Name - Jeff Magnum
Age - Older Than You
Bands - Frankenstein, The Dead Boys, The Decks, The Cyclones
Describe the start to your Rock & Roll adventure. How did it all
begin? I blame everything on The Ventures and that damn fuzz bass!
As a kid, I really liked The Ventures, especially the LP songs featuring
the almighty “fuzz bass”. Eventually I bought a bass (a red Hagstrom with
the padded back and the clear plastic front) and attempted to learn how
to play. I totally sucked. In ’66 I found an album called “Play Electric Bass
with The Ventures” and it taught you how to play songs (using the
“Guitar Phonics” system!) like “Red River Valley”, “A Lover’s Concerto”,
and “Shot Gun”. The only one I could figure out was “La Bamba”, and
here I am today, the result of that lesson!
What is it about the bass that you love? Melody, volume, distortion,
chords, octaves, sustain, feedback, vibrato, all the stuff I was told
“traditional” bass players weren’t supposed to use.
What are some of the highlights/lowlights you've had since
leaving the Dead Boys? None of this stuff really matters, but you
asked so gulp down some No-Doze and let’s go! After the Dead Boys,
in 1979, I joined a band of transplanted Floridians called The Decks.
They had really amazing, killer pop songs with a ton of hooks. The guitar
player was fucking brilliant, the best guitarist I ever played with. We did
some gigs at CBGB, pretty rockin’ stuff. I have the tapes from some of
those shows and they still kick ass. Then one day at a rehearsal, out of
the blue, the guitar player announced that his girlfriend would be joining
the band as a singer. I think I quit a week later. Down the road apiece, I
auditioned for John Cale’s band. He seemed to like my bass playing but
he yelled these bizarre commands like “Play with your eyes open!”, and
“Will you dress punk if I tell you to? Will you wear all black if I tell you
to?”. He was a pain in the ass that fortunately didn’t last long for me.
Apart from that, the currant highlights yer lookin’ for are available at www.
thecyclones.net Buy the new Cyclones CD! (I’m on 3 tracks). In my
opinion, Vin and Dave have made a fucking great album, with or without
my contributions.
Tell us about the Stiv Bators Tribute Concert - 09/18/04 Before the
9/18 Beachland gig, we did a “Q & A” thing at the Rock and Roll Hall of
Fame that was absolutely priceless. Lotsa yuks had by all, us and the
audience. The Beachland Ballroom probably has the best room sound
for electric bass that I’ve ever played (most rooms sound muddy to me).
The bass works off the room you’re in. Maybe it’s all the old wood in the
room, I dunno, but I can get a sound that roars like mad in there, so it’s a
fun place to play. We played our songs, the crowd was really into it, and
I got to see some old friends.
I thought it was really hardcore that you didn't call yourselves the
Dead Boys for the Stiv Bator Tribute show. Please enlighten the
readers on why you made that decision. I think it was the
promoters idea, I really don’t remember. I could care less about that
stuff. It’s still us playing the tunes, call it what you want.
For four musicians who hadn't played a note together on the
same stage in roughly 17 years I heard you played together very
well. Did you practice together a lot before the show? I think we
had 2 days rehearsals in Cleveland before the gig. The Sign-Offs let us
use their rehearsal space and we hammered out a set list. I like to play
and those rehearsals were fun. The fact that we sounded good didn’t
surprise me.
I've read that thought you have been known for hanging way
back and keeping your mouth shut, that you have obnoxiousness
down to an art form. What are your thoughts on that kind of
comment? Onstage, in our band, we had two very active guitar players
and a lead singer that would do anything that came into his head. Early
on I chose to stay out of their way and hang in the back with Blitz. I come
from a generation of bass players that didn’t jump around onstage (well
the ones I liked didn’t). Obnoxious?? Me?!? That’s just because of the
sound of my stupid voice and the way I talk. I’m more fun than anyone.
Really. Honest.
I read you were very critical of the album "We Have Come For
Your Children". What was it that you disliked about it?
Everything! None of us liked it. The record company stuck us with a
producer we didn’t want and, at that point in his career, Felix Pappalardi
was on the other side of the mountain, if ya get my drift. I could bitch
about this for days but since Felix has paid the ultimate price for all his
other creepy wrongdoings, I’ll let it go.
Do you think that Sire Records was the demise of the Dead Boys
or something else? "Something else", oh that’s very good, yeah I like
that. I think it's a pretty safe bet that "something else" played a major
part in the fall of the Dead Boys empire. Our band was not designed to
last, and by the late '70's/early ‘80’s, the whole "punk" thing was dying
out anyway. Some of the band had serious "something else" problems
and became kinda burnt. Sire merely pissed out the embers.
How did the band Frankenstein break up in Ohio and reform as
the Dead Boys in New York? We broke up because we couldn’t get
any gigs in Cleveland. Maybe a year later Cheetah, Bators, Zero, & Blitz
hooked up again and then the New York thing at CBGB’s opened up, via
Joey Ramone, and they took advantage of that opportunity and made it
happen. In May ’77 I moved to New York and rejoined my pals, and we
proceeded to drag rock music down to the devil demon forces of hell.
I found the following quote doing research. Tell us what you think
of the quote,"The Dead Boys were one of the first punk bands to
escalate the level of violence, nihilism, and pure ugliness of
punk rock to extreme new levels." - "Greg Prato, Answer.com"
Would you consider it to be accurate? I always thought we played
our loud, aggressive rock songs in the traditional rock and roll manner.
And Bators sure did deliver the goods, wouldn’t you agree? He was
something else.
What is/was your favorite Dead Boys song? I love ‘em all and so
should you! Those guys wrote some really great songs that get better
with age, to me anyway. The worst thing we ever recorded was a cover
song called “Big City” on the second album. It was the producer’s idea…
What was it about CBGB's that made it the Punk Rock Mecca in
the early days? The bar owner dared to book young bands playing
original material, no matter how good or bad they were, and he did it
night, after night, after night, until the end.
After the Dead Boys broke up where has life taken you? All over
the fucking place and finally dropped off right here, semi-intact, walking
upright, and always with a kind word on my lips.
You've seen "Punk" evolve from the beginning through today.
What are some of your likes and dislikes about the evolution of
Punk music? I wish the quality of bass playing in today’s “punk” rock
was better, maybe a little more ambitious. Other than that, the young
bands are gettin’ it done, writing songs, puttin’ out product, touring, just
like we did.
What bands have you been listening to lately? JM: Old stuff
mostly, Undertones, Rationals, Small Faces, Monkees, Sensational Alex
Harvey Band, Kinks. I listen to alotta blues too. One of my favorite
albums is Champion Jack Dupree’s “Blues From The Gutter”.
How did you get hooked up with the Cyclones? I was in a New
York bar called the Continental one night and they were playing. They
had great songs and, for just two guys, they made a really big noise. I
liked ‘em right away and we became friends.
What are the Cyclones like? JM: Total social deviants that oughta be
locked the hell up for the good of us all!!
Any good stuff planned for the future? Who the hell knows? Like
the mutha humpin’ Magic 8 Ball usedta say: “Reply Hazy, Try Again”…
