Tommy London.
Who the fuck is Tommy London?
Chuck Norris fears Tommy London.
Tommy London is the man, the myth, the legend.
Singer, promoter, SiriusXM radio personality, concert festival host. Did I miss anything? I probably did because the man wears many hats. I met Tommy while listening to Hair Nation one day on SiriusXM and found out that he was a fellow membership card holding member of the KISS Army. Not only that, but I also found out that he’s on several of the other channels on SiriusXM. I’m not sure when the guy sleeps! He recently dropped a video for his single “Wicked Ways” so what better chance to put up a chair next to the busy man and try to get a few words in with him. What do Lady Gaga, Macho Man Randy Savage Sirius XM’s Hair Nation have in common? That would be the one and only Tommy London.
We definitely want to kick off things with talking about your new single “Wicked Ways” that you have out. You probably remember this ad from back in the 80s. When I heard the song it was not what I expected from you. I wasn’t expecting a slow song from you. There was a CD of power ballads and I remember the commercial saying something like “every bad boy has a tender side.” How’s the feedback from the fans been on the new single?
I’ve got a great response from it. I played few times on Hair Nation on SiriusXM and of course it’s on all the streaming sites. The response, especially when I played it on the radio, has been great. The listeners all wrote me and let me know that they got the song. It really connected with them in different ways.
It’s been about four years since you released a single and video and that was “Say Whoa.”
I recorded this album a few years ago and I shopped it around. I got a little bit of interest, then the pandemic hit and it killed the vibe on it. Prior to the pandemic, I dropped three singles on my own: “Sugar Red,” “Make You Love Me” and “Boom Boom Boom.” During the pandemic, I was just like everybody else. I was bored and you can only watch Tiger King so many times. I had this idea and I posted it online for friends and family and what not to take part in the music video. We were all in the same place so to speak and it worked. I got so much footage from people doing crazy stuff. We put it all together and that’s how we made the video for “Say Whoa.” We finally put out the full-length record and I’ve been releasing singles off of it with videos and I’ll probably put out a few more. I have a new project, which I can’t say anything about yet, but new music will be on the way sooner then we think.
Nothing like giving them a bit of a teaser.
Tease me, please me as the Scorpions say.
Yes, a great song and video from back in the day. On that same note of going back a bit, can we go back to Dirty Pearl? You guys were growing and getting lots of great opportunities, so what happened?
We had a great run; we had a lot of fun and a lot of opportunities. It was the first time for all of us having these kinds of opportunities. We were a local band in New York and playing these smaller rooms. Suddenly the power of all of us together and things changed. I’m not sure if you are familiar with some of these New York theaters. We were headlining the Bowery Ballroom. It’s a 600 seater and it was a big deal like what’s going on? Plus the Gramercy Theatre which was also 600 seats and then it was Urban Plaza which was 1200. It was out of control and it was awesome. Then we got these opportunities to open up for national acts which we never had. We would get these calls to open up for like David Johansen, who left us recently. We were thrilled we got to open for the New York Dolls. I can’t remember if that was our first national show or not. We opened for them or Twisted Sister; I can’t remember which one was first. You know what, Twisted Sister was first. It was a Twisted Christmas soon after we headlined the Bowery Ballroom. That’s when the President of Live Nation came to see us and asked us to open for the New York Dolls. That was the newly formed Dolls with David Johansen. That was a huge honor for us being a New York City band to open for these icons in New York City. You have the Ramones, KISS and the New York Dolls. We did two out of the three because the Ramones weren’t really active but we did get to open for KISS later on. That was a big thrill as well or as I like to say KISS closed to for us (laughs). We had some ups and downs, but when the band members start changing out sometimes you lose a little bit of the soul of a band that you originally started with. We went through these ups and downs together and I just thought it had started to plateau. When some of the guys in the newer lineup in the band were doing some stuff outside of the Pearls, I thought maybe it was time for me to do something outside of the band too. I never said the band was done; it kind of ended up that way. Everyone kind of moved on to other things with some of the guys moving out of New York City including myself. I am in California now. Then, my radio career took off too. We had a great time and we have an album out that’s on all the streamers. We had two EP’s that we had released prior that we never had on the streamers. That’s how far back this goes, before streamers were ever a relevant thing. I thought about putting them together and putting them out there.
