"LOVE OF THE LOVED"
Geordie Pleathur Interviews POWER-POP'S
from THE POPPEES and SORROWS...
Arthur Alexander has had a fascinating career trajectory, the fuse was lit in the days of Beatle-Mania. His seventies new wave era, power-pop band helped to define the skinny tied, power-pop scene that thrives to this day, having played with all the American punk royals in the formative years of the East Coast punk scene...He's been produced by Cyril Jordan from the Flamin' Groovies, and shared stages with the Deadboys, Heartbreakers, Suicide, Blondie, and Ramones. No less of an authority on power-pop, than the great Frank Secish from Blue Ash/Stiv Bators/Deadbeat Poets says:

"I've always thought 'Jealousy' was the best Merseybeat record made by a group that wasn't from Liverpool! Greg Shaw played it to me in (his) office for the first time, and I was knocked out by it. Great band!"

A new album by SORROWS, called "Bad Times, Good Times", is on it's way, while his other band, the much beloved Poppees, have a sugary retrospective available now from Bomp! called, "Pop Goes The Anthology", a must-have for all fans of power-pop. If you're into stuff like the Beatles, or the Beat, you won't wanna miss this long-lost artifact from the original C.B.G.B.'s scene!
PUNK GLOBE: Where did you grow up? Where did you go to school? What was your family life like?
ARTHUR ALEXANDER: I was born and raised in Warsaw, Poland.... by the time I got kicked out of the country for politics and playing rock n’ roll in 1968, I was in my first year of Warsaw University.

My family was, as I called it, a “red aristocracy”... definitely the upper class of this wonderful classless society, known as communism, the human paradise on earth... so I led what you might call a life of charm and privilege... they called us later “banana youth”, ‘cause we could get (real) bananas, as opposed to all the other peons also known as little people... I think by now you're getting the picture where I was at with the whole socialist dream bullshit?....

My family life centered around classical music and for the longest that was all I knew... that , plus the purveyors of the human paradise on earth, our government who did all they could to block any western evil influences like pop music so I didn’t get much exposure to rock n’ roll till my early teens, once I got hip to ways to get around the oppressive ways they tried to keep us down.... once I discovered rock ‘n roll, that was it!!!….

My first exposure to rock and roll was mainly though British pop and early rock n’ roll via Radio Luxemburg, when it wasn’t being jammed by the Soviet jamming stations in East Berlin... The whole Liverpool and London scene, had a huge influence on me also in a sense that it made me discover the REAL rock n’ roll and its roots: American rock n’ roll; R&B, rockabilly, the whole “race music”, country n’ western (the real shit, not what passes for country today), and folk music.
PUNK GLOBE: Who were the groups, and what were the records that made you want to take up an instrument, in the first place?
ARTHUR ALEXANDER:I was already into rock n’ roll (or what I thought was rock n’ roll! lol) and playing drums.... but I soon discovered that it was the guitar players up front that were getting all the chicks, so the drums bit the dust real quick.... guitars, here I come!.... easier said than done... I tried and tried and could play shit... almost gave up... then in a brilliant stroke of self inflicted genius I realized that it was may be because I was left-handed and trying to play like a right-handed person would!... flipped the sucker around, restrung it to go “upside down”... three weeks later I was doing the lead to “Wipeout” like nobody's business!...

The first one were definitively Cliff Richard and The Shadows... Cliff was the British Elvis, excellent and and charismatic singer. the Shadows, his backing band soon became the biggest instrumental band in the history of pop music... inspired by The Ventures, they were miles ahead and their leads guitarist Hank Marvin, was not just my idol, but also the inspiration to every single one of the future Guitar Gods, Jeff Back, Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton, Mark Knopfler, you name it... even one of the first tracks The Beatles ever recorded was an instrumental called... surprise!... “Cry For A Shadow” ..
PUNK GLOBE: Beatles or Stones?
ARTHUR ALEXANDER:Probably no other two bands fucked up my life more that these two... and I mean that in the most adoring way! :)
PUNK GLOBE: The Who or Kinks?
ARTHUR ALEXANDER:Probably quintessential BRITISH bands, especially the Kinks!... I adored them both, and little did I know our paths would cross in a matter of speaking, my then still future band SORROWS got to work with a producer who did them both.... and I mean that literally.... boy, was that a cluster fuck!
PUNK GLOBE: Dylan or Bowie?
ARTHUR ALEXANDER:All of them HUGELY influential on me... I wonder how many people even realize that Bob Dylan is probably one of the greatest American POETS, of the 20th century... his first few albums is what drove me to master English language beyond “I love you, we fuck now, ok?”.....
PUNK GLOBE: The MC5 or LOVE?
ARTHUR ALEXANDER:Great bands... both in their own right... MC5 and LOVE?.... man, how did you put them in the same sentence! lol
PUNK GLOBE: Big Star or Cheap Trick?
ARTHUR ALEXANDER:Never really got into Big Star all that much, although always admired Alex Chilton for his work, especially with Box Tops...

