20 QUESTIONS WITH

David Michael-Philips from King Kobra!

That’s right, it’s David Michael-Philips!  The one and only David Michael-Philips!!  For those of you who don’t know who King Kobra is, then you should be ashamed of yourself!  King Kobra was one of the biggest bands of the 80s!  So big in fact, that a lot of people don’t even remember them!  They were that big.  They were so big your mind couldn’t even comprehend it.  They toured with Kiss, Iron Maiden, Queensryche, and even Autograph!  They were all over MTV back in like 1985 or so.  Also, 3/4 of the BulletBoys were in King Kobra at one time!  In fact, this isn’t even 20 Questions, it’s 21 Questions!  Since we can’t count, we gave Dave 21 Questions instead of 20.  But a big time rock star like David, he deserves all 21.  Enjoy!

1.  Who are you? DAVID MICHAEL-PHILIPS:  Wow, you guys must be really hard up for talent. I played in the Heavy Metal/Glam Rock group King Kobra, a band with such great talent, that they were sure never to make it. The group was actually started by Carmine Appice, but don’t hold that against us.

2.  What are you currently up to?  This is your only chance to plug your shit and anything else you’re doing.

I put the guitar in the closet years ago (which is what most rockers my age should be doing as they push toward 40 and beyond) went back to college and became a Software Engineer. Now I can afford to buy my own beer without the financial assistance of a stripper (excuse me, dancer). Next year, I start earning my Master’s Degree in Computer Science. My little brother plays guitar in the Gas Giants on Atomic Pop. And he doesn’t even have to bleach his hair white or wear spandex pants.

3.  We heard your old singer Mark Free was a major flamer. Maybe even had a sex change and turned into a woman. What’s up with that?

I haven’t seen him/her in about 12 years, but I heard he’s living as a woman (whatever that means). Back then, though, he seemed manly enough.

4.  We heard Marq Torein was a bit light in the pants too. Is it a singer thing (Halford, Mercury, Liberace, etc…) or the name Mark/Marq? That I don’t know. My wife told me that some of her ex-groupie friends have said his manliness is not very manly.

5.  Since we’re talking about it, have you ever gargled a cock yourself?

No, but I once saw Ron Jeremy do it to himself in a porn flick and when I tried to bend my neck that far on myself, I almost threw out a vertebrae. So, the answer is no, I guess.

6.  We heard your married and have kids. How many and are they down with > gangs, skateboards and videos games. You know rebellious shit. What about  music lessons?

I have three sons (6 months, 3 and 6) who are too young for anything except Nintendo and Pokemon. But, when I feel they are mature enough, I’ll introduced them to the music of Winger and Britney Fox!

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

How about everybody except Kings X.

8.  For $15,000 would you chug an eight-ounce glass of urine. The urine is standard urine with nothing hideous about it other than the fact that it is some random person’s urine. You’ll get $30,000 if you chug it directly from the source. That depends…is the person a heavy vitamin user? Would the money be tax free?

9.  Tell us a good groupie road story.

C’mon, that’s so cliche. Only the bad ones are truly funny and they almost always involve fat chicks.

10.  Rate the following chicks on a scale of 1 to 10.  1 being a mess and 10 being a hot bitch.

Lita Ford =  -1 (a hag beyond compare, popular with sailors, I hear)

Joan Jett  = ? (a babe, I guess, if you like little boys)

Gerri Miller =  I know you’ll hate me for this, but she was always nice to me.

Fiona Apple =  10 (that skinny, heroin/junkie look really turns my crank)

Carmen Electra =  8 (she’d have to wash my car, though)

Carmine Appice =  2 (a 1 if he shaves off that ridiculous ball-tickler)

Britney Spears = 10 (would be a pleasure going to jail over)

Heather Locklear = 5 (never quite understood the attraction, too squeaky clean)

Cindy Crawford =  9 (but too tall for me)

Belinda Carisle =  I thought you said chicks…

11.  Who was a bigger dick Carmine or Vinnie Appice? Carmine, because he made more money than the rest of us. I think he made $1506.00 dollars total gross over 3 years (’84-’86) and we made $123.56 each. But I got to keep the 8′ x 6′ picture of myself from our video, “Hunger”. That’s gotta be worth something.

12.  What’s with having 3 different first names in your full name? David Michael Phillips is almost as stupid as Toni Tony Tone!

Making up a stupid Hollywood name was just what you did in those days. Sorry, I’m guilty of being a wanker.

