Steve Jones of The Sex Pistols is due to release his long anticipated autobiography "Lonely Boy", in North America the date will be January 10th, a couple months after the UK release.
It was written with the help of Ben Thompson, a music journalist who has quite a good reputation. It will cover everything from Steve's extremely rough, abusive and poverty stricken childhood, to his troubled young adult life, discovering and the love of Glam Rock with the likes of David Bowie, Mick Ronson and Roxxy Music, the chaos and madness of The Sex Pistols and the destruction of the band, to his post Pistols life and his struggles with drug, sex and alcohol addiction and his solo career in the 80's, sobriety, record producing and his acting career, and life as a DJ with his hit radio show "Jonesy's Jukebox", among a million other things.
Sex Pistols bassist Glen Matlock released " I Was A Teenage Sex Pistol", and John Lydon aka Johnny Rotten released " No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs" and "Anger Is An Energy", so it will be interesting to finally be able to see at least The Sex Pistols side of Jonesy's life compared to the others.
Steve Jones is the absolute number #1 reason why I got in to music, and play guitar. He's the reason for my love of Les Paul Customs. If he and The Sex Pistols never happened, or if I never discovered them in the early 00's on The North American Piss Off Tour, my life would completely different. He and The Pistols saved my youth, otherwise without the music to escape to, I would have been in a very troublesome way, so to say the least I am very excited and look forward to this read!
More often than not, when you think of AC/DC you think of two eras. The Bon Scott era and the Brian Johnson era, but there is another era that is always forgotten. The Dave Evans era. Some of you reading might know, and some might not know that Bon Scott was not the original singer for AC/DC, it was the Welsh/Australian singer Dave Evans.
Dave Evans alongside brothers Malcolm and Angus Young formed AC/DC in mid 1973. The band went through a dozen personal members on bass/drums during this line up, and even their manager Dennis Laughlin filled in Dave on vocals a couple times due to sickness. Dave's singing style is very melodic, he could hit the high notes and clearly. It was a rocky start in the early days. When you think of Rock n Roll, Australia just doesn't come to ones mind. You think America and UK, that's about it, well back then anyways.
George Young, the older brother of Angus and Malcolm had gained stardom from the band "The Easybeats", they had an international hit with "Friday On My Mind" witch he co-wrote. When the band got on Albert Productions label the band went to record. Dave recorded the single "Can I Sit Next To You Girl" b-side "Rockin' in The Parlour". You had George on Bass, Angus on Lead Guitar, Malcolm on Rhythm and Colin Burgess on Drums.
The band was playing clubs 2-4 nights a week, they were gaining fans and press coverage. The single reached to #50 in the Aria Charts, and it presented them with the chance to be on tour with Lou Reed in August of '74 and ultimately the "Can I Sit Next To You Tour", witch would be the last shows with Dave on vocals and he was out of the band only a handful of shows in that tour, leaving in September of '74 and being replaced by Bon Scott, former Valentines singer. Dave sang roughly 60 shows with AC/DC in his 10 months in the band.
ACDC Promo Vid of "Can I Sit Next To You Girl".
Dave went on to join the band "Rabbit", and they put out 6 singles and 2 albums while he was in the band. The band did well locally but failed to gain international status, with no top charting singles or albums. In 1977 the band called it quits, and Dave once again was on his way. Since he's been in Thunder Down Under and a few AC/DC cover bands on and off till this day. He stays busy on the circut playing numerous shows all over. In 2012 he sang with the band Barbed Wire, and opened for Twisted Sister. In 2013 he released a single "Little Headbanger" and did a 14 date tour in the UK to support it, but once again it failed to chart.
In 2016, many hardcore AC/DC fans such as myself wanted Dave to step in one last time to tour with AC/DC after Brian's departure due to medical/hearing issues and concerns, it unfortunately didn't happen and the AC/DC family has not come full circle. Axl Rose of Guns n Roses is filling in, but Dave keeps a positive attitude. He in shape, sings incredibly well and is singing better than ever. If you get a chance to catch him you can!!
