WRIF Virtual Rock Room with Type O Negative's Johnny Kelly
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00:00Thank you so much for watching Riff TV. Now this interview is obviously with video, but I don't interview everybody on Zoom. That's why I put it on my Talkin' Rock with Meltdown podcast. We talk to rock artists from all over the genre. So check out Talkin' Rock with Meltdown wherever you get your podcasts. And now to today's video interview.
00:20There he is. Johnny, how are you, my friend?
00:23What's up, man? How are you? It's been a while.
00:24Yeah, it has been a while. I was thinking about that. I was trying to think about if I've talked to you since you joined Quiet Riot. But I don't know. We'll talk about that here in a second. First of all, you got the Harley-Davidson shirt. I don't know if I've ever talked to you about this. Do you have a Harley-Davidson?
00:40I'm new to the cult, yeah. I got my first bike last summer.
00:47Oh, you did? What do you have?
00:49I got a Sportster 883.
00:51Okay, there you go. I played hockey this morning with Brendan Morrison. You remember him from the Vancouver Canucks?
00:59Yes, I remember the name, yeah.
01:01And I told him, I said, I bought my first Harley in like 1992. And one of my buddies said to me, it'll get in your blood. And I thought to myself at that moment, no, it won't. And here we are in 2023. And I've had a Harley all this time.
01:13So, yeah. Last summer, like a year ago, I was out in California shooting a video with Kill Devil Hill.
01:20Yeah.
01:20And in the video where it was out at a dried up lake bed, out about two hours outside of LA. And we had the scene, like, you know, the main thing about the video is us riding Harleys on the lake bed.
01:36I don't have a bike, so they rented me a bike. The other guys had bikes. And I was riding it and I was like, how come I never did this? How come I never got a bike before?
01:45And I was like, oh, right, because I lived in New York and I wanted to live.
01:50Yeah. I learned to ride and love to ride in the country. And I rode my motorcycle here today. I host a motorcycle night on Thursday nights here in Detroit.
01:59And I mean, I can be honest, though, but, you know, riding here to work every day is not a thrill on the freeways. But, you know.
02:05Yeah. Like where I live here, there's a lot of nice places to ride and the traffic can be, you know, kind of light.
02:12You know, on the interstates, it gets it gets a little busy. It gets a little hairy when you get down to down to the city, like down to Dallas and stuff like that.
02:20Yeah, I can imagine. Well, ride safe. Of course, you're going to be here in Detroit.
02:24Smugglers Run. That's coming up on June 9th. That's kind of a newer place right on the water. They're a beautiful place.
02:29We've had a couple of shows there so far and they've been great. How have things been going with you with Quiet Ride?
02:34You were just talking before we got in the air that that this isn't like a touring band, per se.
02:38You guys kind of do these shows on the weekends and stuff. They get back home.
02:41Yeah. Well, now, now the the first part of the year, like up to this point, there weren't too many gigs.
02:48It wasn't it wasn't all that busy. But starting this weekend, that's it. My wife is really upset.
02:54She has to care. She has to take care of all the animals you have, right?
02:56Yeah. Yeah. She's holding down the fort by herself. I think there's like one weekend between now and October where I'm home.
03:03Oh, is that right? Well, every weekend is there's gigs. And then actually at one one point, I'm going to be away for a week, which is pretty odd with Quiet Ride.
03:13It's just the way the logistics are working out and stuff. And but starting up now.
03:20Yeah. There's like there's like over 50 shows on the books and counting at this point for the year, which was just cool.
03:28You know, it's great. It's a lot of fun. Yeah.
03:30This show has been going well. Yeah, actually, you know, like this is a lot different than what I what I've been used to, you know, throughout my whole career.
03:38And, you know, like playing a place. Well, like playing like casinos and things like that, like these venues and stuff that don't really cater to like, you know, like the type on dancing we're doing.
03:49Right, right. And, you know, so it's like we'll fly. I'll fly to like these places that I like when I thought that I've been everywhere here.
03:58It was like, it's like I've never heard of this place. I was like, there's a venue here. And then it's like, well, we'll be like, we'll land at some like weird regional airport and then drive for like two hours.
04:11And it's like, there can't be a venue here. And then out of nowhere, there'll be like this huge casino or something.
