Poppees/Boyfriends

It all started way back around 1972 when the phone rang at the home of Bobby Dee Waxman. He had a friend Burnie Murray that played rhythm guitar, who had a friend Paddy Lorenzo that played bass.. Paddy and Burnie wanted to start a band and needed a lead Guitarist, which was Bobby. They all loved the Beatles and the music of the English invasion. (Merseybeat). A date was set and a band was started. The band consisted of Bobby (lead guitar, vocals) Paddy (bass, vocals), Burnie (Rhythm guitar, vocals) and Donny (drums). This was not the Poppees but it was the start of the nucleus of a writing team that was to go through 2 bands and 40 years together. After playing cover music and some old blues for a few years, Bobby & Paddy decided to start a band that they could write for…. That band was The Poppees. After a few ads in the local paper and a few weeks of auditions Poppees band member #3 was found. Arthur Alexander was a left handed guitar player with a great knowledge of the underground music scene. Arthur was also a pro on the ins and outs of recording, all they needed now was a drummer. They tried a short stint with a drummer that didn't work out. Some of the first Poppees songs came out of this time period, songs like Jealousy and If She Cries.Paddy, Bobby and Arthur were rehearsing on a regular basis and the songs were sounding great….but what were they to do with out a drummer? Arthur contacted Greg Shaw the owner of Bomp Records to see if he was interested in recording the Poppees, and Greg was! In fact he had a release window he wanted to meet. That window meant that the band had to record without a permanent drummer. Bobby was a drummer in his first band(after trying the sax for two weeks) but that was when he was 15. With that in their pocket, the Poppees and Greg Shaw with Craig Leon as their producer decided to record “If She Cries” with B-side “Love Of The Loved” (a song written by Paul McCartney) with Bobby playing drums as well as the guitar. The single was recorded in one day @ the House Of Music in NJ…. Greg Shaw had also decided to manage the Poppees, so the push was on for the drummer. Then came along Arthur Harris on drums, soon to be known as Jett. Jett’s brother was a sound man with a sound company called See-Factor. He told the band about a new club in the city called CBGB.Going to CBGB was the moment that changed the lives of all four Poppees. It was very early in the life of CBGB and the Poppees. The Band members soon became friends with all the new and unknown bands that played there…. bands like The Ramones, Blondie, Patty Smith and Johnny Thunders' Heartbreakers. Max’s Kansas City was another big club at the time. The Poppees became a regular at both clubs, headlining and opening shows for all of their friends. After a short time Greg wanted the band to record a second record using one of his favorite Poppees songs, “Jealousy”. Greg enlisted a member from one of Bomp’s premier bands The Flaming Groovies' Cyril Jordan, he was going to produce the record. It was a magic combination. A great song with a great sound. Greg was now working on getting The Poppees a deal with a bigger record label then Bomp. He had gotten Seymour Stein of Sire Records interested in the group. The first mistake was about to happen. Greg was going to bring Seymour to a Poppees show at Max’s. The Poppees were opening for Blondie that night. From the stage at the start of the set Bobby said “I’d like to thank our new record label Sire for coming tonight”. As he was going to soon find out Sire had not made a commitment and didn't want anything said at that point. All had almost ended before it had started…. but thanks to Greg’s soft talk Seymour let the incident go and they were about to get signed to a major label. But Paddy, Bobby, Arthur and Jett being the outlaws they were didn't learn from that mistake. One day a few weeks later, the boys heard about a Ramones show at CBGB. The Ramones had been signed to Sire a few months before, so the boys in The Poppees wanted Sire to secure the opening spot on the show for them. But Sire said that they didn't get involved with who opened shows for any of their acts, and didn't want to do it for this show. With that the band went nuts and started a scene at Sire with the girl in charge of promotions, and that was it for The Poppees and Sire. By this time a new sound had started to seep into The Poppees otherwise invasion sound, it was the sound of the New York City. Playing with the Ramones and The Heartbreakers and listening to all the other bands of the city made The Poppees start writing heavier songs, songs that were more citified. One of the first new sounding songs to come out of the transformation was to be a song that went on to be the theme song for a Bobby & Paddy band to come (The Boyfriends). The Ramones also recorded this song later for their Subterranean Jungle LP. The song was called “I Need Your Love”.After years of trying, a disappointing situation with Sire, and an angry Greg Shaw, The Poppees broke up with Bobby and Paddy in search of a new sound. Arthur and Jett wanted to stay with the Mercy Sound. Arthur and Jett went on to start The Sorrows. Bobby went on to meet drummer Lee Crystal (who later was with Syl Sylvain from the NY Dolls and with Joan Jett & The Blackhearts) and find bass player Jay Nap to start The Boyfriends. Paddy was unsure what to do, but he knew he liked the heavier city sound that Bobby, Jay Nap (bass) and Lee Crystal (Drums) had put together in The Boyfriends. But what The Boyfriends needed was another singer, a singer that had a unique voice. At this point Paddy had started to do some shows with The Sorrows. One night The Sorrows were playing at Max’s Kansas City and Bobby came to see the show. Arthur and Paddy asked Bobby to come up and sing “I Need Your Love” at the end of The Sorrows set. The song came out so powerfully compared to The Sorrows set that Paddy knew he had to make the switch. The only problem was that Paddy was a bass player, and The Boyfriends didn't need a bass player.
