Fantasy 7

HEAVY ROCK & POP

F7 Radio Interview. Buenos Aires 1992.

Steve I'm Steve Jones, Fantasia
Mark Mark McCoy
Parma Parma
Todd Todd Hoffman
Mark Fantasia Siete
Radio host Under the journey was it quiet, was it good?
Steve Long.
Radio host Did you rest all day?
Steve Today?
Radio host Yes.
Steve Yeah, I was sick. I'm sick.
Mark He needs help!
Steve I need a nurse!
Radio host You didn't find a nurse yet?
Steve Not yet.
Mark But the nuns on the plane tried to save him. Convert!
Radio host Do you like the waitress on the plane?
Mark Stewardess…
Steve The what?
Radio host The waitresses for the plane, do you like them?
Steve Eeeeehhhh, one of them was OK!
Radio host Apart from playing do you want some souvenir? About girls and so. Is this a horny band?
Steve Oh yes!
Mark Si
Parma Si
Todd Si
Steve We're queers, we're gay. It's a gay band. Laughter
Radio host People from church are hearing this and everything is OK.
Mark We need many prayers tonight for Steve!
Radio host That horny position came from California or from London?
Steve Ever since…when I was born. I was born with a hard on.
Mark Before the world began.
Radio host This band is born from an erection also?
Steve The fantasy? Is it born from a what?
Mark An erection. Si si.
Steve Yes.
Radio host When did Fantasy 7 start?
Steve I don't know. About a year ago.
Mark Yeah.
Steve A year ago.
Radio host Why the idea of forming a band instead of going solo?
Steve I don't like singing. It's too much hard work being guitar and sing!
Radio host Are you a lazy person?
Steve A lesbian?
Radio host No lesbian. Each one of you please tell us what you were doing before joining Steve.
Parma I was playing with a band called the Immigrants. Former lead singer of Jean loves Jezebel [Loud burp] Yeah, that's how I feel about that!
Radio host And you?
Mark I was healing the sick and raising the dead!
Todd Just played with various local bands.
Mark Lions and ghosts, tell them. That was a record.
Steve He used to play with the Beatles.
Todd And the Rolling Stones.
Radio host What do you think actually about the Rolling Stones, cause before we found some hard statements about them in magazines saying that they were dead and they were old and so.
Steve They are old.
Mark Mick Jagger is my dentist.
Radio host After the long time in music. Do you think this is your band? Your big time band now?
Steve This band?
Radio host Yeah.
Steve I don't know. I hope so. I'm getting old too.
Radio host Do you think that the guys, the fans are respective of you? After seeing you as a Sex Pistol and now as a solo with a brand new band.
Steve What do I think they're thinking? I have no idea.
Radio host No idea.
Steve If they like Sex Pistols, they'll like Fantasy 7.
Radio host Because it's raw.
Steve It's the same energy.
Radio host Time goes by, but you know there is a little problem around the world, political….[another loud burp]…. that's the reason for a band to exist to fight a little with rebellion against political statements…
Steve The reason the Sex Pistols started was cause we were fed up with all the music which was around at the time. And with this band now we're fed up with all the music which is around.
Radio host All of you live in California. Is California boring actually?
Steve Boring?
Radio host Yes, cause there are a lot of bands sounding the same?
Steve Yeah! We're not like all the bands in L.A.
Radio host Why are you now residing in L.A.?
Steve I've been living in L.A. for twelve years now!
Radio host Before this song is running, can you tell me something about the daughter of Robert Wagner.
Steve Who?
Radio host Robert Wagners daughter.
Mark Robert Wagners daughter, Katie.
Steve Katie Wagner? What about her? I fuck her.
Radio host Was it good?
Steve I did fuck her. She's useless. No good.

