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Richard Nolan Interview - 2005
Third Rail Leader
Richard- Oh it's so good to see you guys. And I love to see it when
we still all look so GOOD!
ML- I think the big thing is that the rock'n'roll
has kept us young.
RN- Oh absolutely!! There was a period when we all felt despondent because things were dying
out. And then recently everything started to come back and all of a sudden we're all doing
gigs again!
Blowfish- But let's go back to the beginning let's
go to say, 1974, which is the beginning of Third Rail.
RN- '74 was White Heat, because I was so into Lou Reed. In '74 it became Third Rail. We had to
change it because Barry White had a band by the same name!
Blowfish- Now, you had Third Rail together and,
you know, it sounds very different from every other band out there at the time.
How does that happen?
RN- That happened because there was no punk band in Boston.
Blowfish- As we know there was not a lot of rock
around at the time. Maybe there was blues but no rock.
RN- That's right! I felt I experienced the punk mood from Lou Reed and The Velvet Underground.
I saw them at Paul's Mall and it turned me on! I got the incentive from seeing them.
I was practicing in the basement of a hardware store with Gary Soprano but we never had gigs
out we had shows there in the basement though.
Blowfish-Now, when you started "punk' wasn't even
there yet. I mean the word wasn't even used yet. We think of you as punk now
but you were really pre-punk. Do you know what people were seeing when they
were looking at you in 1975.
RN- At that point we wanted people to see something like the Velvet Underground. I was really
impressed by them.
Blowfish- But you weren't quite as dissonant as
that. More of a steady rock thing going on there.
RN- Well my first band was when I was 15 and that was original
rock'n'roll. I've always been into rock'n'roll. But I started having original
bands when I was in high school. One of my bands was financed by the Prince
Spaghetti Company, we used to do radio commercials. That was probably when I
was 17.
Blowfish- What songs were you playing in '74.
RN- Well, we covered White Heat in '74. And, of course, original
rock'n'roll.
Blowfish- So then these other bands start popping
up; Reddy Teddy, Fox Pass…
RN- Well we had the same interests! Jon Macey called me up one
day.
Photo of Macy and Nolan 76
I didn't really know who he was but he said his band wanted to do a show
with Third Rail and then whoa! It was all on a roll from there..you know….All
these bands were popping up and doing gigs all the time. It was such a trip.
It was a great time. Oh and then Ric Ocasek started coming to my gigs, before
he had the Cars. Ric was a very positive influence on Third Rail. Then after
The Cars recorded their first album in England. When he got back he called me
and asked me to come over and hear the album, he said the band hadn't even heard
it yet…oh my god, it was unbelievable…it blew me away!!
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ML- How did you come up with the named Third Rail.
RN- One of our members found a sign that read "Third Rail Danger,
Do Not Touch" And we liked the idea of that.
Blowfish- When was your first gig outside of the
basement?
RN- There was this place called The Boston Club, it's where
The Paradise is now, 969 Comm Ave in Brighton. I wanted to play there but there
were no bands playing there at the time. I decided that that was where we wanted
to play so I wanted to make myself outrageous. I painted my fingernails black,
my lips black, wore all black…and ah, took whatever I had to take…and I walked
in there, dressed like that during the day and I met the owner, Red White and
Tom Clarke, the manager. and I sat on his desk instead of in a chair. Then I
started rambling to him about how he should hire my new band Third Rail because
we were the cutting edge and we could help him draw people in. He was receptive
too! He said "OK, we'll do it on Thursday nights. You'll play between the wrestling
matches in the front bar." They had kinky wrestling matches with women wrestling
in chocolate pudding and Jello. So we started in March and did it until August.
Then in August there was an event, there was a riot. It was the caused by the
interactions of the people that wanted to see Third Rail and the people that
only wanted to see the wrestling matches. The riot moved out into the street
and onto the tracks of the trolley cars and it closed down the Boston Club FOR
GOOD!! On August 8th, 1975. It was so bad that the Boston Police had to escort
my band out to our cars to leave. It was the rednecks versus the fags and the
cutting edge punk rockers. Jon Macey wrote a song about it!
Blowfish- This place later became Dummy's, right?
RN- Yes and we played there too.
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Richard's TEN FAVE SONGS Sweet Jane - Velvet Underground Scotch & Soda - Kingston Trio Blowing in the Wind - Bobby Dylan MTA - Kingston Trio YMCA - Village People Rock the Boat - Hughes Corporation Please Please Me - The Beatles I Want You, I Need You, I Love You - Elvis Presley Walk on the Wild Side - Lou Reed Sitting on the Dock of the Bay - Otis Redding |
RN- Oh, you mean The Club, in Cambridge? Oh yeah, that's when The Ramones came in to the picture.
Blowfish- You played with The Ramones there.
RN- Right, they opened for us.
ML- They were big at that time too.
RN- No, they didn't even have an album out yet.
ML- Well I knew who they were and was really excited
to see them. I remember that show!
RN- The deal was they would open for us in Cambridge and we
would open for them in Manhattan. We stayed with them in their loft in NYC.
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RN- No it wasn't, not at all! They were very low key. They had a loft with a freight elevator and the door to their "apartment" had a bar across it. They were really sweet. I loved the Ramones.
Blowfish- Did you play CBGB's or Max's Kansas
City?
RN- The Ritz.
Blowfish- You played with the Dead Boys right?
RN- Oh yeah! We played in New York City with the Dead Boys and
Kongress. We went on first, at 9 O'clock and didn't get an encore then The Dead
Boys went on and when they were done Stiv Bators feigned fucking his girlfriend
on stage so they didn't get an encore either!!
