20 Questions with Sammy Serious, 11/4/03

  

20 QUESTIONS WITH..

The Zeros Sammy Serious

 

The Zeros were a band that originally formed in New York back in the early 1980s. They recorded the theme for the Howard Stern show back then, and eventually moved to Hollywood like every other band did at the time. For a while, it appeared The Zeros were going to be the next big thing out of Hollywood. The Coconut Teazer even painted their building purple in honr of The Zeros. They ended up getting an independent record deal and toured the country for a few years and had an underground following. Very underground. So underground, even the coal miners didn’t know about it. We’re talking if they were anymore underground they’d be playing in China, you know? So what every happened to The Zeros and their singer, Sammy Serious? Well, since you clicked this link, you must want to know! So here you go. Enjoy!

1. What are you currently up to? This is your only chance to promote your shit!

I am currently recording a CD of Sammy Serious songs which I will be releasing in early 2004, unless some big wigs want to release it for me, it’s my own independent cd called acoustically incorrect. You can get it by going to SAMMYSERIOUS.com in early 2004

Also I started a band called Serious Suicide, A band which i formed recently that I just play guitar in. We have a cd out called off with your head that we are promoting independently, also go to our website to see a couple of videos that we placed on the website for your viewing pleasure Serious Suicide

you can order the cd off with your head on Serious Suicide.com

2. Where is Joe Normal, Danny Dangerous and Mr. Insane?

Who knows, Who cares, all I know is from what I hear they all talk crap about me.

Someone came up to me and told me that the brothers Mr. Insane and Joe Normal will never play with me again.

Wait a minute, or was it somebody told me their girlfriends told them they will never play with my again.

3. You guys had some success in the UK in the mid 80’s. Do you ever wish you just stayed in the UK since the USA didn’t really seem to get it or perhaps didn’t want to get it?

We had some suckcess in the early days in England, but passports and other barriers came into play so we had to leave the UK.

This was like in the days of early Twisted Sister but it defiantly was a lot of fun and we made a lot of friends that were very cool to The Zeros.

The United States in that time period had a lot of disco dance in NY not the best place for the Zeros.

we packed our bags and moved to Beverly Hills after we came back from the UK, We’ll not exactly Beverly Hills

maybe Franklin and Highland but a lot closer to Beverly Hills than the UK

There was a year or two that went by, and by the time we hit Hollywood the United States Loved The Zeros, Especially the Midwest and places that everyone told us The Zeros would never fly, it was just the opposite of what everyone thought

Everybody was hard core fans of the band all over the US

4. Other than any version of The Zeroes, what hard rock/heavy metal/punk band should give it up and call it a day?

i really cannot think of anyone off the top of my head except bands that already gave it up, how about the brady 6 there still going kind of strong in reruns

5. Rate the following singers on a scale of 1 to 10. 1 being somebody who totally sucks and 10 being

Axl Rose =

Steve “Sex” Summers =

Jani Lane =

Taime Downe =

Bret Michaels =

Stephen Pearcy =

Vince Neil =

Stevie Rachelle =

Lemmy =

Phil Lewis =

I am not going to rate anyone, who am i to rate these guys

I remember they used to rate records on American Bandstand

not that i remember, i saw reruns (Yeah Sure)

Everyone you listed as a singer is great and also a great performer and they all got there own style

so if 10 is the best and 1 is the worst then where is the number 0, does that stand for better than no# one or worse than no# one

E mail me at SamSerious@aol.com for your thoughts

6. You guys had some more success in Hollywood and a huge buzz. Why didn’t that transcend across the states?

it did transcend across the states everywhere we played we had hard core fans in every state

7. What do you remember about the following clubs:

Gazzarris =

The Whisky =

Scream =

Country Club =

X-Poseur 54 =

Bordello =

Rainbow =

FM Station =

The Roxy =

Rajis =

I Remember playing and having a great time, playing great shows

surrounded by great people it was a lot of fun, and also a very good time for music

8. What’s the most amount of money you’ve ever made in a year?

i think the question should read:

what is the most amount of money everyone else made off me in a year?

