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Tom Defile also left Saigon Kick early in their career.
He played in a band called Left For Dead, along with Jeff Blando
(now of Slaughter/Saigon Kick), drummer Bobby Borg (Warrant), and vocalist
Eddie Gowen (Queen Ann's Revenge).
The band did an independent record and then toured with Warrant and
other bands.
According to drummer Phil Varone, the two left back then because of the
direction the band was going. “We
were growing as people, as artists, and we just didn’t see eye to eye.
I mean that is basically what it boiled down to.
Matt and Jason were really coming to a wall when it came to
writing. It just wasn’t working creatively.”
Though Varone stayed in the band to play on both their Water and Devil in
the Details albums, he explained that the tension between him and Bieler
had grown after their 1995 Devil in the Details tour.
They decided that their “love/hate” relationship could permit
them to be friends, but they couldn’t work together any more.
So, he left to pursue other things, including the Prunella Scales
project with Rachel Bolan of Skid Row.
After the VH-1 special, Kramer and Varone, who were already working
together again in Soul Star, started talking about the old days, and
decided to put the band together again to have some fun now without any
pressure.
“Obviously, we are doing the first two records (Saigon Kick and The
Lizard),” said Varone. “Matt
was on the hit record (The Lizard). With Matt singing again we are able to do those two records.
Those were are best selling records, and we only thought it would
be right to have Tom in the band because Tom was on those first two
records,” he explained.
As for recording an album, Varone says that they haven’t thought that
far ahead. Though he says
they will be writing together again soon. And that Blando has been invited
to stay with the band as long as he wants to be a member.
“It would be cool to do another Saigon record with the three of
us. The first two records
meant a lot to us because it came from where our roots are, it reminded me
of the old days when we were twenty one and we worked during the day.
We went to our rehearsals and almost got mugged and heard gun shots
going on, and how bad we wanted to get out of there and get a record
deal.”
“Now we are getting back to the roots and remembering where we came from
and we want to make a nice cool, raw, Saigon record,” he continued. Our live set will be heavy, aside from the ballad “Love is
on the Way,” “God of 42nd
Street” is the lightest song in the set.
And since they started out young and have just turned 30, Varone
beilves that they still think we have a few years in them.
The
Missing Key
Though he was never really considered a member of Saigon
Kick, Robbie Gennet, a mostly self-taught pianist, performed live
with the band through the peak of their success.
He played at rehearsals for the Lizard album in early 1992 and
every show of the Lizard tour, including their North American
theater-tour in the spring of 1993, when they opened for Extreme.
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While playing in the shadows on the side of the stage, Gennet says he
learned a lot about humility, dignity, and pride.
“I was always off stage, sometimes to the point that I didn’t
have to even really dress up for the gig, cause no one saw me!”
Since his first professional gig with Saigon Kick, Gennet has toured twice
with Seven Mary Three, and he has also been working on some of this own
projects, including the Robbie Gennet Band, Rudy, and most recently his
solo effort entitled Pianarchy.
Pianarchy is Gennet’s first instrumental album.
It is improvised piano music, and there are no other instruments or
vocals. The album is on
Gennet’s own label, Niggle’s Music, and it can be purchased on his Web
site at www.pianarchy.com.
“It’s the first time I feel I have really represented myself on disc
as a piano player. I think
much differently when I am not singing.
My hands have a life of their own, though! It is unlike anything you’ve ever heard, and will last a
long time. There is no label
for what I do musically, which makes me feel really good about my music
and myself.”
Though he left the band after their Lizard tour, and never played on any
of their albums, he is still a Saigon Kick fan at heart.
“I think it’s great (that Saigon Kick is together again),
because I love the music on those first two records.
Jason’s harmonies were a huge part of the “sound,” and I can
only hope they (Phil, Matt, and Tom) will be able to reproduce them on
stage. I have not seen the
new tour yet, although I’d love to!”
| From
Rock to Cock Pop
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Described as everything from rock to cock pop, Bieler’s
latest vision Super TransAtlantic (STA) also features former Saigon Kick
guitarist Pete Dembrowski, former Extreme bassist Pat Badger, and Rick
Sanders on drums.
“STA is everything I have ever wanted in a band.
Pat, Ricky, and Pete are awesome musicians and most importantly
great people,” said Bieler.
He says that the band has been in the works for years, but as far
as he is concerned, it was completed when Pat Badger joined he band.
In fact, when Badger replaced their original bassist, 2G Large, who
had quit, they even re-recorded several songs from their debut album so
that Badger could play and sing on it.
Badger says he is happier now than when he was in Extreme.
“This band is such a breath of fresh air to me.
It has been great stepping into this situation.
Everyone has input and mutual respect for everybody else in the
band.” Though, he hasn’t
cut all ties. Paul Geary, who
was Extreme's original drummer, is now their manager.
Badger said that after spending most of his time on the road from 1989
through 1995, he took some time off “to get grounded again.” He said
“Being on the road can be fun, but it's not everything...”
“I was pretty burned out. After a few years away from music, I
started feeling like I really missed it and then this whole situation came
about.”
Badger’s opportunity came last spring when one of his old roadies
told him about Bieler's new band. “He
sent me some music and in my own mind, I joined before I even went down
and jammed with them,” said Badger.
According to Badger, this band is not really like Saigon Kick or Extreme.
He said, “there are certain elements that you may hear because it
is us playing and singing, but I haven't played it for anyone that said it
obviously sounds like our old bands.”
As for Extreme, they officially broke up in 1995, when they were working
on a new record and guitarist Nuno Bettencourt quit the band to do a solo
record. Badger said,
“Pretty soon after that, Gary (Cherone) got the call to go out and write
with Van Halen and that really put the period on Extreme.”
Now that Gary is out of Van Halen, he still doesn't see a reunion
happening anytime soon. “Everyone
seems pretty content doing their own thing now.” Right now, Cherone is
acting in and co-executive producing a movie called the Habit, and working
with his former bandmate, Bettencourt on a song for the movie.
Bettencourt has a solo career, their second drummer Mike Mangini
has been playing with Steve Vai’s band since the breakup, and Badger says he
is content with STA.
STA's first single Super Down was featured in the Universal movie American
Pie. It can be found on the
album’s soundtrack, and their debut album Shuttlecock will be released
on April 25th on Universal Records.
We can also expect to see them touring in late March or early
April.
Want to Know More
More information about Saigon Kick can be found on their official site at www.saigonkick.com
or check for tour dates at www.pollstar.com.
If you are a diehard fan looking for more Saigon Kick tunes to listen to,
Bieler has released many rarities and weird out takes have been released
as albums. Check out the
“Moments from the Fringe” or “Bastards”
albums, as well as his solo effort “Houston We Have a Problem.”
“Moments” and “Houston” are available at the BVB Music Web site www.bvbmusic.com,
and “Bastards” is available as an import from Japan.
You will soon be able find more info on the official Super TransAtlantic
site that will be found at www.supertransatlantic.com, and at the BVB
Music site at www.bvbmusic.com.
And more info about Robbie Gennet can be found at www.soundsbig.com,
www.slipstreampresents.com,
and www.rudymusic.com.
All photos taken
by Kara Phillips
except Saigon Kick group photo and STA logo. |
