Latest / Booked On Rock with Eric Senich / Staring Down Uzis At A Concert & More Wild Stories From Author/Musician/Documentarian Frank Meyer [Episode 165]

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Staring Down Uzis At A Concert & More Wild Stories From Author/Musician/Documentarian Frank Meyer [Episode 165] · Booked On Rock with Eric Senich

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They just had dudes coming out in full prison outfits, like real prison outfits,
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holding actual fucking oozzies and aks, Like they weren't cardboard, And I'm
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not, I have no idea if they're loaded. I would fucking hope they
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weren't. But like I was like, WHOA, Like I was a little
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kid, and I was like, damn, those are guns. I'm like,
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I know, dialogue. How's a fountain conversation? Round? That's a
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geyser? Interesting? Interesting, It's provocative. Caddy Man back Man who rock
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and Roll? Welcome to Booked on Rock, the podcast for those about to
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read and rock. Find the podcast at booked on rock dot com. You
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can find every episode of Booked on Rock there, along with links to your
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favorite listening platforms, exclusive videos, blogs, links to all of the social
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media sites, and the latest rock book releases. It's another chapter in the
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Dialogue series, a chillin' chat with musicians, authors, fellow podcasters, listeners,
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and more. Our guest is Frank Meyer. Frank is an award winning
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musician, director, and author from Los Angeles. He's best known for his
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vocal work with Rock and Roll Hall of Famer James Williamson of Iggy and The
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Stooges, his rock band The Street walk In Cheetahs, and his studio and
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roadwork with cult legends Wayne Kramer of MC five, Scherie Curry of The Runaways,
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Sylvain Sylvain of New York Dallas, Chetah Chrome of Dead Boys, just
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to name a few. He's got a brand new documentary feature film out now
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called Freestyle one oh one Hip Hop History. We'll talk about that, along
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with just some of the many, many stories he has to tell. Frank
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saw the metal band body Count perform a concert where they brought actual oozzies on
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stage. He got to see Axel Rose around nineteen eighty four when he was
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an unknown singing in a band called Rapid Fire. He later caught a pretty
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famous axel and slash backstage at an MTV Video Awards show, stealing food from
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a catering line. He talked to Ross of Eddie van Halen, why Frank
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would love to see Van Halen bassist Michael Anthony write a book and what he'd
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want to be in it. We wind down with the discussion of Keith Richards
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and the latest Rolling Stones album, Hackney Diamonds. Here is Frank Meyer.
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Frank, Welcome back. To the podcast. Man, what's going on?
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Not much? Man, how you doing? I gotta claud you because you're
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the very, very very first guest on this podcast. Well, thank you,
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my god. I don't I guess I didn't realize that I was the
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first guest. Meaning now that you say that, I gotta say I'm pretty
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proud of myself. Two years ago it was about, Yeah, I really
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did something special. I gave you a gift by giving me a gift that
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we gave the world. And you know, not only did you talk about
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your books on The Ramones, you hooked me up with Monty Melnick, the
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road manager of the Ramones. So I had him on I think the following
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episode. So you got us off to a good start here. Man.
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Yeah, well you know Monty. I mean, Monty actually lived the life.
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I was just sort of the person that Monty turned to to tell his
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story because I can put together the words. But also I'm a big punk
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rock fan like yourself, so I kind of understood the context of stuff,
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but the reality is, like on the Road with Romonos, my first book
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is Monty's story, and most of my stuff in the book world have kind
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of been me teaming up with people that are essentially more famous, ie have
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a more interesting story to tell, and then me helping them tell their story.
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So I worked with like Nil Slowsauer, I did. I'd actually work
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with Davimus Stain on his first book, although it changed hands a few times.
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I've worked with sports photographer Walter yost Junior, just sort of helping people
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tell their stories. Of course, as a musician and a filmmaker, those
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are the media is where I'm telling my story. But in the world of
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books, my role has kind of become like a co author, you know,
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helping people tell their stories. And much like in the guitar world or
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in the music world, like when I'm in my band The Streetwalkin' Cheetahs,
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I'm like the front guy. I'm singing, I'm playing guitar, and I'm
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kind of essentially writing or co writing the songs. But when i work with
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a guy like James Williamson from The Stooges, I'm just the lead singer and
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like he tells me what to do. When I'm working with other bands as
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a guitar player, you know, if I'm working with like heavy metal artist
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Door, i might just be playing guitar or working on that stuff, not
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necessarily the front person. So I always kind of understand that in this world
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of art, like everyone has their role. By the way, the Frankmeyer
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dot com is your website, thank you. Yeah, the Frankmeyer dot com
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or the Frankmeyer director dot com if you want to just hone in on my
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directing and stuff. Because one thing, I've been doing this for a long
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time, and I've always been a real hard working person. So like ever
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since I was young, I've kind of just like, like whatever it is
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I'm doing, I do it. Meaning I don't just like playing in a
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band, I make a record with the band, or I go on tour
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with the band. I don't just get into making movies. I make movies
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like I write movies, I direct them. I worked at NBC for years.
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I mean tons and tons of content there, you know, and all
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sorts of roles producer, director, writer. You know. My whole thing
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is just like especially in Los Angeles, like forgive my friends, but motherfuckers
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talk all day about the shit they've done and they ain't done shit, you
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know what I mean. Like people talk all day long in this town about
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like man blah blah blah, blah, and then like when it comes down
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to it, you're like, man, you ain't like, you ain't done
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nothing. Like my whole thing is like Frank Zappa is my hero. So
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like I'm in the output. Like I'm not into being an idea guy.
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I'm into being a I wrote books, guy, I directed movies. Guy.
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I made albums where I'm the singer, songwriter, guitar player, chief
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musician. I went on tour, I've been to Europe, I've been to
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you know what I mean. Like, I like, I'm into the Like
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I'm gonna prove it to you. I'm not talking about stuff. Talking is
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what people do. You know, you go to the bar, you hang
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out this guy. Oh man, I'm playing in this band, all this
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stuff. Huh huh. Where can I get this? You on Spotify?
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And oh well no, no, none of it's not like released or anything.
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You're like, uh huh, you know what I mean? Like,
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Yeah, I'm not that guy. I'm the guy where it's like if I've
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got something to say and I'm gonna spend the time and do it, then
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it's coming out on a label and it's gonna get some marketing and I'm gonna
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go out and tour and support it, and I'm gonna it's And if I
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can't have a budget then to have people direct my videos and make my videos
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and edit my videos, I'll do it all myself because I learned how to
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do that too along the way. Well, you got a new project,
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so we want to talk about Well, actually I want to ask you about
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Van Halen because we're huge Van Halen fans and you got great David in the
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world. I want to we'll talk metal. We'll talk punk, books on
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rock that you've read, books on rock that you want to see written.
