|
|
1. Where did the name "Bad Radio" come from?
"I thought that, given the state of radio at the time, our music would never make it to the airwaves. The name Bad Radio comes from that line of thought. It’s amusing to me now that our bootlegs now get some play." - D.G.
2. How did the various members of the band meet?
"I met Keith [Wood], the original singer, by answering an ad in the paper. That band gradually fell apart (they wanted to be Duran Duran, I, uhh, didn’t).
"Joey was playing with different bands in the same clubs that BR was playing—we liked him, we needed a drummer, etc.
"Dave Silva has known my wife since they were kids. When I met first met him, he picked up a guitar and started playing some Eddie Van Halen solo note-for-note. BR’s bass player at the time, Tim Taylor, was rapidly morphing into what’s his name from Duran Duran (John Taylor?), so we needed a new bassist. I asked Dave if he played bass. He said yes, he was obviously a great musician, so he pretty much became the bassist without ever auditioning. Months later he told me that he had never played bass before then, but I certainly never caught on. Like I said, amazing musician.
"Eddie joined pretty much the way the article in Rolling Stone said. What they didn’t say was that we were really hesitant about him at first because he didn't seem like the frontman type (whatever that is). His voice and his demo tape
were really good though, so we decided to take a chance on him. He had such a strong voice and was such a good songwriter that we changed our minds.
"Dawn Richardson answered an ad after Eddie had already left the band and we had moved to Hollywood (Keith Wood once again became our singer)." D.G.
3. When did the band originally get together?
"Around 1987...Believe it or not,
there was an even earlier version of Bad Radio before this with a different
bassist (Tim Taylor), different drummer (Robbie
Woog), and a keyboardist (Petey). These guys, with Keith and I, were in a
band called Khanada that did covers of Duran Duran, INXS, David Bowie...
various "New Romantic" stuff--hence the so-called "Duran Duran
influence" that the Rolling Stone article speaks of. I wanted to do
originals only, and I definitely wasn't influenced by DD--I didn't realize these
guys were so heavy into them when I joined the band -- so we became Bad Radio
and promptly lost all of our popularity with the girls" D.G.
4. Why did you break up?
"Which time?? Actually, in the end, we were living in Hollywood (which really sucked) and I felt like it wasn’t going to happen for us with the lineup we had." D.G.
5. When and where was the Bad Radio demo tape recorded?
"Actually, there was more than one demo tape, done in 3 different studios."
D.G.
The demo session
which has been most widely bootlegged was recorded in Flight 19 Studio in San Diego: "We won the
Battle of the Bands [San Diego radio station 91X's 1989 "Battle of California Originals"] -- first prize was studio time, hence the recordings
of I'm Alive, Homeless, What The Funk, and Believe You Me." D.G.
6. Was there ever a commercial record deal in negotiation?
"No. We were approached by MCA once, but they just dicked us around. I wonder if they know they blew it with Eddie
Vedder?" D.G.
7. What bands and musicians influenced Bad Radio's
original music?
"All of us had our own influences, but here’s the short list: Bauhaus, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Love and Rockets, The Who, U2..." D.G.
8. Is the sample of "Right!" at the end of "I’m Alive" from Andrew Dice Clay?
"Joey was a huge Dice fan, used to quote entire passages from his recordings. We put it in for the Joe-man, and because it seemed funny at the time..."
D.G.
9. Who does the spoken word/rap break in "Answer"?
Dave George. "We had all kinds of problems with this part in the studio cause none of us could rap worth a damn. I think that all of us gave it a shot at one time or other. Finally, we went with my version, because it seemed to be the least offensive. [One of the tracks on the 16-track] master tape, however, still has Eddie doing the rap." D.G.
10. Is it true that the "Live" version of "Betterman" from the Tower Records demo isn't really live?
"This is a piece of trivia that only about 4 people in the world know. The "live" Better Man is not live at all. Eddie took the tape home and overdubbed an audience. Don't ask me why..."
D.G.
11. The recording of "Betterman" from the Tower Records demo ends with the beginning of another song. What is it?
The piece of music tacked on to the end of the recording is an early pre-Vedder Bad Radio song called "Waste My Days"
12. What about this other Bad Radio song I've heard about called "Ain't That Sumthin"?
"We put together another tape to get gigs once we moved to L.A. with Keith. "Ain't That Sumthin" was recorded in my bedroom on a 4-track--very low tech." D.G.
13. Who's this "Valery" listed on the demo tape as Bad Radio's "mentor"?
Valery Saifudinov is the man who ran Flight 19 Studio in San Diego where Bad Radio rehearsed and the demo tape was recorded. "He's actually a very interesting guy. He's from Latvia, formerly of the Soviet Union, and he was in the first Russian rock band. He told us these amazing stories about what it was like back in the days before he left, hiding from the KGB, making electric guitars from parts pilfered from public telephones, etc. We used to listen to him for hours..." D.G.
14. Since only a few songs were ever officially released by Bad Radio, where did the bootlegs come from?
"I really don't know. I've talked to just about everybody involved in the band about this issue, and I don't think it's any of them [that leaked the tapes]. It sure ain't me. I haven't heard any of the boots, but from what I've read on the 'net, the quality is not that great. That would leave me to believe that most of what's out there are copies of copies. Some of the stuff was never recorded in a studio, so maybe it's from video. I've even
heard from that Eddie was passing out unreleased BR demos while he was in Mookie Blaylock. Some of it is probably friends of the band. In the end, I think it's probably a combination of all these things." D.G.
15. How do the former band members feel about the circulation of these bootlegs?
"I think it's cool that people are that interested in it." D.G.