When I met Andy McCoy for the first time in 89 backstage at Londons Hippodrome, he copped an attitude with me, so I asked the security staff to escort him from the dressing room. The second time, at my penultimate appearance with Kill City Dragons in Earls Court a year later, Dave brought a very-drunk Andy onstage to mangle Iggys TV Eye while I stood aside and watched. The third time was in a Kuwaiti hotel in the West End just weeks after I quit the KCDs. I was at loose ends, drifting around London, unsure of what to do next. While I found Andys playing and songwriting abilities mesmerizing, I chose to form Shooting Gallery with him because I shared Andys disdain for the things that stood in his way. Like Johnny Thunders, Andy was notorious for stretching the truth, telling different stories to different people in order to achieve his goals. In Hollywood, he promised fame and fortune to every kid on the Sunset Strip in exchange for help recording his demos. Once he got the cash from the record company, however, he always skipped town. When I asked Dave Zinc of Blackboard Jungle if hed consider jamming with us, he spent twenty minutes listing all the reasons why Andy is an asshole. To this day, every chatroom and blogsite dedicated to Hanoi Rocks, Shooting Gallery, Suicide Twins, Grease Helmet, et al., is rife with remarks from Andys former victims, asserting that, Yeah, I was almost the singer in Shooting Gallery, or Yeah, they only got Billy G. Bang because I turned them down. You can understand why it is I find this so funny. Since forming Shooting Gallery with Dave and Andy was enough to torpedo my career after more than fifteen years in the music business, I consider almost being the singer nothing less than a narrow escape. Did I ever tell you about the time Jean Beauvoir asked me to replace Wendy O. Williams in the Plasmatics? I almost did it, but I was too scared to get a boob job, and besides, I dont look good as a blonde...
Posted on: Sat, 22 Nov 2014 19:21:13 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015