Ladies and gentlemen, Exploders and rockers all over the planet, I bet you could never guess what we of The Rock Explosion headquarters have found in the Easter Egg, and since we all are very proud of this surprise, and since we're ready to bet you will find this interview as one of the most bursting we've ever done, we have the honour to introduce you one of the founders of such a band named… New York Dolls. Please join your hands for Mr. Rick Rivets, a piece of history in the New York rock scene, and not just this… Check it out!

Hi Mr.Rivets could you introduce yourself to the new generations addicted to MTV shitty music? You were a founder member of a band that changed the course of music history. Why don't tell us in detailes how, when and where did you meet the other members?
Me and Arthur Kane went to High School together and we had a band called The Fogg that also included Stu Wylder from the Corpse Grinders. After we graduated we played the strip club circut in New York City, and on the side were trying to put together a band that had similar likes as we had. Our drummer was Sparkey Donovan, who was the drummer in The Brats but that's later on. We had seen Johnny all the time at various clubs and would always say hi to each other, but we didn't really know him or if he played anything. One night me and Arthur were trying to steal this motorcycle and had it in my van when we saw Johnny walking down Bleeker Street. Being completely drunk Arthur said: "Hey! There's that guy we always see!", so Arthur got out of the van and went up to Johnny. I think he thought we were gonna mug him because we pulled too a fast stop and jumped out of the van, but Arthur ran up to him and said: "Hey man, do you play anything?" After Johnny was assured we weren't gonna rob him, we started talking and he said he played bass. Well, Arthur played guitar in all our other bands so we said: "Why don't we get together and jam sometime?". Well it turns out that he lived around the corner from Arthur's on 1st avenue, between 9th and 10th street. The next day we got together and played for a bit and decided to get a band together. Johnny had a friend, Ozzie, that played drums so we went into the studio and jammed, doing mostly Rolling Stones and Chuck Berry songs. Johnny had a hard time playing the bass, as he was quite small, so he asked Arthur if he wouldn't mind changing from guitar to bass. It was O.K. with Arthur, so the band consisted of me Arthur, Johnny and Ozzie. Ozzie wasn't the best drummer so we got ahold of Billy who Johnny had played with before, and started rehearsing at a studio on 31st street. The place was in the middle of the garment center and was always crowded, so we had to find a place that was cheaper and not in such a crowded neighborhood. I don't know who found the place, either Arthur or Johnny, but we soon had a place on 81st street and Columbus Avenue that was a bike rental place in the day and a "studio" at night.

Mr. Rivets can you describe the early New York Dolls with Johnny Thunders (vocals/guitar), Arthur Kane (bass), and Billy Murcia (drums). Particularly we're interested in your memories about the all-night rehearsal on October 10 1971, which became "Dawn Of The Dolls". It's true that Johnny Thunders first alias was Johnny Volume?
Well, now that we had a place to practice, we got down to learning a bunch of songs. At first we were doing only covers, but one day Johnny said that he had some songs he wrote and wanted us to work on them too. That was cool with us, because playing covers was a dead end street. At first we used to go over to Johnny's place and work up the songs on acoustic guitars before going to the studio and plugging in. This worked out great, because you could see that if the songs sounded good with a couple of acoustic guitars, well, they would sound even better when we plugged in. Now this studio didn't have any equipment per say. They had 2 guitar amps and a set of drums. Me and Arthur used to plug into one of the amps and Johnny would plug into the other and have the vocals coming out of the secong channel. This didn't make for the best quality but when you have nothing else then you can't complain but just make the best of it. A few weeks before someone broke into Arthur's apartment and had stolen our guitars and amps, so we were basically without any equipment. I borrowed $300 from a friend and went to the pawn shops and picked up a 1961 Fender Stratocaster and a 1965 Rickenbacker which me and Johnny would take turns using, as all Johnny had was the bass that Arthur was using. The guy that owned the place didn't trust anyone so he would lock us in the studio and come back in 3 hours or so and let us out after collecting the money for that nights time. The place was really just a damp basement that had a portable heater but during the winter we would keep warm by drinking bottles of cheap Vodka that we would buy before we were locked in. It used to get really cold inside but between the Vodka and the energy that we would create playing we always kept pretty warm. Ever since The Fogg I got into this habit of bringing a tape recorder to practice and recording the band and listening to the tapes later to see how much progress we were making. Well it was no different in this situation and the fact that I had just "borrowed" a cassette recorder and a couple of mikes made it easy to carry it down to the studio and record the night sessions. Years later one of these tapes was released as "Dawn Of The Dolls" just because we had gotten tired of making copies of this tape for friends who were always asking for copies when they learned I had an early tape of New York Dolls. Another tape that was recorded when David joined the band was made but the tape was never seen again after loaning it to David. One good reason for never loaning tapes to anyone. We didn't know Johnnys last name, and when we asked him one day, he came up with Thunders. He might have called himself Johnny Volume for a day or so buit it was always Thunders as far as we were concerned.

