20 Questions with Kit Ashley, 6/28/05

 

20 QUESTIONS WITH

BIG BANG BABIES singer KIT ASHLEY!

Who the fuck is that in the picture above? Well, that’s Big Bang Babies singer Kit Ashley as he appears today. He was actually kind of hard to find. At first, we thought he might have gone into the witness relocation program, checked himself into the Betty Ford Clinic, or even gone down to Costa Rica to sell tie dye t-shirts on the beach. But eventually our ninja-like Metal Sludge researchers were able to track him down in the dark alleys of Hollywood and coerce him into doing 20 Questions.

In case you didn’t know, Big Bang Babies are just one of the many Strip bands from the 80s and early 90s featured on the Hollywood Rocks Box Set, which you can conveniently buy RIGHT HERE, courtesy of us, your friends at Metal Sludge! You can thank us later.

Anyhow, we decided to catch up with Kit and see what he’s been up to for the last decade or so. He now goes by his real name, Charlie, and has been playing in other bands (including a Rockabilly or “cow punk” band called Custom Made Scare), and doing all sorts of things since the days of Big Bang Babies in the early 90s. So without further ado, here’s Metal Sludge’s latest 20 Questions victim, the one and only Kit Ashley! Hooray!

1. What are you currently up to? This is your one and only chance to plug your shit.

Well, I don’t think I’m really too into having my shit plugged, I witnessed some of that going down in prison and it did not look to inviting to this cornhole, but as far as what I’m up to these days musically?

Most people that have been into my band for the last 10 years have no idea I was in Big Bang as I kept it concealed pretty well, and the people that were into Big Bang Babies probably don’t know about Custom Made Scare, but the truth always comes out at some point so why not here and now!

Custom Made Scare is getting ready to finally do our last show @ The Ventura Warped tour on July 3rd … We have been together 11 years now and as Chippie would say, Enuff Z?nuff…

I am working with a producer right now and some big management on some solo tunes that I have been writing for years and years and continue to crank out almost daily. Singer songwriter type stuff with a band of amazing studio cats and the guitar player from 98 Ugly Girls, Steve Garvy. He is an AMAZING guitarist… You’ll see this record sooner or later under the title “Charlie”.

I am also Working on more of a rock project that will be called From The Wreckage … Also with Steve from 98. It is a mix of stuff in the style of The Pogues, Motorhead, Johhny Cash, to early Social Distortion. This is something I am doing because it’s where my heart is and it’s where I come from, it’s some great, fun stuff.

We are all getting older these days and the dream of being some kind of David Lee Roth went down the toilet about when his cool did. These days not only do I not care about rock stardom as I once dreamed of as a kid, I don?t even want it, which almost even sounds like bullshit to me, but it’s true.

I?ve already had all the pussy and fun one man can handle and more, not to mention that all the drugs should have killed me long ago if the tainted pussy didn’t, but I’m a survivor I guess. I have been blessed with an amazing life and consider myself one of the luckiest fuckers in the world to still be doing it. I do still love to tour, I still love to party so, you will always see me out on the road in one way or another….

Oh yeah, We are actually in the middle of making a new B.B.B record as well, how could I forget that fucker? We busted out a bunch of the old unreleased demos and picked 11 tunes and are re recording them. Some rumored scheistering bagel managed to get his Matzahball hands on a lot of our old demo stuff and was selling them on ebay, but none of those songs are on the new record. He is said to be born again these days….

Anyway, the new record is scheduled to be released on Perris Records, end of July beginning of August, and we may go play Japan for the sushi but I am pretty sure there will be no reuniting for the states ? Unless some nostalgic smart ass offers us a shitload of $ and coke for our friends.

Old-ass pic of Big Bang Babies, with Kit Ashley front and center

2. Tell us about the early days of Big Bang Babies. How did you guys hook up, how long were you together, and what ultimately led to the demise of the once mighty Big Bang Babies?

I actually answered an ad that Keri and Freddie had run and went in and basically sat them down and told them I was the guy, and that was it. We had a lot of great times, as you can imagine, and a lot of bullshit too…we were young, I was only worried about the pussy and the party and was kind of a self centered asshole, but I did spread the love around of what I had if ya know what I mean…

Keri was more of the technical musical guy, a perfectionist, and could be a real prick about it as well when he was younger, but we understood each other and that is how we stuck it out so long. The combination of Nirvana and us just flat out growing tired of each other ended it all, but today we have grown up a little bit are all bro’s … Me and Keri are tight and he’s one of the coolest guys I know to date, an amazingly talented dude.

