Channel Z

• Joey Levine is an american singer/songwriter most well-known for writing and singing leads on the top 40 single "Yummy Yummy Yummy" in 1968 for The Ohio Express. Later in his career, he became a jingle writer and penned such commercial classics as "Sometimes You Feel Like a Nut", "Just for the Taste of It, Diet Coke" and "Heartbeat of America".
• Joey is my favorite songwriter. His songs have a direct and confrontational quality that inspired the following generations of musicians, including punks like The Ramones, Joan Jett and Talking Heads. In Joey's early songs (which he was writing as a teen-ager and in his early twenties) you can hear a young man trying to find his place in the world and doing so with a humor and aggression that was missing from other Bubblegum Music at the time.
• I've only read a few interviews with Joey, so I was very excited to get to speak to him and ask him questions that he normally wouldn't get asked. This interview was conducted for an article I'm writing about Bubblegum Music that will be out in Elmore Magazine soon.
• Louie Pearlman: Thanks for agreeing to chat with me, I'm actually a really big fan so I'm really excited about this.
• Joey Levine: Oh, thank you. Thank you.
• LP: Definitely. What I'd love to ask you first, I know you're playing on Sunday, I know you don't play a lot out, so I was wondering what drove you to want to do this now?
• JL: Ron Dante's been after me to do a bunch of this, I did one show with him a couple years ago, had a good time, it was fine. He's been trying to get me to do it ever since. I think when he suggested that it was going to be in New York and this and that, it was like “OK, let's go for it”.
• LP: So are you gonna be playing at the show, mostly the bubblegum stuff or new stuff?
• JL: No, I'm just gonna do a show that fits in with the show. I think it's a bubblegum show, it's the Fruitgum Company and Ronnie, so I think I'm just going to keep to a format which would be songs in the genre.
• LP: Are you excited about bringing those songs back out? How do you feel about that?
• JL: Well, I don't know, some of them, I haven't sung in years. So, it's fun, and I've listened to a bunch of stuff I've done which I haven't listened to in a long time and kinda had fun doing that, so, it should be fun.
• LP: Any surprises going back into your catalog and listening and remembering stuff that you hadn't thought about in a while?
• JL: Well, if you go on Youtube, it's like, everything's there you basically did, there's a lot of things that I hadn't thought of or listened to or heard in years. I listened to a bunch of stuff, good and bad, I must say, that I did over the years. So it was kind of a nice walk down memory lane. Kind of a nice visit.
• LP: That's cool. Definitely one of the best resources that I've had for finding some of your old stuff is people that have digitized it on youtube.
• JL: Yeah.
• LP: We probably found some of the same stuff. Anything you're nervous about for the show?
• JL: No, not particularly. I'm used to doing stuff in front of board rooms and stuff like that, I've done a lot over the years. I've done a lot of presentations so I'm not really that nervous. I'm sure I will have nerves and once it gets closer to the time I'll probably vomit or something.
• LP: If you're vomiting, I hope it's at least after the show, so we can hear your set first!
• JL: [laughs] Right, right.
• LP: So, I want to go back to the beginning. I know you started writing when you were about 15, 16. Right?
• JL: Right.
• LP: You were under the name Joey Vine back then.
• JL: I did a record under that name. Yeah.
• LP: I was wondering, you got involved with the bubblegum stuff after that. What was your process when you were writing those early songs like “Try It” and “Yummy Yummy Yummy”? Is it inherently in your creative process to go for the hook, or is that something that arises while you're writing? If you could guide me through the process of how you were writing those songs back then...
• JL: Well, I never analyzed what made me write the way I wrote. Part of it was a limit of music and it was like I played the way I played and that often dictates your style. Before then I had been writing songs for a lot of different artists, through music publishers. “Yummy Yummy Yummy”, I hit on after meeting with Kasnetz and Katz who were recording one of my songs with Ohio Express called Try It, they had done a remake of the Standells song, and the Standells song had done pretty well and I'd been getting a lot of cover records and had also been in the studio producing a my demos, and my demos were being used by a lot of artists as records. They would not only buy the song or they would record the song, they would ask for me to use the demos and put them out. So, my style really came from, I always played in bands as a kid, and my style was always like a garage-band rock and roll is what I liked.
• LP: So, what were some of your earlier influences when you were doing the garage-band stuff? Who were you listening to at the time that you liked?
• JL: I don't really know. Dirty Water, and The Hollies records, “Long Tall Woman” and “Bang a Gong”, records like that were always the records that caught my ear the most. It was like this clean rock and roll. It was more low-key and not so Who-ish. It was a band, but a band who played enough just to play their records. So I started writing a lot of that simple rock n roll. Catchy things.
• LP: Yeah, know that's what drew the K&K guys to it the style of it. The simplicity.
• JL: Yeah, The K&K guys, the record that they did that I liked when I had heard of them and they called me up to get together with me, I liked that record “Little Bit of Soul” and I really liked that record. So they had a discussion with me about this Bubble Gum concept. I don't think they used the term Bubble Gum at the time, but this very young, unsophisticated Rock N Roll. I went home and wrote “Yummy Yummy Yummy”... actually I had written “Yummy Yummy” for a group called Jay and the Techniques, they had done a song called “Apples, Peaches, Pumpkin Pie”, so that's when I wrote “Yummy Yummy”. Then, I went up to Kasnetz and Katz who had recorded “Try It” and I played them the song, they liked the song, they said “Let's go into the studio tonight and cut it” and that was it.
