About His Music, His Scars, the Occult and Peter Frampton
interview by Daisy Milford
Cheetah: The new CD will pretty much be a hodgepodge of things I have written over the years.A few of the songs are on the live CD. A few aren't. Some are punk rock songs, some aren't, some have vocals, some don't...
Daisy: Number deux � Umm, I really suck with like band history stuff� I understand the importance of the Rocket From the Tombs thing, but could you just kinda put it into your own words why this is so cool, and what is going on with that exactly � that way I don�t get all confused like and start messing up dates and names and shit.
Cheetah: Well I guess the reason it's so cool is just that we ourselves are just so damned cool that the entire reunion thingy becomes cool by association! I mean, I myself am so cool that no matter where I stand there's a draft.... and I'm only the guitar player...
Actually, so far there has just been the one show, and now there's talk of more. The UCLA gig was great, we all had fun and want to do it more. Musically Rockets was probably my favorite band I've played with, and I'm really looking forward to playing with them more often. Having Richard in the band makes it really fresh for us too.
Daisy: NEXT � So you got the whole band re-forming deal & the new cd coming out, what other uber-exciting stuff is happening? You gonna go play shows? Make neat T-Shirts?
Cheetah: There will be shows, there will be T-shirts, hell, maybe even stickers! And of course, more interviews!
Daisy: Ok � I�ve had plenty of friends in bands (zillions as a matter of fact). Lots of them have CDs out (I�ve bought many of them). And I have been in a band or two in my lifetime, but I�ve never made a CD or anything. I�m gonna ask you a really important � yet seemingly stupid � question. What does it feel like to release a CD? What does it feel like when you have the finished product in your hands for the first time? Do you cradle it like a baby? Do you sniff the little booklet?
Cheetah: Well, it�s really pretty neat! After all the rehearsing, recording, going over the artwork, and endless conversations with the printers and pressers, there it is, the sum of all your work in yer grubby lil' hands...SHIT!!! THEY LEFT OFF TWO SONGS AND SPELLED MY NAME CHETA!!! arrrrghhhh!!!! Back it goes....3 weeks ater..........SHIT!!! WHO THE FUCK IS TAB ALPERT????? 2 more weeks, etc. So yeah, it is exciting when they finally get it right and yes, you can cradle it like a baby.... I smelled the booklet in mine because we used the high $$$ glossy paper and IT JUST SMELLED SO DAMNED GOOD!!!!! And I gave it a lick just to make sure it wouldn't run...
Cheetah: Well, in the case of most of 'em, they do a damn good job of publicly humiliating themselves, they don't need me for that...likewise with fading from sight...so line 'em up and I'll kick butt! Nah, personally I just like heckling them when they pass through Nashburg.
Daisy: Now � On to something you like. I suggest your wife � you seem to like her quite a bit � far better than most people like their wives. What is she like? Do you buy her pretty things? Tell me about�the wedding. I am a girl � therefore fascinated by weddings.
Cheetah: Ahhhh, Anna, my wife! One of God's cooler creations! What is she like? Smart, artistic, and one of the funniest humans on the planet! She is also genuinely the best person I've ever met, very caring about others and animals. We met briefly in Boston in 1986, but didn�t see each other again until 1996, when her sister sort of set us up on a blind date! Next thing ya know, five years have gone by and I'm thinking "hmmmm.... marriage?� ...So I ask her, she says yes, and a year later we're getting hitched! We were married at an old Southern mansion called the Athenium in Columbia, TN, on 3/24/01.... both our families were there, and champagne and Guinness were served. We flew off the next day to Ireland, and we're doing our best to live happily ever after! And yes, I wore a tux...
Daisy: I saw some interview (or maybe it was the same one), where you said something about a glam band from Youngstown called Left End. Who the fuck is that? Were they all extra glammy cool? Did they make any records or record anything at all? Just curious � I like the glam stuff, and I�ve never heard anything about them. And while I�m talking about other bands, who�s that False Alarm band? You said that they were cool too.
Cheetah: Left End were a gang of miscreants that had gone to High School with Bators. They were around in the early '70's, they used to warm up for the Dolls, things like that. They were highly funny and obnoxious...the singer's name was Dennis T. Mennass. The band guys were for the most part thugs...I wouldn't have messed with them...and they were a really tight band in the Humble Pie vein, but a little more rockin�. .Real punk attitude too....They only did one album, "Spoiled Rotten", then kinda were spent by the time punk came along. I have seen where they did a reunion a couple of years back.
False Alarm are some guys from LA that I met online�Fat Mike from NOFX used to play with them. Aldo, the bassist sent me a demo and I loved it, so did Anna. They asked me if I would come out and do some songs and so I ended up on 5-6 tunes. I just saw them when I was in LA for the Rockets show, and the CD should be out very soon. Also, check out www.falsealarmrecords.com
Cheetah: No, I don't think it is a stupid policy at all. If you hear something and you hate it right off the bat, chances are it wasn't meant for you. That isn't to say that A) it isn't crap and B) someone, somewhere isn't enjoying the shit out of it, which is their right. I think your policy is very fair to the artists...if you hate something that much, you can always email yer friends and give them a heads up.... ya don't have to slam the poor bastards for making music you personally don't like. The one exception to this would be Limp Bizkit's stuff.... this you need to print horrible, scathing reviews of, preferably all in caps. They need to be stopped, but I would settle for Durst's head on a spike....