3. Big Bang Babies has a track called ?8 Arms? featured on the Hollywood Rocks Box Set (which you can buy RIGHT HERE). What?s so special about this song that the folks at Cleopatra Records felt it necessary to include it on the box set?

Well, It’s a great tune and I can say that because I only wrote part of the bridge. I don’t think it was so much the tune that got us on the box set, I think it was the damage that we did back in “The day” and the impression we made on the scene. Just about every chick around at that time slept with at least one of us if not more.

4. You work for Artists Worldwide now. What exactly do you do, and how did you go from being the singer in Big Bang Babies to booking tours for washed up hair bands, most of whom once shared the same stages as you?

I don’t know what you?re talking about, never heard of it. What’s a washed up hair band? Big Bang never showers and we all cut our hair?

5. Rate the following singers on a scale of 1 to 10. 1 being someone who sounds like they gargle roofing nails, and 10 being the ultimate rock vocalist.

Being that I am like a 3 on this scale I hate to do this but luckily you gave me a list of greats so here ya go…

No one is a 10 except Barry Manillow by the way … and Jim Ellison of course!

Jizzy Pearl = 7 in Love Hate… 4 in Ratt
Jani Lane = 8 Amazing singer, great songwriter!
Paul Stanley = C’mon, Stanley’s great … 8, but Peter Chris had a better voice… 9
Taime Downe = Taime’s voice is totally original and he’s a great dude and my bro! 9
Jesse Malin = I love Jesse, great dude, great writer, another very original voice… 8
Don Dokken = I was never a supporter …4
Jim Ellison = ****25**** POP GOD! I loved Material Issue. Jim took his own life, and who knows what his reasons were. I don’t get it, great singer songwriter though and I miss the records that never came out.
Stevie Rachelle = Incognito Genius! Also has a much better voice than Brett Michaels if that means anything.
Lemmy Kilmister = Godhead!
Steve ?Sex? Summers = The original Floyd was very cool in the sense of glam. It is no secret that he should wait for the reunion.

6. While you were playing with 98 Ugly Girls you were also playing out with a band called Furrburger. Is there any truth to the rumor that Furrburger was just an alias for 98 Ugly Girls, solely used to evade the Feds since you were on the lam? If so, what in the fuck did you do that warranted your going into hiding?

Yes it’s true. The feds were looking for me and after hounding my family for months they turned to the Sunset Strip and started hassling The Roxy and the Rainbow and even seeking out my band mates and friends.

I remember one night I showed up to a show at the Roxy and the Manager, Tommy, pulled me into the downstairs office or kitchen or whatever it was and said “Hey you better bail the feds were just here lookin for ya and still could be.” We had a quick belt of Jack, and I split out the side door to get the Jag from The Rainbow valet.

About 2 weeks later I turned myself in. This was 95 ? I was tried, convicted, and sentenced to federal prison in 1998 for using a stamp twice ?

I escaped without any ass pounding.

Kit Ashley and Keri Kelli circa 1994

7. Why were Keri Kelli?s vocals used on Big Bang Babies? ?Black Market? CD instead of yours? Aren?t you supposed to be the singer?

There was a period of time when Keri and I didn?t talk. I guess he was bored and wanted to put out another record and just sang on it. I never really asked him about it nor did I care. It was not B.B.B’s best of course, but it paid for Sushi and blow I guess ? and I got paid eventually, so fuck it!

8. Name the 3 highest points and 3 lowest points of your career to date:

High point # 1. Wait, career? A gig that pays in beer and pussy aint a career…

It is all really a giant roller coaster, we are all on it, it goes up and down and some of us can handle the puking.

I have been really lucky as far as meeting and hanging out with people I would never have dreamed of meeting when I was a kid ?One that sticks out is doing blow with Red Fox on the bender that killed him in Las Vegas one weekend when a bunch of us went out to party and see Warrant in their heyday.

As far as lows, I remember the day that I woke up with the clap. The part just below the head of my dripping cock was swollen like a giant lifesaver. That was fuckin LOW! Wear your rubbers boys!

