(Fade in playing "I Won't Be Home Tonight")
Bob Coburn (hereafter referred to as BC): Still a young man our first guest tonight has been in the music business for 23 years and has the track record to match his incredible longevity. RockLine welcomes Tony Carey, nice to have you back Tony!
Tony Carey (hereafter referred to as TC): ~singing~ Da do ron ron ron...
BC: ~laughing~
TC: Hello Bobby-Dog!
BC: I can see you're in fine form tonight and what a...
TC: No, I'm in Atlanta...
BC: ~laughs~ What a great record you've given us this time around, Some Tough City, we're gonna hear a lot of tracks off that tonight. It brings to mind though the obvious question: Is the Planet P Project still together?
TC: Yeah, you gotta understand that the Planet P Project gets done whenever we decide to get it done 'cause it's just my producer and myself and engineer Nigel, we go in the studio, put the lights down, put the candles up, roast the pig, pick the grapes, get a little bit pagan and start the synthesizers up and that's the Planet P Project. It's not a band entity or anything like that and for the forseeable future there's no tour plans or anything. I will give something away though here on national radio...
BC: Oh, please do...
TC: ~laughs~ Oh, you're beggin' me?
BC: Come on now...
TC: Uh, I'm really transsexual, no... ~laughs~
BC: ~laughs~
TC: No, the new Planet P album is finished and, uh, we're holding it back until about August 'cause I want Some Tough City to make its big push first, but it is finished and I plan to continue to do them, one a year til, well, I'm over 21!
BC: ~laughs~ Well double your pleasure with Tony Carey with two groups to choose from including solo work from...
TC: This isn't a gum commercial is it?
BC: No, not at all, from Tum, uh, Some Tough City, you got me stammering here Tony...
TC: 17 times fast...
BC: ~laughs~ This is "A Fine Fine Day" by Tony Carey on RockLine, then we'll put you on the air with Tony...
TC: Go get 'em!
(A Fine Fine Day is played)
BC: From Some Tough City our guest, first, tonight Tony Carey on RockLine, Golden Earring will be here a little bit later on, 'A Fine Fine Day' and the first phone call for Tony tonight is from River Falls, Wisconsin. We have Pam on the line listening...
TC: It's cold up there!
BC: ...listening to 92KQRS in Minneapolis, Pam hello!
Pam: Hi Tony!
TC: What's your name?
Pam: Pam.
TC: Hi Pam!
Pam: Hi how ya doin'?
TC: Well, I'm sittin' up here talkin' to you from Atlanta! I bet it's colder up where you are then where I am!
Pam: I know, you told me that, I talked to you last time you were on!
TC: No kiddin'!
Pam: You thought it was pretty cold up here...
TC: This is nostalgic! What do you wanna know this time?
Pam: Well, that your song, 'Fine Fine Day'...
TC: Yeah...
Pam: I know it's got a lot of meaning for me 'cause I've got a really special friend that's in jail right now...
TC: What'd he do?
Pam: Well, armed robbery...but...
TC: Ah, you know, that's so stupid, you can go and threaten somebody, get away with the cash, the trouble is when you pull the gun out that puts an automatic 3 to 10, uh, you know, as you know.
Pam: Yeah, he's been in since he was 15...
TC: Oh, this is one of your habitual offenders.
Pam: Well...
TC: Stay away from the guy, he was no good for ya', parents won't approve...
Pam: ~garbled~
TC: I can't understand ya', speak it again...
Pam: I know my parents won't approve, but...
TC: ~laughs~
BC: Pam, I'm gonna need a question from you for Tony please.
TC: That wasn't the question?
BC: I don't think so.
Pam: Is there anybody you especially wrote that song after?
TC: What, one more time?
BC: Anybody that you wrote that song about, 'A Fine Fine Day'.
TC: No, it's a generic Uncle Sonny. It's the kinda Uncle Sonny that you would have when, uh, your mother has fifteen boyfriends and they all have different names, Uncle Bill, Uncle Fred...hi mom, I know you're listening, you know I'm not talking about you...
