{"id":14079,"date":"2012-06-22T00:43:22","date_gmt":"2012-06-22T04:43:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/?p=14079"},"modified":"2012-06-25T20:53:46","modified_gmt":"2012-06-26T00:53:46","slug":"the-rock-town-hall-interview-peter-zaremba","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/the-rock-town-hall-interview-peter-zaremba\/","title":{"rendered":"The Rock Town Hall Interview: Peter Zaremba on The Fleshtones, MTV, and Historical Rewrites"},"content":{"rendered":"<iframe class='youtube-player youtuber' type='text\/html' width='425' height='355' src='http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/jQcdbAFOYfA?rel=0&amp;fs=1&amp;ap=%252526fmt%253D18' webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen frameborder='0'><\/iframe><p>Do the math. New York rock &#8216;n roll primitives <strong>The Fleshtones<\/strong> have been in existence since 1976! Although I knew they dated back to the late-&#8217;70s and <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.rockerzine.com\/index.php\/2011\/11\/marty-thau-presents-the-fleshtones\/\" target=\"_blank\">Marty Thau<\/a><\/strong>&#8216;s old Red Star Records label, I didn&#8217;t have them pegged back quite so far as 1976 and the legendary New York punk scene of CBGBs, Max&#8217;s Kansas City, etc. To me they were pioneers of the second wave of garage rock that would blossom in &#8217;80s underground rock circles. When I first saw the band at a small club in Chicago in 1981 or &#8217;82, it was the closest I would get to stumbling across an actual Yardbirds- or Animals-inspired American &#8217;60s band off the <em>Nuggets<\/em> compilation. They were sweaty, in-my-face exciting that night as singer <strong>Peter Zaremba <\/strong>swiveled his hips and swung his young Mick Jagger-style forelock over the crowd. Skinny guitarist <strong>Keith Streng<\/strong> rode his twangy chords and guitar riffs for all they were worth. He wore a turtleneck under a wide-collared shirt with a medallion to boot! Drummer <strong>Bill Milhizer<\/strong> and founding bassist <strong>Marek Pakulski<\/strong> laid it all out, implying nothing, avoiding anything remotely <em>tasteful<\/em> or <em>subtle<\/em> in their rhythms. <strong>Townsman Slim Jade<\/strong> wrote about our <a href=\"http:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/index.php\/shake-some-action\/\" target=\"_blank\">youthful attempts at defining ourselves through rock &#8216;n roll styles<\/a> the other day. The Fleshtones really spoke to my initial efforts at becoming a new version of myself freshman year in a city far from home. My friend and I managed to get backstage after the show. We <em>partied<\/em> with the band. They seemed much cooler than us, but they were incredibly approachable. Shoot! Maybe, I thought, it wasn&#8217;t that far of a stretch to get a few notches cooler.<\/p>\n<p>I saw The Fleshtones another 4 or 5 times through the &#8217;80s, then lost touch with their activities. They were always a guiding light for me and my friends and our own band. It was always cool to know they were keeping things going as my friends and I kept our humble vision alive. Rock &#8216;n roll offers so many opportunities for community. That&#8217;s not to be missed or overlooked, no matter how frustrating any number of larger scenes may be. In chatting with Peter Zaremba the other day it was clear he and his mates are keeping things in perspective, doing what can and what needs to be done. Playing their patented brand of Super Rock. Taking it to The People in small clubs as they have always done.<\/p>\n<p><em>The Fleshtones play Philadelphia&#8217;s North Star Bar this Saturday, June 23, with <strong>Steve Wynn and Miracle 3<\/strong> (also interviewed <a href=\"http:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/index.php\/a-dazzling-display-rock-town-hall-interviews-steve-wynn\/\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a> in the Halls of Rock), our old Philly music scene friend <strong>Palmyra Delran<\/strong>, and Sweden&#8217;s\u00a0<strong>Stupidity<\/strong>. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ticketfly.com\/event\/118419\/\" target=\"_blank\">Tickets are available here<\/a>. <\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Rock Town Hall:<\/strong> We interviewed <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/index.php\/the-rock-town-hall-interview-lenny-kaye\/\" target=\"_blank\">Lenny Kaye<\/a><\/strong> just last year, but I did not know about your 2011 album with him, <em>Brooklyn Sound Solution<\/em>. The album sounds cool. How did he come to work with you?