Jimmy James

By Dimitri
(SugarBuzz USA)

SugarBuzz Magazine

RHINESTONE COWBOYS AND GHOST RIDERS: Dimitri Sugarbuzz USA Interviews Primo Guitar-Star, Jimmy James, Mostly About The Coma-Tones.

"Waiting for Betty, who said she'd make spaghetti, but she's still not here..., I’ll have another beer..."(-Gio)

Besides perhaps my own dismal suicide-punk, crash and burn, flash- etal, gutter rock disasters, there really are no bands like the Coma- ones. Certainly, there are few bands with that much talent, and charisma, the Doors, Stooges, Hanoi Rocks, Guns 'N' Roses, but they all got discovered and made some money for somebody, before disintegrating. The Coma-Tones have been disintegrating, and rising phoenix-like, from the ashes of last night's blacked-out brawl, again and again, since their inception.

Most groups we'd describe as having a cult-following, like, say, Thee Hypnotics, or Beat Angels, or Motorcycle Boy; even they, at least, got off the ground, and were able to gain world-wide recognition from releasing much-loved albums on boutique-labels, that merely lacked the budgets needed to promote their music in Peoria.

The Coma-Tones only released one four song EP. On vinyl, that promptly disappeared, years ago, along with the rest of my records, and self-respect, when a certain sultry-voiced siren ditched me to rot here in the memory-gutter.

The Coma-Tones were mostly celebrated by word-of-mouth, and in the pages of Flipside Magazine, L.A. Weekly, Rock City News, and Ready To Snap!, but unless you subscribed to Flipside, or Ready To Snap!, or lived in Hollywood in the early 90's, and frequented the scuzzy hair-band dives, chances are slim you were hipped to the legendary Coma-Tones.

Like I've said elsewhere, I met them on Melrose Ave. back when I was first scrambling to get a foot-hold in L.A., when the Teaszer was still painted purple in homage to Sammy Serious and his gang of violet tressed glamsters, the Zeroes, but grunge, and gangsta-rap were what the pole-dancers preferred to gyrate to in that year.

The scene was dead. All that shitty corporate wank-metal was making good time rock'n'roll seem obsolete. Nobody needed to hear anymore of those awful power ballads with pitch shifted vocals, and deedle deedle guitar solos.

I lived with my girlfriend at the time, the Plate Hurling Songstress Who Can't Be Named, in a tiny, shit-box apartment on Cherokee and Sunset, and got a lot of flack from the neighbors about my make-up and sequined trousers. She worked at a high-end sex shop that sold over-priced double-dongs to the stars. I worked at Bleeker Bob's, where I also first met the Road Vultures from NYC, and Fishbone, and for a goth-boutique, called Quasi-Glam.

Bleeker Bob always pulled a vanishing-act on pay-day. He liked to hire Brits with immigration issues, and white trash Midwestern kids he could avoid paying as long as possible. My amigo, Bruce, from the Jeff Dahl Group, had just produced the Ultras, and made me a really swank resume' so I could maybe land a job that paid me, in time to pay the land-lords, but getting paid has always been a problem for me.

Remember that grating KROQ song, I think it's by Missing Persons-"Nobody Walks in L.A."? I did LOTS of walking in L.A. cos I could seldom afford a cab all the way down to the bars at the foot of Laurel Canyon, where I went nightly to see bands like Broken Homes, Queeney Blast Pop, the Bent-Back Tulips, and Mini-Skirt Mob.

I was startin' to write some songs with various guitarists, and was in band-negotiations with various members of Black Cherry, Spiders 'N' Snakes, Gene Loves Jezebel, and Darling Cruel. The angry girlfriend always sabotaged my band practices by getting sick, or throwing me out the night before an important audition.

I still have these green fliers Gio and Divo gave me for their show with some group called Rocket 88. They were nice guys. When I moved back to Boston, after nearly dying from severe alcohol with-drawl convulsions in U.C.L.A. Medical Center, I started getting demo-cassettes in the mail from Tom Donnelly of Blue Heart Management, and later on, from Larry, their roadie.

I kinda kept in touch with the Coma-Tones gang through our mutual associate, Shane "Rock'n'Roll" Williams. In spite of my semi-annual requests to interview the mysterious and elusive poet-front-man, Giovanni Vitanza, for some crummy fanzine I either published, or contributed to, throughout the years, I was never able to pin him down for an interview. Even in Hollywood, people would tell me he was just here at Boardners, or Rajis, "You just missed Gio!" He was always there, and gone, like a ghost.

