Once upon a time, a very very mean band met another evil and famous band just by sailing the Web. And, as it often happens in Rock'n'Roll tales, they suddenly showed an irresistible attraction each other. One of the two gave birth to a well known monster, the so called Frankenstein, while the other helped that huge creature to overpass sound barriers by driving a flaming dragster. The happy ending is signed by the tobacco's addicted members of the Italian indie Nicotine Records, which has just released the final result of the above mentioned meeting: "Dr. Frankendragster", the split realized by the American Electric Frankenstein and the Italian Bad Dog Boogie, already crowned as top album on The Rock Explosion. So everything clear? Did you get the whole thing or did you miss something? Anyway we're here to dissolve the haze with an handsome interview with Sal Canzonieri who answers to Dr.Jekyll & Mr.Hide, or better Dr.Doriano I & Mr.Red!

Hi Sal, so your split cd with the Italian Bad Dog Boogie has just been released under Nicotine Records. How did this idea get born? Would you like to talk about your songs included in this work?
Well, we "met" Bad Dog Boogie via the internet! They joined my Fistful of Rock & Roll mailing list on www.yahoogroups.com and then sent me cds of their great songs! I wanted to help support the Italian Rock scene in any way I could, so I offered to do a split Ep with them. The EF songs I picked are our most Hard Rock ones that I thought would compliment Bad Dog Boogie's songs well. They are EF songs from various EPs that came out in limited number in the U.S.A. and that might be hard to find in Italy, but they were songs that I thought people that were fans of Hard Punk Rock & Roll would be interested in hearing together, to make a fun group of songs.

I dare say you don't miss a single opportunity to produce something, but which is your real secret to be so prolific, I mean 13 years of carrier and more than 100 releases… when shall we see you in the Guinness' awards list?
Ha, well, it is all for the love of Rock & Roll, really! If the demand was not there, we surely would never have recorded or released so many songs. Every year, we do about 3 singles, one or two EPs, and one album. Which I think is normal for a working band. Even bands on major labels do that, don't they? But, again, if fans and labels were not asking us to do new records, then they would not exist, of course. We do what the people want from us. Plus, we are in the band are creative and love. Rock music so much, we are always writing new songs and working on making the best record we can.

After 13 years playing I would ask you which have been your best and worst moments in the band…
The best I think is mostly when we play festivals and big shows. I really get happy playing to lots of people and I love the feeling of being in a festival with lots of great bands. I also think the best moments are when your record is all done and you have it in your hands for the first time. Looking at the artwork and thinking about all the hard work that went into recording the songs is always a strong feeling for me. The worst is easy, when stupid promoters lie about promoting the shows and we find out that they didn't advertise and no one knew we were playing! Somehow that seems to happen at least once a year, which totally sucks!!!

Which are the bands or artists that mostly influenced you?
My biggest musical influences are: The Stooges, NY Dolls, Dead Boys, Black Flag, Rik L Rik, Misfits, Cramps, Damned, Sex Pistols, Motorhead, AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith, Kiss, Alice Cooper, Mott the Hoople, Gentle Giant, Christian Death, and David Bowie.

Your moniker and logo reminds me about Frankenstein, one of the bands before Dead Boys. Is it anyway related to that? I mean, did you take inspiration from them?
Yeah, it was one of the sources of inspiration of what we were doing, our original intention was to be a mixture of Punk Rock and Hard Rock & Roll, so it was like the Dead Boys Meets AC/DC and I think we really sounded like that in the beginning!

Which album of Electric Frankenstein sold most copies? To which one instead do you feel closer to? How would you explain your choice?
Hmm, the record that sold the most was "How to Make a Monster". The one I feel the most close to is "The Time is Now", which is mostly because it was our first album and we had played those songs for years before recording them and it was very exciting to see all the great reviews and attention that record got everywhere!

How do Electric Frankenstein create their songs? How do you approach the song-writing aspect?
Well, everyone in the band plays guitar and also other instruments. What we normally do is try to make it a real "frankenstein" experience when we write, each person brings an idea of a song to the practice studio and then the other people add their ideas and we keep refining the songs until we are happy with them. So, everyone has parts of their ideas in one song. No one comes to the practices with a totally finished song, everyone has parts that they collaborate with everyone else.

If I am not wrong you worked with Thee STP as well. Can you tell us something about this experience?
Okay, we toured with them a few times and we loved their songs. I offered to produce one of their albums. They recorded it in Italy and brought the tapes to the US, where we mixed the songs and then mastered them together. I gave my opinions on what the songs needed sound wise, and I picked the order of the songs in what I thought was most exciting order for the listener. They had a lot of their own ideas and mostly I was just making sure everything sounded good to my ears based on all my experience (I have been playing in bands since 1975!).

