INTERVIEW W/ BOBBY DURANGO & RINGO JUKES ON AUGUST 11 @ THE OVERTON PARK SHELL IN MEMPHIS

From 2003 March Pouplar 1 interview MADRID, SPAIN

Alvaro: Bobby...more than 10 years ago we have gone without havin any news of you what happened? Your name was a legend like the "lost star"...at least here!

Bobby: OK...I haven't gone anywhere...I've just been continueing to work in some bands...some other bands, mostly punk rock bands...I had a reggae band for about a year and a half called Zebra Bug and ah...the last band I had was called Hustler and we were working real hard and that project...Hustler... eventually turned into a new Rock City Angel's project and that's what we've been working on...we started working on it...when I say we I am saying me...Andy Panik, who was in the original band...Jimmy James who was in the Abusers was playing guitar...and this guy named Chris was playing drums...we recorded that in Los Angeles last summer and now we are in the middle of trying to get it finished...get the record finished...I want it remixed...I want Ringo to play on it and I want some horn sections on there. ..and when it's finished it's gonna be a punk rock masterpiece!

(The phone rings...mmmm...who could it be?)

Alvaro = Why & when did you decide to return?

Bobby = As far as returning...like I just said...I've never left...I've been recording and playing all this time...ah....as far as the Rock City Angels go I didn' know if everybody else was interested in wanting to continue to make great music together...so in the meantime...you know it's turned out that they do...so that's why we are getting this rolling again and hopefully we are gonna get together and make something great!

Alvaro = What is the new line up and when will you record new stuff?

Ringo = Well the new line up...we have not really decided upon actually... as of yet. We are looking at people right now and we are gonna find the best people we can get...there is a possibility of getting some of the original members but it seems like..you know a lot of time as gone by and things could be better...we could make this better with some of the guys that we know now.

Alvaro = Which label...New Renaissance?

Bobby = New Renaissance as far as we can tell are not really interested in working with us in the future. I have a feeling that Andy Panik...had a falling out with Ann Boleyn...the owner of New Renaissance...apparently he was kicked out of her apartment!

Ringo = (LOL) It's not the first apartment he got kicked out of...

Bobby = ahh(laughing as well)...when he first got to LA...after she told him that she wanted to rerelease the first CD...he just hopped on a plane to LA thinkin' that she was gonna put him up in her apartment...well ...that was news to her and lasted all of about 2 weeks before she had just about enough of Mr. Panik! So I don't think New Renaissance is gonna happen...they are a good label for what they do but we have alot of other labels that have expressed interest and I think it would be good to go with somebody that's excited about the project...and for that matter I wouldn't mind going with a European label...so we'll do some talking and see what we can get accomplished.

Alvaro = I downloaded the four songs from Bobby's father's RCA webpage...in which year were they recorded?

Ringo = Now that ..you are referring to ahh........"Looks Like Up to Me", "Dark End of the Street", ...that stuff was done at Dodge City wasn't it Bobby?

Bobby = Jeffer's Dodge studio.

Ringo = yeah and the year was it 1993 (note**** I think now I was wrong it was closer to 1990) and that's just a snipet of that I mean there were several songs recorded...I think about 20 actually...

Bobby = Yeah we had a probably about 2 records worth of material that we recorded at that time that was excellent material...ahh...Geffen records...footed the bill and they told us...they basically lied to us...they told us that that was gonna be our next record and then the turned around and screwed us...it's all about politics. But none of that matters now..ya know...if we can actually put some of that out that would be great...I would love to let the public hear it...but it is absolutely nothing like what we talking about doing now...stylistically...

Ringo = those songs are pretty good...I listened to it yesterday

Bobby = Oh they're great!

Ringo = and I was like holy shit!

Alvaro = Will there be new stuff in this style?

Bobby = no not really...that particular style it was good for it's time but we're going for something much more updated and just exciting...it's something just so bold... I wanna utilize samples...I wanna use all the technology that's out there to really make an incredible listening experience...

Ringo = alot of time has gone by since then...we got a lot more technology at our hands...we've gotta a whole bunch off new stuff at our hands.

Alvaro = Well lets talk about your story...first the Abusers time...tell me how you meet Andy in a cinema watching the "Decline of the Western Civilzation" and what happened afterwards?