Why did you decide to leave New York Dolls, or maybe it wasn't exactly your decision?
After playing together for a few months Johnny had come to the conclusion that he didn't want to be the singer anymore, so the search was on for a new vocalist. I was totally against this because me and singers never got along and I thought that Johnny was just fine as the bands singer, and where could you find someone who even came close to looking as good as Johnny did! Well, I was outvoted and the search for a singer was on. The first guy that came down was dressed in silver leather pants and silver cowboy boots. He looked ok but not even close to Johnny in the personalitly dept. He did a few songs and was given the old don't call us we'll call you. By this time Syl had become a regular fixture around the studio. Turns out he and Billy were friends for years and they had a band with Johnny at one time. It was starting to become uncomfortable going to practice and having someone hanging around that you just know wanted your gig. Jerry used to stop by often and jam but he never gave of any vibes that he wanted Billys gig, he would come by and jam and leave. Jerry was an amazing drummer and even though he could play rings around Billy he came to play and that was it. Jerry loved to play and he would jam with anyone. He was always keeping his chops sharp. As you might have guessed David was in the band by this time and things were changing. The band wasn't fun anymore. You have one guy who is after your gig and another who thinks we are his backup band. Time to go go. Me and Arthur were still as tight as ever but the band thing just wasn't working for me anymore. We did a Christmas show at a Welfare hotel that was a blast, but the New Year was coming and so was a new band.

Which is your happiest memory with New York Dolls? And the worst one?
I think my best memories playing with Johnny and Billy were the times hanging out at Johnnys apartment and learning new material on acoustics. That showed me that if you have good melody and lyrics you can build up the song with other instruments but if the song is bad to begin with nothing can save it. Johnny was really underrated as a player and a writer but I saw how works and the guy was no idiot. His discography is just awesome. A lot of people think of him with the Heartbreakers doing the same songs but if you get all his material you can see the wide range of influences he put into his music. Years from know he will be discovered and hailed for the genius he was. Probably the worst memory of being in the band is one night when we all went out after practice and Billy was realy drunk. Billy was cool but when he got really messed up he could be really obnoxious. We were all at a club and I was trying to make this girl and Billy kept coming over to our table and grabbing food off of our plates until it got really stupid. I don't know what he was on but he just wouldn't get lost. It got to the point that when he tried to grab some food of this girls plate that I had enough and stabbed him in the hand with my fork. He kinda just looked at me like he couldn't believe it but I just told him to piss off. When we were done and ready to leave we went to get in my car and the air was let out of 2 tires. That was fun trying to find a gas station open at 4 A.M.

What has been the feedback to the release of "Dawn Of The Dolls" album? Why did you decide to publish this recordings?
The "Dawn Of The Dolls" CD was in the works since 1975. We had been planing to release it during the time when bootleg records were really popular and before the government cracked down on bootleggers. Just happened that every time we planed to release it something else came along and we used our capital to fund other projects. We had been talking with other independent labels from time to time but we could never seem to get anything on paper. Labels were interested but then they would either fold or sign a new group and have to put it off. We were gonna co-release it with Twink on his label but when we saw the contract he had given us we jsut said to hell with it let's just put ti out on our own. The tape was so widely circulated that it was just a metter of time before some other label would bootleg it as they had done before with the "Heartbreakers Live At Mothers" record. A.C.Doback had recorded those tapes years before and had given a copy to Johnny when one of the people that worked for him stole it and sold it to BOMP Records. Same thing happened to the "Dawn" cd. After we had released it Twink had gotten together with Arthur and re-released it as the "Actress" Cd with the notes taken from Arthurs book "iDoll". Some of these people in this business can stoop so low. After all the things that A.C. Doback did for Twink he repays him like this by ripping him and me off. When we were in Los Angeles me Arthur and Twink were supposed to get together and record some tunes for possible release. We had spent 2 days trying to find a recording studio that had drums and when we found one had book it for the next day. We figured this would be a cool project with 2 Ex-Dolls/Corpse Grinders and a PinkFairy/Pretty Thing on it. Turns out that when we called Twink the next day to tell him we were on our way to get him he pulls out with some half-assed excuse about some girl he met.