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But let's start with your brand new project. Just had author Ben Napatov on
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the podcast. He wrote a great book for the thirty three and a third
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series on Iced Tea's metal band, body Count, which is, Oh,
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if you haven't yet, I have not. And I am a huge Iced
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Tea fan. Frank Zappa and Iced Tea and Eddie van Halen like those are
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my guys. Yeah, and he's in your documentary. Let's talk about this
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documentary. Iced Tea among the many artists part of a documentary which has just
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been released. Tell us about this documentary. So Freestyle one oh one hip
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hop History. It's out on Amazon Prime and uh YouTube Movies and Google Play,
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and essentially it's the history of freestyle rap. But it's also sort of
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examining the idea of like being an artist and being like an expert in your
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craft and like what does that mean in terms of trying to create like a
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career when you know, in the case of music, everything is you know,
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like being an expert in a craft isn't necessarily like a formula for success
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in the pop music. You've got to write hooks, you've got to have
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an image, you got to have so many things behind you just being a
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dope guitar player that can shred or a super great freestyle rapper, Like maybe
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in the nineties you might have been something that could get you signed, but
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like nowadays, like you know what I mean, Like being like an expert
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in this super super specific lane of hip hop or rock or whatever you do
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is not necessarily a guaranteed way to make a living. So the movie kind
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of starts off with like the history of freestyle rap, meaning improvisational rap.
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So it's not just rapping, but the idea that guys are like battling and
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going against each other or doing improv rap where they're like working with like the
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stuff in the room and the people in the room and the things that are
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happening and kind of making their lyrics up instead of coming in with predetermined lyrics.
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That became like an art form and an offshoot within hip hop. And
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so we examine like the history of that with Chuck de narrating Iced Team Mob,
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Deep, Mop Fat, Joe Dell, Cypress Hill, The Game,
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Riza Guru, all these people telling you kind of the history of it,
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and then we kind of catch you up till with modern day where it's like,
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okay, so if you're on the West Coast and you're like this super
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dope backpack rapper that came from like the the Freestyle Fellowship, Good Life Project
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blowed, you know, you can wrap your ass off and maybe you're writing
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and writing songs. Now, okay, there's that guy. And then on
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the East Coast that's manifested itself in like you're the dopest battle rapper and you
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can just come in and annihilate dudes, and there's like it's like boxing.
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There's you know, there's money on the line, there's sponsorships. You know,
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you got Diddy Diddy and uh, you know Buster rhymes up in the
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balcony, you know, giving their thumbs up and dumbs an. It's like
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some ruthless, real like sportsmanship stuff. So okay, you got these two
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guys. Now, who comes from this philosophy of being an improvisational mon Again,
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I equate it because I come from the guitar world. I equate it
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to being like the dopest guitar player in town. Like you know, back
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in the day when it's like Eddie van Halen versus Randy Rhoades, Warren d.
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Martini versus Jakie Lee's, Zach Wilde versus dimebag Daryl, you know what
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I mean, You had like these shreddingly guitar players like, man, that
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dude, that's my guy over there with that fucking dude, We'll tear your
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head off. And people like, no, man, Eddie van Halen's my
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shit, fucking your guy. That guy's a clown. That's the way it
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became in like freestyle rapping. So the movie kind of like gives you the
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history, then takes you up with these modern guys, and then kind of
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poses the question of like what does that get you in the music? In
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the modern music industry, Like what does that get you in the music industry
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now, to be an expert at something? But can you package that and
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can you make that essentially a sellable commodity in this version of the music industry,
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Because this version of the music industry is very different than the one where
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that art forum was created in the eighties and nineties. You know what I'm
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saying. The seventies, you know, blah blah blah. To me,
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that these guys can come up with stuff off the top of their heads,
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it's crazy, it's crazy, it's mind blowing. What I learned is that
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not every rapper you know is a great freestyler, but every rapper started with
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freestyling. In fact, what I learned, because the whole the movie is
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essentially based on I started doing a podcast in the very early days of podcasting,
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like two thousand and eight. I was doing a podcast called Freestyle one
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O one, and I was having rappers come on, and I was kind
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of posing the question of like, let's talk about how you learned to rap,
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where you came from, who your influences were in the first time you
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freestyled. And I knew that every rapper didn't necessarily become a freestyle rapper.
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But I knew that every rapper started off improving and rhyming with their buddies and
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doing a cipher and you know, banging on the table at school, banging
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on the walls in their fucking projects where they work, you know what I
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mean, Like trading fucking barbs with dudes, battling. So I understood much.
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Again, I go back to guitar playing, much like you could talk
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to any guitar player, like, tell me when you just started fucking learned
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how to do leads, and like competing with guys, like, oh shit,
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first time I had a you know, trade licks with a guy,
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Like everyone knows. That doesn't mean that's what you did with your career,
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but that was a good talking point for having a conversation, because what I
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thought is that, like I've read a million interviews with Eddie Van Halen and
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Keith Richards and Pete Townsend about the intricacies of their guitar playing, I was
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not reading a lot or seeing a lot of interviews with rappers about the intricacies
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of what they were doing on the microphone. But I was reading interviews with
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rappers about like when did you sell crack? And how many times did you
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get shot and like all that like crime life stuff, which I'm not saying
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that that that context doesn't like provide insight into their art form, but I'm
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like, that's the most interesting thing you've got to ask this dude. Like
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this guy's doing incredible run, Like these rappers are just like the greatest poets
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in the world, and all you want to know is whether they sold crack.
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So I was like, man, I want to talk to rappers about
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rapping, and I just thought freestyling was like a good like jumping off point.
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And then the idea was like we would talk about it and then I
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would get them on the mic, and if they could freestyle, I would
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encourage them freestyle to give me one off the cuff. But if they couldn't,
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as some rapper ic T told me, he goes, look, I'm
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not really a freestyle It's fine, man, just do your thing. You
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know. Well, I'll talk to you about that as a jumping off point,
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but when you get on the mic, just do your thing, and
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like, you know, it's cool if you just come in with the written
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or change a few words, like my whole thing is. I just wanted
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the musical performance to be one take. I didn't want them doing puncheons and
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like making a recording. So the idea was, come in, talk to
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me about your art form on a technical, inside baseball level, and then
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let's see you just get on the mic, just like you'd say to a
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guitar player, just like give me one ready, three, two, one
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go, and then the boon and let them do their thing and they go,
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Hey, that's it, that's it. That's what we're gonna use for
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you on this and that became this podcast. And then once I had like
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one hundred episodes of like every great rapper in the world talking and rapping about
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the same sort of subject matter, I was like, there's a movie in
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this, and that's essentially what this movie is. You've talked in previous interviews
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about how you saw a little of punk in hip hop. Can you talk
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about that expand on that. Well, the first exposure I had to hip
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hop was when I was like a little kid, probably in the late eighties,
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and it was like Run DMC and the Fat Boys and you know,
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DJ Jazzy Jeff and Fresh Prince, you know, like the meaning like pop
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hip hop that was on the radio, but like, you know, how
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could you not love Run DMC And of course if you love rock and roll.
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They teamed up with Aerosmith, so there was some credibility. So I
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was like aware of hip hop, but that I was a rock kid.
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I listened to punk rock and heavy metal. I was listening to Van Halen
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and Motley Cruze and Judas Priest and Blondie and Devo in just like eighties rock.
