“Billy [Childs, bass] tried to talk to Mike [Michael Kelly Smith, guitar], and Mike tried to talk to Dean [Davidson, vocals/guitar] and Dean tried to get over whatever he hates about all of us, and this and that. And I literally thought for a little bit that, man, this might actually fucking happen.”
— Johnny Dee on a Britny Fox reunion

THE HAIR METAL GURU — In yet another of a long series of interviews – The Hair Metal Guru has pulled in another 80’s rocker – and this guy spends most of his time playing drums!

The Guru welcomes Johnny Dee.

Dee, 62, is a Philadelphia native but has relocated and lives in Germany for several years now with his wife and son.

Dee has carved out a nice life for himself playing drums all over the planet and has had stints over the last 40 years playing with artists like; Doro, Waysted, Tyketto and of course the history shows he was part of the Philadelphia quartet Britny Fox.

The Guru covers all bases, and we’ll list a quick set of bullet points below that are covered during the near 2 hour interview.

Early in the interview Dee talks about the Philly club scene which was best known for the band Cinderella who got signed with the help of a neighbor from New Jersey named Jon Bon Jovi.

* Dee talks about his early years getting his first drum kit at age 12.
* Dee talks about meeting a bassist Bill Degley, pka Billy Childs
* The next subject is playing covers on the bar circuit with Degley
* His first studio demo with Fragile, which featured John Corabi on vocals
* Dee talks about a visit to Hollywood in the early 80’s and was blown away
* Johnny says the first time he saw World War III in Philly, that ‘Dizzy’ Dean Davidson was their drummer
* Dee then talks about joining World War III around 1985 after Dean quit
* Philly locals who all got signed; Cinderella, Britny Fox, Teeze/Roughhouse, Tangier and Heaven’s Edge
* Dee talks about his time in Waysted, with Pete Way and Danny Vaughn
* Mentions of Steve Harris helping out Waysted and touring with Iron Maiden
* After the Waysted gig kind of fizzled, he found himself in the right place to join Britny Fox
* Lots of Britny Fox talk about the 1st album, tour with Poison
* Dee also covers the ugly break up with ‘Dizzy’ Dean while on the road with record #2
* The band picks up the pieces, and hires Tommy Paris to replace Dean
* The interview also covers Dee getting the chance to play with Doro Pesch (ex-Warlock)
* There are also mentions and stories involving Tyketto who Dee joined in 2022

Lastly, of course the subject of a potential classic-era lineup reunion of Britny Fox was asked, and Dee says at some point he felt it was a realistic possibility that the band could reunite with; ‘Dizzy’ Dean Davidson (vocals/guitars), Michael Kelly-Smith (lead guitar), Billy Childs (bass) and himself (drums).

That million dollar question was answered as follows (as transcribed by Blabbermouth): “Well, I’ll say what I always say, which is I’m always optimistic and open. But I have to say after the last [attempt] — there’s been various times [where we tried to put it back together], but after the last thing, I just don’t… I don’t know, man. I don’t think so. ‘Cause we tried. Billy [Childs, bass] tried to talk to Mike [Michael Kelly Smith, guitar], and Mike tried to talk to Dean [Davidson, vocals/guitar] and Dean tried to get over whatever he hates about all of us, and this and that. And I literally thought for a little bit that, man, this might actually fucking happen. And then all of a sudden, as quick as that came, it was gone again and Dean just disappeared and didn’t wanna do it. And that was that. So I don’t see how it could ever happen.

Watch and listen to the full 1 hour 58 minute interview with The Hair Metal Guru below.

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