20 QUESTIONS WITH

ex-MADAM X guitarist MAXINE PETRUCCI!

A few weeks ago we got an e-mail from Maxine Petrucci wanting to know if we’d be interested in doing 20 Questions with her. Well, that’s a silly question! Of course we were. In case you didn’t know, Maxine was the guitarist and head honcho in the early 80s metal band Madam X, a band which at one time featured such members as Maxine’s sister Roxy (who later went on to Vixen during their glory years), and a pre-Skid Row Sebastian Bach. Maxine’s got her first solo album out, plus we figured she might have a good story about Baz. We were right about that, so read on and you just might learn something from this week’s 20 Questions! Let’s get to it.

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

I just released my solo debut CD “Titania” featuring my sister Roxy on drums. I wrote everything so the finished result is very heavy and guitar orientated. If you are looking for Madam X or the Vixen sound here you will not find it Titania is much heavier with a totally different sound. The CD is available on my Web site www.maxattacks.com

2. How long ago did you actually start working on your first solo album, and why did it take so long for ?Titania? to come out? It?s not like you were working on ?Chinese Democracy? or anything! What gives?

I started writing songs for Titania about two years ago. I went into Midwest studios (www.midweststudios.net) in June of 2004. Finished recording sometime in October 2004. I do not get why everone thinks this took so long! I wrote, organized, and funded this entire CD myself. It was the only way I felt I could write and play what i wanted to hear! I could have been in a big hurry and put out a real piece of crap which seems to be the norm for most artist today. I?m reintroducing myself to the music world and really wanted to blow people away. Would like them to notice my cd more then an image of what they think i am! The music needs to come first not the image!

3. You?ve probably been asked this question over and over again, but we?re going to ask it too, so please put up with it one last time. How much shit have you had to put up with for being a girl in what had typically been known as a ?man?s genre? of music, especially back in the early to mid 80s when you were in your band Madam X? Give us a few quick examples, if you can.

I would get alot of guys trying to look back stage to see if i was really playing of if someone else was playing for me or if it was pre – recorded (never)!

This has happened a few times. We would just laugh when they would figure out it was just me. I remember one time me and Roxy were accused of being transvestites, cause they couldnt believe we could play as good as the guys.

Madam X back-in-the-day. Yikes!

4. Rank the following guitarists on a scale of 1 to 10. 1 being a slob, and 10 being a master of the fretboard.

Ace Frehley = 5
Paul Gilbert = 9
Steve Vai = 10
Snake Sabo = 7
Joe Perry = 8
Share Ross = Great bassist, really don?t know anything about her guitar!
The Great Kat = 5
Jan Kuehnemund = 6
C.C. DeVille = 3
Slash = 9

5. You come from a somewhat musical family ? your sister Roxy is best known for her work with Vixen, and your brother Paul was in some band called the Motor City Rockers. Did you guys grow up in a Partridge Family kind of situation? Do you have any other musically inclined relatives that we?re overlooking?

Except for me and Roxy we never really played together as a group like the osmunds or something! My brother Remo is a brilliant sax and clarinet player at a virtuoso level. His knowledge of music theory is second to none. My cousin Frankie Lamarra was the guitar player for a punk/rock/glam band called The Curbstone Beauties. Dont have any idea what happened to them.

6. One incarnation of Madam X featured a pre-Skid Row Sebastian Bach. How did you guys hook up with Baz, and was he as much a pain in the ass to deal with back then as he?s rumored to be today?

An agent in Toronto recommended Baz .We auditioned him and thought he had potential. Rick Derringer asked us if big hair meant that much to us because that?s all he seen in him! Bon Jovi asked Roxy if she was the one in Madam X who played with Sebastian. She said no that was Maxine and he asked her to tell me I could have him back! On stage he would say spit or punch me if i was out of tune. So we did a lot of spitting and punching on stage. He actually got pissed and cried about it. We did a tour in Canada and Sebastian had to have his Gene Simmons Kiss doll. He carried it everywhere like a Barbie doll. The tour was plagued by bad luck ? everything was going wrong. After losing the brakes on our bus on a mountain road and almost dying the crew got fed up and blamed Sebastian?s evil Gene Simmons doll. They decided to toss the Jonah overboard and threw the doll out the bus window. He never got over that and cried about it the whole tour. I?m sure he has the entire set of those dolls now displayed under glass in a place of honor in his house.

