Swedish scum's interview with...
Mykel Board
Here's the entire interview with Mykel Board done by
Myself in October 2000.
If there are any retards that read this I might say
that the blue writings is me and the red one's Mykels.
1) If I could get a short introduction of you, age, work
etc.?
What does a (half?)Danish guy do in the big apple?
How come you
got stuck in the Usa?
Jeg er ikke Dansk! Harley
Flannigen is half-Danish. Me? I love Denmark, but
my background is 50%
Ukraine, 25% German, 25% Latvian, 100% Jew.
What do I do? Anything I can get
away with. I'm stuck in the US because my
parents live here and I gotta help
take care of them.
2) Let me hear what
the first thing you heard about the madman from Manchester known as GG
Allin?
Also if you remember any record/track/concert that might have been the
introduction to his music.
In the 70s I used to do a
record distribution company. I got this album in the mail:
ALWAYS IS, WAS,
AND ALWAYS SHALL BE. It had a picture of a geeky guy on the cover,
wearing a
Brian Jones pin. The music was good, though and really hostile.
3) You're one of the sharp brains behind the famous fake vomit covered
various/LP called "You'll hate this record". How did that record came up?
and who got the idea to glue a plastic vomit on the cover??
I still have some left, about 15 copies I sell one by one on
ebay. I was in a
band called ART, at the time, and our focus was complete
audience attack.
I thought it would be fun to do a compilation LP of other
bands that were
hated. I had my own label: THE ONLY LABEL IN THE WORLD, and
figured I'd
put it out myself. Crackers, Art's guitar player, had the idea
for the rubber vomit.
He was one of the most creative guys I know, though he
seems to have disappeared.
His original idea was to paste on the plastic
vomit, then seal it with Parmesan cheese
inside the plasic. It wouldn't take
long for it to SMELL like vomit too. But I found
that most stores would not
take it if we did that, so that idea was killed.
He also had an idea, that
we did not do, for the first ART 7". That was to put
the record in a
sandpaper (facing inwards) innersleeve, so whenever you
took the record out
of the sleeve you would damage it. Soon you'd have to
buy a new
record.
4) Your old band Artless did a
split 7" and also a split lp on holy war/
starving missile. The second print
of the lp included the GG side of the 1st
split as a bonus single. How come
your side was put away?
I don't know exactly what you
mean. I didn't even know there was a version
of the single with only GG on
it. Maybe GG or Merle gave permission to do it,
I don't know.
4½) What reactions did you(both
Artless and GG) receive from the split records?
Did you do any gigs, tours
or other scandals together during that time?
Artless
only played one show with GG. That was the notorious Cat Club show
here in
NY in the 80s. I nearly cried when I listened to the Artless/GG split LP
because I thought the GG side was so much better than ours.
5)Who were the scumfuc's? Was there
even a real band, or just GG and some guitarist?
I don't
know. Seems like GG had a different band everyplace. I've seen him
play at
least two dozen times, and I've NEVER seen the same band twice.
6)I believe that GG did the "Cedar
street sluts" thing after the "You'll never
tame me" recording, did you
witness, or hear anything about that?
Only that it was a
fake band, with some girls he picked up in New Hampsire.
Merle said they
were real whores. Other people said they were just friends of
GG. What do I
think? I can't imagine GG having friends who AREN'T real whores. 
7)In 1986 you grabbed the challenge to put together a GG live compilation
for Roir rec. this must have been a ehh, shitty work to do, as GG's
liveshows
were pretty fluidfull and noisy. Tell me a little about how you
managed to
handle the almost impossible mission and the price (price of
pride not $) you
or others might have paid for it.
Price in pride? NONE! I was very proud of the work. Getting the band
together
was tough. Originally, I asked Thurston Moore from Sonic Youth to
play and
help organize musicians. He agreed, but then something came up and
he
couldn't do it. I then asked Gerard Cosloy, who at that time was manager
of
Homestead records. Gerard agreed and got in touch with J Mascus from
Dinosaur (later Dinosaur Jr.). Steve Dansiger, Artless drummer at the time,
did the drum work, and Kramer owner of Shimmy Disk played bass. It was a
weird combination, and could've played a jazz or "new music" club if it
weren't for GG.
8)The Cat Club
October 6 1986. Classick(yeah sick) performance. Artless(& some
other
band, probably irrelevant) were opening for the suicidal kamikaze GG
that
night. Also you were the one to get the honor to introduce GG for that show.
