FROM A CHEQUERED PAST TO A SPOTTED FUTURE

FROM A CHEQUERED PAST TO A SPOTTED FUTURE

The Beat Goes On

NEW YORK—They’ve survived Silverhead, Blondie, the Sex Pistols, Iggy Pop and Soupy Sales, but can these New Wave veterans find happiness among the heavy metal minions? Chequered Past are precisely that— five guys who’ve been through the proverbial mill and lived to tell about it. Lead singer Michael Des Barres has been the “next big thing” for over a decade, starting out in the glitter era with Silverhead, segueing to arena rock with Detective and finally failing altogether as a solo artist on producer Mike Chapman’s illfated Dreamland Records, which is where he ran into a pair of exBlondies in bassist Nigel Harrison and drummer Clem Burke. Throw in ex-Pistol Steve Jones and Soupy’s son Tony Sales, who’s played with Iggy and Todd Rundgren, on guitars and you’ve got a punk supergroup. Or do you?

“Our common ground is power,” explains the aristocratic Londoner Des Barres. “The first songs we learned how to play were ‘Vacation’ by the Go-Go’s and ‘Rock ’n’ Roll’ by Zeppelin. This is our version of what a pure, hard rock ’n’ roll band should be in an era when the American conception of rock is represented by Loverboy.”

“I’ve always wanted to be in a rock band,” chimes Jones in his thick Cockney accent. “Trouble was, I had only been playing guitar for three months when I was in the Pistols. I s’pose that’s why we sounded like we did.”

Excuse me, Steve, but isn’t Chequered Past just the kind of corporate rock band the Pistols used to rail against?

“N’yah, we know what’s going on,” he insists. “We’re a street band; we’re not up there on-stage with capes on, like Rick Wakeman or sumpthin’...”

Right now, Des Barres and Jones share a pad in Los Angeles and wrote most and the material on Chequered Past’s self-titled debut album.

“We’re like the Marquis of the Yobbo,” says Des Barres explaining the odd coupling. “He’s a working class dog and I’m the count, but the writing develops quite naturally out of our relationship.”

But why should this group succeed when all their past associations have ended up in shambles?

“I’ve never felt more positive or strong,” states the veteran glam-rocker. “I could have been just another dead glitter star. Some awful footnote in Kerrartg! I’ve always been a real fan of rock stars and here I am in a band surrounded with them. Sometimes I’m onstage and I’ll feel like I’m in the fuckin’ Who. It’s so much more enjoyable now because the relationship between the five of us is so strong. I like to say the ’60s were hashish and Hendrix, the ’70s were cocaine and herpes and the ’80s are Perrier and push-ups. I’m tired of the bullshit of drugs, fighting, ego, competition, envy and jealousy, all that nonsense. I’m glad just to be a member of a solid team. I used to think a P.A. was a personal assistant. I had no idea. Today, I know what a P.A. is, as well as a tip sheet and independent promotion people.”

The road is still fraught with hard rock, though, and after over IQ years in this business, isn’t it a grind to start all over again?

“Dues, dues, dues. It’s not a privileged trip,” admits Des Barres. “We’ve been playing shitholes with Little Steven and the Filets Of Soul. God bless him with that hanky on his head, though. It’s almost fun to play the Albuquerques and the Lubbocks now, y’know. We’ve learned though experience we have to be aware of what’s happening to us. Which doesn’t mean we have to be in control of every aspect of the business. We let people do what they do best. One can be in charge of his own destiny without having to manipulate everybody around you every second of the day.”

Next stop is tour opening for current chart-toppers Ratt. Once again, the big question: can this intrepid troupe of nuevo wavo castoffs connect with the heavy metal heartlands?

“I don’t know how Steve’ll look in Spandex, but I have a sneaking suspicion that moist 14-year-old girls are our audience,” cackles Des Barres. “And boys with big hard-ons that wanna rock are gonna love Chequered Past.”

Roy Trakin