• LP: So, it was super immediate, and how soon after that was the record out?
• JL: The record was out, like, a week later.
• LP: So, once you became someone they would go to for their singles and songs, is that the pace you were working at the entire time, that you would write something immediately, cut it in the studio and then get it out as quickly as possible?
• JL: I think that any producers or writers that experience success, their dance card gets filled very quickly and they kind of got a schedule of how they proceed during the week. Which is, I write on these days, I do tracks on these days, I do overdubs on these days, I do vocals on these days, and I mix on these days. So your schedule is kind of laid out in front of you. And as we became successful, there were so many different groups and different sounds you do that we were just in the studio day and night for just, weeks, weeks and weeks.
• LP: So you were just churning it out and it almost sounds like it was a factory, assembly line style thing. You had a schedule to adhere to and you stuck to the schedule. So, was that a conducive way to write, or were you feeling pressured? Were you enjoying it at the time?
• JL: Yeah, it was enjoyable. It was all very creative. I wrote a lot of songs with Artie Resnik but then there were other people around me who were all up at Kasnetz and Katz. There were other talents I enjoyed writing with, Bo Gentry and Bobbie Bloom, Richie Cordell, there were different things and different strokes. People you hung out with, which even in a social evening would come some way around to music. Or, at the end of the night you'd be sitting at a piano banging out something. It was a very creative atmosphere because that was your job, to create. So you were creating all the time.
• LP: Yeah, and I'm sure and it sounds too that it was really helpful to have people around that you enjoyed spending time with. So that you actually wanted to be around them doing stuff.
• JL: Yeah, definitely.
• LP: So, you're talking about your dance card filling up really quickly. Of course they wanted to recapture the success of “Yummy Yummy”. Then you wrote a bunch of songs in that Ohio Express sound. Did that come easy to you after writing “Yummy Yummy” or was that something, you had to push yourself to maintain that...
• JL: I think I started to make a turn in that direction, 'cause that was the music that we had created successfully. So all of the sudden, you found yourself in that head-space. You weren't writing out here, you were writing in here. You pulled the guidelines of what you were writing for lyrically and musically to have this successful thing, plus the groups you were working for, that's what you were doing. So you really didn't step out of that box. Sometimes that was comfortable to have those parameters around you and other times it was like “I just don't know what else to say” in this vernacular. And then, when we broke away from K&K I was able to do more stuff that I wanted to do and tried other things. Because after a while I didn't know if the stuff I was writing was any good or any bad.
• LP: Before we move on from the K&K stuff, I was wondering if you have any favorites, as you've been listening to stuff over again, any songs that stick out in your mind that you have good memories of? Any of those songs?
• JL: Well, after I decided to do the show, I started to listen to some stuff, so I decided to do the song “Shake” which is a song I did with Shadows of Knight, and I was going to do “Gimme Gimme Good Lovin”, which was a song by Crazy Elephant, a song by a guy named Bob Spencer and I had started to like those. Then there were other songs I was listening to. There was a song I put out called “Come on My Baby”...
• LP: That's actually my favorite song of yours!
• JL: Yeah. I started to like that one. Stuff like that.
• LP: That's great. So some of the stuff that you were writing that had romantic themes, like “Angela” or “I Enjoy Being A Boy”, I'm wondering if they were influenced by stuff going on in your life, or if the writing pace was so hectic that you couldn't really process it. How autobiographical do you feel that stuff was at the time, or even now?
• JL: Well, I don't know. I think at the time, a lot of writers don't think they're writing autobiographically, that they're just writing with whatever comes into their head and sometimes they feel like it has nothing to do with what they're going through. But I think, in a way, everything has a bit to do with what you're going though. And I was just going though the experimentation of growing up and also, a lot of it was sexually oriented, and a some of it was still sweet. You know, girl friends, and little girl friends and discovering a lot of new things. So a lot of it was experimenting with what I was experimenting with.
• LP: That's really cool. So after the Bubble Gum era, I know you moved more into jingle songwriting. How similar is your process for writing shorter work, and how similar is it to writing longer, structured songs?
• JL: Well, I fell into it pretty naturally. It was pretty simple for me to do it. It was all catchy and hooks and very simple, little melodies. Writing thirty second pieces of music was certainly easy and music at the same time. First of all, state your business in that short a period of time was very difficult but sometimes it was very good. After a while, people used to say “If Joey writes something you know it's only going to be thirty or sixty seconds long”. It's like you have an internal clock, you know?
• LP: It's sort of like you have to get your message along even quicker, although those earlier songs were short as they were.
• JL: Right.
• LP: What have you been up to lately? Have you still been writing jingles? Or have you moved away from that? What has been going on the last few years?