xxx Bodies xxx

Radio host Why did you choose "Bodies" from "Never mind the Bullocks" as the first song?
Steve It's got a lot of power. I like the power. Plus we play this in Fantasy 7. We play "Bodies".
Radio host Is Steve a funny guy? Is it difficult to work with him?
Mark Steve's probably the easiest guy to work with.
Parma Dictator!
Todd Dictator!
Mark Fantastic lover! [Laughter] When we have no place to stay or no food we go to his house.
Parma He's very kind.
Mark He's not a bad old cunt once you get to know him.
Radio host He's not what?
Mark Not a bad old cunt once you get to know him.
Radio host Is it true that you walk you dog in California. At the beaches in California? Because I have some pictures here in some magazines about that?
Steve Really?
Radio host The bulldog.
Mark That's his girlfriend! Laughter
Radio host We're trying to adequate or doubts about that. Is it difficult to retain the Sex Pistols spirit in other bands like this?
Steve I'm not trying to really. I'm just playing guitar how I know to play guitar. And, you know…he don't sound like Johnny Rotten.
Radio host What's this exactly, the Fantasy 7 cassette? Demo tape?
Mark Demo
Steve In one day.
Mark Ten songs in one day. Live. Polygram paid for it but we're gonna take it somewhere else, cause we don't like them.
Radio host Are there any plans of releasing an album soon?
Steve We don't have a label.
Mark But the plan is to put one out. Like an independent one. Cause the big labels, a lot of them, are just having their heads up their ass basically.
Steve If you're not from Seattle…they're not interested, you know. If you like wearing silly shorts…not interested.
Radio host How do a traditional rock n'roll band maintain over the Californian scene?
Todd We don't really play there.
Steve People in L.A. don't like us.
Mark We're punk rock and they don't like it there.
Todd The majority of our shows are done out of town like in San Francisco, San Jose', Chico, San Diego.
Female voice They're meeting up their tribes.
Radio host Did you perform with this band that concert?
Steve No that was just Steve Jones Solo.
Radio host It was organized by Ian Astbury.
Mark He loves Fantasy 7.
Radio host Of course you have a good relation with Ian? About the production. Is he in a bad moment. When he was here it was difficult to get him for an interview.
Steve Yeah. He's moody. A moody guy.
Radio host Lets go to another song.