BC: ~laughs~
TC: Uh, I am fascinated by the immediate post-war pulp magazine, uh, literature. Steinbeck did it pretty well and James Jones did it pretty well, the guy that does get into trouble, but he's a stand up guy, see, he didn't tell anyone where the money was, and when he got out, he had one day in town, he went home, he met me, in the video I'm talking about, and he went down to the pool hall and he went down to the bar, but then they got him, they boned him for being a wise guy, and uh, I think there's a moral point to be made there, and this includes your 15 year old friend Pam, in jail for ~laughs~ armed robbery. It's that wise guys don't always make out that well and I do come from a moral standpoint on that. As far as the actual Uncle Sonny he is generic. He did a good job in the video though!
BC: Thanks for the call there Pam. We'll have more conversation and music with...
TC: Call me next time too!
BC: ...with Tony Carey on RockLine. We're live give us a call toll free 1-800-421-3222.
(Fade out playing "Vigilante")
Commercial Break
(Fade in playing "Tinseltown")
BC: We're with Tony Carey on RockLine on the Global Satellite Network. I'm Bob Coburn, our next phone call from Shenandoah, Iowa listening to Z92 in Omaha is Angel. Angel you're on...
Angel: Hi!
TC: Angel! What a great name!
Angel: Oh, thank you. I'm kinda nervous so will you bear with me here?
TC: I'm pretty nervous too! Ya know what I'm doin' for it? I'm standin' on my head and, uh, let's see, you don't wanna know the rest of it but I'm under the table standing on my head, I'm a real short guy!
BC: Are you alone? ~laughs~
TC: Uh, this is what you don't wanna know.
BC: Ok, Ok...
TC: Go ahead Angel!
Angel: OK, I heard that you play keyboards and guitar, and I was wondering...
TC: You hoped that I play or you hear that I play?
Angel: I hear that you have played...
TC: Who told you that?
Angel: Well, you're quite popular, so I hear it around quite a bit.
TC: Oh damn! Now I'm blushin'!
Angel: I was wondering which one you prefer playing?
TC: Do you have any kids?
Angel: Me? No.
TC: You know anybody who has any kids?
Angel: No.
TC: You don't? ~laughs~ Angel, when I get to where you are, you call...no...Uh, the analogy I was gonna make regarding which I prefer is, well, what child do you like better, what song do you like better? No, it's, on keyboard, especially synthesizer, I'm more proficient, I can play faster, I can probably impress you more, but the, I feel just as soulful playing acoustic guitar or piano or bass. Music is, uh, is not technique, music is feeling, and I don't have a favorite because if I could pick up-I play drums these days too-if I can pick an instrument up then the feeling is there and I'm happy, you know.
Angel: Well you're very talented in many ways I must say.
TC: Tell you what I play real fast keyboards I'll impress you.
BC: ~laughs~ Thanks for the call there Angel.
TC: You didn't tell me where she was from.
BC: She's from Shenandoah, Iowa.
TC: Oh, how is it there? How's the corn comin' in there?
Angel: ~laughs~ Not yet, it's pretty cold yet.
TC: Still cold?
Angel: Yeah, very.
TC: You think it's the end of the world 'cause it's this cold?
Angel: Uh, I don't know. I believe in maybe, uh, the Lord coming you know, maybe soon. ~laughs~
TC: Uh, maybe...don't hold your breath is all. Thanks for calling in.
BC: Thanks for the call Angel. We now go to Portland, Oregon. Mary is listening to KRCK and is on the show, hi.
Mary: Hi Tony.
TC: Hi Mary!
Mary: How ya doin'?
TC: I love Portland, Oregon.
Mary: Really?
TC: That is one of the three rock and roll towns in the universe.
Mary: Have you been there?
TC: Oh yeah ~laughs~ this is the voice of experience!
Mary: Alright! OK, my question, I was wondering, if you approach your solo work and your Planet P Project each in different ways?
