“Rikki Rockett has consistently been very friendly… it was a pleasure touring with Poison.”
— C.J. Snare of FireHouse

Metal Sludge — In another one of our Metal Sludge Flashback articles, we give you our original 20 Questions with FireHouse singer C.J. Snare.

We first posted this interview with C.J. below back on December 19th 2000.

It’s hard to believe this was almost a quarter century ago, and it’s even harder to believe that C.J. is no longer with us.

Father Time is taking our friends and brothers away from us one at a time, and sadly we cannot stop it.

In this interview, there are also mentions of the late great Jani Lane of Warrant and Kevin DuBrow of Quiet Riot as well.

We hope you enjoy looking back and reading our interview with C.J. Snare.

—————————————————————–

20 QUESTIONS WITH… FireHouse Singer C.J. Snare – Originally Posted: December 19th 2000

We’ve done 20 Questions with FireHouse’s Bill Levery, Michael Foster, and ex-bass player Perry Richardson, and now it’s C.J.’s turn. He emailed us a while back and said he was finally ready to do 20 Questions. So we sent the questions out to him and here they are!

---

1. What are you currently up to? This is your only chance to plug your shit, so get it out of the way now.

C.J. Snare: FireHouse has just released a new CD on November 7th, 2000, on SpitFire Records. The disc is entitled “O2″ and the songs are very hard rockin’ and groove oriented.. much like our first album.

2. What’s up with Perry not being in the band anymore? What’s the real reason for this?

C.J. Snare: I know that this is soooo cliche’ sounding, but we really were going in different directions …both musically, and personally.

3. What hard rock/heavy metal should give it up and call it a day?

C.J. Snare: If any band is out there trying to make a living in the music business, it’s very hard for me to give them any disrespect for doing what makes them happy.

4. Why has it taken you so long to agree to do 20 Questions with us?

C.J. Snare: I really hadn’t even heard of you guys until my wife found you while surfing the web and said your site was kind of funny. When the other guys in the band told me they had done some interviews with you.. I decided to take a look.

5. Rate the following singers on a scale of 1 to 10. 1 being a horrible singer and 10 being a vocal god.

Rob Halford = 20
Vince Neil = 8
Bret Michaels = 8
Jizzy Pearl = 8
Mark Slaughter = 8
Jani Lane = 9
David Lee Roth = 7
Kevin DuBrow = 10
Sebastian Bach = 8
Don Dokken = 8

6. What do you think about Tampa banning lap dances?

C.J. Snare: I live in the Tampa area but this law has not affected me one bit because I still get all the lap dances I want from my wife…right in my own house!

7. What’s this we hear about you writing a solo record? What is that about and who is going to be playing on it?

C.J. Snare: I am currently working on putting together a solo project. This does not mean that FireHouse is breaking up!!! I have gotten a lot of positive feedback from record companies, and people all over the world about this and I feel that now would be a good time to stretch my musical wings a bit. FireHouse will always be a priority for me but the state of hard rock in the USA ain’t what it used to be so now might be a good time to experiment with music that I write that might not be suited for Firehouse. Wish me luck!

8. Give us your top 3 best and worst moments of being in Firehouse.

3 Best :

Meeting my wife
Winning the American Music Award
Getting a BIG royalty check

3 Worst :

Epic records says; ”We’ve decided to spend the promotional budget on Pearl Jam instead of FireHouse.”

Our first big arena show in my hometown and I lost my voice.

Answering ridiculous interview questions.

9. What Firehouse song could go into a vault called Songs That Fucking suck?

C.J. Snare: Well, Some people might say every fucking one of them but.. I kinda like them all!!!

10. Give us a touring memory about the following cities:

Chicago = Cold…They Rock Hard @ The World Amphitheatre
Cleveland = They know how to party
New York = Tough room.. one of my favorite cities in the world
Boston = Where did I paak my caa?
Milwaukee = Beer Capital!!! They kick ass!!!!
Houston = Home of Southwestern hospitality
Phoenix = Stayed at the Phonecian Hotel 5 star town, the band hung out at Rob Halford’s house
San Francisco = Show with Poison was cancelled. We partied in the parking lot with the fans
Denver = Played @ Red Rocks 2 nights.. sold out..Nice mountains!!!
St. Louis = Love this town.. always a good time

11. Of all the bands Firehouse has toured with, who gave you guys the least amount of respect?

C.J. Snare: Slaughter

12. How much was your biggest music related check for and what did you do with it?

C.J. Snare: Let’s just say 6 figures and I had one hell of a good time!!!!

13. Which rock star deserves a smack in the mouth and why?

C.J. Snare: Me because I’m a sado-masochist ( just kidding )

14. What do you think about the whole Metallica / Napster issue.  Where do you stand?

C.J. Snare: I think that songs or any creative works should be protected.

15. What do you remember about the following years:

1982 = Playing clubs. Starving
1985 = Playing clubs.  Starving
1988 = Playing clubs. Light meals
1991 = Playing arenas. Feasting
1994 = Playing theaters. Light meals
1997 = Playing clubs. Starving

16. Perry briefly mentioned a story to us about David Lee Roth asking to have your PA pulled during a show. What was that about?

