This is part 2 of four of my interview with Ken Mochikoshi-Horne of the Bronx. Part 1 is HERE.
In this part of the interview, we talk about the Dragons.
Audio is here, but you may want to read the transcript below it, as I have the pictures labeled, credited, and stories behind them. I also explain things like what “Exile On Kettner Blvd” was, since we were talking like everyone already knew everything.
Ted: Yeah, I remember first seeing the Dragons and you guys were all wearing scarves and stuff like that.
Kenny: Yeah, well I think we wanted to go for the kind of like the Black Crowes and Izzy Stradlin solo. Yeah. And kind of that vibe.
Ted: You didn’t really find yourself yet, I don’t think.
Kenny: Yeah, yeah, because we all, because that was like kind of the end of that hair metal and it was kind of, there was always that kind of like Jane’s Addiction scene, kind of like the people with hats and eye liners. Yeah. But then there was like the Casbah scene, the alternative scene. And we played all of it, but we never really had our own spot, you know. It took us like three years to kind of become what we became.
Ted: But you got an album out in Spain.
Kenny: Yeah, yeah. When a band starts, you get a band, print a bunch of t-shirts, and you go on tour, right? We didn’t know how to do that. We did, I mean, we just, I guess we didn’t know any better. It was like the days of trying to get signed to a major label. So we just practiced three times a week, played every show, we got offered. And we’d record demo tapes, go to the studio and record. So that’s why we had like, we had like three demos recorded.
Ted: So that’s how that album came about. And it was funny because I remember you asking me for a copy for that (recently) because you said you knew you gave me a copy back in the day. I’m like, oh, really? Yeah. I didn’t remember it, but I found it and I gave it to you and I was listening to it because I don’t know why you’d want it because I (originally) didn’t think it was that good. And listened to it again and with fresh ears, 30 years later, it’s like, oh, it’s not bad!
Kenny: Yeah, it’s not bad. Not bad. That’s what we were saying. Yeah. Yeah. But you could see how we were kind of more rock and roll, you know, not the faster songs. So we didn’t really tour. The first show was at Bacchanol. It was like March of ‘91. And we, Not early. We opened up for fucking Wild Child. The Doors cover band. I remember it was the Doors movie was coming out that time. So the Bacchanol was so packed. It was our first show. Steve had a lot of friends. So Steve had sold all the tickets for the Dragons, you know, so these guys, the Bacchanol were like, “oh my God! You guys are big, you know, you guys can be our house band.” I’m going, this is our first show. You know, everyone’s going to come to the first show. So then we play the first show and it’s fucking packed. And I still have the video is we play a pretty good show. And then, and then from there we went to South by Southwest. We drove 24 hours out to Austin, played a couple of shows around. ‘91. Yeah. Austin, South by Southwest. Then we came home and they had a local showcase at the Bacchanol. Right. It was us, Baba Yaga. Gregory Page. And I don’t remember the other bands, but then there was like fucking five people there. (laughs) They’re probably like, “oh my God, the Dragons are going to bring in a lot of people again”. So we’re the headliners. It’s out second show in San Diego. I said, yeah, we’re headlining on like a Tuesday night and we get there and there’s like no one there. Girlfriends and a couple friends and then we’re like, oh shit.
Ted: But you did that a lot because the Dragons would play three times a week. If you weren’t rehearsing three times a week, you were playing live three times a week.
Kenny: But then we kind of got into the, you know, it took us, you know, like I said, three years to get into that, you know, kind of the Casbah thing. We had a following.
Ted: Well, Dennis (Borlek from C.L.A.) got you into that.
Kenny: Yeah. But we first were doing all of the Bacchanols and, you know, the OB (Ocean Beach), PB (Pacific Beach), everything. Wherever there was a show, we’d play. But then we started playing Grannies.
Ted: Yes.
Kenny: And what was that on, El Cajon Blvd?
Ted: University, I think. I saw you there a few times.
Kenny: It was owned by Lana and Chris Henry.
