we kept going through the entire void of
those years where we didn’t perform. I think we could have still
been creative, making records and making really interesting
music, moving ahead as talented bunch of guys who still find it
exciting doing if I could call it that, the same old thing.
Ryan: Morrisey played a big role in getting you, David and the
late Arthur Kane back together again in 2004. At the time did
you honestly think those initial gigs would lead to where the
band is today?
Syl: I knew it from the first minute because Arthur and I would
talk about it all through the 90’s. People would approach us,
but we could never really get David. We were offered stupid
money, especially at times where we really needed it. When we
were stars without any money, in other words we were famous but
broke [laughs]. That’s probably the worst curse that could
happen because you can’t get a daytime job because this guy will
tell you “I can’t hire you because the minute the band gets back
together you’re going to quit”, then you can’t get anything
else, but anyway.
Ryan: I think it would be hard to discount the effect the Dolls
had on so many bands that followed you.
Syl: There are a few stories on that comment. One is the people
who were turned on by us, took us into their lives and we became
their band. It wasn’t our band anymore it was their band. God
bless people like Morrisey. He was the self declared president
of our fan club which was so beautiful you know? I knew the
minute we got together and performed not just for us, but for
the audience, that is was going to be such a fuckin’ great
thing, and that’s what kept us together. Yes it took that first
show to get us together on that stage, but once we got together
we remained together because of our audience and these different
bands wanting us to make new records. The whole world wanted to
see us and they still do.
We just finished playing in Argentina and Peru in South America
last week. Just to give you an example we were walking to a
photo shoot from our hotel in Buenos Aries to this kind of cool
looking parking lot that sort of looked like New York, which is
why they wanted us to go there [laughing]. Anyway we’re passing
by this school and there were some young teenagers I mean they
were like fourteen, maybe fifteen if anything. It was early
evening, and they have both day and evening classes. So we’re
walking along and I feel that there’s a pretty good sized mob
following us, and finally a couple of these girls come up to me
in the front and they say “Hey are you guys the New York Dolls?”
and I go “Yeah look there’s David Johansen”. She said in broken
English, “You guys history”, that’s all she said, so basically
we’re legends I guess [laughing]. It’s so beautiful and it
still goes on. They probably couldn’t go to the show but there
they are. I’m fifty-seven and I still get the chance to perform.
I’m still sockin’ it to them. Go on YouTube and check out the
show we played in Peru with the B-52’s. Wait until you hear that
audience on some of the old songs like “Stranded in the Jungle
and all that.
Ryan: Thanks a lot for talking to me Syl. I’ll tell you it’s
certainly not a nostalgia thing with you guys and this new
record proves that.
Syl: Oh thanks man that’s exactly what I wanted to hear. Thank
you so much baby!
