Marshall
the streetwalkin' cheetahs
words and photos
by james jackson
The Streetwalkin' Cheetahs with
Wayne Kramer and the Bellrays at
the Paradise Lounge in SF: a night to
remember if it hadn't been for that
120 and the square of Jack... The
Cheetahs prowled around the stage
and the crowd, climbed the balconies,
ramming females' crotches with
guitars, all the while soaked in
whiskey and beer,
beer, rumbling out the
best live show in years. Drinks, fists,
and a few
eyeballs
s were flying. I can't
remember Wayne's set, so too bad.
Thanks to my trusty analog memory
machine, here is an interview with
three Cheetah members: singer
Frank, guitarist Art, and bass man
Dino, plus a few answers from Wayne.
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Live on KXLU, in my opinion, is
one of the best bottle throwin',
gasoline drinkin', and fucking in
the streets records I've heard in
some time. Wayne Kramer pro-
duced three bonus tracks on the
record, as well as having you guys
as his backing band for this tour.
How did you hook up with a car-
dinal vanguard?
Frank: That was the easiest goddamn
record we ever made. We literally
walked into KXLU, set up, and forty-
five minutes later our record was done.
It went straight to DAT-no mixing, no
nothing. It was the fuckin' real shit.
What's funny is that there are three or
four tunes on that from Overdrive, our
first record, and the live versions
smoked 'em. It seems for most bands it
would be completely idiotic to release
a live record after your first full record.
But for us it was a natural step; by the
time we got to the next record we had
become this really fierce live band, and
we just thought fuck it, if we're gonna
make a statement let's make it. And the
statement Live on KXLU. As far as
Wayne goes, I mean obviously it is an
honor to play with him, and obviously
we are influenced by the MC5, among
other bands.
Dino: If you want to get down to it, we
sort of sought him out and stalked him.
Frank: Basically we are four Wayne
Kramer stalkers and we happened to
stalk him so consistently and over so
many years that he actually took us
under his wing and befriended us,
amazingly enough.
Art: And now we're like his baby
brother band. He just likes us.
114 THRASHER
Do you think that in addition to
playing with Wayne tonight there
is a rock and roll tradition coming
together? Where is it original?
Dino: You know a lot of bands come out
these days, and they've got their look and
they've got their sound, and they think
they're cutting edge. We know we're not
cutting edge, but we're not trying to be. We
are wearing our fuckin' influences on our
sleeve because we know who started the
trends. We are just saluting them.
Frank: At the same time, we are very
conscious as a band of not being a retro
act in our songwriting and the stage show.
We are walking that line between old
school and new school, and we're taking
the high energy approach, just straight
rock and roll. We are carrying on the tra-
dition the way the MC5 carried it on from
the Yardbirds and the Stones. You've got
us, you've got the Bellrays, B Movie Rats,
Nashville Pussy, The Toilet Boys, The
Hellacopters a whole new wave of
bands takin' it to the next level, giving you
that old school vibe filtered through a
new school rock and roll thing.
Do any of you skate?
Art: My favorite skater is the lead singer
of US Bombs, Duane Peters.
Dino: I was a big skater back in the '70s
when I was a kid. In New Hampshire once
Tony Alva came to this little park, and I
got to run the ramps with him. That
was one of the biggest moments in
my life.
What do you want to say to the
American public?
Frank: Stop listening to "alternative"
music. Listen to rock and roll. Alternative
music is a fad-rock and roll is a fuckin'
lifestyle. We're not fuckin' around with fads.
Wayne Kramer, legendary leader of the MC5, an-
swers some questions. In John Sinclair's book Guitar
Army, he recollects quite a few standoffs with cops at
MC5 shows. Things got serious one day after Kick Out
the Jams Motherfucker was recorded, and a cultural
revolution was declared with the formation of the
White Panthers, an arm of the Youth International
Party. The MC5 were slated as the spearhead for
"total assault propaganda." When the shit went
down, buildings were bombed and threatened,
White Panthers went to jail, and others went un-
derground for several years. What the fuck was
going on back then?
Well, it was a very focused campaign on the part of J.
Edgar Hoover, the FBI, and the White House to destroy
the counterculture, the anti-war movement, the Black
Panther Party, the Yippies, and the White Panthers. We
said we wanted to destroy the system, and they believed
us and used everything they could against us. For us it
meant the MC5 getting kicked out of the music business
and for the Black Panthers it meant death squads. It was
just sheer government oppression-cultural, political,
and physical.
Do you have any advice for all those skaters out
there who deal with harassment from authority?
it's
Just fighting with policemen, although it makes a state-
ment, will always go against you. You have to approach it
on a political level: you know, they have a right to this and
s part of living in a so-called "free country." They've got
to be organized. They've got to form a political action
committee, take it to the city council meetings, take it to
the courts-that is where shit gets changed.
You've been involved with some serious shit musi-
cally. Of course there was MC5, but there was also
Gang War with Johnny Thunders and Death
Tongue. What do you think about playing with the
Streetwalkin' Cheetahs?
It is as natural as breathing. They are
the heirs apparent to the heavyweight
crown of the most high energy rock
band out there-them and the
Bellrays. They are my prodigies.
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