SHADY LADY promo
updated as of feb 24th '05
SHADY LADY were an early 70s glam rock band in the STONES / DOLLS mold whose demos were not released, JOHNNY THUNDERS was once asked to jion,this was sometime between late '69,and early '70,well of course Johnny went with the DOLLS,...........a few yrs later the band were asked to tour with the DOLLS, but the band broke up, STEFEN SHADY almost got an apt with JOHNNY and SABLE,we asked a couple of questions here, he says the following.........
(70s invasion) 'btw did u ever get an apt with sable and johnny' ?
' I called them from the airport on the day we were to move in as I decided to go back to L.A. Winter was coming and I got to thinking about Los Angeles's warmer climate and of course my friends back here and such and said yea, I gotta go back.'
(70s invasion management) 'is there any SHADY LADY video footage anywhere' ?
'No video footage. I wish....there was an 8mm film done of the band but don't know what happened to it. It was pretty good too. It was made by these two girls who were are students at the time. Don't have anyway to find them and I doubt the footage still exists.'
( 70s invasion mangagement ) 'tell us more'
'Maybe Susan who was my girlfriend back then would know their names, etc. I think she told me awhile back that one of the girls died. I think they went to the Pasadena Art College. They took tons of photos at our shows.'
concert shot of SHADY LADY
He whose ranks are united in purpose will be victorious. --Sun Tzu
I offer you peace. I offer you love. I offer you friendship. I see your beauty. I hear your need. I feel your feelings My wisdom flows from the Highest Source. I salute that Source in you. Let us work together for unity and love. --Mahatma Gandhi
What ever beauty may be, it has for its basis order, and for its essence unity. - --Father Andre
STEFEN SHADY of SHADY LADY sent in these writeups -
I lost the last song that John and I wrote together......we wrote it a while after Shady Lady had split up. We had made a cassette tape of it and John later borrowed it from me and I guess misplaced it. It was called 'Wild And Delicious'. I still have the lyrics and remember the vocals to it though but I don't have the music. I really liked that song.
No, I never recorded anything professionally after SL.....okay..well, I did play Thermin on some 'Star Trek - The Movie' commercials for an advertising agency for radio...it won a Cleo Award which in radio is equivalent to an Oscar or a Grammy. But no, not any music with any bands. I wrote one though called, Decadence Plus that these guys I had been singing with ended up recording as a demo...I think the band was called 'Video Noir'. Yes, there were other bands that I tried to form and/or jammed with but none that ever really jelled. However, I ain't dead yet who knows what's in the forcast.
Bands that opened for Shady Lady.....hmmmm 'Tall Water' was one and they were good..they became John Kay of Steppenwolf's band later on. 'Hero' was another band we used to have open sometimes. It was really hard for us to find bands to open for us. The problem was that we were so popular locally that no one would come to see the opening acts. I always felt bad about that as the other bands were good musically but didn't have much in the way of a show.
The fans liked all the theatrics, glitz and glam and we gave them plenty of that. I'd have to say we didn't have much in the way of competition from local bands back then. Nothing around like us except for The Dolls who were on the East coast. Well there was Iggy Pop but he was doing his own thing and was pretty messed up with drugs during that time. I liked Iggy a lot though. He used to come over to our house and hangout. All the competition really were bands who already had made it. Like Bowie, and Alice Cooper. I heard through the grapevine that Cooper was keeping his eye on us though. He supposedly even hired a photographer to follow us around at the gigs we played. He was taking lots of pictures of us on stage for months before we heard about it. I was told this by our management who had supposedly confessed to. All I know for sure is that the guy didn't come around anymore after I heard that. I had a switchblade knife that I pulled out in one of my songs, "It's No Crime".
A while later Alice Cooper did a TV special using the switchblade thing as part of his act.....that bastard! (just kidding) I didn't hold it against him if he did indeed borrow the idea, it was business not personal.
http://www.leighstephens.com/20questions.htm
(STEFEN also says about a page on the 70s invasion) -
'I have been meaning to tell you that your having "The Screamers" on your site is ultra cool. I saw them a couple of times and really liked them. The info on your site ROCKS!'