Me and my now-departed guitarist, Kentucky Mike, used to blast Coma-Tones favorites like, "Sexual Intellectual", and "Three Dollar Dress" on his car stereo while drunk-driving in the filthy midwestern snow, back when we were both still outcast and despised hellions, scorned by the neutered and unimaginative rich-kid local-music scenesters for dating strippers, and having bad tattoos, back when they were all still slavishly aping Brainiac, or Stereolab, or Sonic Youth, or whoever. We were loud and drunk, with a small circle of eager enablers, and big rock-star plans, dancing like bad girls, in our speed and whiskey sodden skulls.

Kentucky Mike died after relocating to San Fran and becoming a singer. So did the Coma-Tones drummer, Grant. Every few years, there would be rumors that Divo, Gio, and Jimmy James were reuniting with various cohorts, and I got to hear some new studio tracks, a few years ago, that were supposed to see eventual release on a pretty cool California punk label.

Stories about the Coma-Tones notoriously bad luck and ramshackle flirtations with fame and fortune, continued to filter-in, every so often. Maybe you heard the one about how Gio was supposedly arrested for jumping a subway turn-stile, while on his way to deliver the retrospective's Master Tapes to his label guy: he's a walking contradiction, partly true, and partly fiction.

The Great Jimmy James has continued to resurface in all of the coolest sleazy rock-punk bands, like the Hangmen, and Rock City Angels. Divo was last seen in a Florida bar band called Purple Mountain Majesties.

Recently, I was able to ask Jimmy James some questions about the Coma-Tones, on a borrowed lap-top computer. This is Part One of the Jimmy James Saga. We'll hopefully be getting him to do a follow-up feature on the Rock City Angels, in the near future.

THE INTERVIEW

DIMITRI: Jimmy James, where do you hail from, what was your early life like, and how did you first discover rock n roll?

JIMMY JAMES: Hello, well, I was born in NYC, and moved to So. Florida when I was about 9. We moved around a lot, so I didn't have many friends, just me and FM radio which brings us to...rock n roll. Then I kinda stabilized for awhile, and met some guys in their teens that had a band and played covers of like Thin Lizzy, Zepplin, you know. That's when I got guitar fever, the sound was just...

DIMITRI: Early bands? Who inspired you?

JIMMY JAMES: I guess among the first stuff I ever bought was ZZ Top, James Gang, metal stuff, I just didn't have the chops to play metal, then I picked up a ten inch Yardbirds singles comp., 'changed my life, that, and later, when I first heard the Heartbreakers "L.A.M.F." Pivotal stuff, thought, "I can do this!" ...Oh yeah, and of course, Steve Jones and the Sex Pistols-great shit.

DIMITRI: Origins of the Comatones...where did they grow up, how did they form, how did you first become acquainted with Gio and Divo?

JIMMY JAMES: Well, it started like this, I was just getting home from an east coast tour that went sour with this roots rock band called the Preachers (their guitar player Nick Kane-real badass, left to form The Mavericks) soon as I got home my phone was ringing, it was Divo, who I'd known since we teens. Apparently his really weird glam band broke up, and he wanted to start something rawer with me, and his old drummer, Chino. It was pretty cool, and we started to write and learn songs together, so we knew it was gonna be a great thing. All we needed was a singer---the "X" factor.

I'd been hanging out a bit in weird bars in the Miami arts district-mainly to meet girls, and this guy was talking to a girlfriend of mine. He looked like a musician, know what I mean? I asked him if played, he said he was a guitarist, well, I didn't want a guitarist, at that point, so I just dismissed that whole thing, that was Giovanni.

Couldn't find a singer for shit, thought about that meeting, and figured I'd ask him to sing anyway. I kept going to the same bar looking for him but no dice. Then I see an ad for a singer with a number close to the bar and called - it was Gio! He recalled meeting me, and actually had a local rag with a picture of me from my old band, The Rock City Angels, and told me he wanted to find me and start a band! Random shit, who knew? We wrote a buncha songs, and played So. Florida till we outgrew that scene, then moved to L.A. Local press says "One of the best unsigned bands", Labels swarm like vultures, yadda yadda.

DIMITRI: Were you ever in the line-up with Grant? How did he die?

JIMMY JAMES: Our original drummer, Chino, who was a pretty bad alcoholic, got a DUI in L.A. and basically, went back to Miami, where he kept fucking up, until he got sober. Then Brian Waters had moved from Miami to L.A. and found Grant for us, he moved from Fresno to join the band, so it was Gio, Divo, Grant, Brian, and me.

After a while, we had every label calling, and I don't know if management, or the fear of a possibly out-of-control singer scared them off, but Gio started getting "messed up" a lot, Divo quit, I quit, Brian was long gone by then. Gio carried on with some other guys and Grant. So after awhile Grant, well, he was always kinda depressed, he took his own life. It was way too much for us to deal with, God bless him.

