PipemanRadio & Keith Roth Talk New Solo Album, Dictators, SiriusXM, Podcast

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Hey, you have unto censure for se Wow Crazy Young
Waycume of America.

Speaker 2 (00:21):
It's time for the Adventures of pipe Man on W
four c hy dot com best Pomp Beach is number
one Internet radio station. Here's your host, the pipe Man.

Speaker 1 (00:32):
Just made when the moon shot of rain and.

Speaker 3 (00:36):
The Mississippi going strong, A lot of things going on.

Speaker 1 (00:40):
The man now a great bat so long.

Speaker 3 (00:50):
You call it.

Speaker 1 (00:51):
Your munching back. This is the pipe Man here on
the Adventures pipe Man W four c Y Radio. And
I'm really about our next guest because I hate to
mention this concidering. I own a radio station and I'm
on my own radio station, but I listen to him
all the time. I'm serious XM because he's a he's

(01:13):
bad ass, but he's also a badass musician and like
he brought me back to my childhood with this new
single we have, and so we're going to talk about
it a little bit. So let's welcome to his show.
Keith Roth.

Speaker 3 (01:25):
How are you, pipe Man? Good to see you man,
Good to catch up with you again, I mean absolutely,
and thank you. How'd you like the single? Man?

Speaker 1 (01:34):
Oh? You know, it's funny because as somebody like in
all the stages of rock music, I've I've pretty much
hit most of them, being you know, born in the sixties,
you know, I got the sixties and seventies, the eighties
and all the way till now. And man, Superfly, I

(01:54):
mean that just the minute I saw I didn't even
see your name first in the press release. I just
saw that, and I'm like, now that's in there view
I have to do.

Speaker 3 (02:06):
I'm glad you did it. I'm glad we did that
song because you know, I started writing songs which eventually
turned into this album, and we were working with Bob
Pantella from Monster Magnet, Atomic Bitch Wax. We always did
a lot of recording out of his studios, Freak Shop Studios,
which is like being on a galactic spaceship. But you know,

(02:27):
I always loved the song, and you know, I had
a lot of different people play on this, and I said,
I always wanted to cover Superfly. I love Curtis Mayfield,
I love the film. I love that whole seventies genre.
And we just started jamming on it, and you know,
Bob laying down that groove and we kind of tracked
it really quickly, and then when he started adding all
the percussion in there, and then he's like, all right, man,

(02:47):
you should really like go for it with the vocal.
And then all of a sudden, I'm listening to a
rough mix. I'm like, this is on the fucking album.
You know this? And you know, because I love Curtis,
he's been embedded in me and you know, so I'm
really happy the way the single came. I mean a
lot of people are like, why are you going to
release a cover song for your second single? Because it
fits the theme of the album, and it's you know,
it's a as you said, you know, the sixties, the seventies,

(03:09):
the eighties, the nineties. You know, I love all kinds
of music, and I've always, you know, loved all kinds
of music. So I think a lot of a lot
of different influences are all over this record.

Speaker 1 (03:19):
I think that's a cool thing about growing through all
these decades that really are like, we're rock evolved over
the years because we got a taste of like just
about every bit of it, where I think sometimes people
today may not have that taste. I've actually talked to
people at festivals that don't even know who led Zeppelin is,

(03:41):
Like stuff like that or the Beatles, like, you know, crazy.
It just blows my mind because it's funny. You take
Ozzy as an example, since you're on Azzy's Boneyard. Ozzy
is Ozzy because of the Beatles, no.

Speaker 3 (04:00):
Doubt, no doubt. If you talk to Ozzy about the Beatles, now,
he's interested now right, and he gets excited and he
gets just like, oh, you know, did you hear this record?
And he gets you know, I mean talking about himself.
He does it all day, every day. But when you
mentioned the Beatles and you say something really interesting that
inspires him, it's a whole different guy and everything making sense,

(04:22):
you know. So yeah, right, exactly. It's funny because my
neighborhood is kind of like that seventies show, you know,
so like all the kids in my neighborhood, you know,
they're like fifteen sixteen, their hairs some of them are
hair down here, and they're walking the streets with boomboxes
with their Led Zeppelin Pink Floyd shirts. And I'm like,
right on, man, this is great. They got to a generation,

(04:44):
you know, and especially with the Zeppelin film. But that's crazy.
If you play music or you're going to a festival
and you don't know how led Zeppelin is. You should
be escorted out of there.

Speaker 1 (04:52):
I know, right, it's wild to me. But then there's
the other side, like your mentioning it's wild. I'll go
to the festivals. I'll see kids with like Misfit shirts
on or a pink Floyd shirt on, and I'm like,
and they're not just wearing it to wear it because
it looks cool. They actually know the music. And see,
that's cool to me too. Is like you go to

(05:15):
a show now or a festival, Like in the eighties,
I would go to these shows and we were the
same age as the bands, and there was nobody older
than us there, you know, right, And now you see.