Which are the aspects of our Country you like the most? Do you like any Italian bands? Somewhere I read something about your appreciation for Death SS…
Every American and Italian-Americans that travel to Italy loves the food, the women, and the beauty of Italy and its relaxing atmosphere. We love playing in Italy the most, really. I have always liked Italian bands and have a lot in my collection, from Rock to Punk to Progressive Music. I like Cheetah Chrome Mother Fuckers, Thee STP, Bad Dog Boogie, PFM, Le Orme, Area, Balletto Di Bronzo, many different kinds of Italian rock. Funny, but I found out after I started my Electric Frankenstein that there already was another Electric Frankenstein band from Italy! From the late 1960s, early 1970s, they were named after a club in Milan called The Electric Frankenstein! I have their second album called "What Me Worry?", it sounds like Pink Floyd kind of music, so it is nothing like my EF. But, I have been told and I have heard another album by the Italian Electric Frankenstein that was great hard rock! I would love to find a copy of this record and record a cover version of the song "Electric Frankenstein" that was on the record! That would be really amazing and crazy thing to do!!! I heard that the guitar player was Paulo Tofani and that he lives in Firenze. Ha, yes, Death SS, they are a crazy band! They are like the heavy metal Misfits! I really enjoy hearing their crazy songs and looking at their record covers! They have a cool concept with all the monsters in the band!

What about international artists, which are nowadays the ones you really like?
Hmm, well, there are so many bands from Europe now! Hmm, I like The Flaming Sideburns, Half Man, Speed Freaks, Don't Cares, Sideburners, Dogs of Lust, Lambs, The Satellites, Aerobitch, Gluecifer, Hellacopters, Backyard Babies, Turbonegro, Crime Kaisers, Hellride, TV Killers, Launderettes, and many more! They all can be found on my "A Fistful of Rock & Roll" compilation albums! There are 13 volumes of them.

Let's speak about the life 'on the road': lots of bands cannot stand long tours and the stress of playing every night. Do you have any secret to avoid unpleasant aspects of touring?
We don't seem to have a problem with that. We mostly take short tours, 3 weeks at a time or less. But, we have fun at each place with shopping in cool stores looking for interesting things that you can not find in the US or for records that we are looking for. We read a lot and talk about things, we don't get all drunk and drugged up, I think that makes things worse!

Do you have any lucky charm or something you use to do before going on stage?
Yeah, ha, I wear a lucky charm around my neck. I mostly just pray before I go on stage. I am not nervous ever before going out on stage, I just get worried that there will be technical problems, like things breaking and not working and so on.

In your opinion which one has been your best live experience? Which memories do you keep about that night?
I really enjoyed myself playing the famous Filmore in San Francisco California! It was a sold out show with the Dwarves! Almost 200 more people could not get in. There were many famous people there, including Metallica!!! The sound system was the very best and the stage was set up great, it was the best sounding show we played.

Amongst all the bands you shared the stage with, which were the craziest and funniest ones?
The craziest and funniest has always been The Dwarves! You never know how long they are going to last on stage and everything seems to explode and fall apart after every song! Blag, the singer is always a funny comedian and everyone in the band looks as surprised as the audience that everything is going crazy.

What are you doing in these days? I know you are about to or you have just produced the album of Iron-Head. How has been working with Angela Foxx and Johnny Sonic? How would you describe their album?
It's been really great working with them, they have a great sound. They just needed to have some focus so that their style can be named. Their album is a great mix of mid-60's Garage Rock and 70's Punk and 80's Hard Rock, it is a great blend that really works well for them. Many people will enjoy their songs once they hear them, the recording sessions came out great, they were well prepared and record the songs very fast and with lots of skill. The songs have a strong universal appeal for anyone that loves a great rock & roll tune!

Not so long ago appeared the release of a tribute album to The Nomads in which there is also your contribution. What can you tell us about that? The choice of the song 'Can't Keep A Bad Man Down' was yours or did it come from a request of the label? What's your opinion about The Nomads?
It was my choice, I wanted to cover a recent song of theirs to show that they are still great and it is not only their old songs that people should be enjoying! Also, that song of all their songs sounds closest to what EF sounds like in style, a strong heavy mix of Punk and Hard Rock!

Your book 'Electric Frankenstein' has just been published. Can you tell us something about it? Is it possible to find it in Italy as well? Is it going to be translated in other languages?
The book is an art book, published by Dark Horse Comics, one of the biggest publishers of such books in the world, the only text is the history of the band in the back of the book. It is a fantastic looking book that shows all our art work that was used for every EF record and every live show for the last 10 or more years! There are over 180 of the world's best poster artists in the book, such as Coop, Kozik, Forbes, Hess, Chantry, Johnny Ace, Dirty Donny, and many more. There are a bunch of artists from Italy in the book too!

Which are the next plans of Electric Frankenstein?
We want to release a new album of all new songs sometime next year, once we find a new label that we will feel happy with. Also, I want to make an Electric Frankenstein videogame, EF toy figures, skateboards, and so on. We really want to tour in Australia and Japan as well eventually. Of course we would like to come back to Italy and play some great shows too!

And now a RocK Explosion cult question: fav porn star, fav drink and top 5 album of ever…
Fav porn star: Christy Canyon (from the 1980s)! Fav drink: Whisky Sour or Guiness Beer. Top Five albums: Stooges "Raw Power"; Alice Cooper "Killer"; Black Flag "Damaged"; Motorhead "Ace of Spades", Dead Boys "first album".

Ok Sal, thank you for your kind cooperation, the interview is over! Final space for any kind of greetings, credits or insults…
Well, I want to say support real Rock & Roll! Not that fake Pop shit that the major labels force on people!

Intervista realizzata da Roberto Barisone, Bruno Rossi.
Traduzione realizzata da Margherita Realmonte e Laura Delnevo.
Supervisione di Margherita Realmonte.