Bobby = Well that pretty much sums it up...I mean...we were a couple of punk rock kids living in South Florida. There were no other punk bands there at that time ...that we knew of...we ended up ...meeting each other at the end of the "Decline"...I was a Germs fanatic...a Darby Crash freak!...and I forgot what are we doing?...oh...he was into the Circle Jerks...and we decided to form a band. The next thing we knew...ahh...we were only 15 years old...so the next thing we knew...we were getting all kinds of press down there as a matter of fact we were on the front page of the Miami Herald...the entertainment section...we were the youngest punk rock band in Florida at the time...we wanted to be the first punk band in Florida to put out a record. We got beat by a band called Roach Motel...that came out of Gainsville...which was a great band as well! But yeah....those were great times...you know probably about 6 months later...it turned out there was a hugh scene in South Florida that we knew nothing about...we learned all about it...we just ended up loving punk rock and all the bands that came with it! There was a band called Charlie Pickit & the Eggs...they were excellent...there was a band called Pyscho Diasies that were fantastic...we worked with all those bands...and it was a great time because everybody worked together...there wasn't any kind of real rivalry. Everybody was really working together to make things happen! Because Florida is such a transitory place...any kind of scene was really important to us!

Alvaro = When did Johnny Depp join the band?

Bobby = Well Johnny Depp...he was in a rival band in South Florida at the time called the Kids...and they were a little bit more new wave than we were...they weren't a hard core punk rock band like we were...he ahh...him and I had kind of a competition going...we were always after the same women...and we had a certain little rivalry going at that time. But we were still friends and... then years later...we met in Los Angeles after the band had moved to LA and he was acting but he wasn't in a band. He had just finished doing "Nightmare on Elm Street" and he was interested in playing again...well one thing led to another and he started playing in the band and he was an incredible rythmn guitar player...he's a good songwriter as well. People have no idea...he's got many hidden talents...of course he's a great actor...but he...I loved playing with him...we probably would have stayed playing with us forever if he hadn't had a falling out with the guitar player (Mike Barnett) at the time...

Ringo = he had 21 Jumpstreet coming up too....didn't he?

Bobby = Yeah ahh...

Ringo = and he was going to the Phillipines to shoot "Platoon"

Bobby = he was still...you know...he was still interested in playing with the band even after he got the 21 Jump Street gig...

Ringo = he played with us after that...remember (July 4, 1986 @ Janis Garza's club...Nick Cage was there too)

Bobby = yes...has a matter of fact...the night that we were signed by Geffen records (we were opening for Janes Addiction at the Scream Club... Feb. 14, 1986) he actually was playing with the band at that time... but nobody know who he was...so I mean it was no big deal! Now of course everyone's like...whew Johnny Depp! He's a great guy...I love him to death...I'd love to be able to talk to him again...it's been years...

Ringo = he's a hell of a guitar player! I mean he used to bend the neck...remember that thing he would do bending the neck?

Bobby = He had an incredible style!

Ringo = he wasn't just some kid that knew three chords...

Alvaro = You connected with Ann Boleyn and then started all the legend of the Geffen conspiration! Please tell me the true story and clarify the tale and the legend...

Bobby & Ringo = (laughing)

Ringo = You take this one...(LOL)

Bobby = Ok...nobody...nobody...listen as far anybody talking to Ann Boleyn...nobody talked to Ann Boleyn except Andy Panik...I didn't even know anything about all this until he had been talking to her for probably about a year. As far as the consipracy goes...you know Andy...is the first person to think a conspiracy would exist...I don't know about all that...I think Geffen Records spent way too much money...making and promoting our record to be trying to bury it! It seems to me...if they were trying to bury it that they would have done it alot cheaper. But...ya know...I think it was just bad timing...their record (Guns & Roses...our label mate) went platium then triple platium...quadruple platium... so quick...that Geffen went were the a ...cheese was...and we got left out in the cold...it's just...ya know...one of those things...man. Ya know... I mean this business is about luck and timing...it doesn't matter how good you are...it doesn't matter...I mean you could be the best band in the world and if you don't have that luck and timing...your fucked!

Ringo = It never made much sense to me...the conspiracy...I mean why would you not want two bands making money...