How did Rock'n'Roll step into your life? Who were the artists that you considered your main source of inspiration at the beginning of your career?
Music stepped into my life at an early age. I started playing the drums when I was 10 years old. A friend of mine had some drums and I would go over to his house and he would teach me the basics. The only problem was that he was lefthanded and that is the way I learned to play. I was the school drummer and would play as the students marched into the assembly hall. After a few years I got a teacher but when I went for my first lesson he told me that I was holding my sticks the wrong way and had me start playing the way a righthanded drummer would play. I got tired quickley as I had been playing one way for years and now I was supposed to learn all over again the "right" way. My father always had an acoustic guitar aroung the house and when the Beach Boys hit big I had started trying to play with a book that someone had given me. Around the same thim I started playing the trumpet in the school band. I saw this Frank Sinatra movie "The Man With The Golden Arm" about a junkie jazz trumpet player and I thought that's for me. I don't know what intrigued me more the musician part or the junkie part but my trumpet playing days had begun. Playing in the school band had its perks so I jumped in head first and became quite the player. Herb Alpert was big at the time and I would learn his songs and play them in a sort of jazz combo I had started up with some of my friends from school. When the Beatles hit it was all over. I was still playing trumpet in school but I had made friends with a clarinet player who was also interested in the guitar and soon we had a rock band together. That clarinet player turned out to be Arthur Kane and soon our school band was history and rock had taken over our souls. We used to practice every day after school at Arthurs house and soon we had enough songs to play the local church scene that turned into the NY club scene. We played all the name clubs like the Cafe Wha and Bitter End but the best gigs were at the strip clubs like The Metropole near 48th street. The Metropole used to be a jazz club where the Stones and Animals would go to see jazz band at night but with the disco craze it turned into a sleazy strip bar with overpriced drinks and semi-nude dancers shaking to local bands. The clubs were all mob run and something was always happening but we minded our business and were always treated well except if we got too friendly with some of the dancers. We were obsessed with music and all the bands that were coming over from England. We hung out with the Yardbirds when the came over for the first time and would often see Hendrix at the Scene. The Spoonful and Blues Magoos were always hanging out in the village and that is where we would go. We needed a drummer and that is where Stu Wylder comes in. He went to the same school as we did but was a year younger than us but he was friends with Ken Finger (a.k.a Fang) our bass player so when we were looking for a new drummer in steps Wylder. Not only did he play drums but he also was our singer. After awhile we realised that having a drummer for a lead singer might have worked for the Monkees but not for us. So Stu was moved from behind the drums to the position of front man. We played together until me and Arthur graduated from high school and into college. On the first day of registration I noticed a strawberry blonde that looked very much like Brian Jones walking around the room until he came over to where I was sitting and asked if the seat was taken. This was my first meeting with Sparky Donovan and the beginning of a lifetime friendship that continues to this day. Shortly after meeting Sparky me and Arthur were making weekly trips to his house to play with a bandmate of his named Keith. Keith was a Rolling Stones fanatic and soon we were obsessed with all things Stoned. Sparky was the one who turned our heads Rolling and one of the main reasons why we asked Johnny to join our band.

