Gary James' Interview With The Author Of
Backstage And Beyond, Volume One
45 Years Of Classic Rock And Roll.
Jim Sullivan



Jim Sullivan spent twenty-six years writing about music for The Boston Globe. His work has also appeared in USA Today, Boston Phoenix, Boston Herald, Trouser Press, Record, Creem, New Musical Express, The Guardian, Rock And Roll Globe, LA Weekly, Rock's Back Pages, The Christian Science Monitor, Best Classic Bands, Newsweek, Playgirl and The Forward. The first volume of his music writing anthology focuses on artists who gained popularity in the 1950s and 1960s. That book, Backstage And Beyond, Volume One, 45 Years Of Classic Rock Chants And Rants, is published by Trouser Press Books. Backstage And Beyond Volume Two will be out in October, 2024.

Jim Sullivan talked with us about his Rock And Roll journey, Backstage And Beyond.

Q - Jim, this is some collection of interviews you have in this book of yours. How many people do you figure you've interviewed over the years?

A - (laughs) A myriad of people. It's hundreds. It's kind of difficult to say. So, I really couldn't put a number on it, but the upper hundreds. We'll say that.

Q - You've been doing it for how long?

A - I started writing around 1975 up through around today. So, whatever this month is. (laughs)

Q - And you're still interviewing people today then?

A - Oh, very much. Yeah. I write for several places now. I do not do what I did when I was in the game full-time, when I was out in the clubs four or five times a week.

Q - Do you primarily interview musicians?

A - For a long time I have done not just musicians, but a lot of people in the realm of, if you will, Pop culture, from authors like John Irving and Michael Connelly, Don Winslow, to people like Jodi Foster and Robin Williams and other artists. Non-musicians have certainly been a slice of what I've done, but I don't know if I could put a percentage on it. Maybe 20%. Something like that. That was one of the good things about working at the (Boston) Globe at the time I did. They had a lot of acreage to fill, newsprint, and the Globe was pretty flush with money. They wanted stories and I was pretty eager to branch out and do other things outside of the music business. I was beginning to see myself more as a writer who covered music than just a music fan who happened to write, and therefore there were a lot of opportunities and I took advantage of those when they were there and still do when other non-musicians stories sort of pop up.

Q - And you can get stale if you only interview one type of person all the time. When you mix it up a little bit it's refreshing.

A - Yes, it shakes things up. You're right. There is a certain thing when you're dealing exclusively with musicians, a certain kind of cut and dried kind of things you're going to get to at some point in the interview. There's obviously different approaches to take and issues to tackle when you're outside of that world and it's been fun to sort of cultivate that in my interviewer / journalist brain I guess.

Q - You say in your Preface that you hope your memories transport people who weren't around then back in the Golden Ages of Rock 'n' Roll. You're referring to the 1960s and 1970s?

A - No. I got in the game in '75, but some of the artists I talked to began their careers in the '50s and then goes all the way up to the present day. Some of them anyway. But I see the Golden Age starting in the '50s and me having access to the people like (Roy) Orbison and Jerry Lee (Lewis) and Darlene Love and Tina Turner were active at that point, but were still active when I saw them. That Golden Age for me really extends through the Rock 'n' Roll era. Now, I think we are certainly in a phase, as many people well know, where Rock 'n' Roll isn't the dominant music form and the situation has certainly changed I think for journalists, writers, interviewers. I think rules have tightened up, access has tightened up. I think the liberty that I had back in the day is pretty much long gone for most people trying to do what I did and so in that sense I think both the music and my ability to kind of get inside the heads of people doing that music, it made for a pretty special time. So, the Golden Age is sort of spread out, if you will.

Q - I'm a firm believer that if you weren't alive in those times it's very difficult to make people truly understand what went on.

A - Well, that's the goal. Like I said in my Preface, if you're there, people like The Cramps ring a bell with you or The Gang Of Four, The Pogues, or The Pixies. If you were not there it's sort of an open door to what it was like and what my interactions were like and hopefully it gives people an idea who weren't there. And there are a number of curious people, people in their twenties, thirties who say, "Okay, I know all this stuff happened before I paid attention and I know something about these artists, some more than others, but here they are." What was David Bowie like in 19-whatever it was? It's just an insight into the thought process and the ways people went about their jobs back in that period of time and it is a very different world now. It's probably less if you will, wild in the sense that a lot of the people I dealt with, there was a certain amount of freedom of expression and freedom to do pretty much what you wanted to do in you personal life. There were a lot of drinks and drugs that coursed their way through the books, not intentionally and not a major theme, but certainly as a subtext because most of the people I was involved with, talking to, had those stimulants or issues or became issues. It was part of that world. I think it's much less so that way now. I know talking to younger musicians, they're much more focused on work itself, the job, getting the music done or don't have time to get messed up with that sort of thing.

Q - On page six of your book, you were talking about not being nervous when you'd interview people because you knew what you were talking about. You say, "Granted, it wasn't investigation journalism." Yes, it was. More so than what interviewers are doing today. We have a local TV reporter who asked Chubby Checker, "What's your favorite memory>" She didn't do her homework.

A - Right.

Q - It's a throwaway question. It's like asking "Who were your influences?"

A - Right.

Q - And I see more and more and more of that in print and on TV.