• JL: Well, the advertising business was so good to me economically, I think it allowed me to... I was talking to someone the other day and they said “Can you imagine if you hadn't found advertising how many more hits you would have written?” And it's like yeah, that's true, but in all a creator's life span, there is a period that they are accepted and that they're music is viable. And [that goes] for anyone that you can name, and some people longer than others. It's basically a period and depending on the artist, it's generally a period of a year to five years is the general run of someone who's having success. So even if I would have had some more success, it's like, how long would you have drawn that out and what would you have gotten into and done differently in the record business? So, the advertising business allowed me to do it a lot longer.
• LP: Yeah, it's just more economically sustainable.
• JL: Yeah, definitely. You were making a lot more money. I went home to my father's house once early on. And I had just written a commercial for Dodge and I remember I went over to my parent’s house to watch the World Series with them and the World Series was broadcast by Dodge. And it just kept playing and playing and playing. And then he took me in the other room and he says “I wanna show you something”. And we went in the other room and bed was just filled with envelopes and checks. He says “I think you found your calling.” He says, “Forget about the record business, you haven't made anything. You've paid off a car. You're struggling to get this hit record. People seem to like it, but look at the money that comes in for this stuff!” And he was right it was like, knockin' my brains out. People are telling you they don't get paid as soon as I sue them.
• LP: And in the meantime you're working for companies that you know your going to get your money and you understand the context of what you need to do to get it.
• JL: It may have cut down, it's true, I feel like if I had kept writing I would have had more chart success and created more songs that we maybe we would be talking about, but I don't really regret the fact that I stopped doing it. After a while it was like, the people that I was doing it with were becoming angry and hostile. It seemed like the environment around me had changed. We went from a happy group of people to being upset about this or that, it seemed like it turned into a business. And once writing songs turns into a business, it's like, you're not writing hit songs.
• LP: Yeah, it sounds sort of like the process of doing it and the pressures of doing it overstayed their welcome in your life.
• JL: That's right.
• LP: So now, you've been running this company, Crushing Music for a while. Do you feel like you've been able to surround yourself with people you enjoy working with and create an environment that you are happy with on a longstanding basis?
• JL: There's people I work with, and then there's people that I've also come to realize how good they are creating tracks and stuff. So I've met a lot of people. And writing for commercials also is like, you're not just trying to write one kind of song that you're following up like you are hits. You're writing Classical music, you're writing Spanish music, you're writing all these different types of music. So, it's enjoyable to spread yourself. Even-though it's thirty seconds, it's different than what I've done before.
• LP: It's definitely sounds really fulfilling and really fun.
• JL: Yeah.
• LP: Well, that takes us up to present day. So, if there's anything else that you want to tell me, anything you think that would be fun for people to read about, now is the time.
• JL: Well, you know, I still enjoy making music. I have a very nice studio out here, and I work with musicians all the time. I get to flex my creative muscles in writing and I also get to use my expertise in producing and doing things to get people to move in the right direction. As a mentor if you will. I think the biggest problem that we all have as we age some is that you don't get a chance as much to do what you do and you do well. Simply, a lot of time, sometimes you are kidding yourself and you don't have it anymore and other times it's like, you know, you're just the age you are. It's time to move over for someone else to take place. So, it gets a little difficult to not be thought of sometimes because it's like, you've reached a certain time in your life where you should move aside. I don't think that in a creative situation, with creative people, they ever feel quite prepared to move aside.
• LP: And it's not that there's one success in your life, that you'll never capture that again. It's that successes rear their heads in different permutations as your life goes on.
• JL: Absolutely.
• LP: Yeah, I find that as an artist with my own work.
• JL: Well, we all do it. When I was young and I came along and there were other guys who had been there for a while, I myself thought, “Hey, it's time to move over. You know, pass the torch.” And I find as you get older a lot of your things that you figure will naturally change, they don't really change. You still have the same attitude towards them, you still have the same fire in your belly and you know, you have that desire to create and to succeed.
• LP: Yeah, you just have to find the right medium to do it. Right?
• JL: Well, you've got to find the right medium and you've got to find the people that are open enough to listen to you. I mean, I still don't make records the way I use to now, because I it's like don't pretend to be able to cut those electronic songs. But in adverting especially, and in writing for a lot of projects that I do it's like your writing chops are still your writing chops. You either are a good writer or you're not. I'm sure it's very difficult for Burt Bacharat to sit back and say “People think that I don't write hit songs anymore”.
• LP: No, that's super interesting. I'm looking forward to hearing you play on Sunday! Thanks so much for taking the time to talk to me!

