Lyn Todd - Tour Girl
Hey Lyn! You were there right at the beginning of the NYC punk rock scene, do you have a special memory that stands out about a place?
My 21st birthday stands out in my mind more than other nights. Gyda Gash & I were best friends back then. We were trying to put a band together with three girls singing, like the Shangri Las, or one of the girl groups. We weren't having much luck finding the third girl, & spent all of our free time looking for girls to fit into our master plan. My birthday is June 1st, & Gyda's June 7th, so naturally we decided to celebrate our 21st birthday together at CBGB's searching for girl #3. I was sitting at the bar when a guy from the Hell's Angels called The Hook decided I was his dream girl, & began to hit on me. I wasn't at all interested, & tried to escape his advances, but he wouldn't except 'no' for an answer. I kept moving away, & he'd follow. I guess he figured he could trap me into submission. He relentlessly pestered me for what felt like hours. I was MUCH drunker than I should've been, & suddenly, as if I had no control, a drink just flew out of my hand, & into his face. Everything stopped. The world was in slow motion. The Hook was no longer in love, now he wanted to murder me. The Hook was certifiably insane. He had gotten the name the Hook because his hand had been blown off from a letter bomb that had been sent to the guy that was the president of the NYC chapter of the Angels. Because The Hook had gotten hurt protecting the president of the Angels he had free reign to terrorize anyone, & everyone on the Lower East Side with no repercussions from anyone. Just as suddenly as that drink flew out of my hand the room burst into mayhem. The Hook was trying to shove that hook on his hand through my head, & had hit me on the side of my head with the steel base that held the hook on the end of his arm. I was just a skinny little thing next to this guy, & just one crack in the head from him sent me reeling across the room. Luckily, I was surrounded by friends. My old friend Champ DePietro, who owned the Three Dollar Clothing Store, & was also an ex boxer saved my life. Champ grabbed each of The Hooks arms, & held him against the wall until Gyda could pick me up & get me out the door. That was the night that set off the infamous, summer long Hell's Angel vs Punk Rock riots.
Do you have a special memory about a show?
I attended so many incredible shows it's very hard for me to narrow it down to one event. Although it was not a show that was important to anyone else, or changed history in any way, I think the first time I played Max's with my own band is a night I will never forget. Other friends have told me about how hard it was for them to approach Peter Crowley with a tape to book a show. Many people were intimidated because if he didn't like your tape you didn't get booked, & playing at Max's was mandatory. In retrospect, I had it very easy compared to most. I never even gave him a tape. I'd been easing my way into Max's for quite awhile by the time I actually asked for a booking, & when I asked Peter just gave it to me, no questions asked. Long before I asked for my own show I'd done many of the Rolling Stone Tribute Shows. The RS Tribute Shows were nights that everyone would get together, & do Stones songs. It was an easy way to make a little money for all of us. Max's made money because most who participated were already in bands that had big draws, and each musician made a little money by lending their name and talents to the marquee, and show. Plus, I'd been doing shows with The Victims as my back up band for several months. The guys in The Victims were all friends of mine, & I didn't need to submit a tape to anyone to get booked because they were already established. They already had a big draw so, when we advertised it simply said, 'Lyn Todd & The Victims' and everyone was assured that the house would be full just to see them. By the time I actually asked Peter to play at Max's I'd already been playing there for about a year. People already knew who I was by doing all of these things. So, finally I asked Peter for my own night, with my own new band, 'Peroxide.' When I asked for that booking Peroxide had only rehearsed a few times, and We barely had enough songs to do a set. That night was the only time in my life that I hoped I wouldn't get an encore, which of coarse I did... We had to do a song twice as an encore song, haha! I'd been told to check out Geoff, & Mamie, who were playing in a band called Arthur's Dilemma at the time. I was impressed, & simply pulled them from that band. The three of us had some trouble finding a bass player, & drummer at first, but I booked the show anyway knowing that nothing whipped a band together faster than a show that must be done.
The 70's had a reputation, like the 60's for its 'anything goes' attitude...Anything funny, or unusual happen at this show, or another show that you did?
