I grew up in Forest Hills, Queens, (NYC) where everybody wanted to become famous... or infamous. Burt Bacharach, Simon & Garfunkle, and Leslie West led the musical revolution there...soon followed by the Ramones. It was a great place to grow up. In the winter snow, we'd go "skitching" on the back of cars and Triboro buses...in the summer, we'd hitch rides to Rockaway Beach from Woodhaven Boulevard.
I lived across the street from Ray Romano (yes, the comedian) who wanted to play drums in the band I had with his brother Richie. Richie eventually became a cop. We rehearsed every day in the Romano's basement. Everybody didn't love Raymond's drumming, especially his German shepherd, Nemo, who would bark at us endlessly. Ray just couldn't keep a beat, so we eventually suggested he go tell jokes instead. We got a new drummer and Nemo stopped barking. The rest is history...
We performed at Teen Club dances with other local bands. These bands produced some fine talent. One of my friends, a guitarist named Chieli Minucci went on to jazz greatness with his band Special EFX. Another guy ended up in the John Entwistle Band. We liked being in bands...there were always plenty of girls around. One time, we were hired to play the senior prom at a school for the deaf. It was a very unusual, yet enlightening experience. The kids danced to the vibrations of the amps and drums, so we could play as loud as we wanted to....but it was also a turning point for me. It made me realize how fortunate I truly was.
I worked as a delivery boy in a supermarket on Austin Street (the Fifth Ave. of Queens). David Caruso (CSI) was the delivery boy in the liquor store. We rode a lot of elevators together with our arms full of boxes. Some of the customers were real cheapskates who wouldn't even give us a tip. Their deliveries sometimes got lost the next time around.
The Ramones used to hang out on Austin Street. I'd see Dee Dee a few times a week. He wouldn't wave...he'd always salute with his fist. Johnny's girlfriend Rosana used to cut my hair in their apartment on 108th Street. We became good friends. One day, Joey's brother Mickey stopped by the store to say that Dee Dee wrote a song about me for their new album "Road to Ruin". It was called "I Wanted Everything"...all about a delivery boy who ends up robbing the supermarket he works in because there were no tips for the deliveries. I was now infamous...
"The Propellors" were formed in 1979 by my brother Tommy, myself and a guy named Russ Hogan. Russ is a "Poindexter" type character...a creative genius. We rehearsed in his dead grandmother's mansion on Greenway South... (it had five fireplaces)! Lester Bangs, Birdland, The Rattlers, Sappho, guys from Television and other NYC bands also rehearsed there. It was weird...all these poor musicians practicing in a multi-million dollar house...sort of like the Addams Family.
One night we had a huge party in the mansion with all these NYC underground types. There was a film crew from Italy taping us performing while this crowd of loonies danced into a frenzy in the living room. There was some strange guy named Bruno there who was dressed as a doberman pinscher. He was being walked around the dance floor on a leash while someone else was whipping him. Bruno later disappeared into an upstairs bedroom with some other strange characters. We finished our set playing "California Sun" and decided to leave because things were getting insane. Ten minutes later the cops showed up. I don't know if they ever found Bruno.... it was quite educational.
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We moved the studio from the mansion to a first floor living room on Burns Street. Marshall and Robert Crenshaw would later rehearse and record there with us. Love those guys.
The Propellors played the Manhattan circuit (CBGB, TR3, Max's, snafu, Peppermint Lounge, Trude Heller's) from 1979-1985. Trude Heller became our first manager, but wanted us to do dance steps like the Supremes (the other act she produced). Needless to say, the other guys couldn't dance. We were then managed by the Ramones' Matt Nadler. We made our TV debut on the Uncle Floyd Show on Oct. 14, 1980. Matt also got our record to Linda Stein who gave it to her husband Seymour, president of Sire Records. He said we sounded "too Beatle-ish". Nonetheless, we were offered to open the show at Heskel's Disco for the new act he had just signed....Madonna. We declined, informing them that "The Propellors don't do discos". The rest is history...
In 1981, CBS' A&R chief Paul Atkinson (Zombies), heard our songs and recommended us to his friends at Epic Records. We were then groomed by the "wet" A&R department of Epic. They ended up signing Loverboy instead...and we kept "working for the weekend." In 1983, drummer Frankie LaRocka helped manage us when he wasn't playing with Scandal, Bon Jovi or Bryan Adams. So sad to hear that Frankie passed on in 2005.
In 1984, we went into the studio with producer Tommy Ramone to finish our recordings. Tommy had previously worked at the Record Plant on recordings with Jimi Hendrix(Band of Gypsies) and Mountain (Climbing). Later he produced albums for the Ramones and The Replacements. He's now in the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame. (Nice goin', Tommy!) Check out his bluegrass duo "Uncle Monk" under my Top Friends.
The Propellors disbanded in 1985, each of us moving on with the rest of our individual lives, after pursuing our dream together for six years. The rest is history.....