Bobby = Exactly

Ringo = you know this is a business

***NOTE>>>>Alvaro...since this interview was conducted I personally had a thirty minute conversation with Ann Boleyn over the telephone and she swears that the stories of being run off Mulholland Drive in her car and strange phones calls in the night, ect...are all absolutely true..she even got a little pissed when I tried to say she was bullshitting me for publicity to sell the 2000 New Renaissance RCA album...so I don't know maybe there is some truth to this...but Andy may have fabricated some of it! Only time may tell the truth...but she swore it was true!

Alvaro = You lived in the best LA rock n roll years in the late 80s...what do you remember?

(Laughing their asses off)

Bobby = not much!

Ringo = the 80s in Los Angeles were...were a madhouse...and I was a young kid...we were young....

(Bobby & Ringo scramble for the last two Guiness')

Ringo = but any way...I mean it was crazy out there...

Bobby = Unfortunately...there was an incredible rivalry between every rock band out there....there was so much phoniness that it was really ...silly.. ..I mean...some of these bands...they called themselves...ya know...ya know...Kick Ass Rock n Roll...and all this shit...but really what it was was a bunch of crap...in my opinion...I mean ...I didn't hear anything that had any substance to it...I mean there were some great bands...don't get me wrong...Guns & Roses are great...you talk about the Seahags...

Ringo = the Hangmen

Bobby = yeah the Hangmen...all those bands ya know...I mean they had alot of talent and alot of ...ahhh..potential...but there were other bands that were in it that will remain nameless...that ...

Ringo = Putting on alot of make up and going with the glam thing...trying to pick up chicks

Bobby = jumping on the band wagon..they had no...real ...true...substance.

Ringo = Kinda like...ah...Alvaro you said your friend that does the magazine doesn't like the LA scene because he sounds like he understands this totally...

NOTE***as you know I am begining to write the adventures of RCA in Hollywood and other decadent locales and I will soon be sending you some pages on it if ya want! Until then I thought I would add some of the stories that will be included in the book...some of this you may remember...

IS THAT JOHNNY THUNDERS?

I can't remember the name of the club...but it was hugh, three stories high and it was right on Hollywood Bvld....almost across from the Chinese Theater...RCA had a gig there with Johnny Thunders has the headliner...he had been in LA for a few weeks now and had taken to hanging out at fans homes and apartments instead of his hotel...this gave him much better room service...he would raid your closets for clothes he liked...usually offering to trade for an item he liked with the shirt off his back or whatever he had you might like! Hey... he was from the East coast...he could drive a hard bargain! When he stayed with someone it also gave him the luxury of tasting the local junk which was more often than not... delivered to your front door in those days...so you never had to go into the sun if you didn't want too! Can you say "Hollywood Vampires"?

We were gettin' ready to go on and I am hanging out swigging my ever at arm's length bottle of Jack Daniels when he stolls into the dressing room...Bobby had met him at one of the local residences already but this was my first time...he wanted to do something to his guitar...a screw loose or something...I really don't know what, but he had it strapped on and was walking around with it...so out of nowhere I hear this little squeaky NYC voice.

"Anybody got a knife?"

I look up and it's fuckin' Thunders! I just happened to have a knife for him alright...a seven inch blade hunting knife that I always carried in my boot (this sounds like fuckin' Crocodile Dundee but I swear it's true... man...I grew up half my life on a farm...gimme a break!) You can see the knife on the inside cover of the YMB's LP jacket...I am leaning on it in the picture...so anyway I pull this pig sticker out and had it to him handle first and guy just freezes and gives me about the only smile I ever saw from him the brief time I knew him.

"That's a knife!" ( I swear I think he must have just seen that movie!) he says and took the fucker and walks off with it...I thought fuck ...there goes my blade man! But sure enough a few minutes later... he shows back with it and me a beer and hands it back too me...I always wondered what he did with that thing when he was outta sight...since he was carrying his guitar the whole time...I cried the day he went down in New Orleans!

WHO?