xxx On and On xxx

Mark That's what the song's about.
Parma Zombies
Radio host So it's the decadence of those things in L.A. because they don't think about what?
Mark They're numb.
Todd They don't think about anything.
Mark They have so much stimulating them all the time, from the movies, media, television, drugs. After a while nothing affects them anymore. So they need more and more and more just to get them out of bed, just to get their dick hard. Just to get, you know, for anything.
Steve That's why you need more shows like this to open people's minds. Like this show.
Radio host Thank you very much. Some years ago people started talking about the Sex Pistols that they were a creation exclusively from Malcolm McLarren, is that true?
Todd No.
Radio host What can you tell me about that?
Steve He had a big part in the Sex Pistols. He's got a big ego, you know. And he like to think he started everything. I mean, he was there and he had some good ideas. But it wasn't his thing, you know. If he was so great, how come he didn't do it again, you know.
Radio host So he created the myth.
Steve He died after we broke up. After the band broke up, he died!
Radio host Was it the fault of Malcolm McLarren that well, the problems with Sid Vicious, the drugs or was it like that from the start?
Steve No, it was that girlfriend he had, that was the problem.
Radio host How was he? A good guy or just stupid?
Steve No, he was a good guy. He was just fucked up on drugs, you know. And he had like an image to live up to.
Radio host What is Paul Cook now?
Steve What he's doing? Nothing. He's a lazy bastard.
Radio host Was Paul an important part of the band or?
Steve No, he is an idiot! He's a drummer, what do you expect?
Radio host How do you live with an idiot in a band like that?
Steve If he keeps quiet, that's all you need.
Radio host What does it mean to you, the Sex Pistols, for the rest of the band?
Mark I was working in the shop where they sell posters for entertainment and I sat on this machine and posters all day long rolling them up into plastic tubes. One day I had to do 3000 Sex Pistols posters and after that I swore that if I ever met any of those guys I'll smash one of their head in cause I got sick of looking at their ugly faces all day. But then I met the Pontiff, and I realized that the governor ain't such a bad cunt once you get to know him.
Radio host And for the rest of the band?
Parma For me, I was such a young guy at the time, but it was really a source of basically just excitement. When we were growing up, it was just a crazy time and that was one of the sources we went to.
Mark We're so bored of jazz and Emerson, King Palmer. When that band came along it totally represented how I was feeling on the inside.
Steve If it weren't for the Sex Pistols you'd still be wearing platform boots. You'd still be wearing flares and platform boots.
Todd I missed it all. Reflecting on it now, it was a great inspiration.
Steve He was a transvestite at the time.
Radio host What are your influences, Todd?
Mark Greta Garbo.
Todd Ronald McDonald.
Steve New York Dolls
Mark The Stoodges. After we heard the Sex Pistols we all started making up punk bands. It was only a hundred punks in L.A. when we first started. With names like the Germs and X. Dead Kennedies, Germs yeah…
Radio host Was it a good experience with Iggy Pop?
Steve Yeah, he's good to work with. He's fine. Very smart and he writes very good lyrics. And he has a big dick.
Radio host Why didn't the tour continue?
Steve With Iggy Pop. That's a myth. I never played with him. I just played on the record. In New York I got up and played three songs, but I wasn't playing with him.
Radio host What was the purpose of the Professionals?
Steve What was the purpose? I don't know really. It was…At that time I was doing a lot of drugs. And I didn't really care what I was doing, as long as I could get high. It was a source of getting high.
Radio host Was it difficult to get out of drugs and so?
Steve Well I never did heroin in Sex Pistols, that was after Sex Pistols. I was so bored when we broke up that I needed to fill the hole. Something. I did it for ten years and I just got to a point when I didn't wanna do it no more. I was…
Radio host It's very difficult these days to face the kids with all your addictions and all your faults. What's the intention, what are you trying to express to the kids these days?
Steve Well, you know I can't, you can't stop anyone from getting high. People are gonna do what they're gonna do. I can only tell my experience. I mean, for me, it worked for a long time, but it got to a point where it didn't work no more. If people wanna get high they're not gonna listen to me. They're not gonna listen to anybody. I didn't.
Radio host Is there a lot of drugs on the scene today?
Steve Yeah. More so actually, because how times are right now. Times are hard. People just don't wanna feel.