Speaker 3 (05:27):
We're still younger. We're still the youngest people there, right.

Speaker 1 (05:32):
And now you see these kids that are going to
Metallica shows, and I'm thinking to myself, that's bad ass,
because when I was their age, there was no way
I was going to see a band that was in
their sixties or fifties.

Speaker 3 (05:45):
That's true. And you know we were talking earlier about
you know, you see a Metallica out in the bay
and I saw them first time, and you know, I know,
you're a Jersey guy, originally. So the first time I
saw them was playing a roller skating rink and an
old bridge on Route nine with Raven and you saw
them out in the bay and it was like, I mean,
it's cool, and it was a DIY scene that was happening.

(06:07):
And I have older brothers that got to see the
dolls at Mercer Art Center, and so I felt like
this was like a cool little revolution. But that my
wildest imagination that I ever think that Metallica would become
the next led Zeppelin. And now you see all these
kids and they go there with their parents and it's like,
you know, it's all ages and it's cool. You know.
Also with vinyl, you know, we grew up in that

(06:28):
vinyl era, right. I love the fact that vinyl has
kind of saved the record industry. Sure, a lot of
it is reissues, but the younger kids that I talked
to or come out to shows, if they don't have
it on vinyl, they don't own it. They have streaming
services to see if they're actually going to buy the record,
which is kind of cool because we used to trade
cassette tapes, which is really that different. You know, I

(06:50):
could make you a tape of a record I just bought.
You throw it in your car, you can listen to
on your stereo. It's a little bit longer to access it.
But now I love the fact that vinyl, you know,
is resurrected and the beauty of when we were kids
with bodyl you'd sit there, you read the liner notes.
You knew who every producer was, who mastered stuff, and
so it's good that that kind of infected another generation

(07:13):
of format that we thought was long dead. Is really
the main thing that's keeping the industry alive, you know. Yeah,
I also have ADHD. So if I went on a
whole different tangent, I do apologize.

Speaker 1 (07:24):
Oh man, I love that because on my show I
always go on different tangent. It doesn't matter. Like if
you pick up something, I'm like, oh, I'm going to
run with that, you know. I think that's the way
radio should be anyway, you know, like especially in this arena,
you know, it should be just like, let it take
a life of its own.

Speaker 3 (07:43):
Mm hm.

Speaker 1 (07:44):
Basically there comes down and yeah. So my first album ever,
here's an interesting story. My first album ever I won
at the boardwalk in Seaside Heights.

Speaker 3 (07:55):
I've heard a lot of people say that, So that's cool.
What did you win?

Speaker 1 (07:58):
So I saw this album up there, I was like, man,
those fucking dudes look cool. And it was the Kiss
original album when it first came out.

Speaker 3 (08:09):
My buddy Sean, Sean Mars, he plays in a band, Mars,
the same exact thing. He won the record at Seaside
Heights on the Boardwalk and it was the first Kiss record.
That's amazing, actually right, how cool is that? Oh?

Speaker 2 (08:23):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (08:23):
And I became a total Kiss freak in that after
night and we were talking about the Beatles first grade.
This dude did an oral report on the Beatles and
I was like, oh, and then maybe I became like
I had put wall the wall posters in my bedroom.
But I was like kind of like, I don't know,

(08:43):
schizophrenk or something, because one half was totally Kiss and
the other half was totally the Beatles. And I always
talk to people about how those two bands. People think
that they're not related, talking about influences and where people
I found them to be so similar, like and I
tell people and they I didn't think of that, you
know how? Like on every song that John and Paul wrote,

(09:06):
it was John Paul on every song that Gene and
Paul wrote it was Gene Paul and whoever wrote the
songs would sing the songs, you know, and stuff like that.
There were so many similarities and I think that all
holds to the evolution to where we are today.

Speaker 3 (09:21):
I agree. And the other thing about the Beatles and
Kiss is that you know each guy as you say,
and sing songs. But also everybody knew all four members.
As a Kiss fan, you knew all four. You knew Gene, Paul,
Peter and Ace, and you know, you know John, Paul,
George and Ringo. I mean all four characters. You know
a lot of people with Led Zeppelin, Yellow No, Robert Planner,

(09:43):
Jimmy Page, some may not know John, Paul Jones and right,
but I mean with those two there was a lot
of similarities. And of course, you know the Kiss being
huge Beatle freaks.

Speaker 1 (09:53):
I mean, you know exactly there again, you know, and
so it's kind of cold and speaking's go. Years later,
I had a history class and I only had one project.
It was an oral report I did on Ozzy.

Speaker 3 (10:09):
Wax Sabbath.