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Peter Zaremba:<\/strong> We&#8217;ve been admirers of Lenny&#8217;s since before <em>Nuggets<\/em>. He put\u00a0together a compilation of <strong>Eddie Cochran<\/strong> stuff in the early &#8217;70s that\u00a0my friends and I thought was fantastic. When the Fleshtones finally\u00a0got together, the first &#8216;cover&#8217; we ever learned was &#8220;Nervous\u00a0Breakdown&#8221; from that LP. Fast forward, we got word through mutual\u00a0friend <strong>Phast Phreddie Patterson<\/strong> that Lenny really dug the band and\u00a0would love to record with us\u2014do some stuff that he couldn&#8217;t do with\u00a0Patty. Of course we said yes!<\/p>\n<p><strong>RTH:<\/strong> Your &#8220;Super-Rock&#8221; sound and show can&#8217;t miss live. What does it take to capture it on record?<\/p>\n<p><strong>PZ:<\/strong> When you find that out, tell me. We&#8217;ll make a million bucks!\u00a0Actually, it seems we look at our recordings a bit different than our &#8220;shows.&#8221; The show has the visual element, kinda like a &#8220;distraction&#8221;\u00a0as used by a slight of hand artist or magician. You can get away with\u00a0a lot when there&#8217;s so much going on. Now a record, you just sit and\u00a0listen to. We&#8217;ve grown up listening to records and realize you have\u00a0all sorts of opportunities to create whatever sounds you want. It&#8217;s a\u00a0different thing entirely.<\/p>\n<p><strong>RTH:<\/strong> Did you fit in as you came about during the golden age of the CBGBs punk scene? In retrospect you seemed to be kind of &#8220;retro before your time.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><strong>PZ:<\/strong> We really didn&#8217;t fit in, but I think we were more a taste of what\u00a0was to come than a lot of what was considered &#8220;cool&#8221; at CBGBs at the\u00a0time. However, we did fit in with the <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/index.php\/best-dance-in-rock\/\" target=\"_blank\">Blondie<\/a><\/strong> bunch, and oddly enough\u00a0<strong>Suicide<\/strong> recognized us for what we were\u2014distilled rock and roll, just\u00a0like they were. The Johnny Rotten poses got old\u2014quick.<\/p>\n<p><strong>RTH:<\/strong> Did that matter to your peers, critics, the scene?<\/p>\n<p><strong>PZ:<\/strong> Except for what I just said, I guess it did matter. We are pretty\u00a0much written out of the history of that era.<\/p>\n<p><strong>RTH:<\/strong> How did your old MTV gig come about, as host of <em>The Cutting Edge<\/em>? How open was the network to your style and vision?<\/p>\n<p><strong>PZ:<\/strong> We were signed to IRS Records, who produced the show for MTV. We\u00a0had appeared on the show already a few times and when the host decided\u00a0to go to Fiji on an art grant (who wouldn&#8217;t!?!), they offered me the\u00a0job. I took it. At first MTV didn&#8217;t care what we did, but when we\u00a0became the highest rated &#8220;special&#8221; on the network, they really changed\u00a0their minds! They wanted their hour back, and then tried to copy our\u00a0formula with <em>120 Minutes<\/em>. People are forever telling me how much\u00a0they loved my show <em>120 Minutes<\/em>! Anyway, we were the orphans of the\u00a0network, even with our high ratings. I never get any acknowledgment\u00a0from MTV, or invited to any of their anniversaries or events. It&#8217;s as\u00a0if we never existed.<\/p>\n<p><strong>RTH:<\/strong> Have you ever done another solo record or offshoot record beside your old <strong>Love Delegation<\/strong> album? How did that come about?<\/p>\n<p><strong>PZ:<\/strong> No, The TWO Love Delegation LPs were enough to cure me, although I\u00a0wouldn&#8217;t mind doing some sort of solo LP that would be 100% different\u00a0from what we do in the Fleshtones. That takes money! How did the Love\u00a0Delegation come about? Are we writing a book here? Lets just say that\u00a0the Fleshtones were between labels at the time, we were in the middle\u00a0of the Pyramid Club scene, with all of that incredible talent, energy\u00a0and crazy ideas, and I had piles of material that I wanted to use.