• Ron Dante is an American singer from Staten Island, NY. He is primarily known for being the voice of the Bubblegum Music group The Archies. He experienced a phenomenal success with The Archies, having sung on the song "Sugar Sugar", which was the top-selling single of 1969. He also had a hit with the song "Tracy" by a studio-group called The Cufflinks. Ron still regularly performs across the country with other sixties music acts. This interview was conducted before a show he did a BB King's in NYC in April with his Bubblegum brothers Joey Levine and The 1910 Fruitgum Company. Parts of this interview will be in an article I'm writing for Bubblegum Music for Elmore Magazine, coming soon!
• Louie Pearlman: What I wanted to ask you about, if it's OK with you, is the process of recording all the stuff you did for the Archies, because I feel like that's been the least documented about your whole experience doing that. So I was wondering, what was your schedule like in the studio with the songs, how much interaction did you have with the guys writing the songs and how would you go about recording a typical Archies song in the sixties?
• Ron Dante: Well, the first original Archies album was produced by a guy named Jeff Barry, who was a very famous record producer and songwriter. I mean, he wrote fifty hits in his day, from “Hanky Panky” to “Chapel of Love” to “Do Run Run” to “Be My Baby”. So, when he was assigned by Don Kirshner to be the line producer for The Archies, I was very very happy about that. And I auditioned for the lead role of Archie, and got it. I auditioned for both Jeff Barry and Don Kirshner. The first sessions were really like an assembly line. Jeff would go in and work with five or six rhythm players. Some of the best rhythm players in town, you know, drummers and guitarists, everybody. And I would come in kind of like after the rhythm track was set or just finally after they were working on it I'd be sitting in the booth for the vocals to start. And he would do maybe three tracks a session, in three or four hour sessions and then I would go in and he'd teach me the song as it was being recorded. And I'd go in and record it. We did it at RCA studios on 44th St. on 6th Ave and Broadway, which was a legendary studio. Every major RCA artist recorded there. Even Elvis recorded in that big studio, Studio C, which was a great studio. I remember, the musicians on it were incredible who played the stuff. You know, Hugh McCraken and David Spinoza and Chuck Rainey. Actually, Hugh McCraken and David Spinoza, who played on some Archie records, were the ones that Paul McCartney wanted to use when he came to town to do his Ram album, he wanted to do an album with New York studio musicians, so he used some Archies musicians on some of his cuts for the Ram album, which is very interesting! It was his first solo album, obviously. So, I was very happy to work with those people. I would sing my leads for Jeff, I'd double and triple track sometimes. And, it wouldn't take too long to get the lead down, within an hour, we'd have the lead. Then Toni Wine and I would go in and do backgrounds. Miss Toni Wine, of course, being the female voice on the first two Archie albums, the Betty and Veronica voices. And she was great. She was actually hit songwriter on her own, she wrote “Groovy Kind of Love” and “Candida”. So she was already a big studio singer, a writer of hits. It was a very high profile sessions. I must say, Don Kirshner was there, promoting us and making sure that all the sounds were right. He always contributed his input.
• LP: I'm wondering how much Kirshner was around when you guys were actually recording?
• RD: He was always around. He was there, he gave input. He had great musical sensibilities. He had great song sense. He's the one that chose “Sugar Sugar”. He said “You gotta do that song, for sure.” And he loved what Jeff Barry was writing, because Jeff couldn't miss. I mean, we knew that Jeff would come up with a number one hit. He and Andy Kim wrote “Sugar Sugar” and “Jingle Jangle”, two of our million sellers.
• LP: Something that's really interesting to me about Don Kirshner with The Monkees and then with The Archies is that he sort of re-imagined how music should be marketed. And how hit songs were created and produced and gotten out to the people. Was that something that you guys talked a lot about? Or is that something that you left more to Kirshner? Or was this on your mind while you were doing it, that this was a different way to be promoting and marketing a music project?
• RD: Donnie believed in the power of TV and the power of marketing. And he understood that people were very visual and they needed to see things. So, he was very interested with what happened on TV and in marketing. He really didn't talk to us about it, except to say that The Archies were going to get the biggest push of anything, because of the fact that we had a TV show going every Saturday morning on CBS. They actually made a merchandising deal with a cereal company to put the records on the back of cereal boxes, which they did: ten million cereal boxes. Post Sugar Crisp, I think had “Sugar Sugar” and “Jingle Jangle” and “Bang-Shang-A-Lang” were on the back. Little plastic cardboard records. He was a genius at it. He understood, this was a way to take it up another level. I must say, his vision has been copied time and time again since then.
• LP: Yeah, I actually have some of those cereal box records, and they're kind of amazing that it was a decided form of distribution and it worked so well for you guys. So, let's talk about working with all those people on those sessions. If you have any fun stories about any particular songs that you remember. And feel free to talk about more obscure songs too. If there's anything that was your favorite to work on or anything that pops out in particular?
• RD: Well, I must say that the first few sessions were the most interesting because we were developing the sound of The Archies. And I had to develop my voice to a certain pitch, a certain sound that I thought would work with the cartoon. We were making, you know, this was for teeny-boppers. So it had to be a young fresh sound. So, I remember, we worked on the vocal sound of “Sugar Sugar” in particular, until we got the right sound for that record. I remember, when were cutting the track of “Sugar Sugar”, the band, just couldn't get the pocket of the track, they just couldn't find the feel, until the music writer, Andy Kim, who had his own hit, “Rock Me Gently”, he came out and picked his guitar up. And he didn't have a pick, so he played the guitar with a matchbook. And they recorded that onto the “Sugar Sugar” track. And that was the sound of the rhythm, and the pocket, was Andy playing his matchbook guitar. And I must say, and of course, he destroyed the matchbooks, but boy, what a great sound!
