{"id":471,"date":"2011-03-18T05:34:54","date_gmt":"2011-03-18T10:34:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=471"},"modified":"2026-08-14T12:30:23","modified_gmt":"2026-08-14T16:30:23","slug":"the-fleshtones-americas-garage-band","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2011\/03\/18\/the-fleshtones-americas-garage-band\/","title":{"rendered":"The Fleshtones: America\u2019s Garage Band"},"content":{"rendered":"

Self-proclaimed living legends, Brooklyn\u2019s Fleshtones are also affectionately known as America\u2019s Garage Band. Their updated take on r&b and garage styles of rock\u2019s greatest era has won them a cult of ardent and passionate fans the world over. Plying their trade since the late 1970s, the group has served up a consistent engaging catalog of albums. They had their brush with the big time in the early 80s while signed to IRS Records, and vocalist Peter Zaremba even hosted a show on MTV for a couple of seasons. <\/em><\/p>\n

Yet in 2011 they\u2019re still at it, producing the best music of their career. Their latest album <\/em>Brooklyn Sound Solution (YepRoc) finds them collaborating with Lenny Kaye. The Fleshtones are currently mounting a small-scale tour to promote that record, and they\u2019ll bring their \u201cSuper Rock\u201d to Asheville NC\u2019s The Admiral on March 24. I spoke by phone with Zaremba right before he headed to a show in Oklahoma City. — bk<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

Bill Kopp:<\/span><\/strong> On the earlier stuff, the sort of material collected on It’s Super Rock Time<\/em>, The Fleshtones<\/strong> sound somehow straddled the mid-sixties and the early 80s. But the new material on Brooklyn Sound Solution<\/em> has a vibe that bounces between pure 60s garage aesthetic and a cross between 60s and now<\/em>. It seems to me that you guys have a bottomless well of inspiration and that you could keep doing this forever if you wanted to. Is that the plan?<\/span><\/p>\n

Peter Zaremba:<\/strong> Well, we intend to. Yeah, we intend to keep doing this forever, because\u2026once you understand where this music came from \u2013 y\u2019know, what makes it click \u2013 you just keep dipping into that well. It\u2019s not like being a purist, you know, where you have to always do the song the way it\u2019s exactly supposed to be done. You run out of stuff that way. But if you\u2019re inspired, then you\u2019re doing a song from then<\/em> and making it now<\/em>. And I like<\/em> that.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

BK:<\/span><\/strong> As I’ve talked to people locally about the upcoming gig at The Admiral, some of them are puzzled at your choice of venues. One, they rarely have bands there at all. Two, the place holds, like, sixty people, and that’s only if you set all the tables and chairs outside. Yet, all that said, the aesthetic of the place seems completely consistent with the Fleshtones ambience. Can you tell me a little bit about the thinking that went into booking the show there instead of one of the several music venues here in town?<\/span><\/p>\n

PZ:<\/strong> First of all, the band did not personally book the show. That said, we\u2019ve never played in Asheville before. Not as far as I know. So, after thirty-five years, y\u2019know, this might be the natural place to play. And if you think that sixty people is all that can fill it, then y\u2019know what? Sixty people better show up! They\u2019ll be the luckiest sixty people in town that night.<\/p>\n

Like I always say, we play for the people that show up, not for the ones that didn\u2019t show up. It\u2019s like, we don\u2019t go, \u201cOhhh, there could have been fifteen hundred people,\u201d or something like that, and get all pissed off. First of all, we make sure that the people that do<\/em> come have the best time they\u2019ve ever had. Because we<\/em> want to have the best time we\u2019ve<\/em> ever had. So, it starts with us. No one\u2019s gonna get a walk-though. This might be a phone-in interview<\/em>, but no one\u2019s gonna get a phoned-in show<\/em> from The Fleshtones.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

BK:<\/span><\/strong> I watched the movie about you guys \u2013\u00a0 Geoffray Barbier<\/strong>\u2019s 2009 film Pardon Us for Living But the Graveyard is Full<\/em> \u2013 and that attitude comes through loud and clear.<\/span><\/p>\n

See that? The Fleshtones: stars of film and\u2026people write books about us, too.<\/p>\n

