13 QUESTIONS WITH KEVIN DuBROW (formerly of QUIET RIOT)

Kevin DuBrow, formerly of QUIET RIOT, is about to set off on a solo tour to promote his debut solo disc, 'In for The Kill' which is being released by Shrapnel Records in May. Now, Kevin has done a TON of interviews (some of which are amazing...*cough*...metal sludge...while others flat-out suck...*achoo*...take your pick), so we debated very seriously whether or not to even get in touch with him, because ...well, quite frankly... we didn't think we were going to be able to ask anything terribly compelling. However, we did some digging, and managed to put together a non-awful batch of questions for this veteran hard rock singer who used to brag about making $500,000 a year, and by the late 1990's, landed himself a gig as a Las Vegas morning show co-host, making less than $25,000 per year...as well as a guy who has been ruthlessly tormented about his hair (or lack thereof), and despite walking out mid-tour on his Quiet Riot bandmates, still manages not to say anything terribly nasty about any of them.

Andre... take it away!

Steve C: You're about to head out on tour to promote your first solo disc, In For the Kill which features covers of 70's rock tunes, and which will be released on Varney's Shrapnel Records. With live audiences diminishing steadily (especially for the kind of music you do...and considering how much QUIET RIOT played the clubs in the past few years), and the amount of venues decreasing, what level of success are you looking for with the new disc/tour (i.e.; if the disc sells 4000 copies, and 100 people a night come to see you, is it going to bum you out, or is that satisfying)?

Kevin DuBrow: The album turned out better than anyone had hoped for. Jeff Martin is an amazing drummer and the guitarist Kevin Curry really gave me that old school Gibson through a Marshall style. He is terrific. Michael Lardie is a great producer and I enjoyed the entire process. I’ve been friends with Mike Varney at Shrapnel records for over 20 years. He gave me the chance to do something I’d been talking about doing for a long time. It’s a real change from working with a record company of cutthroat assholes to working with someone like Varney who truly loves the music. No matter how many copies it sells, I’m proud of it and I enjoyed making it. I’m looking for the opportunity to do what I love: -singing and entertaining. I don’t have any unrealistic expectations about the possibility of huge success again. I just want to have a good time playing music with nice people who are playing as a unit and doing it for the right reasons-to rock.

SC: You hosted a morning show with Craig Williams at KOMP 92.3 FM in Vegas prior to reuniting with QUIET RIOT (a testament to the horrible paychecks people in the radio business collect). Keeping in mind the radio pay scale, if the music thing doesn't work out, would you consider it again, or is it time to look for custodial work?

KD: First, it wasn’t just because of the low money that I left KOMP. The general manager was a total idiot! Out of all the guys on my show only Andy Kaye was a real person. There were people there I really liked such as Big Marty, Demo Dave and Bruce Allen. But there were too many doofuses for me! I really liked doing radio and would do it again if the circumstances were right. As far as custodial work goes it seems that other people have had to clean up my messes for too long, so maybe it’s my turn! (Something tells me he'll make more on his solo tour than with a radio gig. Radio pay is el sucko grande)

SC: As long as we're talking about radio, what do you think about the FCC's current witch hunt against indecency and against the 'shock jocks' like Stern, Opie and Anthony, Bubba, Mancow, etc.?

KD: I think that it’s a shame that they used Janet Jackson’s nipple as an excuse for this whole witch-hunt. Maybe with a democratic president this will all change.

SC: In other interviews, you have mentioned that you feel that the major record labels are getting just what they deserve with all of the consolidation being brought on by internet downloading and peer-to-peer sharing (a sentiment shared by many guys in your line of work, I have found). When Quiet Riot was enjoying success in the mid-1980s, how savagely were you guys being raped financially by your label? Was there ever a point at which you all said, "Hey, we should be making a LOT more cash than this. What's going on?"

KD: I said it after my first royalty check. The label president Spencer "let me fuck you over" Proffer was well known for being a first rate asshole so this came as a surprise to no one. We were being raped pretty hard from the beginning.

SC: Even though the QR back catalog still sells fairly consistently, I've read that you aren't collecting royalties from them? What kind of shady deal did you guys sign?

KD: See the last answer. But having said that, if we hadn’t signed that satanic record deal with Spencer "I want your first born" Proffer we may have never had the opportunity to have the success we had.

SC: For a guy who spent may years touring with a rock band, and playing with naked ladies, you've probably become pretty desensitized to nudity and adult content. What kind of porn is Kevin DuBrow watching these days? Are we talking about straight-up Jenna Jameson porn-star smut, or bootleg German billy-goat snuff? What are we going to find if we pick through your smut collection?

KD: Can you say Fisting.com? (Yes, we surely CAN! That's great. Kevin digs the FISTING!)

SC: Rather than ask you "What's up with your hair" for the thousandth time, I'll ask this: Glenn Hughes told us he's donated a lot of his old hats to you (and that man has a lot of weird-looking hats). Now that it's fashionable to be a bald white guy, would you ever consider ditching the extensions/weave, shaving off all your hair completely, and doing the 'bald-guy-with-a-cool-floppy-hat' look?