• LP: Yeah! It's got kind of a “snap” to it that other Rock and Pop records at the time didn't totally have. And maybe, that's the secret to it, playing with the matchbook. That's really interesting. I've never heard that story before. Was “Sugar Sugar” one of the earlier songs that you guys did for the recordings? Because I know it came out the second or third Archies LP?
• RD: It was the second album and it wasn't the earlier songs. The earlier songs were “Bang-Shang-A-Lang” and a few of the other singles that came out. But “Sugar Sugar” was our third single from the second year of the show and it propelled The Archies and the music into another level. It was number one around the world, of course. In every country that played music. I have a 45 from every country. Like sixty countries around the world that printed up “Sugar Sugar” in their own language on the label. It's an amazing occurrence when that song took off. So that wasn't the earlier stuff. That was the second year.
• LP: Yeah. And I know that you've said in the past that you grew up reading The Archie comics, so you were already quite familiar with the characters. And I was wondering, was there sort of, a discussion that was had with you guys about how to best embody the spirit of the characters? Were there sketches of the characters around when you were recording the music?
• RD: Yeah, it really was left up to Jeff Barry and Don Kirshner. They had a vision of what it should be sounding like, which is why they auditioned a few voices for the voice of Archie, which would be the central piece of the records. My sound was really acceptable, I also had been doing commercials a lot. So the world was ready for my sound.
• LP: Yeah, you already had a voice that was proven to be commercial, do you feel that's primarily why you got the gig?
• RD: I also knew Jeff Barry and Donnie, long before I auditioned for them. I had worked for Don Kirshner in early '63, '64, '65, I had worked with him at his publishing company as a staff demo-maker. And I had done many background sessions for Jeff Barry. So they were very familiar with my sound and me. They knew that I would come through for the long work hours that we had to put in for the first seasons. It was an amazing thing, you know Jeff really had the concept of what the rhythm track should sound like. He saw the pictures of what the band would look like, so he would gather the exact instruments on each record. You didn't hear a bunch of horns and strings and any strange instruments. It was just guitar, bass, drums, and keyboard. That was the sound he went for and it worked.
• LP: Yeah, that's very interesting. So, they really had in mind that the drawings of the characters were playing specific instruments. I've always thought The Archies sounded like the world's greatest teen garage-band, you know? It's like if consummate professionals were playing and singing songs written by teenagers and for teenagers, that is what it would sound like. So to me, that really makes sense.
• RD: Yes.
• LP: I just watched an interview from that Archies DVD from a few years ago. And you said that for some markets, what they did for "Sugar Sugar" is they stripped the name off the label of The Archies to make sure it would get played? Because the music was considered Teeny-Boppery and irrelevant? Is that right?
• RD: Exactly. After the first couple of singles the radio stations the DJs, Program Directors, were kind of cooling off on the Archies idea. You know, it's really a cartoon group and the first two singles were OK, but the second one didn't do that well. So we were getting less airplay. So a promotion man in San Francisco just went in with the acetate, not the full record, and took the label off so the guy didn't know who the group was. And he said, "Just play this, for me, test it out tonight, see how people react to this sound and this song." And the DJ played it, he didn't even know the act and phones lit up, I heard. And the record spread from there across the country and then across the world. And it was just an amazing occurrence that this once song had what it took to be like a number one song million seller. To date, it's sold about fifteen million copies. It's a massive hit. And it still gets licensed for TV commercials and movies. Constantly, all over the world, they use Sugar Sugar for advertizements. It's an amazing occurrence. I'm glad that promotion man did that, because it set a wildfire of success for The Archies.
• LP: So, to move on from "Sugar Sugar", what other tracks are you particularly fond of that you recorded with the Archies? They can be album tracks, singles, anything that you thought was particularly interesting or fun?
• RD: You know, there's one song called "A Summer Prayer for Peace".
• LP: Yeah, I like that song a lot too.
• RD: Which, internationally got a lot of attention. It wasn't a big hit in America, because of the anti-war sentiments, because people were on both sides of the coin. But we were number one in South Africa, in Capetown, South Africa. It's very interesting that it would be number one there. I like that because it's not just the song with the lead vocal, there's a spoken word in it, it outlines the populations of the world and each country. And it's so funny that the number that we give for the population of each country has doubled and then some since that record was released. There were three billion people in the world then and now there's seven billion, I think. It's amazing in a forty year period, it's doubled and then some. It's a little bit of history.
• LP: Yeah, that's very interesting. There's some stuff on some of those records, like definitely "Summer Prayer for Peace" and "Mr. Factory", which I think are both from "Sunshine", if I'm right. Did you guys feel responsible to have a bit of a social consciousness because you knew that this music was being listened to by younger people?
• RD: You know, that was kind of in background but really it was meant as an entertainment for the people who read Archie Comics and the people who watched Saturday Morning Cartoons. Really, I don't think we went that far for teaching or putting up social comments although it did kinda creep in the third and fourth season because a new songwriter came in to write some of the songs with Jeff. So I noticed that change a little bit. But to my mind 90% of what the Archies is, 99% of what the Archies music is is just good, fun, Rock N Roll Pop music for kids who were just getting into the music. And you know, just finding it. I think the Archies were probably just the stepping stone for kids to find way more music that interested them. But it was the beginning of it.