Love Cheap Trick!.. fantastic band, and I totally respect and admire them remaining true to themselves and keeping it going all these years...
PUNK GLOBE: The Boys or Generation X?
ARTHUR ALEXANDER:They were more like my contemporaries, so I wouldn’t call them my “influences” but I did like their stuff, including Billy Idol’s later stuff...
PUNK GLOBE: Early bands/formative experiences?
ARTHUR ALEXANDER:we already covered it above..?
PUNK GLOBE: Origins of the Poppees....How did you meet Greg Shaw?
ARTHUR ALEXANDER:I would say, unless you want even more minutiae and specific details, your best bet is to use the liner notes I wrote for the album as a factual source. Since it was an anthology, I tried to make sure that the liners were long on historical and detailed information rather than the usual intellectual nostalgic waxing poetic and musicological geek talk…
PUNK GLOBE: My specialty! Were you ever on a bill with the Cramps?
ARTHUR ALEXANDER:We might have been, once at CBGBs... I also think that Sorrows played with them once at The Irvin Plaza.
PUNK GLOBE: Best fun ever?
ARTHUR ALEXANDER: The road!..... ;)
PUNK GLOBE: All time rock rock n roll low?
ARTHUR ALEXANDER: Being signed to one of the biggest record labels in the world and being “produced” by one of the most legendary producers in the history of pop music....
PUNK GLOBE: What was your relationship with producer and rocknroll hero, Cyril Jordan, of the Flamin Groovies like? Do you know Chris Wilson?
ARTHUR ALEXANDER: No, I never met Chris. Cyril was great! Greg Shaw brought him to work with us on the recording s for the second record which was meant to be an EP but we didn't have the time to finish the whole thing so it became a “Jealousy/She's Got It” single.... “Sad Sad Love” was one of the songs from those sessions and it finally made its showing on the Anthology album... Cyril had a great feel and sense of our style and what we were going for! The Groovies had just finished working with Dave Edmunds on their owe album so we were all “in the zone”! :)
PUNK GLOBE: Where are all the other Poppees guys, Bob Waxman, Paddy Lorenzo Jett Harris and Donny "Stix" Jackrel now?
ARTHUR ALEXANDER: All the guys live in NY/NJ area, except for Donny who lives in Florida, and me, in L.A.....
PUNK GLOBE: Didn't various members also play with Syl Sylvain, Joan Jett, and have a song covered by the Ramones?
ARTHUR ALEXANDER: The Boyfriends’ drummer Lee Crystal, left the band to play with Joan Jett, and Bobby’s song The Poppees did towards the end, called “I Need Your Love” was covered by The Ramones on the “Subterranean Jungle” album... I loved the Ramones, but this was not their shining moment.... The Poppees did a kick ass version of it... too bad we never got to do a proper recording of it... it’s a hit song.
PUNK GLOBE: Didn't Jett record with Wayne County and The Electric Chairs?
ARTHUR ALEXANDER: Yes, he did cut some tracks with them...
PUNK GLOBE: Favorite Wayne Kramer song?
ARTHUR ALEXANDER: I don't think I have one favorite one....
PUNK GLOBE: The Story with the Poppees/Boyfriends/Vivid Sound?
ARTHUR ALEXANDER: No big story there, really.... Vivid approached Bobby to release Boyfriends stuff and felt they could use some Poppees tracks to beef up the album... I really hope the Boyfriends tracks get to see a proper release one day, ‘cause that thing sounds like dogshit....
PUNK GLOBE: Who was your favorite Ramone?
ARTHUR ALEXANDER: Joey , without a doubt, sweet guy...
PUNK GLOBE: Ever get to know Peter Crowley?
ARTHUR ALEXANDER: Yes, I got to know Peter quite well,...cool guy, he was booking Max’s Kansas City.... I think he liked Sorrows better than he liked the Poppees, but I don’t think neither band ever made his Top 40 in-crowd list...
PUNK GLOBE: Holly and The Italians or Nikki Corvette?
ARTHUR ALEXANDER: Both really great bands... had a crash on Nikky, but never crashed into her...
PUNK GLOBE: Fleshtones or Fuzztones? Milk And Cookies?
ARTHUR ALEXANDER: Yeah, met and played with them all, at one time or another... remember there was a whole scene going on, all these bands, playing together, hanging out at the clubs every night, camaraderie and competition, but it was cool... I honestly don’t think anything that came after, in NYC or anywhere else, like LA or Seattle came even close to the spirit of those first few short years of scene in the mid to late 70’s
PUNK GLOBE: Fave Power-Pop bands?
ARTHUR ALEXANDER: Probably Pezband!.... Sorrows played with them several times, including a huge gig at the Summerfest in Chicago... great pop band...