Because we were completely unprepared to do this show, EVERYTHING went wrong, and I was fully expecting it would end up being my first, and last show at Max's. We had found the bass player that would stick with us. Eddie Mace was a friend of M.T. Heart, who was the drummer in The Victims, & would go on to play with The Senders. The Victims, & I shared a rehearsal loft, and Eddie had come to see us rehearse at this loft. He joined forces with us then and there. The guitar player, and drummer that did that first show with me were a couple of weird hippy guys that were friends of Geoff's from Long Island. They didn't even look right, let alone sound right. I remember sitting in Geoff's mother's kitchen with scissors, razors, and piles of clothing that I thought were cool to try to make these guys fit in, but it was pretty useless. Although they did let me cut their hair, & they did shave off their moustache's they still looked like Long Island Hippies! After what I felt to be a horrible show, & complete disaster (that I would never live down), I was told that we were great, and it had been decided that we were to get 70% of the door for the night, & was handed a slip of paper with bookings for the next few months at Max's...I was shocked!
Any interesting stories about hanging out at Max's?
I suppose the story about my Japanese stalkers is an interesting story... NYC was like the Old West in many ways back then. If you had a problem the police did nothing. It was up to you to take care of yourself. This was around 1978/79, so stalker laws had not come into effect yet, & any psycho could follow a person around, & do whatever they wanted in their pursuit. This started at Max's, & it ended at Max's.. I had been playing there regularly for a year or so & these two Japanese guys came to every show. In fact, these two seemed to have some kind of radar on me because they turned up EVERYWHERE I went. I'd have a rehearsal, there they were hanging around outside. I'd go to dinner somewhere, & there they were eating at the same restaurant. I'd spend the night at a boy friends house & there they'd be sitting outside when I left the next day. & every single show I did they attended, no matter where it was. I didn't think much of it at first, but eventually it started to bother me, & I started to be pretty mean to them hoping insults would stop them from bugging me. Finally, after about a year after this began we were doing another show at Max's & I saw them from the stage. All of the singers used to walk out onto the rows of tables that were in front of the stage at Max's, & as I walked out I saw the two of them with there arms moving up & down like jack hammers. The spotlight was on me, & flash bulbs were going off. As I approached them it really hit me what they were doing, & I kicked the table aside to reveal these two weirdo's in the spotlights with their dicks in hand, masturbating right in the audience! Pretty much anything & everything was acceptable back then, but masturbating in a audience was not ok! Leave it to me to attract two weirdo's like this!
As far as many are concerned, the scene in NYC is pretty much dead and buried, however, some say there's a punk rock revival happening. You were right in the middle of it when it happened first time around. Tell me about the scene as a whole.
Even back then I knew this was a special time in music history. I've compared it to the scene in Paris in the 1920's. Everyone was doing something artistic. Everyone had a band, was a photographer, or a painter, or a writer, and we all had something to say. We supported each other's shows, & various events, so just about every night there was something cool going on. We were all throw away children from a throw away society that somehow all ended up in the same place. I read something Legg's wrote that really is on target. Most people had moved to the suburbs in the 70's, & NYC was empty. It was like the parents had left the whole East Village to the kids. There was no supervision, & we ran wild with no one to stop us. I think we were unhappy about the world we lived in, & were doing our best to point out what we felt needed changing, & change it. We were too young to realise that the world wouldn't change, that it would have to be us that changed. The majority of my friends from back then are dead now. We all wrestled with drug, and alcohol problems, and then the various plagues started hitting NYC, and that ended that. With each passing year the circle gets smaller, & smaller. When ever I run into someone from those days it's like we were soldiers in a war together. & whether we knew each other or not, we either pick right up from where we left off, or make a whole new friendship based on those few short years back in the 1970's.
As it turns out, the survivors of that time all lived through an important part of R&R history, and all turn out to be very interesting people.
Lyn Todd, July 2008
SoundCheck magazine wants to say a huge thanks to Lyn for taking time out to write for us...we love ya girl!