So the Spinatras is a pretty big style change! From Heyday and Manowar to this - it's like a whole new attitude. Yeah, Heyday was like, my thing into blues rock. But before that I was in Manitoba's Wild Kingdom, and then Manowar before that. And the dictators before that.
Every band I have been has had a distinct style change.
What is happening with the Spinatras? Is it coming out on disc? We hope for it to come out on disc. We are dealing with a few major labels, and independent labels. I think it will be on a major.
I don't know yet, what exactly it's going to be.
There is a lot of interest.
Well it sounds good enough to be on a major. You like it?
Yeah, it's got a lot of attitude. It pretty loose, groovy. Was it recorded live? We basically recorded it live and added our little overdubs to it.
The rhythm track is always live, and I go in and do my little magical thing to it.
A good fun vibe to it this time. You guys really are having a lot of fun. Right. The thing is, all the bands were so depressed. Everything has so much depression to it. You know, these guys are completely miserable!!
All of a sudden bands like No Doubt and Smash Mouth, you know, it's okay to smile and have fun again.
I have noticed that. Rock n roll is really coming back, and Spinatras is part of that. We definitely rock, and four years ago, you couldn't even mention that word - rock n roll.
I really don't care what people think.
I have been making record for a long time, and I think this band is just the greatest.
It's very punkish. Yeah, there is a definate punk vibe to it.
Michelle is a funny track! Yeah, ha ha. You have to have a sense of humour.
Where are you guys based?
We are based in New York.
Are you going to do some touring? Yeah, we are going to play around. We have already been playing around anyway.
Who else is in the band with you? Okay, myself on guitar, then Rich Fazzio on drums, Ronnie Gerando on Bass, Brian Crawley on lead vocals.
He is my proteche actually. He is a really young guy, he's 24 years old. He really has a great knowledge of rhythm and blues, and music. But he is on the modern tip of rock n roll.
The cutting edge, or so they say!
And me, I don't really know where I fit in anymore!
After 14 records.
Is that how many you have made now? Yes! 3 with the dictators, one with Shakin' Street, a French band, 8 with Manowar, the Wild Kingdom record….It just adds up.
And now the Dictators are going to make a new record.
So you are involved with that? Absolutely! Why not!?
The Dictators have a following in Australia. We get tons of e-mail from there.
I really am looking forward to one day coming to Australia.
You hear so much about it.
Just going back a little, what happened to Heyday? Well, we did our thing. We were trying to sell apples, when everyone was buying oranges. Our timing was not great.
If we came out two years or three years sooner than that, it would probably have been huge.
It got great reviews though. Did you manage to ship a few copies via mail order? Yes we did. We did quite well with it.
People are still coming up to me with it to autograph.
