Ron
Asheton interview
part four
K: It must be nice to go someplace and have your music be appreciated. In that respect, Australia seems to be ahead of us here.
R: They're an incredible rock and roll audience. Very appreciative, so it was a real joy to go and play. I mean, I love Australia. The crowds were like they were when the Stooges and the MC5 were kind of at their zenith, their apex, the time period when the crowds used to come and just go nuts for that stuff. The kids, that's how they are now. Deniz Tek, of course...he keeps going back, and he's going "It's pretty dismal, 'cause the economy's bad," and now they're into hip-hop, and they're into garbage...there's no rock down there anymore. And I'm going, "Now wait a minute. You're not telling me that Australian kids are wearing their ball caps backwards and Nike shirts and huge Beavis and Butthead shorts and those long pants that look like you're wearing a skirt and with the underwear showing?" I'm going, "Nooo, not Australia, nooooo... "
K: It's like a cancer.
R: I'm going, "Damn." How could they think that was cool? For me, I can't believe the way kids dress now. It's too..."Dude. Do you really think that's cool, dude?"
K: It's all marketing.
R: Oh, yeah. Nowadays, all clothes are nothing but walking advertisements. I mean, jeez -- your hat, your shirt, everything has gotta have some logo on it. The United States has turned into some sort of brainwashed group of kids that'll wear anybody's costume just to advertise their shit.
K: I was gonna ask you something about Empty
Set. It's been a coupla years since you did anything with Billy Frank.
R: Well, for a little while, Bill was in Destroy All Monsters, before Larry Steele stepped in, and Larry was just a better drummer. Bill's a real competent drummer. He's real mechanical -- his meter is fantastic. But Larry Steele is more like in between my brother and Dennis Thompson. He's a heavy hitter; he plays a little bit more into the music than my brother, and a little bit less than Dennis Thompson, so he was the perfect person for that band. I always liked Bill, and he'd always come up with these projects, so it was cool to be able to go to L.A. and do some recording. In 1991, he flew me out there...I hadn't played in L.A. in 17 years or something, so I thought it'd be cool to go out there. We played the Coconut Teaser, and he had it all recorded. But basically, in a weird way, it kinda pisses me off, because he's taken all the stuff we've done and just sorta made it his own little project. I don't talk to him that often, and he kinda goes ahead with things without telling me, and I don't really see any money, and he's really milked the shit out of it. I haven't seen a penny in years, so I'm kinda mad at him that he would do that.
K: Your name is all over the thing (Empty Set's Thin, Slim and None/Flunkie CD.)
R: Well, yeah. He's using it to make money on his own. I think the last monies I got from him were like...God, it's gotta be like five years or something. And it wasn't that much, it was a couple bucks. And he's taken this and just taken all of it that we recorded, we did studio stuff, we did a bunch of live stuff, we did some stuff here in Ann Arbor, and I did it as a friend, and he paid me to do a little mixin', and after that, I just kinda went, "Gee, Bill, where's the money? When I see that you've got an Italian version, and there's an Australian version, and a German version," and it pissed me off enough that I don't really talk to him. Not that I don't wanna talk to him, it's just...that's just kinda rude, you know? All in all, for all that stuff, I've probably seen less than a thousand dollars, and he's made more than that.
And now, this thing that was out on Alive, some compilation (Motor Cify's Burnin), somehow he was involved with that, and he put on a song that we did with him...it was supposed to be Party Girl, and of course we didn't have a picture 'cause he just snuck it in. The song that's advertised on the jacket isn't even the song that's on the fuckin' record. There's no Michael Davis on it! He used all the names again, and somehow he said, "Well, they put the wrong song on" -- they put a song on that I didn't write; I co-wrote, and he put on his song and used those names...it says Michael Davis; I played all the guitars and the bass.
K: It's billed as "Ron Asheton's Destroy All Monsters (pictured below left). "
R: Yeah, right, and I never saw a
penny. It was just "Here if is." He said: "When the money comes
in, I'll send you a check. " Well, that was fuckin' a year ago, man. I
know the money is piddly, but still, it was the principle of it. I figure there's
not that when things start poppin' and I've organized my legal stuff, I'll have
it looked into, 'cause I do have a lawyer and stuff. Right now I'm just waiting
for the Wylde Ratttz stuff and it's not like I'm gonna go after him, because
there's no giant money there. He might have made a couple thousand dollars there,
under five, but still, damn, dude. I'll never work with him again, and there's
no reason to, 'cause I did all that as a favor, and for fun, for old time's
sake, a couple of trips to L.A.
When we did that, he calls me up and goes (it was what, '94 or '3), "We're gonna make a video in - Mexico, and we're gonna pay you all this money to do it, and blah blah blah." So I get there, and I'm goin', "I don't know;" over the phone, I'm goin', "Gee, I sure hate to go to Mexico, man. It's awful hard and dangerous to work down there, and you guys better have money to grease some palms or you're gonna have trouble with the police and all kinds of shit." I got there, I was so relieved; the whole thing fell through. They listened to me; the camera crew were taking a hundred thousand dollars worth of equipment down there. They realized, they were more worried about their equipment than the money they were gonna make.
So the tour was cancelled, and that's when we did that recording. I said, "Well, let's just go in and cut some tracks instead." Spend the money on that. So we wound up doing that, then I came back and we had all this other stuff to do, and then...L.A. riots, man. I was there in L.A. for the riots. Bill was like, "Here's a little reward"...they're payin' for me to fly out, we had some fun things to do and some parties and some business things I was gonna take care of. The second day I was there, I went up to Bug Music, the publisher who handles all the Stooges stuff and many great things, and went to my favorite bar, the Powerhouse, right next to Bug.