Speaker 1 (10:10):
Right, I know Ozzy. It was like it was Ozzy
went when Blizzer of Oz came out. I had Blizzer
of Oz on eight track by the way, and uh
and I. There was a music teacher that took over
the history class. So this jat class was like, He's like,
all you gotta do is do a report on anything
you want and that's your whole grade for the semester.

(10:32):
So I pitt I did Ozzy satanism in his music.

Speaker 3 (10:36):
I like to see that.

Speaker 1 (10:38):
Yeah, I wonder if I even have that somewhere.

Speaker 3 (10:44):
I record too.

Speaker 1 (10:46):
I brought in Diary of a Madman with me. I
brought in I have this shirt that is a Diary
of Madman's shirt that I actually put on the back
because remember back in the day, we used to put
our own art on stuff. And I put in memory
of Randy Roads. I did get to see Randy Roads
right before he died, so that was iconic.

Speaker 3 (11:05):
I saw Ozzie and Randy. The first time I saw
them was at the Palladium. You remember the Palladium on
Fourteenth Street. Yeah, there's two. It was a five thirty
and a nine thirty show. We're young, so the plan was,
all right, we'll go to the five thirty show from
Metro Park. We went, you know, Penn Station. We're like
we'll walk down to fourteenth Street, show will be over

(11:25):
by eight o'clock. You know, A curfew was like ten.
I mean we were young kids, right, and we saw
you know, Motorhead opening and you know, reading about them
and then seeing them visually, I was like, holy shit,
let me from Hawkwin. This band is insane. And then
Ozzie would Randy and We're like, fuck this, I don't
care if I'm grounded forever. And then back in those days,
I mean, we had really good seats for the five

(11:47):
thirty show, but we went out and scalped for the
nine thirty show, all the way in the back of
the play and we spent like twenty bucks. I mean
that was like kind of a standard thing back then, right,
And we watched and needless to say, when I came home,
both my parents were sleeping. I didn't get any trouble,
and neither did my other friend. The other guy that
was with us was grounded for like a month. As
as a matter of fact, I don't think I ever
saw him again, but it was well worth it to see,

(12:09):
you know, And so I know what it was like
to see Ozzie and Randy. And we didn't have cameras.
We know, you know, it was great.

Speaker 1 (12:15):
It's funny because I have a similar story. It was
one of those things where they were playing Ozzie was
playing New Year's Eve in La I think it was
at the Forum or something like that, and me and
my bro I said to my dad again, I'm sleeping
over so and So's house, and he said he was
sleeping over my house. And then we went to the
Ozzie Show and we came back and we lived in

(12:37):
Lake Lindero in Agora in California, and there there was
like a hill down to the lake in my backyard.
So we just waited down at the bottom, like for
my parents, to my dad to kind of wake up
and like we were going to come back home or
something like shit like that. We were out in the
morning or whatever, and my neighbor, this woman comes out.

(12:59):
She sees us and all the Aussie ship and she goes,
did you guys did you boys go to Ozzie Show
last night? And we're like yeah. She goes, stay right there,
I need to introduce you to my husband. And we're like,
weirded out because my next door neighbor, we're gonna get
in trouble man. And then the husband comes out. Yeah,

(13:21):
the husband comes out. He invites us up to the house,
brings us in his studio, which was wall to wall
cassette tapes. He was fucking Aussie's promoter. Oh really, right
next door to me. I never knew. And so he's
like giving a schwag and all this stuff and like
it was like the coolest experience ever. And then he

(13:42):
hands me this cassette tape. He said, this band is
going to be an America in like six months. Nobody
knows about him yet. Here I'm giving you the demo
tape and uh, they're gonna be huge. And that was
that was accept fast as a shark. Wow wow wow
right and.

Speaker 3 (14:01):
That was a heavy record too. Man. I remember being
pretty floored when I heard that that album and it's
I mean, yeah, that was really cool and unique at
that point. It took them a while to catch on.
And what's funny is you know, you being a Jersey guy,
Mark from Teach Quick has been singing with them for
so many years and I just saw them not this
Monster's Rock the Last and I for the first time

(14:23):
ironically getting to see with Mark. You would have thought
I saw him sooner, but I didn't, and to me,
they were even better than nice, you know. But yeah,
of course, man, that's pretty cool when you have a
neighbor that could turn you onto bands months before you know,
the record comes.

Speaker 1 (14:37):
Out, right, And I was like, I don't know, say
that again.

Speaker 3 (14:42):
No, I'm saying. You know, if you went to the
Aussie show, you know, you're just like, oh, the neighbor
gave me stuff. You know our neighbors is you know
he worked grochy for him? Yeah, no, Dad, we didn't
go to any show and you know, hit our neighbor's
you got some fool of vouch for you, which is
always a great thing.

Speaker 1 (14:58):
Totally, totally. One of the things I wanted to ask
you too, is what's it like to be the musician
and the radio jock.