Someone needs to seriously recover Dave and ACDC's relationship. This man has paid his dues.
Bill Rath was the bassist for the band "Johhny Thunders and The Heartbreakers". He is a legend in the rock n roll/punk world. I learned I had a few close ties to him, and emailed him and also spoken with him on the phone before his passing. His voice was like that of an old salty sailor, and he said his teeth were hurting him. We talked about home (massachusetts to us both), music, gear, life and among other things. I asked a few questions, most questions I didn't bother writing down as it was just conversation and I regret that now, I hadn't a clue he would of passed so soon. I also was going to audition for "The Street Pirates", he told me to bring down my guitar and amp but he passed before we set up a date. I felt it was time to finally just release this. It's only a few questions, but I feel it helps dig a little deeper in to the unknown of Billy. Rest In Peace, Billy.
ERR: So Billy, you're a native to my parts (Massachusetts), most people only connect you with NY.
Billy: That's right, I love it here in Mass, it's always been my home in my heart and I love the colors in the fall and the people. NY was a tough crowd for the most part and it's just not the same home feeling.
ERR: I feel you and Glen Matlock were part of the very small group of bassists who could actually play, and play well and tight. How did you feel about some other bassists/musicians who lacked skill but somehow are remembered for that while those who could play are overlooked?
Billy: God bless Glen. The Sex Pistols were one of my favorite bands I got to witness. For my money, they were the best band and most exciting band of our era. Bless those guys, don't know how they managed to get through it all. I appreciate your compliment, that means a lot to me! I try not to be a jealous man, I love everybody, almost everybody (snickers). It did bother me at the time when I felt we were great, and it seems like everytime we were great it was never captured or written about y'know? I loved The Ramones, but at times I felt simplicity of our era was too forced upon the times. We were working musicians, we wanted to be better, anyone could play like Dee Dee or Sid Vicious but why go for that when you could push yourself and expand? I never got it.
ERR: You had Jerry, Terry Chimes, Ty Styx etc to name a few who stepped in to The Heartbreakers, who was your favorite to play with?
Billy: Jerry, may he rest in peace. He was a sweetheart. He was the greatest drummer I ever played with and will ever play with. I loved him. Even when there was tension, he was there in your corner. Ty Styx, I'm still embarrassed from that album. The band wasn't at our best. Ty, bless him, was no Jerry. He couldn't keep up or remember how songs went. The recording was poor too, like I said before we weren't captured at our best and shown to the public, that hurt us I feel. Terry was good, he fit right in, but no one had the feel of Jerry.
ERR: How about guitarist? I do seem to recall you played with a couple Waldo's and a New York Doll.
Billy: I loved playing with Johnny, rest in peace. When he on point and in control of himself he was brilliant. I loved playing with Walter because he was reliable. He never was lazy or sloppy and he did his job and he really was the heart and soul of The Heartbreakers. He kept it all together. I hope in the near future we do something special, just us two, to honor our band and bandmates legacies. Now on to the other crazy Waldo, Joey (Pinter of The Knots, The Waldos). God bless him and his lovely wife, Angie. The sweetest people you could meet. Joey and Johnny Witmer made me feel young, as if it was 1976 again. Joey is a legend and should be remembered as big as Johnny (Thunders) is and Johnny Witmer was a breath of fresh air. We had a drummer John, who did it all last minute, was a great guy a bright future ahead of him, very good drummer. Bless them. I liked working with Steve Dior, he's a solid british bloke (snickers). As for my own band, it's up in the air, very hard to get stable. Jack is a great guy and friend.
Well that was it, I did have a couple others that I believe I deleted off flashstick. Billy was a true legend and deserves to be honored. Countless people have been influenced by his playing and him as a person. Billy was a very religious man, he talked to me about 5 minutes straight on his beliefs, if you're a religious person, throw a prayer or thought or two up there for Billy. He's probably tuning up right now, Jerry is adjusting his throne and Johnny is going "Where the fuck is Waldo?".... Tate