• LP: And definitely for certain people that were growing up at that time that were just the right age for it, they have a super-fond affinity with The Archies. And actually segues into present day. Did you put together this bill that's going to be on Sunday for this Bubble Gum Show at BB King's? Was this your idea?
• RD: Yes. It was my idea, I put together a big Las Vegas show about five years ago called "Bubble Gum Bonanza" and I, The Ohio Express, the 1910 Fuitgum Company, Archies and you know, it was a six hour marathon of Bubble Gum music, and we sold it out in Vegas. It was very very successful. And last year, I was at BB King's in January and did one with Bo Donaldson and The Heywoods, I think you saw it. But this one is my show, I put it together, it's Ron Dante's "Back to the Sixties II". I just wanted to do something fun for the baby boomers. And it's funny, we cross generations with this music. This music is still so popular in commercials and TV and movies that even the kids of the people that grew up on it like it, and their kids like it. I must say, there's some durability in the music and I think this bill... We're playing Hershey in September, in Hershey Pennsylvania. And I think, what a great place for the Bubble Gum show. It's just perfect! A candy place! There's chocolate everywhere. And it's kinda fun. I do it for fun, I wanna keep my friends working and I just want people to see this music live, because it's a lot of fun. And, it doesn't get that well represented out there. You get a lot of eighties groups, you get a lot of Du-Wop, you get a lot of Eighties, but that middle stuff, it seems that you need more of.
• LP: Yeah. I'm super-looking forward to it. I'm really glad you put it together. I'm only 31 and I sort of found Bubble Gum through, I know they were big influence on Punk Groups in the Seventies, which I was really into when I was younger. You know, Joey Ramone named himself after Joey Levine.
• RD: Yeah, the Ramones recorded "Indian Giver"!
• LP: I know that in the late Seventies a lot of the punk people started looking towards old Bubble Gum songwriters, singers and producers to produce their old albums. Like for example, there's a very popular Go-Go's album from the early eighties that was produced by one of the guys that used to produce Bubble Gum singles. I was wondering if you were ever approached to produce any of that material?
• RD: No, you know, because of my association with producing all the Barry Mannilow records, I kind of got into that middle of the road groove. Where the people who call me would be Dion Warwick or Olivia Newton John or Paul Anka. I would have loved to have the other type of groups, the Ramones-type of a group call and ask me to produce. Because I'm basically a guitar player who grew up on Rock N Roll, you know? But I got sidetracked with the Mannilow stuff and it kind of bagged me during the seventies, so I never got anything. But it's funny, I just got a call, you won't believe this, I just got a call from a Detroit, kind of, Punk Rock, R N B group, let me see if I have their e-mail. The Dirtbombs, is the name of the group. They just called me and they want me to sing on their new album.
• LP: Oh, awesome!
• RD: Do you know the Dirtbombs?
• LP: You know, I haven 't heard of them, but I'm definitely going to look them up now that you mentioned them.
• RD: Yeah, The Dirtbombs, they just called me and said "We're doing a new album, we've done two or three albums on independent labels and we want to do a whole album dedicated to Bubble Gum rock!"
• LP: Oh cool!
• RD: Yeah, they just e-mailed me, they want me to sing on one of the cuts on the album, they sent me this song. And I said I'll do it! So it's funny you mention that and here they are, finally somebody's contacting me from that world.
• LP: Do feel like you're surprised by where you have fans and how far reaching your music is?
• RD: It is a surprise. Thank goodness for Facebook and all the social networking sites, which I'm on now, because I really get a feel for the broad array of fans I have out there, from all walks of life and all age-groups and it's a happy surprise. I must say, I'm very pleasantly surprised that the music communicates to new generations. It's so cool.
• LP: Yeah, it must be very affirming. So, another question regarding The Archies, I know that you are super-into collecting Archie memorabilia, and I was wondering, after all these years, do you still feel like you have a connection with the character? Is that why? Or is it because it's a representation of a certain time in your life?
• RD: I have an immense love for The Archie characters. Archie, Betty, Veronica, Reggie and Jughead. They were a very important part in my younger life as a kid reading the comic, and then becoming the voice of Archie. And it seems like every article that's written about me, they mention The Archies, even though I've done Broadway shows, I've produced other big artists, it's something that's near and dear to my heart. I feel a psychic connection to the character. I keep abreast with what's going with the comic books, and how things are going there, what deals they're making. I see that in the comic books Archie got married and a couple of things. I follow it very closely, I think they're doing a good job on the comic. It's still very successful and it sells almost a million comics a month! So they're still very successful and I have a great love of the comic books and the Archie characters.
• LP: Yeah, it's an interesting time for you to be playing this music because in the comic book world, there's sort of a creative renaissance for the Archie comics. I wonder if you're going to find new fans because they found the comics, even those that are being published now. "Sugar Sugar" and "Jingle Jangle" are referenced fairly regularly. Every few issues The Archies will be playing a song and it'll be "Sugar Sugar" or "Jingle Jangle", which is interesting to me because they were recorded so long ago now!
