BROOKLYN NEW YORK mid 1970´s: A couple of fine young boys (Eric Hoffert and Greg Crewdson) met each other studying at a neighborhood "Friend´s" School...When they were 11 years old they met Allen Hurkin Torres. They studied their instruments and saw The Ramones at CBGB´s at age 14....They loved the fast pure catchy style with an edge...and were so inspired...

Now remember this was during the disco years..But the 3 boys (now 16 and repulsed) Had a different vision...They coined the term "Power Pop" and set some hard fast rules...
1. No song could be longer than 3 minutes....
2. Songs had to be Fast with a Hook....
3. Songs could only be about Girls, School or their soon to be emerging Power Pop Scene....
In desperate need of a Voice, they met a guy with a funny haircut bumming around and invited him for an audition...He was a Pistols / Bowie fan and was the perfect answer to the equation... That Gentleman was one JOHN MARINO....

Inspired by The Archies, Banana Splits, Monkee´s, The Who, Beatles, Bowie, Mott, T-Rex, The Dolls, The Sweet. THE SPEEDIES were also aligned sonically with The Jam, Buzzcocks, Gen-x and the Undertones....It made for quite an abstract vision...Convinced the world was ready for an International Power Pop Overthrow. And armed with many different brands of breakfast cereals (and the cool prizes inside)..They booked their first ever show, December 26th, 1978 at MAX´S KANSAS CITY, and it promptly sold out.. VARIETY glowingly reviewed the show shortly there after...which apparently involved dumping boxes of cereal on the audience.. (pure chaotic genius)...

Not long after...It occurred to the Boys they had neglected to hire a Bass Player and Recruited John Carlucci...They became all the rage in NYC and faced long lines of devoted fans around the block at all their shows...Their first single "Let Me Take Your Photo" sold out of it´s initial pressing in an instant...In 2005 it was licensed for commercial use by Hewlett Packard and was used on the Tonight Show....

I´ve been so fortunate to have developed an (albeit long distance) but close friendship with Mr. Marino...and I´m so grateful to him for giving us the benefit of his experiences as a ground breaking artist...

How is life these days? You seem very happy out west making huge Italian dinners on Sundays and enjoying your friends and family..I for one think Jagger was wrong...et tu? Is it really a drag getting old-er?

Nah not at all, it's time for the torch to be passed, we all reach this point in our lives right now I'm very content with my pasta, pizza and pisan's.

It seemed to me The Speedies were kind of an overnight sensation..... How did you, being so young, cope with the Sudden Notoriety? Was it overwhelming?

To say the least, I knew that people noticed me the unfortunate thing is that I didn't recognize many of them, when the stage lights are on it's hard to see faces. I knew something was up when I had access to all the night spots without putting my hand in my pocket +2 of course, haha!

The funniest thing I´ve ever heard in an interview was when some one asked Gregg Allman how it felt creating a new "Genre"..."Mám, we didn´t even know what a genre was" He replied...How about you? Did you have even an inkling that you were on the cusp of creating Power Pop as we know it today? a medium that went on to influence so many aspiring artists and claim your undeniable place in rock and roll history?

Not a clue. The band did what we did, I think that even if we didn't have a stringent layout for our songs it would have fell into place. It was like a second skin. The Speedies were Pure Pop.

I know you had a close relationship with the immortal Klaus Nomi. How did you meet? what are your fondest memories of him? Did you ever perform together?

Klaus was an extraordinary person as I need not tell you. We met in an after-hours club in the meat packing district of NYC I knew of him from my manager and was "sort of" on a quest to find him, who woulda thunk it would be there? I approach he says "do you Nomi", I respond "I do now" and it was on. The conversation slowly turned into a Quaalude thing and we left the club. We never performed together as our styles were on two different dimensions. His camp was classic. I think the fondest or funniest memory I have is when I told him that "Photo" was going to be released. He looked me dead in the eye and with his thickest German accent he said "So your record will be produced before mine, We'll see about that" We immediately busted out laughing I remember him singing in his apt, it was beautiful, what a shame. He'll always be remembered.

Even though it was New York...and we were all famous for accepting one another. The Rock and Roll world could be very judgmental... Did you ever suffer any bias because of your sexuality during your hey day...?