Ted: Oh yeah. Chris Henry. Yeah, that’s right. I’ve been watching his latest band, the Screaming Yeehaws.
Kenny: Oh, yeah. Screaming Yeehaws. Yeah. Yeah. They were totally cool. They would let us play. We’d light off fireworks. Ha ha ha.
Ted: The Fourth Of July shows, you would always have the sparklers onstage.
Kenny: But that’s when like we met Dennis and we became good friends with Paul (O’Beirne) from Rocket From The Crypt and John Lee (aMiniature) and they kind of said, “Oh, there’s this band. They got funny hair and they all look alike. You know, but they’re rocking!” So then we start playing every place, Bodie’s, Casbah. A lot of shit. You can tell when you get kind of a following. We were like kind of opening, not opening, but like second band. And then after we’d play, people would leave. and I was like, “Oh!”. And that was like ‘94. Yeah.
Ted: That’s probably when I first saw you at Bodie’s
Kenny: But what was the other place? Ge-off’s place?
Ted: Boiler Room. But that was, that was ‘95.
Kenny: Yeah. So yeah. So then that was ‘94. And then end of the year, we started Exile On Kettner.
(The Dragons would play a set of Rolling Stones covers at the Casbah every Christmas Eve. They’d invite friends up to help them out too. It’s something that still goes on today in some shape or form.)
Ted: That’s right. And I got pictures of that. There were more people on stage than there were in the audience. I know for a fact because I got pictures. The only time it really started selling out was when I fliered the hell out of San Diego because I wanted to get people there for the live album I recorded. (This was in 1998. The momentum for these Christmas Eve shows “selling out” was already there as more and more people were catching on to them. But I wanted to make sure we had a big audience for the recording. The live album is unreleased, but was recorded on a 16 track mobile recording unit. Gears are in motion for maybe parts of it to be released sometime in the future.)
Kenny: Yeah. That was ‘ 98 or ‘99.
Ted: Yeah. And it sold out every night since. Yeah.
Kenny: I was, that was, I mean, free. But yeah, there were no one there. I remember Julie D (helping out on guitar and backup vocals). DJ. Yeah.
Ted: And John Lee would reenact the Altamont scene in the front.
Kenny: Basically it was us learning the Stones songs and everyone fucking around.
Ted: You know, yeah, but it was, it was great.
Kenny: It was fun. It was Christmas Eve. That was that was ‘94. And then that’s when we just kind of started, you know…
Ted: And that’s when you were able to, I guess, get on the road.
Kenny: Yeah, we didn’t tour. We did like the South by Southwest every year.
Ted: You did Japan.
Kenny: Yeah. We did. We’d do like weekend warrior type stuff. We started going up to Seattle and stuff, Portland. That was real cool. I loved it up there. You know, and then there was like a good music scene in Seattle. So our first show was already kind of well attended. It was like, cool! The Fastbacks guys being there and yeah, that was fun! And yeah, we just kind of did our own thing from there. And then you released our album in ‘96. So in ‘94 and ‘95, we were recording our…
Ted: I put out the bootleg. I got that remixed too. (In 1995, I released a “bootleg” live show of the Dragons and C.L.A. where I recorded them on 4-track at the Boiler Room. I didn’t want them to know they were being recorded, because I didn’t want either band to be self-conscious about being recorded. The “bootleg” captures both bands in their true element, as they were in 1995. When I told Mario after the show that I recorded it, he said “bootleg it”! So I did. 230 copies)
Kenny: You know, my friend, the singer from Fucked Up? Damian? He’s like a huge record collector.
Ted: Yeah. Big wrestling fan too.
Kenny: Yeah. And he was like, look what I got!
Ted: Oh, wow! He has what he has one of those?! That’s so cool!
Kenny: But yeah, so yeah, we started there. We that’s when we started kind of touring. So ‘94/’95, we got like free studio time and stuff like that. And that’s when we’re kind of like piecing together “Pain Killer”.
