Hey that's Great, I'm so glad I'm not the only one with tour memories. Well, thinking back to the Raising Hell
Tour all I can remember is, 3 wild and crazy guys. We were both friends and tour buddies. As opening acts, our
dressing rooms were always next to each other, so we saw a lot of them. We were also the brunt of some
practical jokes that the Beasties (that's what we called them) played on us. I do remember one funny
moment. One night after our set, we came back to our dressing room and it was flooded with water. The water
was about 1 inch high and let's just say that our shoes and socks were wet. We could hear them laughing in the
next room and that's when we knew they had done it. It was all fun back them.
What were thoughts back then on a bunch of white boys doing rap?
Hahaha, Man, you know what? The first Beastie Boys record I ever heard was "Cookie Puss". That song was so
outrageous, that I thought the Beasties were gonna be a novelty idea, by Def Jam. See, back then, Rap was so
new, that every idea was great. Now, being that the world of Rap was dominated by black faces, seeing white
rappers did startle ya a bit, but it was not really all that far fetched. I do have to say that seeing
them perform (on a nightly basis) changed my mind quickly.
Are you still in contact with anyone from the Raising Hell days?
Unfortunately, I am not in contact with any of the groups from the tour. I think that TSC, being the only west
coast group on that tour, played a part in it. Getting the news that JMJ was killed floored me, because Jason
was the first to embrace us when we arrived on the first date. He walked right up and introduced himself (like
we did not know who he was). He took us in and made us feel welcome. After all, this was the RUN DMC tour. We
were friends with all of the acts on that tour. We spent a lot of time together and I would love to see how
folks are these days.
Three of the acts on the tour where on the Def Jam label, but Whodini and yourselves were not. How did you
guys get the position on the tour?
Actually, RUN DMC was on Profile (records),
Whodini was on Jive (records) and we were on Danya (records). If I am correct,
RUSH ARTIST MANAGEMENT controlled all groups but us.
Ah of course - I keep thinking that Run DMC were on Def Jam with the whole brother thing, but you're right,
they were on Profile in the States and London Records in the UK.
As far as us getting the position on that tour? One day our phone rang and it was the Norby Walters booking
agency out of NYC. They simply asked if we wanted to open for RUN DMC on a few dates, of course we accepted.
Next thing we know, Richard Walters flew out to California to meet with us to discuss the tour. Initially, we
signed for about a month of tour dates. I guess they liked us, so the contract was extended until the end of
the tour. As we toured our record Rumors gained in popularity and actually hit #1 the day of the Madison
Square Garden (RIOT) Show. During that show, I think only TSC, The Beasties and LL Cool J were able to perform
before the infamous RIOT broke out and the show was cancelled. Yeah, Raising Hell was the last Rap tour to
play M.S.G. before Jay-Z did it for Fade To Black.
Most of the promotional photos of TSC have you all looking quite smart in suits. On stage did you dress the
same way or were you sporting tracksuits and outfits similar to the other groups on the tour?
Hahahaha, you got me on this one. Guilty as charged. Q: Did those Beasties tell you about our wardrobe
malfunctions? Man, that is still funny to me, to this very day. Yes! Our promo shots have us sporting gear
that was waaaay different that what we rocked on stage on the Raising Hell tour. See what had happened was LOL,
the first leg of the tour, we wore the preppy stuff. Since this was a Rap tour, we felt that we stood out too
much and so we changed our show around and got all new gear. When we came back for the second leg of the tour,
we looked more like a cross between TSC and Whodini and RUN DMC. The Beasties had their own look/image going,
but we decided to take chances with ours and look more like a Rap act, than a R&B act. JMJ even told us that
he was expecting us to look like Ready For The World. What's really funny is, by the time that the
Raising Hell was over and we toured with New Edition (and others), we were sporting an all black ensemble:
Black Leather jackets, black gloves, black slacks and shoes. Looking back, I guess we had done a "Brundle Fly"
and evolved into the R&B equivalent of RUN DMC.
Initially contracted for 15 dates, the group was later asked to rejoin the tour. Were there any reservations
or was it an easy decision to get back out there?
