How did the son of a football player from the other side of the Hudson get swept up in the world of New York punk rock?

Well, I grew up, you know, 10 minutes outside of New York City.

So my whole life, even when I was a kid, my parents would take me in there.

And I remember walking down 42nd Street being like eight or nine years old in like the 60s with my father.

And I grew up, you know, in the 50s and 60s.

So...

I was always attracted to the counterculture.

Youth.

you

know and so and then at the time Lydia was dating Jim Thurwell, who just came over here.

And I really got to know her well when I actually drove her and Thurwell to Kim and Thurston's wedding in 1984.

And that's when I had borrowed my mother's car.

It was a really hot day.

So we're cruising up, smoking joints, had the AC on and Thurwell like puts in a cassette of his music, which I'd never heard before.

It was the record whole.

But being a musician and artist who jumps into all these different facets of different things, do you have a practice, a mindset, or anything you do to be able to adapt yourself to any of these situations?

moved to the city with the expectation of becoming a fine artist?

I... you know, being, uh, obsessed with, um, Andy Warhol and the factory scene when I was in high school, when I got out, I took a bunch of night classes at the school of visual arts and I learned how to silkscreen print among other things.

So then I got a job, um, as a fine art silkscreen printer.

And, uh, And that was like 1978, and that's when I moved to Manhattan.

And I had an illegal apartment on 7th Avenue and 23rd Street, and it was only like $115 a month or something like that.

But eventually, you know, I got kicked out.

But, yeah, so, you know, that's why I was there.

You're like, you know, as bad as those might have gotten at times, like, at least we weren't, like, punching each other in the van, right?

I realize it really ties in with you, what you're putting, what you just put out right now or are putting out on Barnum Records at Beach Bongo Bloodbath.

Beach Bongo.

Yeah, definitely.

And I only discovered it just a few years ago.

I saw that it existed and I'm like, oh, I got to hear this.

And then, you know, I think I listened to it somewhere online.

And then...

Did you always feel like that? Did you always gravitate to drums like that's what you were going to do? Were you going to play drums? No, you

Yes.

You know, I'm from that generation that was like, you know, totally moved by seeing the Beatles on Ed Sullivan and like when I was eight years old.

And that led me to take drum lessons for a year when I was 12.

And then when I, you know, I moved out of my house at 18 and I, you know, kind of left the drums behind and I was, you know, more pursuing a fine art career.

background kind of thing.

And so...

You know, I was always a big fan of music.

So what was behind that decision?

hour so there's a long period

a good 10 years or whatever maybe that i didn't wasn't touring and i played in two other bands but they you know like uh five dollar priest with ron ward from speedball baby i had a band with uh mark c from uh international shades but but then you know when linda died in 2012 that's when i got the call from lydia And I've been, you know, from the minute I met Lydia, which was, you know, I was already a fan.

But the very first show I played with Sonic Youth, which was November 3rd, 1982.

Wow.

Lydia came there and, you know, they say don't meet your idols, but, you know, we hit it off.

you know, and we've been tight ever since.

When Lydia introduces me to someone, she always says that, you know, Bob has seen me perform live more than any other human.

yeah

the standout are the covers for me you've you've transformed some of these covers like love comes in spurts mississippi queen one of my favorite songs ever four enclosed walls uh it is a i'd say unconventional for lack of better words but it's a very exciting listen every every second of these songs because you don't know which way they're gonna they're gonna turn um as a debut uh at this point in your career uh why covers why a largely covers record

well so from 2012 until 2000 and the beginning of 2023, I guess I was, you know, touring the world with Lydia lunch retrovirus.

And then after that with John Spencer and the hit makers and those, both of those things came to an end around the same time, which was good because my girlfriend's health took a turn for the worse.

So I had to take care of her.

And, um, and so, um, While I was doing that, someone asked me if I would perform a solo show.

