Doug Talks to Gary Spaniola from BSA about His New Book & His Time Rockin in Detroit

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Yeah, either Detroit's wheels. Hello, Doug, how are you doing all
right? Well, we're talking tolongtime guitar player, also producer, and
now author Gary Spaniola from the bandBittersweet Alley. Gary, How the heck
are you? My man? Doinggreat? How are you doing, Doug?
Well, I'm doing fine. Isaw this new book that you just
put out, called Moments, andI had to definitely give you a call

(00:22):
and taught you a little bit aboutit. It turns out that it's a
fantastic book. Congratulations. How long? How long have you been working on?
It started about eight months ago?And I never thought I would be
an author. That sounds funny evensaying that, but I started it.

(00:44):
Yeah, spent about eight months.You know how we told stories about the
past, you know, with theband and things growing up, and my
wife Erica said, you know,as soon as you said you should write
those stories down, I was like, oh my gosh, that's when I
so it started. Really well,you've got some incredible stories in here,
and a few I'm really fond of, especially guitar Army. That that was

(01:07):
an incredible moment for all of us. I think, no question about that.
Oh yeah, that was fantastic andI've been getting really good response from
that. People wanted to know whatit was like, how did this happen?
Who was in the band? Imean, all those things are in
the book, with a lot ofpictures from us on stage, and there's

(01:29):
even on the audiobook. There wasan audiobook that's on audible and itunesh there's
a little clip of audio from theshow, and which is really cool because
the audiobook adds a little more depthto it. To spend the book those
I want to thank you for theforty five that you slid inside the cover.
Now you don't get that with everybook, do you. No,

(01:53):
No, No, that's a That'swhat I consider like a collector's thing.
It's like you, I thought,what can I send Doug? He'll go,
oh, because I know your collectionis vast. And so that's the
original DSA single, the very firstone, nineteen seventy six, of the
least seventy seven. It says here, yeah, so seventy seven. Yeah,

(02:14):
we recorded seventy six. But uh, your buddy, uh Howard Stern
was the first guy to play thatsingle. Oh when he was when he
was at Double D four. Okay, wow, there you go. Yeah,
yeah, I've got I've got afew of your uh forty fives,
including of course the big one,Time to Move. But I never saw

(02:35):
this one before, so I'm I'mvery grateful. Thank you for that.
Oh, no problem, it's prettycool. It's the least I can do.
I mean, you know, consideringlove book is tied to your doings,
Well, we had a memory.Yeah, we had a lot of
great moments, not only Guitar Army, but all of the live broadcasts that

(02:57):
we did together from the Rich andHarpo's and tracks and then being a part
of the Beat TV show for somany years. We had John a lot
there and what's what's what's really it'stied together. In the book, I
mentioned that I opened up all theseboxes that I hit from thirty forty years
ago, and there was a digitalaudio tape of a live performance BSA that

(03:23):
you were MCing and you're actually onthe CD. There's a CD that was
released BSA Live nineteen eighty five.As soon as you put it on,
that's mister boy. Well, youknow, Bittersweet Alley had a lot of
history with WLLZ, including being onone of the original w LLZ albums.
As a matter of fact, Ithink I think it might have been the

(03:46):
very first one that we put out. There was we we put out one
last summer Gary was very successful.We were very proud of it. And
H, I got a little bitof breaking news in this podcast because you
and the rest of the band arefinally going to be on this new upcoming
w LZ album that's coming out thissummer and a remixed version from the master.

(04:12):
Oh is that right? Yeah?So you spend a little time tweaking
it up for us, right?Actually, it was the fifth stories in
the books too, so we lostthe master tage. Forty years later,
a guy at Michigan State University foundit in their vault, in their tape
vault and sent it back to meand wow, there's a story in the

(04:33):
book called time to Bake and ohyeah, split. So he transferred it
and H, once he transferred it, I could actually play digitally with what
we recorded that day to November eighteenth, nineteen eighty two, and I could
a remix it. It's all originals, there's nothing added. It's just uh,