Its been written lots about that night, but I guess you got something to
reveal
that hasn't been said yet....
The first band
I think was called Rhinoceros. They were added to the bill at
the last
minute because their record label had some pull at the Cat Club.
They used
the night as a record release party. They had no idea what they
were getting
into. We were pissed that they were there. While they were
getting ready to
go on stage, GG threw fireworks into their dressing room.
It wasn't long
before they were cowering in a corner. Their set was a typical
ROCK set,
enough to make you puke. ARTLESS was on next, so I immediately
grabbed the
mic and asked the Rhino fans to stick around and enjoy the next
bands. I
think they left when I got hit in the head with a bottle and played
the
entire set with blood covering my face-- like a pro-wrestler.
9)The 5 tracks with N.Y superscum from the Hated
in the nation record.
Is anything recorded at the Cat club? or is it all
pre-show stuff? seems like
some of the producers(David Lee??) ran away
pretty quick or what?
Part is recorded in the studio
(that was David Lee's section). GG was tough
to work with, though, because
he never got the idea he wasn't on stage.
Even in the studio, he'd roll on
the floor or bang himself in the face with the mic.
10) The R.J Smith article lead to a number of
answers from both you, GG and
others. I got the opinion that R.J later
turned and got a little sympathy for GG
(he kinda defends GG at the Morton
Downey Jr show 1988)
(The R.J Smith article & GG's answer Is
here)
I don't know about the Downey defense. RJ
Smith now works for the LA Weekly.
11)
Maybe you also saw the two Lismar Lounge concerts in the 80's, and
probably
also other appearances. then in 89 GG got busted by the Secret
Service. I
guess you heard from him while being jailed too?
Yep. GG
was a great letter writer. Illustrating his envelopes with pictures
and
making for a fun correspondent. I don't think he was busted by the
Secret
Service though. Those guys just protect politicians. I think it was
some
state cops who checked with other state cops and found there was a
warrant
out for his arrest.
12) GG went in and
out of jail during his final 3 years alive in the 90's,
any special memories
from that(Beowulf & Space At Chase 1991)?
Sorry, my
mind's a sieve. I'm old.
13) You
witnessed GG's finale at Gas station, any comments about this bloodbath riot?
Nothing I haven't written before. It was an amazing
show. Especially the end
where GG wanders off on the streets of NY,covered
in shit, dressed only in a
jockstrap, trying to hail a cab. There is a
footnote, though. During the show
GG keeps asking "where's my bag? Where's
my bag?" Merle was playing guitar
then. I didn't think anything of this until
months later when I was talking to Merle.
"You know what he wanted that bag
for, Mykel?" said Merle. I didn't know.
He had lighter fluid in it. And
matches. The plan was to squirt the crowd and
the place set it all on fire.
It never happened.
14) You and
Merle compilated the "Res-erected" album in 1999. Must have
been a tricky
job to work with such shitty recordings. What is the deal with
another
version that's called "Wanted, dead or alive...well dead's fine" is this
one
with another artwork/pictures or just another title and why did that
happen?
I don't know the other CD. It might be a pirate,
or just something taken from
the same videos. If you find an extra copy,
please send it to Neil Cooper at ROIR.
Tell him you think it's the same stuff
on Res-Erected, he might give you a reward.
15) Did you visit GG's funeral?
Nope, I was out
of the country. Heard all about it from George Tabb, though.
16) Could you tell me some things that
you'll never forget about GG Allin?
There are so many
things I'd have to write a book, and I don't have time for that.
17) What happened to Your singing
carrier? When did you bury Artless as a band??
My hearing went bad and I got old. A bad
combination for being on stage as a singer.
Our last show was in 1998, a
reunion with FURIOUS GEORGE and BORIS THE SPRINKLER.
Have you been in any other bands ?
ART, THE ONLY BAND IN THE WORLD was my first band. Then
I had ARTLESS, broke it up.
Formed a band called THE ROLLING STONES (I
picked the name because I thought it
would get a lot of people into the
clubs), then, when that failed, I started ARTLESS again.
18) Have you got anything
to add, Mykel?
Send me homemade porno:
POB 137,
Prince St. Station,
NYC 10012
Mykel Board God@mykelboard.com
http://www.MykelBoard.com
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"I stand by all the misstatements that I've made." --Vice President Al Gore to Sam Donaldson, 8/17/93