What did you think about the recent New York Dolls reunion with 3 old members and the guesting of Gary Powell (ex Libertines) who appeared at London Meltdown Festival? Did they tell you about this idea or you were unaware of everything? Would you have liked to participate?
Not much when they could have had 4 old members and if you include Sparky on drums then you would have had 4 old and 1 almost as Sparky was supossed to be the original drummer. Arthur had called me when he had first heard of talk of a Dolls reunion and was excited and worried at the same time. What if they do it without me he would say. The Dolls were Arthur's life and for the last 25 years he was obsessed with getting the band back together. When talk of a reunion circulated he didn't know if it was for real or another way of getting his hopes up only to bring him down. When Arthur mentioned that he would love me to be involved I told him to just get himself in because there is no way that Syl and David would want me involved in any way. I told Arthur that we didn't get along then and we wouldn't get along now so just do your thing and watch you back cause David isn't doing this reunion for anybody but himsef. The cruel irony is that Arthur passed away after the first shows and it is David and Syl going around as the Dolls just like they did when Johnny and Jerry left all those years ago. "The Phony Dolls" as they were called. Arthur didn't stand a chance because it was Johnny and Jerry and David and Syl so he had no allies in the band. I'm really surprised that he took all their shit cause he was more than capable of knocking anyone of em out with one shot.

About a month later Arthur Kane passed away and recently you played a tribute gig with Paul Blaccard, Stu Boy Wylder, Kenny Cruz as the Corpse Grinders in October 8th, 2004 at The Continental in New York City. Can you describe Arthur Kane both as man and artist, your best memories related to the times that you passed with Mr.Kane together and the atmosphere of The Continental during the mentioned gig?
The Tribute was a blast but the only thing that sucked is that Arthur wasn't there. All of the bands gave their time and energy for a dear friend. Lynn Todd came all the way up from Georgia or someplace down south, Sonny Vincent came from Germany, The Victims reunited, Jack Butler Band was the first band to offer themselves. It was great with people that haven't seen eachother for years getting together to pay tribute to an old friend. There was so much love in the club that night and Trigger was really great for giving us his club for the night so we could pull this off. Stuboy worked his ass off putting the whole thing together by himself. Arthur will be missed by all. We were best friends from high school on and we did everything together. He was a very gentile person who showed no hatred for anyone regardless of color or nationally. Everyone was equal in his eyes. He was taken advantage by a everyone because they thought he was stupid or weak. He happened to be a very smart person who could be a little quirky at times but it was his genius that not many people understood and therefore thought they could put anything over on him. We had many good times together and he turned me on to things that I never would have known about if not for him. The time we spent in Amsterdam was probably the best time that I ever spent with anyone. We had a blast. We lived like kings in a great part of the city, we had a car and 2 motorcycles and we would take trips to the beach on the bikes and just stop in little towns on the way and hang out with the locals. The times we had playing the strip clubs when we were 16 and hanging out with older women and just having the time of our life. He is greatly missed by myself as we had plans to play together after the New York Dolls reunion. It's all history now.

Mr.Rivets have you been influenced by the homonymous trash horror movie signed by Ted V.Mikels during the 1972 in choosing Corpse Grinders as the name of your band? If it's so, why have you been so much impressed by this movie? What are your favourite scenes?
To tell ya the truth I thought that the movie "The Corpse Grinders" was the worst piece of garbage. When Ted Mikels was making "The Corpse Grinders 2", Paul Blaccard was in touch with him to try to work some of the bands songs into the movie but the guy seems like a real idiot. He dosen't know how to make a good horror movie. A monkey could make a better movie then him. I mean what a boring film. The only reason we used the name was because Arthur came up with it and it was his call. I didn't even know it was a movie as we could have came up with a better name for the band. If your gonna make a movie named Corpse Grinders then you had better well have alot of blood and gore and people getting ripped apart and something like "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" or "The Night Of The Living Dead". I saw the movie a few times and I don't even remember one scene.

I read that Malcom McLaren declared: "I was trying to do with the Sex Pistols what I had failed with the New York Dolls". What do you think about the turning point Sex Pistols signed in punk history?
The Sex Pistols sucked. They were all hype. What did they have like one record? If Malcom could have used The Dolls like he did The Pistols he might have had something but with their personalities he couldn't have done jack shit because at that point the drugs took Johnny and Jerry and without those two there is no band. Johnny was the Dolls period. Without him you have nothing. There were so many better bands then the Pistols. The Clash, The Ramones, Heartbreakers, Damned,when should I stop. John Lydon is a joke. I don't know why anyone would put up with his crap. He needs a good bitch slapping. Syd was a kid who fell for his own hype and tried to play with the big boys and couldn't keep up so bye bye. Jones and Cook made a good team and played well together but Matlock seems to be the real talent in that band. Hype all hype. It's just too bad that they will forever be tied in with the start of punk but for all the press they had the released the least amount of material and any Ramones cd is better then their one cd. Well that about raps it up. I wanna thank all the people that have supported us through the years and I hope we can make it over this year.