(04:55):
you know, mixed with today's alittle more compression, a little more
pop, and it sounds big.It's fat, definitely huge. I love
it. Yeah, getting back toguitar Army, I mean it was an
incredible lineup with Scott Morgan from TheRationals at Mark Farner from Grand Funk,
and then you had Dick Wagner fromThe Frost Mitch Rider with the reunion of

(05:15):
the Detroit Wheels, and then RandyCalifornia. I love the picture of you
and Randy California. So the greatstory with Randy when he he you know,
assyback stage, can you sing theharmonies Nature's Way? And I was
like, oh my gosh. Yeah, I went up playing guitar with them,

(05:36):
and that was kind of not planned, but it was the last minute
thing. And I don't know ifyou heard, but um, Amazon and
Barnes and Noble both sold out ofthe first order of books. That was
like my publisher called and said thatyou aren't going to believe this, and
I was like, oh my gosh. I was so happy to hear that.

(05:57):
Because all the money, all theproceeds, every penny goes to Saint
two Children's Hospital, So I thinknothing on this, this is all just
for the kids. Definitely think ofit. So when I hear the stuff.
It isn't like, oh great,I'm making money. It's like I
think, no, we're helping kidsand having fun along the way. That's

(06:18):
great. Well, I you know, and absolutely we commend you for that,
and I know you continue to dothat. You've done it before,
So tip of the cap to youon that. Gary. I would just
say everything on my website, whichis Gary Spanola dot com, everything goes
to charity, go to Saint Jude. Nothing is kept for anything. So

(06:39):
it's all you buy an album,a painting, the book, everything is
all sent to cherity. Yeah.That I just want to get to you
know, people know, yep,yep people. Well, people should definitely
go to the website and pick upthis book. I have to say this
moment a guitar army maybe your biggestone. Though it's like five pages long,
so I guess I have to sayI'm pretty proud of that. What

(07:02):
other moments are in there, Gary, that that were special to you,
um, well, besides the oneswith the family. The family ones are
are great because they're touching, youknow, to me with my father and
funny things that happened growing up.But sitting down and playing with Eddie Van
Hale and I got to play hisred and white straight guitar at Coval Arena

(07:24):
when they read there. That wasexciting the band Bitter Smialiti being on stage
and LEDs up and walks into thehall and we actually played for him,
and then we sat down and talkedto Jimmy Page and the whole stories in
the book. That's when they weredoing the Pontike Silverdome, which was really
cool, very exciting. Wow.A lot of moments like that, But

(07:46):
there's also there's not just moments ofside look at the like, oh,
he's just talking about the people hemet, Paul McCartney himself, which is
cool. But there's a lot offunny stories in there, like the craziness
at the hotels that were doing anddriving snow blizzards. So there's a lot
of life experiences just not um,you know who you mean, some kind

(08:09):
of thing, because I was,you know, trying to stay away from
that a bit too well. Iremember the Beat crew talking about shooting that
video on the rooftop in downtown Detroitin the middle of winter for Time to
Move, which, by the way, that video still stands up today.
I saw it not too long ago. On YouTube the person that shot Tim
Holmes. Yeah live, yes,I know, to dinner with her,

(08:35):
him and Terry's fantastic to think fortyyears later, you know we would be
uh going up to dinner. Yeah, it's he did a great job in
that video. You're right, stillstands up. Well that track, that
track time to Move is actually gonnakick off the next Motor City Rocks w

(08:56):
LLZ album. It's side one,track one, so can gradations that.
Yeah, that's pretty good. Howlong wrong? How many years was Bittersweet
Alley together? Um? I waswith the group from seventy Well we started
what seventy two, but you knowwe were what twelve years old something?
Yeah, you know, with setOn in there. But I left the

(09:18):
group in eighty six. I believethat's a nice start. I was recording
Ready for the World and sunch othergroups, and I just I was so
busy. But they kept up fora couple more years. And uh then
um sends into that, well youyou you kind of left as as a
producer. Correct, you went onto start producing an other man, didn't

(09:41):
you produce Toby Read As a matterof fact, Yeah, Toby Remy.
Back in the day, I meanToby Red and Strut and uh, I
think all the local groups I wasus doing it was it was so much
fun. It was just you know, we'd all hang out at the bars
and back then that whole scene thatyou had a big hand in creating,