So I am picking up my girlfriend (of 8 years at the time) on the Sunset Strip...she is hanging out at the Rainbow (the Rain blow we used to call it) mostly for the excellent blow which flowed through there like the tap water in the bathroom. I pull up in my old jeep and she out of the club she stumbles. She's from Texas and an ass kicker/hell raiser from the ground up! She doesn't even get in the jeep but starts in bitching about some old fucker in the club that trying to take her home and hasn't left her aloneall damn night. Never one to miss a fight and a beer... I quickly valet park the old raggy ass CJ-5 and hop out to find this piece of shit! The place is full of haystack heads, the Aquanet Kings & Queens of the strip... so while we are making our way through the crowd...I say, "What's this asshole look like?"

"He's an old guy...with a gray beard and shit!", she replies. It noticeable to me now that she has been "snorting whiskey and drinkin' cocaine"...probably his! (there is a mention of her on the Young Man's Blues album on the song: "The Damned Don't Cry"..."two fisted girl from Texas no less and I can't get her outta my mind")

"There that asshole is!" she shouts over Ratt... pointing at some guy's back who is leaning against the the bar. So I slide up next to the guy with some definite evil intent brewing. I figure this fuck face don't know me from Adam...I'm gonna fuck with him for awhile! Ordering a drink I wait for him to turn away from another girl he is obviously chatting up at the bar...he ain't giving me no mind...even when I bump him with my arm and in my drunkin' rocker dumbass stupor... blow Marlboro smoke his direction. Finally I say, " Hey man...you gotta a smoke?"

He turns my way and I can't believe it...it's fuckin' John Entwistle from the Who! What the fuck...I can't start no shit with him! He politely says, in the King's fuckin' English...no...he hasn't got one on him." To which I reply thanks and slip sheepishly into the crowd to find my shit startin' old lady!

"Did you talk to his ass?", she immediately starts in..."Oh...yeah he ain't gonna give ya no more trouble baby!" I lied... thinking of all the fuckin' chicks the Who has and he's gotta hit on mine! Only in LA!

Years later I was playing a benefit with Double Trouble (post Stevie) at the House of Blues in Boston and he and I are sitting upstairs in the dressing room...I tell him the story...he laughs his ass off!

Ten years later I am in Memphis and I run into this chick who claims to be his Entwistle's girlfriend...shows me the pictures of the mansion...the new Bentley he just bought her...the dogs and shit... I tell her the story and pick her up!

WE ARE GONNA FUCKIN PLAY AT MIDNIGHT!

The one time I can ever remember having any trouble with the Gunners (neither of us had a record deal at the time...aka...broke) was at a club and really didn't even involve the band...it was between the roadies and club techs. We were both playing this little hole in a basement off of La Brea...I think it was called the Cave or some shit like that... Janis ____ ran it and it actually looked like a damn cave inside...Hollywood props and all!

Anyway I gained a lot of respect for Bobby Durango that night...the guy showed me he had the balls to make it in this business or at least go down shootin'! Janis had said the Angels could go on at midnight...it was 11:45 and the fuckin' place was packed man! You couldn't fit a New York dime bag up in there...and we were setting up our gear ourselves...we were damn near done and ready kick out the fuckin' footlights! The band was still fairly new in Hollywood this being about the sixth time we had played to a full house and we had a primed LA crowd tonight...this was the "scene"!...and they were good to go!

I am in this tiny dressing room area when all of a sudden I see these guys hauling my drums pass me and towards the fuckin backdoor! What the fuck! They were just sitting up on the stage a minute ago...we got to play in ten fuckin' minutes! I nearly blew my damn line off the sink gettin' to these drumhaulin' sons a bitches...catching the one with my hi hat... I asked him what the fucks up!

"Guns are playing!" he tells me...meaning Guns & Roses and also that Janis has changed her mind...GnR is going on at midnight...not RCA...fuck that! I had this 280 pound Mexican roadie named Marco, my best friend, he worked with me the whole time I was in LA. Together Marco and I pick the fuckin' gear back up and take it back to the stage where Steven Adler's drums have replaced mine on the riser...we nicely take his off... set them aside and put mine back! I don't know where he was but nobody said shit...we were kinda drug crazed and hell bent for lecture in those days and did what the fuck we wanted with quite the pirate mentality...tonight Hollywood was about to meet that side of the Rock City Angels! I mean we were nice guys...but we were broke...hungry...sprung...and generally pissed off all the time!