9. Out of all the bands that Big Bang Babies or Custom Made Scare ever toured or shared the stage with, which ones were the coolest to work with, and which ones were the biggest bunch of pricks you’ve ever met?

Well, Big Bang didn?t really do too much touring and that was a lot of brain cells ago, but I remember Floyd being real dicks to us about something when we were doing 2 nights together at the Roxy. Maybe it was their manager, I don’t remember. We are all bro’s now though.

In Custom, I would say that The Suicidal Tendencies guys were really cool to tour with, The Reverend Horton Heat guys are totally cool, and contrary to what some might say, The SuperSuckers and Mike Ness are both cool as well. If Custom ever tours again (doubtful) I think we will go out with our bro’s Motorchrist. I hear that Danzig guy is a real sweetie to work with too!

Big Bang Babies on tour, 1994

Custom Made Scare on tour, 1999

10. A few years back, Big Bang Babies reunited in the studio to record ?Winter Wonderland? for ?The Glam That Stole Christmas? compilation. What prompted you to get in the festive spirit and participate, and did you kiss Keri Kelli under the mistletoe or anything wacky like that?

We actually did that during the days of Big Bang, there was no reuniting for that one. I was sick as fuck when we did it and to hear it makes me cringe….

Kiss under the mistletoe? Ya gotta be a bit queer to be wondering that Bon Neil!

Are you wearing pink or fuscia lipstick right now?

11. Yes or no, has Kit Ashley ever:

Lied about your age = No, what the fuck for? Even when I was 25 and honest everyone thought I was lying.
Been booed off stage = Nope but should have been!
Filed for bankruptcy = Nope, not yet but lookin into it.
Had your ass kicked by a bouncer = Absolutely
Taken a ride in the Oscar Meyer Wienermobile = Ummmmmmmmm, No.
Done blow with C.C. DeVille = Of course! Who hasn?t?
Jacked off on a ferris wheel = Not yet but I’m fuckin determined damnit!
Shit your pants on stage = Not that I remember, Did I? Puked plenty of times …
Gotten a DUI = Yeah 3 DUI?s ? Lucky with only 3!
Touched another man?s penis = Does sucking and having 3 in the ass at the same time count as touching? Nooooooooooo! C’mon! I’ve done a lot of crazy shit but I?ve never been interested in the cock. I love the Pussy too much and have never gotten tired of it, playing with it, eating it, fucking it, eating it, eating it, eating it, eating it, eating it. Some say I’m famous for eating it. It?s good to be famous for something huh? I?m certainly no Steve “SEX” Summers ? Although I did tell Wilt Chamberlain at The Rainbow one night before he died, “Ya better start fuckin Wilt, cause I’m right behind ya!” I’m well over the 3000 mark and as Billy Joel says, “She’s always a woman too Me.”

12. It’s rumored you are working on a solo album called “Songs of Love and Drinking.” Dude! Who the fuck would want to buy a Kit Ashley solo album, and what makes this particular little opus of yours different from your other projects?

Ha ha ha! You’re right there Bon Neil! I recorded Songs Of Love And Drinking in Berlin during the 2 years I was living there, 2003 and 2004. It’s a full 11 song album, it’s really cool actually ? guitars, mandolins, organs, cellos, violas, bagpipes, pianos, harmonicas, horns, all kids of shit, hard to mix though, and not something you would expect from me in the music realm either.

I never released it because the mixes were not up to par to me, but some of the tunes I am using now, here in L.A, with my producer and studio band on this new record.

Who would buy a Kit Ashley record you ask? Fuckin no one I would imagine, that’s why I’m just using my real name. Who the fuck is Kit Ashley anyway?

All of these songs are directly from the heart real tunes, no bullshit, no plastic. Either ya love it or ya hate it, and either way I don’t give a fuck … It’s me and it’s mine, and if ya don’t get it … Suck it!

