Welcome to Part Three of the Cowboy Mach Bell Interview
Here it is, as promised, the EXCLUSIVE interview with former JPP member Cowboy Mach Bell. Part three [of the five part interview] mostly deals with all JPP related questions. I hope you enjoy it.
21] Crossfire: If "Once A Rocker, Always A Rocker" went unpromoted...how did it manage to sell over forty thousand copies?
Cowboy Mach Bell: MCA Records did little to push our LP, so Tim Collins and Joe Perry hired independent promo people to circulate the JPP music. "Once A Rocker, Always A Rocker" made it to #1 on KOME in San Jose. The JPP sold records in Toronto, San Antonio and Los Angeles. Back home in Boston, Mark Parenteau played the album constantly on WBCN, Mark had us all come in for interviews, and we became the station's pet band in 1983. The JPP toured relentlessly during the first 6 months after "Once A Rocker, Always A Rocker" was released, doing in-stores, radio co-promotes, live broadcasts and meet greets as well as our nightly shows. Of course the major reason the record sold, was that Joe Perry has the most devoted fans in rock. I still don’t know how many CD’s (the LP was re-released on CD in 94) MCA sold. Let me share with you how screwed up record companies can get; When "Once A Rocker, Always A Rocker”" was about to come out on CD, I got a letter from their copyright department. They asked me to review some writing/publishing information and make any necessary changes. At the bottom of the letter was a hand written note saying "Would you know how to contact Joe Perry?" I laughed out loud! At this point MCA owned Geffen and Aerosmith were at the top of the charts. Obviously the MCA guys had no idea who or what Joe Perry was. I forwarded the letter to Tim Collins and he tortured the label with it.
22] Crossfire: Why was "No Time For Women" changed to "Once A Rocker, Always A Rocker?"
Cowboy Mach Bell: That song was born the day I met Joe Perry. The energy was incredible at my audition, 2/26/82. Brad Whitford arrived to join Perry on guitar for the first time in years. Danny Hargrove had just won the Bass position, and he was pumped. Ronnie Stewart was at the height of his powers, ready to explode. The jam was intense. I knew I was going to get the job, Perry had no time to lose -- he had to get out there and rock! In between my audition songs, Joe was playing with riffs, distilling and combining raw chunks of funky rockin' guitar. As I listened, I pulled out my notebook and started scrawling lyrics. The "Once A Rocker, Always A Rocker" riff was one of the one's Joe kept coming back to, so I wrote around that one first. A couple days later, we found out we were booked to do a demo session at the end of March (Joe had no record deal at this point). Perry, who had said little or nothing to me, up to this point, looked up and asked "Mach, do you have any songs we could do?" I thought to myself, sure I’ve got a pile of old songs, but I’m not going to waste this unbelievable opportunity to write new material with Joe Perry! "Hey Joe," I said "Remember that funky riff you were jamming on yesterday?" Joe started grinding out the riff, I started singing, Whitford added some stinging response licks, and the rhythm section kicked in. Joe and I had written our first song! Perry was smiling (rare!), relieved, and satisfied, I was on top of the world. We wrote, "When Worlds Collide" the next day, the same way. I would listen for killer licks and compose lyrics and do some arranging of the parts. Joe would listen to my idea and add a few touches. We hardly spoke to each other at all; we just jammed it out back and forth. Now Joe was starting to trust me, he liked how we worked together –– so he gave me his notebook. This book was amazing, it was Joe’’s journal,sketchbook and idea book. In it I found his handwritten lyrics to Aerosmith’s "Bright Light Fright" his own lyrics to all the JPP songs, phone numbers, doodles of The Joe Perry Project logos, a screenplay about a high school rock band, notes from Elyssa and tons of song titles and ideas. Here’s where I found his forgotten lyric to "Black Velvet Pants." At the next practice, I asked Joe to play the twangy, country lick I’d heard him working on. He started playing and I started singing his “Black Velvet Pants” lyrics. Joe was extremely pleased with this (his) new song, and it further strengthened our partnership. A couple weeks later we rolled into Blue Jay Recording and cut our three new originals plus Joe’s "First One’s For Free" as well as "Goin' Down." After we put down the basics for "Once A Rocker, Always A Rocker," the engineer, who was slating the tape, asked Joe the title. Obviously, Joe hadn’t paid much attention to my lyric, and we had never thought about the title, so he just mumbled "No Time For Women" and that was what he called it for a long time. Oh yeah, I still have Joe’s notebook!