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And I'll tell you a funny story. My stepdad was an entertainment attorney
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and he represented everyone from Tom Petty to Yoko Ono to Easy and when Nwa
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ice Cube left the group and they were doing an interview on a show called
15:28
Pump It Up with a host named Dee Barnes, and she asked them about
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ice Cube leaving and Easy and Dre got pissed and essentially beat her up and
15:39
threw her down a flight of stairs, and she sued them. This is
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not in the movie Straight Out of Compton, but it is widely acknowledged,
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even in their HBO documentary about Doctor Dre and Ivy and they talk about this,
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and so she sued them for assault, and my dad represented EASYE in
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that assault charge, you know what I mean. So he's representing easy.
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So my dad comes home one day and he's like, I'm working with this
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guy named EASYE and he's got a record company called Ruthless, and he gave
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me some CDs. I'm not gonna listen to him. You want him And
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it was like the Easy record, the NWA straight out of Compton, one
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hundred miles and running Zigga's for Life, you know, the third record Above
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the Law, which was another group on the label, few other like Ruthless
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things. And I wasn't that into hip hop, and so I was probably
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gonna go sell him, you know, like at the record store down the
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street. But I was like, you know, I know that NWA group
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did that song Fuck the Police, and I do fucking hate the police,
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So I do enjoy that overall sentiment and the punk rocker in me. This
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is where I'm finally answering your question. Yeah, it was like, yeah,
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I do like that. So I put on I was like, well,
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let me check out this record straight out of Compton. I put that
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on and bo yeah. I was like boom, my fucking brain just exploded.
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And what I equaited to punk rock with it is that like it was
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so direct, it was so in your face, like these guys didn't even
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learn how to play guitar. They didn't even scales chords like ah, like
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that that's too formal. Like hip hop to me was so punk rock.
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They were just like guitars, bass and drums fucked that boom like fuck that
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shit. Like it was so like they just go through the whole thing out
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the window. And then also I felt like the Clash and the Damned and
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the sex Fistles would be clever about how anti authority they were, you know
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what I mean, Like they would write like you know, kind of like
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a more clever poem pair, but like NWA was just like fuck the police,
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like like literally just like I will shoot them in the face. And
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I was like, damn, Like they've taken all the all the sort of
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silly bullshit out of the equation and just boiled it down to like heat and
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anger and frustration over a dope beat that sounds like rebel music. Yea,
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that to me made such perfect sense. And like I've spent the rest of
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my life to this day as an investigative journalist, as a filmmaker's musician,
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just you know, perplexed and just just fascinated with that, with that,
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with what hip hop did to me in that moment and what hip hop can
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do, and music in general, punk rock, heavy metal too, but
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for me, maybe more than anything hip hop, I had that moment where
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I was like, Man, anything is possible in this world. Anything is
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possible. I want to go back to body Count. You were telling my
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friend Darren Pealtrowitz recently on his podcast The paltrow Cast, that you saw body
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Count in concert and that was an insane experience for you. Tell the story
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again. Either came out with oozis Well. The show that I saw was
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at a heavy metal club on the Sunset Strimp that I think was called the
19:07
Spice Club. It might have been called Sunset Live or something, but I
19:14
want to say it was called the Spice Club, and that there was a
19:15
promoter around that time named Rich Bartell and he was kind of connected, and
19:21
that he had BodyCount play, and I think it was a warm up show
19:23
for the Lalla Poloosa tour, which was sort of how they were introduced to
19:29
the world. Was like Iced Tea was already a famous rapper and he had
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just put out the album Original Gangster, and Original Gangster had a song called
19:37
there Goes the Neighborhood featuring body Count. That was the first introduction to BodyCount.
19:42
And around that time, him and Ernie C, who was his childhood,
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you know, high school buddy who's been making records with all these years.
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The very first Icy footage you've ever seen in the movie break In and
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Rapping, Ernie C is by a side. Ernie C is always been there
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with Iced tya kickass guitars, great songwriter, great guy. He's the guy
20:06
that took me up with Ice to get in my movie. So he introduced
20:10
him on that record and they played a handful of local shows. I have
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a bootleg video of them playing Raji's, which was a punk rock club.
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Like they probably did like maybe four five six local shows at like heavy metal,
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sunset Strip, hair metal type clubs before they went on that Lallapalooza tour.
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And I saw one of those shows. I would wild guess it was
20:33
somewhere around show number like four five or six, you know. And what
20:37
I remember was that at that time Public Enemy would do this thing where like
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the S one W's, like their their crew full military outfits, but they
20:48
had like very clearly these kind of cardboard oozi's. Meaning it was theatrical,
20:56
you know, meaning like when you saw Public Enemy and they were doing all
20:59
that pullet and stuff, much like seeing Alice Cooper or Wasp or something like,
21:03
there was a sense of theatrics. They weren't trying to convince you that
21:08
they had guns. They were just trying to show you, like we are
21:12
a militant force, you know what I mean, Like it was theatrics.
21:15
But when I saw this show with Iced Tea, these motherfuckers they just had
21:21
dudes coming out in full prison outfits, like real prison outfits, holding actual
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fucking uzzies and ak like they weren't cardboard And I'm not I have no idea
21:32
if they were loaded. I would fucking hope they weren't. But like I
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was like, whoa, Like I was a little kid, and I was
21:37
like, damn, those are guns. And then the main other thing that
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I remember about the show is that they started There goes the Neighborhood, and
21:45
right when the band kicked in, somehow they they kind of fucked up,
21:52
like they they stumbled, you know what I mean, Like they didn't all
21:55
come in and Ice stopped the show and when Nope, no, we're gonna
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start it over, and he had Ernie Cee start the whole thing over again.
22:07
I don't know whether it's maybe they were filming or maybe he's just a
22:10
perfectionist, but like they started the song, the first song of this very
22:15
early gig, and they sort of stumbled, and he stopped them cold,
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had them start over again. Then they went into it flawlessly and then just
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brutalized us. And man, I'm telling you, like, I'm so glad
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I grew up in Hollywood in that time, Like in the late eighties early
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nineties, I saw so many unbelievable, incredible shows like that. You know,
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saw Guns N' Roses, Unsigned, saw Poison, Unsigned, saw Jane's
22:45
Addiction Unsigned, saw early on in the Yeah, I saw Warrant before Janny
22:49
Lane was the singer. I saw Jenny Lane in playing Jane before he was
22:53
in Warrant, Like I saw Axel Rose when he was in a band called
22:59
Rapping Fire before Hollywood Rose, before Rose, when he first got off the
23:04
bus he answered a recycler ad and did four or five shows with a heavy
23:08
metal band called Rapid Fire. I saw one of those up for Steve VI
23:14
on the Flexible Tour at the country Club. And I went because my pal
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Weweasel Zappa, As I told you, my guitar teacher, you know,
23:22
he was like, hey man, Frank's guitar player just left the band,
23:26
but he's doing this solo tour and he's my pal, and I'm gonna be
23:29
jamming with him. I'm gonna put you on the list. And I was
23:32
such a dumb little kid that, like I asked my parents, like,
23:36
will you guys take me to go see Weezl play with this guy Steve Vi?