13. Rate the following summer package tours on a scale of 1 to 10. 1 being a train wreck that?s sure to tank, and 10 being a show that someone would be a jackass to miss:

OzzFest = 6
Gigantour = 5
Van?s Warped Tour = 10… Best tour of the year for years.
Def Leppard / Bryan Adams = 2. I loved the early Lep and am really bummed to see what has happened to them. We have reached the days that Rock Brigade and Cuts Like a Knife are being played on the same stage, and 50 cent is #1. The world of today?s music is pathetic!
Motley Crue?s Carnival of Sins tour = I like the band and the vox but turn down our samples … 7
Blue Oyster Cult / Foghat = Classic tunes! Foghat Kills! … 10
American Metal Blast = WASP Rules! Great tour, I would probably even pay to see it! …9
Judas Priest / Queensryche = Original Priest, C’mon, the only singer better than Halford was Mercury, and the Ryche guy is great too … I’ll give it a 9
Alice Cooper / Cheap Trick = Although there is nothing spooky about Cooper anymore, except the fact that he’s still doing it when he aint golfing, he still rocks and ya gotta give it to him. Cheap Trick was always a favorite of mine as far as songs go so I give it an 8.
Rock Never Stops tour = Rock needs to stop tour ? Firehouse? Who the hell is that? Firehose! Now that’s a band!

Kit Ashley onstage with Taime Downe, Ryan Roxie and Keri Kelli, 1998

14. We heard that on the 1999 Custom Made Scare tour, someone opened fire on your bus as you were passing through Ft. Collins, Colorado. Who did you guys piss off to make that happen, and was anyone hit?

Yeah we were almost to Fort Collins, coming from Denver, and Connie (our drummer) and I were lighting off firecrackers in the back of the bus. We stopped and about 2 minutes later there was a really loud bang. We thought maybe it was a firecracker that didn’t go off, but our Guitar player, who was driving, was pulling over really fast screaming at me because he thought I threw a cracker at him ? We are always fighting and have that kind of relationship.

Once pulled over, which was from 70 to 0 in 4 seconds, he jumped out and I followed looking at him, he?s screaming at me and I said, ?I didn?t do it, and you are bleeding all over the place!? He was! Little bleeding holes like buckshot spray from hand to ears. I looked at the door and saw the bullet hole and said ?Fuck someone is shooting at us let’s get the fuck outta here.? We jumped back in the bus, our drummer drove really fast, low in the seat, and I held a towel over the back of Kevin?s shoulder where he actually took the bullet. The blood was pumping out in spurts with every heartbeat. The rest of the holes and blood were from the shrapnel of the door and bullet fragments.

Luckily we were near the city and got to a hospital very quickly. They took Kevin into emergency and sequestered the rest of us in little rooms. I called the girlfriends, and then the label, and then the publicist, and then … the T.V Stations. But being that this was only a couple months after the Columbine High School shootings they buried the whole thing.

The Cops took us back to the one little farmhouse in the area, and while we waited in the car a cop went to the door, asked the guy about it and we watched the farmer shrug his shoulders and the cop turn and walk away. That was the end of that. The next time we went to Colorado we had massive press though and a sold out show! Kev took one for the team and the bullet is still in his shoulder to this day.

15. Of the following, which do you prefer and why:

Alexanderplatz or the Ku’Damm = Neither, Too many French people and tourists at both! Scheisse!
Donnie Vie or Chip Z?Nuff = Chip, Still touring and smoking more than all of Jamaica…Great dude! Great!!!!!
Paying to play or playing for free = Is there such a thing?
Joe Strummer or Mick Jones = Strummer! C’mon, He was Strummer!
Midgets or quadriplegics = Midgets, great porn!
Hollywood or Orange County = Hollywood, Grew up in O.C so my heart is there but my dick lives in Hollywood.
Gene Simmons or Nikki Sixx = Both very cool but Gene is the king of the nighttime world!
The Roxy or The Whiskey = We always loved the Roxy, but I love Little Gini Stonehill at The Whisky a Go-Go
D?Molls or Angora = D’molls… great mobster lookin photo’s
Aquanet or Dax = Depends on the period ? Obviously Aquanet back in the day, Dax in the days of the pomp. Today, being a lazy fuck and far from a hair farmer, I like to keep a shaved head.

We’re not quite sure what’s going on here, and we’re not sure we want to know either.

16. Name one good thing about:

Ok, I’ll do one worders and the first one that pops into my head….

Girls = Soft
Drugs = Pills
Tacos = Favorite
Polka = Custom
Gravity = Tits
Urinals = Europe
The Metric system = Europe
Touring in a short bus = America
KNAC = Great new wave station from the old days with black and pink stickers that most of you probably don?t even remember.
Bigfoot = Truck!

