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Intro:
E.C.: METAL HEALTH was the best-selling Quiet Riot album, do you consider it the best Quiet Riot album?
Kevin: No�I don�t know what the best one is, I have my favorites. I think my favorite is TERRIFIED. But, there are some songs off the other ones that I like. Overall, I like TERRIFIED the best because it is the most bluesy. And blues-based music is the music that stands the test of time. I can tell you what I think our worst album is�CONDITION CRITICAL. I hate that album.
E.C.: Well, y�all rushed into that album?
Kevin: And it was leftover songs and the production is SO bad. It emphasized all the cheesier aspects of our group, all the non-bluesy things about it. Over annunciated lyrics and things like that. A lot of ad-libbed vocals about �partying� and stuff� it was not� it was just TOO much.
E.C.: Who is your favorite producer?
Kevin: Of the ones I�ve worked with? I liked working with Bob Marlett. We haven�t worked with that many producers, we�ve only worked with about three. I liked working with Ricky Delana the best.
E.C.: Was he the one that produced TERRIFIED?
Kevin: Yeah, I produced that with Ricky.
E.C.: Speaking of METAL HEALTH, it had more of a slick pop sound compared to the earlier Quiet Riot albums. Here�s a hypothetical question�if Randy Rhoads had stayed with the band, do you think that METAL HEALTH would have been as big?
Kevin: See, the thing about METAL HEALTH, there were a couple of ingredients that we didn�t have with Randy, we would have never had with Randy. First, the big riff, �Bang Your Head� � Carlos wrote. Keeping that in mind, we never would have had that song. But, we might have had �Crazy Train� and �I Don�t Know�. Actually we did have �Crazy Train� � those were songs we did before he played with Ozzy. Not exactly in those forms, but close enough. It would have been a different band. And not only that but, with Randy in the band I wasn�t as good of a singer because he was such a great guitar player. I didn�t push myself to become what I eventually became. So, it�s a real hard hypothetical one to answer.
E.C.: Whose decision was it to record �Come On Feel the Noize�?
Kevin: That was Spencer Profers idea, we wanted to do �Mama We�re All Crazy Now�. The song we really wanted to do was an old soul song called �Rescue Me�. We actually worked that one up. We never worked the words to �Come On Feel The Noize� up because we really didn�t like it that much. And nobody had the record�nobody was fans of Slade. I used to record �Don Kirshner�s Rock Concert� in LA, so I had stereo versions of it�one of the songs Slade did was �Feel The Noize�, so we all learned it off that live tape. It was half missing and he had a heavy English accent, he�s from Birmingham � so I never really understood what he said. So the words are wrong. First of all, I changed some of the words, its �girls grab your boys� in the original lyric. At the end of it I say �let it rock� and I don�t know what he says.
E.C.: Did ya�ll change your mind about the song after it became a hit?
Kevin: No, nobody really likes it that much.
E.C.: Is it like an albatross for the band?
Kevin: No, its not an albatross because you can play �Three Blind Mice� live and if it goes over the way �Feel The Noize� goes over, you dig it. But as far as a song that I like�I don�t care for it.
E.C.: It was kind of ironic that your version revived Slade�s career. Right after �Feel The Noize� hit, Slade had that song �Run Run Away� which was a minor hit in America.
Kevin: Well, I saw them so many times in the �70s I can�t count, because they opened for Humble Pie. Humble Pie was my favorite band, still is one of my favorite bands. So I saw Slade so many times.
E.C.: METAL HEALTH was the first heavy metal album to reach number one�
Kevin: Ah�debut heavy metal to reach number one. Because LED ZEPPELIN I got to number one I think. But it was considered the first debut album by an American heavy metal band to reach number one.
E.C.: Do you think that success jinxed the follow up?
Kevin: I don�t think it jinxed it�there�s only one place to go from number one and it�s not up.
E.C.: Whose idea was it to add another Slade song?
Kevin: Well, that was the one we were gonna originally do for METAL HEALTH.
E.C.: That one was already recorded?
Kevin: No, it wasn�t recorded. It was a mistake because we had a formula and we should have stuck with the formula. But, you�ve gotta remember that we had been slugging it away in the clubs for over 8 years and we had this success. And we would do anything to keep it, we weren�t thinking artistic, we were thinking financial and economical. I mean the Stones did a few Chuck Berry songs�but it wasn�t the same because Slade weren�t Chuck Berry. They weren�t considered a classic part of the rock thing. And we were pigeonholed as a �covers band�. But, it was a big mistake. Not only that, but this band, �Mama�s Boy� had done a version of the song at the same time, so we were competing with them for airplay and for video play with the same fucking song.
E.C.: It�s like when the Who did �Summertime Blues� and Blue Cheer had a version of that song out at the same time�
Kevin: But they were different versions and no one could compare to the Who because they�re one of the greatest bands ever. We do �My Generation� in our show now�it�s on our DVD coming out next month.
