Don’t Believe A Word I Say with Bob Segarini

A blast from the past! The Wackers and John Lennon! DBAWIS Swag! And get ready for the Research Turtles!!!

“Outside a dog, a book is man’s best friend. Inside a dog, it’s too dark to read.”

Groucho Marx

So I’m wading through a pile of old back-up discs the other day and stumbled across something I’d written way back in the last century. Upon reading it, I arrived at two interesting conclusions. One, I couldn’t write for shit back then, and two, it is fascinating to me that less than 3 pages of 14 pt type have turned into almost 300,000 words and about 600 pages of meandering recollections, anecdotes, and pithy reportage in less than a year.

I am found.

What is even more amazing, is that I haven’t told anywhere near the amount of stories that this 14 year old document has reminded me of, let alone all the crap, calamity, and coolness that have  occurred in the 14 years that followed.

After I had that epiphany, I realized how much I enjoy writing these blogs, (even though the work involved is a gargantuan annoyance), and how grateful I am that there is actually an armload of you that enjoys reading them. “Why,” many of you have asked, “don’t you write a book?”

I have shrugged off requests to write a book for decades. The suggestion is usually made in the middle of those nights when good friends get together with a couple of new acquaintances, a bottle of Jack, a case of beer, and uncountable shots of tequila, and someone says, “Hey! Tell Dilbert about that time you broke Ozzy Osbourne’s glass coffee table with a beer bottle!” After you tell the story…that’s when the suggestion is made. I think it happens to everyone at one time or another, and I also think that each and every one of us has a book in them…but just because we can, doesn’t mean we should.

These days, it seems like everyone who has ever been in a rock band has either written, or is about to write, a book about his or her experiences. You can say the same for people who were, or are, in film, television or sports, (believe it, sports are entertainment to most people), or any of the other high profile arms of the entertainment business, and quite frankly, with the exception of the amount of blow jobs, divorces, awards, drug consumption, and asinine mistakes, they all read about the same.

I don’t want to write my version of that book.

I don’t want to join the legion of writers, many of whom are much more capable than I, in that march down Literary Lane, simply because my life included playing ‘She Loves You’ at Carnegie Hall, or throwing up on the back of Denise Richards’ head during sex, and I’ve actually done one of those things.

I like writing this column because it is a moveable feast. It changes every time I write. I get feedback from you as soon as you read them, and sometimes you send me your stories, and that is what makes sharing your life this way so much more enjoyable than sharing it in a book.

This is like writing a letter and having people write back. This is an exchange of ideas, of lives, and makes the act of sharing yours so much more worthwhile. It is, to use an overused buzz word, interactive. An immediacy exists that is missing from books, and because there is a connective quality to the internet, the words become not static marks on a printed page, but an ongoing stream of conversation, information, and camaraderie. Not only can you read about a person or a place, looking at the occasional picture, you can click on a link and hear music, or watch a performance, or access additional information. The opportunity to expand on what you write is limitless. At least, that is how it appears to me.

Someday, when I have the money to be able to take the time, I would like to create a new kind of book, one that would exist on a flash drive, online, or on a DVD or other interactive device. Hundreds of pictures arranged chronologically, by season, or location, or however you want, and with a click of the mouse or a touch on the screen, the picture would reveal the music, the story, the experience, behind what was written. I could tell you the story instead of just writing it down. You could spend just minutes and hear a complete story, or spend hours and hear many. It could co-exist with a traditional book, even be a part of the package you purchase, be update able, subscribed to instead of purchased…there are possibilities beyond even these few, that are just around the corner.

I will collect these columns in book form if there is a demand for them, add some more detail, more pictures, maybe a CD of my music, but until such a time, I will continue to amuse you, and myself, by writing these thrice weekly blogs, hoping that my memory stays intact, and I keep having interesting things happen around me. I’ve always been lucky enough to be at the party, but so far, not lucky enough to throw one. I just want to thank all of you for continuing to read me, and writing me back, so…thank you.

This is the article I told you about at the top of the page. I wrote it for a Pop Music fanzine in the States in 1995. It will be followed by a little story about a bootleg record that came with a big surprise…

Here then, is a primer on my musical career up until Gotta Have Pop in 1978. You will recognize some of the references, as they have been written about in depth in this column.