Can you tell us some more about Martians From Uranus "Addictions" CD? When, how and where did you meet drummer Jim Robinson, relative of Black Crowes Rich and Chris? Also, can tell us something more about Walter Lure contribution to the stuff? I read that sometimes Walter Lure appears on stage to jam something together with you. Do you still keep on hanging with some other fellows from the New York scene?
Martians From Uranus was a band from Cincinnati (Ohio), that came to New York to record a demo that was being produced by a friend of mine. Since the singer was a New York Dolls fan, they asked me if I could play on their tape. I always love to play on other bands tapes so of course I said yes. After we were done taping they asked if I would want to play with them that night as they had a gig somewhere out on Long Island. Well I turned up and played a few numbers and soon they asked me to join the band. Having nothing going on then I figured at least I can keep my chops up. I thought that they were all gonna be these cool people that liked to play all the time but as time went by their personalities started coming through and I realized that except for the singer the rest of the band was nothing. The guitar player played this cheap piece of crap Korean Telecaster and the drummer could never use his truck cause his wife wouldn't let him. We would get these gigs in New York, but the singer married a women he met at a show and soon we had our own Yoko (Ono). I'm not into bands where one guy always has to bring his wife or girl everywhere and that is what was happening. The rest of the guys had no image what so ever and the guitarist wouldn't take off his baseball hat for nothing and you know what that means. Any time someone always wears a hat 24/7 means they are bald or losing alot of hair. So instead of shaving his head or whatever the hat was always there and so were the same clothes every show. I've been playing in bands for years and we always tried to dress but these guys didn't seem to have the concept of an image. Later on when they got rid of the drummer and guitarist they brought in the managers nephews on guitars and one of their friends on drums. Well now the band was all related to the singers wife and they wouldn't take any suggestions from me so I knew this was time for me to go. After I had left I had gotten a letter from a Canadian record label who had heard the CD and wanted to put us on a 3 week tour but since I wasn't playing with them to hell with it. Besides I'm not gonna go on tour with a bunch of kids who don't know the first thing about how to act like a band and how to draw press. As far as the Robinson's go there are so many of them that if we played a big arena they could have filled it up so what Rich and Chris are to them could be 25 cousins twice removed or whatever!

We're a little bit curious, once we had the chance to interview by mail Handsome Dick Manitoba and Andy Shernoff of Dictators fame. I know that Handsome opened a club called Manitoba in Ney York City. I'm wondering if it has ever happened to you to visit this place. If so what do you think about it? Are you an Handsome's friend?
I remember Handsome Dick from the Dictators back in the 70's but I was never friendly with the band. After all, The Brats were one of the most hated bands on the New York scene. It was all because the singer had this ego and would turn the other bands off with his big mouth. He was the one who told Paul Stanley that they were nothing and he was the star when I told Ace they could headline over us when we played at the Diplomat Hotel. My thinking was that they were a better band and as soon as they were over the place would empty but the singer had such an ego that he actually called Paul up and started screaming that they had better change the ad or else we weren't playing. Real stupid move because I was the one who told Ace to go ahead and put themselves on top because that is where they belonged as they were the better band and besides we headlined over them them last time. Paul must have been really pissed and I don't blame him but look who got the last laugh. Anyway as far as Manitoba's club I was never there all though I heard it was a good place and I bought The Dictators LP and saw them live and thought they were very good but as far as hanging out it never happened for whatever reason. Nothing personal.