• RD: They just keep coming back and back! The good thing is, it's in the media environment, you just can't mention The Archies without mentioning their number one record. And it doesn't matter if it happened forty years ago or four years ago, it's a statement that millions and millions of people fell in love with the song and the records and the albums that came after. And I think it's a good thing and it also has it's own niche. There's nothing quite out there like The Archies, the teenagers in the high school who have a band. There's nothing like that in the comic books, everything else is so sex and violence driven. The comics and graphic novels there's blood and gore galore. Superheroes doing everything in the world. But this is something people can really relate to because it's a good slice of Americana. And I think they've upgraded the comics to where it's incorporating a lot of groups, which is even better. Because, you know, they had to expand a bit and take it beyond that. And you know, they're still trying to get an Archie movie done and an Archie TV show done. And things will happen once they set those deals.
• LP: I'm on a bubblegum music message board and I asked for questions for you and Joey and someone had an interesting idea. I know that you have a lot of experience producing Broadway shows, of doing a Broadway bubble gum juke box musical. I was wondering, have you ever had that idea or being involved in a producer's perspective or creative perspective?
• RD: You know, I've thought about it. It's an interesting idea. After Smokey Joe's Cafe hit we talked about it after that, after Jersey Boys opened, because it's sixties music, we talked about it. It's just a question of getting the rights to the songs and what's the theme. I know, the people who produced Grease, the original show and bring it back every year, it's this production team in New York City, it's this man and wife, they had an option on an Archie Musical about five years ago. And they were developing it, but they could not come up with a good book. And I think, until you come up with a good storyline for Bubble Gum Music or The Archies, you have to be very careful with theater, because it could ruin the brand to have a problem musical, you know? So, I've often thought of a Broadway Musical, it's still a good idea. I've actually written a cruise ship show called "Bubble Gum" that is out there that we may sell to one of the cruise lines. That might be the beginning of the Broadway show. You know, with the top twenty Bubble Gum songs of all time in the show with a little story line. So that might happen. It's a good question.
• LP: Actually, a friend of mine wrote some spec songs for that Archie musical a few years ago. And I know that they were going for at time, they gave them a list of stuff to write, but it was going to be original music. I think it was supposed to sound sort-of late sixties, early seventies period music. I spoke to some of the Archie comics people that there was an interest in an Archie musical. That's an interesting development. I hope you sell your cruise ship show. That sounds totally fun.
• RD: It's totally fun.
• LP: I know that you wrote and did an Archies Christmas album a while ago, and fans were wondering if maybe had any plans to do a follow up to it? Another Archies record with you writing in that style?
• RD: I was thinking about it, seriously. I have again, have to get the rights from the Archie comic book people to use the name and the characters again. They gave it to me then, and that was a one-time thing. If I get it from them again, I may do another upgraded, a brand new Archies album. I would love to do that. It's just a question of getting the rights from the Archie comic book people. They're trying to get brand-new things going with the younger groups and things, which I don't think will work. But they're still working on that. But I would be happy to do another album. Maybe Archies go country, and do a pop-country album. With everyone dressed in the hats and boots and stuff! With the girls looking cool and the guys looking great. That might be fun.
• LP: That country-pop stuff is popular right now.
• RD: It's danceable and, of course, country music sounds like pop music from the seventies anyway.
• LP: Definitely.
• RD: It might be a fun thing to see Archies go country. But I'm always up for that.
• LP: One last question, what are you most looking forward to on Sunday for this show?
• RD: Well, it's just the audience participation. I'm really happy to see the fans come out and see this music performed live, and by the original people who were the originals, who made the sounds and me and Joey, the original voices, and the 1910 will be the band. And I'm looking to forward to meeting all the fans, because I come out after the show and I'd love to meet everybody. It'll be one big party, and I want everybody to come down and have a good time on 42nd St!
• LP: Well, I'm definitely going to be there in the front dancing along! So, thank you!
• RD: You're very welcome! Bring your friends! Thank you!
• LP: Oh yeah, I'm bringing a few pals and am looking forward to seeing you play again. This was a great interview, thank you so much. This was really fun for me.
• RD: Well, use what you can and what you like, and hopefully you'll be able to see it when it's finished?
• LP: Yeah! It's going to be a front of magazine feature of Elmore magazine. It's going to be a review of the show and then snippets with the interview with you and the interview with Joey. So it'll be really fun. For me it's a real dream to get to write this, because I feel like, at least among my peers, I'm totally in the minority when it comes to loving this music so much. But it really means a lot to me and you should know that it's definitely been an uplifting and interesting part of my life over the last few years. So thanks!
• RD: You're very welcome. One last thing, and you know, it's funny, I started my career seven blocks up the street from that club, 49th and Broadway at the Brill Building and it's funny. It's full circle, to come back to the area and finally do a terrific show with so many people I started with. Joey Levine and I both worked for Bobby Darrin in the Brill Building years ago. We worked together for years, we were staff writers together at Bobby Darrin's publishing company. It was like seven blocks up the street. That area has so much history for us, it's unbelievable. It's magical. And hopefully we'll bring some of that magic to Sunday night.
• LP: So it feels like a homecoming too.
• RD: It does, very much. Last time I was there, I didn't realize how important that area was to me. I didn't mention it to the audience, I was too interested that the show went smoothly for all the acts.
• LP: Yeah, that was a stuffed bill! That was a lot of people!
• RD: There were a lot of people on that show! At least this is three of us, it'll be a tight show and Joey and I will do some commercials that we sang together, which is going to be even more fun. We could just do a whole evening of commercials, Joey and I! But we won't we'll do our hits!
• LP: Awesome! Alright, I'll see you on Sunday, Ron!
• RD: Thank you so much brother! I'm looking forward to it!