KD: Glenn is the best singer on the planet and wears a lot of hats to stop any overload of his talent from flying away. Sometimes when he takes his hat off I stand close so maybe some of the magic will land on me. Asking Glenn about my hair is like asking Mozart about shoe fashion. The guy is so far above the rest of us musically that it makes no sense! As far as my hair-raising experience, I think the only cool looking bald guys are Patrick Stewert and Sean Connerey. My face needs as much covering as I can give it. (That's a roundabout way of saying "Leave my weave alone, man")

SC: Multi-part question: The night following the tragic Rhode Island fire that killed 100 people at a GREAT WHITE show, you guys played a small strip club/rock club in Morristown, NJ. I know because I was there, and saw the show. Tell me about the events of that day leading up to the show. Were you guys ever considering not doing it? Did the club manager/owner read you the riot act about pyro? Was there a debate about whether or not you should mention anything while on stage? What are your feelings about blowing off a ten-foot tall sparkler on stage in a small club in front of 300 people?

KD: Everyone was well aware that Quiet Riot never used pyro so this subject never came up. The events of that day affected us deeply; especially myself and Frankie Banali. Had the promoter asked us not to perform we would have honored the request understanding the situation. But the matter never came up so it wasn’t our decision to make. Fans had purchased tickets and we had a responsibility to those fans. The first time I went into that club in Rhode Island I said to Frankie “This place is a fire trap!” I don’t have enough information about the events to do any finger pointing and it isn’t my place to do so. But anyone who thought that lighting off Pyro in that place was safe, was either negligent or really, really fucking stupid. I can tell you this; on my new album “In For The Kill” ex-Great White keyboard player Michael Lardie co-produced with me. I got to know him very well, and he is a really wonderful human being. He has never said anything to me about this but my opinion is that had he still been in the band he never would have allowed them to use any pyro.

SC: During your VH1 Behind the Music special, there was a snippet of a home video where you were bouncing around naked in a motel with a young lady. Would you ever consider capitalizing on any of your videotaped sexual exploits (a la Vince and Tommy)? There's decent money in smut if you already have a name for yourself.

KD: Hard to say. Do you think anyone really wants to see me screw on film? I have a lot of that stuff but I don’t even remember some of the girls on there. There are a couple priceless moments though. (Wouldn’t you like to know!) (Look, if people paid to see Pamela and Tommy screwing on video, I'm quite sure a percentage would pay to see your naked ass...not as many as Pam and Tom got, but still...enough to buy a house...or two..)

SC: You've managed to keep yourself fairly fit and trim throughout your career. Ever offer up any fitness tips to a fellow Las Vegas resident, say... oh.. Vince Neil?

KD: The whole concept of advice from Kevin DuBrow seems a bit strange, don’t you think? Vince lives very well and seems to have a very good time. I am very hyper and have always had a high metabolism. I work out a lot out of personal pride and the fact that I know I didn’t always look that great in the 80’s. Vince does as he wishes and I think that’s the right thing for him to do. People have always criticized me and I really could give a shit. I’m sure that he feels the same way. (Yeah, but still...maybe just a friendly 'Hey Vince, I'd like you to meet my friend, the treadmill and my other friend 'salad' might be a nice gesture)

SC: Hypothetical Situation: You're at a QUIET RIOT convention in Bolivian jungle (you're going to have to suspend disbelief for this one) with Frankie, Carlos, and Rudy. While signing copies of 'Metal Heath' for culture-starved Bolivians, you are swarmed by a horde of mosquitoes, one bite from which will infect you with a nasty case of Bolivian diarrhea. You reach into your fanny pack to distribute immunization boosters for you and your cronies, and you realize you only have THREE syringes. Assuming you keep one for yourself, which one of your bandmates will go without and suffer through a few nights of spewing frothy white stinky death from his butt?

KD: Being that Frankie is my dearest friend I would of course give one to him. As for the last syringe, I’d throw it up in the air and let those 2 decide who gets it. Not my fucking problem! (Ladies and gentlemen, we present: The problem element in Quiet Riot...according to Kevin)

SC: You're in your forties now, and you continue to do a very physically demanding show for an audience who (and this is a sweeping generalization) is just getting fatter, uglier, and more drunk and belligerent. At what point does Kevin DuBrow put away the stretch pants, sequined T-shirts, and cowboy boots, and say "Enough of this shit, I'm opening up a souvenir stand in Vegas"

KD: Many people will say I should have done that years ago! As long as I can earn a living, I’ll continue. It’s still fairly easy for me to do a physically demanding show so I have no problem continuing. Also, under the right circumstances with the right people it’s a lot of fun.

SC: Finally, You always speak very highly of Frankie, and there are pleasantries about Carlos in some interviews; not much being said about Rudy though. Financially, what kind of incentive would you need to get back with the original members of QUIET RIOT? Are we talking about six figure advances and guaranteed multi-year record contracts, or does that not even enter your mind at this point?

KD: Nice try! I have my first solo album coming out on Shrapnel on May 27. I’m touring as a solo artist. The people I’m working with have no baggage from the past. I think I need to be away from Quiet Riot for quite a while before I can realistically think in those terms. Having said that, if given the opportunity, I’d play with Mr. Banali tomorrow. (I like the 'Nice try' crack...something tells me he gets asked these questions daily. However, he kind of answered it with the 'Bolivian diarrhea' hypothetical...)

Thanks Kevin for answering so honestly. The guy seems all-too-aware that it's 2004, and not 1984, and he's happy to be making a living doing what he likes doing. I sitll think he could make a few bucks off his porno tapes, but that's just me. If there's a market for fat chicks in pantyhose smut, then there's a market for Kevin DuBrow porno.

Kevin is on tour now, so CLICK HERE FOR TOUR DATES

'In For the Kill' will be released in May through Shrapnel (we'd give you a link, but we can't find one for the life of us)