04:16And it'll be like, who thought of putting something here like this? And it's like, who is like other people know about this place?
04:23And we like, you know, and then the show will like, you know, come showtime, the place is packed.
04:30So are you saying that there's like a like a whole different like circuit from the one you're used to playing from?
04:36Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Yeah. So like instead of like, you know, stopping at Harpo's now, now we're going to like, you know, like we've played in really haven't gone through Michigan all that much since I've been playing with them.
04:47But, uh, but yeah, it's like a lot of casinos in like Ohio and Indiana and Illinois. I've been to Illinois a bunch, Wisconsin, Minnesota. I've spent a lot of time in Minnesota.
05:00And, uh, I, our last show is in South Dakota. Like, you know, like Typo played in both Dakotas. Maybe like there was like two gigs out of like, you know, 20 years of existence.
05:10That's funny. Yeah. Cause Typo was like an East coast band. So did you find your yourself playing in more like city venues?
05:17Yeah. Like a markets. Yeah. It was, it was a lot of a markets, uh, on the, when we first started touring with Typo, we were playing everywhere.
05:26We really like, we like pounded the Midwest and, uh, like, you know, like the middle of the country, you know, like, I've like a lot of, like, you know, a lot of Rust Belt, uh, especially like Ohio.
05:40Like we played all kinds of places in Ohio. I mean, we even played in like Youngstown, Ohio.
05:45Yeah. Yeah. That's just, that's a truck stop.
05:48Yeah. Well, the, the, the meat and potatoes rock fans are here.
05:51Right. And that's, that's what we hit when we were able to go through a lot of those places, like, you know, supporting like Motley Crue and things like that.
05:58The minute that Motley Crue tour ended, we stayed on the bus and went back and hit all those places that, uh, all those markets that we wouldn't have been able to do prior to that.
06:08And, uh, and that's, that's how, that's how the band's following really grew.
06:12Now, what Motley tour was that? Was that the one with Karabi?
06:16Yes.
06:16Yeah. I think we talked about this before, but I saw that tour in Buffalo and Nikki Sixx actually jumped off the stage that night and attacked a fan in like the front row.
06:25Well, he probably had a lot of frustration, a lot of outside frustrations regarding the tour.
06:32For us, it was great. You know, like if Motley Crue was a tough, it was a tough tour for them.
06:38That was, uh, for us. Yeah.
06:41That was a sparsely attended a show that I saw that night.
06:44That's a really diplomatic way of putting it.
06:47Yeah.
06:47That's, that was, that was good. You get points for that.
06:50Yeah. There you go.
06:51I forgot that you guys.
06:53But they're sparsely attended, you know, performances.
06:59For us, it was, it was gold because like, you know, bad for them is incredible for us.
07:06You know, you know, we couldn't, we couldn't go to Penn.
07:10We couldn't go to Jacksonville, Florida and play in front of, you know, like whatever, a thousand people, you know, if Typo went to Jacksonville, Florida on its own, we play in front of like, seriously, maybe like 50 people at that point.
07:22Really?
07:22Maybe.
07:22Wow. Yeah. That was a 19.
07:24Yeah. At that point, like, I remember we played in a Pensacola, which is like, you know, it's not really kind of far away, but it's kind of like the same market.
07:34And like, we played this place. I mean, this place was a rundown bar, straight up rundown bar with a train passing literally right next to the, to the bar.
07:45And 12 people showed up, 12 paid.
07:49Oh, geez.
07:50That might've been on a day off on the Motley Crue tour.
07:53Oh, okay.
07:54Like we were, you know, playing all, you know, trying to play our own dates while we were, while we were out supporting.
07:58Yeah. Yeah. I remember that 12. So it's a little bit more than two hands, but I saw STP one time with about 20 people.
08:09This is when they first started out, but I just talked with a Zaki Vengeance from Avenged Sevenfold and M Shadows had told me one time that they played a show for, with Rise Against for one paying customer.
08:22All the other bands would come out and watch.
08:24Yeah. I mean, every band goes through it, you know, like it, you know, it's, it's the way you, you know, you earn your, you earn your keep.
08:32Yeah, no doubt.
08:34But yeah. So like, you know, like what was bad for them was, it was, it put us on the map, you know, that was our, that was our springboard.
08:44Yeah.