Billy ( BILLY MCcARTNEY aka ZORY GLORY of ZOLAR X )had another band called Billy Bo Day and The Howlers. I have a promo photo he had printed up of it that he gave me. Did Gerhard mention anything about the punk band he had called Ripper after SL? Gerhard was the singer. I have a promo photo of that as well. I may even have a cassette tape of them somewhere but don't ask me for it just yet because if I do it's stored away somewhere and it'll take some time to locate it'
I never told you about the Shady L t-shirts did I? I don't think I did so here... one day we all (the band members and crew) were sitting around drinking beers and talking band stuff...anyways....John or somebody said that we should make some tee shirts up. So we all said yeah that's something we should do...but what do we want it to say? nobody said anything it got quiet for a few moments then Billy says, "Fuck Shady Lady".
Now, I don't know if he meant that as a slogan or was just being funny but...the rest of us looked at each other and started laughing. I said, "This is it then...good one, Billy!". After a little while I said to everyone, "what if, 'Fuck Shady Lady' shirts were printed only for guys to wear?" .....of course everyone looked at me weird and all puzzled.....then with a sly grin I announced, "The tee shirts for the girls reads; I Fuck Shady Lady." ...more laughter and clinking of bottles...it was a hit with everyone there and so that was what we did. I doubt there are any originals of those shirts around anymore.
(on BRETT SMILEY)
He used to play some of his tunes acoustically for me back then though...wanting my opinion. I believe he was living at the Chateau Marmont on Sunset Blvd during that time period. If you ever talk to him...tell him I said Hello....see if he remembers me....he should.
( see our reviews of SMILEY on page 28 of the 70s invasion accessible from the bottom of page 21 )
and everyone from IGGY POP, DAVID BOWIE, to KIM FOWLEY used to go and see SHADY LADY play in L.a., see our reviews, and info in our gateway 1 ( #24 ), and on page 23, a continuation of those pages is here
for an interview with GERHARD HELMUT see this link at the HOLLYWOODDIARIES.com site -
http://www.hollywooddiaries.com/lost4.htm
so maybe you have some questions for the former leader of SHADY LADY, or maybe u think u can lend a hend in getting out the cd, his email is -
BloodSinger1@aol.com
3 members of SHADY LADY ; Leonard Denault, Stefen Shady, and Billy McCartney , later Billy drummed for ZOLAR _ X
in late june of '04 in a converstaion with Gerhard we asked him about the SHADY LADY number 'POLE TO POLE' that he performs on his download site, so he sent us the lyrics and a comment afterwards, here it is -
'POLE TO POLE'
OUT OF THE NIGHT THAT COVERS ME
INVICTUS BY WILLIAM ERNEST HENLEY ( 1849-1903 )
OUT OF THE NIGHT THAT COVERS ME BLACK AS A PIT FROM POLE TO POLE I THANK WHATEVER GODS MAY BE FOR MY UNCONQUERED SOUL.
AND IN THE CLUTCH OF CIRCUMSTANCE I HAVE NOT WINCED NOR CRIED OUT LOUD UNDER THE BLUDGEONING OF CHANCE IM BLOODY BUT UNBOWED
THIS ALL HAPPENED BACK IN 85 THIS ALL HAPPENED BACK IN 1885
BEYOND THIS PLACE OF WRATH AND TEARS LOOMS HORROR OF THE SHADE AND YET THE MENACE OF THE YEARS SHALL FIND ME UNAFRAID
IT MATTERS NOT HOW STRAIGHT THE GATE HOW CHARGED WITH PUNISHMENTS THE SCROLL I AM THE MASTER OF MY FATE: THE CAPTAIN OF MY SOUL
WORDS WILLIAM ERNEST HENLEY ( 1849-1903 ) MUSIC : GERHARD HELMUT, STEPHAN SHADY, JON CHRISTIAN ASCAP
COPYRIGHT: GERHARD HELMUT
Here is the story:
Stephan found those words years ago and we used to play this song live and usually invited other players up on stage. We did a version with conga drums and all kinds of percussion that would sometimes last 45 minutes to an hour. SL never recorded the tune, so I took it on myself and did it with the dudes from my last band. The arrangement is not quite the same as SL played it, but it's close.
( wanna hear Gerhard do a GREAT version of 'Pole to Pole' ? see his download link, simply copy and paste this link, or else go to our downloads section 2, accessible from the bottom of our homepage
http://www.ampcast.com/music/12959/artist.php
how does the song by Gerhard sound ?.......guitar jams like HENDRIX, with solid drumming.....
