Ugly Things #40 is now available at www.ugly-things.com. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the magazine, it’s a biannual bible of musical history for both the obsessed and the dilettantes. This issue features the first ever interview with Stu Boy King, conducted by yours truly. Stu could not have been more generous with his time and patience for my carpet bombing of questions, and he had a ton of great stories from the GGC days. He also proved to have an amazing memory about stuff that happened 40 years ago.
There were a lot of nerves on both ends of the interview. I’ve never conducted one that wasn’t with a potential new hire, and Stu had never had the opportunity to tell his story. We both worked hard at getting this thing right, and I think the effort paid off in the results.
Here’s a teaser from the interview:
“Our only tour before the album came out was opening for Nazareth. We drove out to Winnipeg to open for them. Hudson and Ford were the middle act. I remember that it was a beautiful venue to play in. We did our sound check, and the acoustics in the place were perfect for the Dics. All the vibrato and feedback made us sound great, we couldn’t go wrong. Nazareth’s LP with ‘Love Hurts’ had just come out, and this was their shot at the big time. They didn’t want anything to interfere with their moment in the sun. We were loud and amped up, and sounding really good. We were jamming to ‘Diamond Dogs,’ me and Ross, and blowing it up. Nazareth saw this, and wanted no part of us trying to steal their thunder. They came in with a tight and precise package, and here come these young, fired up hooligans stirring the pot. We scared them, and got sent home after one gig!”
There are 8 more pages of this kind of insider ambrosia in the mag–order your copy now!
–Salvi C.
DFFD123
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Robbiecube
Salvi C.
Thunderbolt Patterson
The DFFD Blog 
Just ordered my issue and can’t wait to read it. Funny thing is I saw and spoke with Andy last week at the Flamin’ Groovies show in Brooklyn. Of course, they are the lead feature in the issue.
Interesting to hear SBK’s side of the saga. He finally gets a word in edgewise. He’s become a footnote (and undeservedly so) in the history of the Dictators. He was THERE, in on the creation of a classic album.
Nothing against the fine singing and drumming of Rich Teeter (RIP), but after reading this, I wonder just how much different “Manifest Destiny” would have been if SBK had still been manning the cans.