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And they were like no, And so I asked my friend's parents and
23:42
they were like Frank Zappa fans, and they were like, uh, okay,
23:45
sure we'll go. What time does it start? And I just looked
23:48
at the fly or I looked at like the ticket tweasel gave me or whatever,
23:52
and it said like eight o'clock, meaning like doors eight o'clock. And
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I was just like, I guess we've got to be there at eight o'clock.
24:00
So we got there, you know, probably seven forty five, but
24:03
eight o'clock meant there was a band at eight, aband at nine, a
24:06
band at ten, and then Steve I went on at eleven o'clock. The
24:10
very first band that went on was called Rapid Fire and it featured Axel Rose
24:15
on vocals. What were they playing covers? Originals? They're playing originals.
24:19
If you you can go online right now and look up Axel Rose Rapid Fire.
24:23
They have a song called Rumble. And the here's the connection is that
24:27
for years and years and years before I even understood like meaning from my point
24:33
of view at that time, I just went and saw an unknown band that
24:37
no one's ever heard of, called Rapid Fire. But what I remember is
24:41
that they had this fucking song called Rumble and it went when oh good dawn,
24:48
and was like, oh man, where do you want to go the
24:52
Rumble? Like the Warriors, like the Wanderers. I was like, my
24:55
little teenage brain, I'd never seen a te like I'd only I seen professional
25:00
bands at that point. So like now I'm watching like I'm probably fourteen,
25:07
and I'm watching a bunch of like seventeen or eighteen year olds, you know,
25:11
like kids, and they're playing original music and he's doing this song,
25:15
where do you want to go? The Rumble? And I went up when
25:18
they finished and there was only like twelve people there. When they played.
25:22
I went up to the singer long skinny, long haired, red haired skinny
25:26
kid and said, hey, man, can I get your autograph? And
25:30
he went, what why would you want that? And I go cause your
25:34
band was incredible. I loved it, and he goes, all right,
25:37
And by the way he gave me, I didn't save it, of course,
25:41
but it probably he didn't even say Axl Rose. It probably says Bill
25:42
Bailey. William Bailey was Axel yet so but I didn't know any of this.
25:48
So then I saw Guns n' Roses another story. If you want to
25:53
hear, i'll tell you. But I saw Guns n' Roses a few times
25:56
in the early days before they got signed, and then and then you know,
26:00
then they become big and ya da dad. Years and years later,
26:03
around two thousand, I was the editor of KNAC dot com, the heavy
26:10
metal online radio station website, and we got sent a CD and a press
26:17
kit from Cleopatra Records, and it was from a band called Rapid Fire,
26:21
and the press kit said this was Axel Roses band. He a heavy metal
26:26
band. He didn't write the songs necessarily, he just like joined him right
26:30
when he got off the bus before he split, and then did Rose and
26:33
then Hollywood Rose and Ya Da da. And I'm reading this because they sent
26:37
it to me, presumably to review it, and I'm going, I remember
26:41
seeing a band called Rapid Fire, but there's no fucking way it was Axel
26:45
Roses band that would just be too weird. And all I knew of them
26:48
is that they had that song Rumble. So I skimmed down the press release
26:52
and I see the CD and it says the track listing, first song,
26:56
Rumble question and then in parentheses, where do you want to go? And
27:00
I'm like, what the fuck? And I put it on and I'm like,
27:03
that's it. That's the band I saw. And I realized, like,
27:06
oh my god, I saw Rapid Fire with Axel Rose doing this song,
27:12
and I asked them for his autograph and everything. That's like an obscure
27:17
part of rock history that very few kids. And I'll give you one other
27:22
weird, little sort of tidbit to that story. Is that now cut to
27:27
so if that was probably eighty four. By eighty six, Guns n' Roses
27:37
were kind of a known local band and had been signed, but their record
27:44
didn't come out until eighty seven. It was like a year where they were
27:48
signed but the record wasn't out. And in that time I saw them open
27:55
for Jet Boy, I saw them with Vain. I saw them play at
28:00
UCLA in Ackerman Hall on Halloween Night eighty six with Red Hot Chili Peppers,
28:07
Thelonious Monster and the Dickies Weird Chows. So gn R was on the same
28:12
bill as the Red Hot Chili Peppers in nineteen eighty six UCLA Ackerman Hall,
28:18
and there's a bootleg of it, and it was the first night they played
28:21
the song perfect Crime, I think actually, But anyway, so, yeah,
28:26
we're going away. But this is, by the way, this is
28:26
all on the internet. You can look all this shit up. Yeah.
28:29
Man, that's cool boy. Yeah you've got story. You'd all stories.
28:33
So here's the other story. So, so I saw Axel on that band,
28:40
But again I don't remember. I never new made that connection until much
28:44
later. But now it's like eighty six and it's the second annual MTV Music
28:51
Awards ever and my pal to Weasel Zappa was hosting, not hosting the awards,
28:56
but he was a MTV host time and he him and Moon were like
29:02
hosting on MTV, and so it was the second Annual Music Awards and Moon
29:08
and Duisel were going to go up and give, you know, do some
29:11
sort of presentation thing. So Louisel says, hey, man, I'm going
29:15
on this MTV thing. You should come with me and hang out and be,
29:18
you know, be my guests. So all right, So I go
29:19
to that. We're in this backstage area. It was like a dance floor,
29:23
and there's this long line of free food, you know, like a
29:26
catering area of free food, and I see Axel and Slash, who at
29:30
this point I've seen in Guns and Roses and I did not know that.
29:33
I was not making the connection thinking rapid Fire, but I had seen Guns
29:38
and Roses at that point, and they were a popular LA band, and
29:41
I even think I knew they had a record deal, but the record was
29:45
not out. They were not famous yet I see them because you know this
29:48
time, Slash has still got the top hat Axles. I mean, they
29:52
just they looked like exactly like they looked in the Welcome to the Jungle video,
29:56
basically in the full leather outfit. But I see them on the catering
30:00
line and they're so poor because they're not famous, yet they're taking bread and
30:04
pastas and like shoving it in their jacket and like stealing food, and so
30:10
I'm like, oh man, that's those fucking guns and Roses guys. So
30:12
I walk up to him and I go, hey, are you act So
30:15
in Slash? And I'm a little kid like me. I'm probably fourteen at
30:18
this point, but they're maybe in their early twenties, and I go,
30:22
hey, are you ax soing Slash? And they're like like they thought they
30:25
got busted. They're like, uh maybe, And I go, oh no,
30:29
I saw you guys last weekend in San Francisco with Jet Boy and they're
30:33
like, oh yeah yeah, And I go and I'm gonna go see you
30:34
guys next week with the Red Hot Chili Peppers. And now they're kind of
30:40
warming up to me. They're like, yeah, all right, kid,
30:41
yeah cool, and I go, you know, the Red Hot Chili Peppers
30:44
are known for playing totally naked and putting socks on their dicks, So like,
30:48
what are you guys gonna do? You just guys gonna just walk out
30:51
totally naked and just like out his spinal tap, like Axel turns to Slash
30:56
and he goes like Hey, man, this kid says we should walk out
31:00
naked and show art digs, and Slash is like like Beavis and Body,
31:04
Yes, show art digs. That's cool. He was like, all right,
31:07
cool kid, and that's and that was my guns n' roses. Oh
31:11
Man, the book down Rock Podcasts will be back after this. Frank Meyer,
31:18
he's our guest. Brand new documentary Freestyle one oh one hip Hop History,
31:23
Amazon Prime, Google Play, YouTube movies you can find them there.