23] Crossfire: What is your opinion of Irving Azoff of MCA Records who wanted to drop the JPP?
Cowboy Mach Bell: I never had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Azoff, I had always heard of him; didn’t he used to manage the Eagles? He became president of MCA soon after the JPP was signed. One of his first official moves was to drop the JPP. At that time we were doing final pre-production work at White Dog studio in Newton [Massachusetts], and were scheduled to record the MCA album the next week. The news was devastating to me. Tim Collins lost no time. Tim threatened to sue MCA, if our contract was not honored. Meanwhile, Joe and Tim called their wealthy friend Michael Striar out at Glen Ellen country club. Michael agreed to step in and bankroll the album production while Tim negotiated/threatened MCA. I don’t know how Tim did it, but Azoff and MCA did release the record, but it’s no wonder they ignored it, they were forced to put it out!
24] Crossfire: Did the JPP ever play the Joe Perry/Brad Whitford penned song "Wait For The Night?"
Cowboy Mach Bell: I can’t recall that song. I only heard of it when I read "Walk This Way." We did play and record "When Worlds Collide." I think Brad came up with that riff with Joe. I wrote the words.
25] Crossfire: Is it true that Steven Tyler sang backup on "Bright Light Fright" at one of the last JPP live shows?
Cowboy Mach Bell: That was at a big old ballroom called Frolics at Salisbury Beach, New Hampshire. It was Friday, May 11th, 1984 and the place was jammed to see one of the final JPP shows. Aerosmith’s Joey Kramer was drumming his second gig with us (Joe Pet missed the last 3 dates). Our dressing room was a mob scene, all my friends were there, promoters, radio people, Thunder troopers, you name it...then, in walks Steven Tyler and the party went into overdrive! I made my way over to Tyler, he was very friendly to me, so we had a few laughs, and I asked him to join us for a song. He asked what we had planned for the night that he might know. I suggested Bright Light Fright, and he looked at me, thinking, "that sounds familiar, who does it?" Even though Steven could barely recall the tune and had forgotten all the words -- he joined us on stage and the place went nuts. It was the first time Tyler and Perry had shared a stage in 5 years. The song smoked.
26] Crossfire: What was it like to see Joe Perry get so burned out on heroin?
Cowboy Mach Bell: Having just lost his manager, recording contract and band, Joe was in pretty scary shape when I first met him. At the audition his skin had a gray/green tinge and every time he took his hands off the Strat they trembled badly. Lucky for Joe, Brad was there for him to lean on, but I recall them both being extremely upset on our fifth day of rehearsal Friday, March 5th,1982, when they got word that their friend John Belushi had overdosed and died in Hollywood. This along with the recent death of Joe’s drinking buddy Bon Scott of AC/DC weighed heavily on them. The JPP rocked on, playing a dozen shows with our sedated leader staying on his feet. On 5/7/82 Brad played his last gig (for a while) with us; he was flying west to play on the Rex Smith album. Four days later the JPP headed out on what was planned to be my first national tour with Joe. Early on I had roomed with Joe, but I asked the road manager to please move me. Joe never spoke. He was sullen and constantly nursing a bottle of Jack Daniels. I knew he was also strung out on pills and god knows what else. I didn’t want to know about this side of Joe, and I avoided it. The tour started in Cantonsville, Maryland, we played a club. It sounded strange without Brad. The next night was in Washington D.C., still loose sounding. We played Ocean City, Maryland and Richmond, Virgina and headed for our fifth gig in Jacksonville, North Carolina. That day driving through North Carolina, Joe Perry suddenly threw his head back. He was riding shotgun, and his whole body stiffened. The veins on his neck and forehead bulged; his skin went whitish gray. His body pushed up out of his seat, and his head shot back toward Danny Hargrove and me, sitting behind him. Thankfully, fast thinking Ron Stewart our drummer, lunged forward from his way back seat and jammed his wallet into Joe’s clenched mouth -- preventing Joe from biting off his own tongue. Later, I heard a rumor that Joe’’s wife Elyssa, angry with Joe for leaving her behind at home had sabotaged him by removing some pills from his stash. According to the story, Joe, desperate for the medication, would be forced to fly Elyssa in to join the tour. Our road manager, Doc drove us to a medical clinic. The doctors examined Joe but couldn’t find the problem. Of course, Joe didn’t mention to them that he was a junkie a thousand miles from home with no fix. Perry was released, and we set up for the nights show at the Chateau Madrid. That night Joe looked OK as we pushed our way into the sweaty club packed with Marines from the nearby base. At midnight we hit the small stage and ripped into our set. Things started out strong, but when we got to the fourth song -- Joe, standing in the spotlight, in front of a thousand drunken crazies, suddenly went stiff as a board! Oh no, it was a rerun of the nightmare! This time in front of a paying audience! Ronnie Stewart leapt over his massive drum kit as Joe fell to the stage. This time it looked like Joe was dead. Everybody went nuts. We lied to the club owner, and told him that Joe had gotten an electric shock and that if he lived, we’d return to make up the gig. Tim flew Joe home that night. The rest of us drove home with our tails between our legs. The tour was canceled and Joe was sent to the Lodge in Westwood, Massachusetts. To dry out. This was when Joe and the rest of us began to deal with Joe's problems head on, although there was still plenty of denial.
