Interview with Neil

Being from New Orleans, I grew up with all sorts of influences. Blues, Jazz and Dixieland. But it wasn't until I saw my first live rock band at age11 that I knew what I wanted to be. I saw the lights, guitars and drums and I was floored. All I could think about was becoming a drummer. Drumming was the coolest thing I had ever seen. But, alas, it was not to be.

As it turns out, my parents didn't want all that noise in the house. So despite all my obvious hinting, Christmas came but the drum set did not. Under the tree was a cheap-ass guitar with my name on it. No f--king way. I wanted nothing to do with it. Sadly disappointed, I sulked back into my room and, although I appreciated the new socks and underwear that were so carefully wrapped, all I could think was 'Christmas Sucks.'

So there it was, staring at me, mocking me. That stupid, shitty guitar had made its way into my bedroom and was living there amongst my things. Yuck! I didn't want it. Why was it there? What did it want from me? I decided to ignore it in protest. I figured my parents would realize the wrong they had done, apologize and replace it with my drums. It was a test of wills. I lost! Somehow they didn't even seem to notice. So, in late February, I broke down and picked up the guitar. It wasn't so bad.

I met three other kids in the neighborhood that were also learning guitar. We jammed together and it was a blast. One of the guys wanted to play bass and I sang the best. He picked up the bass and I put down the guitar. And just like that, I was "the singer."

My next door neighbor got a drum set for Christmas. His name was Billy Drew. He was 9. Somehow, Santa Claus had seriously screwed up and mistakenly delivered my drums to Billy's house. I have a theory that Billy and Santa conspired against me, and my mom was the third gunman on the grassy knoll. I have never completely forgiven any of them. But I digress. I asked Billy if he wanted to jam with us and he said yes. And just like that, we were a band.

Well, almost. We practiced in the garage for about a year and booked our first real gig. It was some sort of Youth Organization dance. There were over 200 people waiting. They were waiting for us!! I was the oldest at 12, Billy was 10. The other guys were nervous but I was calm and confident. Well, I may have been a tad apprehensive. OK, we were scared shitless, but that all went away as soon as we broke into the first song. People were dancing and watching us. At the end of the song they applauded. What a rush. We were the center of attention and, as it turns out, singing was waaay better than drumming. I just couldn't stop moving on stage. It was so natural. I was completely in my element. Life was good. Puberty was excellent.

By the time I was 16, our band "RYE" had played over a hundred gigs. It lasted for quite a few years until, one by one, the members started leaving the band to become doctors, pilots, architects and other such nonsense. What were they thinking?

I was playing the New Orleans area in a band called Star when I got a call from Danny Muro. He had a band named White Tiger and they were planning to relocate to New York. He asked if I wanted to go with them as their singer. I didn't know Danny so I went out to a WT gig and guess who was drumming - my old friend and drum thief, Billy Drew. Danny told me about a guy from New York that wanted to bring WT to NY and could really help us to get started. It sounded good to me. So we loaded up the truck and we moved to Beverly (so to speak).

We left New Orleans on April fools day headed for the Big Apple. What the hell did we know? We had three shitty cars, one beat to shit van and a really ugly truck. We were repairing one vehicle or another all along the way. But nothing could stop us.

When we arrived on Staten Island, we knocked on Jimmy Breslin's door. He was sleeping. He finally answered the door and was obviously hung-over. WE'RE HERE! - we announced. (long pause). Jimmy wipes his eyes and says "Who are yous guys and what are yous talking about?" He said "yous guys" - which sounded funny to our southern ears. Jimmy looked at our caravan, his eyes were wide open now, and said "Where are yous guys gonna live?" There was a moment of silence. Wees guys had no idea. Then, he gave us a look like, 'don't even think your staying here.'

We asked to use the phone to find a hotel, and reminded him of what he had said in New Orleans. Jimmy barely remembered. Apparently, he was drunk and was just bullshitting, and never thought we would actually come. I was staring a hole in the side of Danny's head thinking, is this your great plan? He wouldn't look at me. We didn't speak. I handed him the phone. We were in it together now bud. Holy Shit!!

Jimmy, being Jimmy, had mercy on us and hired us to play the club he was managing. It was called The Factory. The next day we rented a place upstairs from a strange Indian family (from India). Considering all of our nonsense and their bazaar chicken rituals, we got along pretty well. (You just had to be there.) Anyway, we played The Factory all the time. That's how we got through it.

We were looking for a new bass player and someone mentioned Joey. Danny and I went to check him out. His band was playing and he was leaning on his amp. He was a little guy. He stayed in the shadows so we couldn't get a good look at him. Every now and then he would kick his speaker cabinet. This went on until it was time for him to sing. He stepped up to the mic and planted himself. Suddenly he was huge. Bigger than life. And then he started to sing. He was f--king awesome. Our jaws hit the floor. He pumped his bass and gave off a raw sexuality that was absolutely genuine. Joey was the real deal. We were instant fans. I remember the hair on my arms stood up.

Danny and I looked at each other and without a word we knew we had to have Joey in our band. When Joey's band took a break we went back stage and offered him the gig. We were like a couple of excited kids. Joe looked at us like we were crazy. He has never seemed to understand how very special he is or how powerful his stage presence can be. Not to mention he plays the shit out of the bass guitar. Joe came out to see us play and then took the gig. Way cool.

Over the years, offers have come in but we just never got together on it. Partly because I live in California. But lately there has been contact between the band members and we would like to do it. We just need to figure out how.