08:44And then after that, like I was saying, everything was like, you know, like all like the middle of the country, you know, we play LA and like, you know, New York.
08:52Yes. Of course the band would always do well in New York, but everything was concentrated on the middle of the country.
08:59Um, well, you'll be playing for Texas.
09:02Yeah. You'll be playing, playing for a few more people here in Detroit. Uh, this time around, there's no question about that, but, uh, I want to ask you, I don't think I've talked.
09:08So I think you think you will more than 13, 15, perhaps.
09:12So, but, uh, what is it like playing with, uh, Rudy Zarzo?
09:19He's, he's an icon. What do you expect? What do you think?
09:24You know, I'll be playing and stuff. I mean, it was, it was great, you know, like, like the whole thing. It's a really terrible way to get a gig.
09:31Yeah. You know, like how, how, how I wound up in time and quiet, right. You know, that's terrible. And, uh, you know, but like, you know, coming in and like, you know, like, uh, you know, at first starting, starting out, like, you know, coming in and covering for Frankie, that was that big shoes to fill.
09:50And, uh, you know, I didn't think anything of it at the time where it'd be like, yeah, I'm just, you know, covering for Frankie while he's, you know, going in for treatment, you know, stuff like that. And then, uh, when it was, not when it became permanent, but like, you know, getting to play with like, you know, I mean, I play with Alex a lot in, uh, hookers and blow for years. And that's, that's the connection of how I wound up in quiet. Right. But, uh, like, you know, getting to play with Chuck and, uh, James Durbin was singing and stuff.
10:20Chuck's a great bass player. And it was great to like, you know, like to be able to like, you know, step into that situation and, you know, see that, uh, you know, besides like, you know, just, you know, getting things covered, getting things done and, you know, keeping things moving, you know, I was getting the opportunity to play with some other people that, you know, like the heavyweights. And, uh, and then when Rudy was coming back, you know, it was pretty surreal, you know, like growing up, you know, Ozzy and quiet riot, you know, it's like, it's like, uh, you know,
10:49I was like, wow. I was like, you know, Rudy's going to be, you know, going to be playing Rudy Sarzo. And then I, I felt bad for him.
10:56I was like, here he is. Here's Rudy Sarzo. Like, you know, he's got this storied career and everything, you know, like all the accomplishments, amazing bass player, you know, like he's an icon.
11:07And he's like, you know, influenced so many people to play bass and whatnot. And now he's stuck with me.
11:16Some more credit, but you know, I wasn't really, the question wasn't really about like, you know, Rudy, of course, is a legend in that, but I mean, like musically, what is it like to play with a guy that, you know,
11:26It's incredible. It was like, you know, like when we got together to rehearse for the first time, like, uh, you know, like, uh, I have to admit, I was kind of nervous, you know, because like, you know, like we've been playing things a certain way, you know, without, before Rudy came in and now Rudy's coming back to the band.
11:45He hasn't been in the band, you know, a number of years and stuff. And now it's, you know, his partner Frankie isn't there and stuff.
11:51I thought I was going to be like, you know, in the crosshairs and, uh, you know, it was, it was funny. I was like, you know, like just like playing, starting to play with each other and then getting to know each other at the same time.
12:03It was like, you know, you just get thrown in a room and it's like, all right, there's Rudy. All right, here's the set list. All right, go.
12:08And then, so I was asking him for, uh, you know, critiques. I was like, you know, get input from it. I was like, Hey, you know, how does this feel? Like, you know, what do you think?
12:16Like, what, is there something missing? Do you know, do you want me to do something that you used to doing or whatever? You know, do you want me to, you know, pull it back a little bit? You know, just usual stuff.
12:26And he was like, you know, he pinned out my playing like right away. He was just like, Oh yeah. He's like, you know, he goes, he goes, I see that you, you know, you, you play behind the beat a little bit.
12:34You know, you have that behind the beat feel. And he goes, he goes, I'll adjust my playing to play with you. He's like, you keep doing what you do and I'll, I'll sort it out on my end.
12:43And I was, you sure you don't want me to do anything? Like, you know, it's, it's, but, uh, still, you know, to get to play with it, it's, it's a learning experience.
12:54You know, it's like, here it is, like, you know, to get to play with one of the greatest bass players of all time, you know, like, and so it's pretty cool.