Ted: Yeah. My regret is we used that studio. Where was it? San Marcos or something? We should have gone right into Double Time and re-recorded the whole thing. (“Pain Killer” was mostly 8 songs recorded on free studio time at a college. I wanted a couple cover songs on there, plus what I thought was going to be “the hit”, “High”, on there. So I paid some big bucks to get them in a “real” studio to record 4 more songs. Only I found out later that the engineer was a deadhead and a little shady and I didn’t get the recording I really wanted.)
Kenny: I always think “we should’ve done this or we should’ve done that”. But I think we should have done it so way more garagey.
Ted: Oh don’t get me started.
Kenny: We’re going to the nice studios and we should have just did it in a small studio, just live and blow the speakers out.
Ted: I remember being in the studio and they were trying to mix it and too many cooks in the kitchen stirring the pot. But I’m going, “We need more guitars! You’re a guitar band. You need more guitars.” And Dave Jass (from Uncle Joe’s Big ‘Ol Driver who was the “producer”) coming over and saying “We’ll fix it in the mastering.” No, you won’t! That’s a line!
Kenny: It was different then. Where now you could be 15 years old and know how to use Pro-Tools. Back then it was like a big task to mix. So yeah, that’s why we were getting good deals (on recording the original 8 songs) because there were students there or like starting out. But yeah, good songs.
Ted: Yep! And your best sounding record I think was the last one, Sin Salvation. That’s how I wanted Pain Killer to sound like!
Kenny: You know, that was a super nice studio.
Ted: Oh really! Well that’s how I wanted Pain Killer to sound!l
Kenny: I kind of like the “Rock and Roll Kamikaze”.
Ted: That sounds great too.
Kenny: That was a small studio but that was… We couldn’t play live because the studio was so small. Oh wow. So we had to do everything part by part. Yeah, so we did all that touring, Dragons. Going back to like ‘89 though, when we were doing M-80 we had free studio time. And this was like probably early ‘90 or late ‘89 and we were at a free studio and this guy was teaching a class.
Ted: Oh okay, so that’s how you get the free studio time?
Kenny: There was this kid there. Well not really a kid. He was older than me but he was like, “you know, you guys sound like what’s happening in Seattle. There’s a lot of bands on Sub Pop that are like you guys.” I was like “oh!”. But Gonzalo knew all that shit. He was listening to all these bands. He knew Nirvana before. Soundgarden. I remember Devin (Goldberg from Holy Love Snakes and Creedle; now Mariconne Youth) always used to wear a Soundgarden shirt. So yeah, in the mid ‘90s to mid 2000s we did the whole Dragons thing.
Photo: Amy Tarris
Ted: So the Dragons were together for what, 10, 11 years?
Kenny: 13. 1991 to 2004.
Ted: And you tried, but I guess you couldn’t really take the plunge to be a full time band?
Kenny: Yeah, I mean you know what’s so crazy is hat there was so many like scenes that we didn’t even know about. Like there was garage, you know, like the White Stripes and all those guys. The Hives, you know. They were touring and kind of making a living off of it, you know. But then there were like scenes where like all the what you call the emo bands like that were on Vagrant Records like the Get Up Kids and all that and they were like touring in tour buses!
Ted: It seemed too so risky to give a shot like that. I mean Mario would have had to give up his full time job.
Kenny: Yeah, I mean, there was a way to maneuver… I don’t know. It just didn’t happen, you know. I mean, we did the best we can.
Ted: And did that disappoint you or were you just feel like you were just doing what you could and it is what it was.
Kenny: Yeah, I just didn’t know enough, you know, that there were pockets of this stuff going on that we probably didn’t know about. Because there was no internet. I mean, there was internet, but not like now.
Ted: Yeah, well, I had a website for you guys before you even knew what a website was!
Kenny: Yeah, like, you know, it wasn’t like now where it was so immediate, you know. It was like Mario calling every club and booking shows and then we finally got a booking agent and that kind of became cool, you know. But yeah, I don’t know what’s right. I don’t know if it was, if it would have made a difference if we all quit our jobs and hit the road nine months out of the year. Then there were bands that were in LA that would just get signed.
