Interview

Interview with Big Bang Babies, by Ruben Blue, Rock City News Vol. 11 No. 15
 

RCN (Rock City News): Here we are in Hollywood, CA with "Big Bang Babies." Introductions are...

Kit: Kit Ashley, host.
Keith: Keith Allen, drummer.
Keri: Keri Kelli, lead guitar use, alcohol abuse.
Tweety: Tweety Boyd, attempting bass.

RCN: Is this the original lineup or do you have a new drummer?

Kit: We have a new drummer, Keith Allen, formerly of Razmataz.

Keith: Yes, unfortunately.

RCN: So, what are you guys up to now? Are you just playing gigs and looking for a record deal?

Kit: We did that gig at the Coconut Teaszer on the 4th of July with Blackboard Jungle and Swingin' Thing. That was pretty cool, and we've got an upcoming show on August 7th at the Troubadour.

RCN: Are you guys like big babies? What's with the name? Are you brats or what?!

Keri: Actually, we all work our asses off.

Tweety: Well the name Big Bang Babies actually came from, well... I had this down once before. "Big" is what we wanted our stage show to be. "Bang" was the explosive sound of the music to go along with the show. And "Babies," being that we hope to be the new generation of rock n' roll for the 1990's - "Babies" of the 90s.

RCN: So you're the first of the new breed, right?

Kit: The new era!!
Band: (Yeah!)...

RCN: So, does this come across in your songs and your music? Is that what your songs are about?

Tweety: Right, our songs are pretty much positive and youthful. We're not out to change the world with these songs, we're out to create a good time and to hopefully find some escape.

RCN: So, how long have you guys been around?

Keri: It's almost been 2 years, 1 year and nine months. We played our first show at the end of August '91, so it's nearing 2 years.

Kit: Hell, we've been panhandling! Yeah, Big Bang Babies! That's our job! That's our life! That's all we do!

Tweety: We know a lot of people say that for a cop out, but it actuall is. It's a full time job. A few of us in the past attempted to hold down part time jobs while being in the band, but it just didn't work!!

Keri: We're always going out of town to play. We play up north, Arizona, and New Mexico, so it's hard to take time off from your job to do 3 shows, because we're always going out of town, rehearsing, recording, and demo-ing. There's so much going on, the whole promoting process for the in-town shows, and that conflicts with any work schedule.

Tweety: At least 2 weeks before each show we play in town so we're out every night, you know, not necessarily just in Hollywood, but down in Orange County, the valley, and all the way out to Magic Mountain. We're promoting.

Keith: Anywhere there are people and kids that would want to come to the show and have a good time, you know?

RCN: Sounds like a fun time!

Keith: Oh yeah, definitely!

RCN: You guys live here in town?

Tweety: I live across the street.

Keri: You know that bus stop right down Fairfax. Actually, I live above the 101 Bridge. You can see my tent up there... it's fluorescent pink!

Band: (laughter)

Keri: Yeah, if anyone wants to bring me beer or food, please do so! Oh man...!

Keith: Or a portable shower!

Kit: There's a little portable flag out there that means open for business!

Tweety: Yeah, "Sale!"

RCN: What's happening after the summer? What are your goals?

Tweety: Well, for what we're trying to do now, and the climate of the rock n' roll market right now...

Kit: We're just drinking and doing a lot of drugs and it's working out fine!

Band: (laughs)

Keri: We're going completely against the grain with what's going on, which I think is great, but a lot of opportunities have arisen overseas -- in Japan and throughout Europe, and we're just going to try to capitalize on those right now, so we just want to finish up this year, have a great years here in L.A. Hopefully things will progress overseas so we can just take on that.

Tweety: We realize the type of thing we're doing right now isn't exactly hip and the rage that's going on, not necessarily in Los Angeles but in the states in general. So like he said, we're gonna work on some things oveseas. Maybe in a year, year and a half or so, things will change out there and some doors will open up for us.

