Hi Paul, it’s a pleasure to interview you.
First of all, it’s a great to meet a person who rode the wave of the Rock-n-Roll in the 80’s and has lived to tell the tale.
I would like to ask to start with a few questions about the most notorious band you were in, The Vipers.
I heard your most famous album Outta the Nest! (1984) was re-released on vinyl in Europe in 2014 and 2021. Not once but twice!
#1: It seems that the band’s music has outlived the band, what do you think attributes to that?
People love the songs and our energy. We were not a retro band. We were the start of the new ‘60s sound in a bold way in the late 1970s early 1980s. We grew up with that sound. We hated prog excesses and wild guitar solos. We were into SONGS. As with our punk brethren, we were both into the same thing from slightly different angles. Totally in tune together.
#2: Tell me, will the Vipers ever hit the stage again?
Last time we did was in 1999. No, not ever again. As the founder though, I reserve my right to reconstitute The Vipers on any form I desire. I’m just not into it. I’m courting deals. Nothing so far.
#3: Which band member drank the most? Who was best behaved?
Drink, drugs, sex, musick, magick. We were deep divers.
#4: Tell me any wicked story from your Rock-n-Roll touring glory days that still makes you laugh to this day?
OK. We had a driver from Staten Island. We loved him. He was a great pal and kept us on schedule. We were somewhere deep in northeastern Ontario playing a gig. He came to me and said “I met Bambi, the girl of my dreams. Can I just leave the pack up ‘til the morning and finish up by like 10 am. The club let us store our gear and agreed to it so I said yes.
In the morning, I never saw a happier guy. Bambi was with him to meet the band. She was 6’ tall and a totally ripped body building woman. He was about 5’4” and stocky. What a pair! We were really happy for our little friend. Be found Bambi, the girl of all his dreams. So, we started calling him Thumper.
He’s still Thumper.
Is that funny enough?
#5: 3 of the most influential guitar players that you look up to even now?
A bunch. Jeff Beck tops my list. My hero. My friend. At Columbia Records we bonded.
Grammy Nomination for the Box Set Design for Aerosmith “Box of Fire”
#6:How did you start producing?
I came from a musical family. My dad was a band leader, conductor, arranger, reed player and later Doctor of Music. My uncle ran the chitlin circuit out of NYC & NOLA during the ‘50s and ‘60s. He knew everyone in the record business.
I also saw the Beatles on Ed Sullivan in 1964 when I was 6. I was hooked. I kept seeing “Produced by George Martin” on Beatles records and enquired about what that was. Sure I wanted to be in a band, but I actually wanted to make records more.
I played around with reel-to-real tape recorders, read up on Les Paul and got his records. That helped a lot!!! I recorded my own songs and my friends up through high school and made some really great tapes.
When it was time for college in 1975, there was only one accredited school for the music business in the world, College for The Recording Arts in San Francisco. Run by impresario Leo de Gar Kulka. I went there. Check him out. He did “Tequila” in his studio! I went to school at his studio, Golden State Recorders.
I graduated at the top of my class and received a Bachelor of Music Sciences degree as a recording engineer, with a double minor in Music Business and Music Law.
I got a four year degree in two years.
When I moved back to NY, I got an apartment in the East Village and began working in recording studios as an assistant engineer, then becoming a primary engineer. I did lots of sessions for ads and albums. Grace Jones, Spyro Gyra, all sorts of acts – lots of punk bands, lots of jazz, even classical sessions with live piano and orchestra.
I also started a band. I accrued lots of studio time and recorded my own numbers as well as bringing punk bands in to record them as a producer. I even got my own record deals on the strength of my material and my recordings, wrote half of Madonna’s first album (she’d deny it though it’s true). I was right in the middle of everything. It was a great time to do what I was doing!
That’s my trajectory. Of course I met all my heroes along the way. Working in the top studios in NY and they liked me. It’s been a great journey. To be continued!
Produced by Paul M. Martin
#7: Is there a first time story in producing?
Yes. I was outside Bearsville Studio and Albert Grossman came out and I asked to come in. I was welcomed into a session that was being produced by Todd Rundgren. That was after the Tony Orlando session. The session was for “Knock Three Times”. I was there when they overdubbed the pipe “donk donk”.
My first time in a real studio was through Ozzie Cadena. Ozzie got me into Bell Sound Studios for a Tony Orlando session.
#8: Ever been bit by a snake? (No need for names lol )
No, but I had a python crawl into my sleeping bag and molt one night in Alphabet City.
#9: One rock-n-roller you hung out with that you thought was better than the news made them out to be.
I’ll tell you stories of being in public. Nothing private.
I don’t know about the press. I used to go to Curry Mahal on Second Avenue at 6th Street for years with a certain Joey. He’d always order the vindaloo and I’d say “that’s too hot, you’re nuts”. He loved it. He would blow his schnoz into the linen napkins. The owner HATED THAT! He thought Joey was a heathen. I would assure him that he loved the food and was a sweet guy, which he was.
Then there was the time I was sitting in Washington Square Park after dark, waiting for my girlfriend to get out of class at NYU. I had a joint and a quart of beer in a brown bag. It had been a long day. All of a sudden someone caught my eye that I’d worked with a the recording studio. He came up and asked for a poke. We were having a great time. He invited me to join him. He was substituting on bass at The Bottom Line with Tower of Power. It was Jaco Pastorius.
OK you’ve heard enough.
#10: If there was 1 thing you could bring from the past into the present? What would it be?
Love and unity without greed or avarice.
#11: Your favorite guitar in your collection?
Not possible to answer. Every guitar is its own mood. My inspiration comes from following my moods. I have a bit less than 30 guitars. I bring out a new one every couple of weeks. Sometimes one guitar really grabs me and I’ll leave it out. I’m stuck on my Epiphone Coronet right now. That thing is a beast!!!!
#12: Any recently produced tracks you are proud of?
Yes. Dmitry Wild’s “Fiery” is great. Also the first album by a group called Adventure. I’ve been working on some great music lately.
Produced by Paul M. Martin
#13: What’s next? New Releases? Something you look forward to this year?
The release of The Vipers’ How About Some More in Europe around Christmas has sold out of LPs and CDs. It can be found digitally on Bandcamp from Area Pirata records. Also on Bandcamp is The Vipers’ Outta The Nest! on Teen Sound Records. We always did well in Europe, Canada, Mexico, everywhere but home since 1989.
I am doing some interesting projects. One with female vocalists, another one of my own, and I always make time to work either friends. Making recordings into something that sounds like a record is my thing.
Cheers!