It's like you walk into this place, it's been there for 35 years, it's like walking back into the 50s. The guys like Joe the bartender, he's been there for thirtysome years. Old Naugahyde...even if it's 90 degrees outside, and they don't have a/c in the bar, it's dark and cool. I'm goin', "Wait a minute, how come it's so hot outside, the inside of the bar is like it's air conditioned and they don't have an air conditioner?" It's like a magical place. It's nothin' but drinkin' people...prostitutes, blue-collar guys, old rich Jewish women with sunglasses and diamonds who just wanna hide in the corner and drink. It's so cool, I love it.
The ballgame's on TV, Frank Sinatra's on the radio, so we're sittin' there drinkin', and watching the ballgame, and Joe goes and clicks it off and I was just gonna say, "Hey, whaddaya doin'," and he knew the Rodney King verdicts were coming on. Holy shit. Everyone's quiet. And watching this, I hear all the "Not guilty, not guilty," and I think, "Uh-oh, trouble, trouble, trouble." And Joe cuts off the TV and goes, "Drinks on the house. All right! " It's like "Support your local police. " That's cool, that's cool.
So we're havin' some drinks, and I'm with Bill
Frank, and "Bill, we gotta get out of here." So everyone's starting
to talk. The whole bar, everyone's turning to these people, this old Jewish
woman goes, "I'm glad they got off because two years ago, these two black
guys came in our house and beat my husband to death and beat me and stole my
diamonds" and I said, "Wow, I understand," and then I got up
and go, "Okay, everybody, I'm serious, everyone should beware, and everyone
should go home, or be careful the rest of the day, 'cause the shit is goin'
down right now." Joe goes, "Ah, no, if something goes on, it's gonna
take at least till the weekend."
Me and Bill, we left the bar, we stayed for a coupla minutes, shoot back down to Santa Monica to his apartment. Soon as I get there, I turn on the TV, and as soon as I turned it on, I saw Reginald Denny get beat, so I was right. And then it was curfew...every night you had to close the windows, even though we were ten miles away, and smell the burning of rubber and that horrible house burning smell.
So it was weird being in L.A. after living there, and got to see panic buying...just like a movie, Bill and I went into the 7-Eleven and we're standing in line, we got some water or something, and there's a guy going "We're gonna die. We're all gonna die!" And Bill slapped him. It was like, "You're scaring everybody." It was iike, where's the camera? Okay, come out. This is Candid Camera, right? All the food shelves were empty and I was gonna have dinner with Ray Manzarek, so I call up Ray and I go, "Well gee, Ray, I guess we're not havin' dinner tonight. " And he goes, "Well, you're right, because the limo's coming; we're going to Bali, the limo's coming any minute. " He packed up his family and a bunch of stuff and they went to Bali until the riots were over. He said, "I've got people in the house guarding my 3,000-year-old Egyptian artwork."
So he went to Bali, and we went next door to see if there's any food left. This wonderful Japanese guy, I love him, especially his daughter, she's so beautiful...he sees me all the time, I go over there all the time to buy liquor, water, beer and stuff And I open the door and the first thing he does is his hand goes under the counter; I'm like, "Wait a minute, it's me, man." He's got a .45 under there. The same thing -- the place is like picked out. He goes, "You last one. I'm closed, lock door, don't come back. I'm lockin' up." It was weird being in L.A.
K: Was it shades of Detroit '67 or what?
R: Weirder than that, because in Santa Monica, there's hardly any black people, if any, in Santa Monica. They actually burned a few stores in Westwood, near our area. They burned an old dayschool that was only a couple of blocks from Bill's apartment. It was weirder, 'cause at least we knew what we were up against in Detroit. The Stooges used to rehearse in '67...the MC5 had a great big old apartment building; it used to be a dentist's office. It was like three floors, and that was like their little power hippie commune. We rehearsed in the MC5's room and we went to go practice. I'm goin' to these guys, "There's a riot goin' on, man. Whaddaya mean, we're going to practice? We don't need to practice when there's a riot goin' on. " So we're goin' to Detroit, and tank.s stopped us. A tank on the expressway. "Go back." Loudspeaker. "Go back. This road is closed. " Whaaa? They re-routed us the other way. Man, that was weird, but at least I knew, this is full-force, but to be in L.A., it was a lot different.
KEN
SHIMAMOTO WRITES: "Word
is the Wylde Ratttz release is delayed because Warner Bros just bought their
UK affiliate - they're moving offices, etc., but it's NOT dead yet. This is
probably advantageous, since they didn't want the band associated with what
was not a very successful film -- it cost $US7m to make; grossed $US1m in national
theatrical release (although it will probably make it up in video rentals).
"Once the rec is out, there will probably be a tour of some sort; they've
discussed all options from a couple of showcase gigs to a full-blown national
tour (probably no more than a month's duration, hitting the strongholds on both
US coasts and in the
midwest). As for Australia and Europe: They're waiting for someone to put a
deal together.
"Ron is also also shopping a seven -song demo by a "specialty project" called Creature 79 with his girlfriend Dara (former gtr/vox with His Name Is Alive); he plays guitar on all the tunes. There is some from two prominent indie labels; if one of them bites, they'll cut more tunes, possibly with his brother drumming."