RCN: It seems like the whole glam thing is reviving again out here?

Keri: Sort of... maybe on the local scene...

RCN: Only in Hollywood, right?

Keri: Yeah, on the local level here in L.A. You can look in Billboard any week and you can obviously tell that it's not the rage of rock n' roll music right now.

Kit: We'd like to jump out and break it wide open right now!

Keri: Like I said, we're going completely against the grain with what's going on. We're just doing what we do and we've been doing it with this band for the last 2 years, and we're gonna continue doing it. So, hopefully things will turn around and go our way. Eventually they're going to have to accept us.

Keith: We're gonna hook up with Clinton and we're gonna all be uniting a world of change!

Tweety: Objective: "World Domination" ... there's an idea!

RCN: Our draft-dodging, pot-smoking president!

Band: Yeah!

RCN: That's what makes him great!

Kit: He didn't inhale though!
Keith: He injected it!
Tweety: He seems like a stoner!

RCN: So who writes the songs for you guys? Does Tweety write them?

Keri: No!
Band: (laughs)
Tweety: So far Keri's done the majority of the writing.
Kit: Hey!
Tweety: Kit's done some writing too.
Kit: I write basically as much ...almost.
Tweety: Do you mean music, lyrics, or both?

Keri: Well how we usually do it is I come up with a bunch of music because I'm always writing a bunch of music on 4 track crap, and then I usually give Kit the tape of 8 or 10 tunes, and then while he's writing lyrics, I'm also writing lyrics. Then we get together like a week later and see what's come out. That's basically how it works.

Kit: Sometimes he comes up with the whole song and lyrics, sometimes I will, and sometimes we'll merge together on ideas. That's basically how it works.

RCN: What are some of the names of the songs?

Keri: Well, some of the tunes that most everybody that goes to our shows have heard of are "Everybody Needs a Hero," "Love Drug," "Saturday Night," a new song called "Eight Arms to Love You," "Maybe Someday," and a whole host of other new songs. Just the other day I put on a tape of our complete catalog from when we first started until recent. Four track recording, 8 track, 24 track, and it came out to 53 or 56 tunes. I think writing is the key because that's the whole thing. You know, someone's driving in their car, and they hear your song on the radio -- they don't know what the band looks like or what they're like live. They just hear that song. The song's always gonna be there, you know? Look at bands that are dead, like Zeppelin or whoever. The songs are still there even if the legend isn't. So I think songs are a very important factor in this band.

Tweety: It's most of our music!

Keith: Yeah, exactly!

RCN: It's called image!

Keri: It's definitely very youth oriented. You know, our shows are very youth oriented as well as the songs. It's just like when I first saw KISS in '78. I went there with my mom and it was incredible! I was this little kid at this huge show with all these kids. Everybody was getting crazy. It was just so incredible! After I'd seen that I said, "This is what I want to do!" When they come to our shows, I want the kids to feel the same thing that I felt! I try to make it very exciting, and make it the best and biggest show that we can. We make it really exciting.

Kit: It's the party we always wanted to go to, you know?

RCN: Yeah, it seems like it's like that with a lot of the local bands I've talked to in the last few years. Their biggest influence was KISS.

Keri: That was the s**t! I think it's because at that time most of us were the same age. The guys in local bands and we were influenced by KISS. Yeah, that's definitely what I was into. You know, first it was KISS in the later 80s, and Motley Crue in the early days 'cause I would see the different stuff these guys were into and I wanted to be like KISS on the local level. I just think the show goes hand in hand with the music. I hate bands that are musically cool but not visually exciting. I think that's a letdown. F**k! If you're gonna pay $20 or $25 for a ticket for a regular rock show, and then you have to buy your date a ticket for another $25, go out to dinner and pay for parking and some drinks, it turns out to be a f**king $150 evening! S**t! You better be entertained!