Are you kidding!? Hahahaha, we had absolutely, no and I mean no reservations at all! We got back out there.
Our contract was renegotiated with Norby Walters.from the initial 3k to 5k. We also had to hire a replacement
singer due to a contract dispute with our original band mate and lead singer: Mike Marshall, but after those
two things were completed, we were back out there doing the rest of the RUN DMC dates until the end of the
tour. It was a great experience and we had a blast!
Do you have any memorable dates from the tour?
Oh! Yes, I have several memorable dates from the tour. The Riot shows were the best..they were off the chain!
I could not believe that gangs would buy tickets for a concert and then fight each other while they were
there. I remember the Long Beach show. I remember that the riot broke out during Whodini's set. One
minute they were singing One Love, the next the lights came on and security is making announcements and a all
out melee of fighting occurs within the audience. Maaaaan, I was not scared, but it was like watching a train
wreck, I could not turn away. Security is like running around telling us to "Get Backstage!" So now we
are trapped backstage, but get this, we are trapped backstage for 2 hours with Vanessa Williams. Yes, a young
Vanessa Williams in her prime. Wow, so life was not too bad if you know what I mean *wink*. I also
remember the Madison Square Garden show. Oh My God! The roar of that crowd was deafening! Over 20,000 fans
screaming? I do not remember who the MC was for that show, but when he announced us..talk about stage fright
and goose bumps. Hell, I think the Beasties were even humbled by that crowd as I can remember at least they
were not playing tricks on us that night, LOL. I remember that our tour bus got broken into and our VCR,
Microwave Oven and some VHS tapes were stolen. It was a silent few days until we got new equipment in our bus.
What about other memorable moments outside the concerts?
Yeah I got one, check this out. I cannot remember what show it was, but after the show was over and we were
headed to the next town, RUN (Joseph), Jam Master J and a few Hollis Crew members like
DJ Hurricane (Beasties DJ), road on our tour bus. Needless to say we had a
blast, but check this out. So, Jam Master J says, "I'm hungry as shit!, who else is hungry?" Just about
everyone said they were hungry. So, we tell our driver to stop at the next McDonalds. So, he saw one a
few minutes later and pulled our tour bus into the parking area. You know how BIG tour buses are right? Well,
imagine one pulling into a McDonald's parking lot filled with stars. Well, the bus drew a lot of
attention and of course some of the more attractive ladies were invited onto the bus. While all of this was
going on, myself, JMJ, DJ Hurricane and a few other members of TSC left the bus and proceeded to walk into the
McDonalds. When we walked in, all eyes were on us and the entire place was polarized. Everyone was in shock
that "RUNDMC" was at the McDonald's. Now, here is the funny part, JMJ did not wait in line at all, he
walked up to the front counter and started to order over $200 of food. "Yo, Yo my man, I need ..Blah Blah
Blah.... and flashing cash the whole time. Hahaha, I was trippin; standing right behind him the whole time.
Talk about Livin.' Large!!?, we were. Everyone in the place knew who he was and I guess this made it okay
for us to hold that entire Mc Donald.''s hostage. In other words, no one got their food until we got ours
first. The order went something like this (Imaging JMJ ordering...): 10 Milk Shakes 20 Assorted
drinks 30 Fries 15 Big Macs 15 Cheeseburgers 20 Quarter Pounders 20 Apple Pies Needless
to say that we were in there for like 30 minutes. And most of the staff helped carry our food to the bus. When
we got back to the bus, the cops were there, trying to break up the crowd of kids that had gathered. We were
signing autographs left and right. It was a lot of fun!!! And I was loving every minute of it. That's one of
the best memories I have of the tour and JMJ. Rest In Peace.
For those that don't know, can you give us the history of the Timex Social Club?
Sure, this will take a while, LOL'..naw'..I'll give ya the short version, but for the full version, people can
log on to our website at
www.timexsocialcub.com I formed the group
while attending Berkeley High School .This was around 1983. We had about 5 members; we were just a group of
friends on campus who hung out. Our first name was just Timex (without the Social Club). About 1984, Michael
Marshall and I began writing songs. Rumors was written in the later part of 1983. We worked on songs including
Rumors for the next 2 years until we had a full demo tape of material. In late 1985 we met producer Jay King,
and entered the studio. We recorded Rumors and the rest is history. Like I said, this is just the short
version; I do not wanna bore the readers
What happened with The Timex Social Club and The "Real" Timex Social Club?