TC: I try not to approach it at all, I try just to do it. By that I mean I don't do much pre- preparation. I write in the studio, uh here's what it is. I live in Frankfurt, West Germany and my partner and I, my producer and I, own a studio together. We have two 24 track rooms. We are a commercial studio, that means we try to keep it booked, but that doesn't always work unless you're the Record Plant in Los Angeles, and all you industry insiders know just what I'm talking about. And I will go over to studio 1 for instance and record a song like 'A Fine Fine Day', which is to me a bit country and very American anyway and then put my roller skates on, skate down to Studio 2, plug the synthesizers in and go for the European sound, um, I find that I don't have a big problem switching between one and the other, uh, probably naturally I can split my brain dominance. I don't prepare for anything, I take it as it comes, I do compose in the studio. We turn the lights down, there's only two of us in there at any given point unless the drummer's showing up or something, and uh, light a candle and go for it. I will say in concept though that people do understand the difference between Tony Carey and whoever they call Planet P Project, is that the Tony Carey is Americana, deals with interpersonal relationships, me and you, man and wife, mother and child, and Planet P deals with, how do I say this and not be 1973, Planet P is cosmic (laughter) it's a little bit, uh, I try to deal to do the larger issues, racial survival, can we survive the bomb, can we feed the children, and is there still any compassion and all that. Does that answer your question Mary?
Mary: Fine.
BC: Fine?
TC: Fine Fine Day!
(laughter)
BC: Thanks for the call there Mary...
TC: Look me up in Portland!
BC: We're gonna go for the cosmic side right now, a song by Planet P, actually a remix of the song 'Why Me'...
TC: But I understand you're gonna do...
BC: Yeah, this is the different one ya know...
TC: This is by, can I announce this?
BC: Sure, why not Tony...
TC: A guy named Francois Kevorkian in New York has done dance remixes for a lot of people, did one for me last year and I actually didn't hear it until it was finished, and I think it's the silliest thing you'll likely hear in the next twenty five minutes, called 'Why Me' and it's the dance remix. Go get 'em!
BC: On RockLine!
(Dance Remix of Why Me is played)
(Fade in with "West Coast Summer Night")
BC: A little taste of 'West Coast Summer Night' we're with Tony Carey right now on RockLine, live on the satellite, I'm Bob Coburn.
TC: Hello Bob.
BC: Uh, let's take a call from Norfolk, Virginia listening to FM99 WNOR we have Steve on the air.
TC: Hi Steve!
Steve: Hi.
TC: How's Norfolk?
Steve: Fine.
TC: Is the fleet in?
Steve: What?
TC: I said, are the ships come home?
Steve: Yeah, I guess...
TC: Go ahead, give me your question.
BC: What's your question Steve?
Steve: Um, why did you decide to move to Germany?
TC: I didn't decide to move to Germany, I was coerced into moving to Germany. I got a call from an old friend, said "Come over and play a session for two weeks", two weeks turned into two years 'cause in about the first three days I was there I met my wife, and my producer, and the best friends I have in the world, and I just decided to stay.
BC: And it turned out to be, what, six years you've been there.
TC: I've been there six years and I'm gonna stay there for awhile.
BC: Amazing, thank you Steve...
TC: God bless America though Bob!
BC: ~laughter~ And thanks for that Tony, couldn't agree more! We have a call, I understand your mom is listening up in Fresno, your home town, we have a call from Ersed listening to 106 KKDJ, it's Carey, hi there!
TC: Hi mom.
Carey: What do you mean, "mom"?
BC: ~laughter~ No, this is Carey Tony!
TC: Hi Carey, how ya doin?
Carey: Tony, you got a really cool last name you know?
TC: ~laughter~ You are a lady of discrimination and taste!
Carey: I know, thank you.
TC: Ask the question...
Carey: I love your video, keep up the great scenes ok?
TC: Yeah, thank you. Whadda you like about it?
Carey: ~laughter~ In your song 'Tinseltown', you sound like you're really like angry at Hollywood or California or whatever, what was your inspiration behind that song?