E.C.: I was also surprised when I read that in the �70s Quiet Riot had such great attendance records compared to some other bands at the time like Van Halen�
Kevin: Yeah, we blew them away�
E.C.: But YOU didn�t get signed first, Van Halen did�
Kevin: Van Halen had better songs that we did�but we were a prettier band in the �70s. You know who the biggest band was? There were three bands in that time�there was us, Van Halen and a band called �Wolfgang�. Wolfgang later turned into �Autograph�. They were the biggest draw of all of them. They blew all of us out of the water in terms of local draw.
E.C.: And I read that there was a chance that you would be signed to Casablanca?
Kevin: Yeah, we actually had a deal with Casablanca and our manager at the time also handled �Angel�. And they got into an argument about Angel somehow and�Neil Bogart, who was president of the label said, �if we can�t sell this album, then the Quiet Riot deal is done.� Two separate times we had a deal with Casablanca and it never happened. The first time that we ever showcased for a label was to Neil Bogart of Casablanca and we got a deal that first time.
E.C.: It�s probably a good thing because Casablanca folded in the early �80s?
Kevin: Yeah, but this was in �76. Not only that, but the original Quiet Riot did not have good songs. I mean, we never really had great songs. I mean �Slick Black Cadillac�, I didn�t even want to record it. Frankie convinced me�forced me to.
It was a different kind of thing. When I started working with Carlos, things got a little bluesier.
E.C.: Are there been any live gigs that surpassed the excitement of your big gigs like the US Festival?
Kevin: The US Festival was not a high water mark for me. It was just the biggest gig. It wasn�t the best gig, we had lots of technical problems, we were out of tune for the first few songs. We did a gig in �83 with Humble Pie opening for us � that was the high point for me.
E.C.: Does the name Tom Teeley ring a bell?
Kevin: No�
E.C.: I interviewed a band last issue and he claims to have been a guitarist for Quiet Riot�and these were his exact words �replacing the legendary guitarist Randy Rhoads��
Kevin: Tom Teeley? This guy is high! He is an absolute liar! The guy is a full-blown liar. Let me tell you the chronology�when Randy left Quiet Riot, I formed a band called Dubrow. The first guitarist was Greg Leon. Not Tom, whoever-the-fuck this guy is! He left, and I got a guy named Mitch Perry that later played with Michael Schenkar. Got a guy named Bob Stephen�got a guy named David Brighton for a short while. A guy named Craig Turner, who was one of Randy�s students. And the last guitar player we had was Carlos.
I�ve got a great memory for everybody that I�ve played with. This guy is absolutely LYING!
E.C.: Going back to your influences in the early days, I�ve seen Mott the Hoople and the Faces listed as some of your influences. Those were also the primarily influences for the Sex Pistols, those two bands�
Kevin: Really?
E.C.: And they took it in a completely different direction. What did you think of punk rock when it came out?
Kevin: We didn�t like it, because the guys couldn�t play. I like the idea of it, but in fact it was shit because the guitar players were garbage, the drummers couldn�t stay on beat and the singers couldn�t sing a lick. I mean, I was into singers like Paul Rodgers and Steve Marriott�these are guys who were real deal singers and these other guys would basically just talk and yell. They were garbage.
E.C.: I think it was also ironic that a lot of the �80s hard rock bands would cover Sex Pistols tunes�
Kevin: Yeah, Motley Crue did�
E.C.: The last Quiet Riot album was in 2001, will there be another one anytime soon?
Kevin: Yeah, the first thing we have coming out is this DVD that we filmed last year called �Live in the 21st Century-20 years of Mental Health�. That comes out in April and we�ve already started work on material for the next record. It won�t come out until 2004. We keep doing albums on these independent labels and we change labels every time. Like the label we did the last one on, I don�t know if it even exists. The independent labels are kinda fly by night. Not only that, I gotta get in the groove to write songs. I wrote 8 of the songs for GUILTY PLEASURES, I wrote them in a really short period of time. Boom, boom, I recorded them on my computer at home. I think Frankie wrote the rest. Which is interesting because Carlos and I used to write everything. Carlos hasn�t written anything for a long time, so I don�t know what�s going on with him.
E.C.: Do you think we�ll see a resurgence in heavy metal like the glory years of the �80s?
Kevin: I have no idea�I can never call trends. I mean, who would have thought that the record business would be in such trouble. It happened to itself, because it�s run by a bunch of idiots.
E.C.: Do you think politics has a place in rock �n roll?
Kevin: Not mine. (laughs) Somebody else�s�but if its in theirs, I�m not gonna listen to it. Not for me. But if you are into that sort of thing, everything has its place. Songs about peace and love pretty much transcends time�but I think write what you know about.
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Right: Kevin at the "Rat Pack" mural inside the Riviera club in Atlanta 3-13-03 (photo by Ronnie)