Loved Nick Lowe, early Elvis Costello.... The Pretenders, Squeeze...
PUNK GLOBE: How did you find the other guys to form Sorrows?
ARTHUR ALEXANDER: Well, getting the drummer was easy! :).... I already knew the best one for this band!.... called up Jett and told him I was putting a band together .... he asked: “what’s it gonna be like?”, and I said: “think ABBA meets The Sex Pistols”.... Jet said: “I’m in, when do we start!”.....

Joey Cola came next, from a Village Voice ad... by then Jett and I already had the whole punk/new wave image thing going for the band, and in walks this pretty kinda lame semi hippie looking guy, with a REALLY ugly lame looking guitar... Jett and I looked at each other, “what the fuck, can’t be possibly worse than what we’ve already been through!”.... I showed him one of the songs and half hay through the song we knew we had our guy... I asked Joey if he’d be willing to get rid of his facial fungi, cut the hippie locks, wear his guitar a few feet lower than the fucking Jerry Garcia, and wear black jeans that didn’t fit 3 people at the same time.... and he said yes... what more could I want?!... there was the third Sorrow!...

It took three years and a string of fill-ins, including Paddy Lorenzo from The Poppees and John Di Salvo from Tuff Darts, before we found Ricky Street down in Bethesda, MD, during one of our frequent gigs down there. Ricky loved the band and offered to move yup to NY just to play with us.... well, if you’re that fucking nuts, you sure as hell the right guy for THIS band!.... Sorrows where now whole!!....
PUNK GLOBE: Highlights of the seventies? What other groups did you share a camaraderie with?
ARTHUR ALEXANDER: Truly, all of the above... like I said, there was competition, there were politics, back stabbing, you name it... but there was also a definitely feeling of camaraderie among the musicians.... we all hang together, all of us trying to make it, make out mark, learning and stealing tricks of the trade form one another....
PUNK GLOBE: How were you affected by glam rock? Did you prefer American or English punk rock?
ARTHUR ALEXANDER: Glam rock was never really my fave... I think, in general, English punk rock had a bit more on an impact on the U.S. market as a whole, not so much on me... It was just down to a few selected groups/artists from there... Probably, my top-most fave bands were Ramones, Heartbreakers and Dead Boys, but there were many other great bands... Tuff Darts, Laughing Dogs, off the top of my mind...
PUNK GLOBE: Were you friends with the Dead Boys or Blondie from the old C.B.G.B.'s scene?
ARTHUR ALEXANDER: Yes, both... we did some gigs together and years later I remastered and wrote liner notes for the Dead Boys album for Bomp!, called “All This And More”...
PUNK GLOBE: What did you think of Stiv's Bomp! solo band with Frank Secich?
ARTHUR ALEXANDER: I thought it was cool, but I did like the obnoxious intensity of the Dead Boys! :)... Frank’s Blue Ash did some really cool stuff too!
PUNK GLOBE: What was your relationship with the Records?
ARTHUR ALEXANDER: I didn't have any... I think Bobby hooked up with John Wicks after the Boyfriends split up....
PUNK GLOBE: Are you familiar with Sal from Electric Frankenstein's "Anti-Rock Conspiracy" theory?
ARTHUR ALEXANDER: No, I’m afraid I haven't a clue....
PUNK GLOBE: Sorrows get confused sometimes with sixties rockers THE Sorrows...
ARTHUR ALEXANDER: Oh pleeease, don’t get me fucking started on this one! lol.... I came up with the name fully aware of THE Sorrows’ existence.... they were one of my fave band from back in the 60s. Silly me, I loved the whole vibe of the name and thought that by chopping off the THE, I would set my SORROWS apart from the other guys, and also give it more of a cool and conceptual vibe... well, I’ve been correcting everybody ever since... SORROWS, no fucking THE, got it?!?!.... apparently, even though hardly anybody in this country knows how to speak proper English, people can’t seem to be able to say: “this is a new album from Sorrows”... without sticking THE in front of it!... it’s freakin’ hopeless, but me, always the rebel, even if without a clue, I don’t give up! lol.
PUNK GLOBE: How often are you confused with the country/soul pioneer, Arthur Alexander, of "Anna" fame? What inspired you to also cover "Anna"?
