Bang Interview

Interview:

1. Thanks a lot for agreeing to this interview! First I would like to ask you what are some of the early influences you had?

Earliest influences were Beatles of course but also Hendrix, Cream...also the Music coming out of San Francisco...Moby Grape...the Dead...etc. etc.

2. Were you or others in any bands before forming Bang? Any releases from then perhaps?

No... Bang was my first real band after being in some local cover bands...Bang was the one that had the focus and drive to write our own music and follow a dream.

3. So how did you all meet and start Bang?

Me and Frank Gilcken went to grade school together and started playing and hanging out together. We met Tony thru an ad in the paper 2 weeks after Woodstock. We became the best of friends and had a common goal that we went after with a vengence...

4. Do you perhaps remember some of the early sessions you had?

We had a friend that would come to rehearsal and record us on his reel to reel...we would rehearse at least six days a week and did so for about 18 months before we even did a gig...

5. In 1971 you released your first album, which is really killer hard rocking album. I would like if you could share your memories from recording and producing this great LP? What can you tell me about the cover artwork?

We recorded Death Of A Country before we got a record deal with Capitol and the cover was the Bang album cover...We were drawn in the barrel and Death Of A Country was printed around the barrel of the gun. When Capitol decided not to release our Death album they gave us 2 weeks to write a new record...we did so and went to Criteria Studios to record it. We ended up using the same cover

and used the Bang burst. We had a great producer in Michael Sunday and he took the time to get the sound we were happy with...My greatest memory of that record was after we finished we went into the studio...did a doobie...of some fine Colombia pot... got a great buzz and listened to the music for the first time. When the intro to Lions...Christians started ...wow...what an enormous rush...it sounded so good...

6. Mother / Bow to the King is your next release. Again we have great hard rock with sound ahead of it's time...

Would you like to tell me more about your second album?

We recorded the Mother album just six months after the Bang record ...by this time...due to pressure from Capitol...lost Tony as our drummer. Me and Frankie ended up using 2 different drummers for the record...Duris Maxwell from the group Skylark played drums on Mother...Humble...Feel the Hurt...Tomorrow and Bow to the King. We recorded that portion in Miami at Criteria Studios...On Keep On...Idealist..Realist and No Sugar Tonite we used Bruce Gary from the Knack...who was doing session work at the time. We recorded that part of the album at the Sound Factory with Dave

Hassinger engineering...Great engineer who did a ton of work...from the Strawberry Alarm Clock to Seals and Crofts...

7. Before we start talking about your third album, I would like if you could share what festivals did you play at etc. I would love to hear some interesting stories, that happened during concerts..

We played every festival we could from the Soda Pop festival to the Mar y Sol festival in Puerto Rico...Our manager Rick Bowen wanted to surprise us by chartering a plane to take us to the gig.

He invited a few friends and the vice president of Capitol and his wife to come with us. The plane that he got was a old World War 2 plane that was being refurbished and wasn't done yet. The plane had no seats but 2 sofas to sit on. It also didn't have a bathroom. We had to use a Kentucky Fried Chicken box between blankets...not enough room for everyone to sit so we ended up sitting on the floor of the plane. A normal flight to Puerto Rico from Ft. Lauderdale usually takes a couple of hours...it took us 4 hours. The plane could only fly so high and we ended up running into a huge storm. We ended up losing altitude and the plane just dropped for about 30 seconds...Talk about fear. The plane had no lights inside and all we could hear was thunder and lighting. It was pitch black...We finally regained altitude and proceeded on our way. When we finally landed ...one of the front tires went flat as we were coming to a stop. At that point the doors opened and everyone in the plane ran for the weeds...cause nobody was gonna use that Kentucky Fried Chicken box...

8. Music was your last album. What happened next for you?

By this time Capitol was forever trying to make us commerical...wanted us to be a top 40 band...that just wasn't us...we lost our original producer after the Bang album and the staff producer Capitol got us was not as sharp musically as Michael was...we pretty much ended up producing the Mother album and the Music album ourselves. Instead of Marshall Amps we used Fender amps instead and the music became more poppy by this point. I love the Music album but after Tony left we could never

regain the drive and focus we had early on. We used Bruce Gary again on the record and also ended up recording our "lost singles" Slow Down...Feels Nice...and Make Me Pretty to fullfil our contract with Capitol. Me and Frankie were extremely frustrated by the lack of support from our label and the fact that we could never find someonee to replace Tony only made it worse. We were ready by then to hang it up. Which turned out to be a bad decision. Instead of regrouping and finding another label...we decided to go our separate ways. Frankie had an opportunity in Texas and I stayed back east playing with a couple of bands...nothing special. And nothing that was as good as what we had.

9. In 2004 you had reunion and released The Maze. How was it to play again and record?

Tony moved back east to Philly in 1999 and after years of being apart we clicked like we never lost a step...We did the RTZ record in Frankie's basement and had a fantastic time. Its funny how when you make magic with someone...it never goes away. We wrote a lot of great songs for RTZ. By 2004...our old manager's wife found the BangMusic site and asked us to reunite with our manager who in our minds really let us down the first time. We all went to Savannah...where Rick had a studio and proceeded to record The Maze. In the end his ego got in the way and though we were somewhat happy with the record...Under different circumstances it could have been done better. Some things never change.

10. What are you doing these days?

These days...been doing a lot of writing...Tony still writes most of the lyrics and we've been trying to place songs with other artists. Been doing a solo thing and trying to enjoy my passion. It never went away and I know it never will.

11. I would like to thank you for taking your time. It's a real honor, to have one of the best hard rock bands on my magazine! Would you like to add something else, perhaps?

Yes...a company called Rise Above Records released a box set of all our early work for Capitol including our Death album and lost singles. Along with a 40 page booklet telling the "Bang" story...they did a great job putting it together. It was remastered and it sounds fantastic. Here it is 40 years later and the music still sounds original and fresh. The Box set is called "Bullets" and its getting a great response from everyone. I'm really proud of it..

Thank you for remembering and enjoying our music and thanks for the interview. And always remember to "Keep On"....