BK:<\/span><\/strong> Lenny Kaye<\/strong>‘s on the new album. I am guessing that you guys knew him back when in NYC. How did he come to the project, and in what ways did his presence create something different on the record?<\/span><\/p>\n

First of all, we\u2019ve always been big admirers of his. Not just because of the Nuggets<\/em> thing [legendary 2LP compilation of sixties garage\/psych singles that Kaye put together in the early 70s \u2013 ed.].\u00a0 But what he did with Patti Smith<\/strong> was so great. That changed things; that record [1974\u2019s \u201cHey Joe\u201d b\/w \u201cPiss Factory\u201d] was so different from anything that was being done then. He also did this compilation of Eddie Cochran<\/strong> stuff [Legendary Masters<\/em> from 1972] around that time. The first song that we did where we covered anybody else\u2019s material was \u201cNervous Breakdown,\u201d a song from that compilation.<\/p>\n

A mutual friend of ours named Phast Phreddie Patterson<\/strong> [co-producer (with the band) of the new Brooklyn Sound Solution<\/em>] \u2013 he\u2019s a DJ, and a soul and funk expert \u2013 encouraged us to link up with Lenny. He said, \u201cLenny\u2019s always been wanting to make a record with you guys.\u201d When Lenny came in, he brought in some material; these were things that he could never, ever do with Patti\u2019s group. Y\u2019know what I\u2019m sayin\u2019? This was stuff that he wanted to do. And I have to say that Keith<\/strong> [Streng<\/strong>, Fleshtones guitarist] was really generous artistically. Because he said, \u201cOkay, Lenny. You want to play these leads?\u201d So Keith gave Lenny the opportunity to play all this lead guitar that he\u2019s never played before, that Patti would never<\/em> let him do. So that\u2019s a major difference from anything we\u2019ve ever done.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

BK:<\/span><\/strong> I have Joe Bonomo\u2019s book Sweat: The Story of the Fleshtones, <\/em><\/span>America<\/span><\/em>\u2019s Garage Band<\/span><\/em>. It\u2019s huge, more than four hundred pages. You seem to attract creative people. You’ve had a book written about you, and the film. People love<\/em> you guys. I have my own ideas about this, but I’d like to hear yours. What do you think it is about the Fleshtones that grabs people?<\/span><\/p>\n

PZ:<\/strong> If I could compliment us — which I will<\/em> \u2013 I think we\u2019re kinda fresh; we\u2019re very real, y\u2019know? There\u2019s an incredible amount of energy, and enjoyment of life and music. And we\u2019re not studious about what we do. What we do is so natural. Almost anyone could do it, in a certain way. And that\u2019s very different from what other bands do: they make one or two albums, and [by] then everyone hates each other. They all become heroin addicts or whatever. And then they quit, y\u2019know? But after thirty-five years, we\u2019re still very glad of our fame: it\u2019s still gonna happen. We\u2019re still on the frontier.<\/p>\n

BK: With no disrespect to your earlier material, I think you guys are at the top of your game right now. <\/span><\/p>\n

PZ:<\/strong> No disrespect is taken, because I agree with you one hundred percent. With a lot of the older stuff, a lot of the charm was its amateurishness. It had an almost a childlike simplicity, you might say. Now, we\u2019re more confident in our playing, and we\u2019re more confident in the studio. We don\u2019t get bamboozled by fast-talking producers, fly-by-night production deals, and dazzling high technology. Blinking lights in the studio\u2026most of that stuff doesn\u2019t do anything, anyhow. And a lot of what it does<\/em> do is negative, as far as creating live, fresh-sounding music. You can\u2019t get dazzled by all those blinking lights and stuff; we know how to tame<\/em> that stuff, y\u2019know?<\/p>\n

We\u2019re already talking about doing a newer album. But we\u2019ll let people digest this one first. [Brooklyn Sound Solution<\/em> was released on March 15 2011 — ed.]<\/p>\n

BK:<\/span><\/strong> Throughout your recorded history, you’ve been one of the few bands to largely avoid trendy production tricks; even on the 80s albums, there’s no Phil Collins<\/strong> bullshit gated-reverb drums on Fleshtones records. Has it been a conscious effort to avoid those kinds of things?<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