ARTHUR ALEXANDER: Like... all the time?! People keep asking me if I’m THAT Arthur Alexander. and sadly, I have to tell them “no, that’s my cousin, far removed, with a deep suntan, and very dead.... if I were him you’d be having one hell of a conversation right about now...”. But on a serious note.... great artist, wrote some killer songs, and what a shame, passed away just as he had a comeback album and things looked up for him and it seemed like he might finally get his due... I wish more young musician got hip to him... I can wait... well, for a little while! ;)
PUNK GLOBE: Did you ever see the Waldos, or the Phantoms? How was NY ROCK and NYC club life affected by the clampdown after 9/11, Patriot act, the surveillance state, wars, tasers, drug laws, etc.?
ARTHUR ALEXANDER: No, never saw Waldos or the Phabtoms... by 9/11 I was already living in LA.., and as far as I was concerned the while scene pretty much evaporated years earlier anyway.... I remember going down to Max’s while it still existed, and to CBGB in the early/mid 80s, and they both had turned into fucking tourist traps, so I stopped going altogether... it just wasn’t the same anymore... the whole vibe was gone and different, and the music started to suck again.... Ironically, the music and attitude is what started that whole scene, and it was the music and attitude that killed it... for me anyway.
PUNK GLOBE: What have you been doing in recent years?
ARTHUR ALEXANDER: I’ve been working as an independent record producer and sound engineer, as mentioned, did a whole bunch of stuff for Bomp, Dead Boys, Wayne Kramer, MC5, Iggy Pop , The Warlocks, etc... free-lance in post production too, did some work for Universal Studios, Warner Bros. and a bunch of other studios... taught Recording Technology at a local college, and work with a lot of young artist and bands... one of my faves, a local young band - Dirty Eyes, produced their album... check them out on myspace...
PUNK GLOBE: Do you have any children?
ARTHUR ALEXANDER: Yes, I have a daughter, and she’s just the coolest... of course!
PUNK GLOBE: Why the move from NYC to West Coast?
ARTHUR ALEXANDER: I was burnt out on NY and a job offer came, so I took it...
PUNK GLOBE: Do you like Magic Christian?
ARTHUR ALEXANDER:Yes, it’s a cool movie, like the music too!
PUNK GLOBE: Which of the recent succession of untimely rock n roll deaths affected you most, on a personal level?
ARTHUR ALEXANDER: How recent is “recent”?.... probably Lennon’s did the most damage... Joey Ramone.... when I found out about Johnny Thunders... that was sooo sad...
PUNK GLOBE: Are you an Ian Hunter fan?
ARTHUR ALEXANDER: Yes, I always like Mott The Hoople
PUNK GLOBE: What did you think of the Clash?
ARTHUR ALEXANDER: Great band!... In spite of substantial success, I think they were highly underrated... sadly, bullshit, drugs and egos took over and it was over soon enough... same story as always, so it seems...
PUNK GLOBE: Ever see Trash Brats from Detroit?
ARTHUR ALEXANDER: No...
PUNK GLOBE: Favorite bands of the past 20 years?
ARTHUR ALEXANDER:we already pretty much covered that above?...
PUNK GLOBE: Who's releasing Bad Times Good Times?
ARTHUR ALEXANDER: Bomp! Records....
PUNK GLOBE: Current operations/Future Plans?
ARTHUR ALEXANDER: Already working on the follow up to Sorrows “Bad Times Good times”.... plans are in the works to do more recordings with the guys so I might be making tracks to NYC later this year to work with them on that. We also had a reunion of sorts last November, and everyone really enjoyed kicking ass again so there’s a serious talk about playing live again...
PUNK GLOBE: Discuss the Poppees anthology on Bomp!
ARTHUR ALEXANDER: Suzy and Patrick at Bomp/Alive Records approached me about the project and I though it was way fucking overdue!.... all people really knew from us were our two Bomp singles... I did have a whole bunch of stuff just sitting in the can so it was a great opportunity to give The Poppees their rightful legacy and a well deserved spot in the history of New York rock ‘n roll scene....
PUNK GLOBE: What did you think of the Runaways movie?
ARTHUR ALEXANDER: I haven’t seen it yet, but the teasers I saw looked GREAT!... I really wanna see it... saw the real thing at CBGB’s... still as real as if it were yesterday! ;)
PUNK GLOBE: What did I forget to ask you?
ARTHUR ALEXANDER:.....Are you kidding me!?!?.... dude, you ran me into the ground! lol
PUNK GLOBE: Where can the rock'n'roll people purchase your swag and keep updated on your activities?
ARTHUR ALEXANDER: I and both bands are on both myspace and facebook,... that’s probably the easiest...
PUNK GLOBE: THANKS!