Nina Antonia's new book titled 'Too Much Too Soon' details the rise and fall of The New York Dolls.
Following is a short interview that Nina gave me before the book was published.
CR - How many pages are in the book?
NA - I haven't counted but it's over 80,000 words long so there's plenty to read!
CR - Who did you interview for it?
NA - Sylvain Sylvain, David Johansen, Arthur Kane, Rick Rivets, Peter Jordan, Sabel Starr, Cyrinda Foxe, Marty Thau, Steve Leber, Elda Gentile, Leee Black Childers, Jayne County, Buddy Bowser , Mariann Bracken, Bob Gruen, Roberta Bayley and Malcom McLaren. I also did a long interview with Jerry Nolan not long before he died and also used some of Johnny's comments.
CR - Was David Johansen very helpful?
NA - David Johansen was very witty but he didn't seem to want to spend to long talking about The Dolls, although he did give me some good quotes.
CR - David seems to have distanced himself from the Dolls and I never hear him speak publicly about the band. Is there a reason for this?
NA - You're going to have to read the book which goes into detail over Johansen's reasoning!
CR - What else did you do for research?
Pounded the streets of New York during a heatwave looking for clues and frisked the lost pockets of rock history looking for concealed evidence! Also, I had spent time with Johnny and Jerry so I knew their points of view already.
CR- Can you tell me about the photographs in the book?
NA - The majority of the photographs came from Bob Gruen. His Doll's archive is just staggering, there were so many pictures that I hadn't seen before. All the early shots in the book, taken when Billy Murcia was still alive, came from Leee Black Childers. Sylvain Sylvain also dug out some of his own photos as did Rick Rivets.
CR - What kinds of rare or little known stuff have you uncovered in your research?
NA - When I started the project I thought I pretty much knew the story but I found out an awful lot of things that I hadn't been aware of before. I went into what happened to Billy Murcia in London and managed to find a copy of the coroner's report. I also found out the story behind the players who helped to sabotage The Dolls both professorially and personally. It turned out to be a much darker story than I expected and I think the repercussions of it affected Johnny Thunders through the rest of his life.
CR - Wow. That will make an interesting read.
Well, what kind of
promo work is Omnibus going to do to support the book and where can we get a
copy?
NA - Omnibus will be sending out review copies to magazines and I think I'll be doing some interviews and stuff. You'll be able to get the book in places like Tower and book shops that have a good selection of rock biographies. Also Freddy Lynx will be selling them through his magazine. It will be coming out in the US and Canada so I hope everyone who's looking for it will be able to get a copy without any problems. If they do have any problems they can get in touch with me through the Cyber Lounge. Also there are sell through translation deals going on, I believe that Japan, Italy and Germany are all showing interest at this point.
CR - Did you ever get a chance to see the Dolls live?
No sadly not ! I was born too late. I was 13 when they played in England for the second time and my mother wouldn't let me go to London all by myself. I should have run away from home !
CR - Have you seen Morrissey's book on the Dolls? What do you think of it?
NA - I think it's a great selection of press cuttings with a couple of comments from Morrissey.
CR - Now that it's more than 25 years later, do you think many people know who the Dolls were?
NA - Anyone who's into a certain strand of rock that includes the MC5 and The Stooges will. The demise of The Dolls also bleeds into the story of the Sex Pistols so people who are into that will probably be interested as well. The Dolls may be be an obscure legend but they've always been cool. I've just seen an English movie ' The Velvet Goldmine' which is a fictional account of glam in the early '70's, and a British band called Teenage Fanclub did a cover of ' Personality Crisis' for it.
CR - In the early 1970's the Dolls were as much despised as they were loved (for example the Creem magazine poll of '74). Over the years it seems people have become more fond of the band and I don't hear much criticism of them. What do you think?
NA - The people that criticized them have done their job, made their comments but I doubt that they've been able to forget The Dolls. The New York Dolls faced a lot of homophobic prejudice, some people were deeply offended by them. In the early 70's it was still a criminal offence for a male to wear more than two items of female clothing. The folks that really adored the band have retained their fondness. It's 1998 now and it's impossible to deny just how influential The Dolls have been. Their relevance long outlasted their actual career
CR - The Dolls had a heavy influence on the English punk scene and many other musicians of the time. But what sort of influence to you think they have on the bands of today?
NA - They've made it easier for bands to be outrageous and not get crucified for it. If the Sex Pistols had happened but there had been no Dolls before them it would have been a lot harder for them. The media would have been less accepting of the whole Punk thing. Not that many people get upset over Marilyn Manson's makeup but if he'd tried it on in 1973, there would have been real trouble. I think The Dolls, alongside Iggy helped to liberate contemporary rock 'n' roll.
CR - Glam rock, of which the Dolls were a big part, was very popular in the early 70's. Even very conservative bands like Edgar Winter jumped on the bandwagon. But it never seems to get mentioned much nowadays. It's almost an embarrassment. Why do you think that is?
NA - Because most of it was an embarrassment! There's nothing worse than an ugly bloke in high heels and lipstick. The Dolls created their own look of Trash n' flash then other people categorized them. I think it's fair to say that Johnny and Syl were both into Marc Bolan so there was a bit of an English slant to what they were doing but they were much more sexually threatening in a street looking way than the UK contingent of glam acts, which Malcolm Mclaren found appealing.
CR - What bands do you listen to now?
NA - Pretty much what I've always listened to! The Dolls, Iggy and The Stooges, all the girl groups like the Shangri-las. Nancy Sinatra was great. I like the Yardbirds, Nick Cave, The Cramps. Of course Johnny and all the Heartbreakers stuff. There's just too much stuff to mention all of it.
CR - What got you first interested in the Dolls?
NA - I used to get 16 magazine and I saw a picture of them with a little write-up saying how they were the wildest band to ever come out of New York. I still have it.
CR - I think of that Dolls as being a real fun rock 'n' roll band. I hope you're not treating this subject as just a dry scholarly thesis.
NA - It would just kill the essence of the New York Dolls to treat them in such a fashion. Anyway, I never went to university so I wouldn't know how to write in a scholarly fashion!
CR - Thanks Nina.
' Too Much Too Soon ' is Nina Antonia's third book. She made her literary debut in 1987, when Johnny Thunder's authorized biography ' In Cold Blood ' was published. In 1996, SAF books released her account of Thunder's pal Peter Perrett of The Only Ones . Although Nina contributes to magazines and has written numerous sleeve notes for CD's, she specializes in chronicling the fatally famous.
From The Johnny Thunders Cyber Lounge
Last modified: September 6, 1998