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Glenn Hughes Interviews
Kevin Dubrow
Glenn Hughes and Kevin Dubrow truly form the Rock ‘N Roll version of the Odd Couple. Kevin would have to be Oscar Madison leaving Hughes to fill the role of Felix Unger. They come from opposite ends of the spectrum. Hughes hails from the industrial town of Birmingham, England and is famous for his funky vocal gymnastics while Dubrow is a party boy from sunny California who is more famous for derogatory words coming out of his mouth then any notes he sang. Hughes is the ex-partier who nearly died from his disease while Dubrow still likes to have a good time. Hughes is soft-spoken and somewhat reserved in interviews while Kevin will admit to having sex with dogs and tell you the length and girth of his penis.
As much as these men may be different, however, they each have several things in common. First and foremost is a love of music. Dubrow was a fan of Hughes before Quiet Riot was even a figment of his imagination. They also have a deep respect for each other and truly enjoy being around each other and exploring each others personalities. They also like to laugh. Kevin sums it up best when he says, “My experience with people from England is that they are reserved and eccentric. Glenn is eccentric but he is definatly not reserved. He is an outgoing Type A personality. He is also fucking hilarious. His character is only matched by the size of his heart. Glenn is also very spiritual, which is something I am not known for being. Glenn can make me look at things about myself that I don’t naturally look at. We have a natural chemistry. He is very sincere and I am very sincere with Glenn.”
Being so close with each other allows them to say things that they might not want to hear. Dubrow confesses, “I think I am one of Glenn’s biggest fans. Glenn has people who will tell him every single thing he does is great. I think everything Glenn sings is great but there are better ways to do certain things. I am honest with Glenn about it. I don’t know if he always appreciates it or not.” The flip side of the coin comes in Hughes being the older and wiser of the two men. Where Kevin may give Glenn musical advice, he takes in much deeper meanings from his conversations with Hughes. “What I have done with my life, