An interview with Emitt Rhodes from the punk zine Flipside, 1983
Itās a bit difficult to read, so I transcribed it. You can read it here:
A brief history of Emitt Rhodes - South Bay kid, got out of high school, went to continuation school, and at the age of 15 played drums in the Palace Guard. They not only had a minor hit with āFalling Sugarā, but were also the house band at the legendary Hullabaloo nightclub in the 60ās. After that he was the guitarist, singer, and songwriter in the Merry-Go-Round, who had a minor hit with āLiveā and āYouāre A Very Lovely Womanā. After their second A&M album was never released, Emitt took to the studio and recorded four solo albums, usually playing and singing everything by himself. Later, he also became a staff producer and A&R man for Elektra, got fired and now spends his time recording other artists in his backyard 24 track studio. The many years of rock biz wear and tear, and the critical praise, but elusive #1 hit seemed to make Emitt rather cynical, but witty (then again he may have always been this way) about many subjects.
He didnāt particularly to discuss the Merry-Go-Round days (MGR from now on) but did so openly, after much recollection. He seemed to possess many different personalities which I do my best to transcribe onto paper (often being friendly, sarcastic, funny, burnt out and sharp at once). He was an inspiration to myself, Sue (Bangles) [Susanna Hoffs] and Mike (3 Oāclock) [Michael Quercio] and so the three of us after driving around and asking people where he lived, interviewed Emitt in this Hawthorne home. Mike fired away with most of the questions, and exchanged barbs, while I watched Emitt eying and nudging Sue and by the end of the conversation, I got to know all a bit better.
I thought it would be interesting, informative, and a different sort of interview than what most Flipside readers are used to reading and I hope you enjoy it. -Pooch.
Mike: How long were you in the Palace Guard?
Emitt: Kind of off and on for several years. At one time it was called āThe Emereldsā, everybody wore bowling shirts with that name on the back, then it became āPalace Guardā, then everybody wore coats.
Mike: And then you started the MGR?
Emitt: I got fed up with being a drummer and carrying the drums around.
Mike: And you just took up the guitarā¦
Emitt: Yes. I still donāt know how to play guitar, just kind of made up my own chords.
Mike: How did you meet the other members of MGR?
Emitt: The lead guitar player (Gary Kato) I met in school. The drummer and bass player I was introduced to by my mentor.
Mike: Was the MGR set up by A&M?
Emitt: We went in and made a record, and then were signed to A&M because my mentorā¦
Sue: Who was that?
Emitt: A fellow by the name of Russell Show. He worked in the mailroom of A&M.
Pooch: So you were brought to A&M?
Emitt: Ya, his father, who was my publisher, took it to Larry Marks, who was working at Columbia at the time, liked it or didnāt like it or whatever, but somehow or other, became but producer, and we got signed. I got to meet Jerry Moss and Herb Albert.
Pooch: You were, like, their first rock band?
Emitt: Ya, pretty much. It was Chris Montez and Sergio Mendez.
Mike: And they released your demo of it, ya? Or you go back and record it over?
Emitt: No They kinda released it. Everythingās a demo, you know what I mean? And if itās a record that makes money, I guess itās a record.
Mike: And it became a hit in LA?
Emitt: Ya it was a hit in LA, it was great. I used to get to drive around and hear it on the radio ā¦
Sue: Could you play the Whisky A Go Go?
Emitt: Oh I played the Whisky A Go Go, well, the Hullabaloo, you know, the house band was the Palace Guardā¦
Sue: What bands did you play with?
Emitt: Well just about everybody I guess. This was at the time making records. The Buffalo Springfield, the Yardbirds, the Byrds.
Mike: You guys opened for the Yardbirds?Ā
Emitt: Maybe at sometime or another, itās all a nightmare to me. I donāt keep the clippings, I think my mother has just a scrapbook or something. She lives right across the street.
Mike: And then you went and did an album?
Emitt: Ya. That was kind of a bunch of times, also. We remixed āLiveā and āTime Will Soon Be Wiserā. You know, you mix everything at one time so it all sounds like the same record I guess.
Pooch: Did you record a second album for A&M?
Emitt: Ya. I recorded a bunch of things for A&M. They were fools, they kept giving me studio time, so I got to go in and fool around. They they didnāt release a record until after I went out and made a record on my own.
Sue: Was there a big drug scene at the time?
