Mafia” and intentionally blackballed and suppressed any band that didn’t fit into the tight-pants
indie crowd. I was the lone soldier throwing a monkey wrench into it all.
Its reasons were obvious – Detroit never had a source of mainstream pride. Within a two
year explosion The White Stripes, EMINEM, Kid Rock, ICP, Electric Six, D12, Von Bondies,
and Obie Trice all blew up. The Pistons won the championship, Detroit Shock won the women’s
title, The Tigers made the World Series, the Casino’s opened a floodgate of short-lived tourism,
and both Detroit and Hamtramck were voted two of the coolest cities in America by a dozen big-
name magazines. This had every daily and weekly scrambling to hold it in place and keep the
propaganda flowing as a possible economic boom to halt Detroit from descending any further into
its status as a rotting black ghetto.
What it created was a bulldozer effect against every other genre, and this terrible fad
where there were 8 billion ascot-wearing, no nonsense, gutless White Stripe clones. The disparity
between local press and the actual state of the undercurrent was shown by the fact that a mediocre
local band hyped be three interior writers which drew flies in a live setting would get the cover
story, yet someone like a Black Dahlia Murder were hosting MTV’s Headbangers Ball and never
registered a peep.
That is just one fanatically head-scratching instance of about 50 Detroit bands DIY
touring the United States and Europe, releasing phenomenal albums, challenging the rules of
every clique and scenester trapping. The city really was on fire, but not a damn one of the bands
that were leveling the foundations even got so much of a scrap from the press. It seemed there
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were only 3 or 4 other local journalists in the entire racket that even bothered to go to more than 5
local shows per year.
Well, Friends of Dennis Wilson were part of that whole White Stripes boom and solidly
generic for a stretch (self admittedly). They appropriately evolved and dived headfirst into
psychedelia, experimental and surf. This will mark my first time seeing them live, or so much as
hearing their material…
The band kicks off their set. They kill it as best they can, but the sparse crowd doesn’t
respond. The chaotic Detroit vibe is totally over the heads of the desert folk. Tony rolls around on
the floor, swings from the rafters by his knees, crawls into a trash can and globs handfuls of
rubbish over his clothes, runs up to the bar, hammers a shot and throws his face into some poor
girls boobs and goes “blub-blub-blub” like a cartoon character. The bar owners are annoyed, and
even Kenny thinks they are assholes…
FRIENDS OF DENNIS WILSON
“Could you please state your name and band for reference?”
Dennis Wilson: “My name is Dennis Wilson. My band is Friends of Dennis Wilson.”
“Tell me everything…”
“The bands spiritual side is channeled from Dennis Wilson. My real name is not Dennis
Wilson. My name is Tony Moran. My favorite movie is Two-Lane Blacktop, my favorite band is
Beach Boys, the first concert I’ve ever seen was Beach Boys. My favorite music is psychedelic
music and my favorite hero is Charles Manson.”
Uncle Charlie Huh? You guys ‘Slippies?’”
“The reason why my favorite hero is Charles Manson is because it’s this radical attempt
to overthrow the government and be fucking drawn to the dark side. We are drawn to the dark
side…”
“Tell me about drugs…”
“Our influence in music is not drugs it’s Dennis Wilson. I was raised on old garage music
from the 60’s. Our driving influence besides psychedelia is muscle cars. It’s gas. I come from
Detroit, Michigan. My dad, my mother, they worked for Rouge Steel. Sam our guitar player, his
dad worked for Ford. Our families love Detroit. We love steel, we love gas, we love oil. That’s
what we pride ourselves on. Drugs are a mere connection to a dangerous side of life that is
unknown. Yet it’s orgasmic, its fun, its something that we look forward to. Do you think Syd
Barrett’s music is channeled only through drugs or do you think he naturally had a poetic side to
him? Drugs have actually helped me. I should be prescribed to drugs. Everyone in my family has
been mentally ill. My mother is a schizophrenic. Her father was in a mental institution for 23
years ‘cause all he could say was ‘oh my god oh my god oh my god.’ My grandmother could not
say anything, she was in a mental institution too. Drugs are the only thing that balances me the
fuck out. I need that shit.”