Tweety: We want the show to be something the kids will talk about for a long time after they saw it. We don't want them to go home and say, "Yeah, I liked that one song the band played." We want them to go home and say "That was a cool show! Remember all the stuff they did? Rock n' Roll Circus! Bring in the clowns!" We're actually thinking of starting a trapeze act... and just hanging around! We try to build up every show we do and try to do something different!

Keri: Tweety's actually been trying to walk on fire!

Tweety: Yeah, but I keep burning hair though!

Keri: Keith already went through it a few times so he's not going to try it anymore! No, anything for the kids. You know what I mean? To entertain them, you know? That's what it's all about!

Tweety: We're doing something that we've always believed in. That's why we're in this band. We're having a good time enjoying a happy childhood as adults!

RCN: Do you guys have a demo? Do you have management? What's up with you guys?

Keri: Well, we did have CDs and cassettes available. We only have a few cassettes left. About a year ago we got a bunch of CDs and tapes printed up, and we got 2,000 cds printed. They're all gone, but we had 1,000 cassettes, and we still have a couple hundred cassettes. So we sold about 2,800 CDs and tapes over the year, just locally. We still have some tapes available. It's like a 7 song demo. It's not like we didn't put it out so people would think this is like our own record or something, but that wasn't the intention at all. It was never intended on this being our record or anything, it just came about as everybody has CD players these days, and CDs are better quality so we thought, let's get some CDs. We obviously sold twice as many CDs than tapes. It's just a 7 song demo but on CD and we have them on tape too. People seem to enjoy them so...

Kit: We're also just contemplating right now our 60 minute home video that seems to be taking a lot longer than we thought it would take to get finished. That should be done in about a week, shouldn't it?

Keri: The problem is that the video was basically completed, but it had all this footage of the old drummer in it and we didn't think it would be fair to represent the band like in a 60 min. video with the old drummer. So, what we had to do was we had to go back and edit (which takes forever) out all the pieces -- not all the pieces, but the majority of Freddie's pieces, so it wasn't so dominating. But, it should come out great!

RCN: Editing is expensive!

Keri: Actually, we had these college students doing it, so it's free!

Band: (laughter)

Keri: They said that it costs like $150 an hour or something like that. But we had these college students doing it for free, so it works out pretty good!

RCN: How did you manage that? Did you know somebody?

Keri: Yeah, well the girls approached us, they're like uh...
Keith: It wasn't totally free, you had to do something!

RCN: Do you have sponsors?

Keri: Our best endorsement is Converse shoes! We love them 'cause they send us 8 free pairs each, every year. Any style, any size, but they never get it right!

Tweety: Keri and I have Charvel Jackson guitars and S.I.T. strings.

Keri: Peavey electronics too, but we don't like any of their gear. And Charvel Jackson is cool, they send us stuff and we just take it down to the pawn shop and get money for the guitars and stuff!

RCN: Do you have a manager or do you manage yourselves?

Tweety: No, we don't have any management, we're just...

Kit: We're out of control!

Keri: We're waiting 'til we can work with one of the top 5 or 10 management companies in the business. I think that would be better than trying to go with a smaller management company or something like that. We have a production company so we're working with Krystal M. They're helping us out a lot. They're getting us in touch with a lot of people that we need in order to get to the next level -- instead of fartin' around L.A. and playing a show at the local venue down the street. That's basically it. We don't have a big manager.

Tweety: I don't think we're not ready for big management yet.

RCN: As long as you have a good head on your shoulders!

Tweety: But then we're in "big" trouble!

Band: (laughter)

Keri: They'll take all our money! No! If we lock in with a management company now, they'll most likely want 20%.

Kit: We'll go broke.

Keri: But laer on when we have more leverage, then we might be able to get him down to 15% or less...

Kit: Yeah, 5%...

Keith: 5%! Yeah right! Like I said, I don't think it's time right now. I think we're doing fine on our own.

Kit: Are we gonna tell people about the video?

Keith: Shhh...!