You thought to know all of the 70' s and the Glam Rock? Convinced that the Glam Punk American is been born with the N.Y. Dolls? Sure that the first Glam Rock band of Los Angeles was Zolar X? Until little months ago only a leggendario name, impossible chimera of the collectors, eccovi the history of the first true Glam Punk band American! When the Kiss and the Dolls did not exist, Alice Cooper muoveva the first steps and the term Glam Rock was disowned, they already took to soccer in culo the audience deserving good straight to the authentic title it of "First Movers"! Ladies and gentlemen in exclusive right for the Slam! Rockers the first Italian interview to Mr. Stefen Shady, singer of mythical SHADY LADY "The band that started it all"!!!
Slam Rocks: Shady Lady: Just a legend only still a few months ago, probably the first American Glam rock band. Why did you decided to put the band together as far back as in 1968? Stefen: I had been in and out of a few bands since high school and was looking to put together a band with a different look, sound style and attitude from anything I had ever been involved with. I pretty much knew exactly what I wanted. I met Gerhard one day in Greenwich Village and we got together for a jam. We hit it off as we shared similar musical ideas, tastes and style. It was rock 'n roll, baby, loud and fast rock 'n roll. It went so well that we decided to go forward and build this band. Gerhard had this huge loft back then in the area that would later become known as SOHO. It was great for rehearsing and had plenty of living space. I moved in and we soon decided that we needed a guitarist but not just any guitar player but a really
hot guitarist. I told Gerhard I knew someone who I thought might fit but didn't know if he was already playing in a band. So shortly after, I went looking for John Christian. John had been known to have jammed a few times with Clapton, Alvin Lee and some other noted musicians at this club called The Scene. It was a place where I often hung out. He had really held his own with these other fucking great guitar players, too. I asked around the village and eventually found him at one of the bars I had been told he frequented. We had a few drinks and I told him what Gerhard and I were doing. So he came over the next evening and the three of us jammed. We jammed for hours and we all knew that we were on to something. We were wearing big smiles after that jam session. John moved in with us and thats when we really started playing and writing songs.
Slam Rocks: In my opinion your sound was clearly inspired by the Rolling Stones but also ass kickin and proto-punk, what other musical influences did Shady Lady have? Stefen: (laughing) Well, yes I'd have to say that The Stones were an influence but you have to understand that we were also influenced by many of the same musicians who had influenced the Stones as well. Truthfully, Shady Lady had so many musical influences that it is hard to put a finger on and say, Oh, that is where they got their sound from. I think it is so funny when somebody says that we sound like someone and the band or musician they are referring to came along after Shady Lady. Wouldn't it make more sense saying they sounded like us?
Slam Rocks: Early 70s New Yorkscene drove to the top of the music history big bands such as New York Dolls, Ramones and Kiss and minor bands like Magic Tramps, Rags, Harlots of the 42nd Street that seemed to disappear without leaving tracks, tell us about those years and your relationships with those bands (if you had some...) Stefen: We had already moved to Los Angeles before those bands came to be. So, we didn't really have any relationship with any of those bands mentioned. I mean yeah The Dolls were aware of us as well as Kiss who came on the scene later on. I think Shady Lady was to the West Coast what The Dolls became to be to the East Coast. There were some local L.A. bands whom we were friends with though. Iggy Pop was around and we used to hangout some as well as some other L.A. based musicians. Back in New York I had hung around some with Jimi Hendrix but that was before Shady Lady was a band. You know, it wasn't long after John, Gerhard and I had just moved to Los Angeles when one evening Jimi showed up at this house in Laurel Canyon. We had just moved in with a bunch of chicks we had met at The Whiskey. They said we could rehearse there so we moved right in. This was just a couple of weeks before he died. Jimi and I hadn't seen each other in quite awhile and he didn't even know I was even in L.A. or that I was putting this band together. He totally tripped out when he walked in and saw me. I have to say I was really bummed for quite a long while after he died too. Jimi was one of the good guys and as everyone knows, he was only the greatest guitarist in the world, ever! I am sure many, many people miss him still to this day besides myself. Oh yeah by the way, Leonard still has this Martin acoustic guitar that Hendrix played that night at the house. Now how cool is that?