<\/p>\n<p><strong>RTH:<\/strong> The Fleshtones have endured for more than 35 years, doing your own thing, your own way. Is there an old record or artist the band taps into to help keep the faith?<\/p>\n<p><strong>PZ:<\/strong> At this point, we are our own inspiration, and for others!<\/p>\n<p><strong>RTH:<\/strong> Have you ever been tempted to veer off into some new direction? Have you or Keith had to put aside any stylistic urges for the good of the band? For instance, is there a closet prog rocker in the band?<\/p>\n<p><strong>PZ:<\/strong> I hope there isn&#8217;t a closet prog rocker in the band. You&#8217;d think\u00a0I&#8217;d know if there was by now, but you never know! We love basic rock\u00a0and roll. There&#8217;s a lot you can do with that. No big changes.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p><iframe class='youtube-player youtuber' type='text\/html' width='425' height='355' src='http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ZLqvQJuGNq4?rel=0&amp;fs=1&amp;ap=%252526fmt%253D18' webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen frameborder='0'><\/iframe><p><strong>RTH:<\/strong> You and Keith always sported killer rock &#8216;n roll forelocks. What&#8217;s the best forelock in rock?<\/p>\n<p><strong>PZ:<\/strong> Ours! But I&#8217;m starting to comb mine back finally\u2014sort of like <a href=\"http:\/\/videos.videopress.com\/mP1rzTYF\/three-stooges-jumpcuts_scruberthumbnail_0.jpg\" target=\"_blank\">Moe\u00a0Howard<\/a> did in the later Three Stooges shorts.<\/p>\n<p><strong>RTH:<\/strong> Is there a kryptonite to the Fleshtones&#8217; Super Rock?<\/p>\n<p><strong>PZ:<\/strong> You mean something that can destroy our powers? <em>Shhhhhhhhhhh<\/em>&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><strong>RTH:<\/strong> An important question I like to ask most of our interview subjects: Which version of the Rolling Stones do you prefer &#8211; Brian Jones era or Mick Taylor era?<\/p>\n<p><strong>PZ:<\/strong> Well, they really didn&#8217;t let Mick do much except appear in the\u00a0photos, and fill in a bit on stage. Even <em>Let It Bleed<\/em> seems to have\u00a0more Brian Jones on it than Taylor. So, I&#8217;ll say Brian Jones, even\u00a0though he was thoroughly evil (and sadly pathetic\u2014BUT brilliantly\u00a0talented!). But I really like the LPs the Stones put out in the Taylor\u00a0era. I&#8217;m a fan!<\/p>\n<p><strong>RTH:<\/strong> Anything you&#8217;d like to note that&#8217;s coming up for the Fleshtones? Do you have any new recordings in the works?<\/p>\n<p><strong>PZ:<\/strong> Glad you asked. Our first all-Spanish language EP, <em>Quatro X\u00a0Quatro\u2014Los Fleshtones<\/em>, will be out later in the summer. I love it.\u00a0Then we are due to record a new LP really soon. I for one, can not\u00a0wait!!!!!\u00a0Thank you!<\/p><iframe class='youtube-player youtuber' type='text\/html' width='425' height='355' src='http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Zp8iYr8-Bl8?rel=0&amp;fs=1&amp;ap=%252526fmt%253D18' webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen frameborder='0'><\/iframe><p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-14109\" title=\"87-atlg\" src=\"http:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/87-atlg.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"494\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/87-atlg.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/87-atlg-182x300.jpg 182w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Do the math. New York rock &#8216;n roll primitives The Fleshtones have been in existence since 1976! Although I knew they dated back to the late-&#8217;70s and Marty Thau&#8216;s old Red Star Records label, I didn&#8217;t have them pegged back quite so far as 1976 and the legendary New York punk scene of CBGBs, Max&#8217;s <a href='https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/the-rock-town-hall-interview-peter-zaremba\/' class='excerpt-more'>[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[342,667],"tags":[44,67,24,662],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14079"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14079"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14079\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14079"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14079"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14079"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}