New York Dolls Are Having So Much Fun That They're Dancing Like Monkeys Tuesday July 25, 2006 @ 05:30 PM
By: ChartAttack.com Staff 
New York Dolls Many ChartAtttack readers weren't even born when the
New York Dolls released their last LP, 1974's Too Much Too Soon. So why should they care that Roadrunner is releasing the band's new One Day It Will Please Us To Remember Even This album this week after the pioneering group reformed two years ago at the behest of their former fan club president,
Morrissey?
"The guys in
The Clash would say that they were inspired by the Dolls to play music," says lead singer
David Johansen over the phone with a thick Staten Island accent. "To me, that's such a fucking excellent rock 'n' roll band. It's not something I dwell on, but when it comes to my attention it's really gratifying.
"Then there are a lot of hair bands who say they were inspired by the Dolls. So you have the so-called 'punk bands' and the so-called 'hair bands,' which are kind of like sworn enemies, both saying that they were inspired by the Dolls. It kind of gives you that Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel vibe. It's almost like having your own creation myth."
Over the years, the Dolls have sort of taken on mythic proportions. Original drummer
Billy Murcia and guitarist
Johnny Thunders died of drug overdoses, while second drummer
Jerry Nolan died of a stroke and bassist
Arthur "Killer" Kane fell
victim to leukemia shortly after the band played their first reunion show at the 2004 Meltdown Festival in the U.K.
Malcolm McLaren took ideas and concepts he learned while managing the Dolls (who originally dressed in drag on stage) in New York City and took them back to England to help create
The Sex Pistols and put punk rock on the musical map and in newspaper headlines. While the Dolls' self-titled debut and Too Much Too Soon never sold in any great quantities, their music and sense of bravado have been kept alive by a slowly growing cult of fans that should hopefully embrace the new album.
One Day It Will Please Us To Remember Even This doesn't pretend to break any new musical ground. It's just old-time R&B-based rock 'n' roll played with a sense of joy, as Johansen and original guitarist
Sylvain Sylvain are joined by newcomers
Sami Yaffa,
Steve Conte,
Brian Delaney and
Brian Koonin.
"I can compare this with the vitality and inspiration of when we first began," says the 56-year-old Johansen. "It's similar in so many ways because everybody is like-minded about rock 'n' roll and how it should be presented."
The Dolls have been gigging consistently since reforming, and early reviews of the new album have been quite positive. "The worst I've heard about it is that some people begrudgingly like it," says Johansen.
"So that's good. When the Dolls first began, people said things like, 'You guys are a travesty.' And now they say, 'I always loved those New York Dolls.' It's curious."
Things have also come full circle, as
Jack Douglas — who engineered The Dolls' 1973 debut — returned to produce the new disc. It was mostly recorded live and, while still raw, the playing is tighter than the first time around. "The groovy thing about Jack is that he's just going to take what we do in the rehearsal hall and chew it nice, but, eventually, that's what it is," explains Johansen.
"It's not like we're doing some kind of demographic research on what's the prevailing trend or anything like that. That's what makes us unique, so we might as well stick to that. If you start doing stuff just to fit in or get some sort of commercial success, then it really becomes like a grind. Then you're just acting and it's not really fun that way."
The band obviously had fun with the album's first single, "Dance Like A Monkey" ("It's kind of monkeys taking over the universe," says Johansen), and its animated video. They also enjoyed having
Michael Stipe and
Iggy Pop join in on vocals on "Dancing On The Lip Of A Volcano" and "Gimme Love And Turn On The Light," respectively.
"It's not like Star Search or something," says Johansen about the disc's guest stars. "It's friends coming by."
In the decades between Dolls albums, Johansen has released music under his own name and as
Buster Poindexter, who had a pretty hefty semi-novelty hit with "Hot Hot Hot" in 1987. Johansen has also acted in such films as Married To The Mob, Scrooged and 200 Cigarettes. But, for now, he's focusing his attention on the Dolls.
"This is giving me the most gratification and the most fun. There's just so much negative shit floating around in the world and on the airwaves and everything, that to be able to put something out that's life-affirming and consciousness-expanding is a satisfying thing to do."
The Dolls will be touring extensively in support of One Day It Will Please Us To Remember Even This. Though no Canadian dates have yet been confirmed, Johansen emphasizes that "we're definitely going to come to Canada. We love it there."
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