Ted: Well hindsight’s 20/20, but you probably would have needed to… well even Rocket From The Crypt didn’t go anywhere. But you know, they were able to make a living off it, I guess. (They should’ve been much, much bigger), but I think you would have to tour or try to tour Scandinavia and stuff like that. But what a risk.
Kenny: Yeah, when it happens, it happens, you know.
Ted: I guess I should ask: Favorite memories of Steve (Rodriguez bassist for the Dragons, who passed away unexpectedly from a heart condition).
Kenny: Oh! Too many. Too many. That’s one of those where I don’t have anything. A lot of the early days stick out, because it was just, you know, just meeting him and it was me, Mario, and Steve and, then it was the four of us, Jarrod, you know, but even before Jarrod, you know, that was pretty cool. It was cool meeting them. It was wild because one time when M-80 was playing the Texas Teahouse. Steve, I didn’t even know him back then, he walked he walked up and looked in the door didn’t come in and he left. (laughs)
Ted: That’s funny.
Kenny: Yeah. But yeah, we hit it off immediately, pretty much. Mario and Steve were like big brothers to me. So yeah, but yeah…
Ted: Such a shock.
Kenny: Almost 10 years.
Ted: oh. Jeez. Poor Jamie. And Jesse.
Kenny: But yeah, I have, you know, have a lot of memories of that.
Ted: Yeah, memories of the Dragons playing CBGB!
Kenny: Oh, I was too sick.
Ted: So you were sick too!
Kenny: Yeah.
Ted: So you and Mario and…
Amy: Everyone but Jarrod.
Kenny: Steve wasn’t sick. Okay. So the night before we played in Baltimore. You know how clubs have like local menus from all the restaurants? We got Chinese food. And then I think we ate like seafood noodles or whatever. And that night we get to a hotel and Mario’s like “Uh… uh… I don’t feel good” type thing. I was like, fuck, and then immediately afterwards I ran into the bathroom. I was like “Oh my God”. Then we drove to New York. We’re like shaking. It was food poisoning. Then we get to fucking CBGB and…
Ted: the one show…
Kenny: The one bathroom.
Ted: Yeah, but the one show you wanted to excel at. Mecca!
Kenny: you know, I got better for the show. It was probably some kind of adrenaline.
Amy: No, you guys pulled it off. I remember standing there.
Kenny: I remember you being there. You guys…
Amy: We were there separately like we had met, but we were there and…
Kenny: you (Ted) were on the side, remember? And you were taking pictures.
Amy: I was standing there with my friend Karen and I’m like, “I don’t see them yet”. And I think I’d seen Ted and he had heard from you guys and he’s like, “oh, they’re sick”. And you guys walk through and it was like, “Oh my God”.
Kenny: Yeah, it was me and Mario couldn’t get up and we like we’re in the van or we were in the club and Steve went around the corner and he got like a motel for us. He’s like, I got a hotel tonight. Yeah. Man, after the show, I thought I was good and I was hungry because I hadn’t eaten. And I got like a pizza and a cheesecake and that fucking put me back.
Ted: I remember during the show, I think Mario nodded at you or vice versa said, “yeah, I think we got it. I think we can make it through the set.” (It was a Wednesday night and the Dragons had the prime spot of playing second in order to maximize the amount of people they could play to. They had the Turbo Acs play their spot and ended up playing last so that they could have more time to recouperate.)
Kenny: I remember the show though.
Amy: Yeah. I remember either you or Mario was saying, “we brought merch. Buy some merch!” And you said, “yeah, we need the money for immodium.”
(laughs)
Kenny: Yeah. And then we went to Philadelphia and I was still kind of sick. It was like two days.
Ted: Yeah. Geez. Yeah, I just felt so bad for you guys because it’s like Mecca! CBGB! Holy shit! And then you’re sick for it.
Kenny: I’m glad we did it though.
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