Speaker 3 (15:11):
I've been a musician as far back as I can remember,
and you know, I never had any aspirations to do radio,
to be honest with you. And a woman, Amy Christie,
who used to run a rock magazine, you know in
New York and New Jersey. She she came out and
did a story on a band I was playing with
in the nineties, and then she moved and then I
was living in Long Branch, New Jersey at that point,

(15:33):
and she moved down to that neck of the woods
and there was a radio station opening called The Rat.

Speaker 1 (15:38):
I remember the Rat still there, still there, a lot.

Speaker 3 (15:41):
Of the same crew. And she said, you know, would
you be interested in doing a radio show with me?
I'd been talking to the general manager and my first
reaction was like, no, I don't want to like front
and back cell like hey, Memorial Day Weekend, the Big
Nine with an Aalen or you know, or Corn coming up,
you know. No. She's like, no, no, we could, you know,

(16:01):
play whatever we want as long as there's no obscenity
and we can and between the people, we know, you know,
we could bring bands down. And so we went into
this meeting. I never expected to get it. You know,
my daughter was just born born. I dropped her on
the table at this big meeting. They want to meet
with us, and for some reason, the Great Dan Finn
said I have a feeling about you guys, and he

(16:23):
took a chance and we did that show. I ended
the show back in July at twenty twenty four, but
that was in like ninety eight, and you know, throughout
the years we had the Ramones come down, you know,
Joey and those guys and Johnny, you know, Alice Cooper,
John Paul Jones, I mean the Kinks, because we knew
a lot of people and they love doing the show

(16:43):
because it's kind of like this, you know, I mean,
you know, there's we could talk for forty minutes and
then catch up on all the commercials we had that time,
and it resonated so from doing that. And then I
get a call when I want to do a punk
rock show for Sirious Radio. And I had never heard
of satellite radio. I thought it was like Wayne's World, Like, honestly,

(17:04):
what the fuck is satellite radio? And they're like, oh,
you could do a punk show and you could do
a weekend on first Wave and left the center, and
I have no idea what they're talking about. But to
be honest, the bread was good enough to come into
the city and they said it would be one day
a week, you know, five hours whatever. So I come
in for an interview and I walked in and when
I got off the elevator and I walked through that

(17:26):
glass door. And growing up on New York legends like
Meg Griffin and Carol Miller and Pat, Saint John, they
were all there and I'm like, I got to educate
myself quickly. So that's how I started. I did a
punk show called the Punk Yard, and then which led
me doing the Boneyard, which became Ozzy's. No, it was Buzzsaw,
which became Ozzy's Boneyard. And then Meg Griffin, who I'm

(17:48):
very close with. You know, she connected me even though
I was friendly with David Johansson, but having the honors
of produce and engineer his show and for over twenty years.
So I mean that's how I got in a radio
but a musician. And it's funny because people who only
know me as a musicians, people that only know me
from radio. So with the solo record, I guess the

(18:10):
hope is to bring them all together, like we know
Keith Roth from so and so, you know Frankenstein three
thousand of the Joe Hanson group, whatever they know me
for and from oh that's the dude from Ozzie's Boneyard
or whatever. So hopefully it could expand the audience with
just simply being Keith Roth. But it is a personal record,
so but you know that's why it's just under my

(18:32):
name for this.

Speaker 1 (18:33):
One and tell us more about the record. Okay, we
talked a little bit about Superfly, but give us a
little insight on the rest of the record. And you
know what came from inside.

Speaker 3 (18:44):
Well, you know, I also play in a band called
the Dictators, Yeah, since the seventies, and so it was
a really really great time, you know, as an artist,
because they had wanted to put together a Frankenstein three
thousand compilation which just came out called Lost in Space
Volume one. So I was really digging through the vaults
and tweaking stuff on that and the Dictators were in

(19:05):
the thick of making a new record, and I was
really prolific in writing. But all these songs didn't make
sense for the Dictators or Frankenstein. So I went to
my buddy Mike Jaffy. I'm like, I got a group
of songs, what do you think of these? And he's like,
these are really cool, And he has a studio and
he's like, let let's work him out, and you know,
and then we went into Bob Pantellas and we started
recording stuff. But I just knew that these songs were

(19:28):
more personal, more me and a lot of different variety,
and plus when it's your name. You could do Superfly,
or you could do you know something that somebody said
the other day sounded like the band Luna, which I loved,
or you know, or just like a rock song like
the opening track. Don't feel like think it today, But
it's a there's a theme in my head. It's a
concept record. You have to kind of jump in to

(19:49):
see what it's all about. And you know, having a
lot of great people help me out on it, like
you know, obviously playing with Ross the Boss from The
Dictators and working with Punky Meadows in the past. Him
and Danny are on there, and Albert Bouchard lays down
some drums and Bob from Monster Magnet, who I've done
a lot of work with throughout the years, and uh,
you know, it's one of those records and you don't
cherry Pickett, you just hit play and it's a it's

(20:12):
a musical journey and if I'm happy with it, to
be honest, that's That's the one thing I learned many
years ago is uh, I never really was into following trends.
I mean, if you look at my musical history, none
of it matches up.