Ok, what do you think about the seventies English glam scene? And what about what was happening in New York City ? We read that Kiss opened for the Brats, would you have bet on their future huge success on that date? Anyway which memories do you keep of these young rockstars?
We used to get all the magazines with the British glam bands and try to copy their dress except for the make-up. I loved David Bowie, T-Rex and The Sweet and the whole lot, Slade etc, but they influenced our music more then out dress. I was more into what the Rolling Stones were wearing then what the glam bands were wearing. If you are a midget like Syl or Johnny, you can get away trying to look like a girlie man, but I was too tall and masculine to pull that crap off. It's hard to kick someone's ass wearing platforms, and when we were going uptown to cop we had to be able to make a fast getaway and sneakers were our first choice. When I was in the New York Dolls I never dressed like that, but I would wear velvet suits and snakeskin boots sans platform. I loved the way Keith Richards dressed back then. The Brats were a glam band to an extent but we never wore make-up and all our clothes were made for us and were closer to the kind of clothes the country singers would wear with all the rhinestones and such. Kiss wasn't a glam band per say, they had their own thing going and they marched to their own drummer. They didn't follow but they led as far as fashion. Even off stage Paul and Ace looked like rock stars with velvet pants and nice leather jackets. I if Paul never put on any make-up he would still look like a star. Same with Gene, it's more then the clothes it's the attitude. Kiss did something that nobody did before and that is why they are so successful.

Is true that the name The Brats was suggested by Alice Cooper? At that time how much the young Mr. Rivets was into the glam rock scene? Was that all something more than simple glitter lipsticks and nail polish?
We were sitting at the back table at Max's one night with Alice Cooper who had become a fixture at that time and we told him we were looking for a great name for a new band. Well he thought for a minute and said: "The Brats! You all look like a bunch of brats!" so from then on we were the Brats. Alice was a huge influence on me and Arthur and Johnny and me and Arthur saw them when the lp with Eighteen came out and were floored with the show. Johnny was a bit closer as he went out with Cindy Lange who was Alice's girl when they were on tour. So one afternoon we were at Johnny's and Alice calls up yelling about him seeing Cindy. All this while we are just sitting there, listening to our hero fighting for his woman. The Brats singer took her out a few times but nothing ever happened, except him buying her dinner. But to think our hero's girl would cheat on him was unheard off but I guess this is the way of the world.

Do you think that The Brats have been underrated? If you think so what should have gone in a different way?
I don't know if the Brats were underrated, although we did have one of the best guitarists in New York. He was sooooo good that if you closed your eyes you would swear that Jeff Beck was playing. Only trouble was the singer was so stubborn that you couldn't get anything done. I don't know how many times we turned down deals because of him. Thinking back the one thing we should have done and we all regret is not getting another singer. That's the biggest mistake we made in keeping him, because he was the one who caused the band to fail. Even when Rave Up released the Brats LP's he was pissed because he didn't think they should have been released. Well, we have a surprise waiting for him, because we will release anything we want on the Brats and if he doesn't like it let him sue. Me and Sparky started the band and he ruined the band so from now on we can recoup some of the money and time we wasted playing with him, I swear we will!

Rave Up, an Italian indie recording label published stuff of The Brats and Corpse Grinders, which are now sold out. What about it?
I thank Rave Up every day for putting those LP's out, although we have better tapes. At least the world can get to hear some of the music that was big at one time in New York City so long ago. The Corpse Grinders I'm not too happy about, because we have much better material in the can that should have been released. Some day it will all be released and then people can judge for themselves if the music was good or bad. Rave Up did a good job in getting this out, but we have a lot more if they are interested, so if they are reading this, get in touch and we will send you samples of all the studio tapes we have.

Can you tell us something about your experience with The Slugs?
Out of all my fave bands the Slugs have to be number one. Not only did we have a singer who wrote beautiful lyrics but was just as beautiful to look at. He was the ultimate frontman, a cross between Jim Morrison and Al Pacino. The shame is that the Slugs never went anywhere because the drugs always got in the way. So many deals were lost because of the behavior of certain members. Another thing is they were afraid to go on the road. The trouble was that no one person was the leader and without a leader things just fell apart.

In which of all of these bands we've talked about you feel much involved? Why?
The band that I was most involved was the Corpse Grinders and now The Rick Rivets Band because now it is me that calls the shots. Kennie, the bassist, is an enormous help in getting things done but that is because we are on the same level. We can hire and fire members and won't hesitate if they don't want to go in the direction we have planned. I've been doing this too long to let other people ruin my chances of getting somewhere. It's our way or adios. This isn't a game or a hobby, if a player wants to do it as a hobby then they have the wrong band. And no drugs. I don't care what someone does as far as drugs, but don't screw up this band because of your habit. Also I'm mot gonna get busted because someone has to smoke a joint going through Mississippi. Hell with that, no pot in this band. Pot is for idiots, heroin is ok, but no pot or speed. Rebel Yell is the official drink of the Rivets Band and China White but no black tar of Jack.