Emitt: Isnāt there always? (Joking, I think?) You got any drugs? Didnāt I already ask that?
Sue: What kind do you want? (Kidding)
Emitt: Well right now I could go for a few luges. Unless you want to get lewd, and that tooĀ
(nudge, nudge)!
Mike: Would you say you were corrupted at an early age?
Emitt: I was definitely corrupted at an early age. As soon as my arm was long enough, thatās what my momma says.
Mike: What was it like to be so young and in a popular rock band?
Emitt: Iām not sure, I wasnāt there at the time. I canāt recall.
Sue: Was the Sunset Strip different?
Emitt: (Perks up) Oh the Sunset Strip was very much different then, than it is now. Everything was very much different then. It was like way more exciting, like the dawning of a new era, or at least it seemed like that. Things were alive then, people were out on the street at nigh, everybody would hang out. It was a real street scene for sure, that doesnāt happen now.
Mike: Riot on the Sunset Strip.
Emitt: Ya well it seemed like it every evening, I guess the Police had a hard time dealing with it. I think there were a lot of people getting hassled.Ā
Mike: You played a big show with Sonny & Cher, remember that?
Emitt: Well, kind of, I remember vaguely. I think it was in Anaheim and we played with the Doors, and Sonny & Cher were there. Everybody was taking drugs and jumping up on the stage. [Nothingās changed - ed.]
Mike: Thereās a picture of you in a 68 magazine with a tattoo on your hand and a model.
Emitt: (laughs) Oh ya. I got to keep the tattoo, the model I had to give back. I was one of those things.Ā
Pooch: What happened with the MGR?
Emitt: Well you know, the bands and everything, after awhile you get sick of one another.
Mike: Did you tour the nation?
Emitt: Ya, I flew back and forth a few times across the country, stopping in a few places.
Mike: Were your songs received as well as they were in LA?
Emitt: Pretty much, ya.
Pooch: KRLA were really behind you.
Emitt: I suppose, ya well, we were the local group that was making records, I guess we played everyplace, did everything.
Pooch: How did you get to be house band at the Hullabaloo?
Emitt: The Palace Guard were signed to the guy bought the Hullabaloo. For awhile there it was great, ya know, all the pizza you could eat and you get to hang out at the Hullabaloo.
Pooch: Did you ever do any solo things live?
Emitt: Well ya, once I made records where I played everything, I went out and played. I got some friends together and then I went out on the road and toured around, and made another records and got some more friends together and went on the road and toured around. Got to see the country a little bit and have a good time and spend all the money I made on the road and that was it.
Sue: Do you like playing live?
Emitt: I liked it when I did it a lot. You know, after you do it a whole bunch you get used to it then itās ok. Then it doesnāt scare the shit out of you and you donāt have to sit on the toilet for 1/2 hour before going on stage and all that kind of stuff. After everythingās really competent and everybodyās confident with what they do, youāve got everything down, itās kind of fun. You get up there and you have a good time that was alright, but that gets to be a lot of work.Ā
Pooch: So touring wasnāt much different then?
Emitt: Well ya know, everythingās different all the time, itās like where you are at the time and what youāre doing.
Sue: What was NY like? Was it like Andy Warhol and Edie Sedgwick, or was that already gone?
Emitt: When I got to NY, it was like a lot of other big cities, dirty, smelly, suburbs, writing on the walls, steam rising up on the ground and people everywhere, above you, below you, everywhere you looked.
Sue: Do you remember the clubs that were happening then in NY?
Emitt: Everything was in the Village, and youād go into a long rectangular, dark, smoke filled room and sweat for an hour or so and then youād get drunk and throw things all over the place.
Mike: Were there screaming girls at MGR gigs that ripped your clothes off?
Emitt: (Thinks for a second) Well, yes after you think about it, I guess, they were ripping clothes and grabbing body parts. Hey, that was good! Lots form a band and go on the road! That was great stuff. Ya, they donāt do that at the supermarket anymore.
Sue: Did you ever get up on stage with Jim Morrison, or anybody like that, and do a song together?
Emitt: Oh no, that was kind of like, youād open up and thereās your dressing room. Everybody gets in the back and they all eat some food and drop some drugs. Youād play around in the dressing room, that kind of stuff.
Sue: Did you ever go to England?
Emitt: OH yeah. I went there and I was surprised. I felt like a real barbarian, a real brute in Briton. I didnāt know how to be English I guess. I started talking like them though, in no time.