Speaker 1 (20:25):
To what was going on at that point, you know
what I mean, I love it.

Speaker 3 (20:28):
You know, in the nineties it was punk rock, you know,
and then you know, a band I wasn't called Bad Biscuit.
We were very punk rock and for the time, and
then a lot of it kind of sounded like what
Green Day did a few years later. And and but after,
you know, I just wanted to I became really happier
when I just started wanted to do my own thing
and and that kind of you know, and stop listening

(20:49):
to a lot of stuff. You know, I just was
into my own thing for a while. And you know,
the bands that I grew up with, as you were saying, like,
those are the really you know, around eighty seven eighty
eight is and I really got out of, you know,
a lot of the metal stuff that was going on,
and I reverted back to all the stuff that my
brothers played around the house. And I grew up in
the Bronx, so I thought everybody knew who the MC

(21:09):
five were in the Stooges and David Peel on the
Lower East Side, and nobody really knew. It was fortunate
that this little area people knew this kind of music.
And then around eighty eight everything got so homogenized that
I just reverted as a complete throwback. And you know,
of course along the way you discovered great bands like
Red Cross or people that are doing stuff out of
the box. But you know, that's and being on you know,

(21:32):
Ozzie's Boneyard. I mean, that's the stuff I grew up on.
I mean that was me and my buddies, you know,
keg parties in the woods, Black Sabbath, you know, and
you know guns n' roses. I love guns, and you know,
and of course David Johansson. You know, we turned out
to be one of my greatest friends ever and his
passing still devastates me. But yeah, you know, all that
seventies New York glam stuff and English glam stuff and

(21:55):
punk rock, that's really what I listened to from eighty
eight till till now.

Speaker 1 (22:00):
It's funny you mentioned about your brothers, because there's some
bands I've interviewed that I tell them like I did
the John Lodge from the Moody Blues recently, and I was, yeah, no,
the reason I took this interview is because I used
to steal my brother's album of yours and listen to
it all the time. You know, and that is the

(22:20):
cool thing today is like we were saying before, it's
like we have this history of different types of music
throughout our life. It doesn't mean we didn't like all
different types. It just means there were so many different
trends and things that I think were more well rounded
because of it. In a musical sense.

Speaker 3 (22:39):
You know.

Speaker 1 (22:40):
It's like if you can, I can sit there and
I could go listen to Earth Wind and Fire and
then go listen to Slayer exactly.

Speaker 3 (22:47):
I mean, And that's you know, the beauty of going
record shopping. When I was a kid, I remember there
was a record store in co Op City in the Bronx,
and you know, it was a big treat, you know,
my mom giving me ten bucks and you know, be
able to go buy two records. I remember one time
buying Diamonds Are Forever soundtrack with the Used Corporation, and
I think it might've been Aerosmith Rocks, you know, all

(23:09):
on the same day or whatever. I've always been a
James Bond collector, But I mean, you know, so, I mean,
and nobody judged anything that was cool, you know, like
Miles Davis said, Man, cool good music is good music.
No matter what kind of music it is. And I
think for me, like to nineteen eighty one really kind
of felt like a lot of great bands, a lot
of great stuff that came out after, but a lot

(23:31):
of the originality kind of ended there because everything a
year after that, you know, after the Beatles and the
Stones and the Who and you know, the punk rock
and you know bands out of Detroit. I mean, sure,
some of it's played faster, some of it's played electronic,
some of it, you know, and even rap music back then,
you know, the Sugarhill Gang I was all incorporated from
eighty one down, so you know, people you know, pushed

(23:53):
it a little forward and you know, and did some
great stuff with it. But to me, that was kind
of like the last year of originality. I know people
will love to argue with me about that, but that's
how I feel.

Speaker 1 (24:03):
Hey, I see, That's what's cool about Jersey Boy or
Jersey Girl is like you're gonna know where you stand regardless,
you know, And I'd rather people speak their mind. Like
I think, even if you're the artist that they're speaking about,
Like if I were the hers, i'd be I would
listen to it and go, well, maybe I should evaluate

(24:25):
some things.

Speaker 3 (24:26):
You know.

Speaker 1 (24:26):
I think you learn more from your critics than the
people that love you.

Speaker 3 (24:31):
That's that's true, as long as they're honest, right, you know.

Speaker 1 (24:34):
Yeah, and they're not being dicks about it and just
being honest, that's all.

Speaker 3 (24:38):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (24:38):
It's so funny you mentioned Sugar Hill Gang because I
remember being in seventh grade and my my bro playing
Rappers Delight when it first came out, and I was like, Wow,
that is so cool, and who have known we would
be where we are today with that kind of music.