31:27
Let's talk books on rock. Now, let's start with books on rock.
31:30
You've recently read and you want to talk about. You read Steve Rosen's brand
31:36
new book released this year, Tone Chaser, Understanding Edward, My twenty six
31:40
year journey with Edward Van Halen. The promo for the book stated that the
31:45
book is quote an honest, upclose look at what it was like to be
31:48
friends with the greatest guitar player on the planet. Did the book live up
31:52
to that promise? And what are some standout moments from the book for you?
31:56
I really liked the book A lot out of it is because I'm just
32:00
an Eddie Van Halen junkie, and so there's a lot of just transcriptions of
32:07
late night conversations with Eddie. And I don't know that that's for everybody,
32:13
but like I'm the audience for that, Like I want to you know,
32:16
I assume when I read something like that, that Eddie's probably calling, like
32:22
after several beers or several lines of coke, and we're getting like the raw
32:27
fucking Eddie. And I also assume that like, all right, raw fucking
32:31
Eddie calling of journalists, you know, on Slash off the record at four
32:37
a m. May or may not be like the best example of Eddie's overall
32:40
personality, but like I want to hear that interview, you know what I
32:45
mean. Like I love Eddie and I'm such a fan that I'm fascinated by
32:50
those conversations. What I liked about that book is that Steve was a journalist
32:58
who was sort of in all of Eddie and he got essentially he made the
33:05
mistake that sometimes we journalists make, and I say that with love, is
33:12
that he got too close, you know what I mean, Like he he
33:15
formed a personal relationship with Eddie to where he felt responsible and beholden and emotionally
33:23
attached to him, so that when Eddie, who had a lot of other
33:28
stuff going on, in his life besides his conversations and relationship with this journalist.
33:35
When Eddie essentially kind of blew him off, Steve got very hurt by
33:38
that. And there's some raw stuff in the book, and some of it
33:44
I don't even know that I feel like Steve comes off particularly great in but
33:47
I love the fact that he wrote this fucking book and left all that shit
33:52
in so much like he left Eddie's raw personality out on the floor. I
33:59
feel like he left his own raw personality out on the floor because there's a
34:04
lot of stuff in the end where you're like, man, maybe he's just
34:08
over this relationship and he's moved on and like you're sort of fixated on it,
34:13
but like he's not, and that doesn't make him a bad guy.
34:15
But like the fact that Steve as a journalist was able to be that honest
34:22
and kind of let you into that side of you. That conversation I just
34:28
thought was was really cool. So I really liked that book a lot.
34:30
Well, that's the question I have for you as an author, because I've
34:34
he was on Eddie Trunk Show and Eddie Trunk was talking about how apparently in
34:37
the book there are quotes that Eddie gave off the record and that they're in
34:42
the book. And Eddie Trunk asked him about that, did you have doubts
34:45
about that? Why did you decide to put them in? And he gave
34:50
his response, what would you do in that situation if you have somebody says
34:52
this is off the record. Well, I didn't hear the interview with Eddie
34:59
Trunk, so I can't comment on that. I do remember what his response
35:02
was. I mean, it was basically that he said, these are all
35:05
things that Eddie ended up saying later that were published. Well, okay,
35:10
so again you tell me that. So my first instinct is, as a
35:16
journalist, even if I were to release the raw transcripts of something, if
35:22
there was a section where the artist or you know, the subject matter specifically
35:29
said essentially we're off the record, then I would not put that in.
35:34
And again I'm not capping on Steve or anything. I'm just saying I wouldn't.
35:37
However, if what you're telling me is that now that Eddie has passed
35:44
away, and in the overall body of interviews Eddie did since then, that
35:50
all this stuff was essentially revealed. So it's no law. So while Eddie
35:55
at that moment might have been like we're off the record, all that information
36:00
released anyways, and is now part of the sort of lore of his story.
36:04
Then Yeah, at that point I go like, I don't know.
36:07
I mean, you know, I mean I might, I don't know.
36:10
Yeah, I think see's fine put it this way I in either conversation.
36:15
I my take is that Steve did a very good, responsible job with that
36:21
book, and I feel like he lays Eddie's heart on the line, but
36:27
he lays his own heart on the line, and neither one of them come
36:31
off unscathed. As a fan, all of the highlight stuff to me is
36:37
there's a part where Steve talks about kind of like running in the valley Burton
36:45
Elly and kind of chasing her down the street and being kind of like,
36:47
hey remember me, you know we used to hang and she's sort of like,
36:52
yeah, I remember you, Like get the fuck away from me,
36:54
and she's like with their kid, and like it's a moment where I don't
37:00
know if if Stephen intended this, but like it's a moment where all of
37:04
a sudden, this guy, who is this you know in the zone journalist
37:08
suddenly sort of seems like a stalker or like a super fan, and you
37:14
can see where Valerie's kind of like what the fuck, like why are you?
37:17
I'm with my kid. But what I thought was so great about that
37:23
moment is that, like it was such an honest moment, meaning like the
37:29
fact that Steven included that moment he was again I don't know what where he
37:35
was at, whether he thought that was a chivalrous moment or an embarrassing moment,
37:38
but the fact that he included that and kind of like let us know,
37:43
like, hey, man, I'm this guy and we were in each
37:45
other's lines. But now like I walk up to this woman I once knew
37:49
and she kind of fucking treats me like I'm just like a stranger. It
37:52
was a super, super brutally honest moment and one that didn't make the author
37:59
seem all that flattering. But at the same time, for me as a
38:04
author and a creative, I went, whoa, Like that's some ballsy ass
38:08
shit to put that in. Now I know you're really telling a story here,
38:13
and this isn't just like Eddie and I were so cool, you know
38:15
what I mean? Like now you're giving Now you're giving me some really honest
38:21
uncomfortable stuff that like could be read a few different ways, and like,
38:25
I don't know, I really appreciated that, and that that to me made
38:30
that book feel like maybe like the most real story of knowing Eddie van Halen.