TC: Well, the word ain't anger, it's more, uh, disgust. I saw an article in, I should not say this over national radio, but I'll be brief and discreet. I saw an article in People magazine called "How Cocaine destroyed the life of David Crosby", and he used to have Matisses and now he's got uh the little prints with the girls with the big eyes, and he used to drive a Ferrarri, and now he can't put gas in his moped, and this and that. That's what it's about. Uh, listen again real carefully and you'll get it now that I've told ya.
BC: You should catch on to it there Carey, thanks for the call, we go to New York now 102.7 WNEW FM is our affiliate there, and this is John this time around, hi John.
TC: Hi John.
John: How ya doin'?
TC: I'm doin pretty good, I love WNEW, I didn't know they were our affiliate there, but I still love 'em. Dave are you listenin' to me? Go ahead John...
John: ~inaudible~
BC: What's your question John?
John: 'A Fine Fine Day', there seems to be a heavy Bruce Springsteen influence, uh, I wanted to know if you felt that way too.
TC: Well...yes and no, I mean I won't lie to you, I listen to Bruce and've heard all his albums, I understand he's got another one coming within the end of the decade, and uh, as far as influences go I will say that uh, it's the worst question you can ask somebody first of all 'cause no one will admit it, even if they're really honest, and uh, second of all and it's 1984 and we have the media blitz, the total media blitz, you turn on the tv, you turn on the radio, you open the newspaper, I don't think it's possible to pin down your influence. If you can, then you're too narrow-minded. I try to take...I think my biggest influence personally is John Steinbeck, the author. Um, he's easily translatable into a Springsteen-ish style if you will, and that's as far, that's as much as I'll admit but I think if you can pin your influence down to one or two artists then uh, you're uh, you have a one-track mind. Thanks for the question.
BC: Thanks for the call there John. Our next phone call is from Tucson, Arizona KWFM is our station there, and Jim, how ya been?
Jim: I'm doin' fine, how you doin' Bob?
BC: Good, good.
TC: You're not talkin' to Bob, you're talkin' to TC, how ya doin'?
BC: ~laughter~
Jim: Alright, how you doin'?
TC: Good, I like Tucson, my brother was born there.
Jim: Is summer a special season to you, since on your first two solo records you have a song on each about summer?
TC: Well I live in West Germany where it's very cold and once in a while we get a summer but usually we don't, first thing. Second thing I think, at least this time around, First Day of Summer is such an inspiration to us all, at least to me, it wakes me right up, my biorhythm shoots up to 110, I mean it's just goin' for me on the first day of summer and I thought that'd be something that somebody could relate to. It is coincidental, but if on the next album I have a song about summer you call me up and ask me about it then too.
BC: ~laughter~
TC: Say hi to all them desert rats out there in Tucson!
BC: All right, thank you there Jim, we have Cheryl on the line now in St. Louis Park, Minnesota listening to 92 KQRS, hi Cheryl.
TC: Hi Cheryl!
Cheryl: Hey, are you married?!
TC: Of course I'm married, my wife's listening to this, so you be decent!
Cheryl: I will, ok my question...
TC: Was that your question, 'am I married'?!
Cheryl: No, it wasn't, I just heard that, I was depressed...
TC: You're shocked that I'm married?
Cheryl: Yeah...
TC: Once in a while you have to have a home base, you know, you can't be out there forever.
BC: I think she may have ulterior motives there Tony...
TC: No, no, no...
Cheryl: ~laughter~
BC: What's your other question Cheryl?
Cheryl: Yeah, a question, ok, looking back on your time with Rainbow how can you sum up your experience with them?
TC: Oh, I was 21. Everybody else in the band was 112. Uh, I was definitely the kid, I caught a lot of flack for being the kid in many different ways, uh, it was a learning experience for me, it showed me how to play bigger things and relate to...it took me out of the garage band sort of network, as it were, and ~laughter~ and uh, a couple of the gentlemen that were in the band with me I still respect and admire today, a couple I don't. Um, I derive, I tell ya what I derive great satisfaction kickin' the buns off the boy in the band this week with my single, uh, I think time will tell, uh, next question ~laughs~ there!