When the bands gear had returned to it's rightful place on the stage we took our places...Marco stood in front of the stage door and wouldn't allow Janis' goons to come back and remove our gear again! He stood there against some pretty big dudes...arms akimbo... shakin his head telling these fuckers he didn't speak English! That fucker spoke better english than I did but there wasn't no one gettin on the stage and that was that!

Bobby grasped the mic stand at three minutes til midnight...Janis in a fit of rage comes flyin' across the damn stage at him screaming that she has changed her mind we were gonna go on at one o'clock or some shit! Bobby didn't even look up at her has she ranted loud enough that the crowd could hear her cussing him through his microphone..."this is my fucking club...the ole' you bastards will never work here again!" and shit like that... can you say instant stage prop! Finally Bobby lifts his head...Andy was yelling..."it's midnight..lets play you fuckers!" He is pissed and pacing around in circles with his bass and I can tell he is looking for something to break!

At midnight Bobby turns to Janis and says over the mic, "You told us we could have the 12:00 and we are gonna play the 12:00 slot...your not gonna fuck us!" She was still screaming in his ear when we kicked into "Teenage Lipstick Boys"...and tour the house/cave down to the ground. The fuckin' crowd was so primed by all the prior aggression that they just lost it in the music! Well... Janis couldn't book us enough after that...we became regulars...I don't remember if Guns played or notthat night...it seems like they were pissed and left...but I really don't remember!

But I knew... the crowd knew... and Janis knew... what Hollywood soon would come to know and Geffen Records in the long run...these boys were for real...they don't give a fuck! The Rock City Angels had came to fantastic plastic tinseltown to play!

Alvaro = Which bands do you like or dislike?

Bobby = Well ...like I don't listen to a whole lot of bands right now...me personally...I listen to alot of Lee Hazelwood...and Nancy Sinatra....and a Shirley Bassy (spelling?)... she just put a remix album out that's incredible...it's got Goldfinger all over it and...I like to listen to a range of stuff...I am crazy about Serge Gainsbrg (spelling?)...Supersuckers are like one of my favorite bands...another awesome band that I think is just incredible is Rocket from the Crypt...other than that I really listen to mostly...different single artists...I like alot of that...the new kind of techno stuff like the Propellerheads...I love them ...I think they're great...I like alot of bands like that...but I am still a punk rock kid from way back I mean...I listen to all that stuff..and there's some great punk rock bands....No Effects...Social Distortion...I could go on and on.

Alvaro = How did you live through those times?

Bobby = Very carefully!

LOL

Bobby = who said we did live? (laughing)...your speaking to our ghosts...

Ringo = at the time Tom Zutuat (Geffen A&R man) tried to sign us nobody could even find us cause we really didn't even have homes...that's true they (Geffen) couldn't find us for a couple of weeks...we were living in cars and shit..

Bobby = you know we were a hardcore...ya know...living it ya know...living every fucking minute of it

Ringo = you were living in your car for awhile...they (Geffen) couldn't even find me (to sign the record deal) man...

Bobby = yeah...I mean...ya know....but at that time ...it wasn't...I mean there were people...ya know helping each other out and ..it hadn't gotten to the point like it is now....where nobody wants to help each other....you know it's kind of sad unfortunately there's alot of a...stealing...ya know...it's...it's not like it used to be. But nothing ever is.

Alvaro = Many people associate RCA and Guns & Roses...what is your opinion about this band and this association?

Ringo = I never really saw the connection myself

Bobby = me neither

Ringo = it was two different kinds of things ...the only connection we had is we shared the same A & R man and the same record company...They're a great band

Bobby = but they had nothing to do with us

Ringo = i saw them when the came to the pyramid (the stadium in Memphis, Tn) and I hadn't seen them in years

Bobby = I snorted coke with Slash once...(laughing)

Ringo = hey...hey...(jokingly) they a...they a...when they played the pyramid in Memphis I hadn't seen them in years and I thought they put on one hell of a show...but I've never understood that association at all...in fact I thought what we did was much more an art...in fact the first record that never got released which Jim Dickinson did (he produced it...Geffen didn't think the mixes were good enough and screwed Jim out of alot of money) was a masterpiece

Bobby = yeah...we were trying to make timeless...rock n roll ya know...that if you listened to the record you couldn't tell if it came from the late 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, whatever...I don't think we completely succeeded but we came alot closer than they did.

