CHARLIE FARREN 8/04/99 Phone Interview

By Mark Blair

******PART TWO******

MB: I guess Farrenheit or Enemy was your next band after the Project?
CF: After the Project, I signed with Ahmit Erdiget but Atlantic was interested in me before I joined Joe's band. After the Joe Perry band, I immediately signed a deal with Ahmit on Atlantic. The stuff I was doing was like the acoustic, swingy type music that I'm doing with the "Deja Blue" record. Ahmit dug it, but at that time the radio was playing stuff like Flock of Seagulls. Y'know, that English synth-pop thing? So Ahmit was saying "We can't get this played; we need to wait until radio is right for it." But I wanted to get a rock band together. So David (Hull) and I started the Enemy and we were basically looking for a format.
Like I said before, I hadn't been playing guitar that long, so I thought I needed a guitar player and maybe a keyboard player. So we did that. These guys were my friends and they were good guys. But we were basically fishing for a format. David and I would write together and at one point we just said "Wait a minute, this sounds great just like it is." We'd write, we'd throw a drum machine on it, and we just said "This sounds fine; we should just be a three-piece." At that point we found a drummer who would work for a three-piece thing and we did the Enemy for a while, but it was more of a "What do we do now? How do we do these new songs? What format should we use?"
We played around for a while and then we said "Hey, we should do a trio." We listened to a bunch of drummers, we found John Muzzy, and we got signed immediately. In fact, we got signed before we even did gigs. That was just a thing that was ready to pop. That was a really, really good band.
I mean, that was a strong band live. The second Farrenheit record is a lot like the second Joe Perry record in that it's really a live-sounding thing. Have you ever heard it?
MB: I didn't realize there was a second Farrenheit record.
CF: Yeah, but it didn't come out because we lost the use of our name. However, we're going to be releasing it this December. We're working to license the first Farrenheit record; they're going to release both of them. But we're definitely releasing it. It's just a smoking record and that's the way Farrenheit sounded live: me, David, and Muzz through gigantic amps. It's really, really good. (laughs) You would dig it!
MB: I remember hearing the songs on the radio.
CF: We had "Lost in Loveland," "Fool In Love," and "Bad Habit." That was a great record. Keith Olsen produced it. He had produced all of the big Foreigner, Fleetwood Mac, and Pat Benatar records. He was super hot. It was a big win for us to get him. It was a traditional straight-ahead approach, but definitely a hit record approach. When we took that out on the road as a trio (there was saxophone, keyboards, vocals and stuff on the record), we really toughened up the sound a lot. So the second record was going to be our written-on-the-road record.
MB: I remember hearing those songs all the time on the radio, come to think of it.
CF: Yeah, we did good. I mean, that was more successful than the Joe Perry thing in terms of launch. But the Joe Perry Project was special because it was my first thing, and also I got to meet all these rock stars. It was the first peek behind the curtain. Once you peek behind the curtain, you realize that these are just guys rying to do their best. Before that, it was really kind of a "gee-whiz" thing. But after a while, it's just a job. Even playing Worcester Centrum/Madison Square Garden-type places is nice, but it's just a gig. I don't mean that in a bad way, but it's just not that different from playing any other gig.
MB: The "awestruck feeling" just wears off after a while?
CF: Yeah, so the first time I went to play in a club, I was thinking "Whoa, man-we're playing in a nightclub!" The first time I was playing some place that's NOT high school dance seemed like a big deal. For instance, playing the Channel in Boston which is the biggest club in Boston-THAT is a big deal.
Then the first time you play the Orpheum, you're thinking "Whoa!" Y'know, it's a big deal. But then after a while, those places like the Orpheum seem like little cozy places. You're playing big 20-30,000 seat places and it's normal. It's just what you do every day. So when I first started playing with Joe, it wasn't normal for me. It was a big, big deal. I look back at those days and, although there were issues, I must say that I remember the issues less and I remember the experience in a much more positive way.
MB: Any war stories on the road that you can talk about? Any crazy moments?
CF: (laughs) Lots of crazy moments. I remember one time when we were down South. We got a bottle of flash powder--y'know, like they make the explosions on the stage? Now you're supposed to use a pinch of this stuff, right? But we filled up (I think it was) a Marlboro box with it! This stuff is like gun powder. We filled a Marlboro box with it and threw it in a trash can. We put a long fuse on the end of it, so it took a long time. Then we're sitting on the hill waiting. In the meantime, ZZ Top was doing a soundcheck in the building. So a long time went by and we're just kinda shooting the bull. It was me, Joe, David--I don't even think Ronnie was there--and maybe one of the guys in the crew. I guess we just forgot about it.
A long time went by--we were waiting and waiting--and we start to talk. Anyway, all of a sudden, this thing went "BOOM!!" It shot up and made this huge mushroom cloud! It must've been 35 feet in the air! Huge! It just was the deepest, lowest rumble. Keep in mind that ZZ Top is inside doing a soundcheck at the time this happens. All of a sudden, the doors to this building fly open and everybody runs out screaming "WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED OUT HERE?!?" Everybody heard it inside as ZZ Top was cranking! And we were thinking "Oh Jesus!" We had no idea it would be that big. Y'know, we thought it would go "Boom" and we'd laugh. That was wild. Yeah, we generally had some fun.
At one point we had our plane that we traveled in. I mean, we get on the road and it just seemed like there was always antics, right? Joe had a funny run-in with the Kinks one night. (laughs) Joe's a pretty ballsy guy and definitely doesn't take sh*t from anybody.
MB: What's the story behind Joe & The Kinks?