17. Time for a Metal Sludge walk down memory lane! Give us your fondest memory from the following years:

1979 = I was 12….Smoking grass and jackin off….Alot!
1982 = Rehab at 15
1985 = I was 18, in a band, and bangin everything!
1986 = I should have graduated this year….dropped out in 83. Got my GED in Prison though like every good boy should.
1997 = Early Custom Made Scare days. I had a huge pompadour and worked behind the bar in Hollywood?s coolest rockabilly bar, Bar Deluxe. Also worked the door at the Burgundy Room as well.
1998 = Went to Prison
1999 = Got out of Prison
2001 = Touring With Custom Made scare all over the place with fuckin everyone!
2003 = My first year living in Berlin. Great to get away from everything and everyone here in the states!
2004 = Still in Berlin, running my bar and starting to miss the states. I started thinking about coming home for the 10-year anniversary of Custom Made Scare, and did in 2005.

18. A distraught Japanese fan breaks into your house in the middle of the night and threatens to lop off your nut sack and take it back to Japan as a souvenir unless you do what she says. If given the choice, which of following would you choose to save your balls (and you have to pick one)?

• Give a rim job to a random, unwashed, homeless transvestite in an alleyway
• Personally finance a Jani Lane club tour
• Tattoo a portrait of Kristy Krash Majors on your ass…

Which one will it be, Kit?

I have so many tattoos, who would notice? Also, Kristy’s a pussy magnet so I’ll go with C.

19. The Last of Kit Ashley:

Last movie you saw = Nikita
Last band you saw play = Nina Hagen
Last time you played with Big Bang Babies = Reunion show, I think it was in 97?
Last time you wore leather pants = Custom Made scare tour, 2001
Last body part you got tattooed = Hand
Last person you talked to on the phone = Ironically, Gerry (G-Spot) Gittelson
Last time you signed an autograph = Mexico City, 5 days ago…
Last time you saw Keri Kelli = 2 weeks ago
Last time you were arrested = Nov 99 after getting out of prison on an expired old warrant, way to go L.A.P.D … Thanks a lot!
Last time you lied = I never Lie! Just now I guess.

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

Vince Neil = Pretty good singer, guys got alot of stories I’m sure.
Bill Gazzari = All my bands are good lookin, if they aint good lookin, they don?t get on my stage!
Steven Adler = One of the nicest guys I have ever been blessed to know!
Rodney Bingenheimer = Great taste in tunes!
Riki Rachtman = Cathouse ? MTV – Porno wife – Sweet life I’d imagine.
Bret Michaels = I always thought Poison was great live and I always got a lot of pussy at Poison shows. I think Bret secretly always wanted to be in Tuff.
Chuck Bernal = A great old friend of 15 years, a one time roommate and a master at the pirating of women. Me and Chuck (Pop a Wheelie) had a lot of great times in the day before he hung up his “legend” rock star shoes (Hot Dog on a Stick Girl) to go on and become the founder and brains of the booking agency, Artists Worldwide, located of course in Hollywood, Ca. (Hai Karate!)
(Looks like Kit?s trying to throw in a plug for the Fizzy Bangers, so we?ll help him out with that! The Fizzy Bangers track, Hai Karate, can also be found on the Hollywood Rocks Box Set, which you can of course purchase RIGHT HERE!)
Eddie Spaghetti = Supersucker! Great dude, funny as fuck, loves to party…A real rocker!
Obi Steinman = I do not know him but I think when we were at a show at the Greek someone said it was him being escorted out by guards, but for what I do not know.
Ted Nugent = Z wangoooooooooooooooo Z tangooooooooooooooo! Wang Dang Sweet Poontang! TED LOVES THE PUSSY SO I LOVE TED!

There’s no better way to start your day than 20 Questions with Kit Ashley of Big Bang Babies!

For more information about Kit, err, Charlie and his more current projects, you can check out www.custommadescare.com, and also Charlie’s various MySpace pages at www.myspace.com/2144092 and www.myspace.com/11089683.

And don’t forget, you can also hear the Big Bang Babies track “8 Arms” on the Hollywood Rocks Box Set, which we just so happen to have available RIGHT HERE! Tell your friends! Thanks.