13:01Like, you know, and it's like every once in a while, like, you know, I'll just take a step back and I'll be like, you know, playing it like, you know, see this guy come running across the stage.
13:08I'm like, Hey, it's Rudy Sarzan. All right. Yeah, it's cool. You know, it's like Rudy Sarzan.
13:15And then I, I like, you know, I was like, all right, we've known each other long enough now.
13:18I was like, and then I would bombard him with Tommy Aldridge questions.
13:24I was like, we, we can consider our friends now. I was like, all right, first off, I was like, what, what, what's this, this, this?
13:30That's hysterical. Cause a lot of people think, you know, you're a rock star, you know, rock stars and stuff, but, but at the end of the day, all of us, including the rock stars are fans of rock stars.
13:40And when you get to meet them and stuff, you know, sometimes you're, you might be a little bit starstruck, blown away.
13:45Like you said, asking them questions about your favorites.
13:48Oh yeah. Like, you know, like I remembered, you know, like, you know, diary of a madman that summer, that was like the soundtrack to my summer.
13:55And then, you know, like I got speak of the devil for Christmas and one of the greatest live records ever, I think.
14:02Right. You know, and I remember like, you know, one of my friends getting a bootleg video of it when I was in high school, bootleg video of the show.
14:09And I was like, we all got together and went to the house after school and watch.
14:12I was like, holy shit, you know, like they're real.
14:16Like, you know, I met, I met Brad Gillis one time for literally a minute.
14:20And I said, dude, speak of the devil.
14:23Well, that's all I remember so much as a kid and still do.
14:27It's such a great live album.
14:28Yeah. Like, you know, and like, you know, I remember like trying to read, trying to decipher all that stuff on, on the, you know, out on the outside of the cover.
14:36And now, so I'm like, and now like, that's the guy, that guy running across the stage.
14:41I was like, that's him. There it goes.
14:44That's really cool. You get to not only get to know your idols, but then play with them as well.
14:48And now, now I give them a hard time all the time.
14:50Yeah, of course.
14:51Yeah, you should.
14:53So I've never met or interviewed Jizzy.
14:57So what's, what's he like?
14:59Jizzy, Jizzy's a, he's awesome.
15:02I love him.
15:03I love him.
15:04He, but he's, he's, you know, he's very cynical.
15:08Yeah.
15:09He's the very cynical type of not really sociable.
15:14I mean, he'll talk like, you know, like if he's in his comfort zone, you know, kind of, kind of, you know, like a Glenn or a Peter and stuff like that.
15:21Well, Peter was more socially, you know, out there.
15:25You know, he would, he would try to socialize.
15:29But Jizzy, Jizzy's a pro.
15:32You know, he's a pro and he is, he's like, you know, he's grumpy all the time, which is great.
15:36And it gives me, it gives me a chance to give him a hard time too.
15:41I can, I can see the headlines already.
15:43Jizzy, Pearl, grumpy all the time.
15:45I can see this already.
15:46Well, I love it.
15:47It never fails.
15:48Cause like a lot of times, you know, like a lot of these fly out dates with we're at the airport at like, you know, 430 in the morning, you know, things like that.
15:55And Jizzy's like, you know, like barely awake and somebody, I mean, it never fails.
16:01Like, you know, you know, somebody will recognize him.
16:04It'd be like, Hey, can I have a picture?
16:08And then like Rudy, you can't go anywhere with Rudy.
16:11Rudy always gets recognized.
16:13Yeah.
16:13So then I take that as the opportunity.
16:15I was, so they'll get a picture with Rudy.
16:17You know, sometimes they'll ask pictures for me and Alex or whatever.
16:20And I'm like, Hey, the singer's right over there.
16:24It's like, go up to him.
16:25It's totally fine.
16:27He loves taking pictures with people.
16:32You're, you're a hockey guy like I am.
16:33And I remember one time I was having a dinner with Nick Lindstrom, Thomas Holstrom and, uh, uh, Johan Fronson.
16:39Right.
16:40And so this girl recognizes Nick and she comes up and she starts talking to him and Nick says, Oh, Hey, look, there's Thomas Holstrom.
16:47He just played his thousands game in the NHL.
16:48Just like what you do.
16:50Yeah.
16:52That is hysterical.