38:37
No, the book you read is twenty seventeen's For the Sake of Heaviness
38:38
The History of Metal Blade by author Brian Slagel with Mark Eglinton, forward by
38:45
Lars Ulrick. What an amazing story. The label that helped launch Metallica and
38:50
Rat and went on to become the pre eminent international home of heavy music that
38:54
it is today started out of Brian Slagel's mom's non air conditioned garage in the
39:01
early days of the music industry. And I say the early days meaning the
39:07
early days of the independent version of the music industry, when people were starting
39:10
to make independent records outside of being like Warner Brothers or CBS or you know
39:17
whatever is. You had people like in the punk world, you had people
39:22
like Greg Shaw who were doing stuff with like Iggy Pop and the Plim Souls
39:27
and Josie Cotton and like, you know, k rock stuff like the early
39:30
days of independent like new wave music in Los Angeles and then you had guys
39:35
like Brian Slagel who were doing the heavy metal version of that, doing like
39:39
independent heavy metal based out of Los Angeles, based on that music scene,
39:45
and Brian Slagel created Metal Blade Records, and Metal Blade went on to put
39:50
on all sorts of bands. But the first compilation that Metal Blade put out
39:57
was called Metal Massacre, and there was subsequent many many versions, you know,
40:00
Meta Massacre two and three and four in PUBBA, and these records essentially
40:06
were showcasing the best of West Coast heavy metal in you know, nineteen eighty
40:14
two or three or four or whatever year we're talking about. And the first
40:19
one featured the first released Metallica song before the band was even I mean,
40:27
Hit the Lights. It's the original demo version of Hit the Lights, and
40:30
it's very very raw and early sounding. That song appeared on Kill Them All,
40:37
but this version predates that. I want to say it even predates Dave
40:39
Mustaine on guitar. I think it's Ron Guvney on guitar maybe, or but
40:45
it's a very early version of Metallica. It's got black and blue, it's
40:50
got rat doing. I think Tell the World is on that, but it's
40:53
an early version of Rat again, like before Warren D. Martini, like
40:58
before all that stuff. It's got sirith Onngal, It's got bitch. Basically,
41:02
Brian Slagel was the West Coast impresario of heavy metal in the early eighties,
41:10
and he was almost single handedly putting heavy metal on the map and showcasing
41:16
all of the best bands and that platform of being showcased on these heavy metal
41:22
compilation albums and then in some cases like Armored Saint, they went on to
41:27
make records for Metal Blade. In some cases, like bands like Rat,
41:30
went onto other labels to make their albums, but by being showcased in Metal
41:36
Blade, it kind of became a launch pad. So if you were on
41:39
one of these Metal Massacre records, like you could probably get a record deal.
41:44
So a lot of bands, Lizzie Board and Pandemonium, you know what
41:47
I mean. All these bands were like popping their first song off on these
41:51
compilations and then getting a record deal or signing with Metal Blade. So Brian
41:55
Slagel to me, is just kind of a fascinating guy because he signed Metallica,
42:00
he signed Rat, he signed Black and Blue, he signed Armored Saint,
42:05
Sirih nGall, Lizzie Bord and Bitch. I mean, just so many
42:08
great you know LA metal bands, and like that's the era I grew up
42:15
in La Punk and La Medal. Brian was involved in Metallica from day one,
42:22
and the early version of Metallica had a few different people in it before
42:25
Dave Mustaine even joined and before Cliff Burton joined. So there was a guy
42:31
named Ron McGovney and I don't remember the other guys, but a few other
42:37
dudes that were involved in Metallica in that first say year before the early lineup
42:44
solidified, and that early lineup featured Mustaine and then Mustaine was out. So
42:49
the kill them All lineup that we know with Kirk Hamidon on guitar is by
42:54
no means the first line up of Metallica. That's just the first, like
43:00
on a label version of Metallica. There was probably three or four different lineups
43:04
before that. And I think because Brian Slagele was involved with Lars early on
43:09
and Lars was a kid, I think I don't remember the exact timeline,
43:14
but I think basically Lars was a kid, you know, he was from
43:16
the Netherlands and he rolled out to La and he went to some heavy metal
43:20
shows and he met Brian Slagel and gave him a demo and then as soon
43:23
as he heard about the Metal Massacre compilation like assembled Metallica basically to get on
43:30
this compilation. So Lars and Brian Slagele have been connected since day one of
43:36
Lars Lars's career in the United States. Another book you wanted to talk about
43:42
nine to one one is Disconnected. So this is Rock and Roll by Adam
43:45
Baum from twenty seventeen. This is the autobiography of Adam bomb Brenner. He's
43:51
played with the band's TKO Black and Blue, Steele, paulse John Paul Jones,
43:55
and Michael Monroe worked with those two guys too. From Seattle. He
43:59
was in a band with Jeff Tate of Queen's Reich in nineteen seventy nine.
44:02
Auditioned for Kiss in nineteen eighty two, which would be around the time Vinnie
44:07
Vincent joined, sharedan apartment with Easy Stradlin of GNR, recorded with ACDC paces
44:15
Cliff Williams, and there's a story of backstage guitar lessons from Eddie van Hillen
44:20
in the book. Well, so I'll give you a little backup on that
44:23
is that when I was a teenager, the radio stations in Los Angeles,
44:30
which for me were like k LOS and km T, used to do like
44:34
heavy metal nights, so you know there would be like Sunday or Saturday it
44:37
was like metal shop or metal school, and at midnight is one hour of
44:43
just beer and metal. And when I was a kid, I would just
44:45
like stay up with my like ghetto blaster tape recorder and tape record those shows
44:52
because that's where I would hear Armored, Saint, Lizzie Borden, Wasp,
44:55
you know, Queen's Reich, like all the like real metal. Before that
45:00
stuff was like, you know, getting played, you know, before any
45:02
of those bands had hit some and it was like old school underground stuff.
45:06
Not old school underground stuff. You know. One night I heard this song
45:09
on k MET or k LOS so one of those I Want My Heavy Metal
45:15
by Adam Bob and I was like, man, I want my heavy metal,
45:21
Like I was like, I'm a young teenage youth, like I get
45:23
it. I loved this song. I ran out, I bought the record.
45:27
Turns out it had Cliff Williams on bass. You were talking about ACDC
45:31
Jimmy Crespo from Aerosmith's on guitar, and it was just like this sort of
45:36
snotty, punky, aerosmithy kind of vibe and I really loved it. So
45:42
that is where I first got turned on to Adam Bomb. Now, many
45:45
years later, after he'd worked with people like Michael Monroe, a big hero
45:50
of mine, Hanoi Rocks, John Paul Jones and stuff, I got to
45:53
meet him. The Cheetahs, the Street Walking Cheetahs, the punk rock band
45:58
I play. We did some shows with him, came pals and all these
46:01
years later he and I did some touring together. But he wrote this book
46:08
about his whole career, and his career starts off. And you know,
46:14
the Seattle metal scene had bands like Queens Reich and early versions of like Black
46:21
and Blue or that was they were actually from Portland. But Tommy Bayer,
46:25
Yeah, well him and Tommy Thayer go way back. He plays on some
46:28
early Black and Blue stuff. There's like all those like Portland Seattle metal guys
46:32
from like eighty to eighty three were all kind of like connected and stuff,
46:37
and so he stemmed from that. He played in this great band called TKO.