BC: Thank you there Cheryl, we appreciate it. We're gonna go to Tulsa for the next question for Tony, and uh, KMOD, Mike how ya doin'?
Mike: Hi.
TC: Hi Mike!
Mike: Tony?
TC: Yeah.
Mike: ~sounding stoned~ I am a prominent singer.
TC: ~in a joking tone~ You're not either! I'm a prominent singer!
BC: ~laughter~
Mike: I'm a prominent singer out of Chicago, Illinois.
TC: Are you good?
Mike: ~sounding like a stoned surfer~ Yes I am.
TC: What do you sing?
Mike: I sing ~pause~ lead vocals.
TC: No, I know but...
~ Bob and Tony talking over each other ~
Mike: Um, my question...
TC: Yeah. You didn't answer my question!
Mike: My question is, do you ~ pause ~ okay what's your question, Tony?
TC: ~laughter~ Are you a good singer!?
BC: What is this, Frick and Frack?
Mike: ~mumbling~ but...
TC: ~singing~ It's a hard, hard...
Mike: Tony listen, my question is this...
TC: We're waiting...
BC: Mike, you gotta turn down your radio Mike, either that or we're gonna have to move on...
Mike: OK.
TC: I'm glad I answered the question Mike, next call.
Mike: Ok, my question Tony...
TC: Yeah.
Mike: My question is do you prefer...
TC: ~laughing~
Mike: ...do you prefer studio performance or do you prefer live performance?
TC: You know, do you like Chinese food or do you like tacos, depends on where you're at and what you're doin'. I like everything. I'm havin' a ball, I've been waitin' for this for a long time. It doesn't make fifteen percent worth of difference to me either way if I'm in the studio or if I'm in front of a thousand people, in front of two people, or if I'm singin' in the shower, I like it all. Uh, it's my music, I don't do cover versions, and, uh, as long as I can be singin' what I believe in then I don't care where I am.
BC: I'm gonna give Tony the 'Henry Kissinger Award For Diplomacy' there for...
TC: Hey, I don't lie though!
BC: Oh no, that's not what I'm saying, we're gonna take a...
TC: He wouldn't answer my question.
BC: That's right, that's right. Well, that was certainly worth there Mike, we thank you Mike.
TC: ~singing~ Da do ron ron ron...
BC: We go to 102.7 WNEW FM in New York again, and Ritchie, you got a crack at it now.
Ritchie: Hey, what's up Tony?
TC: Ritchie who? ~laughter~
Ritchie: Well, I don't have a last name...
TC: How ya doin' Ritchie?
Ritchie: Ok, how about you?
TC: Well, uh, considering that I'm still doin' my aerobics hangin' from my feet, I'm alright. What's your question?
Ritchie: Yeah, I wanna ask you two questions: one is about future videos, are you gonna do any?
TC: Uh, we're shooting a video on 'The First Day of Summer', uh no, for 'The First Day of Summer' the tune. We're gonna shoot it in just a few days down in Tampa, Florida at a aquatic tan line contest park ~laughs~ called 'Adventure Island' and that should be a lot of fun, and I'm gonna shoot live footage of the band, and I'm gonna intersperse it with some conceptual sort of stuff, and you can expect to see it about the first day of summer, coincidentally!
Ritchie: Are you gonna do any more tours?
TC: You know something, I wanna tour til' I drop! I know that's not an original line, but I think I'll be out until August, and uh, wadda ya mean any more tours? Who is this? Get this guy out of here!
BC: Well he may be referring to the fact that you have not toured with anyone since 1976!
TC: You're not supposed to mention that Bobby-dog, would you be cool?
BC: ~laughs~ Who's in your band now? I understand you have a great live band!
