Nikki Corvette’s music has been described, quite accurately
I might add, as the perfect blend of The Ronettes and The Ramones. Garage bands
around the world have been trying to imitate her sound ever since her debut
album Nikki and the Corvettes came out
in 1980 on Greg Shaw’s legendary recording label Bomp! Records. Although her
name didn’t attain the household status that some of her peers achieved, it didn’t
make Nikki’s music any bit less relevant. In my opinion, she hit all the marks
a lot of her fellow lady rockers of that time missed. It’s more playful and
light hearted than Joan Jett’s first records and less of a show boat than
Blondie’s Parallel Lines and Eat to the Beat LP’s. Nikki Corvette
continues to play her unique brand of sharp, sassy, and fun Rock N’ Roll with
as much charisma and bounce as she did back in 1980 with a new crop of
musicians she helped inspire. How’s that for the ultimate homage!
Interview by Jay Castro
You started writing and
performing songs with one time guitarist for The Romantics Peter James. How did
you meet him and was it him that inspired you to want to write and perform
music?
I met Pete when I was 16, his best friend
was dating my best friend and we dated for a while. We both liked the same kind
of music and went to every concert and show possible. I learned a lot about
music from him, but I always wanted to sing in a band. We stayed friends after
we broke up and then started Nikki Corvette and The Convertibles together and
co-wrote all the songs so he really helped me realize my musical ambitions. Our
very volatile relationship did inspire the lyrics for “You Make Me Crazy.”
Nikki Corvette and The Convertibles were
formed in a bit of a hurry due to the fact that you had shows booked but no
band or songs. In retrospect, do you wish you would have had more time to
rehearse and maybe gather your thoughts a bit, or do you feel you benefited by
having your career starting off with a bang and not over thinking things?
I was friends with this guy Skid Marx, he played bass and was booking a club
called The Red Grape and I was always saying I wanted to be in a band so one
day he told me he booked a show for me. So Pete, Skid and a drummer, Bob
Mulrooney, aka Bootsey X, put some songs together including a couple I had written
with Pete and we did the show but we never rehearsed, just learned the songs
separately. Not only was the sound check was the first time we ever played together;
it was also the first time I ever sang in a mic!! The show was packed, everyone
I knew was there and I knew after the first song it couldn't ever be worse then
that!! We got booked every weekend for the next 3 months from that show and we
still never rehearsed! It's really hard to say what would have happened with
more time to practice, etc, it might have been great but I think the way it
happened was best. It was crazy and spontaneous and scary but with time to think,
I might not have jumped in; I wasn't a great singer and that might have stopped
me. I believe it was fated to happen this way and I'm glad it did!
From what I gather
things became a bit romantically complicated with you and some other Corvettes,
former boyfriends, etc. Do you feel like this contributed to the breakup of the
band in '81?
Like I said before Pete and I dated when I was in high school and his next
girlfriend, Lori Jeri joined the band about 6 months after we started playing
and that was never a problem. Most of the girls in the band had musician
boyfriends who weren't always happy when their girlfriends went on tour, but I
don't really think that had anything to do with the band breaking up. I think
it had just run its course although Pete, Lori Jeri and I continued to work on
other projects together over the years.
To me, the first Nikki and The Corvettes
record on Bomp has a sort of sweet sunny disposition to it, a bit more of a
West Coast feel and less of what one would think of as a Detroit or New York
resonance. Did you have a particular sound you were shooting towards or was it
more of a feeling or a 'vibe,' for lack of a better word?
Nikki and The Corvettes had so many influences and inspirations and wanted to
be like all of them. I always wanted to be more punk and Pete wanted us to be
more pop. The album just ended up being our combination of all of that but my
voice was just kind of cute and girly and plus I've always been just super
happy and excited about life so that was probably more the sunny West Coast
feel, plus I love California, lived there for 24 years, so I'm very much a
Detroit California girl. I don't think we tried to sound a certain way, it's
just what evolved, what we had to work with, doing the album ourselves and who
we were.
In 1997 you published a book called Rock ‘n’ Roll Heaven. What is it about
and what led you to want to write a book?
It all started as a game Lee Childers, photographer, manager for Johnny
Thunders and The Heartbreakers and Levi and The Rockats, part of the Bowie,
Mainman, Warhol crowd and on and on, and I used to play when we were bored at
work. We would try to list all the dead Rock Stars we could think of and I
decided it would be a great book for all the crazy people like us. I had wanted
it to be an encyclopedia of dead rock stars, how they died and where they were buried;
a lot of my friends and I like to visit their graves but didn't know where many
of them were buried. In the end, I had to cut in down drastically because of
time issues, deadlines and the overwhelming scope of it but it's still my dream
to publish the definitive book of rock star deaths and a map to their graves.
