GLASS HEROES
by Christer Davidsson, April 2006
Hi, how are you?
Keith Jackson: Doin' great Christer! Just a little knackered still from the Detroit/Chicago shows! LOL.
Glass Heroes are new to me but you're absolutely not a new band. You guys have been together for almost 16 years, right?
Yeah...1991 the group was formed. I had just moved to Phoenix from Detroit and ran into Steve Shelton & Steve Davis. They were already vets of the early punk scene...so it just seemed logical to start up a good street rock group with the two of them.
How do you keep a band alive for such a long time?
It's funny you should ask that... We are like brothers!! We've never even had a "fight" or "pissing match" with one another! Amazingly that is the truth. We all grew up on the same music and the same ideals. If there's any disagreements, it's opened up to everyone at the same time..no petty bullshit in this band. We keep eachother in check!! LOL
I don't really know a lot about the band, but I do know that you’ve got a new album out. Tell me about your history.
We are all in our 40's..and have been playing punk in our various home towns i.e.: Detroit , Brooklyn, Phoenix...for a very long time. Each of us have been in various groups over the years..but have maintained the Glass Heroes since the groups beginning. Before I moved to Phoenix..I had been booking shows for many of the old punk groups coming to Detroit: Uk Subs, Business, Chaos UK, Vibrators, Vice Sqaud, Anti Nowhere League,..and many others. This was in the early 80's up until I moved. So it just seemed natural to carry that on here in the desert....and believe me!!..there wasn't shit goin' on out here at all!!! This place is souless!!..so it seemed a challenge to become friends with local promoters to bring affordable gigs to a small fan base out here. It's gotten much better over the years.
You guys have been playing shows with a lot of classic bands such as Peter and The Testtube Babies, U.K. Subs and Sex Pistols. What was that like?
It's amazing!!..great folks the lot of them!! Here again, that stems from my days of booking many of the older groups..and attaching my band to those shows. That was all the Glass Heroes really wanted to do in the beginning.. open & support the traditional punk groups that came through. And god knows we have played with them all!!! LOL!!...but suddenly in the last couple of years....our name has reached to far corners..and there was a demand for our stuff!!..so we did it!!....It has been amazing!! Marky Ramone is playing the disc on his Sirius Radio show, as well as stations across the country in the states & europe!! We never thought we'd actually hit the airwaves...we were floored.
The Glass Heroes hosted a Joe Strummer memorial/benefit show in december last year. Tell me a little bit about the Joe Strummer Foundation.
I was lucky enough to have actually spent time with "THE MAN" on more than a few occassions..and it would take an entire issue just to talk about him. Simply put..he was about people...not about fame. He was unpretentious, he was a genuinely caring man...he embodied everything real & right about music of all genres. He is missed by those who knew him & those he influenced. I have often said that "The world is somehow smaller without him in it" period. We have been putting on Memorial/Benefits for Strummerville.com for the last three years..and each year they are getting larger!!..folks driving in from all over the place for the shows. The Joe Strummer New Music Foundation helps underprivilaged kids discover music & instruments, that otherwise they would not have access to...god bless 'em.
For how long have you been into punk and what made you start the Glass Heroes?
Well..growing up in Detroit..and hanging around AnnArbor Michigan in the late 70's made certain that I would be well groomed for playing my style of music. Spending time as a kid with the likes of Ron Ashton (Stooges & Destroy All Monsters) & an aging array of old late 60's punks, rockers & radicals!!..gave me a strong sense of what the music really was & became in that part of the country!! Punk & Rock are taken very seriously in the Detroit area..no "Fashionistas" as I call them....blood runs thick in the music community there. It's not like the West...the little fashion bands get weeded out quickly..thank god.
What do you think about the scene nowdays. Has it changed a lot since the band started out?
Indeed it has..but I try not to be too jaded..and I also give a listen & a chance to many of the new groups. Even though we are first generation punks..and are in our 40's..(I’m 43 & the youngest in the group)..lol..there are many bands out there trying to be seen & heard..and many of them are damn good!!..and actually have the right idea. As long as they don't become part of that DIY clique that has bastardized what we called punk rock...they will keep their integrity. Don't try to sell me that old I know everything & I was there bullshit!!
Too many of those Henry Rollins types out there...trying to convince a younger generation of how it was!! Maybe for him..the westcoast experiance was the end all...but each person who was there in those days has their own feelings and memories. They're all different. It wasn't all crazy,wild chaos..LOL...in fact..we all listened to a large section of groups from: Chelsea & the Ruts,the Only Ones & the Boomtown Rats..to the Germs,Wayne County the NY Dolls & Wire!! Everyone felt like we were in it together. That has been lost somehow..it's become to sectioned out now.
Youre from Phoenix. Is the scene different in Arizona, if you compare it to California, New York etc?
It's a strange scene here..but I must admit that it is somewhat more cohesive than many towns in the US of A.
When I talked to you about doing this interview you told me that you were also in The Busted Hearts. What got you into bluegrass?
I grew up on it!! A lot of it is being diluted now by the Jack White army...but like his family...allot of the Detroit auto workers came up from the southern united states to work in the plants & factories in the Motor City. My family all came up from Tennessee.
I grew up singing and playing traditonal bluegrass. My uncle Billy Powers played with Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs for many years..and was actually on that horrible episode of the Beverly Hillbillies!! LOL!! But anyhow, allot of my old detroit rocker friends have begun playing bluegrass. Dan Miller..who starred in "Walk The Line" as Luther Perkins, Johnny's guitar player, is an old friend of mine from Detroit..he has a band called Blanche. It's strange to see the transition..but for me it's just natural I 'spose.
[Note: Check out the interview with Busted Hearts singer Chip Hanna here]
Does playing in two bands give you any spare time at all?
Whats spare time?? :-)
Don't you run out of stuff to write about when you have been in a band for as long as you have?
Never!! There's always something in this fucked up world to write about..either the human drama or political drama...from the heart ya' can't tell lies ya' know??..I'll leave the sleeve wearing...stuff to Total Chaos.
Whats the next move for the Glass Heroes?
We have talked to Rat Scabies about possibly producing the next recording...& releasing it ourselves...we've got enough original material written to put out 8 cd's!!
I hope everything goes well for both the Glass Heroes and The Busted Hearts. Thank you for taking the time to do this interview!
It's been a pleasure!! Thanks for taking the time to spend with me.
Cheers!