xxx Stranger in my bed xxx

Radio host "Stranger", Fantasy 7. The lyrics of Fantasy 7, what are they talking about?
Mark We never sing about anything we don't actually live or experience ourselves.
Radio host Every topic in the world?
Mark Sorry?
Radio host Every topic in the world that you have experienced…
Mark Yeah.
Radio host OK. Some questions from the audience. Why did the Pistols part ways?
Steve Cause we couldn't stand each other.
Radio host What's your actual relation with Johnny Rotten?
Steve Well, now I talk to him. But it's just business.
Radio host What do you think of the music Johnny Rotten is doing now with "Pill"?
Steve It's shit.
Radio host Are you ashamed of your past with Johnny Rotten?
Steve No.
Radio host Not at all?
Steve Not at all.
Radio host You're really proud of being a Sex Pistol, I mean an ex-Sex Pistol?
Steve Yes. It's definitely something which was a mark in time, you know. And I was grateful I was a part of that.
Radio host Was it necessary at the time, just the crush like the punk rock in England?
Steve Was it eeeeeeh?
Radio host The appreciation of punk rock at the time, was it necessary just to change things?
Steve Yeah, I mean, when we started, when the Sex Pistols started, we just thought we was another rock band. We didn't think that we was anything different. It's just that we couldn't play very well. And had a lot more attitude, cause those bands that were around at the time were just boring. So we were just playing rock n'roll but I guess it was a lot different to everything else that was going on at the time, you know.
Radio host What would you think if a fan spit on you on stage?
Steve I'd smash his face in.
Radio host Just be prepared. People here are very spit, because people here still grips to the tradition of punk rock and spitting and so.
Mark Maybe this guy can get us some bondage masks that we can wear or something.
Radio host What do you think about the Ramones?
Steve I like the Ramones.
Radio host Did you see them around in –76 when they played in London the first time?
Steve Yeah, I saw them.
Radio host Was it good?
Steve Yeah, they're good. They have a lot of energy and what I like about them is that they still stay the same. Until today, you know.
Radio host What's the difference of their style. Bands in England like the Clash, Sex Pistols and so.
Steve Why are they different. They was different cause they had long hair. They didn't look dressed like punk. But I'm not to interested in the way someone looked, I mean, is not important to me.
Radio host But the music.
Steve That's what I like the, the energy, you know.
Mark And these kids, the Ramones, they gave us Americans something we could identify with because they sang about life in America. So it was a very important band for us. Of growing up as American kids.
Radio host What songs of Sex Pistols are you playing on Friday?
Steve Bodies.
Radio host Bodies
Steve Problems.
Radio host Problems.
Steve Problemo, Anarchy in the UK, God save the Queen. That's it.
Radio host That's all? What about "Fire and Gasoline", some songs?
Steve Maybe.
Radio host Basically from Fantasy 7, all the music.
Steve Yes.
Radio host Do you think you have to study a lot of your instrument, or is it enough with three chords?
Steve What?
Radio host Do you have to study enough with playing the bass or?
Todd I don't play it at all. We don't rehearse. Sometimes it's six weeks between shows. The music is very simple and I think that's where the power lies. In the simplicity. It's the first band I've ever been in that didn't have a need to rehearse you know two, three times a week. I was worried in the beginning cause I've been used to working with people that like to work that way, and it doesn't need to be that way and I prefer it.
Radio host What do you think about, this is for Steve, what do you think about not playing very well. That make a tradition in the punk rock. Is that OK, is that important. What you intended?
Steve No it's not what I intended. I just didn't know any better, you know. And it's good cause then a lot of other people can say, well I can do that. And then they start as well, you know.
Radio host What does the rest of you think of this?
Mark When we heard the Sex Pistols we thought just what Steve just said, we thought fuck if they can do that, then we can do it. It gave us inspiration cause you didn't have to be some like Joe Satriani or…you know, Yngwie Ma Ma Ma…