Sue: Did you get a lot of McCartney comparisons when the solo stuff came out?
Emitt: Yeah, I did over here. I was the American McCartney. Over there I was theā¦American McCartney III (laughs).
Mike: They still play āLiveā on the radio.
Emitt: Ya, every once in a while somebody calls me up and tells me.
Sue: My band even may record āLiveā for our new record.
Emitt: Oo I get to go to the session?
Sue: You were the A&R man forā¦
Emitt: Elektra-Asylum.
Sue: Who did you sign?
Emitt: I signed a singer-songwriter by the name of Bim (short for Bimbo).
Pooch: You produced that didnāt you?
Emitt: Yeah, I produced a record for him and Dale Kaplan (kinda shyly) and thatās about it. I hung out at a number of sessions and just kinda filled in when whatever was needed at the time. I was an engineer at the time and ran a studio for them. And then I became an A&R person and then I sort of became a producer and got paid more for doing less.
Mike: Did MGT do any television?
Emitt: Sure I did television all over the place. American Bandstand, Hullabaloo show, Shindig, Boss City.
Pooch: Where did you practice?
Emitt: In my parents garage, wherever. I mean, doesnāt everybody start in the garage? I spent my whole life in the garage. Iām in the garage nowā¦ā¦
Mike: Where did you guys buy your clothes at? Any special boutiques?
Emitt: Just at the store. I mean where do you go now to buy your clothes? Army/Navy store right? Go down to the end of the street. I go to Pic ān Save myself. Itās like everyplace was hip, everyplace was mod.
Mike: Will you release any other MGR stuff?
Emitt: I doubt it, not me. I donāt have anything to do with that (family enters). I donāt know. I might use an alias and re-record something.
Pooch: You should put out your old stuff through Rhino, or something.Ā
Emitt: You got the number? Letās call āem up. Letās get āem on the phone! (We tried). Whatās the name of your band (to Mike)?
Mike: The 3 Oāclock.
Emitt: Is that when you used to get together and rehearse?
Mike: Ya, exactly, such a stute man! How did you come up with the MGR?
Emitt: I donāt remember exactly how. I think it was Russell Showās idea, and I just kinda said ok.
Mike: Your music is very accessible now, as it was then.
Emitt: well itās (?) much (?) stuff. Everybodyās doing the same stuff [How true - Ed.]
Pooch: When did āAmerican Dreamā come out? Was that your first solo stuff?
Emitt: That was the record I made after the MGR broke up and I just kinda went into the studio and just used anybody that was anybody and made a record. They kind of put them all together, and it never got released until after Iād made my solo record where I played everything (āEmitt Rhodesā), then that was selling, so what you do is put out the other record and try to capitalize on your investment. Thatās what A&M did.
Pooch: Then you released āMirrorā?
Emitt: Well let me see, it was the Emitt Rhodes record, the it was āMirrorā then it was āFarewell to Paradiseā and by that time it was farewell. I was burnt out, still am.
Sue: Was it drugs?
Emitt: Oh no, it was like I was doing something I liked an awful lot & enjoyed doing, and you canāt stay alone in a garage too long. You go bananas. Iām schizoid. You talk to yourself. You gotta do something else for awhile. I also got married and had kids and all that kind of stuff. That changes you too.
Pooch: Do you ever want to do anything in a band format?
Emitt: Now I want just androids, robots, synthesizers and drum machines. A life synthesis machine! (Laughs) I donāt know.
Sue: What kind of guitar did you play?
Emitt: I had the Gibson 335 that was immortalized on the back of the jacket. We put it up in the burnt down house, next the grand piano that was smoldering.Ā
Pooch: Where was that taken?
Emitt: Oh that was in Bel-Air, somebody was careless, you know, smoking in bed, tsk tskā¦
Pooch: That was a great album, I listen to it quite a bit.
Emitt: Thatās very nice of you to say. I donāt listen to it at all.
Sue: Do you personally not like what you did back then?
Emitt: Yeah, well I appreciated it for what it was when I was doing it, but itās not the kind of thing I would want to do now. I enjoyed it then. I had a good time, I was real inspired and real excited about it and it was wonderful turning on the tape machine, running, sitting down, playing your instrument, running back and listening to it. Sticking all those things together and making order out of chaos.
Pooch: Did you do that back here? (Present studio)
Emitt: No. I did that in my parents garage and it was a lot less than what Iāve got in my backyard now.
