Gary James' Interview With Jimmy J. Ennis Of
New York
Out of Chapel Hill, South Carolina is a group called New York! That's right. And they've been making quite a name for themselves. Their debut album, "Carry The Torch" can be found on Pentagram Records, which is distributed by Dutch East India Trading Co. Guitarist/vocalist Jimmy J. Ennis chatted with us about his band.
Q - Okay Jimmy, you refer to your music as Rock 'n' Roll, but it sounds more like Hard Rock to me. Is there any reason why you shy away from labeling New York as a Hard Rock group?
A - There are more songs that lean towards Rock 'n' Roll that you are probably not aware of. "Teas'r" is not considered Hard Rock for example. Our music covers a wide variety of music styles than the term Hard Rock implies. Rock 'n' Roll is a more general term and encompasses all of our music. Hard Rock only covers about two thirds of it and Metal describes only about 10% of it. Our appearance leans toward the Metal look, but this is because we don't want to go onstage looking like we just came off the street. We like to give the people something to see.
Q - How did you get his band organized so fast?
A - Some of our music is seven years old. Freddy and I have been together since 1978. With the addition or Rikk in January, '84 and Johnny in June, '84, we finally had what we were looking for, a winning combination with no weak links. So, we pressed ahead to the next step, putting New York on vinyl. It took seven years, in which time we tried eight different drummers, two lead singers, and format changes. We don't work five piece and two guitar changes all with no time off. That's not forever, but it's close.
Q - More than $125,000 has been invested in your equipment. Did you raise that money or do you have a financial investor?
A - Let's call it the bank. Just like anyone else in any other business, the bank owns what we don't. By the way, the amount is closing in on $250,000 now.
Q - It's so expensive these days to be on the road. How do you do it?
A - Simple. We can't afford not to.
Q - According to one article, New York doesn't indulge in drinks or drugs, yet Schlitz sponsored one of your listening parties. What kind of message are you sending out? Do you see any hypocrisy in that?
A - They key word is indulge. Maybe I should have said over indulge. I don't see anything hypocritical there. We needed a sponsor. Schlitz was kind enough to do it. Very simple.
Q - How well connected is your manager, Nancy Tinker, in the business?
A - Mrs. Tinker is very adept at getting the connections she needs. Similar to myself, if she knows something needs to be done, she gets it done. She's learning more every day and getting lots of well deserved and hard earned respect from some very important people in the business, who are by the way fed up with all the political riff-raff of dishonesty in the business today. I would think they see her as the proverbial breath of fresh air. If we, or she, were approached with a management contract or any kind of contract for that matter, she would first check it out for legitimacy. If it was in the best interest of the band, she would release us. We, on the other hand, would keep her with us. She takes care of us and our best interest.
Q - Where do you want to take New York and how far do you want to go?
A - Cliche number one; To the top! Cliche number two; All the way!
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