Slam Rocks: I read that you were one of Johnny Thunders good friends, is it true or was just an urban legend that you asked him to join your band? If so, how did it go? Stefen: Actually, I knew Johnny from the street scene in N.Y. pre Shady Lady and Dolls. We weren't actually friends at that time. We just used to say hello to each other in passing. It was mostly this mutual respect thing because of our look and attire back then.?We had a similar style and a look going on. Later on I ran into him one night at a Doors concert in the East Village. Gerhard and John were with me and we had been auditioning musicians for what would later be known as Shady Lady. I asked Johnny if he was interested in auditioning but it turned out he was playing bass then and we already had a bass player in Gerhard. Of course Johnny later switched from bass to guitar in The Dolls. (laughing again) It was a few years later when I was back in N.Y. and walked into Max's Kansas City one evening. Sable Starr was there with Johnny and the other members of The Dolls. Sable and I were good friends as she had been John Christian's girlfriend for a while before Thunders. Sable and her sister Coral were always hanging out at our house. The Dolls manager was there and asked me if SL would go on tour together with The Dolls? I told him that was a fantastic idea but we had just split up. I hung around with The Dolls a lot there for a few weeks. Johnny
and I had quickly become friends and at one point we were getting a crib together. I bailed out at the last moment though. It was on the day Sable and myself along with Roger, who was a long time mutual friend of Johnnys and myself, were to put down a deposit on this apartment we had found there in Manhattan. Johnny was away on tour at the time, so I called Sable and told her to call Johnny and tell him that I was sorry but I had decided to go back to L.A. I then left for the airport and flew back to Los Angeles that same afternoon. I never saw any of them again which is strange but true. Iggy had been in N.Y. during that time for a bit too but he had also come back to L.A. around the same time as myself. Eventually, I even lost contact with him, as well. People move on in different directions, sometimes they meet up again and sometimes they don't. It's like circles and sometimes those circles roll back around and you connect up with the same people again and sometimes you break off into other circles and connect with other people's lives.
Slam Rocks: Why did you decide to move from N.Y. to L.A. and which were the most evident differences between the two scenes? Stefen: First of all, we just weren't finding the other two members to complete the band in New York. The three of us were planning to go to London and had begun saving money for the move. But then John was starting to have some problems with these Mafia thugs. Then I got involved and things really started getting hairy in a hurry. So, before bodies started piling up we decided to leave rather quickly. We split to L.A. because we didn't have enough funds saved to go on to England. Actually, John and myself hid out from these gangsters for a couple of weeks in upstate N.Y. We took a couple of chicks with us to keep us company though. (laughing) In the meantime, Gerhard, who these thugs weren't aware of, organized things for us and got everything together for the trip. He picked us up in this old van he had bought and we headed West.
The biggest differences between N.Y. and L.A. were oh, hell there were so many. Both places are cool but really very different. Things are more laid back and move slower in Los Angeles but the climate was way better and the women were awesome. Don't get me wrong New York has some really awesome ladies, too but L.A. was full of these tanned blonde movie starlet types. (laughing) We stood out in Los Angeles even more so than we had in N.Y. and the women found us easily. Anyway, more importantly we found the other two members of the band out here. We had auditioned a lot of musicians in N.Y. and L.A. before we found and settled on the right guys to complete the band though.
Slam Rocks: L.A. was the operation base of Kim Fowley and Rodney Bingenheimer. Rodneys English Disco were the right place to be in those Glitter years, I think you were at home in the club, have you got some memories you'd share with us? Stefen: We didn't spend a whole lot of time there believe me. There were so many parties and we had so many people following us around. We hung out and held court at The Rainbow on the strip mostly and sometimes the Whiskey when we weren't playing gigs. Our house was where the real parties were happening though. I used to have to go around every morning waking-up and kicking people out. They would be crashed in every corner of our house and even outside on the deck or in the pool house. They were crashed out everywhere.?Rodneys was okay but it was a little too low key for me at times. Now, before Rodneys there was OOH POO PAH DOO and that was a happening place. We played there quite a bit and when we did, the place would always be jam packed. It was a total scene. Compared to that Rodneys was really more like the leftovers from last nights dinner.
Slam Rocks: There's a rumor about David Bowie's song Lady Stardust, was it really inspired by Shady Lady? In my opinion you really did influence a lot of 70's Glam bands in the States, you were the true prime movers, isn't it? Stefen: Yeah, there is no doubt we probably influenced a lot of bands and a lot of the music that came after us. As far as the Lady Stardust song thing, I don't know for certain. I have never met him but can tell you that Bowie came to see us at the Whiskey and was writing his legendary Ziggy Stardust album during that time. His song does describe the scene that was going on there and I did sing 'All Night Long' on that particular night which he describes in his song. I would have to say that it is probably more than a rumor that the song was written about Shady Lady but one would have to ask him to know for sure.
