GB25 (Jaime St. James interview, Agent X)

Ready for the world, or R U just ready to gitcha Bone on?!  Let me love you till the morning comes.  Alright, nevahmind the urban spoon... GB25 opens up and says ahh with a rare treat from Billy D’Vette and his old posse’ once upon a time known as Agent X (pictured right with Mayor of the Sunset Strip, Rodney Bingenheimer w/the penis-head hair-do).  The band also featured Danny Simon (aka Simon Daniels, aka “Brazilian Recording Star”) on vocals.  GB6 showcased their gem “Rock & Roll Angels,” but what we didn’t tell you then is the roots of how that song came about.

Started out being called “Sheila.”  It was under the advice of the Runaways brainchild Kim “I wrote King Of The Nightime World” Fowley,

that suggested the later title of what the song became.  With recording engineering twiddling of the knobs from Candy’s Jonathan Daniel, who happened to be chumming it up with Fowley at the time, as evident on the god-awful songs he contributed to on the Runaways “Young And Fast” slab of shite, Jonathan recorded “Sheila” on his 4-track in his bedroom.  Billy tells us a small label known for releasing CD’s of L.A. band demos is currently discussing the possibilities of releasing all the Agent X recordings sometime in the near future.  We’ll keep you posted, in the meantime, fix your ears on this.

Summer of ’11 hard rockers can expect the long awaited return of Black N Blue with their first studio record in 20 years.  Jaime St. James phones in for cool convo as we ask him about the new release, the early days of Movie Star featuring Julian Raymond (Dear Mr. President), and the story behind being part of one of the first Kiss tribute bands (Cold Gin) that really ignited the fire in loads of bands to follow, all paying homage to the masked 4-some.

“Basically, Tommy said (to the other guys) well you know Jaime can play drums, he knows all this stuff, and he would be perfect.  So they called me and I said ok I’ll come in and I’ll sit in with you guys. But there has to be one thing understood, I’m not playing in a Kiss tribute band unless we put the make-up on and get full costumes, otherwise it doesn’t make any sense...just gonna walk up there in jeans and a t-shirt that would be stupid.  And I said, let me tell you something guys, we’re either gonna be the heros of L.A. or we’re gonna be the goats, and I aint no god damned goat.”  Jaime goes on to say “not only did it start the tribute thing, it also I think influenced Kiss to put the make-up back on, to be honest with you.”

The packed half-hour show closes with one of the last of the good ones  that Jonathan Daniel penned.  “Lies My Father Told Me” surfaced as a tune on The Loveless cd.  The version here actually sounds closest to what we would expect, a song that could easily have been from the end of the Candy/Gilby days.  With Ryan Roxie’s guitar playing, you can not go wrong.  The band re-recorded the track with guitarist John Ceparano on “A Tale Of Gin & Salvation,” who’s style would’ve much better paired up with a jazz trio.  Way too much over usage of the Roland JC120, but thankfully this version exists.  

to the Bone!

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Glambone # Sixx (Tomorrow's Child, Cathouse)

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Six-pack of Glambone for ya, we start the show with the band Agent X.  In 1986 these guys came on the L.A. scene with th

e right mix of catchy hooks and great musicianship.

Featuring members Danny Simon who would later front Jailhouse, and Billy DeVette who went on to join Pair A Dice.  Agent X (pictured here) was better than most that year, but sadly could not keep it together.  The song spotlighted on the podcast is “Rock & Roll Angels.”

Following Agent X in the line of bands that should’ve got on to kick arse and elevate out

of the L.A. gutter was Cathouse.  A frontman in Clark James, possessing all the attitude and sexual swagger of Ian Astbury and Michael Hutchence all  rolled into one...sadly he would fall victim to the dope and not recover to earth.  “Candice” is the type of cinematic song that in a time filled with the same redundant G C D chord structured ballads, Cathouse was capable of writing sentimental songs that differed from the expected.

Next up in the “coulda been huge” category is Tomorrow’s Child.  There really were no other L.A. bands during the mid to late 80

’s that resembled the sound of TC.  They had

class and a style more akin to

 The Church and bands of that nature, than anything to 

do with the bands they shared

gigs with.  Their singer Adam was explosive on stage, commanding your attention and controlling the mood and intensity of the crowd. Swallowed up by the label execs that didn’t no squat about how to present a band like Tomorrow's Child (pictured left), they faltered like many have before and after them, due to the wrong people getting involved, and were over before they even be

gun.

We shine some light on another L.A. band from the same era known as Clara Bow (pictured right). Sleazy guitars and sing along chorus’ was what these guys were all about.  But they were gone faster than you could say Rocknee.

The podcast closes with yet another namestay on the L.A. scene circa 1980’s... the band Actress.  They put the glam in Glam, and wore it proudly as good showman 

do. The track featured is from an AOL fan compilation disc titled “Music From The Folder”

that paid tribute to their faves, Kiss.  Guitarist Ace Steele revs up a rendition of the

“Hotter Than Hell” classic “Got 2 Choose.”  

Pout hard.