46:42
He played in a band called I think they were called The Warning with
46:44
Jeff Tate from Queen's Reich. Then he went on to become Adam Baum,
46:49
the solo artist when and that's the record I heard that I want my heavy
46:52
metal stuff. Then he went on to do all this other stuff. So
46:55
he wrote a book about all this stuff. I think just what I love
46:59
of it is I'm a really nerdy as you can tell, Like, I'm
47:04
a really kind of nerdy music fan. Like, if I'm in a glam
47:08
rock I want to know everything about the glam rock bands I'm into. If
47:14
I'm in a gangster rap, I want to know everything about the ghetto boys,
47:19
you know, whoever I'm fascinated with. If I'm in a jazz and
47:22
all of a sudden, I'm like man Sunny Sharrock, you know, Pharaoh
47:28
Sanders, Like what like then Bam, I gotta get way deep into those
47:31
crevices and really like wrap my head around, Like what why why? We
47:37
love these books because books are great for that stuff. They go deep.
47:42
And so the adabamb One is fun because like there's not a lot of books
47:45
about that scene. We were just talking about the Portland Seattle heavy like there's
47:50
a lot of books about the LA metal scene, you know, the Brian
47:52
Sleage one, but there's not a lot about the Portland, Seattle early eighties
47:58
heavy metal scene. And so what I liked about Adam's book is that even
48:01
if you don't know who Adam Baum is, if you like heavy metal and
48:07
you want to like get some insight into like, well, while Ratt and
48:10
Motley Crue was happening in La, like what was going on in Seattle and
48:14
Portland, Well, there was this whole other scene and it birthed all these
48:17
bigger bands. But back then it was just this underground scene of like cover
48:22
bands and original metal bands that no one gave a shit about. But like,
48:25
we're amazing, you know what I mean? The book down Rock Podcasts
48:30
will be back after this. Now, let's get to books that you want
48:36
to read. Twenty Eleven's Life by Keith Richards. Another one you have,
48:42
It's called smack By And you got to help me with this pronunciation? Is
48:45
it Jarco Jacqueline? Sure? I will say that. Yeah. From twenty
48:51
twenty one, I looked on the internet just to see if somebody interviewed him,
48:54
just so they can pronounce his name. But I couldn't find anything so
48:58
well. Smack is an amazing h glam sort of gothy glam band from the
49:05
eighties out of Finland that I'm fascinated with, and I'm actually in that book
49:08
they interviewed me for because I saw a bunch of early Smack shows moved to
49:13
La but the well, the well, the flaming sideburns. So that's basically
49:20
all part of the sort of finish you know, Finnish music scene essentially,
49:24
but Smack was a big band out of that scene. And the main reason
49:29
I put that as a book I want to read is that they've sent me
49:31
the book. I don't speak Finish, so I can't read the book.
49:36
So I have it and I want to read it, but I am unable
49:39
to read it because I can't read it. I literally can't read it.
49:44
I'm in the book and I can't even read my own interview. Like I
49:46
I look at it, goes Frank maher blah blah blah Blahjamin, I'm like,
49:52
is that even accurate? I don't even remember what I said, but
49:53
I certainly can't fact check it. The Keith book is on there simply because
50:00
I'm such a Stone's nerd that I've read so many Stones books that by the
50:06
time the Keith book came out, I was like, I was like,
50:09
first off, I've heard all the stories. Second off, do I really
50:15
think Keith wrote this book? No fucking way. You know Keith like he
50:19
just hired some ghostwriters, like mate, yeah he was with the Blood to
50:25
fucking yeah, look it up right, look it up on the fucking yeah.
50:30
Oh man, you know they didn't fucking write that book, and uh,
50:36
I don't know, just something about it. In a weird way,
50:37
I was like, Keith's like the one person I don't want to hear from
50:43
in all these scenarios because he's always the mysterious stranger. He's always the instigator.
50:50
He's always like that, and they John Lennon was fine until he met
50:52
Keith. He's like this shadowy figure that just like like people are in white
50:58
and then Keith moves across this and boom, they're in black or they're like
51:01
drenched in blood, you know what I mean. So I'm like, man,
51:05
I don't want to fucking hear Keith story. So like, but then
51:07
all but then when you said to me, like, what books do you
51:09
want to read? I'm like, I mean, it's the fourth biggest selling
51:16
rock book of all time, estimated from one hundred thousand plus copies sold.
51:21
Now you know this is an author if you get to like, if you
51:23
sell five thousand, that's like a gold record, If you sell ten thousand,
51:27
that's like platinum selling album, right, and that that's I remember one
51:30
author told me that's that. I don't think we have to debate whether Keith
51:35
is successful in every part of his career. And I'm not one on any
51:40
level to disparage Keith because I'll lat out say Rolling Stones my all time favorite
51:50
band. So let's get to the question meaning like meaning like this is not
51:54
if anything, this is petty jealousy. In fact, put an X through
52:00
my face right now, I I you know, I meaning I should be
52:02
fully supporting Teith. I don't even know why I brought it up. I'm
52:07
just saying, like, I haven't read it. So you said, what
52:09
books do you want to read? Okay, no, you know what remove
52:13
the acts? You said, what books do you want to read? And
52:15
I honestly said, Keith, because I haven't read it. And I'm telling
52:19
you the reason is that, because like I feel like it's oversaturated. But
52:22
now that I talk through that, I realize I'm ridiculous. Hey, pure
52:28
honesty here, I have not read it yet. I'm kind of ashamed of
52:30
myself because I should have. Then we're both should be the same for each
52:34
other. Really tell me about Hackey Diamonds, because to me, this album
52:38
is fucking awesome and I'm blown away by these guys at eighty years old can
52:44
make an album like this that sounds so youthful and energetic and focus like this
52:52
album is really like every single song is a home run. To me,
52:59
I'm just blown away by it because normally you get to artists at a certain
53:02
age, you can hear that they sound tired. Maybe they're not into it
53:07
as much. This is anything but that. What do you think? I
53:12
agree, it's it's a great record. I wouldn't say I was surprised because
53:19
I actually really liked Bigger Bang and I liked Voodoo Lounge, like their last
53:22
two studio records, And I know that that's like over the course now of
53:25
like you know, sixteen years, It's like, it's better to me this
53:30
is it's a great record to you. For me, I will say the
53:36
probably my least favorite song. And this is often the case when when bands
53:42
I love making new records, but the least favorite song is the first single.
53:46
Angry to me is fine. Yeah, I would say it's my absolute
53:52
least favorite song on the record. It's just it's just it's like any band
53:57
doing the Stones. That being said, every other song on the record is
54:01
the Stones being the Stones and just sounds like them just really making a goddamn
54:07
real rock and roll record. It sounds very life. But when I first
54:09
heard Angry, and I didn't, I mean, I'm a Stones guy,
54:13
so like I was like, okay, whatever, there's gonna be like sixteen
54:15
songs. This is one of them. This is just the one the record
54:19
company wanted to put out. But that song, to me kind of doesn't
54:23
doo much for me. No, did you know that's mixed riff whatever?
54:28
I just heard that may every other song on the record is great, And
54:32
even like when Mick did that single with Dave Roll a few years ago,
54:36
like that thing was killer, Like I love make Like you know, I'm
54:38
a big Mick guy, But I'm just I'm not saying it's a bad song.