TC: Well I, listen, I went to New York City from Frankfurt direct, the next day I started auditioning people, I auditioned about 200 people, I settled on Mark Clark on bass, and he's from Billy Squier's band and Ian Hunter's band. I have Eddy Zyne on drums, and he's played with Hall and Oates. I have Reinhard Besser on rhythm and lead guitar and he's played a lot of the Planet P stuff and most of the 'Some Tough City' stuff. A guy named Joe Breitenbach, The Morristown Mauler, from Morristown, New Jersey, who is not as famous yet as he will be tomorrow. And I got a guy named Chris Apostle on keyboards, and he's from Flo and Eddie's band and Novo Combo. So, I didn't hire anybody under about 30, because I know what it's like to have a kid in the band and, sorry, I got a lot of road experience out there. We spent the first four weeks learning the songs and the next four weeks forgettin' the songs, and we're gettin' nice and loose and friendly on stage.
BC: Next city that we took to is Sacramento, KZEP our station, and Cathy you're on the air.
TC: Cathy!
Cathy: Hi Tony, how ya doin'?
TC: How's things up in the state capitol?
Cathy: Great, couldn't be better.
TC: I'm runnin' for Governor ya know...
Cathy: Oh yeah? ~laughs~ um, what's the public's attitude toward nuclear weapons being stationed over in Germany?
TC: Uh, the young person's attitude is disaffected, disenchanted, uh, much like our attitude was, I don't know how old you are, but in '70, '71, '69, uh, disenchanted, disaffected, there're riots and some demonstrations and, um, it's very much peace, love, and understanding. But the realistic attitude is slightly more republican than that, uh, slightly more conservative than that. It's also the attitude I share, and I don't mind saying this, if the nuclear weapons weren't stationed in Europe, then uh, fifteen minutes after the last bus left, the first tank'd roll up Main Street and they know that. In fact, they recently took a poll and uh, 72-or-whatever-percent of the general German population, at least, attested to the fact that they're so damn glad we're there that they would just about do anything to keep us there, and then the other 28 percent or whatever was everybody under 30 ~ laughs ~. You know, nobody likes nuclear weapons, I certainly don't like nuclear weapons, I'm not anti-nuclear, I think we can use all the cheap electricity we can get, but uh, it seems to be, uh, it seems to strike a balance now that seems to be holding. Does that answer the question?
Cathy: It does.
BC: All right, thanks for the call.
TC: I'm still runnin' for Governor!
BC: ~laughs~ A reminder that a week from tonight it will be Scorpions on RockLine and we continue a continental evening in just a few moments with Barry Hay and George Coymins from Golden Earring, and uh Tony I understand that there was something in a bit of a serious vein you wanted to say to us before we left tonight.
TC: Ah, I don't wanna pontificate, but I do wanna make something I feel real strongly about, I do wanna make a statement. Marvin Gaye was shot down the other day as you know, and uh, Marvin's daddy shot him. And I read some of the reports of it and everything. Marvin's dad didn't hate him, you know, he was mad at him, probably had some problems with him. I mean if it came to Marvin's dad, who's 70, strangling him, it never would've happened. It never would've got done. And the reason he got killed is because he had a handgun. And I wanna tell, no, I wanna ask everyone out there, if you've got a handgun fill the barrel up with Play-Doh, bend it in half, make it into an ashtray, take it out to the trench and dump the son-of-a-gun in the ocean because we don't need them. And that stuff about 'guns don't kill people, people kill people' is rubbish. Guns kill people because people get mad and do things that they wish they didn't do twenty minutes later, and that's all I wanna say.
BC: Up next is...
TC: Remember Marvin and get rid of them handguns.
BC: Up next is Golden Earring. Our thanks again to Tony Carey for being here tonight. Tony, I'll see you when you come out to L.A.
TC: Bob, thanks, let's have that lunch!
BC: OK, you got it. Back in just a moment on RockLine.
(Fade out playing "Lonely Life").
Contact me (Chris) at chud3@juno.com.
Special thanks to Michael Bagnall for his help!
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