Dude that would be really cool.
Yeah, I have to talk to some of the other members of the band. I’ve even thought about doing a reunion.
What? That would be even cooler!
I would love to do a reunion show around New York. My dream is to do a reunion show at the Bowery Ballroom. We could have anybody that’s ever been a member of the band, as long as there’s no bad blood, to get up and jam. That could be a lot of fun but we will see.
I hope all the stars lineup and you make that happen because that would be really cool.
I would love to do something like that. I think it would be hard. One guy is in New York, the original bass player Doug Wright is in Utah. Marty, the drummer who I originally started the band with is in Michigan. The guitar players, we’ve had quite a few, but I think most are in New York so maybe.
Never say never.
During the pandemic I thought about doing it via Zoom but then I thought if I wanted to do it I wanted to do the real deal.
Before you got the job with SiriusXM, did you have any experience doing interviews?
No, I had had no experience in my life unless I had been interviewed like right now.
I ask because I love when I hear that you’re doing interviews. I hate interviews even though I’m doing one right now because they sound so generic and contrived. You have this very smooth, cool and personal way of doing them. There is a great clip online, I may have to find it and send it to you. It’s with two of the guys who used to be in Five Finger Death Punch doing an interview overseas and. The girl has her questions written down and she’s paying no attention to the responses when they respond so they start playing around. They just start speaking gibberish that makes absolutely no sense for their answers and they’re trying their best not to crack up. Dude, she never catches on.
Oh my God, really? They were messing with her.
I really dig your interviews because they are very personable and they’re not really like interviews. They’re more like just a couple of friends sitting down to catch up over lost time.
Wow, thank you. That makes me feel really good. That’s the atmosphere I try to create. I don’t go in knowing these artists and as a matter of fact the majority of the time I didn’t. I feel like I do because I’ve listened to their music for years and gone to a lot of their shows. A lot of the time it’s the first time meeting them. There’s a more of a comfort level now when I speak to them. I asked them questions that I would want to know as a fan and I assume, and hope, that the fans have the same questions. I appreciate hearing that and thank you but I hope that comes across as very genuine when I talk to them.
Have you ever been star struck during an interview?
Yeah you know I have and I was really nervous for the first interview that I ever did Steve Harris of Iron Maiden. I was interviewing him pre-pandemic. I interviewed Steve and I was very nervous because I had never done this before. Someone gave me some very good advice. When you meet the artist, before you go into the interview, I always talk to that person for bit. It could be about sports, the weather, whatever just something generic and fun. Then we went inside and I felt like he was my buddy. What really made me feel good when we were done is that I told him this was my very first interview. He said ‘you’re kidding me; you’re a natural man.’ I remember walking out of there feeling good and I thought well maybe he was just being nice. Later, the producer of the segment took me to the side and said Steve was really raving about the interview. He told me that he meant what he said to me that really made me feel good.
I still get a little star struck when we do in-person ones but not so much via zoom. That’s just like they’re on your TV. I’ve interviewed a lot of my heroes. Nikki Sixx was great, Alice Cooper was so sweet, and Paul Stanley was awesome. Stephen Pearcy and I have talked quite a few times and he was a lot of fun. Bret Michaels and I have talked a few times and we became friend. He’s such an awesome guy; he really is a genuine person. I think one of the ones I was most nervous about was John Bon Jovi because he’s really up there. I interviewed him three times last year for Bon Jovi radio. By what I understand he has to approve who interviews him and I guess he liked talking to me. I have slowly become the voice of Bon Jovi Radio.