27] Crossfire: Joe Perry says in the book "Walk This Way" that you grew up in the next town over from him [Holliston, Massachusetts]...when did you first meet Joe?
Cowboy Mach Bell: Holliston was a rocking little town. We had bands play up at the town hall every month. I saw Steven Tyler play with Chain Reaction there in 1968. I was playing lead guitar with my band "Joe Flash" at the time. Meanwhile, Joe Perry was playing lead with his band "Flash," 10 miles up the road in Hopedale! Somehow I didn't manage to cross paths with Joe until the end of 1970, early 71. That's when I noticed a crude poster on the wall of the Holliston Music store. It was a crummy poster, scrawled in crayon advertising a show at the Lakeview Ballroom up the street in Mendon. Of course, I knew the headliners "The Jones’s" fronted by the D’Angelo brothers on guitar. They were the only local group with Marshall amps. I had never heard of the opening band "Aerosmith" what kind of name is that? Must be some little kids. I went to the show, paid my 2 bucks to get in -- and was floored by this incredible new band. The stage was piled with an assortment of weird amps; the drummer was on fire. The second guitar (Ray Tabano) was steady and cool -- the lead guitarist looked like a British Rock Star! The bass-man was strong and when I saw Tyler in action for the first time (as a frontman) I couldn’t believe it. I was 17 years old, I had seen Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin in concert, but these guys were just as hot –– and nobody knew who these guys were! It was bizarre, my buddies all stood looking at each other going "this band is gonna be huge!" It was so obvious they were going to be mega- stars. Aerosmith played "Somebody" and "Mama Kin" that night. They did the Stones "Honky Tonk Women" and "Bad And Ruin" by The Faces. They opened with "Jive" which was basically "Mother Popcorn” minus the vocals -- Steven just danced and banged the cow bell. Show stoppers were "Rattlesnake Shake" and "Walkin' The Dog" with Steven playing his wooden flute. My sister Cathy went backstage to meet the band, and tried to hire them to play in Holliston. Steven whipped out his date book and quoted her their price: $200 and a box of malted milk balls for the dressing room! I continued to follow the band, I saw them a couple months later at the Hopedale Town Hall. Here they introduced Brad Whitford as their new member. After a rocking first set, Steven sat at a piano (first time we ever saw him sit) and introduced his brand new song it sounded all right, but we preferred the rockers and stepped out for some air. You guessed it, it was the premier performance of “Dream On” and I almost saw it! I followed Aerosmith until they outgrew the local circuit and moved on. My new band “Thundertrain" filled in the void left on the local scene, while Aerosmith went on to conquer the world. I would occasionally see Tyler and Brad out at the clubs, but I never saw Perry anywhere except on stage until the day I auditioned for his band. Later when I told Joe about the crummy Aerosmith poster I saw in Holliston, he admitted that he drew it himself and hung it there himself.
28] Crossfire: What do you think of the "Once A Rocker, Always A Rocker" album cover?
Cowboy Mach Bell: Tim called Joe and me into his office in the early summer of 1983. He wanted to discuss album art. Joe had an idea. He wanted to name the record something like "On the Ropes." The cover would show Perry in a boxing ring, in his boxing trunks, bloodied from battle. Also in the picture, his fight manager coaching him and a card girl holding up "Round 3." Tim asked me hat I thought. I told Joe his idea might be cool, but it would probably be difficult and expensive to get the shot. I suggested we go with our obvious ace and feature a simple close up of Joe on the cover. Tim and Joe thought it over and decided to go with the straight forward and economical approach. Of course ever since mid--March, Joe had been living with my friend Glenda McNeil. She is a babe and when I suggested to Joe that we go over to her place for a haircut, I knew Perry would fall for her. They had been inseparable ever since. Glenda came along for the photo shoot on July 13th and dolled us up perhaps a bit much for that session. I still think Joe looks fine on the cover. After they split up, Glenda married Robert Holmes, guitarist of Til Tuesday.