“Have you read the Charles Manson “In His Own Words” autobiography?”
“That doesn’t mean anything to me because I take what other people say. My favorite
book about Charles Manson is The Family. It was this writer from Detroit from a band called The
Fuggs. Manson had mind control obviously. Mind control is what makes a band big. Mind
control is what makes a girl attracted to a guy. Mind control makes you want to snort more coke.
Mind Control makes you want to jerk off on a piece of paper. Mind control makes you want to eat
Pizza Hut. Taco bell is mind control. McDonalds is mind control. George Bush is mind control.
So you ask me is Charles Manson like George Bush? Yes Charles Manson is. Is he like Chuck E
Cheese? Yes he is like fucking Chuck E Cheese. Little kids are drawn to him. Is he like Bozo the
fucking Clown? He is. He wears the worst makeup, he’s the disguise you can’t understand...”
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[We take a break to load equipment into the van, regain our foothold, and continue jabbering
away. Tony jacks my tape player and our interview roles reverse…]
“…Keep it rolling, keep it rolling. Let me ask you a question. I want to know how you
feel spiritually, whether you left a girlfriend in Detroit, or whether you left your lagging job. How
do you feel about being this far from Detroit writing this book?”
“It still hasn’t even hit me yet.”
“Did the miles of being away from home affect you?”
“It’s all experience, how you take it in -- especially when I’m on Greyhounds for large
periods of time. I get so introverted that it will take me to that other place and will kick in a lot
of things. The longer I’m away the more I’m submersed in my own world, the more I’m able to
look outside myself…”
“How do you feel about the generation we’re living in? I read On The Road when I was
eleven. I didn’t really understand it then, like the aspects of homosexuality. You go to college and
they make you read Kerouac, so you have these preppy fucks that like it because it’s weird and
it’s a different world from theirs. Do you get intimidated now that Kerouac is this big Star Bucks
thing, and that some people out there might look at what you’re doing as some cheap trend? Or
are you trying to keep that outlaw spirit alive and don’t give a fuck what anyone thinks?”
“It’s not about any of that really. I live for the legends of it. I’m not doing this book to
make money or to be famous -- I’m doing it for myself. I never went to college, didn’t watch
television from ‘99 until 2002. I did nothing but read books, listen to music. Most everything
I’m into nobody else is. Since I write for so many magazines, I get sent shit from all over the
world, tons of these obscure releases from labels run out of basements from Denmark to Brazil.
So everything I’m into no ones even heard of. It’s not like I’m modeling myself after Hunter
Thompson. Even when I discovered Thompson that’s the type of stuff I was writing. I didn’t
even know who Kerouac was until I was 18. I found Fernando Pessoa three years after I
finished my first book, and it is very similar to ‘The Book of Disquiet.’”
“How do you feel about contradiction, and how do you feel about contradiction in your
writing? What I mean is right now we’re hanging out together in New Mexico, we’re smoking
weed, and we’re living a bohemian, artistic lifestyle. Let’s say you’re like Kerouac and in twenty
years, and the last meeting between Kerouac and Cassady. He’s still that traveling prankster
hippie, and Kerouac wasn’t. He changed as a person -- very Catholic, very establishment. Are
you gonna look back and care that you were at this point? Would you ever disregard your work?”
“I never disregard anything, not even my first book. It’s like a time capsule. I wrote it
because I was very angry and wanted to present this picture of someone age 16 to 18 that’s
seriously bad on drugs, that has a lot of mental problems. Really show that as it is, but in the
mode of ‘Catcher In The Rye’ where’s its more ‘between the lines.’ I think people didn’t really
understand that and took it quite literal. I read that book now and it’s like ‘ok this guy is an
asshole, I don’t agree with everything he says,’ but I know that was me at one point. You grow
and you evolve as a person. With this new book the major theme is one person escaping from
Detroit and finding others who’ve escaped from elsewhere too.”