I’ve seen clips of you and Lady Gaga performing together on stage and I saw the clip recently where she gave you a shout out. I’m a huge Lady Gaga fan, so I have to ask. Where did that connection happen?
I was always running around the lower Eastside of New York City hanging out at a bar called St. Jerome’s. She was always there too and a couple of close friends of mine. I had a friend who always told her she had her head in the clouds and her feet on the ground. She was trying to achieve her dreams and she definitely bigger than we all ever thought. That’s the thing, she never forgot her friends. She’s an awesome person and she deserves all the success she’s ever achieved. We had a lot of good times smoking weed in the bathroom and getting locked in the bathroom. I’ve got stories like that for days; it’s fun to share good memories.
Dude, you’ve got so many stories that I know you could write a book.
You know. I should into it; that that would be fun.
I know I would definitely buy one.
I will keep you posted. Who would play me in the movie though?
Who has the hair to play you is what I want to know.
Yeah, I don’t know; that’s a good question. Maybe the guy who played Elvis?
What’s coming on your radar?
Well, I’m hosting a lot of festivals. I’m hosting the M3 Festival in May which has the return of David Lee Roth which is going to be epic
That’s a cool, but you also have a mini RATT reunion going on.
Yes, the reuniting of Stephen Piercy and Warren Demartini. There are so many cool artists there like Sebastian Bach, Ace Frehley and Vixen just to name a few. That’s a three day one and I always look forward to that one. I’m also going to be back at Sturgis at the Full Throttle Saloon. There are so many great bands there including Jackyl because Jesse James Dupree is the co-owner the place. I’ll be hosting this thing on Triller TV which is a streaming service and it’s called Celebrity Sports Inc. It’s old-school like way back in the day the Battle of the Network Stars. You remember that one?
One yeah; it came on ABC and had all these different celebrities on it.
Right, but with this one instead of celebrities going against each other it’s the Navy against the Marines or something like that. It’s flag football and I hope they give me the yellow jacket with the patches on it. That one will air on June 1 on Triller TV but I don’t have the exact time. Plus, I have some other festivals in the future. When I was living in New York I put a lot of shows together with local bands to support the community. I’m working on something like that here in California.
I read about those; dude you’re a jack of all trades including being a promoter.
I’ve done promoting, singing, the radio shows. I’m a regular song and dance man (laughs).
Do you do the cleanup as well?
No, we have to get somebody else for that (laughs).
I’m dying to know this one. Where did “who the fuck is Tommy London?” originate?
(laughs) I had this roommate of mine, Jasin Cadic, he’s a singer and an amazing person. There’s this infamous phrase that Keith Richards used to say about Mick Jagger all the time. Keith Richards had a shirt that said who the fuck is Mick Jagger that he used to wear all the time. We used to hang out in a bar that had that picture up. People used to say it all the time if they saw me with Lady Gaga because they really didn’t know. My roommate and I would laugh at this at all the time and he told me that I should make that shirt. I had this gig coming up in LA and my roommate was going to coincidentally be in LA at the same time. I told him to come and get onstage and sing with me. He did and he revealed that he had the shirt made. Then everybody wanted the shirt so I got the shirts made then I just started selling them online for fun. For a while, I used to do memes of it every day and I still do them but not as often. What’s really funny is when I’m hanging out with someone and they go who the fuck is Tommy London and I’m right there because they don’t get the joke (laughs).
I’m definitely going to Google that picture of Richards.
What’s really funny page is I have this Instagram page called ‘who the fuck is Tommy London?’
What? No way!
I only created this page so I can save these memes somewhere. So if you can find the ‘who the focus Tommy London?’ page, you can see all the mems and that shirt.
Ok, now that’s two things I have to look for (laughs). I come from a small town and I grew up in the 80s where we had a radio station that basically just played Top 40 stuff. I lived for the same things that you did such as MTV’s Head Banger’s Ball and rock/metal magazines like Hit Parader and Creem. Social media is a monster and I am a part of it on a daily basis because of the need to feed it info for readers. Yet, it really has taken the mystique away about music and bands that used to be there.