NOTE****following the Memphis pyramid performance I took the entire band (Guns & Roses) to a small rock n roll jukejoint...at the insistance of my old friend (their photographer & former RCA photographer) Robert John. The place was known to be a dive which was open 24 hours a day and where you could get whatever you wanted, whenever you wanted, who ever you wanted, ect...it was called Rascals (owner - Hagi Baba) and was Memphis decadance at it's finest. The entire band of Guns & Roses played four songs for a small drugged out... drunk Memphis crowd of about 40.... full of strippers, whores, druggies, drunks, and late night musicians. Unfortunately some fucking redneck got jealous and a fight insued directed towards Axl so we all had to leave and headed back to the hotel...but it was definitely memorable...the way I had seen the band in a small rehearsal room (Nicky Beat's Love Palace) with three people in Pasadena in 1985 or 86...before any of us had record deals! Axl (for fun)used to sing backup in the band I was in before RCA...The Prodigal Sons...at Ragis...so my point is that we were always in the same camp...and there are no Guns & Roses vs RCA things going on accept in the minds of the manipulative money makers who are trying to sell albums...just this morning I found some one marketing the CD on Ebay using this rumour...hey whatever floats your boat but there is... nor was there ever any conflict going on between the two bands...when Bobby speaks of rivalries between LA bands...he isn't talking about Axl's crew...hell Axl used to come see us and hang out at our infamous Coconut Teaszer shows before any of us had a pot to piss in or a window to throw it out of!

Alvaro = I read somewhere that G & R sounds great in LP but very bad live and RCA sounds bad in LP but great live...what do you think?

Ringo = I'd like to know where ya read it...because obviously... Alvaro you've got the record and you like it so I don't know who said we sounded bad on LP

Bobby = every critic I've ever read has loved the record

Ringo = so I don't know where that came from

Bobby = and as far as being a live band I think you've got great shows and then you have off nights...I mean that's just the way it goes..that's the nature of the business

Ringo = and like I said when I saw Guns & Roses play the pyramid they kicked ass

Bobby = they are two different mediums...you can't compare a live performance with a record...they're two completely different mediums...ahh...I happen to think that Rock City Angels did both things great...but I'm sure we had our off nights

Ringo = we did put on some exceptional shows in LA that were almost at the point of being dangerous...ya know...there was the...the destruction of equipment when we wanted new equipment from Geffen and we were not getting it...and if you were sitting on the front row as Paul Rothchild (the producer of nearly all the Doors and Janis Joplin records...he nearly lost his head to a flying cymbal which I tossed into the air and Andy struck with his bass guitar...baseball bat style...at one of the Coconut Teaszer shows) was one time ...he barely dodged a cymbal...I mean some of those shows were exceptional...(even if only for the danger and the realism of the fact that you could get hurt watching this band tonight)

Bobby = and then there was the University of Arkansas where the complete crowd when we were opening for Joan Jett just completely stormed the stage...just I mean...they loved this band so much and they had never even heard the record! You couldn't even buy it at the stores yet...

Ringo = Unfortunately...nothing against Joan Jett...but we didn't play that tour any more after that show

Bobby & Ringo = LOL

Ringo = you remember that?

Bobby = Yeah I loved Joan too...it hurt!

Ringo = me too...I think that we had quite a reaction that they didn't know they were gonna get

Alvaro = Fans also associate RCA with the Hangmen and Seahags...talking about your bad luck...they were some other great bands at this time...do you like them?

Bobby = well the Seahags had a guitar player that...almost joined the band...what was that guy's name? Zack errr...I can't remember...but yeah he was a great...remember the guy who could throw the guitar around his neck and stuff...

Ringo = like Steve Via?

Bobby = yeah...yeah...he was a fantastic guitar player. I remember one night after the band had been signed and he was crying because we wouldn't let him try out for the band again...but ahhh....no but ahhh...I thought the Seahags were great...the Hangmen are all friends of ours

Ringo = Jimmy James is in the Hangmen now

Bobby = yeah that's right...ya know they're great bands...but I don't see any connection as far as musically...but ahh

Ringo = well the scene at the time...you know we were all in that scene at the same time

Alvaro = What the hell happened in the TV show "New Rock"

(lots of laughter fills the room for some time)

Bobby = You can't ask me that...cause I don't remember ...LOL

Ringo = I don't remember anything...Ann has a nice little story about it...ya know...and then I'm not knocking Ann but take it for what you will...

