Metal Sludge — In a new episode of the Waste Some Time With Jason Green Podcast, Green interviews rock drummer Johnny Dee.
Dee is most known for his time drumming for the German Rock Goddess Doro Pesch and his time with Philadelphia’s Britny Fox.
Previous to joining Britny Fox, Dee played in the band Waysted with the late Pete Way (UFO).
A relatively new Father, who now lives in Germany, Dee talks about all things from way back to present, and during the pandemic.
Things Johnny Dee says and talks about during the interview…
ON THE EARLY YEARS AND FORMATION OF BRITNY FOX
* Cinderella were a little bit ahead of the curve
* Jon Bon Jovi came to see Cinderella in a club, and Jon thought they were amazing and they needed a (record) deal
* A stipulation for Cinderella to get signed, with Jon’s help, required them to dump 2 guys (Michael Kelly-Smith & Tony “Stix” Destra)
* Those 2 were now gig-less, and along came ‘Dizzy’ Dean Davidson
* Everyone kind of laughed at Dean when he decided to stop drumming and be a front-man
* Dean then got Michael and Tony to join his new (project) band Britny Fox, and then they added Billy Childs on bass
* Dean had no problem trying to follow in Tom (Keifer’s) footsteps, and he kind of crossed it between Paul Stanley (Kiss) and Tom Keifer
* Michael and Tony felt that they helped start that band (Cinderella) so they felt they had the right to carry on with that type of sound
* Some people argue (Britny Fox) was a rip-off (of Cinderella), but those (2) guys (Michael & Tony) were genuine and there was a true lineage (to their former band)
* We didn’t get too much flack from the record label (when recording the debut Britny Fox album)
* The label wanted us to come in (from the road) and it was really the beginning of the end, it’s unbelievable to look back now
* I really just hated the title (“Boys In Heat”) of the Britny Fox follow-up, and the cover was kind of silly
* We had other titles for the (second) album
* We already had the stereo-typical look, the hair, the this and the that, let’s not go to far over the edge with those kind of titles, it wasn’t really our thing
* I was more of a band member (during the 2nd record) and I got to a lot more input in my parts, a lot of the (drum) parts from the first record, were Tony’s ideas and I just put my spin on it
* We never had huge singles that charted, like “Heaven” from Warrant
* We created this thing, where we were an MTV band, that sold almost a million records from MTV play alone
* Dean refused to stick with what we had, in the beginning
* We got on the road with Poison, and Ratt, toured with Warrant and Kix, and all these people were yapping in his ear, certain ways to do it
* He started to think this band (Britny Fox) is out of control
* He started to pick up the vibe of the changing scene, like The Black Crowes
* He (Dean) literally said “Fuck this band” (Britny Fox)
ON ATTEMPTED REUNIONS WITH DIZZY DEAN DAVIDSON
* I heard last, Dean was somewhere in Arizona and has no interest whatsoever in talking about the band, or being in the band, or doing anything remotely related to the band (Britny Fox)
* There was one time where I was kind of was middle man, in a joint operation to get Billy and Dean to sit down together, and that lasted over a few beverages and then the next day I didn’t hear from him again
* He (Dizzy) spewed all his stuff out, that if we’re going to do this, “I got this lined up, I got that, I got this, all the songs are written, I got the clothes are ready, my guitars are in the cases”
* I was like: “Dude, we haven’t even played 1 note yet, are we going backwards here again, to the old days?”
* It was like he wanted to have control again
* I don’t think Dean would even discuss it (a reunion)
* That sit down was probably like 10 years ago
To hear the full interview with Johnny Dee, listen below.
