What have you been up to – still making music?
Well before Diamond Reo broke up, we did some demos. I didn’t think that much of them – I thought my voice sounded like I swallowed a scarf. But Norman {Nardini} tried to get the demos digitized and played the demo for a guy who knew a guy who gave them to Bryce Foster. Bryce went nuts over them and remixed them and made it come alive. He brought it to life.
So those have been released just recently. Gregg Kostelich with the Cynics – they were big in Europe and he’s helped to push it. He has a zillion contacts.
What is the album called?
It’s called The Diamonds. I wasn’t expecting it but it’s got a lot of positive reviews so far. I’ve been listening to it and it’s brought up a lot of stuff for me that I pushed down over the years. The end of Diamond Reo wasn’t easy for me. I was really depressed after we broke up – after Norman Nardini left. It’s funny – I watched the Led Zeppelin movie recently – it really impressed me. I liked Led Zeppelin but I was never an insane fan – but the film hit home for me. They were a similarly structured band as we were – guitar, bass, drum and singer. That was a different time for me – we were wild then – it was a different lifestyle. But it was a cool time – it was a lot of fun. You can hear that in the lyrics now – it’s nice to be able to look back and say it wasn’t as bad as I thought.
Warren King was in the band with me – I recently learned he was heartbroken when the band broke up the Silencers. It felt goof to know I wasn’t alone in how I felt.
How did the love of music get started for you?
I always bought records – 45s. I still do. My older cousin turned me on to rock and roll – it was in my blood by the time I was six years old. My first record I bought was in 1955 – Frankie Lymon. I was drawn to doo-wop then. I remember going to see the movie the Blackboard Jungle – the first song was Rock Around the Clock. The whole theater emptied their seats and were dancing in the aisle. I never saw anything like it. I took note of that – it drew me in.
In 1959 my mom took me and two cousins to a concert – it was a bunch of the top Black musicians at the time. I had a burning sensation after that inside – I knew then that I had to do this. I watched how people reacted to it. I felt I had more love of the music than I had talent, but I started a band in fifth grade and we played at parties. We played around the Penn Hills area where I grew up. We rehearsed in my garage and we’d raise the door and see kids in the neighborhood listening to us. I got sucked into it.
How did you take that next step to “making it”?
My first paying gig was when we played at the Zion Lutheran Church and got paid for doing so. A DJ there liked my music and we became friends and he showed me around.
When I was in eleventh grade I and some friends formed the Igniters and played at fraternity parties. We were a guitar, bass, drum and singer. We later added an organ when the Young Rascals came out with their music. We loved anything new and that had a rebellious nature to it. I loved early Hendrix and Bob Dylan. Dylan once played a concert and the first half he did with Joan Baez was his folk stuff that people loved. The second half of the concert he came out with an electric band and people didn’t like that. A lot of them booed him. But he said “Fuck you. This is what I’m doing.” I took to that spirit as a kid. I loved that attitude. I liked to piss people off liking certain music.
The Igniters were together through high school then we grew after that. Then a major coup happened. We got a record deal with Atlantic Records – we were the second White band they signed after the Young Rascals. They said they thought we could be huge with the right recordings – I guess we didn’t have the right recordings! But we were on the radio and played in different places and that was great.
The group kept evolving. We lost band members who went to Vietnam – one was killed in Vietnam. We added new members and played in places like the Psyche-Dilly Lounge in McKees Rocks. We were more rock than what people were used to but still used harmonies – like Three Dog Night. We took off locally.
What happened then?
We knew about The Jaggerz then but never met them. But one day the Jaggerz came to see us play and later Donnie Iris called me. “Hey man, I want to talk to you,” he said. I just thought “What the fuck?” They were top of the food chain then – I was just a 20-year old kid. He asked me to join the band – he said they were mixing things up. I ended up spending four years with them.
What were some of the big concerts that stand out to you?
With the Silencers and Diamond Reo I played at the Electric Ballroom in Atlanta which was great. We played in Texas with Ted Nugent. That’s when we added Warren King – we sounded like a transistor radio and needed something to beef things up. We ended up getting thrown out of a Texas town though when Warren got caught dancing naked on top of a truck. Thats when Bob McKeag quit – he couldn’t take it.
With the Silencers we played the Cincinnati arena with Heart a couple of times and with Frank Zappa. I remember seeing Heart do yoga before they got on stage. When we opened for Heart we were the first band to do so there since the infamous Who concert. The audience was so very polite – I think they were afraid to do anything.
When we opened for Zappa someone came to our room with food and asked if it was Frank’s room – we said “Yes!” and ate his food. Frank didn’t think that was very funny.
The big concerts were tougher for us – we didn’t like them as much. We liked the smaller venues where you could know the audience. The Silencers were fixtures at The Decade until we tore the American flag down from the ceiling because we thought it was a fire hazard. But we were welcomed back as Diamond Reo.
How did Pittsburgh influence you?
It was a great town to play in. We were always accepted. When I was with the House Rockers we were creative – we could play our original songs and people responded. It was gut-level rock and roll – not esoteric – but it was always accepted.
With the The Jaggerz it was four yeas of laughing and inside jokes. Two years before I became part of The Jaggerz I actually got arrested trying to see them. I was 17 and thought it would be a great idea to change my license so I could get in a bar to see them. That’s when licenses were paper – I just erased it and typed over it! This was at Geneva Lake – they were like the Beatles of the area – I just loved their vocals.
Well, I got caught with the changed license and sat in a jail cell for an hour while they gave me a corny lecture. After that they let me go and I went back to the club. I told the doorman I didn’t want to drink or mingle – I just wanted to hear the band. He let me sit with him and listen to them. The irony of that – two years later they asked me to join them. Dreams do come true. I’m not sure if I was just stupid or ballsy!
What memories over your career mean the most to you?
Being on American Bandstand playing Ain’t That Peculiar with Diamond Reo. The kids on the show followed us back to our hotel! I grew up watching Dick Clark – him coming back to see us before we performed was special.
And the making of our music videos. MTV was just starting and TPC said they wanted to do a video of our whole album to tell a story. They did three songs as a demo and CBS Records said they weren’t interested – they didn’t want to pay for it. But MTV picked it up and we were one of the first videos on MTV. We were in heavy rotation when MTV first started on August 11, 1991. We didn’t have cable in Wilkinsburg where I lived so I didn’t see the videos, but people came to work and told me they just saw me on TV! That was a cool experience.
I was also in Life Magazine because Warren and I loved rollercoasters and used to go riding whenever we were in tour when we could. We were coaster nuts and part of a group that later became the American Coaster Enthusiasts which now has over 70,000 members!
You’ve been all over the place!
I’ve been all over the place, yeah. But I didn’t try to be. People came to me. I’ve been lucky and blessed!