Joey Levine - Shake

Recorded live 04-22-12 at BB King’s Blues club in NYC.

As you can hear me saying at the end of the track - real rock and roll. This is what it sounds like, folks.

This is a dream come true. Let me know if you have any questions!

twentypercentcooler:

shieldhydraleviathan:

hardlined:

By Kris Anka

one of my most fun pieces. still think it holds up

Oh good gosh almighty.

(via altarchie)

Here’s a conversation I just had with Ron Dante in regards to this April 22nd show @ BB King’s in NYC. The linuep? Ron Dante (The Archies), 1910 Fruitgum Company & my favorite songwriter Joey Levine!

Guess sometimes dreams can come true.

julieklausner:

Here are the Monkees singing in beautiful four-part harmony on “Ríu Ríu Chíu” from their 1967 Christmas special starring Butch Patrick. A fun fact is that as soon as this episode was wrapped, the boys all went to Ojai, CA with Jack Nicholson, Bert Schneider (RIP) and Bob Rafelson, to drop acid and come up with the screenplay for Head.

Monkees - Riu Chiu - Offical Video - High Quality (by terrybrass)

Just beautiful!

8 Pack of Gum:

A groovy, psychedelic trip through some rare sixties gum tracks you’ve probably never heard. Featuring the Archies, Josie and the Pussycatsand… The Marshmallow Way????

(via poptates)

theswingingsixties:

Ohio Express — Yummy Yummy Yummy - 1968 TV performance

Automatic Ohio Express reblog.