Madam X during their stint with Baz!

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

Highest:

1. Making my own record
2. Playing with such talented people over the years. Like Roxy and Billy Sheehan my brother paul and Mike pisculli on my new cd!
3. Finally being able to play what i want and as heavy as i want!

Lowest:

1. The break up of Madam X
2. Not making any money when signed to Jet records
3. Staying out of the biz for so long a lot has changed and had to learn it all over again!

8. Yes or no, has Maxine Petrucci ever:

Hitchhiked = no
Panned for gold = no
Spoken in tongues = all the time! No wonder nobody understands me!
Experienced stagefright = yes
Been photographed nude = no
Killed a spider all by yourself = yes i still feel bad!
Gotten laid on the Ambassador Bridge = no
Phoned in a vote for American Idol = no
Touched another woman?s vagina = Fuck no!
Been arrested = not yet! But I know I?m going to kill someone someday!

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

This one?s easy! Motley fuckin Crue! The doors are wide open for these guys to bring back rock and metal to the masses. Instead they re-release their old stuff and one or two very weak new songs that they aren?t even into themselves! I can?t take them milking Dr. Feelgood any more. On the other side of that coin you have bands like Judas Priest who worked hard and released possibly their best record ever. You have Velvet Revolver who worked really hard and released one of the best rock albums ever! Life?s too short for bands like the Crue to waste everbody?s fuckin time with that prefabricated bullshit. Who do they think they are? And Ashley fucking Simpson. Jessica should sue Ashley for making her look talented! It?s the industry?s fault, but the fans and the music pay the price.

10. Did it ever bother you that your sister Roxy went on to join Vixen, achieving a lot of fanfare and notoriety while you were left in relative obscurity in the late 80s onward? Looking back on things now, how do you feel about all that today?

It didn?t bother me when Roxy went to Vixen. Jet records was falling apart at the time. Vixen was a great gig for Roxy. I wanted to go on with Madam X and get into heavier music.

11. For what amout was your largest music-related paycheck, and what did you end up doing with the cash?

What do you mean? Am I supposed to get paid for this shit? Never got paid and probably never will!

12. Rate the following dudes on a scale of 1 to 10. 1 being a scrub, and 10 being a hottie:

Vince Neil = 3 ? He was a 5 before his makeover
Mark Slaughter = 6
Jani Lane = 6
Stephen Pearcy = 6
Kid Rock = 8
Kip Winger = 1
Chris Jericho = The wrestler?
Chris Doliber = can?t go there!
Bret Michaels = lose the hat, I don?t care if you?re bald! 5
Scott Ian = 2 Not feelin the fox tail on the chin!

13. Why did you decide to release ?Titania? as a Maxine solo album instead of just calling it Madam X, since it?s basically just you and Roxy with special guests playing on it?

I wanted to move on and start fresh. Bands always break up and you are forced to start over. I will be Maxine forever! If i choose to reinvent myself i can without asking permission from the people around me. Besides I pretty much did it all myself the financing, writing, singing, guitar and most of the bass I?m not waiting around for anybody. Even though I?ve been around for a while id like to think I?m starting new and fresh. I have a whole new sound that people are going to love. I?m going to continue writing and put out as much material as Maxine as i can!