PZ:<\/strong> It\u2019s down to an approach that doesn’t consider it. Although, yes, we\u2019ve often had to consciously avoid it. We\u2019ve had our battles with producers and engineers, sometimes to the point of violence. But that stuff has never been a part of anything we\u2019d like. We don\u2019t want to be responsible for recordings that don\u2019t sound the way we like.<\/p>\n

Of course, everyone makes mistakes. We\u2019ve had some, some experiments that didn\u2019t quite gel. That happens. But the fact is, I\u2019m pretty much proud of everything we\u2019ve ever done. And I don\u2019t think there\u2019s many bands that can say that: \u201cOh, that\u2019s from our New Romantic period,\u201d or something like that. Y\u2019know what I\u2019m sayin\u2019? We didn\u2019t go through a New Romantic period.<\/p>\n

BK:<\/span><\/strong> Thank god!<\/span><\/p>\n

PZ:<\/strong> Believe me, we were under pressure to do so. The record company was definitely pressuring us to go that way.<\/p>\n

BK:<\/span><\/strong> With the hair, and the\u2026oh, god.<\/span><\/p>\n

PZ:<\/strong> \u201cCan you guys do something with your hair or something? Dye it blond, or white, or somethin\u2019\u2026\u201d I dunno.<\/p>\n

BK:<\/span><\/strong> Scary.<\/span><\/p>\n

PZ:<\/strong> It is scary.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

BK:<\/span><\/strong> I know the word is a clich\u00e9, but you guys are real survivors. Why do you think you’re bigger in <\/span>Europe<\/span> than here in the <\/span>USA<\/span>?<\/span><\/p>\n

PZ:<\/strong> Okay. You know, this is an interesting question, and it does have to do with the attitudes of the public. In Europe, in a lot of the countries they don\u2019t understand they lyrics. So they\u2019re just going on feeling. Y\u2019know, the feeling of the music. And if they get the emotion from the feeling of the songs, then they stick with it. If they like something, they tend to like it pretty much forever.<\/p>\n

Now, in this country — and I think it\u2019s a great thing about this country \u2013 this is the home of rock\u2019n\u2019roll, and we tend to churn this stuff out. And people always want somethin\u2019 new, right? Now, at this point, we\u2019ve been at it thirty-five years. And we did go through a phase of some popularity in the early 80s. Those people still like us, but it\u2019s not like we\u2019re gonna be the new thing.<\/p>\n

But the paradox is, ninety-nine percent of the American listening public has not been exposed to The Fleshtones, so we still could<\/em> be the next new thing. At this point, we could actually be the new thing.<\/p>\n

BK:<\/span><\/strong> Look at all the bands bubbling under now that clearly draw from the same well of inspiration. You guys have influenced all kinds of bands.<\/span><\/p>\n

PZ:<\/strong> We\u2019ve positively influenced all sorts of bands. I don\u2019t even want to embarrass myself by saying it. But they\u2019re legion. There are many artists we\u2019ve influenced. And for the good!<\/p>\n

BK:<\/span><\/strong> What do you see as the differences between playing your music to audiences now as opposed to doing so thirty-odd years ago?<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

PZ:<\/strong> Remarkably, there\u2019s very little [difference]. Thirty-five years ago, people really<\/em> didn\u2019t know what to expect. We still get the same thing. Like last night, we were playing and a couple of kids were goin\u2019 crazy dancing and stuff. That kind of stuff, those are good things. And those cool things don\u2019t change. The audience may be younger or older, but they still get down. And that\u2019s a wonderful thing.<\/p>\n

BK:<\/span><\/strong> I\u2019ll see you next week at the show.<\/span><\/p>\n

PZ:<\/strong> Yes, we\u2019ll see you next week. And all the guys in the band said to say hello. And you\u2019d better warn the people: if they don\u2019t come, we\u2019re not comin\u2019 back. [laughs] This might be their golden opportunity. This is like buying stock in GE a hundred years ago. Go to this show.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Self-proclaimed living legends, Brooklyn\u2019s Fleshtones are also affectionately known as America\u2019s Garage Band. Their updated take on r&b and garage styles of rock\u2019s greatest era has won them a cult […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-471","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-interview","cat-41-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=471"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32214,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471\/revisions\/32214"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}