If you’ve listened over the years, you know Tesla are good friends, Frankie is a good dude all around, and when I heard he was releasing another solo record, and rolling into town to play our station’s “Headbanger’s Bash,” I wanted to have him come by and plug it. And so…

I have always been a huge fan of Dave’s. Mostly his early work with Fastway, whose first 3 records are absolute Hard Rock classics! After leaving that band, Dave did a one-off record with a band called Katmandu. It’s a great CD, but unfortunately, the tide of music had turned at that point. This may have been a blessing in disguise for David though. Because he went on to become part of one of the world’s best Celtic-Punk bands; Flogging Molly. Who, with all do respect to my friends in the Dropkick Murphys, are a *bit* more Irish.

This interview took place right before the band rolled into Phoenix to spend St. Patrick’s Day with us. We spoke for a *lot* longer than what you hear here, but I edited out our discussion of Nothern Irleand.  You’ll hear the Bono reference at the beginning. It was about who’s more political…

We already know Ted Nugent is one-of-a-kind. This phone call came right after he made his less-than-politically-correct commentary about the President.  Now, I may not agree with all of Ted’s political views…but the man is undeniably one of the greatest guitarists to ever pick one.  And I believe that fact tends to be overshadowed by his outrageous personality. Of course, Ted disagrees…

Love him, or hate him, Ted always gives good phone.

Let’s face it…Gene Simmons loves himself. It’s not a shocker. I’m not trying to badmouth him when I say it. Gene is an absolutely honest representative of pure, unadulterated, straight-up, P.T. Barnum hucksterism.  He has built an amazing empire. There can be no doubt that he’s a classic, American success story. You don’t believe it?…just try to talk to him without having him mention how successful he, and KISS are. Hell…*I* owe him a debt of gratitude myself. Gene is partially responsible for my growth as an interviewer.

It was July 3rd, 1988. I was 20.  Just really getting my feet wet in radio. A friend who worked for their record company (Hello Mike if you’re reading this!), called me on the phone and asked; “What are you doing tomorrow?” I replied, “Getting shit-faced! What did you think I’d be doing on the 4th?” He said, “No! You’re not. You’re going to be at my house at 7AM. We’re going up to New Hampshire to see KISS! Bring a tape-recorder.”

Long-story short…I got a chance to sit down with Gene Simmons, and absorb about 20 minutes of his opinion on everything from cars, to speed metal, to why he couldn’t care less about how credible people find KISS’ music.  It was a lesson in being prepared. If you’re going to sit down with someone who believes they’re more intelligent than you (and probably was), you’d better be prepared. You can’t say anything stupid (I did).

24 years later…We had a chance to catch up.

Dee Snider, is simply one of the best guys in Rock.

He’s unpretentious, outgoing, and treats everyone with respect & grace. He’s one of those guys that you wish *every* famous person you come in contact with, could see deal with people, and then feel shame about the way they interact.

We’ve met a few times over my career. But, it’s been 13 years since I’ve had him on the show. As I usually do afternoons at the stations I’ve been with, it’s customary to drive all the guests to morning shows. Just sort of how the game works.

Dee never pulls punches. We spent almost two hours hanging out. Now, we had to play some music (FYI…according to KDKB Assistant Program Director; Matt Spaetzel, we played exactly *3* songs…if you don’t count Dee’s version of “The Ballad Of Sweeney Todd.” I would counter with “Yeah…but they were “Heartbreaker/Livin’ Lovin’ Maid,” “Iron Man,” and some other song we used as time-filler. So “NYAAAAAH!”).

I cannot say enough about how much fun it was to have Dee in. I think you can hear it in the audio. It *is* about 43 minutes (Spaetz wondered who’d be able to get a word in. Answer: Nobody) once you edit out the commercials, and music (which BTW…we’re not allowed to include Dee’s music in the interview re-post. Something about licensing, and clearances. Go buy the “Dee Does Broadway” CD. It’s awesome!).

And, of course, I would be remiss, if I didn’t mention that Dee also hosts “The House Of Hair” every Saturday Night on KDKB!

Enjoy!