54:43
I'm just saying that song to me is Stones just sort of by the
54:46
numbers, where every other song sounds like them, like you know, fighting
54:52
and right right pushing and like nah, just being like angry and not not
54:58
quite conforming to what we think, you know, right, like a song
55:00
with Lady Gaga whoa Like at the end when the horn section comes in,
55:07
it's got this whole kind of let it bleed vibe and then there's a jam
55:10
at the end, like Exala main Street like man, well, there's the
55:14
one track with the guy from a fits in the Tantrums plays sax solo.
55:17
That's I think the second or third track on the I didn't know that's the
55:21
name of the song with with Paul McCartney's like the yeah, that's by man
55:27
oh, but it sounds like yeah, yeah, yeah yeah. It's just
55:30
I'm so grateful that that, I mean, they they didn't have to release
55:35
another album or song again, They've already there's nothing to prove to anybody.
55:39
The fact that they're still not only making a record, but making essentially a
55:44
great record is absolutely incredible and astounding and inspiring and inspiring. As we get
55:52
older, it's it's like, you know what, you could still rock and
55:54
roll at the age of eighty. Okay, that's cool. Yeah, absolutely.
55:59
Let's wrap the up with books you would like to see written that haven't
56:01
been yet. You'd like to see either biographies or autobiographies on Michael Monroe,
56:07
famously of Annoy Rocks, Michael Anthony of Van Halen Ghetto Boys, the hip
56:14
hop Southern rap pioneers from Houston, Texas. Now Michael Anthony this book.
56:20
I don't know if he'll ever see it. I don't think he'll ever write
56:22
it, but he said, if I do, it's not gonna have any
56:23
dirt in it. However, if he were to write a book, what
56:28
would you love to see him cover in the book if he were to write
56:31
one, Because he must have seen so many stories that he must have so
56:37
many stories that we've never heard before. It's not even that I want him
56:42
to like revel in the dirt, meaning like we can assume that Dave was
56:49
doing all sorts of crazy stuff and that Eddie was a misunderstood genius, you
56:53
know what I mean? Like I don't I don't need to. I don't
56:55
need to hear who fucked to and how many lines? What what I am
57:00
interested in is that, well, what's the line in spinal tap from Derek.
57:12
He says, I'm the lukewarm water buffalo, you know what I mean,
57:14
I'm the one in between. Like he's the guy that no matter whether
57:20
it was Eddie and Sammy or Eddie and Dave or you know, whatever the
57:23
dynamic was, Michael Anthony was always sort of like the peacekeeper until he wasn't
57:30
in the band. And so that's sort of like the voice I'm interested in.
57:36
I don't really care about like the gory details, but I am interested
57:39
in that point of view, because like Eddie really was this sort of super
57:45
driven, misunderstood and then later kind of chemically imbalanced genius like a beeto,
57:54
you know what I mean. And then you've got Dave, who was not
58:00
the most musically proficient but obviously had all sorts of talents and ideas and you
58:05
know, lyrics and you know, just overall. I mean, there's no
58:07
doubt Dave brought a lot to the band, but obviously Dave brought a lot
58:10
of headache to the band. And so Michael, it seems like more so
58:15
than Alex, because Alex is inherently aligned with his brother. Michael is the
58:21
one guy who had like no beef in that bite, you know what I
58:25
mean. So, like that's the point of view. If he could be
58:29
honest about that point of view, that's a fascinating book. Would love to
58:35
see that book. Let's hope it happens. Fingers crossed. All right,
58:37
So let's wrap it up now. So let's let people know again about the
58:42
documentary that's out now, Freestyle one oh one hip Hop History. Where can
58:45
people find it? Where can people find you online? Tell us what's going
58:47
on with your bands? Anything you want to plug? Sure? Man.
58:52
So I know we've been talking a lot about rock and roll stuff here,
58:54
but the movie I made is about hip hop artists, and really what it
58:59
is, what it's really about, is like artistry and craftsmanship within music.
59:06
And so I'm kind of exploring this this scene within hip hop that if you
59:10
don't know about it, is this really intricate improvisational scene where it's like cutthroat
59:16
and battling and ciphers and MC is like really going at each other with like
59:22
wordplay and it's almost like swordsmanship, but like on a wrap level. And
59:27
then I kind of explore like where does that get you in the modern music
59:30
industry? And we've got Chuck d and Iced Tea and mob Deep and MLP
59:34
and Cypressal and Wu Tang Clan and all these great artists. So Freestyle one
59:38
oh one hip Hop History is on Amazon Prime, it's on YouTube Movies,
59:44
It's on Google Play, and you can check us out at Freestyle one oh
59:47
onemovie dot com or any of our social media's Freestyle one oh one hip Hop
59:52
History, so you can look that up. You can look me up at
59:57
the Frankmeier dot com or the Frankmier director dot com from my director's stuff,
1:00:01
or look me up on Instagram at the Frank Meyer. As you'll see,
1:00:07
I have a bunch of music stuff. I do a bunch of film stuff.
1:00:10
I do a bunch of book stuff that I do. And I guess
1:00:15
the main thing is I'm either kind of telling my own artistic story or I'm
1:00:20
exploring the artistic stories of others. But where I get fascinated with in telling
1:00:25
other people's stories is kind of like underdogs or people that are counted out,
1:00:32
you know, or like really sort of specific genres where I'm like, look
1:00:37
at this thing, and where does this kind of like what does this mean
1:00:42
in the largest scheme of things? So like most of my movies. I
1:00:45
you know, I produced a movie about Thor, the heavy metal guy.
1:00:47
I am Thor, and he's like this, you know, gladiator rock guy
1:00:52
trying to like make you know, really put like gladiator metal on the scene.
1:00:57
It's kind of a it doesn't quite makes sense, but you know,
1:01:00
they whole dreams a little miscings true, but boy doesn't seem hardfelt. And
1:01:05
then I made a movie called Risen the Story of Sean Hell Raises Smith,
1:01:08
which is about a Wu Tang clan rapper who has a brain aneurysm and loses
1:01:13
his whole ability to rap and has to learn how to rap again. And
1:01:16
then this movie about the history of freestyle rap. And it's like I kind
1:01:21
of tell these like under underdog stories. I guess Frank Meyer the Man of
1:01:25
Many Hats, and the guests for episode one of Booked on Rock and now
1:01:30
the guests of episode one and sixty five, Wow, one hundred and sixty
1:01:34
five. Gratulation for you. By the way, look at you to one
1:01:38
A lot of work, dude. And by the way, I like your
1:01:40
your Eddie van Halen. A stool in the background, you see a fact
1:01:44
they're the EVH stool courtesy of the the Van Halen Sign. I mean I
1:01:49
saw that right on the seat. Hell yeah yeah, man, wow,
1:01:52
one hundred and sixty five. That's congratulations. All right, dude, thanks
1:01:55
so much. You got it. Tavi's brother. Well, no, that
1:02:06
was an adventure. I was quite as shure you put on the thing.
1:02:08
Well, let me just close this conversation by saying you are one unique individual.