Kit: We already did!

Keith: Yeah, we already talked about it!

RCN: What kind of clothes do you guys wear?

Keri: Free! No, we're going through a metamorphosis right now. We're completely changing our image. I mean it's still going to be basically what we're all about. We're all about glitter and 70s stuff. I mean, I think those were the coolest times, you know? The whole KISS vibe, their silver and black outfits and stuff, the Gary Glitter, the Ziggy stuff...

RCN: Sweet...

Tweety: Yeah, Sweet, you know, things like that. We're all into that. We're gonna make a change for the better and our outfits are being made right now and we're gonna be debuting them at the next show at the Troubadour August 7th. It's gonna be good!

Kit: Yeah, they're custom 501's!

Band: (laughter)

Tweety: What it's gonna be is... of course we'll never stray from our glitter rock roots but it's gonna be with a '94 look! I don't know how to explain it, but I guess you'll have to come to the Troubadour on August 7th to check it out! This is the new age of Gary Glitter!

Kit: It's the sequel!

Keri: It's the Beatles gone glitter! That's what it is! It's Silver Beatles! Whew! Yeah, Glitter Beatles! That's what it'll be! No, the Beatles are great!

RCN: You'll be rolling up for the mystery tour!

Keith: We just got done doing that!
Keri: That was Keith! Don't pay attention to Keith!
Keith: Shut up!
Kit: That was Keri! That's how it is in this f**kin' band!

RCN: Ok, I think we just about got everything now. That's about it! Anything else you'd like to say?

Tweety: Call the hotline for more information on the band and fan club!

Kit: What do you think of the rock n' roll scen right now? The whole thin in general, like in 5 words or less?!

Keith: Ok, we're questioning Ruben right now! Let's talk about the whole scene. What's your vibe on it?

RCN: Well I think it's kind of broken up a bit into different categories, but I see your glitter / glam type showcase thing is definitely still very strong...

Kit: I think it's great!

RCN: You have the Zeros, Scream Sister Scream, Bang Kitti Bang, Slamhound, Street Love, Queeny Blast Pop, there's a bunch of them that are really good! Then there's bands like Engines of Aggression, a real hard, grinding type music that the record companies are really liking because I guess there's a market for it right now.

Keri: Well, I think the industry people want to be hip as well as anybody else wants to be hip. You know what I mean? I think that if they were to sign a band -- whoever, let's just say any GLAM band for example. I don't think they'd get so much credibility and respect from their co-workers because of the current climate. But then, if the band breaks wide open and they're huge, then all of a sudden that guy's the mastermind! So, hopefully, our thing will come back around, you know?

Kit: The last couple of years have been really bad for our style of music!

RCN: There's not much unity!

Kit: Yeah, we need to start the softball games back up again!

RCN: One of the problems is that Gazzari's closed, the Central's, Spice, and Thai Ice. There's not enough clubs, and the liquor company won't give out any more new liquor licenses, so no new clubs are going to start. And if they do, the city council disapproves them.

Keri: For example, Poison just played a concert the other night! They sold 2,000 tickets at Irvine Meadows! There was a lack of interest for the kids. There's no show or excitement! We want to get you off your ass and party! It goes back to what we said earlier -- "There's no excitement in the shows!" The clubs are closed down because there's nobody there. They've got to pay their bills. The city hates the clubs anyway!

RCN: I think you guys have got an edge on this whole thing! Because a lot of kids are burned out on going to clubs, hearing the loud music and going home and not having fun!

Keri: Right!

RCN: But your shows are fun! So, go to a Big Bang Babies show and have fun!

Keri: Ok, now Tweety can close by giving out merchandise information or whatever...

Tweety: Or, you can leave sex messages for us.

Keri: I will conclude that we are all single, available, and always looking... nightly!

RCN: That was Big Bang Babies! Catch them at the Troubadour August 7th!

This article originally appeared in the July 17-21, 1994 issue of Rock City News