Blowfish- Did you ever play with Patti Smith?
RN- No but I saw her perform at Paul's Mall on Boylston Street!
ML- I was at that show. I was sitting under the piano up front.
Blowfish- I was too. Mark Dirt was there and
puked right there by the stage. We were all there, it was one of the first punk
gatherings in Boston, though we didn't know it at the time!! You're a big Lou
Reed fan, right?
RN- I LOVE Lou Reed!and Lou and I know each other. We've hung
out. The night that we really hung out was the last time Lou played the Paradise.
I got contacted because I had done this Sweet Jane thing in 1976 and it took
several years before Lou acknowledged it. I was managing The Neighborhoods at
the time and we went into the Paradise and Lou invited us back to his penthouse
at The Hyatt. I told him I had to being this band, The Neighborhoods with me.
He said "Oh I don't know." I asked him why and he said, "I'm afraid they might
steal something. " I told him not to worry about it.
So I had a little green
Chevy Nova at the time and I piled the Neighborhoods into it and we were all
set to go to The Hyatt and along comes Peter Wolff and he says "OK, let's go!
Let's go see Lou!" Well there were too many people in my car so I said "Peter,
I know how famous you are but I have to throw you out of my car!" So I told
him I'd find him a ride. So I jump out of my car and I flag down a car full
of college students leaving the gig. I go up to them and say "Hey, will you
take Peter Wolff??" They were all excited so Peter got in their car, I said
"Follow us!!" so we go up to the penthouse and it was a wonderful experience.
Lou and I really bonded.
We sat on the floor of this penthouse, cross-legged
and facing each other and we talked for hours. And Lou's band was there on the
sofa and The Neighborhood's were there on the chairs and it was the first and
only time Lou and I really bonded. He told me how he enjoyed what I recorded
of his and I got to ask him a lot of questions. He was a very laid back kind
of person, very likable! I always thought he was an obnoxious punk.
Blowfish- You must've met a lot of interesting
punks and rockers in your time. Like who did you meet in those early days? You
know, Cherry Vanilla, Jayne County….
RN- Well it went beyond that. I became friends with folk singers
too, not just rock'n'roll singers. I was very close with The Kingston trio and
Peter Paul and Mary and the Limelighters. I would set up a meeting with them.
I was going to Boston College at the time and I wrote for the BC Heights. So
I always interviewed only the people I wanted to talk about.
Blowfish- What started you going again?
RN- It was David Minehan. He called me one day about 6 months
ago and said "I have Willie recording in here. Don't say anything to him, just
come in and surprise him." So I went in there and everyone was going on because
we're old buddies. I watched them and heard them and that motivated me. I started
thinking "Well if Willie can do it why can't I? I should make a comeback." Then
I started hearing about other people who were doing it, like Jon Macey. I heard
that there was a movement; a retro-movement and I thought, "Wait a minute! I
don't want to lose out on this!" I mean it's been a long time, it's been twenty
years but if they're still doing it I'm gonna do it too! I don't have anything
to hide, I can pull it off.
Blowfish- So then you talked to Gary Soprano.
RN- Well yeah…and Michael Powers and I talked to everybody!……The
interesting thing about this tenth incarnation of Third Rail is that we have
people from the very first edition, like Gary Soprano and then we have Mr. Curt
Naihersy, who's from the second version and then we have Michael Powers and
David Birmingham who are from the ninth version , the last version until now.
Then we have my cousin, Marty White on bass, who was Jon Macey's road manager.
Blowfish- What has Gary Soprano been doing all
these years, has he been playing?
RN- No! It was a sudden thing and he jumped right on board!
I hadn't seen him in twenty years and we just decided to do it!
ML- Richard, you said there were ten incarnations
of Third Rail?
RN- Yes! …there were 31 members of Third Rail in ten years.
From 1975 to 1985.
ML- And they were all cute young boys.
Blowfish- And Richard, they were ALL good! How
did you pick these people?!
RN- Well you know, us cute young boys always hang out together!
Blowfish- Are you happy with everything and the
way its going? You're playing out and you're sounding good?
RN- Oh yeah!!! See, I didn't know I was sounding good. I was
really concerned, coz , you know, I'm a lot older.
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1) One would have to be our first reunion gig last month when we played Kirkland Cafe and broke their attendance records. 2) The time The Ramones opened for us at The Club in Cambridge. 3) Halloween night at Max's Kansas City in NYC opening for Kongress and The Dead Boys 4) Our Rat gig opening for Talking Heads 5) Our CBGB gig with other Boston bands promoting "Live at The Rat". |
Blowfish- Have you seen Reddy Teddy perform lately?
RN- Oh I haven't see Reddy Teddy perform in about twenty years!
But I used to have a condo on Comm. Ave in Brighton and it was just around the
corner from their house Kilsyth Road. I used to hang out there and listen to
them all the time.
ML- Have you seen Jon Macey's band yet?
RN-No but Jon and I talk on the phone all the time.
ML- Have you seen Willie and his band?
RN- I saw them in the studio. He looks just the same except
he has white hair! And the rest of the band is RIGHT ON THE MONEY!!!! It's so
cool!! What is happening? It's like there's this resurgence is happening and
we're all gonna do it and NOW we're gonna make it after all this time? We're
gonna make it as quasi-old men??
ML- I was at work trying to explain to someone what I do with the website and all. I was saying how you see these fifty-plus year old guys prancing around on stage and people love it!!!
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