Speaker 3 (24:54):
Yeah, I mean I got to throw a run DMC
in the mix because they were very revolutionary and they
were past eight one. I mean, of course there's some
things you know, Melly Mel and you know Grand Master Flash,
you know, and then yeah, and the sole music of
the sixties, you know, I mean I love it all,
you know. I mean if you people would be shocked
if they were around my house and see what I

(25:15):
listened to, you know, And you know, I mean right now,
I think it's probably XTC and some kind of seventies
blaxploitation soundtrack or Fuckadelic or Parliament or you know, or
Black Sabbath, you know what I mean, right, you know.
I mean, that's a beauty and that's why, you know,
you do such a great show because you get all
that stuff. You know.

Speaker 1 (25:34):
Well, you know, I also look at what you're saying,
is it's the musicianship. I think there was a lot
more musicianship, even with metal nowadays, like some of these bands,
I think to myself, man, metal was never an algebraic equation.
It's like they use an algebraic equation to write the song,
whereas like songs just used to be written from the

(25:56):
heart and like you just it was a story. And
then the musicianship what's important, you know, not.

Speaker 3 (26:05):
People I'm really good back then, and people we looked
up to you thrived to be good, you know, like good.
You know, I never thought I was good until like
ten years ago. That's why I was like, yeah, I'm
actually good now. It took a long time to get there,
even though I was on the path. But I mean,
you know, because some of the you know, I mean,
I've playing clubs where guys like Zach Wilde and you know,

(26:25):
Dave Dipetro and you know, guys, these guys incredible talents,
and I mean, you know, in Jersey there's so many
talented guys, and it's all time to feel like I
was on the level with those guys. But it always
kept the striving us. But you know, and then again,
you know my punk rock roots. It's like, you know,
I knew how to play the you know, I auditioned
for the Ramones. Somebody just interviewed me about this. I

(26:47):
was one of one of a few people that got
a second audition. There's a Ramones documentary coming out soon
that they talked to me about it. But when I
was able, how I learned how to play is the
first Ramones record switched the balance one way. It's just bass.
All you can ear's bass, and you switch it the
other way. And I was just content, you know, being
a punk rock kid and loving that. But the older

(27:09):
I think, you know, I still to this day and age,
I practice more now than I did when I was
a kid, and I you know, I it's like running, man,
You got to run every day to keep you know,
your chopping.

Speaker 1 (27:21):
That's where you're smart because I played drums for nine years.
I played guitar, and I sang thrash metal and I
sucked at all three and there was one common ingredient
I didn't have that dedication to practice. I can remember
reading about Randy Rhoades back then, reading he practiced like
eight hours a day. I'm like, I'm not fucking practicing

(27:41):
eight hours a day.

Speaker 3 (27:43):
You got to practice, because it doesn't when it doesn't
feel like practicing, you know what I mean. Especially, you know,
I was content being, you know, a songwriter writing punk
tunes and.

Speaker 1 (27:51):
It was cool.

Speaker 3 (27:52):
But I'm like, ah, you know, not in the league
of these guys. But then you know, you over time,
it just naturally happens. And uh. I remember playing with
Punky Meadows. You know, they're like a progressive and you know,
that was a real challenging gig. But really, after doing
that and you know you work, you're you're as good
as who the people you play with. I've noticed, especially drummers,

(28:12):
I mean the band. If you have a great drummer,
the band is great. If you have a shitty drummer,
the band sucks. I mean, it's as good as the
people you play with. So as a musician, you're going
to be as good as whoever you know what the
band sounds like. And Punky was a great example of that,
because those guys were all really great players and playing
some really great, intricate stuff so that I don't find

(28:34):
a challenger. I find it fun.

Speaker 1 (28:36):
It's like yeah, you know, yeah, see but you know
as uh but yeah.

Speaker 3 (28:39):
I think through COVID was probably the most I played
guitar in my whole life, you know, I mean, being
stuck in the house and and not because I felt
like I needed a practice. I just like I just
got into playing. Like you know, I fell in love
with playing guitar, which I never did. I used it
as a tool to write songs, but I really got it.
And also being in a band with Ross the Boss
from the Dictators. I mean, he's an incredible motherfucking guitar player.

(29:02):
He's one of the best out there. So nice keeps
pushing me and it's fun, you know. I mean, you know,
am I right old age of twenty seven? You know,
I feel.

Speaker 1 (29:13):
And I do love that you mentioned COVID because I
have said for a while now that if you're going
to pick a positive to come out of COVID with
is that bands an artist had a chance to jump
off the hamster wheel and actually go back to being
creative and having the time to really that I think
some of the best music we're ever going to have

(29:35):
might come out of that time because of it.