16:53Speaking of that, by the way, uh, what do you, what do you got here for the finals?
16:57I just, I watched the game last night with Florida and I can't, I, you know, like it looked like that Florida had it.
17:04And then, you know, the Carolina tied it up and then the penalty with just a few seconds left.
17:10And then, uh, you know, Kachuk scoring the goal.
17:13I was like, I was like, Bettman had to have done this.
17:16Yeah.
17:19Which would really struck me odd was like, I, you know, since I moved to Texas, I really haven't been watching hockey all that much.
17:26And the Rangers have been okay.
17:29You know, like they've been, you know, there's moments of, you know, really, really good hockey.
17:33And then, but what struck me was, I was really surprised at how many former Rangers were on that ice last night.
17:40Hmm.
17:41Yeah.
17:41Okay.
17:42Well, like Jesper Faust has a, has a primary, he's like first line in Carolina.
17:48He was, he was like fourth line in New York.
17:50Right.
17:51Yeah.
17:51And he was like, well, he got, uh, I saw they were talking about him and they said that he had six goals in the playoffs.
17:56You know, he maybe had six goals his like whole career in New York.
18:01Sometimes it takes some of these guys a little bit of time to like learn the league.
18:05You know what I'm saying?
18:05And, and learn the, you know, they got to grow up with the league.
18:10Some guys get it pretty quickly.
18:11Some guys, it does take a little while to develop.
18:15I felt bad for Rod Brindamore.
18:17You could see how, like how gutted he was at the end of the game.
18:21I felt bad for him.
18:22Yeah.
18:22Rod DeBuy.
18:23And, uh, Peter Sweet, Paul Maurice beating his former team, you know, to go to the cup.
18:29I was talking about this.
18:31It's a good, it's a really good story.
18:33Yeah.
18:34I was talking about this on the radio.
18:35And, uh, Vinnie Paul, I mean, he was a friend of mine and I remember the most he ever texted
18:40me was a week before he died.
18:41And it was when Las Vegas lost the Stanley cup and between Vegas stars, I don't know what
18:46VP would be doing.
18:49Oh yeah.
18:50Well, I think he would have gone with the stars.
18:52That's, that's, that's where his heart is.
18:54You know, it was just, it was very convenient for him that they put a hockey team in Las Vegas,
19:00which was great for him.
19:02Right.
19:02And, uh, but I think his heart will always be with the stars.
19:06Yeah.
19:07One final thing here for you before we cut you loose.
19:09Uh, I got a hard out coming up here in a few minutes, but, uh, I am, that's a new,
19:13another new project that you're working on.
19:15Tell us a little bit about that.
19:16Uh, that was, that was started with, uh, Andrew Spaulding of, uh, I met Andrew, Andrew, I met
19:25him.
19:25He, he was a merchandiser for Danzig.
19:28Oh, okay.
19:30And then type O went on tour after that, brought him out and he worked with type O up until,
19:36up until Peter passed away.
19:37And, uh, we all remained good friends and stuff.
19:40And then he started an indie label, started a small little label.
19:44And, uh, he suggested putting me and Kenny together with Kirk Winston and Todd Strange
19:52from Crowbar.
19:54And, uh, we've all been friends.
19:56I've known Kirk and Todd for like 30 years at this point.
20:00And, uh, you know, so we've always been friends and we always crossed paths and hung out like,
20:05you know, this and that, but never really had the opportunity to get in a room and play
20:08together.
20:09And Drew had it worked out.
20:12Had we all met in Florida like two months ago.
20:16And, uh, we got into a room, came up with that song, recorded it the next day.
20:23And that was it.
20:24It was done.
20:25And so now, uh, you know, the record comes out, the single gets released in the video.
20:30We did a video for it too.
20:31Uh, it comes out June 2nd and, uh, we're going to new Orleans at the end of June to do more
20:41writing and recording.
20:43Oh, cool.
20:44We'll see what happens if we get, if we get like a whole week, who knows what could happen.
20:47That was, that was just, that was like a day.
20:50Like Drew literally picked me up from the airport and drove me to rehearsal.
20:55And the guys were in the room and I just put my suitcase over to the side, set up the
21:00kit.
21:00And then we started working on the song.
21:01And then the next day, yeah, the next morning we went to, to the recording studio, tracked
21:07all the drums.