Steve Masturbator.
Mark Masturbator, yeah. Laughter. You could just get three chords going and then just sing your ass off. Whatever you were feeling, and that was OK. And the Sex Pistols kind of thought us that.
Steve Why do people…I don't understand why people wanna play complicated music.
Mark Yeah, our heads are very complicated, so we need simple music to help it.
Todd I think what's important is more the attitude. What comes off the stage than…You know Steve doesn't play that many solos in this band. Mostly chords, you know. And it works. It's not about how fast you can play or the complication of the music. It's what you're trying to say and what you're putting out there off the stage that is important.
Radio host Do you think that the attitude is a part of some bands or is it just a pose for the business basically now our days.
Steve Some bands are true, but a lot of bands… It seems like the bands that are fake are the ones that are successful. You know what I mean. Because most people, they don't like to think to hard, they don't like to be threatened. So they go with the softer band, which is bullshit as opposed to the real thing, you know.
Mark We have a word for that. We call it posers.
Radio host You did a song with Axl Rose, from Guns n'Roses, and is that attitude from him, is that real?
Steve Yeah. I think so!
Radio host It's like the magazines say. The man is crazy. A freak.
Steve I wouldn't say, he's just like of young guys that are messed up, you know. Screwed up in his head.
Todd He comes from a hard background. He's got a lot to say. He wants to be heard.
Radio host Now comes "Anarchy in the UK". Was it difficult to walk in the street after people listen to this? At the time.
Steve What was difficult was after we had done that TV-show and we swore on that. And it made us media. Before the TV-show we were just rock music to people, but after the TV-show everyone in England knew who we was and then it was hard to walk around.
Mark It was the first time in history anybody cussed on English television.
Radio host How did your family react? Just against all the traditions and so. And the family of the guys that were with you in the Sex Pistols?
Steve Well, I can only speak from mine, and I left home when I was fifteen so I don't know what they thought.
Radio host Can you say, why did you leave home?
Steve Why?
Radio host Yeah.
Steve Cause I fucking hated it!
Radio host What was the problem? Was it really boring?
Steve It was my stepfather. It seems like most kids with stepfathers or stepmothers, they don't really want he child around. You're like extra baggage, you know.
Radio host The word anarchy is very hard, very difficult. Did you really believe in anarchy?
Steve Eeeeehhh…I didn't, John did. I didn't even know what anarchy meant at the time, but it was fun.
Mark We had some anarchy in L.A. recently.
Steve There was anarchy in Los Angeles recently.
Radio host Sorry?
Steve There was anarchy in Los Angeles recently.
Mark It was not that fun. All the houses were burning down all around us and guns were going off all day and night. You can feel the tension underneath the surface all the time when you live in Los Angeles and you know it's just a matter of time before it's gonna happen again. So it's something you live with every day, but it's just very close to happening. It's just underneath.
Steve It will happen again.
Todd It wasn't a surprise. It was shocking though. We knew you know when it was happening it was like it's just a fight…
Mark The scale, the size of it all is what was shocking.
Radio host The explosion of that thing with Rodney King?
Steve It wasn't the Rodney King thing. That was nothing to do with. That was just like an excuse to get going.
Mark Living in Los Angeles is like being in the set of a movie. It appears to be one thing, but right behind it it's just wooden boards.
Todd It's funny because even though you can understand why they're rioting were starting and you can stand behind them in their belief of justice and equality, it was scary. It made me, I drove with the gun on my seat, just for fear, because I saw them pulling people out of the cars randomly on the street. You can say that I believe in what you're doing and the rioting, but there is still a fear.
Radio host Don't you feel impotent to those facts of life? How do you react to those things?
Mark Powerless.
Steve They make all the problems we have seem nothing.