“No one but myself and others from Detroit will understand where you’re coming from. I
travel with my band and at first I’m discouraged with Detroit, then I come to New Mexico and
I’m like, ‘Man, I love Detroit. I’m so lucky.’ With you it’s the same. You’re in the press, you’re
in this artistic capital of the world, and when you’re away from it…”
“Actually, I don’t ever want to go back there. It’s kind of a love/hate thing. I feel
disenfranchised by it because I was the big media hopeful for a lot of underground bands. And
when it came to the point where they were airing me on the radio, the magazines and
newspapers were promoting me -- everyone knew who I was and everyone’s eyes were on me --
they realized they really didn’t like what I had to say. And I alienated a lot of people with what
I’m all about. I go to Detroit and everybody knows me, but they all give me this fuckin’ look…
55
I don’t understand. My first book was nothing that different from what Henry Rollins or
William Burroughs did. Yet they wear t-shirts with those guys on them and then they look at
me like I’m an asshole. I threw shows with plenty of bands I’d promoted for years, and when I
finally got my own band they wouldn’t even watch us play. They’re like in the bars ignoring me
and ducking their heads so they don’t have to speak to me. They won’t even look at me.”
“How do you feel about mind control?”
“When I was doing A.K.A. MABUS my stage name was “The Propagandist.” It was
kind of a joke, because I feel that propaganda is everything and constitutes everything. When
you read something like ‘Mein Kampf’ there is a definite, mathematical code there. You have
to see it in that context.”
“Ever since this garage phase when The White Stripes blew up… Now everything’s
blown over, and then you left, now there are all these bands that are amazing and they get no
press. It’s Heroes & Villains, The Terrible Two’s, The Questions… You know that New
Mexico’s music scene is nothing like Detroit’s right?”
“When things were big it was a conglomerate of all these bands that never fit in that
kind of teamed up together. You had The Koffin Kats, The Amino Acids, you had Downtown
Brown…
“I see Downtown Brown who’s not even my type of music, and they’re way tighter than
half the bands I play with that get press. I like 60’s rock and reverb, Fender amps and shit. I
listened to Downtown Brown on Fourth Street because they played in front of my house and they
sounded amazing. Guess what? They get no press. The reason why they get no press is because
they’re not a style that’s big in Detroit. But you know what’s funny? They get more packed
shows than any of the garage bands I see. They get kids, non-scenesters coming in from the
suburbs… I can’t get press. No one can get press… Who do you think is the next biggest band in
Detroit right now?”
“There’s so many fucking good bands.”
“The Bird Dogs, they’re on our record label and I think they’re the best band to come up.
You know Drew Bardo from The Questions. Me and Sam think Drew’s one of the best guitar
players in Detroit. Drew man, he watches The Bird Dogs – and he’s a master guitar player –
Drew’s like, ‘I’ve never seen anything like that in my entire life.’ This guy from The Bird Dogs
name is Robbie Buxton, he’s the guy who produced our record. He has his own recording studio,
he’s got his own label. This guys’ new record has eighteen songs on it, he only played half of
them for me and it’s some of the best shit I’ve ever heard from Detroit. Mark my words – this
will be the biggest band to come out of Detroit in ages. “
“What’s The Bird Dogs guy like?”
“Everyone kept telling him that he couldn’t do it, his wife wouldn’t let him do it, so he
quit his job, divorced his wife and now he lives in his studio. And he just made one of the most
amazing records I’ve ever heard. You want to know the best part about it? All the bands – The
Terrible Two’s, X Records, even The Demolition Dollrods – they all want Rob to record them.
This guy single-handedly took over Detroit. Nobody can fuck with this guy.”
“As far as bands that I think are excellent? Human Eye. Tim Vulgar’s the shit.
Rubbermiilk Orchestra at their peak. That fucking bassist is one of the best players I’ve ever
seen in my life. He goes head to head with Les Claypool.”
“What do you think of The Piranhas?”
“I’ve never seen them. They were one of the bands I missed that I kick myself in the
ass over. I came from the mid-90’s at places like Pharaoh’s Golden Cup, The Mosquito
Club…”
“Tim Vulgar from Human Eye’s biggest influence is The Piranhas.”
“Didn’t that singer shove a rat up his ass?”
“They used to headline all the old White Stripes shows, they played all over the country.
Everyone’s waiting for the next Stooges and they were right there all along. That guy is the real