Enjoy…

Gotta Have Bob

A brief history…

Before Gotta Have Pop there were many bands with recordings. The Family Tree, Roxy, The Wackers, All The Young Dudes, and, finally, Segarini. I was also in 2 groups before forming these bands…the un-recorded Jades and The Ratz. Incidentally, The Family Tree was originally started by myself and Mike Olsen…Mike later became better known as Lee Michaels after he left TFT. The Ratz had Gary Grubb who changed his last name to Duncan and started The Quicksilver Messenger Service.

The Tree played regularly at the Whiskey in LA.. opening about a zillion times for the Doors, Turtles, Mothers of Invention, etc. Yes, we partied with all of them. Also opened for everyone at the Fillmore, Avalon Ballroom, Longshoreman’s ( home of the Acid Tests ) and all the West Coast hot spots like The Crystal Ballroom in Portland Oregon, The Eagles Auditorium in Seattle and Tommy Chong’s club in Vancouver BC., The Retinal Circus. We used to do the circuit up and down the coast over and over, 4 guys in a van full of gear, taking turns driving, (gas was 19 cents a gallon! ) and making A LOT of money. Someday I’ll tell you all the stories… We recorded a single for Mira Records, ( The Leaves’ “Hey Joe”, etc…) called “Prince of Dreams” b/w “The Airplane Song” ), a tribute to Grace Slick, Jefferson Airplane, and the Fillmore Auditorium. After that we signed with RCA and recorded a single, “Keepin’ A Secret” b/w “Do You Have The Time”, or as it became known, “Nickelodeon Music”, a different version than the one on the Miss Butters album, also on RCA. One more single followed the Butters album, “He Spins Around” which I wrote about Harry Nilsson, b/w “She Had To Fly”. Roxy came next, signed with Elektra and put out one album, “Roxy”, and a couple of singles…and yes, Roxy Music had to ask my permission to use the name and obviously, I let them.

The Wackers should have been the one. It was the only band I was ever in that had that magic ‘bubble’ around it. We were just completely in our own little world. It was a great time and a great band. The Wacks were formed out of the ashes of Roxy and were put together by Randy Bishop and myself to be the greatest pop band since the Beatles, and with legendary producer Gary Usher, and engineers like Richie Moore and CCR’s Russ Gary, we came damn close. So close, that The Wackers version of  Lennon’s “Oh My Love” is on over a hundred bootlegs as the Beatles Abbey Road period take of the song, and, opening on the last Doors tour, (the one without Jim), we closed our set at Carnegie Hall with “She Loves You”, and got a standing ovation…a Wackers golden moment…and there were many. We recorded three albums that were released by Elektra – “Wackering Heights”, Hot Wacks”, and “Shredder”, and one they didn’t release, “Wack and Roll”, produced by Judy Collins’ Mark Abramson. Hopefully The Wacks entire recorded output will be available on CD, along with all the stuff that was never released. I would kill to re-mix all of it and put it out sounding the way it should have…especially the live stuff. Someday…

All the Young Dudes were a kind of Montreal ’supergroup’ that I put together. The Henman Bros.

(David and Richie), from April Wine, Brian Greenway from Mashmakan ( who later joined April Wine ) William ‘Kootch’ Trochim from The Family Tree/Wackers, and Wayne Cullen from local legends Bacchus and the interim Wacks. This band was a monster live with 2 drummers and a front-line of 4 singer/songwriters that respected each other’s music. We made one LP for CBS which  remains one of the worst experiences of my life. However the Dudes demos are some of the best studio performances I’ve ever been a part of. Again, plans are afoot for a CD and reunion gig in Montreal sometime in November ‘ 96 or early ‘ 97. The Dudes were the most fun of all the bands and we remain good friends to this day.

The Segarini Band was my solo project that resulted in my moving to Toronto. I did a 4-song EP…unheard of at the time…for A&M records, which contained the songs “I Want You To Stay”, “I’m Not Your Fool”, “Wanna Get To Know Ya”, and “Starlight”. All recorded on 8-track.

Not knowing how to market m,e or what to do with my music,  A&M dropped me and, starting with some of the unfinished EP tracks, I began working on what became “Gotta Have Pop”.