Hahaha, wow, what a question. This is still funny to this very day. Okay let me think back and give it to ya
in a nutshell. While on the Raining Hell Tour, our band had an internal contract dispute with our original
lead singer (Michael Marshall). Russell Simmons had called our booking
agent Norby Walters to ask if we wanted to finish the remaining dates on the tour. Of course we did, but we
only had 3 of the 4 members that were ready to go. So, we hired a replacement singer and returned to the tour.
I guess that our lead singer was strapped for cash and he hired a band and did some dates as, you guessed it
The Real Timex Social Club. This was a brief period of time, like 2 months, because the 3 of us, Kevin, Alex
and myself requested a release from our recording contract and left the label and the group, so really Michael
won in the negotiations and The Real Timex Social Club thing was dropped and he kept the name and recorded the
LP alone.
After all these years, your records are still selling. You just have to check eBay to see copies of the
Rumours 12" selling every week. How does it feel to see something you wrote over 20 years ago still being sort
after?
Man, it feels great! to be on Ebay and see it listed there, I just logged on and I see 45 auctions for Timex
Social Club. LOL. Whew!!!! That's not too shabby for a group that has not recorded in 20 years. I also did a
search for Beastie Boys and they have about 780. I often refer to Rumors as my first child. It's great to
see her alive and doing so well. People still love that song after all of these years and it's funny because I
guess we were geniuses for NOT having our photo on the cover. So, we all never really had to deal with the
face recognition of the FAME associated with Rumors. I catch folks all of the time singing it and dancing to
it at clubs, if they only knew I co-wrote it, they would seriously bug! I have a funny story to tell ya.
I walked into a strip club one night and the DJ started playing Rumors. I sat down and watched as the stripper
stripped to my song, now that was off the chain! Hahaha
There have been a few cover versions of your songs. For a start, what do you think of covers in general? And
secondly, what do you think of these particular versions?
Wow, I really need to go to the Guinness Book of World Records to see who holds the record. If you are talking
about just the covers of: Rumors'then there are these that I know of: Rumor Rap (Yeah, Yeah, That's It) '
Recorded - 1986 - Vicious Rumor Club - Label: Sunnyview. Roaches - Recorded ' 1986 - Bobby Jimmy & The
Critters. Jealousy - Recorded -1986 - Club Nouveau. Stop Hatin' - Recorded -1997 - Master P. Envious
- Recorded -1988 - Club Nouveau. Rumours - Awesome No, I'm not saying that we should hold the
record, but I'd like to know who holds the records for a song that has so many variations of it?
Are you still involved with music these days?
Ummm, naw I am not involved with music in the sense of writing and recording the way I used to be, back in the
day. It's funny because I actually have not written a song since around 1992. This is when the muse left me;
so to speak. At my peak, I was knocking out like 2 a day. Well, on paper, lyrics. All of those did not make it
to be completed or recorded, so there are plenty of unreleased TSC tracks in the vault. What's trippin'
me out is that my daughter is now interested in music and songwriting, so who knows, you might see her in a
few years following in her dads footsteps. Hahahaha. Busting out with one of my old jams like Prince did for
his pops on Purple Rain.
Any final words?
Yeah, I'd like to say thank for the interview and the interest in Timex Social Club after all of these years.
I'd also like to send a SHOUT OUT! to my friends and tour buddies The Beastie Boys.
Adam H, Adam (MCA) and
Mike D. Great times guys! I remember that crazy West Palm Beach show
when RUN-DMC's plane was late and we each had to fill time and ended up doing 45 minute sets? (How did we ever
pull that off with one hit record????) LOL, too wild! Thanks for the pranks and it's always a joy to see
ya perform and hear the new music, from License to Ill thru 5 Boroughs and movies like, Krush Groove, Tougher
Than Leather and even Lost Angels.
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