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

I remember one time way back, when Dana Strum said something derogatory about Carmine’s then-wife. Carmine hauled off and punched him right in the nose. That was pretty funny. Oh, and C.C. DeVille of Poison. No particular reason, just never much liked his guitar playing. I had a band in LA for a few years called Geronimo. One night, when we were gigging at a place in North Hollywood called FM Station, CC comes in all drunk and wants to sit in. Me, being the good host was happy to oblige. What awful shit that came through the same guitar and amp I was playing was absolutely indistinguishable. I still have the home video to prove it. And that guy became a millionaire playing guitar. Go figure…

14.  How big of a coke head was Johnnie Rod?

I can’t say because I’m afraid of his brother, Frank.

15.  What do you remember from the following years? 1975=Graduation from Catholic grade school. 1979=Graduation from Catholic high school. 1983=Quit Catholic college to move to LA to have some real fun. 1987=Start wondering what Catholic teachers would think if they knew what I had done with my life 1991=Wondering if I should have stayed in Catholic school 1995=Send my son to the same Catholic grade school I went to.

16.  Who had all the bitches in King Kobra?

The road manager. And he was the ugliest guy! But each band member had his own special taste. One liked all types, fat, thin, pretty, ugly as long as he could get his face in their behinds. Hence his nickname “Charmin”. Another liked girls that probably would have looked OK in the 60’s but hadn’t aged gracefully. Another always had girls that looked like his girlfriend at home. I always attracted the smart, beautiful college types out on the town for a night to cheat on their boyfriends and would engage in lofty conversation in order to really “get to know them”. Hence, my nickname was “Mr. Clean”. Usually, the babes would get so annoyed at my talking they would finally beg me just to shut up and bang them.

17.  Which would you choose?

A.  To let 10,000 random people die;

Or,

B.  Have only one family member die, and you can pick which one. 

For the 10,000 can I pick the record company or law office?

18.  Word on the street is that your wife use to be somewhat of a groupie back in the day.  How do you feel about her banging all sorts of other rock dudes before you?

Really? She told me she was a virgin! I always did wonder, though, where she learned to give such great head. You guys didn’t bang her too, did you?

19.  Tell us who were pricks to tour with. La Toya Jackson. We played a festival in Acapulco, Mexico with her and Quiet Riot. All the artists were going to ride a bus together into town to do some press. When La Toya got on and took one look at us, she turned to daddy (Joe Jackson) and said in front of us, “I refuse to ride in the same bus with these people”, and stormed off the bus. Suffice to say I took her poster off my wall after that and sold my Jackson family albums.

20.  When can we expect the big King Kobra reunion tour, or maybe King Kobra’s “Latest & Greatest” CD to be issued on Cleopatra?  Any chance of any of that happening? 

Reunion? What, are you kidding? That’s like the reformation of the 1969 New Hampshire Elk’s club Barbershop Quartet. A total non-event. Actually, if the price is right, count me in.

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

Mick Sweda / I think my wife banged him before we were married.

Stephen Pearcy / Amazing the guy made a successful career as a singer.

Carmine Appice / Made more money than me.

Jerry Dixon / Super nice guy. Used to rehearse at his studio in Van Nuys.

Blackie Lawless / I believe he’s doing his triple disk rock autobiography titled “The Grand Charade”. A consumate buffoon.

Slaughter  /   >

David Lee Roth / I don’t care what anybody says, Roth is rock and roll.

Rob Halford / I was a huge Judas Priest fan. When I found out he was gay, all those songs took on a totally different meaning.

Johnnie Rod / Don’t let him near your wife, girlfriend, house pet or a pile of warm, wet towels.  

Marq Torein / David Lee Rodriguez

P.S. You guys are sneaky. You threw enough personal info in there to let me know you did your homework and covered the bases. I’m impressed. You’re welcome to come over and swim in my pool and sit in my lawn chairs anytime. Just keep your hands off my wife.

Now that Metal Sludge has interviewed David from King Kobra, this is going to create a huge demand for King Kobra records, and promoters all over the world are going to try to get the original band back together.  And what a gimmick they have!  Now they have a female singer, so maybe they could get on Lilith Fair.  I think they would be the first band to ever tour with KISS and play Lilith Fair.  There’s something to shoot for!

If you’d like more info on King Kobra, David Michael-Philips has a webpage that has some other King Kobra photos.  It’s athttp://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Cabaret/9047

Also, here is the Official King Kobra website, it’s at  http://www.angelfire.com/il2/kingkobra/index.html