The Lennon Bootlegs…

A friend of mine named Garwood Wallace gave me a Lennon bootleg from Germany entitled “The Guitar Is all Very Well And Good John, But You’ll Never Make A Living With It. . It was on this boot that the first of what eventually totalled over one hundred John Lennon bootlegs on which The Wackers version of “Oh My Love” appeared. Here’s the story…

We were in Eureka California living and doing pre-production on Hot Wacks when I received a “white label” test pressing of the “Imagine” LP from legendary west coast promo-man Tony Richland, ( made famous by two artists, The Rolling Stone’s, “Under Assistant West Coast Etc… on the Aftermath album and Harry Nilsson’s “Mr. Richland’s’ Favorite Song” from the Aerial Ballet  LP ). Tony was an old friend and knew how much I loved John. We, ( the Wackers ), had just finished demo-ing our new material to send to Gary Usher in LA. when we got  the album and, after hearing “OML”, decided that we wanted to include it with the other songs we wanted to record. Being lazy, and loaded, AND on a deadline, we simply recorded the LP track to tape and added backing vocals and guitar parts. The next morning we mailed out the tapes… Three days later I get a phone call from Usher and he says, “All the stuff is really great, but Bob, this “Oh My Love” is the best thing you’ve ever written!”. Yep..still is.

Never did find out how the ‘Beatles version’ rumour got started, but finally in the late 80’s a bootleg archivist from Australia set the record straight in a book, the name of which I have forgotten. When Lennon was assassinated in 1980 I thought having that song on his bootlegs was the closest I’ll ever get to him and it was an honor to share vinyl with my one of my all time favorite writers. Fifteen years later it’s still bizarre…and I’m still flattered.

Volume 37

You can hear all of these tracks by going to www.radiothatdoesntsuck.com/myWimpy.html and click on ‘A & R Online Volume 37’ Just Google the artists names for more information about them.

Warning: I am over the top about this record. Remember that it’s just me and form your own opinion, but for my money, these guys are the band at the top of my list of who I’m pulling for. So many great new artists out there right now, and these songs make me like them all that much more. We are in another Golden Era of contemporary music, and I for one am loving it.

About fucking time…

Research Turtles

I want this album on vinyl.

I want this album on vinyl because it is the first collection of songs by a new band that has struck a nerve this deeply embedded in me in I don’t know how many years, and brings back memories of all those great records you got to hear for the first time back in the day, getting up to flip the album over again and again, reading the liner notes while you listened.

Could this actually be The Next Big Thing? Is this the band, and the album, that rock fans, especially that rabid branch of musos that call their music “Power Pop” have been waiting for, for decades? Is this the combination of influences, talent, sophisticated simplicity, and personality that launched the last two great explosions in contemporary music, first from Memphis, and later from Liverpool? I don’t want to jinx these kids out of the gate by saying yes, but fuck, does this ever sound like it. Not because it sounds retro or ‘familiar’, on the contrary, this record sounds NEW, and FRESH, even in the midst of the Indie explosion we are currently experiencing. Unfortunately, most people don’t get to hear all the great new stuff out there. There is no focus, no physical place, like radio and record stores where people were exposed to new music and selected what they liked from the same pile of releases…and there was no artist that drove them to radio and record stores to experience new acts until one that was SO undeniable came along and kids started requesting the songs on the radio, and jamming the listening booths in record stores. This release sounds like a watermark. Something that may encourage people to seek out the material, find out more about the band, search the intertoobz, and spread the word both virally, and through the feeling that this music that makes you feel like you are part of something new, and exciting.

Now, before you think I’ve got some sort of connection to these kids and their music, let me assure you that although I wish I did, I do not. A regular reader of this column, Frank Gutch Jr, sent me an email asking me if I have heard them. No, I hadn’t, so I asked for an mp3 and he sent me one.

I listened.

I wrote back requesting more.

He sent me the entire album.

I listened.

I listened again.

I am still listening as I type this column, singing along when the chorus to “Damn!”, hits, “I can feel your heart beat”, and on the pay off chorus of “Mission” singing the unbearably catchy “three, two, one, zee-ro”.

Judge for yourselves, and I will bet that if you love rock music, if you care about great songs, if you long to hear the kind of rock solid roots displayed here respected and contributed to, you will find yourself hooked like I am.

From the Everly Brothers, through the British Invasion, into the New Wave, the punk era Ramones, and the Neil Young/Nirvana/Foo Fighters grunge guitars,, these guys, like all great artists, are a product of their love of music, honoring the past, and being able to bring something new to the table. The influences are here, but not in the way or intrusive. They are blended together through the miracle of a real rock band writing and playing real music, into something both familiar and unique.

If I was 20 years old, this is the band I would want to be in.

I cannot give them higher praise than that.