Speaker 3 (29:39):
I agree with you. I agree with you. I mean,
the COVID thing was very odd for me because I
definitely suffered some PTSD during it. Because every year we
played the lou Reed Birthday party, you know, March Bower Electric.
We did it for a few years in a row.
And we played a show on March first, and the
great Hal Wilner was there, you know, its producer and

(30:01):
SNL and a couple of weeks after the show, and
also we had played Michael Ilago's book signing, and you know,
we just started hearing about COVID. And then I get
a call like a week or two after that gig
that hol Wilner had passed away, and I was like, oh,
I'm really and he said, you know, he died of COVID.
And you know, just seeing this guy a few weeks
ago and what a talent. And then all of a sudden,

(30:23):
the floodgates open. You know, a lot of guys in
New York City, Alan Merrill, Adam Schlessinger from Fountains of Wayne,
a neighbor four doors down, a guy in great shape
in his forties, and all these people were dying, like
my friend Tony Dinado, like within a fourty eight period.
Just hearing these so I thought, like, all right, fasten
your seatbelts, man, this is like seventies sci fi and

(30:44):
really like sad, like great, you know. And what they
were saying on the news about, oh, well, if you're
set in your late sixties and you have I wasn't
seeing that. I mean, sure some of them were, but
the majority of them were very That first strain was
so freaking strong. And then I think it went from
Seattle to New York and it took down a lot
of great people. And I know people today that are
just getting over it that had that first strain, you know,

(31:06):
call it.

Speaker 1 (31:07):
So I got it. I got it in January of
twenty twenty from doing a red carpet at the Oscars.

Speaker 3 (31:13):
Wow, I mean, did you have a really tough time
with it or now?

Speaker 1 (31:16):
Oh? I I was in La I live in Florida.
I was at my bro's house. He was nervous because
I'm the type of person if I have one hundred
and four temperature and pneumonia, I'm still going one hundred percent.
I did not leave the room for like three days
I was dying, and then I came out. I was like, oh,

(31:37):
I finally feel like I'm a little alive. And then
a day later it went back to worse again, you
know how that first strain was. And then I went
When I got back to Florida, I was supposed to
go to Costa Rica a week to go surfing, and
I was still feeling like crap and I couldn't breathe,
and so I went finally went to a doctor and

(31:58):
on my record literally says unidentified organism. They didn't even
know what the hell it was.

Speaker 3 (32:05):
It had no idea. Yeah, no it was.

Speaker 1 (32:08):
And so then I went to Costa Rica, came back
and three days later we were lockdown.

Speaker 3 (32:14):
Yeah, yeah, it was. I was in the city the
night that the lockdown kicked in. I mean, ironically, I
was on the Lower East Side and playing a lot
around that March frame. But you know, starting to hear
about Seattle, and you know, even my daughter, who's a nurse,
I mean, and she's a runner. She runs, so she's
like you in the sense that you know, you have

(32:34):
to be like completely like paralyzed to not do it.
And she was like, you know, Dad, I can't breathe.
And I got this feed and this was like in February,
and I took her to the doctor and nobody knew
what was wrong with her. And then they said, it's
your dad cool, and like, hey, he's cool. He's like, uh,
you might be maybe you're pregnant, right, And then I

(32:55):
left the room. But she had antibodies, so I'm thinking
she may have had, you know, before it was really
announced what it was. But it was just devastating because
we lost so many great people during Yeah. I mean
I've had it myself, you know, maybe a year after.
I really didn't have a hassle with it. And as
a matter of fact, all the dictators we all got
it together. And you know, it's like a bat to

(33:16):
me every time I get it. I just got off
the Mantra's rock crew, so I'm waiting for it to kick.
But it's it's just that headache is the worst part
of it, you know.

Speaker 1 (33:25):
Oh, no doubt. I had it two other times after that.
My grandkids gave it to me and it was pretty
easy the two other times, I can say. But I'm
so glad that live music is back and better than
ever in some cases and like, here's the thing. I
think people going to festivals and concerts were complaining way

(33:49):
too much before COVID that hopefully it changed their opinion.
And just because I don't care now if some kids
up there playing a recorder, I want be a live show.
I ever missed one again.

Speaker 3 (34:02):
It was so rewarding when when the floodgates opened and uh,
going out and playing again, you know, uh, it was amazing.
You know. I think the first thing I did is, uh,
you know Mark Weiss, the photographer, Uh huh, he's a
good He did this event at some little theater in Middletown,
and uh, I have a cover band that I play,
you know, in the Red Bank area, and we played

(34:23):
and we had people like bumble Foot and car minea piece.
Anybody wanted to do anything at that point, and it
was just great to see people again and being outside
and then you know, shortly going out with the Dictators
out to Canada and and just getting back into the
groove of it, you know, I mean listen to a
lot of that stuff too. Is you really should throw
yourself into it and you know, let your body do
its own business and and get through it. And uh

(34:45):
but uh, but the but when when the when the
floodgates opened up. I mean that was great, and I
don't even think about that anymore.