Bobby = I mean I kind of wonder about the whole thing

Ringo = (seriously) I don't remember much of it and I would like to see a video of it (I saw one years ago which has since slipped away into the caverns) because somebody can't seem to find it...what's the next question?

Alvaro = It is supposed that Geffen sent you to Tennessee to record an LP that never had been released... is this true?

Bobby = no our record was recorded here in Memphis...YMB's was recorded here in Memphis...so I don't know what thats...

Ringo = wait...now you could be referring to what Paul Ebersole (producer for the Screamin' Cheetah Wheelies) did...maybe...you know the second...

Bobby = ohh....

Ringo = I think you could be referring to a recording that I thought sounded great...Bobby you worked your ass off on that!

Bobby = Yeah we worked on a demo...for the second record that was phenomenal...I mean it had some excellent songs on it...it could have been a great record...but ahhh...they had spent so much money on the first record that getting the money from Geffen was just...uhh...it just wasn't gonna happen...so...we got dicked around again

NOTE****I have since thought about this question in more depth...the band had been living in LA... having returned there after the Jimmy Page tour and returned to Memphis to record the demo we were mentioning (we lived between LA & Memphis so much in those days that it was hard to tell what was going on personally and business wise) so it is quite possible that word got out that we were actually recording the second record. It is a bit difficult at times to put RCA recording sessions in perspective...there were so many...I would venture to say there were or are almost 250 songs on tape from about 30 different sessions....as far as Bobby's answer regarding they weren't gonna spend the money...in hindsight I can see where this was the beginning of Geffen's move to not honor our recording contract....we were budgeted at 6.5 million over a period of seven albums...roughly $750,000.00 per album...we had spent nearly one million on YMB's and this is were Geffen started to backslide.

Alvaro = Bobby you define your music as Muddy Waters meets the Sex Pistols and you did a cover of Otis Redding's "These Arms of Mine"...what are your main classic influences and your favorite artists?

Bobby = well ya know...my main influences are the same now as they were then...I mean I'm still influenced to this day by soul music...I am still influenced to this day by punk rock...ahh now I've just got in fact...more influences...I listen to jazz...I listen to ahhh...french music...I listen to everything...I mean I listen to everything and anything. But as far as music I like to make...it's the same thing...it's the same thing...it's gonna be Muddy Waters meets Johnny Cash...meets the Sex Pistols...meets Ice Cube!

Alvaro = the band toured with Jimmy Page and Joan Jett...how were they with you?

Bobby = nice

Ringo = I loved touring with Joan Jett an Jimmy Page...that was great

Bobby = they were all very friendly and a.... the Georgia Satelittes were wonderful people too

Ringo = Yeah...I actually had more fun with them...we were playing smaller venues...you know when you play the LA Forum and then you play something that holds 400 people it is just so much more personal. I like the Satelittes tour although Jimmy Page and playing those coluseums was pretty incredible for us at our age...ya know

Bobby = yeah...we went from playing the Coconut Teaszer to playing the Forum...overnight!

Alvaro = How was your Japan tour in 1990

Bobby = awesome...incredible

Ringo = they loved us over there...we were much more revered over than I thought we were going to be...it was a...the whole time we were there it was just non stop...I love Japan...I'd love to go back to Japan because those people have alot more indepth respect for the older styles of rock n roll and I think the roots of the music (than American audiences)

Bobby = I felt like the Beatles in "A Hard Days Night"... LOL

Ringo = (to Bobby) when we got there...when we got there and got off the plane and all those chicks were waving...I turned around to see who they were waving at and I realized it was me...(laughing) ya know...

Bobby = running down the fucking street after us...almost pushing us onto the damn ahhh...into the oncoming train

Ringo = yeah I learned how to write my name and number onto fifteen pieces of paper and throw them out a bus window real quick like

Bobby = yeah the room number

Alvaro = I think that nowday's mainstream music is big shit...

Bobby = I don't know....I think that Britney Spears is pretty fucking hot! LOL

(laughing around the room)

Alvaro = in the new single by Hanio Rocks they sing..."you don't need MTV...you need people like me"

Bobby = I go along with that!