In 2003 you released the "Love Me" b/w "What's On My Mind" 7” on Rapid
Pulse Records. The first record that was released that marked an end to your
recording hiatus. How did that
project come together?
After a long hiatus from music I started playing again occasionally with a
young all girl band called The Pinkz. I got a message from Russell Quan, Bobbyteens,
Flakes, Mummies and too many other bands to name, that a friend of his wanted
me to play his festival called Rock Action in Minneapolis. I called his friend,
Travis Ramin, intending to tell him no but he somehow convinced me to do the
show with him and some local musicians. The show was great and Travis and I
became really good friends. Next thing I know he wanted to write and record some
songs so we wrote 2 songs over the phone, I was in LA, and we recorded them in
Minneapolis. Pretty soon we started doing mini tours, East Coast, Midwest, West
Coast and then Japan and eventually decided to make a real band of it and we
became Nikki Corvette and The Stingrays recording several more records
together.
In releasing the Wild Record Party album in 2005, you covered the gamut of pop
music, everything from late 70's Punk to late 50's Rockabilly and Doo Wop. Is
this a sort of homage to your influences or are these simply songs you've
always just wanted to let loose on?
It's kind of a combination of reasons. Some are songs I had always loved
and covered in the past, some were songs I just wanted to record and most of
them were either a direct influence or representative of my many varied musical
influences. There were also a few that were requests of other band members and
a few that were compromises between us. It was just a fun record for me because
I'm just a true fan, always have been, always will be and it was the chance to
do a lot of songs I wouldn't normally do but that I was a fan of.
You have records on many different
labels and collaborated with a lot of people through out your career in music.
Have you ever thought of compiling your music into a sort of career spanning
'Box Set' collection? Because that
frankly would be super fantastic.
I hadn't really thought about it until I read this question but I kind of
love the idea! There are a lot of records, especially the Japan only releases,
which a lot of people haven't heard and there are some songs on those I'm quite
proud of. I think it would be interesting to do, especially to re-release some
songs I'm really proud of that were only released in Japan. Some of the recent
work I've done is more grown-up and I'm trying some different styles of music
and I'd like people to see another side of me. What do you guys think???? I
would love to get some feedback!
There have been a number of books and
memoirs written about the NYC music scene in the mid to late 70's. You were
right there in the middle of it. There's even a story of David Johansen writing
an English paper for you when you were in high school! Have you ever seen a
passage or read any book that just completely misrepresents those times or
anyone you've known from back in the day? Anything you that's made you think to
yourself "that guy has it all wrong!"
Although there is nothing I can think of offhand, I am absolutely sure there
are many instances I have thought this but that doesn't mean it didn't truly
represent what the writer felt, it's all relative and personal to everyone in a
different way. I have found in talking to people about shared experiences that
we viewed them very differently even if we were together and I'm sure I've said
stuff about things that happened, that someone else said "No, that's wrong."
As far as the Johansen story, I was a college freshman and had stayed up all
night hanging with The Dolls, I had an English paper due in a couple of hours
on Desire Under The Elms and Johansen actually did help me write it. I got it
turned in on time and gave him credit for the help.
You've been involved throughout the
years with many young artists, everyone from Amy Gore to LA's The Pinkz, who I
saw open up for The Real Kids and totally held their own, and The Donnas. Have
these collaborations been a key factor in keeping you inspired to continue to
play and write music?
I really love working with different people because they open me up to
different styles of music and yes, they very much inspire me to try new stuff
and keep me fresh. I'm a little scattered/ADD/easily bored so all these people
keep me excited.
What does Nikki Corvette have in store
for us in the near or not so near future?
I have so many projects in the works it's insane!!! I am currently working on
songs/singles with Hunx from Hunx and His Punks, Kepi Ghoulie from Groovy
Ghoulies, Morten Henriksen from The Yum Yums, Kevin Preston from Prima Donna
and King Khan as well as writing songs for an album with my band The Romeos.
Some Rock N' Roll Art shows with this amazing San Francisco artist Dirty Donny,
a book project in the very early stages I will be doing with Deniz Tek, Radio
Birdman as well as a mini West Coast tour this winter and tours of Japan, Spain
and possibly more of Europe and hopefully Australia next year. I just released
a single “He's Gone b/w Rockin' Romeos” with my incredible
Italian band The Romeos, right before our last European tour, it's sold out but
hopefully we will repress it soon. I have 3 songs I co-wrote with producer Mike
E. Clark as well as some vocals that will be on his Zombies Rule record later this month. I am constantly finding new
projects and beyond what is already in the works, I'm not even sure what's in
store but I will keep working, playing and rockin' as long as people are
interested and I'm having fun!!!