CF: I guess Joe had a history with the Kinks when the Kinks were opening shows for Aerosmith. Apparently, Aerosmith had opened some shows for the Kinks when they were starting outand the Kinks were somewhat less accomodating. It is very touch to play in these big rooms and be effective without some level of cooperation from the headliners. Often the opener gets the stage 10 minutes before the doors and literally throw their gear onstage and hope that it works...so a feud started that continued later when Aerosmith got big and the Kinks opened for Aerosmith...
So now JPP gets some dates with the Kinks who have resurrected their career with an unexpected hit...Although we really needed the gig, none was in the mood to take any deliberate , gratuitous crap, and there was plenty of that. Joe got onstage and had some interesting comments that the Kinks didn't appresiate. The animosity spilled over into the backstage.. It was fun, team-building experience. Although we could've used the gig I remember it with a grin.
MB: What about jamming with other bands? Did you do any of that on the road? I remember Joe played with Cheap Trick on one of their songs.
CF: Yeah, he did. I remember one night he did that. Joe was friendly with them. I mean, this was Joe's band, right? He was the star of the thing. Everywhere we went, everybody knew Joe. So he did stuff like that. I don't really remember doing anything, although I do recall playing a little bit with Randy Rhoads who was the guitar player in Ozzy's band. I remember being impressed because I saw Tommy Aldridge (Ozzy's drummer) checking out Ronnie Stewart as we were playing. I thought Tommy Aldridge was a really good player.
MB: So you guys opened for Ozzy?
CF: We opened for Ozzy and Def Leppard opened for us. Imagine that! I mean, it was like a three-band bill.
MB: (laughs) That's wild.
CF: I can remember thinking how cool it was that Tommy would come out and watch the set. Ronnie was pretty powerful, but so was Tommy Aldridge. I remember meeting Randy Rhoads--who was a pretty innovative guy at the time--and doing this little soundcheck backstage, playing with him and thinking that was really cool.
In Farrenheit, we did more of that. Boston use to come up and jam a lot. Tom would come up and play organ with us at soundcheck a lot. Sometimes ZZ Top would jam with us. ZZ Top was very, very cool.
MB: This must've been a total rush for you, meeting these people?
CF: Yeah, Rush-we played with Rush. And it was a "rush." I remember Rush was great. They really played well. Both guitarists played pedals. They really made a lot of sound for three guys. We played a bunch of nights with them at Alpine Valley. I just remember thinking "Wow, look at all these people." It was lots of nights and it was sold out. That's kinda like their hometown area.
MB: Yeah, I think that was at their prime, too, when they put out "Moving Pictures."
CF: Yeah, and I can remember thinking "Wow, these guys are right at their stride." But we had good nights, too, at those gigs with Rush. I also think that Rush had a history with Aerosmith. I remember Joe saying, "Hey, get ready guys because Aerosmith was not really nice to Rush, so these guys might not be really nice to us." But you know what? It was almost like they went out of their way to be nice to us. I thought that was really classy.
MB: I can definitely say Rush opened for Aerosmith because I have a poster from the 70's.
CF: Yeah, I think Aerosmith made Rush's experience very trying. I wasn't there so I can't say, but I think that as Joe explained it, there was reason for concern about how we would be treated. And then they treated us great, I remember thinking, "Hey, these guys are happenin', these guys are good."
MB: So have you been in touch with any of the guys? Have you been in touch with Joe at all lately?
CF: I wouldn't say lately. From time to time...very rarely. Joe's a good guy. I had fun times with him. But he's not really a chummy guy. Plus, we're just in difference circles, right? I mean, I'm completely self-absorbed. People ask me what I like to listen to. I say I don't listen to anything. I listen to my stuff. (laughs) I put on my headphones and I work on my music. So they ask me what I do for fun. I tell them that IS what I do for fun. What I do for fun isn't put on other people's music. I never was into that. I mean, I was when I was trying to learn how to do it. But now I just focus on my own music. Besides that, I have kids now and Joe has his own life. Also, when we split, it probably wasn't the most jolly of times, right? But I'm in touch with David and Ronnie. I'm also in touch with the guys from Boston and J. Geils Band. I mean, I know all of those guys. However, the Aerosmith guys are constantly busy and touring, plus they have families.
MB: But you're on good standing with everybody, in other words?
CF: Yeah, but I'm not really very in-touch with Joe, though.
MB: So was your leaving the band a hard time for Joe? Was there a bad falling out or was it fairly mutual?
CF: Well, in retrospect, it got to the point where I just said "You know what? I've got to go." I didn't feel like the band was going to grow. I felt like the band was treading water, waiting for Aerosmith to get back together. So I just made the decision that I was going to leave. David said "Hey, yeah-you know what? I think it's time for me to leave, too." Now as it turns out, Joe was looking to get back into Aerosmith; but at the moment, I think he wanted to keep his band together. I think that maybe Joe found my leaving the band to be embarrassing. I don't know. Maybe he felt that way, but it was definitely time for me to leave. I don't think there was anything carried over aside from the moments of drama around leaving and getting my gear. In retrospect, it doesn't seem like it was that big of a deal. It was a much bigger deal for him to be leaving Aerosmith. But I felt like he was going through a divorce and it was a complicated time for him. We weren't working that much. We weren't working on another record and CBS was not looking at the Project as though they had any interest in it. I just said "You know what? Joe's going to go back with Aerosmith and my time would be better spent trying to put my career together." David felt the same way, so we went and started a group. David was friendly with Joe longer than I was and actually, David knew Steven from way back. So I wouldn't say David's in close touch with Joe, but he's been in closer touch than I have. I talk with David all the time, so Joe's still around. I think they're done touring now.

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