Q&A with BILLY BONES

This interview did COOKIE!
Billy Bones was the vocalist from The Skulls and now he'sThe BillyBones vocalist and he also was once Kevin Preston's mentor! He is all night rocker..

Cookie: Please introduce me your band members! What are you guys up to at the moment, what’s up with The BillyBones?

Billy: Well to get this started on Drums we have Mr. Alex (Mez Man) Gomez, a cool thing about The Billy Bones is that we are all great friends ..Mez man is an awesome drummer, he was one of the original members of The US Bombs Played with the Mau Maus, and The Livingstons. On bass well we have gone thru a few, we started out with Drew Milford he actually is the one who played bass on our new up coming record. Our current bass man is Rob Blue or Mr Blue as we call him. And he brings a lot to the game and he fits right in. And on guitar well this kid Alex Mack is awesome, he is an amazing Axeman, great song writer, I love this kid,he gets it!!!! And we have also had stand in Steve Fishman who produced our record and also Young Drew whom we borrow from Fallujah -71 and very cool young band I had the pleasure of producing thier first record.( Waiting on World War Three) Great Fun, Great Record, GreT band!!!! Bad Otis Link..he has recently took on our Sax stuff not to mention he is one of the coolest artist in this town!! We call him in Mr. Anarchy of Sax, Aaron from Prima Donna did a lot of our early sax stuff he played on our 7" the one Kevin produced!!! We're Selfish..We call Aaron G.O.S. God of Sax!!!! As far as what The BillyBones are up to? We are just waiting the release of our 1st full length on Dr. Strange Records ( The Complexity of Stupidity) and a possible 7" sneak peek surprise!!! We are also gearing up for some very cool dates with The Frustrators. From there we will see where the road takes us!!!

Cookie: You hung out with the Sex Pistols, you and Dee Dee Ramone were friends, all those punk and rock’n’roll moments happened right in front of your eyes. I really wish I’d born earlier you have to tell me everything!

Billy: Well really no big deal , when the Pistols came to the USA for the 1st time of course they made it to LA and they decided to stop by the world famous Masque the LA premiere Punk Venue!!! The Skulls used to rehearse there, they stopped in on our rehearsal and later that night on Rodney Bingenhiemers Radio show they proclaimed that The Skulls were one of the best punk bands they had seen since being in the states. As far as Dee Dee Ramone goes when The Ramones 1st came to LA I saw them at The Whiskey A Go Go I manage to work my way back stage, Dee Dee and I just seem to hit it off we party together when they were in town and when they were not playing I would hang out at The Sunset Marquee, and when they pass thru LA we would get together and hangout!! That's it, he was a very cool guy!!!

Cookie: You mentored Kevin Preston from Prima Donna and played with him together in the band The Skulls, how have you met and how did you get the idea for putting The Skulls back together, aren’t you enormous proud of The Kid?

Billy: I met Kevin thru my daughter, Dani, you see they went to the same high school, Kevin found out that Dani Pops was Billy Bones, he showed up at my house asking to cover one of my songs being a huge Skulls fan that young Kev was, I told him to cover ‚em all I wasn't doing anything with em!! Next thing you know I am at a show of his then band Left Out XXX. He calls me up to do Kill Me Kill Me Kill, ( Skulls classic) and the rest is history, we got invited to do a 1977 Masque Punk reunion, The next thing you know 5 CD later 2 trips to Europe.. Kevin and I just Hit it off.. We had. great 5 year run!!!!! We have and still collaborate quite a bit, and yes I am very proud of The Kid, and I am enjoying watching him conquer The World he is a rare special talent!!!!

Cookie: Honestly, did you ever think that you would be such a kick-ass musician one day?

LtR: Bonesy, Tony Paradox , Kevin, Dirty Mac

Billy: As a Artist and Musician I have always loved the unique Frontman, Jagger, Bowie, Bolan, Ferry,Morrission Iggy etc..I love performing!! I could not wait to have my chance and I am loving every minute o fit!!

Cookie: How would you describe yourself and your music in only 5 words?

Billy: Edgeyness, controversial, Original, Fun and Cool.

Cookie: How would you define the word “success”?

Billy: Sucess is satisfying whatever ever burning desire you have in your heart!!!

Cookie: You toured Europe twice, when was this and where did you play? And do you have any plans for conquering Europe a 3rd time with The BillyBones?

Billy: We toured Europe twice with The Skulls once I 2003 and then again a few years later, we did Germany, Austria (The Arena) Belgium, Switzerland, The UK , of course I would love to bring The BillyBones to Europe!! It's most definetly in our sights.

Cookie: What are your main influences, favorite bands and biggest idols, and why?

Billy: My main influnences our Roxy Music, Bowie, T Rex , The Sex Pistols( funny enough Nevermind the Bollocks was produced by Chris Thomas who did most of the early Roxy Music stuff and Steve Jones band before The Pistols was called The Strand named after a early Roxy song " Do the Strand" I loved The Ramones The Damned X Ray Specks I like it all....

Cookie: Why do you want to record and release your own music (Be very honest)?

Billy: I got a lot to say!! I love being creative I love collaborating with my mates. Nothing more gratifying when you see your creation come to be..

Cookie: What are your songs about and do you write your own songs all alone? Could you briefly describe the music-making process?

Billy: I write a lot of topical stuff, Cuz right now there's is a whole lot of crazy shit going on in this Mad Mad World we live in!! I try to do it with a sense of humor, and again I love collaborating with young Alex Mack he has a brilliant Bizzare twisted way of looking at the world , funny enough we see things the same way!!! We actually call ourselves BoneSmack when we write together!!! We both write the lyrics together,and when we have it ready we take it to practice and Mez Man and Mr Blue bring it all together!! That's pretty much how the BillyBones roll Ha Ha!!

Cookie: Who handles your daily business activities like bookings, promotions etc?

Bad Otis Link artwork

Billy: We have mangement Committed 77..

Cookie: There are soon upcoming shows with The Frustrators, how did you get the idea for it?

Billy: Let's just say I like playing shows with friends and leave it at that !!!

Cookie: If you could tell all the next generation musicians one sentence, which sentence would that be?

Billy: Do what you Love and Love what you do!! No Compromise!!!

Thank you Billy for that depth interview! Keep rockin! xoxo

BillyBones: http://www.myspace.com/thebillybones

Skulls: http://www.myspace.com/theskulls

Bad Otis: wwww.badotislink.com

Kevin and Aaron/Prima Donna: www.myspace.com/primadonna