Advice to interviewers? KNOW WHAT THE HELL YER TALKING ABOUT!!!! DO YER HOMEWORK !!! It is a pet peeve when I am asked why I broke up the Cheetah Chrome Motherfuckers, since I was never in the band, and this can make the interviewer's entire week go South... What am I sick of talking about? God, so many things.... but you haven't bored me yet...
Daisy: You said that Cleveland didn�t used to have a whole hell of a lot going for it � since you were kinda near Pittsburgh, I was wondering if you knew about the same to be true of this place too then. I wasn�t there so I don�t know. It�s just that I think the two cities are creepily similar. Do you personally have any fond or fucked up memories of Pittsburgh what so ever?
Cheetah: Well, I hate to say it, but Cleveland had it all over P'burgh in the early '70's. A friend of mine lived in Butler, and I would occasionally visit him for a weekend and we would drive over to hang out in P''burgh.... whew! Boring!! It madeYoungstown look like Vegas! We didn't play there until '77, and we really did like playing there, great audience, but still, boring. In '87 I spent about a month there in Shadyside, and except for the hit and miss show at Graffifti, the Electric Banana, or the Mosque....well, you know.....the B word.
Daisy: All right � Next question�well � I guess it ain�t much of a question� You growled at Peter Frampton? That�s pretty cool! Assuming that that is a true story � are you fond of growling at people? Is that cuz of the whole Cheetah thing? Grrr�pretty cool! And oh uhh�by the way, did you really beat up Sid? Did you beat up anyone else I might have heard of? Bit of a badass, aren�t ya? Do you have any cool scars?
Cheetah: Yes, I growled at Peter Frampton! A proud moment in my life, to be sure. I just did it because he was standing there talking to somebody and kept looking nervously over his shoulder at me and at our drums, which were covered in Swastika stickers with the slogan "Hitler was Right!". When he was finally done conversing, he had to pass me to leave, so I looked at him and.........GRRRRRR......he hauled ass! He lives here in Nashville now, I'm hoping to run into him somewhere so I can do it again!!
As for Sid, I don't know how this got started, but IT NEVER HAPPENED!!! I NEVER BEAT UP SID!!! I LIKED SID!!! Yeah, he could be a real pain in the ass, but I never had reason to beat him up. I've heard this story about him throwing a glass at me, but I was playing a gig, I never saw him do it. He got booted out and wasn't even there when I came off stage. As for anyone else, yeah, occasionally I've needed to put the boot in, but I don't consider myself to be a badass. I just don't take shit from idiots is all!
Scars? You bet, all over the damned place. I've got plates and screws in my head (from not being enough of a badass once-I got hit with a pipe!), and all kind of nicks, dings, and divots everywhere else. About like a human dodge'em car!
Daisy: Ok � now maybe everyone else heard this story but me� but what was the deal with the DJ and the t-shirts? That sounds incredibly fucked-up! Did you beat that guy up too? If that�s a true story, can I go beat that guy up? I mean, I�m a bit high-strung, but MAN does that story piss me the fuck off, and I�m not even you.
Cheetah: Nah, I never got meet the dumbass in person.... but his ass I DEFINITELY would have put in a sling! The story goes that right after Johnny Thunders (who was one of my best friends) died, this DJ up in Massachusetts or someplace had T-shirts made that read "Cheetah's Next!". At the time, there was a good chance he'd be right, but it was still a shitty thing to do. I have forgotten his name, but if I ever find out and meet him...GRRRRRR!!!!
Daisy: Ok � Last question. You said something about Stiv & numerology. Was he all into that stuff, like zodiac signs and stuff? I mean, did he decide a lot of stuff like that? Did he check horoscopes a lot? It seems to me, a lot of cool musical types do that. I investigated his personal numerology, myself, and this is what it said about him. He�s a one, which signifies the beginning, the premise from which rest of the numbers are created. He would�ve possessed great leadership qualities, had strong individuality, craved a lot of attention, had lots of ambition, would�ve been uninhibited by limitations and made rapid progress in his profession. It also says that he�d have been conscious of the face he presented to the world and flexible in changing his opinions, but ready to accept the truth. Does that sound like Stiv to you?
Cheetah: Yeah, that sounds a lot like Stiv! He was big into mystical stuff, the occult. We dabbled in all kinds of weird stuff when we were still living in Cleveland.... it seemed kinda dumb to me, I never saw where it paid off, so I lost interest. Horoscopes were always big with us, and conspiracies. Turns out we were right on most of 'em, too!