9. The Zeroes came after The Ramones and The Clash but before Green Day and the Offspring. All of these bands had huge success but you somehow fell in between with no sales. Why did those bands take off and you guys got left in the dust?

Because i would say there is a few things that got in the way other than that the record company’s had more to get behind them with then our independent label.

and i wouldn’t exactly say no sales

how about fifty thousand sales out of the gate at least that’s what the record company told us when the record first hit the stores in one week

then other things got in the way also

10. The last of Sammy Serious:

Last time you played a gig w/ the ZEROES = At Palidinos / The Shack orange county

Last rock star you shook hands with = Jim Belushi, he is a rock star to me especially in the movie Mr. Destiny one of my favs

Last CD you purchased = i purchased the Led Zep dvd i guess that’s a CD if your just listening

Last concert you saw = Some band playing at the Atlantic City Boardwalk when i was back home visiting

Last time you dyed your hair purple = when i played Palidinos with The Zeros

Last time you visited a dentist = About 3 months ago

Last book you read = Rock City News i guess thats a book if you read enough of them

we’ll i was in enough of them to make a book

Last movie you saw = Frailty

Last time you had a Pina Colada Bang = about a year ago but i think lance lim had one too when i heard the song United States Of Whatever (hey lance what CDs are in your player )

Last band The Zeroes had drama with = With ourselves The Zeros

11. The Zeroes had the theme song for the Howard Stern show for a while. Tell us the story about how you got that song to him and the response it got.

we went to W.N.B.C radio Sammy Serious and Mr. Insane the year 1984

(i love this Story because it should have been in his movie Private Parts but it wasn’t

the song was a big part of his show and the movie was based right on that time period where he was playing the song everyday day

We snuck upstairs where letterman was being taped and snuck through the guards

we found some guy that we thought was stern and threw the envelope with the song in it and got thrown out of rockerfella plaza and went home.

Wait i think me and Mr. insane went to the Scrap Bar For a While to act like rockstars after that

but the song was on the air the next day and continued to be played for the next 20 years.

12. Of all the bands you’ve toured with over the years, who were the biggest dicks to deal with and who was the coolest?

Everybody in the bands were pretty cool to deal with because they were opening up the shows so i don’t think they are going to be dicks about anything

when we opened shows for other bands we were totally cool

I had more trouble with a couple of roadies then anything else

13. What rock star needs a big slap in the face and why?

Everybody needs a slap in the face, we all get carried away sometimes

14. If you have a $10 bill and lend two friends $5 each, how many dollars do you have left?

The Zeros does that sound right? which still ads up to 1 of the best bands in the world, does that count (No Pun Intended) does purple money count, we had some of that also, but if i had a ten dollar bill and lent 2 people five dollars each I would still have ten dollars

because i would tell them to get it somewhere else

15. Yes, or no, has Sammy Serious ever:

Been mistaken for Jon Lovitz = No but Sometimes Gary ShandlingDrove a purple station wagon = yes and it has glitter in the paintDyed your pubic hair purple = no but thought about itBeen arrested = noCruised Santa Monica Boulevard late at night = Yes i cruised it

it was the only way i knew to get back home from the Pretty Ugly ClubHad anal sex = Yes wait a minute you mean did i get analed or gave analedThought about getting a real job = thought about it no, but did i do a real job Yes

wait is this another sexual question, what kind of jobConsidered suicide = yes Psyche Suicide i Considered her

Seen Slayer in concert = No

Worked out in a gym = no but i just ate a pizza and that was a workout i got 4 slices left but i did not eat it in a gym

16. What are your 3 career highlights, or is that 2 highlights too many?

i got high on miller lite about 4 times and that is one more high lite then you gave me credit for

17. Poison went with the color green and had a lot of success, and of course Stryper was yellow and black. Do you think if you went with a different color other than purple, like maybe a nice turquoise you guys would have made it? Do you blame the color purple at all?