So I took on the challenge and I kind of put this crazy percussion setup together and, you know, performed like that like four times.

And the covers that I picked for the album are mainly because...

You have this ability to sort of celebrate the hooks and the iconic parts, you know, like the cowbell, that great beat, and four enclosed walls you have to you celebrate it and you also kind of destroy it um and you kind of set it up on a pedestal and then you you know throw it and it's a i really i like that quality of of all these songs awesome when you choose a cover for one i guess how do you choose a cover and um um how do you choose to interpret it if you make that decision

the standout are the covers for me you've you've transformed some of these covers like love comes in spurts mississippi queen one of my favorite songs ever four enclosed walls uh it is a i'd say unconventional for lack of better words but it's a very exciting listen every every second of these songs because you don't know which way they're gonna they're gonna turn um as a debut uh at this point in your career uh why covers why a largely covers record

well so from 2012 until 2000 and the beginning of 2023, I guess I was, you know, touring the world with Lydia lunch retrovirus.

And then after that with John Spencer and the hit makers and those, both of those things came to an end around the same time, which was good because my girlfriend's health took a turn for the worse.

So I had to take care of her.

And, um, and so, um, While I was doing that, someone asked me if I would perform a solo show.

So I took on the challenge and I kind of put this crazy percussion setup together and, you know, performed like that like four times.

And the covers that I picked for the album are mainly because...

You have this ability to sort of celebrate the hooks and the iconic parts, you know, like the cowbell, that great beat, and four enclosed walls you have to you celebrate it and you also kind of destroy it um and you kind of set it up on a pedestal and then you you know throw it and it's a i really i like that quality of of all these songs awesome when you choose a cover for one i guess how do you choose a cover and um um how do you choose to interpret it if you make that decision

Was that a, was that a decision from the beginning that you didn't wanna have any guitars on it, or that just ended up that way?

Well, after, um, from 2012 until early 2023, I had been touring around the world and making records with Lydia, and then I c- hooked up with John Spencer again and did s- John Spencer and the Hitmakers and did a, you know, ended up doing, like, 221 shows with them.

And, um, and then all of a sudden both of those things came to an end and, uh, and it was good timing because once again, you know, my girlfriend was getting ill, so for the second time in my life I became a caregiver.

And, um, and so I had, you know, so I was, I couldn't travel for a while, and I'm lucky to have this, uh, practice space recording studio in, in town here that I share with my longtime friend, uh, Mark Sie from the band Live Skull.

And, you know, I did, like, four solo shows with this weird percussion setup and I, and m- and most of the songs on m- on the album I already did live.

So, um, I decided to, uh, lay down some tracks, and it wasn't even a conscious effort to make an album.

It was like I'd laid down the basic tracks and then I would listen to them for, like, three weeks and go back for another h- couple afternoons and add stuff and, and then eventually, you know, I said, "Hey, this could actually be an album," and, and, you know, and then, uh, luckily the label Bar/None has, is located in the same building as my practice space, so-

What interesting character he is.

Very, very mature.

So there was never any like, you know, bad blood or anything.

Even after when I wasn't in the band, the few months that I wasn't in the band, I was hanging around with them and stuff.

And so they replaced me with Jim Sklavounos and he recorded 98% of Confusionist Sex with them.

And I got on a couple songs, making the nature scene and the live I Want to Be Your Dog.

But then Jim split.

He only played like two shows.

So when did this project start to appear?

Tell me about the album.

Well, um, it wasn't, like, um, a planned thing really.

I mean, go back a little bit.

So, uh, in 2012, um, my wife had died earlier that year.

And in 2012, I got, you know, called up by, uh, Lydia Lunch, and I joined her band, uh, Retrovirus.

And, uh, you know, and we, we, you know, toured around the world, uh, for 11 years.

And, you know, it was great because I go way back with Lydia, and she's one of my favorite people.

And tell me, tell me about, um, who were some of your early musical influences?