Paddy had been playing guitar for years, but never in a band. Bobby wanted Paddy as the final member of The Boyfriends, so Bobby suggested to Paddy that he could play rhythm guitar and that would solve the situation.Paddy thought the idea was great….. Once Jay and Lee heard Paddy sing, they knew this was The Boyfriends.The official line up was Bobby Dee Waxman (Lead Guitar/Vocal) Paddy Williams Lorenzo (Rhythm Guitar/ Vocal) Jay Nap (Bass/ Backing Vocal) & Lee Crystal (Drums).Bobby and Paddy were the root of the new sound but Jay was to The Boyfriends what Arthur was to The Poppees. Jay was not only a master of style but also a master of people on the scene and what new clubs to play. Jay had one more thing to offer the band… He had a studio the band could use to record in and rehearse.This time Paddy and Bobby wanted to start with Management, they wanted someone else to handle booking the gigs and getting the promo. All they wanted to do was to write the songs and play the music.Jay had two friends that had just started a management agency called DUO (Do Un To Others). Max McCarry and Michael Smithe. Max and Michael had never managed a group before this but they had a long history of work in the promotion and advertising field. The bands thought was why not give them a try.From the first day DUO hit the street running. The Boyfriends had blurbs in the Daily News and the Post every other week. They all new that now they need some product to promote, So Max and Michael called on Bomb to put out The Boyfriends first single.Even though “I Need Your Love” was the bands anthem, They decided to use two newer songs just written by Bobby and Paddy. The A side was a song called “You’re the One”, It featured Everly Brothers like harmonies and NY Dolls-Heartbreakers Rhythm and Music. The B side was a heavy offshoot of an Elvis Rockabilly sound, with a remarkable vocal by Paddy. It was easy to hear on this single the new direction that Bobby and Paddy had taken. Lee’s heavy drum beat were to be a signature of The Boyfriends sound. The recording was done at ODO studio in NY the old “Studio 54” and soon released on Bomb.The Boyfriends went out in support of their new release. The band made many trips to Canada, some short hops out west and even to California. They had some great parties and made friends with other bands coming up at the same time. The Boyfriends and The Romantics played many shows together in NY and Detroit. The only problem was that they didn’t get the traction they wanted…. A major label deal had not come along. Bobby and Paddy were starting to see the people they grown up with at CBGB and on the road like the Ramones, Blondie and The Romantics all get signed and have their records released.At about this time after touring and playing for about 2 years the band members started to loose patience with Jay, though he was an asset in many ways his drinking and other bad habits started to take there toll. One night while The Boyfriends were opening a Ramones show @ CBGBs Jay couldn’t stand by the end of the set. They had to cut the set short and that was it for Jay. At that same time they were also loosing confidence in DUO Max and Michael. Though the promotion was still good they didn’t have the ability to get the heavy hitters out to see the band.Both The Boyfriends and Duo decided it was time to go their separate ways. Now the Boyfriends had a new bass player Gene Cooper. Though he didn’t have Jay’s style he added a new and fresh sound to the band. Gene was a top-notch bass player. This was not the end of the shifting within The Boyfriends ranks.Joe Barbeara who engineered the Boyfriends Bomb single wanted to take the band back into the studio to record some more songs. The boys had just written a song called “Wrapped Up In A Dream” and had decided to record that one, but after 8 hrs of trying to get a basic track down it never happened. The band never found the groove and Joe gave up on making any more recordings. Little did the band know that at this time Lee was getting ready to play with Syl Sylvan (NY DOLLS) in his solo band The Criminals. So one more time Bobby and Paddy had to find a new band mate.This time a friend of Bobby’s said he knew a drummer that would fit great into The Boyfriends, His name Sal Capy. Sal was a wild and heavy drummer and loved the sound of the band. So now they were four again. Bobby, Paddy, Gene & Sal.This turned out to be the best and most exciting time for The Boyfriends. One night while playing at CBGBs a young agent, new at the William Morris spotted the band on stage. Andy Somers approached the boys and asked if they would mind if he worked with them in an un-official way from William Morris. Andy was only working with major acts at the agency but wanted to develop a baby band and this was it. This was the break The Boyfriends had been waiting for. After working with Andy for some time and playing some of the best gigs you can imagine. Andy and the boys wanted to take the relationship to another level, But Andy didn’t want to be the agent, he wanted to be the manager.The band thought this was a great idea and the ticket to success. But though the opening slots got better and the band did numerous demos and recording sessions only one independent single “Wrapped Up In A Dream” was ever to come of this relationship. After a few years and many tours Stiff Records was the only record label to offer the band a deal. Though it came early in their relationship with Andy it was the deal that got away…. The one big mistake at that point. Get on vinyl put out an album that should have been the driving force, but the hope for something bigger and better was the miscalculation. The Boyfriends went on for a year past that point and then decided to go their separate ways.Not long after the breakup of the band Bobby got a call from Johnny Ramone… Johnny wanted to know if it was OK if The Ramones recorded “I Need Your Love” for their “Subterranean Jungle” album. They also asked if Bobby wanted to play on the recording. Bobby told Johnny that he would be honored if they recorded the song but decided not to do the recording.Paddy went on to sing and play in some country bands and do work in Nashville, and Bobby went on tour with Wayne Kramer (MC5) Over the years they have all stayed in touch and stayed in music. With all that’s old is new in the music business Bobby and Paddy started playing together again in 2000 and then joined John Wicks (The Records) to be in “John Wicks and The Records”. Just recently bobby and Paddy played in NY @ the Knitting Factory with Liberty Divitto (Drummer Billy Joel) (Bobby And Liberty lived together at Libs houes and played in a band with Richie Super when they were 16 years old)THE POPPEES/THE BOYFRIENDS now have a CD released last year in Japan on Vivid Sound Records called LOST TREASURES, And bands in US, Japan, Germany and more are covering the Poppees and Boyfriends songs.Hope you enjoyed the read…. Hope you love the music.
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