Slam Rocks: First time I listened your 5 songs promo I was totally blown away, great songs wrote before every other similar bands in the States .....Your management was the same of Cream, Bee Gees and Buddy Miles, you had the right numbers to became superstars, what happened and why didn't you ever release your album? Stefen: Yes, we had good management in Robert Fitzpatrick and Max Byfuglin who believed in us. We were their favorite children so to speak. They had huge plans for Shady Lady. They protected and nurtured us. It was weird because most of the music industry were afraid of us. We scared the crap out of them for some unknown reason. There were a few writers and music entrepreneurs that thought we were going to be bigger than The Rolling Stones though. After several offers from various recording labels we signed with Scepter records out of New York. Scepter Records sort of went belly up underneath us though due to financial difficulties that we were unaware of. The album was ready to be released with just a couple of minor touch-ups and the final mix to be done. They never even heard it. If the record company had held on..they would probably have come out their financial woes. We would have been their saviors. I don't know what actually led to their problems but I know it wasn't us because they had yet to sink any monies into the band. They didn't have to pay us anything up front as our deal was all in promotion and distribution of the album. That money was never spent on that. It was rumored that Scepter had made some bad investments in some 50's style band and they lost their ass and closed their doors.
Slam Rocks: When and in particular why did you exactly split up the band? Stefen: Well, I didn't want the band to split up! John wasn't always showing up for rehearsals, photo shoots, business meetings, etc. near the end. He was too busy getting loaded on heroin from what I understood. And Billy was secretly daydreaming half the time about being a space man and fronting his own band. The other two I'm not sure but I really think Gerhard and Leonard would have continued on in Shady Lady had we just decided to replace John and Billy. This was difficult thing to do though as John and I wrote most all the songs together. Billy was a great drummer but we could have replaced him but John well now, that was a problem. He and I were the dynamic songwriting duo. Hell, we were even being compared to Lennon/McCartney and Jagger/Richards by some of the music media back then. Not that you should believe everything you read though because there is always a lot of bullshit and hype being done. However, we were very much in tune with each other when it came to writing songs, extremely so. It was almost like magic in a way. I guess the final straw that broke the camels back though was when we went over to Dress Revue, the music studios where we rehearsed. We went there to get out some of band equipment and found it was all gone. It turned out John had taken it and either sold or pawned it all to pay for drugs and plane fare to London. He had robbed us and then bailed. I should have tried to hold the rest of the band together but we were so burnt out and depressed at the time that it seemed almost fruitless. The management wanted me to go solo at that point. I said, no. I walked away and that was that.
Slam Rocks: In the last years there's a renewed interest for the 70s music and in particular for the original Glam Rock, there are a lot of cool internet sites about it like 70s Invasion and Glam Rock Bear. Mighty lost albums such the one of Brett Smiley, Zolar X's Timeless and now your own Raving Mad finally came to light, I really think it's time for you to catch all the satisfactions and fame you deserve, don't you? Stefen: Aww, well, I don't know what we deserve really but I think it's time to let people out there become familiar with our music. At least the ones who might dig our brand of rock 'n roll.
Slam Rocks: I heard the Italian label Rave Up Records showed interest to print a vinyl ltd. edition of your album. Did you agree with it and eventually when will we able to have the work done? Stefen: Yes we are doing a vinyl album release with them and Rave Up has been great to work with and the LP is to be released December 15th I believe. It is being released in an extremely limited quantity though, so if anyone reading this wants one then I would suggest sending an E-mail off to Rave Up quickly. By the way, it is being pressed in a hot see-thru red vinyl! See, that's hype! (laughing) We will be looking to follow up with a CD on a much larger distribution scale. I haven't decided with whom yet but Gerhard, Leonard and myself are talking and looking at some tentative offers.
Slam Rocks: Well, now tell us something you've always dreamt to say and nobody asked to you (whatever you want, in other words) Stefen: Oh, I guess that I would want to say that I wish all the younger generations of today could have experienced the late 60s and early 70s thing. I don't know if something like or even similar to that era will ever happen again but I certainly hope it does. Sadly the truth is that the music scene today really, really sucks by comparison. It would be great if some unique and talented bands would emerge and whip us all into a total frenzy. It has been too long since anything really exciting and energetic has come along in the way of a music scene. What the fuck is wrong with everybody? Wake the fuck up and let's all go start another underground rock 'n roll revolution again!
70s invasion home -
https://www.angelfire.com/vt2/70sinvasion/