What do you think about all these young dudes (as for example our Le$ter here posing questions with us) still stuck with this kind of proto punk, early glam that you contributed so much to create? In your opinion what lacks in the modern rock scene?
I think the thing that lacks in modern music is bands that look like bands. Fred Durst does not look like someone who is in a band. Much to many ugly musicians going around trying to act like rock stars and it just doesn't quite make it when you are use to stars like the Stones and Led Zeppelin and The Coop and Aerosmith who not only look like start but act like them. The bands have no image, I mean wearing board shorts on stage what is that supposed to be. If I'm seeing a show I want to see a guy up there who look great and not like someone from the audience. Bands don't know how to be cool and take advantage of the groupies that throw themselves at them. The one band that stands out because of their clothes is the Hives but when you look at their faces you got a bunch of plug uglies. Limp Biscuit I could never understand with the guitar player who looked like a monkey with the stupid outfits. Tell me what that is supposed to mean. Modern rock has to much sampling and pretty soon there is not gonna be any rock but just rap.

Do you have any kind of regret? Viceversa, do you have some dream still to realize?
Regrets I have a few but that is all my fault. I wish I would have gone on to get my masters and PHD and worked as a teacher or something like that. I also wish I would have stayed in the Army and made it a career or become a cop so I could be on the streets pushing people around. I regret wasting so much time in the Brats instead of sacking the singer and moving on. We all have regrets. I wish I would have stayed in baseball and maybe become a cop or a Nascar driver. The only dreams I have are to play Liverpool and do a tour of Europe and then buying a cabin in the woods and living the kind of life that they lived in the 1870. Being able to walk around with a Colt 45 in a good old western holster and being away from people. I can't stand all the crap that is moving into New York now. Nobody talks English anymore and it gets me mad that in my own Country we let all this garbage in but if someone from France or Italy or England wants to get in, they have to wait for years while the third world Countries are all welcome in. I'm sure that a lot of countries in Europe are having the same problems.

Your favourite top albums of ever, your favourite drink and your favourite pornstar?
Well as far as favorite drinks there are drinks and then there are DRINKS. I guess my favorite drinks are Propel a kind of sports drink with no calories and good old Cole Cola. As far as my DRINKS I will only drink Rebel Yell a very smooth sipping whiskey sort of like Jack Daniels but better. Also Vodka with Seven-Up. Can't go wrong with that. In pubs a Black and Tan will do or a hard cider. My favourite LP are anything Beatles or Stones. Most of the Yardbirds and Led Zeppelin CD and all things Iggy Pop, Ramones and Thunders. Also The Chesterfield Kings are a great band that should be huge by now. See if they had me on second guitar then they would be tremendous. Status Quo and Rockpile are two bands who always bring a smile to my face and don't forget Johnny Cash. As for porn stars Marilyn Chambers still looks as great as she did 20 years ago, and Barbara Dare still floats my boat. Also any of these young Russian girls that you see on line…

Thanks Mr.Rivets, could you make us some anticipations about your future plans in music field? Now you have the chance to greet Italian fans and to say whatever you like:
Well we are hoping that we will play the IPO this spring in Liverpool and we are working on something that will take us to Iraq to entertain the troops in about 7 - 9 months. I would also like to get a new CD recorded and release alot of material I have in the can. I would also love to tour Italy as from what I have seen your country is one of the most beautiful in the world and to see the sites would just be great. Also to be able to meet any fans of ours and to just hang out with the people from whatever city we go to. I would also like to meet musicians from Italy and possibly jam and record.
We really hope to see you on stage somewhere in the world, I want you only to know that one day we'll will tell our nephews we interviewed Mr.Rivets. Thanks for your patience and your time!
Thanks for your time and I hope that we will be able to visit soon. Keep rockin'!

Questions by Le$ter (www.landslideladies.com) e Bruno Rossi.
Translated by Margherita Realmonte.
Photos by Susan Brie e Donna Gaines, scroll on the pics for more details.