A - Well, TV is the worst and if anybody has been interviewed on radio they know that's because it's an awful lot less than it used to be. But yeah, they're working under a different framework too. They've got a very small window to get these things in and the questions tend to be softball and generic, let's fact it. What I had was often the time to get into things that went deeper than that. But it wasn't investigative journalism. I said I'm not trying to uncover any great mysteries or dig deep into finding this absolute truth. But I guess I certainly did investigate the lives of the people I talked to as much as they were willing to go there and there's a lot of depth in a lot of those stories. I mean, the Jerry Lee (Lewis) one certainly. Warren Zevon very, very much. The Ramones, talking about their highs and lows and the drugs that ultimately killed Dee Dee (Ramone). There's depth certainly in all of those. Not in every interview I ever did, because I don't want to say that. There were some that were much more quick hit that aren't in the book that were in newspaper stories or elsewhere. When I made the choices for the book, one of the criteria was, yes, I had to have spent some time with these people that indicated there would be more information, more depth, more candid information perhaps. You can hopefully sense some of the rapport I had with the people I talked to. Some more than others, obviously. But there was a connection, certainly with Morrissey, a prickly connection, but there was a connection. We shared a sense of humor at least. There were others. It varied, depending obviously on who they were and where they were going in their lives.

Q - Keeping with that same train of thought in mind, I saw Bernard Goldberg of CBS interview Paul McCartney. He asked Paul, "Where does the talent come from to write all these songs of yours?" For the first time ever, I saw Paul flinch. I could tell he was uncomfortable with that question, probably because he doesn't know where it comes from and doesn't want to know. Someone fresh out of college who would get assigned to interview Paul would probably ask, "What was it like to have all those girls screaming at your concerts?" Now, that's a question he would prefer.

A - It's an easier question I'm sure. (laughs) Paul certainly liked the girls screaming at him. I believe this little antecedent is in the book: "When I was talking to Ray Davies of The Kinks, I think the first time back in '81, we got into a point where he wanted me to ask him about certain things. I said 'sure.'" "Ask me about Bruce Springsteen." "Sure. What about Bruce Springsteen?" He said, "I don't drive." In other words, he couldn't relate to the driving songs. Paul McCartney. He said, "When we toured with The Beatles we had nicknames for him. It was Paul McCockoff." (laughs) I thought it was pretty darn funny. It indicates where Paul was at, at that time, which is fair enough. A young, handsome, successful musician, sure. In terms of where do the songs come from. It's impossible to answer I think. I tend to avoid that question because of that. I know when I was talking to Kristin Hersh, who used to be in The Throwing Muses, it's not in the book, but we've done a lot over the years. She and I don't think she's alone with this, really feels it comes from somewhere else through her. Not so say a higher power or God or anything like that. But she really feels these things kind of get into her brain from somewhere and then she interpolates them and gets them into music. Pinning down where an idea comes from is pretty difficult to do. I think it's a pretty difficult question for anybody.

Q - You'd only ask that to someone like a Bruce Springsteen or Paul McCartney because of all the popular songs they've written.

A - Yeah, but it could be a standard question to ask any musician or anybody who creates anything. I know novelists get asked this all the time. I know Stephen King gets tired of being asked, "Where do you get these wacky ideas?" I think he just kind of passes (on the question). "I'm not gonna answer that. Don't know." That's something where you don't really find a good answer from anybody 'cause no one knows.

Q - You write on page three: "I have rarely encountered musicians who courted adulation or wanted only softball, suck-up interview questions." When I ask a business question, some people get upset. Case in point, Robin Trower. When I asked where the money comes from to live on when you're not touring, he was a little upset with that question.

A - I could see he's thinking you're going a little off track here from his point of view. Let's face it, like I mention in the book, a lot of these interviews are transactional. You're getting something from them and they're getting something from you. It's sort or an understood premise. I think whenever you enter a interview situation, I think when you go a little off track where they wanted to go, it's a surprise, right? It's like, "I'm not prepared to talk about that." I can understand the uncomfortableness with it, but I also think it's a good question. I'm not sure what level of success Trower had at the time, but I know with a lot of musicians who have not "made it" or are in a star status, there's other things they have to do. A musician I know here in Boston has a very successful band, he sold out a club, a veteran musician, but he's also a real estate guy. And he does very well in that field too. He's got a family to support. Being a musician and having some level of success does not guarantee a lifestyle of luxury of even sustenance sometimes.

Q - I've found that so many musicians would prefer to just speak about their current album or CD. But as a reader, if you haven't heard the songs on the album you're going to lose interest in the interview right away. That's a problem.

A - Yeah, that's true. Generally the interview is there to set up a tour or an album. I think you have to grant that is going to be a part of the interview, a chunk of the interview. But you want it not be just that. You don't want it to be pure promotion. I guess if somebody doesn't know the songs or aren't particularly interested in the new album and are more interested in the artist's history, that's disappointing. It just comes off as pure promotion and not willing to go deeper into my world.

Q - If an artist really thinks about it, when you mix up the questions, asking about the past and present, it really does help sell their current product.

A - Right.

Q - I just have to ask, Jim, how's the book doing?

A - We're happy with it. It's gotten good attention. It's gotten good press. I've talked to people who bought it and asked, "How are you approaching it? What do you think?" Some people read it sequentially. A lot of people will start with an artist that interests them most and then go backwards and forward, which is certainly fine. The book is written so you can do that without a problem. The feedback has been real good. It's growing I guess in the sense that I continue to do promotion for it.

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