21:08And then I was on a plane.
21:10I don't, I don't know where I was going after that, but I had to leave like right after we
21:14were done tracking.
21:14I think my flight was at like six in the morning and the next morning.
21:17So I was, I was there just literally for a few hours.
21:19So, uh, yeah, June 2nd, some new stuff from you guys.
21:24Well, it's a cool song.
21:25I was, I really wasn't sure what to expect.
21:27Like, you know, like, uh, I guess the best way to compare it would be like, uh, you know,
21:33on a different scale, of course, would be like, you know, like when, when Scott Weiland
21:36in Velvet Revolver, like, you know, you take these, these people from these bands and you
21:40put them together and like, you know, you have a certain expectation of it.
21:43And then you're not sure if it's, if it's going to meet it, if it's, you know, exceeding
21:49it or if it falls way below, you know, but I, you know, I was, I was pleasantly surprised
21:56at, you know, how easy it was and how much fun it was to work with everybody.
22:01Well, I guess at the end of the day, that's what it's all about.
22:03Right.
22:04Yeah.
22:04And well, Kenny and I, we've been playing together since we were teenagers.
22:07Right.
22:08And, uh, the two of us, we have a, you know, uh, on the outside would seem like a very
22:13abusive relationship, but that's how we communicate.
22:17And so like, you know, they're, you know, we could just like, you know, say these really,
22:21you know, harsh things to each other and it's not really, no one's really taking insult to
22:26it.
22:26We're just communicating.
22:29So, so it's like, I kind of had to be careful of how I spoke to like Kirk and Todd.
22:33I was like, they probably won't respond the same way Kenny does.
22:38So I was like, but, uh, no, it was, it was, it was, it was really cool.
22:43I'm really psyched about getting together again, uh, you know, in a month we're getting
22:47together, right.
22:47Today's 25th.
22:48Yeah.
22:48We're getting together in a month.
22:49You know, Kirk was in Europe for a while.
22:51He's got some stuff going on with crowbar and I got some, you know, I have a lot of,
22:56uh, quite right stuff coming up.
22:58And, uh, so we're getting together in a month and we're going to see what we can, you know,
23:03come up with in a week.
23:04Cause that's all we're doing.
23:05All we have is just a week of, I am.
23:09Well, I'll tell you what, uh, uh, I got to cut you loose, but, uh, when you come through
23:12town on June the 9th, if it's a nice day and I bring my Harley Davidson down there, I'll
23:16let you take it for a spin.
23:17My street, that'd be awesome.
23:19Yeah.
23:19I'll let you take my street glide for a spin.
23:21You might never want to get on that sportster again.
23:23I've been looking at the, uh, what is it?
23:25Street bobs.
23:26Yeah.
23:26There you go.
23:27Yes.
23:29Yeah.
23:30Yeah.
23:30And they told me at the dealership when I bought the bike too, I was like, you know,
23:33because I didn't have the experience.
23:35I didn't want to just start getting on a big bike and, you know, think that I, you
23:38know, own it.
23:39And, uh, I was like, so what do you think?
23:42You know, like somebody like, you know, my size and a sports term, whatever my experience
23:45and he goes, you'll probably be back in a year trading it in.
23:49Right.
23:52You'll get in your blood.
23:53Like someone told me, like I said, I, I, when I got home with the bike, you know, and
23:58it was like, and I had the bike for a couple of days and I turned around to, to my wife.
24:01I was like, I think I joined a cult.
24:06Yeah.
24:07Yeah.
24:08It's all this stuff.
24:09Very committed.
24:11Exactly.
24:11Yeah.
24:12Well, now I can wear the shirts without being like, um, now I'm not a poser.
24:15So I can, I can wear a Harley shirt and you know, like wearing camo.
24:21I told my wife, we got married 23 years ago.
24:25I told my wife, I said, I do two things.
24:26I ride a Harley to play hockey.
24:27So I rode my Harley here.
24:29I scored two goals this morning on the ice.
24:31Don't act like you're not impressed.
24:32And, uh, we're still going strong.
24:36That's great.
24:37Yeah.
24:37That's a perfect day.
24:39That's right.
24:40Well, Johnny, so great to see you.
24:41So great to reconnect and talk with you.
24:43Yeah.
24:43Really good catching up.