If you haven’t loaded the RTDS player and clicked on A&R Online Volume 37 yet, scroll back up to the link and do so.

Research Turtles – Let’s Get Carried Away

This song begins with a huge finishing button most rock bands end a song with, then, it launches into the best psych-garage riff ever, wends it’way through a verse of British Invasion sweetness, topples into a short hypnotic chorus, rinse, and repeat. WTF? It all sounds completeley, “why didn’t I think of that” logical and fine. Then they raise the level of awesome by actually writing a fucking perfect middle eight. A bridge! One of the first casualties of the current rock scene, the middle eight returns to it’s rightful place in a song as a buffer against boredom and laziness, and a bar raiser to the last half of the song. There is a GREAT middle eight in every one of these tracks. Then a guitar solo! Not a wank, not a machine gun explosion of notes, NO! A guitar solo as melodic as the vocal, as engaging and well thought out. Who ARE these kids? As the song winds out to it’s conclusion, little things keep happening you may not hear until the third or fourth listeneng. Not sounding forced or a result of ‘production’, they just add to the texture when needed. Natural, even the cowbell towards the end of the tune. Whoever produced this first outing is a fucking genius. Lyrically, like the other tunes, this one hits that perfect union of simplicity and meaning. Personal experience that we have all shared, there to take the way you take it. There is a talent at work here that is both intuitive, anhd confident. As young as they are, between 19 and 23, they avoid clever for clever’s sake, and say how they feel. Whoa.

Research Turtles – Damn!

Here, the shelled ones launch into a track that channels the best New Wave bands of the late ‘70’s, early ‘80’s. Some Joe Jackson here, some Jags there, some…well…it’s the cachet that they capture, skinny ties and all, only…it sounds brand new. Is that a synth> Is that a cool guitar track buried in the background towards the end? Is this a great song? Oh yeah…

Research Turtles – Into A Hole

This one blew my mind. If the Everly Brothers were 20 right now this would have their name on it…as long as their band was from ‘90’s Seattle, played with a Southern feel and had a groove that harkens back to doo-wop days. And still…this doesn’t sound like any of those things when it’s put all together by these guys.

Research Turtles – Mission

This is the track that convinced me on first hearing. Is this the Ramones, no it’s Graham Parker, no, wait…it’s, aww fuck it. This is the Research Turtles, pure and simple. The chorus in this song takes such a great unexpected, sharp turn at its halfway point I got goose bumps.

Research Turtles – Kiss Her Goodbye

This is a waltz. The vocals are soothing, and there is a folk underpinning throughout. Somehow, it all combines to evoke the sadness in goodbyes. By turns, 1965 Sunset Strip, and 2009 Toronto. And lyrically…break ups suck. We all know that, but this song pats you on the back and tells you it’s going to be alright. Thanks, guys…

Research Turtles – Cement Floor

‘60’s garage band, Arthur Lee, and a heart felt lead vocal, (not unlike ALL the lead vocals on this disc), a bass sound I haven’t heard since the Stranglers first record…and still, always, melodic as hell. There are another 5 tracks on this album, including a hidden one.

Win of the Week

Blue Rodeo

Yup. I was on the roof with them and about 50 other lucky folks on Tuesday, with 100’s below in the street. They were absolutely great. The new double album should be their biggest to date and I wish them well. They deserve it. A great bunch, and terrific writers, players, and singers.

Fail of the Week

There is no fail of the week this week. Everybody did really, really good.

Parting Shot

You asked for it, so we did it. Go here and see just what we did. New items will be added shortly. Please tell us what you’d like to have available here, and we’ll see what we can do.

http://www.cafepress.ca/gottahavebob

Have a great weekend, see you on Monday…

That’s enough for now. Email me at segarini@fyimusic.ca with your comments, complaints, and thoughts…and remember…don’t believe a word I say.

Bob “The Iceman” Segarini was in the bands The Family Tree, Roxy, The Wackers, The Dudes, The Segarini Band, and Cats and Dogs, and nominated for a Juno for production in 1978. He also hosted “Late Great Movies” on CITY TV, was a producer of Much Music, and an on-air personality on CHUM FM, Q107, SIRIUS Sat/Rad’s Iceberg 95, (now 85), and now provides content for radiothatdoesntsuck.com with RadioZombie, The Iceage, and PsychShack. Along with the love of his life, Jade (Pie) Dunlop, (who hosts and writes “I’ve Heard That Song Before” on RTDS), continues to write, make music, and record.