When you say your band "became important," but the deal fell through (too bad!), do you mean the band would still be known to a lot of people, or not because the album deal didn't happen?Originally Posted by Enid
I played guitar and mellotron in a original Glam Rock oriented band in 1976. Bowie was into Soul music around that time...but the Glam Rock scene was booming and lingered on through the late 70's when Punk Rock was circulating.It was still very huge in theatres and Rock clubs and specifically on the east coast of the U.S. I was asked to join the band when I was 18 years old. I had been ....prior to that..playing with Progressive Rock bands in colleges. The band had management, ( two managers), road crew , a demo, bookings, and promotion. We started playing Rock clubs and this one particular manager set us up with an article in a popular Entertainment magazine which included pictures of us that were taken by a photographer named John Kelly....( name maybe wrong)..but anyway he had some credentials as he had previously worked on the Humble Pie Rock On album.
People started to notice us and we became important. Our music was not actually of a Glam Rock style. It crossed between cheap Stadium Rock and Progressive Rock. Warner Brothers heard our demo and offered to fly us out to L.A. to re-record the demo ....making an album....and putting us on a tour to open for major Rock acts of the 70's. The aforementioned manager landed these deals. He was a journalist that reviewed Prog in magazines and newspapers. .The other manager revolted against him and persuaded everyone else in the band to agree on sacking him. So the deal never went through. The opportunity was there but because of selfishness it was sadly lost.
To wrap this road story up.....allow me to tell you about the scene in '76. When you're seated in the dressing room night after night....about 2 hours before Showtime and this trippy esoteric beauty queen is observing the fact that you're a 19 year old and treats you like a God.??? Well....That freaked me out until I figured out the business. Many, many girls were in the audience and they wore glitter on their faces ..just like David Bowie did. This entire experience was utterly ridiculous and to the extreme of everything in life it involved. This for me was on a vast level,,and girls were interested in "Pop Star" types who were cute but played Glam Rock instead of Pop. They would just grab me when I got off stage even with the bodyguard next to me and tackle me to the ground. The bodyguard would pull them off and , grab my arm and bring me to the dressing room. I would get into the dressing room and say...."What the hell is that?"
This message to the inbox here was also a dark vibe to that scene. For example.....Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds on stage performing in a club in the "Wings Of Desire" movie. The Glam Rock clubs up and down the east coast created that scene in that film quite often. But it would transform from that into a environment completely out of control that persuaded everyone to act the same. Which was hundreds of girls chasing boys that fit a role in Glam Rock. When I hit the '76 Glam Rock scene.,...(or what was left of it), I resented my decision to not play Progressive Rock. I left that scene and played in Prog bands for the rest of the late 70's. A lot of kids in the audience acknowledged that Marc Bolan......David Bowie....and Lou Reed...had brought damage to themselves and they wanted to do the same. Everyone was into the first Tubes album and "White Punks On Dope" contained a message for everybody.
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