Lizzie Grey - RIP

Lizzie died just the other night...RIP.
Read Nikki's post on Instagram
Watch the video for one of his finest tunes on YouTube

The Dirt - Netflix - Motley Crue

Like an after show party on Clark St. that ends the day after, Crue week on Sirius XM is over. The Dirt has arrived.

As a kid growing up with Motley being my favorite band (1st concert I ever went to was them opening up for Kiss on the Creatures tour), the objective for me was to watch this movie at face
value without trying to scrutinize every detail of the stories and history of my own tattooed beliefs
of this band. If you're able to do that, you're in for a fun ride. The Dirt is highly entertaining and enjoyable. The film makers did a great job recreating all the periods of their career. Looks That Kill particularly looks bad ass. Sure some things are out of sequence in the timeline, such as Doc McGhee managing Kiss after Crue, not before. Or the band playing to a huge crowd for the first time was not The Forum, it was the US Festival. But so what. For the sake of movie making/story telling, it's forgivable.

Applause for giving a nod to Nikki's early band with Lizzie Grey, London. You'll find their poster on Tommy's bedroom wall, and in the narrative as well.

Sure it would've been cool to see Nikki with Blackie Lawless, as it's so colorfully depicted in the book, and give a wink to where the use of the pentagram came from. But this is something only a Cruehead would think about.

First thought of seeing Vince portrayed by Daniel Webber was this guy is playing Jeff Spicoli. As the film progresses, the actor does a good job capturing his stage antics and persona.

Music wise, love the version of Livewire sung by Meghan Kabir. Why this wasn't included on the soundtrack release is a real shame.

The Dirt movie leaves me reminiscing about growing up in the 80's and my days on the Sunset Strip as a young teen. Helluva time. It's a different playground now, and a different business model. The days of building a scene pre-internet no longer exists. I'm not talking about being a band in your hometown and having a fair draw show up when you play out. I'm talking about a community of hundreds of bands in the same city, on the same mission, on the same streets, trying to stay alive and get attention and make it. There were a slew of bands from the same era/same scene that achieved success, Motley however were the leaders. There won't be another like them who lived and breathed the way these guys did. Each member had their own personality. Collectively they were a gang. Something bands today simply lack. Most people today don't even know the names of all the band members in their favorite bands, no matter what the genre. If there was a gun to your head and the shooter was going to pull the trigger if you couldn't name all the guys in Coldplay, ten out of ten would have a bullet in the head because you probably could only name Chris Martin. Forget about The Struts, you don't even know the name of the singer. You're dead kid. But you do know Vince, Nikki, Mick and Tommy.

GB29 (Lizzie Grey interview)

Glambone comes out of hibernation, the glitter chestnuts have been stored and ready for sharing.  It’s a party in Hollywood, and just having a good time as we kick off the new year with an exclusive interview with lengendary L.A. veteran Lizzie Grey.

Listen as he recounts tales of the early days at the Starwood, and meeting Nikki Sixx for the first time, describing him as a John Waite look a-like with red spikey hair.  In addition to all the heavy hitters Lizzie played with back when... “The Blackie project (London II) didn’t last long, maybe five or six months, nothing really came of it.  It was another step of London slipping down another notch.  And then when Blackie left London, whatever the reason, it wasn’t happening anymore.  So that’s when things shifted, for me anyway.  I said to Blackie ‘you’re great at being a monster, use your devil voice and do your best.’  He took my advice and Wasp was everything that was.”

Lizzie sums up his own career by saying “I gave it everything I had, and I still do.”

Get your free download of the new GB29 episode here

GLAMBONE!

GB Holiday/Anniversary (London, Michael Lockwood, The Young Offenders)

Put on your party hats and extra mascara for this one, it’s the one year anniversary of Glambone!  Turn on your “Radio Stars” for an early version late 70’s style from London.  We uncover another gem in the Sixx era Lizzie Grey saga.  Back in the days when Nikki was wearing his best Steven Tyler ensemble, which he’d later ressurect and improve upon for the Theatre Of Pain album, meanwhile Lizzie would take this very song and Crue-cify it for London’s “Non Stop Rock” LP.
While the quality of the tape preservation on this copy isn’t so hot, the song itself is classic L.A. glam, so naturally Glambone shares it with you to savor it all in spandex glory.

Michael Lockwood, a man with a collection of great guitars and equally great hats, kicked around the L.A. scene for a handful of years after the demise of Lions & Ghosts.  In the time before landing a spot playing with Aimee Mann, Michael recorded tracks for his own project by the name of The Light Bachwood Movement.  Wearing his influences on his sleeve, the podcast shines light on his song “Skin.”

We turn the attention over to 2 douchebands for our now infamous segment.  Both hailing from Los Angeles.  Give an ice cold welcome to Legs Up, and Lickity Split.

1987 saw lots of cool bands rival L.A. on the east coast.  Pharoah obviously heading the pack, but also from NJ was a five piece called Mystery City.  Not much is known about them, other than the 2 song demo they left behind.  Great sleazy vocals, double guitar attack with the right amount of phaser, and catchy melodies... the band had a sound that separated itself from everyone else.  But like their name evokes, they truly are a mystery.

When the film Velvet Goldmine came out, it was no small wonder that baby bands that studied their T-Rex and “Here Come The Warm Jets” record would soon sprout like roses in summertime.  Not all them smelled so pretty in 1998, some were gawd awful putrid.  But from the UK, one managed to ride the wave of Brian Slade just for a second. That band was The Young Offenders.  Mercury signed ‘em to a singles deal, and “Pink and Blue” was released just in time, before Christian Bale would get his next script for yet another rock n roll motion picture, Laurel Canyon.  The Young Offenders pouted it up doing their best Marc Bolan these shores have seen in a long time.

Speaking of 70’s glitter... one band just couldn’t help themselves and decided to take Bowie’s red headed gender bending alter ego, dropping
the Stardust and keeping the Ziggy.  From the land of Rock N Roll Crazy Nights, Ziggy was born.  Japan had their very own Michael Monroe clone in the form of its frontman Juichi Morishige (pictured right).  From the 1988 release “Hot Lips” we take a listen to “Born To Be Free.”

San Franciso had a healthy glam scene in the mid 80’s.  On the list of bands contributing to that cause was Nag Nag Nag (pictured above).  Full of raw power and hairspray, as proof on “Wish It Was,” these guys came to rock.

The podcast closes with L.A.’s Tommi Gunn.  A band that had a real good thing going for them, that of course until they sabotaged themselves by going public in music city rags annoucing they signed
a demo deal to MCA.  Complete with photographs of the band holding their contract with a shit grinning look on their face.  Who does that sort of thing?  A&R man Bret Hartman did an about face and signed Pretty Boy Floyd instead, most likely out of spite.  In the end, anyone associated with MCA is in the dumpster these days anyway, so who the fuck cares.  Tommi Gunn would later find another whammy when drummer Anthony Focx miraculously re-invented himself as (gasp) a guitar player and surfaced in the band Beautiful Creatures.  But back to 1987, the featured track “Just Wait And See,” a glammy “Just Got Lucky” anthem Dokken style if ever there was one.  Note, this was before the cursed MCA demo recordings.


Blow on this bone!