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

Doro Pesch or Lita Ford = Doro Pesch (not a sellout)
Star Wars or Star Trek = Star Trek is still a great show even today. Roxy has a crush on Spock!
Vibrators or dildos = How can I make my husband vibrate!
Bennigan?s or TGI Friday?s = Junk, both of them! Don Pablos is king!
The Beverley Hillbillies or the Munsters = The Munsters? I used to look like Lily!
Motor City Rockers or Vixen = not fair!
Buttery Nipples or Jello Shots = Jello shots rule cause they wiggle!
Paul Stanley or Alice Cooper = Alice Cooper of course (death to all but metal)
Tampons or Maxi Pads = I had a cat named Maxipad once.
Hit Parader or Circus = Both are great! anybody who helps artist promote their stuff gets my vote.

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

1979 = school days
1981 = Formed Madam X
1984 = Madam X released album “We Reserve The Right” and MTV video for “High in Highschool”
1987 = Decide to live in the real world for a few years great break from touring for all those years!
1990 = Ran a night club for a few years in northern Michigan!
1992 = ?
1995 = ?
1999 = Finished a short stint as bass player for Vixen in support of their release ?Tangerine.?
2001 = Fell in love with my husband Doug!
2004 = In the studio laying down Titania.

16. Out of all the bands that Madam X ever toured with, which ones were the coolest to work with, and which ones were the biggest bunch of jackasses you?ve ever met?

The guys from Black Sabbath are all pretty cool! Rob Halford was alot of fun too. He would come on stage and do sets with us. Lemmy from Motorhead pissed me off. He called me a fake cause I didn?t wear my stage makeup and gear all the time. I don?t care, I let my guitar speak for itself. If it wasn?t for rock and roll he would never get a date.

17. Name one good thing about:

Men = They can move heavy things.
McDonald?s = The good thing about McDonalds is I don?t have to eat there ever!
Malt liquor = Bass ale rules Im more of a wine drinker myself!
Marshmallows = Smores!
Marijuana = The only person in the world who has never tried it!
Monkeys = You can pet them and sometimes they fly out of my butt!
Masturbation = that?s what my husband is for!
Michigan = The home of rock and roll!
Menopause = don?t want to know!
Mullets = without mullets we wouldn?t have those funny video shows of people falling off of roofs and wiping out in pickup trucks!

18. For a tax-free $250,000 in unmarked bills, which of the following would you do (and you have to pick one):

a) give a blowjob to a random, dirty, unwashed homeless person in an alleyway;
b) eat a bowl of live garden slugs (salted to taste, of course);
- or ?
c) willingly gain 100 pounds in 6 months by overeating sweets, starches, and all kinds of other junk foods, and then keep the weight on for a minimum of one full year before you can do anything to lose it.

Which one will it be?

Save it for Fear Factor! Slugs might be good if they were pickled!

19. The Last of Maxine Petrucci:

Last book you read = Ann Margret bio
Last CD you purchased = Judas Priest angel of retribution
Last movie you saw in the theatre = Hell Boy
Last concert you watched from the audience = Steve Vai & Billy Sheehan
Last fast food drive-thru you hit = Taco Bell
Last time you broke a string on stage = Is this a g string question?
Last time you appeared on television = Can?t remember, it?s been a long time
Last time you spoke to Sebastian Bach = 1997 at an all star show he was part of at some hotel here in the Detroit area.
Last time you got butt-wasted = I weigh a 100 lbs so my butt gets wasted every time I drink! My mother?s homemade wine is awesome!
Last time you lied = every day about my age

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

Gene Simmons = crotchin? roll
Bam Bam McConnell = Is he still alive?
Billy Sheehan = I bow to the world?s best bass player. I?m not worthy!
Ted Nugent = Always with a harem of woman – he rocks Detroit!
Don Arden = What did he do with our money?
Lenita Ericksen = great female Rocker!
Nikki Sixx = Write some songs already!
Roxy Petrucci = Roxzilla rules!
Bret Kaiser = Madam X?s one and only singer!
Sebastian Bach = earned his place in the rock world I guess!

Now we’re down with that! Maxine talked her fair share of smack, and that Baz story about the Gene Simmons doll was priceless. Those pictures were fun to look at as well! What more could you want in a 20 Questions?

For more information on the past and present of the one and only Maxine Petrucci, be sure to check out her Web site at www.maxattacks.com.