Speaker 1 (34:52):
To be honest, No, not at all, not at all.
I love that we're just living life again. And you know,
great me music. So much great music is out there
because of it, including your new album dropping on March twenty,
first couple of days, The Love Diminished returns through Deco Entertainment.

(35:13):
I am so excited about this because for those people
out there that maybe not have not heard you as
a musician, or you've never put anything solo out, they
need to get this album because it is badass. Tell
everybody how they can get it, how they can you know,

(35:33):
the types of packages that they can get vinyl, whatever,
your socials, everything they need to know.

Speaker 3 (35:40):
I'm kind of anti social media, but I mean, in
all serious Deco Entertainment dot com, you could get the vinyl.
I think there's limited edition blue vinyl that really looks amazing.
The CDs and streaming come out on Deco Entertainment, you
know Amazon. I just did a talk Shop Live. I
know they got some sign copies of the vinyl in
the CD Talkshop Live dot Com Deco Entertainment, dot Com, Amazon,

(36:05):
you know, streaming and all your favorite platforms, every stream music.
So check it out. Hopefully you like it. And you know,
thank you, man, thank you for you know, talking about
the record. I really appreciate that pipe man.

Speaker 1 (36:17):
Oh absolutely, and the first single you put on December
that speaks to me, I don't feel like thinking today.
I think lately I've been feeling that a lot.

Speaker 3 (36:27):
You know. I wrote that song in three minutes.

Speaker 1 (36:29):
I really yeah.

Speaker 3 (36:31):
I mean, it was one of those days where you're
in these text groups with friends and they're fighting about
this and that and politics and all this stuff, and
then you're going through the news and this and that
this one's saying, you know, and it was just and
then people, you know, other drama has nothing to do
with anything, and I literally just said, man, I just
don't fucking feel like thinking today. And I'm like, that's
pretty good song title. And then I just grabbed came

(36:53):
up with the riff and I was like, it just
came out of me, and most of the verses that
I scattered away became a lot of the end. But
it's a very poppy, fun song, but there's some real
honesty in those lyrics about you know, just what was
going through my head for those that timeline at that point.
But yeah, I think there's another song that's only available

(37:15):
on the CD and and I don't even think it's
going to be streaming, but that's gonna be a release,
you know, because now with the record drop it on Friday,
it's just those two singles. But that one's gonna come
out after the fact, and I think we're gonna do
a video for that. But yeah, you know, listen, at
this point, I know every bell and whistle on the record,
so I'm ready to do another one. You know.

Speaker 1 (37:36):
I love it. I love it. Any final thoughts you
want to give us on the record or anything you
got coming up?

Speaker 3 (37:42):
Well, as Keith Roth, I got some shows coming up
with fog Hat it should be an interesting fund and
I know Roger for years, so I think I know
we're playing May seventeenth in Patchog, New York. I know
the Dictators were on Little Stevens Cruise, which is in May.
We're looking way forward to that with a social distortion
and the helicopters and X and there's other stuff popping up,

(38:04):
but Dictators dates will probably be announced before we get
on the cruise as getting back to me with the
solo stuff, some shows with fog Hat. But there's a
lot of stuff that's kind of culminating right now, so
over the next couple of weeks a lot more info.
But you know, you can find me on Facebook Keith
row Out, the Dictator's site, you know, keeps in the loop,
and of course you can listen to me every day

(38:25):
rant and Rave on Ozzie's Boneyard and hair Nation. And finally,
the David Johanson tribute that me and Meg Griffin are
doing is Aaron on Wednesday. I don't know when this
is airing, so but that airs Wednesday eleven pm East
on the Spectrum Channel twenty eight and it's me and
Meg talking about personal stories with David and sharing some
of our favorite songs. And I think it'll probably be

(38:47):
on demand after that as well.

Speaker 1 (38:49):
Nice, well, we'll make sure the air this so that
they can catch that and get your album and all
that good stuff. And you are badass. Well, thank you
very much, and hey, thanks for being on the Adventures
of pipe Man.

Speaker 3 (39:05):
I hope to be back again pipe Man. Thank you, bro.

Speaker 1 (39:08):
I hope you are too, and I'm sure you will,
and now I gotta go do my live show, so
we'll have to we'll talk more and we'll promote the
shit out of this on my show, because you're just
the all around music person and everybody needs to If
they don't know you, they need to get to know
you and at the very least go get the album.

Speaker 3 (39:31):
Thank you for spreading the spreading the word man. It's
been a lot of fun hanging out with you before
the interview and now and you know, the pipe Man
rock and roll my brother. Thank you for listening to
the Adventures of pipe Man.

Speaker 2 (39:44):
I'm w for CUI Radio.

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