Ringo = I think Micheal Monroe is incredible I...they're one of the bands that I can personally tell ya the first time I ever saw 'em (laughing)...on MTV...I was like who in the hell is this?

Alvaro = I think that rock lovers need people like Micheal Monroe...do you think we need people like Rock City Angels today?

Bobby = Yeah... I think we need people like Rock City Angels real bad...right now...because a...we're something that ...has always been genuine from the heart... from the heart...the music that we make...the things that we say...I mean I've never told a single lie in any of our interviews...everything that we say...everything that we write...everything that we do...is for real...and ya know...I'm not trying to a...ya know come across like...ya know...like a lot of these bullshit people do...but the fact remains that we always came...straight from the heart...and that's were the best music comes from...so yeah...I think that that is needed out there...I think that it's needed real bad!

Alvaro = I think that nowday's mainstream music is big shit...

Bobby = I don't know....I think that Britney Spears is pretty fucking hot! LOL

(laughing around the room)

Alvaro = in the new single by Hanio Rocks they sing..."you don't need MTV...you need people like me"

Bobby = I go along with that!

Ringo = I think Micheal Monroe is incredible I...they're one of the bands that I can personally tell ya the first time I ever saw 'em (laughing)...on MTV...I was like who in the hell is this?

Alvaro = I think that rock lovers need people like Micheal Monroe...do you think we need people like Rock City Angels today?

Bobby = Yeah... I think we need people like Rock City Angels real bad...right now...because a...we're something that ...has always been genuine from the heart... from the heart...the music that we make...the things that we say...I mean I've never told a single lie in any of our interviews...everything that we say...everything that we write...everything that we do...is for real...and ya know...I'm not trying to a...ya know come across like...ya know...like a lot of these bullshit people do...but the fact remains that we always came...straight from the heart...and that's were the best music comes from...so yeah...I think that that is needed out there...I think that it's needed real bad!

Alvaro = I have read on a discussion board that in 1991 Bobby & Ringo were fired from the band and the new line up consisted of Mike Barnes - lead guitar, Andy Panik - bass, Doug Banx, James Parker -vocals, and Randy Mear - drums and they changed their name to Rumbletrain and recorded some stuff...is this true?

Ringo = I pretty much on my email answered that cause that kinda pissed me off in a way...we've never been fired from any damn line up...in fact Bobby and I were the ones that kept the thing breathing and alive ...

Bobby = well what happened was Andy and Doug got fired at two different times for two completely different reasons...they tried to put something together...it never came to anything...as far as I know...

Ringo = I find it hard to believe Mike Barnes was even in on this...

Bobby = Mike Barnes I know wasn't in on it...he definitely wasn't in it...cause he couldn't have been in it he was in South Carolina playing in a band

Ringo = I've been trying to call Mike Barnes or get in touch with him...I don't have a number on him cause I...that's...that's just total bullshit...and it's some cat from England I believe that I've talked to that has since dispelled...he thanked me (on the discussion board) for dispelling the rumour has he said...now it even got so deep as some singer named JP (I would guess this is James Parker...I am relaying what was told to me in e-mails with Zazaaz who originally made the first post) in France that has released something called "American Hotel" that was released under the name Rock City Angels...it's a french release on some like 3YK records or something... I...who knows but it's like what Bobby said that they were a little pissed off and they tried to do something but...I mean I hope it sounds good you know...more power to 'em...but it's not Rock City Angels!

Bobby = without the lead singer and the lead songwriter I don't know how they could call it Rock City Angels...

Ringo = although Rumbletrain is a nice name...

Bobby = well Rumbletrain...fuck that was kicked around for a long time...it's really not important.

Alvaro = well that is the end of the interview...

Ringo = Yeah I'd like to say Alvaro...has I have told you on the internet...I appreciate the interest man and thank you so much for everything you are doing for us

Bobby = yeah...

Ringo = because ah...we are ready to get out in do some shit again...it's time...as you asked...do you think the world needs us....you damn right it does...save me a bottle of Anima Negro! (that is not on the tape but I'll take a bottle anyway!)

Bobby = and as soon as we do finish this record and have something worth sending out ...you'll be the first one to get a copy.