C.J. Snare: We were doing a show in the midwest somewhere and our band had its groove on that night. We were really clicking onstage and with the audience and Roth knew it. There were a lot of FireHouse banners in the crowd and we were doing really well with our T-shirt sales. All in all, I would say it was definitely our show that night and David Lee was backstage trying to get them to cut our set short and pull the plug on us. Nothing ever happened but I believe he got his panties in a wad that night.

17. Bill had some harsh words to say about Dana Strum, calling him “one load his mother should have swallowed.” What is your opinion of Mr. Strum?

C.J. Snare: I think that Dana is misunderstood by some in the Rock and Roll community. I think he works very hard to do the best for his band or whatever project he is working on at the time. Though sometimes he might be perceived as an asshole, he is a very smart and dedicated guy.

18. Which do you prefer:

Love Of A Lifetime or When I Look Into Your Eyes = Sorry.. can’t remember those tunes. How do they go again?
Dana Strum or Lars Ulrich = I’ve never met Lars
Britney Spears or Mandy Moore = Britney
Lit or Marvelous 3 = I like both bands although I know some of the guys in Marv 3
Howard Stern or Tom Green = Howard Stern…he has always supported our band
Tommy Lee or Fred Durst = Tough call. I like them both
Opening for Tesla or opening for Warrant = I had such a great time doing shows with both of these bands
Sebastian Bach or Rikki Rockett = Sebastian Bach has been very cool to me and then he has also been a real dick! Rikki Rockett has consistently been very friendly …it was a pleasure touring with Poison
Metal Masters or MTV = My wife, Kelly, actually hosted a couple of the Metal Masters TV shows and MTV is way over my head .so I’ll have to choose Metal Masters
Kid Rock or Limp Bizkit = Limp Bizkit

19. What is disappearing faster, the ozone layer or the hair on the back of your head?

C.J. Snare: Wow, it seems like you guys are more concerned about my hair than I am. Anyway… I’m not sure exactly what we can do to save the ozone layer. I do know what to do about my hair, though. I started taking Propecia about a year ago and I’ll be damned if it didn’t “fill in the gaps and grow my hair back”!!! I’ve fuckin’ got hair again!!! It would totally suck if this planet ran out of oxygen or burned up due to a depleted ozone layer right when I get most of my damn hair back!!!!

20. Time for Metal Sludge’s Word Association. We list a name and you give us your thoughts.

Slaughter = like the music
Jani Lane = Always been cool to me
Kid Rock = don’t know him
Tommy Lee = pretty cool drummer..
Kevin DuBrow = I consider him a friend and a great guy, wonderful sense of humor, an early influence of mine
Rikki Rockett = he’s always been nice to me
Ratt = Like the music
Gene Simmons = A friendly but sometimes cocky guy. His band influenced my decision to become a rocker.
Nikki Sixx = He once called my band “corporate rockers” hmmmm…forgive and forget??
Perry Richardson = Perry and I have been in and out of bands together for a long, long time. We were way down in the trenches and way up on those peaks together .We saw a lot of shit, both good and bad. We were like brothers. I wish him well.

Now what did we learn? We found out that Slaughter was disrespectful to Firehouse, Sebitchian was a real dick to him, he’s is working on a solo album, and he started taking Propecia about a year ago. Ok.

For more info on Firehouse, you can go to their website at www.firehousemusic.com

---

FireHouse @ WebSite – Facebook – Instagram – X/Twitter – YouTube – VIP Experience –

Credit and Copyright to Metal Sludge

---

Stay tuned to Metal Sludge for Breaking News, Updates and Features along with both New interviews and Classic 20 Questions.

Want to read more classic 20 Questions on Metal Sludge? Check out these interviews below.

SLUDGE FLASHBACK … 20 Questions with Warrant Guitarist Joey Allen – July 6th 1999
SLUDGE FLASHBACK … 20 Questions with Beautiful Creatures guitarist DJ Ashba – October 15th 2002
SLUDGE FLASHBACK … 20 Questions with Tracii Guns of L.A. Guns – December 2nd 1998
SLUDGE FLASHBACK … 20 Questions with QUIET RIOT drummer Frankie Banali – April 10th 2001
SLUDGE FLASHBACK … 20 Questions with Britny Fox bassist Billy Childs – Sept. 28th 2004
SLUDGE FLASHBACK … 20 Questions with Paul Gilbert of Mr. Big & Racer X – April 27th 2004
SLUDGE FLASHBACK … 20 Questions with Share Ross, VIXEN – April 20th 2004
SLUDGE FLASHBACK … 20 Questions with Jan Kuehnemund of VIXEN – November 9th 2004
SLUDGE FLASHBACK … 20 Questions with Producer Extraordinaire Michael Wagener – May 13th 2003
SLUDGE FLASHBACK … 20 Questions with Alice Cooper – October 30th 2001
SLUDGE FLASHBACK … 20 Questions with C.J. Snare lead singer of FireHouse – December 19th 2000
SLUDGE FLASHBACK … 20 Questions with Rick Ruhl of Every Mother’s Nightmare – October 2nd 2001
SLUDGE FLASHBACK … 20 Questions with Lupus from The Bloodhound Gang – November 19th 1998
SLUDGE FLASHBACK … 20 Questions with David Michael-Philips of King Kobra – Sept. 28th 1999

---