(10:01):
of course, was what was fantasticbecause all the bands got along, we
were all friends and it was cool. We were playing the bar and then
the next day to come over andeveryone's recording. Well, a lot of
the stuff that you produced actually gotpicked up by a major by major labels.
So I was, you know,I thought had potential and I would

(10:22):
record some of my record you know, for next to nothing at the time,
and then it flout to La inNew York and try something. And
as you will read in the book, that's only the beginning of when you
get signed to a major label.You'll read a lot of disasters that happened
along the way. You know.So when you look back, do you

(10:45):
think maybe you might have left BittersweetAlley just a little too soon? I
mean, nobody could outdraw you.No matter where we were. You were
always the headline at the Heart Plazaconcerts or the Harpo's Fast or whatever.
The heck it was, So didyou did you maybe leave that band just
a little too early? I meanyou were producing their records after, right,

(11:09):
yes, yeah, after um yeah, they possibly. But then you
have to look at after I lefthim, I got I see two platinum
records, two gold records, Soyou know, I have to go what
that stuff has happened. I mighthave just stayed in the band or you
know, it's hard, you know, it's always second guessing is easy.
I mean, I the biggest thingwas missing the guys. I mean I

(11:31):
just loved hanging out with them andyou know, having fun. That's what
we did. But you know,I remember back when Chad was leading to
uh LA and I actually made acall for him to a one of the
execs to see if he can gethim a job, you know, drumming,
and I was thinking about going outthere, you know, with him,

(11:54):
to uh find it, find it, maybe a group to play guitar,
and you know, can you imagineif you guys would have ended up
together in the Red Hot Chili Peppersholies? Most Yeah, it was.
It was so funny too because thenthen he had called me, goes no,
I I got this job with theChili family going what I couldn't believe
it. But yeah, he's likemister superstar now, yes, now,

(12:18):
but when when, oh yeah he'spretty good. You know, whenever he's
around, he's he's very personable still. But yeah, when he joined the
Red Hot Chili Peppers, that wasnot a big band. I mean they
weren't. They were. They werestill struggling and kind of weird as a
matter of fact. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah, he's just so

(12:41):
he's one of those you know,incredible I mean back in the day.
I mean he's come sitting you know, and uh sitting and played with the
band, and all of a sudden, just like wow, this is you
just knew something there was special.You know. It's just fantastic drummer.
You know. So do you getto stay Do you get to stay in

(13:01):
touch with some of the guys fromBittersweet Alley at all? Yeah? I
still talked a lot with most ofthem. I mean it's ever since I
started selling the T shirts. It'skind of weird. Make it real quick,
you know, it's out of touch. For maybe twenty twenty five years,
I actually stopped playing and everything Ithought I was into, I taught

(13:22):
myself computer programming, and that's inthe book too. But after that,
when I found this taint of thelive show that I started doing, I
said, you have to sell someT shirts. See if I can tell
a couple. I made ordered ahundred, thinking only a little bit,
and it just exploded. We wereselling huge abouts of T shirts and CDs

(13:46):
and stuff. And then I startedtalking with the guys again, and which
was fantastic because it's just it's great. Now we call maybe once a month
and laugh about the old memories andstuff, and the in the in the
book has helped a lot with everybodylasting. Well, I see pictures of
all the people in the book.You've got like four pages here of people
wearing the Bittersweet Alley T shirt.So all that was for charity. So

(14:11):
that's why I told people, Hey, if you want to be in the
book, you buy a T shirt. You're supporting Saint Jude, send me
a picture and put all together.And that was a lot of work.
People don't really realize that that book. I put it all together completely all
I mean, the computer, allthe pictures of thinking that everything and my

(14:33):
wife, thank god English. Yeah, oh there you go. Of course
you got to have that spell check, no doubt about that, because those
rock and rollers are not the great. Yeah, I'm with you there,
I am totally with you there.My wife went through all the spell check
of everything I do, because youknow, I don't want to look like