DIMITRI: Who was Tom Donnelly?

JIMMY JAMES: Tom was our manager; Larry our roadie (my neighbor) introduced us. He was managing Delaney Bramlett of Delaney and Bonnie fame, in the sixties. Tom looked like Paul McCartney, a real cool cat, he was. I just don't think he could deal with us, we drank quite a bit, and it didn't help he was Irish. He died of a brain aneurism in the late nineties.

DIMITRI: Who was "Larry the Asshole"?

JIMMY JAMES: Our roadie, a no-shit native Californian rock n roller from back in the day, 'claimed he worked for Black Oak Arkansas!

DIMITRI: I think I may have worked briefly with Brian Waters at Bleeker Bob's in L.A. Isn't he in the Flash Express nowadays?

JIMMY JAMES: Yeah, I actually played in the Flash Express last year for a bit, and then we backed Andre Williams on a west coast tour.

DIMITRI: Who paid for that Comatones EP to be released?

JIMMY JAMES: Tom pretty much paid for the EP.

DIMITRI: Who's got the old demos of Sexual Intellectual, $3 Dress, Routine Bleeds, 20 Nothing, etc.?

JIMMY JAMES: I hold all the Coma-Tones archives. Muhuhahahaha!

DIMITRI: What were some highlights of the Comatones storied "careers"?

JIMMY JAMES: Jeez, I'll have to save that for my book...I guess one thing that scared the crap out of the record company weasels was a showcase we played at Jack's Sugar Shack wherein Gio got so hammered (maybe drugs were in the mix) he could barely stand, then close to the end of the set, he hurled a mic at the sound guy. Good thing there was a Plexiglas window where the sound booth was, bad thing for the mic and us, we had to buy them a new one 'cause we pretty much destroyed it.

DIMITRI: Please describe Gio and Divo and the other relevant Comatones. Where are they now?

JIMMY JAMES: Well, Gio as you may know is Rock n Roll Incarnate. Divo too, hell, we all loved to rock out, party out, then pass out. 'Nuff said.

DIMITRI: What do you all do to make ends meet?

JIMMY JAMES: During the time of The Coma-Tones we all had the odd jobs, y'know? We weren't rocket scientists.

DIMITRI: When is the Acetate album slated for release?

JIMMY JAMES: I think it's penciled in for later this year. We'll see.

DIMITRI: Briefly discuss the Hangmen and what it was like working with them.

JIMMY JAMES: Bryan was a big fan of the 'Tones so they (the Hangmen) were having personnel issues, I got asked to "fill in" for like 7 years! I love working with Bryan, I get what his vision of the Hangmen is. We did "Metallic IOU", "We got Blood" live disc, and "Loteria". It was a great time but all things must pass.

DIMITRI: My most recent relocation plans were forestalled, which means, that before I could form my dream band with you, Billy Burke, Bam & Share, you relocated to Chicago! What are you doing there?

JIMMY JAMES: Wow what a lineup! I love Billy. We always talked about playing together. The Humpers were one of my faves, fer sure. He's got a barber shop in Long Beach. I work for Playboy Magazine in Chicago, and really, I just wanted a different scene, so here goes!

DIMITRI: Ever heard Teenage Frames?

JIMMY JAMES: Yeah, do they still play?

DIMITRI: What current groups do you listen to?

JIMMY JAMES: Turbo Negro and QOTSA come to mind.

DIMITRI: What does everybody from the Comatones do to support themselves?

JIMMY JAMES: These days, Gio does like, carpentry, or somethin', Divo's a teamster, and I look at naked girls all day. Wah!

DIMITRI: I never saw the Comatones live, but everyone who did, swears that Gio was Axl Rose or Jim Morrison or Stiv Bator great as a frontman. What do you think made him so special as a performer?

JIMMY JAMES: I'm 100% sure Gio never saw footage of the Stooges, but at our earliest gigs, I'd go for the solo, and not to be upstaged he'd walk on his hands, just like Iggy. A fuckin' madman, and true performer, whatever it took, man.

DIMITRI: What's next for Jimmy James and the Comatones?

JIMMY JAMES: We'll have to see what happens with the album. Maybe live shows? I dunno.

DIMITRI: What have I forgotten to ask you?

JIMMY JAMES: I dunno. Well there you have it, lemme know if there's anything else and if you're ever in Chicago, drop me a line.

DIMITRI: Like I said, real rock 'n' roll fans, I will try to follow-up with another interview that focuses on Bobby Durango and the Rock City Angels in the near future, and Divo is also, in the process of answering some questions, so Stay Tuned for More Rock 'n' Roll!

Jimmy James

The Coma-Tones

SugarBuzz Magazine