Friday, November 12 at Gagarin (Athens, Greece), Rudi and the legendary garage band FUZZTONES will take us once again to the most authentic paths of Rock & Roll. I'm sure. We would speak with Rudi (for the third time in recent years) 'on air' in Rockzone ('Kanaliena.gr') last Saturday, after the interview with Peter Hammill, but we didn't manage to it. You will see the reason below. This time, however I did not forget to ask Rudi Protrudi about one of my favorite songs from the albums of legendary Fuzztones. They have a new album and believe me, it's amazing!
1. First of all Rudi, how do you feel coming back to Greece with the FUZZTONES?
We always loved playing Greece. I'm 1/4 Greek myself - my grandfather was Athenian.
I'm really looking forward to seeing a lot of familiar faces from the past.
2. How is the tour going so far really?!
Great! I had had some serious health issues just before the tour and for a while it looked like we may have to cancel, but we eventually decided to try to do it. I had to take it easy for the first week or two, behaving myself and getting enough sleep and all that. Luckily I built up my resistance and got better - I feel good now and Ι’m able to give 100% each night. The new material is going over really well and the crowds have been really enthusiastic about the current line-up.
3. Rudi, can you give us a picture regarding the NEW album? I think it’s amazing!
Thanks a lot! I'm very proud of it - I think it's the best stuff we've done in years. In fact, maybe the best album we've EVER done. Every song on the record is original. The material is much deeper and more versatile than before, yet still faithful to our roots. I think fans will be pleasantly surprised, to say the least.
4. And what about 'Don’t speak ill of the dead'? What a song...!
Thanks! Most of the songs were quite involved, song writing-wise. "Don't Speak Ill"
was just the opposite - it came to me all at once while I was riding around Berlin one day.
I don't know what inspired it - it just came to me as a fully written song. I went home and recorded a demo of it and taught it to the band. It was the last song to be written for the album.
5. Roky Erickson will be in Athens in December for the very first time.. What would you like to say about Roky really..?
First and foremost, what an inspiration he is! I doubt that anyone ever dreamed that he would ever play out again, let alone be able to see him live! His story is an amazing testament to the human spirit. I haven't had a chance to see him but am hoping I get to. With Sky, Arthur Lee and Syd gone, he's really the last of the truly great psychedelic
pioneers. A living legend!
6. Can you tell me the 'story' behind a wonderful song of yours..? 'Just once'...Born classic...Any memories? Any details Rudi?
There are great stories behind almost all our songs - and especially that one in particular!
There was a great band that came from Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, called The Punk Rock Janitors. Mechanicsburg, by the way, was only a few miles from Camp Hill, where I lived in Pennsylvania. The band consisted of three mentally challenged guys - not retarded, but very, very close to it. My pre-Fuzztones band, Tina Peel, used to bring them to our gigs as an opening act. They were extremely entertaining. Eventually they added a hot little piece of white trash to play rhythm guitar. She was about 22 but looked like a 13 year old hooker. It was at that point where I took them under my wing and produced their demos.
At the same time she and I began a little secret relationship - for years I thought that 'Just Once' was written by the singer/guitarist Danny Trash, but found out much later that she had written it about me. She used to run a sanctuary for abandoned cats but then got hooked on smack. She was busted for using the donations she received to feed the cats
to subsidize her heroin addiction.
7. And finally any comment regarding the ROCKZONE ('Kanaliena.gr') fans here.. Miss you on my radio show last Saturday! So they deserve something i guess!(laughs!)
Well, I went to your page and got a message that the page "Radio" has content of MIME type "application/x-mplayer2", but that I don't have a plug-in installed for this MIME type.
Sorry I wasn't able to do the interview live on your show but we got delayed during soundcheck for our Berlin Halloween show and I wasn't able to make it back in time!
It's always great doing your show and we're really looking forward to returning to my homeland!!!!
1. First of all Rudi, how do you feel coming back to Greece with the FUZZTONES?
We always loved playing Greece. I'm 1/4 Greek myself - my grandfather was Athenian.
I'm really looking forward to seeing a lot of familiar faces from the past.
2. How is the tour going so far really?!
Great! I had had some serious health issues just before the tour and for a while it looked like we may have to cancel, but we eventually decided to try to do it. I had to take it easy for the first week or two, behaving myself and getting enough sleep and all that. Luckily I built up my resistance and got better - I feel good now and Ι’m able to give 100% each night. The new material is going over really well and the crowds have been really enthusiastic about the current line-up.
3. Rudi, can you give us a picture regarding the NEW album? I think it’s amazing! Thanks a lot! I'm very proud of it - I think it's the best stuff we've done in years. In fact, maybe the best album we've EVER done. Every song on the record is original. The material is much deeper and more versatile than before, yet still faithful to our roots. I think fans will be pleasantly surprised, to say the least.
4. And what about 'Don’t speak ill of the dead'? What a song...!
Thanks! Most of the songs were quite involved, song writing-wise. "Don't Speak Ill"
was just the opposite - it came to me all at once while I was riding around Berlin one day.
I don't know what inspired it - it just came to me as a fully written song. I went home and recorded a demo of it and taught it to the band. It was the last song to be written for the album.
5. Roky Erickson will be in Athens in December for the very first time.. What would you like to say about Roky really..?
First and foremost, what an inspiration he is! I doubt that anyone ever dreamed that he would ever play out again, let alone be able to see him live! His story is an amazing testament to the human spirit. I haven't had a chance to see him but am hoping I get to. With Sky, Arthur Lee and Syd gone, he's really the last of the truly great psychedelic
pioneers. A living legend!
6. Can you tell me the 'story' behind a wonderful song of yours..? 'Just once'...Born classic...Any memories? Any details Rudi? There are great stories behind almost all our songs - and especially that one in particular!
There was a great band that came from Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, called The Punk Rock Janitors. Mechanicsburg, by the way, was only a few miles from Camp Hill, where I lived in Pennsylvania. The band consisted of three mentally challenged guys - not retarded, but very, very close to it. My pre-Fuzztones band, Tina Peel, used to bring them to our gigs as an opening act. They were extremely entertaining. Eventually they added a hot little piece of white trash to play rhythm guitar. She was about 22 but looked like a 13 year old hooker. It was at that point where I took them under my wing and produced their demos.
At the same time she and I began a little secret relationship - for years I thought that 'Just Once' was written by the singer/guitarist Danny Trash, but found out much later that she had written it about me. She used to run a sanctuary for abandoned cats but then got hooked on smack. She was busted for using the donations she received to feed the cats
to subsidize her heroin addiction.
7. And finally any comment regarding the ROCKZONE ('Kanaliena.gr') fans here.. Miss you on my radio show last Saturday! So they deserve something i guess!(laughs!)
Well, I went to your page and got a message that the page "Radio" has content of MIME type "application/x-mplayer2", but that I don't have a plug-in installed for this MIME type.
Sorry I wasn't able to do the interview live on your show but we got delayed during soundcheck for our Berlin Halloween show and I wasn't able to make it back in time!
It's always great doing your show and we're really looking forward to returning to my homeland!!!!
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