Pooch: So did you just bring your solo record to the company?
Emitt: Ya, I pretty much had to. Somebody in the A&R department at Dunhill heard it and he came out and listened to the tracks without the vocals and I sang over the tracks. Then we went back and I got a deal for no money and that was that. I was launched into my second career. They could probably make some money off it, because it cost them nothing to buy it.
Pooch: Did they do a lot of push for it?
Emitt: Ya they spent the money that they didnāt spend on acquiring me for promotion, which was better, in fact, in the long run, because more people got to hear of it that way, I guess.Ā It made money, I hear. I never got to see any of it.
Mike: Do you know how much MGR sold?
Emitt: No, I think Iām still paying back the debt. Record companies, what can I say? You never make any money until you own the company.
Pooch: Why did it take so long before you did āFarewell to Paradiseā?
Emitt: I got real unhappy. I went into suspension instantaneously. I got a deal where I was supposed to make 2 records (This is my story, right?) a year. It was real hard hanging out in the garage for a year making records, and I seemed to be only able to produce one a year and still live. They started suing me, and I got unhappy about that. It seems like the more successful you are, the more pressure is involved, and I didnāt like that. I had way more fun when it didnāt mean anything, when it was just behaving a good time. When it becomes dollars and cents, then itās a job. Itās much more fun in the garage.
Pooch: What were some of your favorite moments?
Emitt: I think, the day my children were born. I canāt think of anything else I was more excited about.
Pooch: Not even playing live?
Emitt: Oh no, thatās not that exciting. Itās just kind of nerve wracking.Ā
Mike: Did you do āSheās a Very Lovely Womanā live?
Emitt: Ya Iād do that live. I certainly didnāt do it dead (yuk, yuk). Arenāt we having fun here? Wanna get drunk? Iāve been working on that all day. Ya. I used to take drugs, now Iāve decided my dad was right, alcoholās much better.
Mike: Do you have any comments of wisdom for musicians out there?
Emitt: Well, life is like fusion, thatās about it, in a nutshell. Just remember that it outs everything in perspective. I read my physics and saw God.
Pooch: While you were in A&R, which bands did you pass on?
Emitt: Well that was your job in A&R, is passing.
Pooch: So why did you get out of it?
Emitt: Oh I was fired. Record companies, theyāre a trip just like real life. They had gotten a new head of A&R, and his job was to get rid of all the dead wood and sign as much stuff, spend as much money and have as much fun as he possibly can, before he gets fired. Thatās what kind of happened. I went in and told them all the wrong jokes. (Did you hear about the guy who lost his left side? Heās all right now) andā¦thereās the door. I didnāt take the right kind of drugs.
Pooch: Did you do a lot of drugs?
Emitt: No, I didnāt do a lot of drugs.
Mike: You seemed to be a very nice boy.
Emitt: I was a real nice boy. I was a real American dream. I showered, brushed my teeth. Then I became a bit embittered and disillusioned and jaded by society.
Pooch: Did you tend to get jaded by just staying by yourself and playing, as opposed to going out to the studio with other musicians?
Emitt: No, I think it was everybody coming over that jaded me. āHere smoke this, remember me, we went to kindergarten, we hung out in the playgroundā.
Pooch: Did you just like being by yourself?
Emitt: I just like being. I like being with people and having a good time. I like nude bars and naked women (nudge nudge) and the Bangles. I love the name. I like it much better than Bangs, even looks better.
Mike: Are you still friends with the guys from MGR?
Emitt: Sure, Gary and I hang out every once in a while.
Pooch: So what kind of stuff are you doing now?
Emitt: Oh, just a lot of drugs (laughs), something we were doing then. I donāt know, trying to get laid (nudge, again). Ya Iāve got all the latest films. āDebbie Does Dallas 1 and 2ā. āTaboo 2āā¦
Sue: Taboo 1 was pretty good.
Emitt: Taboo 1 was the bestā¦ā¦ā¦ (We then checked out his studio, pretty nice, talked some more, and come backā¦ā¦.)
Emitt: If thereās something you want to say that you hadnāt asked me, just make it up, whatever you like. Iāll say, āYa, I donāt recallā. Because itās like that. I love buttons, donāt you love buttons?
Paul is Dead is a comedy-drama short film inspired by the archetypical rock & roll conspiracy theory. The Lake District, 1967. Hungover and at each other'sā¦
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