Back in my hey day my sexuality was as stable as myself (not very). People didn't know which way or what I was going to do next because I had no idea myself, I always had a girlfriend or two in the wings and on occasion a male friend to keep me company.

Was it a shock when "LET ME TAKE YOUR PHOTO" was licensed for a HP advert in 2005? Did the Artists (as in you) receive an acceptable payday? Or were your publishing rights, (like so many bands) wrestled away from you in your early years?

At first it was a treat to hear that someone was interested in a song we made over 30 years ago, then when we found out it was HP we were ecstatic. As far as payout goes I think we made out just fine over the 50k mark is unheard of for a song so old and not on a rotating schedule. We made out good! Even Leno got into the act and from time to time we still get a residual check from him, Cha- ching!

Fantastic! What was it like at Max´s etc. in those days? Who did you rub elbows with? (C´mon drop names! that´s what Punk Globe is all about!)... Do you recall any interesting anecdotes involving artists who must have been your peers?...What was your favorite venue?

Rubbing elbows isn't quite what I would call it, Max's, Hurrah, Trax, we sold out all those clubs. Sometimes you don't get a chance to rub elbows when the crowd is thick, I know that Bowie came to one of our Hurrah shows and was dj'ing, he spent his night with our bass players Mother in the booth, Mrs. Carlucci didn't know who he was at first then John went thru the whole Bing Crosby "Drummer Boy" thing and it rang a bell. Ya gotta love it! I do remember Rick Ocasek from the Cars came to one of our shows and was very nice, I believe in Philadelphia or perhaps Boston. My memory sometimes fails me. Artists who were my peers were friends, well some more than others in more ways than one. I really enjoyed covering "Looks" a song that was in the Student Teachers line up. And had a blast covering Tvc-15 with the Comateens at Max's. I also did "Let me take your Photo" with the Beastie Boys at Gildersleeves, funny, the phone rings and it's Adam asking if I wanted to join them doing the song onstage. They didn't have to ask more than once! I think my favorite show was opening for the Jam at the Palladium. What can I say? I live for the applause.

Who else did you share stages with?...Who were some of the opening / headlining acts you´ve performed with?.... Which was the biggest thrill?

As I remember we didn't remain as an opening act for very long, we opened for the likes of Ultravox, the Undertones, The Jam, David Johanssen, The Fast, The Members, Edgar Winter and the Rezillos. Some of our opening acts were the Colors, (Clem Burke of Blondie) was their manager and also produced our second single, "Something on my mind." Tiger Beats, The Boyfriends, Student Teachers and Buzz and the flyers, I have to thank John Carlucci for the memory Jog.

Early Ultravox! Oh Man! My Favorite Band! When you played The Bottom Line you were still so young. Did your parents had to supervise the band during the event? They also enlisted a ban on cereal throwing... That would have pissed me off. Do you have any memories of that historic show you would be so kind as to share with us?

The best memory of that show was that we opened up for the Tourists and later finding out that it was Annie Lennox, I didn't know who she was at the time, but I remember saying to myself damn she could sing. They were pushing "I Only Want To Be With You" at that time and we were just pushing, All in all it was a wonderful night for the Speedies.

Do you still have a fondness for Breakfast Cereal? What is or Was your favorite?

I have breakfast cereal often only now it's in the evenings, haha! My favorite has changed from Capt'n Crunch to Cinnamon Toast Crunch.

Do you still listen to new music? Anyone of late that has caught your ear?

I'm kind of stuck in the past listening to Johnny Thunders, Jobriath, Jayne County, The Dolls etc. I also enjoy my Eno and Fripp collection. As of recent I've been listening to Die Antwoord, That Yolandi girl is a cutie but I think she's the kind to bite off your head once the deed is done! Because of that I started listening to Amanda Lepore. Hahaha!

Final Thoughts, Words of Wisdom, Political statements?

Enjoy life, keep your nose clean, have plenty of sex, & don't vote it's a mess! I'd like to thank you David Rat and Punk Globe for taking an interest in my thoughts and whereabouts. Much continued success to you and your colleagues on your future endeavors.

Heartfelt Thanks John! On behalf of myself and all your loyal fans.. For allowing us to gain some insight into a truly innovative artist...









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More info about DAVID RAT`S forthcoming LP "The United Hates" here:
http://dromedary-records.com/artists/david-rat