Who says we didn’t make it “You”

purple was a great color i can’t blame the color

you know who i would like to blame is

The Beatles they definitely got in our way

18. How long does it take you to write your lyrics?

A: 30 seconds

B: 1 minute

C: 5 minutes

D: You mean you?re supposed to write lyrics?

what’s a lyric, oh you mean the words to a song i got confused i thought you were talking about a car the lexis

it takes about 5 years to complete a song, Thats why i say the words over and over in my songs, because i am still in the process of finishing them, And till this day some songs are still not completed, so i just would record the song and say the same thing over and over and hope no one would understand me, and then maybe fans would make up there own lyrics, then come up to me at a show and sing something to me which had nothing to do with what i wrote and then i would add their words to the song because they thought i was singing something else then i would take what they sang to me and put that as a lyric in the song

its a long process but it pays off look how great the lyrics are to the songs ive written

19. Exactly how bitter are you?

Not bitter at all, why should i be bitter when i can hate hate hate hate hate

but not bitter

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

Pepsi Tate = whats that a soda mixed with Sharon tate wait did you mean Pepsi Twist

Gene Simmons = i always see the guy at the movies and other places around town and Psyche Suicide saw him and gave him our CD once

there is some gene simmons connection i dont know what it is but it goes from all the way back

i’m talking roosevelt stadium days , shit i mean Roosevelt Stadium Days in reruns on video which i saw on t.v. not that i was there i am to young for thatRiki Rachtman = Somebody told Riki The Zeros talked crap about him at a party

i don’t beleive that we said anything

After that Riki hated our guts

but then again the members of the Zeros talk crap about me so maybe we did talk crap about him

who knows, who cares, i found out way later he was pissed about that

Howard Stern = THERE IS NOT ENOUGH ROOM ON THIS PAPER FOR THIS ONE

and you know how i HATE rambling onNikki Sixx = Don’t know him, never met him

Jani Lane = The Zeros played gigs together with warrant I talked to jani a couple of times, nice guyC.C. DeVille = Great guy always fun to be aroundGood Charlotte = my daughter loves these guysDanny Dangerous = What is this, you mean Danny FUCKING dangerous

(did you know the F stands for FUCKING)

you know what’s funny as i am typing this he calls the SammySerious Hotline

310-285-8772

and left a message to call him back

i called him back to see what he wanted

he told me that the Zeros was in the book called Hollywood Rocks.

he hasn’t called me in about 2 years

Can everyone who reads this, e mail me and let me know if i should:

1. ask him to go to Pinks and get some chili dogs and talk about old times

2. sing the Danny Dangerous song to him

3. ask him what is the real reason you called

e mail me samserious@aol.com and let me know

Mr. Insane = here is a guy who i haven’t seen or talked to since he left the band in 1992 now i go to the Derby club in early 2003 and guess who i see but the one and only Mr. Insane he starts running away like he doesn’t see me and i go up to him and say why did you leave the band and never contacted me to say you were out and i had to sit and talk to your girlfriend on the phone only to have her say you did not get enough credit in the band and you didn’t need to be in the band with me anymore

he started saying Sam The Zeros were over, i said you left on the brink of everything what do you mean over, you left one of the greatest bands that ever was, after that i caught myself and said what the fuck am i doing explaining this shit to this guy he’ll never get it

hey you forgot Joe Normal but i didn’t

i saw Joe in front of the gig in Hollywood standing outside of the venue last year 2002

i was going to see a band called the superficials that night at the gig

i look over to Joe and he pretends to ignore that i am standing right next to him to get into the club

now wait a minute this is a guy that i hung out with everyday for more than 10 years and we were best friends

i said to him hey what’s going on, Only because i figured (let the shit go under the bridge, it’s been already about 10 years that went by, why hate the mother fucker for leaving the band and listening to his brother telling him to quit the best band in the world

which i know joe had trouble leaving the Zeros at first but then listened to his brother Mr. insanes master plan

but then again he wasn’t called Mr. insane for nothing but then again maybe it was for nothing because he was in the band The Zeros which adds up to something only if you ever saw us play right.

Hey thanks for letting me participate in the 20 questions

about my life as a Zero

NOW PISS OFF!

That’s the first time anybody has done 20 Questions and ended up asking our Sludgeaholics some questions! Not a bad idea, but Sammy better be prepared for the emails he’s about to get!

For more info on Sammy, you can visit www.SammySerious.com and www.SeriousSuicide.com