You’re 100% right; I don’t want to see my favorite rock star in flip-flops cooking eggs. I want to see Motley Crue dressed 24 hours a day the way they look in the Shout of the Devil video (laughs). Steven Tyler is always walking around in those scarves. KISS is always in the makeup. The mystique is gone but certain artists have found a way to keep some of it although it eventually gets revealed. Could KISS survive if they would’ve come out today with the whole mystique of being the Lone Rangers of rock ‘n roll but everyone has a camera in their pocket these days? I agree with you. It was a thrill me to look forward to Saturday nights Head Banger’s Ball and taping it so I can re-watch. Then, I would run to the market to get Hit Parader or Circus, Metal Edge or RIP. I had to have them all for two reasons: to read about my favorite band and the other reason to tear out the pictures and plaster them on my wall. That is definitely; gone kids today would not understand that but they have their niche like Tik Tok (laughs). The other side of the pay coin is that you can go on their page and see when they’re playing which wasn’t as easily accessible when we were growing up. I remember being in New York City and I would pick up a Village Voice, which is a free newspaper in New York, and I would pick it up and see who was playing when and where. So-and-so played here last night I didn’t even know about it. There’s so much in the feed, but I want something delivered to me where I can look at it and put it on my wall.
There’s a whole generation that do not get that. We had new release day, which used to be on Tuesday, and I would meet the UPS man so I could get our shipments before the store ordered. I wanted to have all the new stuff ready when we opened on Tuesday morning for those die-hard who showed up to get the new KISS or the new Motley Crue album. Now they just go to the computer and “click.” Cover art and liner notes are completely lost on this generation too. For the most part, they don’t get anything physical to hold in their hands.
You’re right it’s a life lost art form although vinyl records are making a comeback.
Yeah, but they’re so damn expensive.
The record industry could be back with vinyl if they made it more affordable. The quality is amazing as well as the sound.
I don’t know, but I kind of miss the pops and the cracks (laughs). Here’s one for you to think about since you do so many shows on Sirius XM. If they let you create any kind of show for any channel on Sirius XM, what would you do?
Oh man, I don’t know. I would have to really sit down and think about it. I guess it would really depend on what channel they let me do for. I would want it to be all classic and hard rock. I would love to have a channel that had everything from maybe 70s rock to current rock. On New Year’s Eve I hosted and I had fans call in. Normally, I don’t have the ability to take phone calls like the Eddie Trunk show. New Year’s Eve was so much fun; I love talking to listeners. If I got to do a show, I think it would be something like that where they could call and we can chat about whatever.
You’re great with the music knowledge so I think that would be pretty cool.
Thanks man, I appreciate that.
Enough of the easy questions Tommy; it’s now time for our closing feature called Three For The Road. It’s like a marathon and we let you stretch will all of the other questions before we hit you with the really hard ones. Question one is do you remember who your first celebrity crush was?
That’s easy; Olivia John and Sandy in Grease especially at the end she come out with leather and heels. I watched that movie a million times.
Dude, I’m not just saying this, but she was my first celebrity crush too. I was crushing all the way up on her until the day she died.
Yeah, me too (laughs).
If you could have literally anyone be the sound of your inner voice, who would it be?
You mean stuff that I’m not saying out loud? Christopher Walken (laughs). You know, it’s his phrasing and pauses that makes it great.
Last question, if all this was over today and you went into professional wrestling, what would your wrestling name be?
First of all, it would be inspired by the Macho Man Randy Savage because he is my favorite pro wrestler of all time. It has to do something with London, maybe London Calling? Maybe that would be it or maybe just T London. They would play that in the arena too. London Calling would be my finishing move.
Interview by I’m Music Magazine Owner/Editor Johnny Price
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