xxx Anarchy in the UK xxx
xxx God save the Queen xxx

Radio host They were kind of afraid of this interview, cause a drummer of a known band around here was in San Francisco and tried to get an autograph from you when you were pissing.
Steve Sex Pistol?
Radio host No you stopped at a bar with Mickey Rourke and the bikes and he asked for an autograph and you sent them to fuck off.
Steve I don't remember. I'm sorry, buddy.
Parma Pure insanity.
Radio host Is it true that you stole some guitars?
Steve Si.
Radio host How many of them?
Steve Si. Laughter.
Radio host And an amp.
Steve Si.
Radio host Why did you steal it?
Steve Cause it was free.
Parma He's a kleptomaniac.
Steve It sounds better when it's on a stolen guitar, you know.
Radio host The one that you're playing now. Is that stolen? Why did you choose Les Paul?
Steve It's got a sound, an all over sound, thick, nice, thick sound.
Radio host Why Fender?
Todd Because you can throw it against the wall as hard as you want and it'll come back in tune.
Radio host What drums are you playing?
Parma DW drums.
Radio host Did you bring your own?
Parma No, I have no idea. It's gonna be a big surprise when I get there.
Steve It's not important.
Mark Trash can lids will be good if they don't have anything else. Trash can lids…
Radio host What do you think about having a show, a gig in Argentina?
Steve It felt great. I haven't been here before. I wanted to come.
Parma My best friend, that I've known since plant life, his family is from here. They're really cool people. They used to tell me a lot about Argentina and whatever, and it's cool being here. Now I get to see where his family comes from.
Steve Plus I haven't been out of America in thirteen years. I haven't had a visa. I couldn't get a visa. Illegal alien. So I just got visa and this came about so I thought, yeah.
Radio host They were looking after you for the ten guitars you stole…Did you contact "Pilsen"? A local band, for producing their album?
Steve Producing?
Radio host It was a rumor out here.
Steve It's his fault. It's all his fault. I join the band next week. "Pilsen".
Radio host Are you aware about the musical scene in London at this time?
Steve No.
Radio host Is it true that Malcolm McLarren killed Sid Vicious just giving him drugs and so?
Steve Didn't we have this question before?
Radio host No it's kind of different cause this one is from the audience.
Steve No. Sid's mum killed him.
Radio host Were Malcolm giving him drugs regularly?
Steve No. We didn't want him to do drugs, you know, cause it held things up, his drug problem. Nobody wanted him to do drugs.
Radio host What do you think about "The Damned", "Channel 69", "Busscocks"?
Steve I like "Busscocks". The first "Damned" record was good.
Radio host Do you think the spirit from –77 still is alive in England?
Steve In London? I have no idea.
Radio host You're only interested in L.A.
Steve Yeah.
Radio host Aren't you interested in what happens in London?
Steve No, I hate London.
Radio host Why?
Steve It sucks there.
Radio host Boring?
Steve Toilet.
Mark Pet Shop Boys and all that shit…
Steve To much fashion.
Radio host Are you going to see football?
Steve Soccer. Sunday. I wanna get a soccer shirt. I wanna buy one.
Radio host He says he's gonna give you a present. A T-shirt from a kids football team.
Todd He just wants to steal one.
Mark I watch Steve play, he's very good. Every Sunday they play in L.A. in the park.
Radio host We can play a match. You against us. Against Rock and Pop.
Steve These guys don't play soccer.
Radio host We can teach you, no problem.
Parma It's a round ball.
Radio host What's after this show in Argentina. Are you going on tour? Recording a new album?
Steve We really wanna try to get a record deal, you know. It would be a lot better if we when we play here we had a record . The people would know the songs more. Our own songs as opposed to Sex Pistols songs.
Radio host Did you see the Sid and Nancy film. Is it real what is shown in that movie?
Steve Eeeeeh…it was like a Hollywood version.
Radio host The reality was harder?
Steve Oh yeah.
Radio host What do you think about Motorhead?
Steve I like Motorhead. I like Lemmy.
Mark We like Lemmy.
Radio host He said he's also similar to Eddie, from Iron Maiden. Ugly Kid Joe.
Steve Nah, Lemmy.
Parma My neighbor looks a lot like him.
Radio host A good neighbor?
Mark Yeah, he waters his plants. Laughter
Todd He's got a green thumb.
Mark He does. I see him out there every day watering.
Radio host This is very special for him. It's a great moment in this program, in the story of this program after two and a half years on the air. We know it's difficult for bands to come to radio stations and say the same things along the years. And thank you for your kindness and your patience. People in the audience appreciates it to the most.
Steve We had fun. It was good.
Mark We'll see you Friday and Saturday and Sunday.
Parma We look forward to it.
Todd We'll come back any time.
Radio host Just really from the heart, did you enjoy the interview?
Steve Si.
Parma Yeah.
Todd Yeah.
Mark It's better than any radio station we have in the States cause you can say exactly what you want. They aren't pushing any buttons beep-beep.
Radio host Do they record the interviews before they air?
Mark No, but there is a three second delay.
Radio host Is there a restriction in the topics also?
Parma Sure
Steve They just talk about their usual bullshit.
Parma Most of the people that own the radio stations know nothing about radio. They're just businessmen. They're not into it for the movement or to actually, you know, get opinions out there. They're just doing it for money.
Radio host "America" is the last song, what does the lyrics mean?
Mark The chorus is 'America god shed his grace on me'. God made America great, but we've taken it and perverted it.
Radio host Thank you.
Steve This is "On and On". "America" is the last song…

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