(14:56):
once in a while what you've seenstuff. So you got some solo albums
out too that people should be awareof. I don't know if they are
or that, but a vocal album, a guitar instrumental album, and a
classical album. Tell me a littlebit about that. When I got back
into it, I did a guitaralbums. It's to be about a month
to get my guitar chops back up. I'm probably about ninety percent of what

(15:18):
I used to be, but youknow it's hard to be fact. So
I love classical stuff. I writea lot of classical But what did you
do it? And then once againErica said just do one who cares?
You're right? So I wrote aclassical album. I you know, played
it on keyboards and stuff, butit's all the strings of violins everything,
and I got a real good responsefrom it, which is nothing really nice

(15:45):
for me. I'm working on anew album now that there is a track
on it. I guarantee you willlove it. It rocks like you wouldn't
believe. But you know, it'slike, I'm not sure what direction to
take. This new album will bemy fourth solo in the last four years,
the year it put him out andwrite a book in between there and

(16:07):
paintings. I was started doing paintings. Yeah, they started selling too,
so I would just tell anything kidsthe dogs I was. I was just
going to ask about these paintings becausethey're right towards the end of the of
the book and these are some beautifulThis is some beautiful artworks and beautiful paintings.

(16:29):
When did you when did you pickup? When did you start,
you know, drawing and painting?Why? When I was younger, back
in you know school, I alwaysdid. But like Dave from the band,
he's an incredible artist and so isRich an incredible painters. So I'm
not going to compete with those guys. So I waited forty years and then
started doing it again. And Ijust did it for for fun, to

(16:53):
you know, take my mind offof other things. And it just started
growing. And then uh, somebodysaid I want to buy one. I
was like, what Wow. Yeah, So I know you have a lot
of fans here in Detroit still tothis day, and we just wanted to
present yourself and get people, youknow, to take a look for the

(17:18):
book Moments by Gary Spinola. Uh. And on top of it, I
love the fact Gary that you're alwayshelping out Saint jude Children's Hospital. That's
my charity as well. So I'msure the sales of this book will go
a long long way, no doubtabout that. Yeah. Have they reached

(17:41):
out to you Saint Jude's to thankyou for Yeah, there's actually ah,
I know it's uh, there areI don't know what you call them.
It's like a branch here. Youcould think they have events here and stuff
and we go there and a paintings, they have auctions and uh, it's
great all these people get together.And it's also one from same purpose,

(18:03):
which is same panthic and you know, these people really rate some money.
It's just it's incredible. A lotof people don't know that when you do
this stuff for Saint Jude and theywork on cure for cancer and stuff,
it's shared with the world. Soif they come up with something, it
benefits everybody. But in the meantime, we look at them like, how

(18:25):
can you not help the kid whenit's no fall to their own. You
know that they're there and that's whyI do everything I can. Well,
we we miss you here in Detroit. I mean, I know you've been
in Arizona quite a while. You'vegot some health issues of your own that
keeps you there. But you know, next time you're out to dinner with
Tim and Terry, you got tosend him our love for sure. And

(18:48):
if I can say, in June, I'm hoping to come out. We
were talking to Barnes and Noble todo a book signing would be real fun.
I will let you know more detail. Hopefully, love to see you
there because we're having people, uhstopped in and sign because you're in the
book, so you could stop in. Oh I got you, Okay,

(19:11):
Yeah, there's one of the guysin their gazapi from the music store's she
wants to drive up from Ohio andthe other I said, it'll give me
a panel, said my sisters aregonna come. It'll be uh, it'll
be fun, all right, Yeah, well pizza. You know, let
me know if you need any helpon that. We'll be we'll be there
to help for sure. Okay,that'd be great. Well Gary, Uh,

(19:33):
congratulations, that's all I can sayon this new book Moments. It's
fantastic, it looks great. Congratulations. I hope you sell them a million
of them. Thank you. Iappreciate it. Thanks so much, all
right, Gary, Well, thanksonce again for your time. People go
to his website, grab that bookor grab some of those new albums,
and hopefully we'll see you here soon. Gary, thanks a lot. Okay,

(19:56):
buddy, bye,