29] Crossfire: When Joe Perry said in "Walk This Way" that he met a "hospitable" girl named Adrianna [who got a song named after her on "Once A Rocker, Always A Rocker"] in Caracas on the JPP's South American Tour...what exactly did he mean?
Cowboy Mach Bell: Joe was released from the Lodge on June 12th, 1982. I picked him up at Westwood myself at 8 A.M. and drove him home. He promptly moved out and started divorce proceedings with Elyssa. Days later the Project was back in rehearsal. On June 19th, Thundertrain guitarist Steven Silva auditioned to play second guitar with the Project, but Joe was playing stronger and felt he could handle the spot alone. On July 4th we did our first show since Joe’s collapse, we opened for Joan Jett at the Topsham Fairgrounds, ME. Warming up for us were the still unknown, but about to be huge, Stray Cats. Back on our feet we did a couple weeks of local shows, and then off we flew to South America. The 2 JPP concerts were being held in the huge Poliedro Arena on consecutive nights. Promoting the event were the local Mercedes auto dealers. These guys put up the money and we were met with a fleet of Mercedes when we landed in Caracas. We were kept in the best hotel and our arrival was given top coverage by the media. The promoters put a gorgeous young girl named Adrianna in charge of keeping Joe happy and out of trouble. We had 2 leisure days in Caracas and I remember that cocaine was popular with Joe, Tim and a lot of our guys. Coke was incredibly cheap and pure down there. Adrianna had it delivered to our twenty-second story hotel rooms in glass vials. The crew would stand out on the balconies, do the stuff, and throw the vials out into the night air. I remember having lunch the next day down on the street in a Café. As I looked around I could see the vials from the previous night lying in all the potted plants around me. Meanwhile, back in the hotel rooms, the crew were writing postcards to themselves back home, they would pile up some coke under the postage stamps -- those big South American stamps, so they would have something to look forward to when they got home! The original lyric went "Adrianna tell me, when do I sleep? I haven't passed out yet, been in town for a week!"
30] Crossfire: What did you think of the "Black Velvet Pants" video?
Cowboy Mach Bell: Well that was another amazing experience. While Joe was doing the final mix on "Once A Rocker, Always A Rocker," and Tim was fighting with MCA, I sketched up an idea of a video I thought we could do for short money. Of course we had no money or support at all at this point, so it's incredible any of this stuff exists at all! I had recently been walking near my girl friend Julia's Cambridge apartment and run into the lovely Billie Alexander. I knew Billie from the Boston rock scene; she managed her husband Willie’s career and worked as a model on the side. Billie is blonde and leggy and has an "all-American" gleam in her eyes. I wrote a starring part for her in my video idea. On June 30th, 1983 I met with director Bob Tingle at Tim’s office. I showed him my story board and pitched the idea of a video that opens with a shot of a blonde pulling up her Black Velvet Pants. The next scene shows the JPP hitting the stage, performing the song. Scenes inter-cut show the blonde racing up the street headed for the show as the band rocks on. She enters the theater and pushes to the front as Joe plays his lead. As the JPP continues to cook, the blonde leaps on stage, grabs a pink saxophone and jams out with the boys. Tingle liked my idea and Tim and Joe had already given it the go ahead. I told Tim about Billie,(I’d already told her about her part, and she was psyched) and he scheduled a meeting with Joe. If you have read "Walk This Way" you know what happened next...Billie Perry is now the mother of 2 Perry boys. I don’t know what this "shot to video" production cost to make, I do know that my brother Andy donated the saxophone, and Billie and I painted it pink ourselves. The shoot lasted 2 days at the decrepit Strand Theater (later used by Til Tuesday for the "Voices Carry" video). The production was overshadowed by the legendary sucker punch that Glenda landed on Billie. Billie had a shiner that had to be covered with make up during her scenes. It really is a shame because I love both those girls and it was probably all my fault for introducing them both to Joe in the first place. So to answer your question, I thought the "Black Velvet Pants" video was most excellent!
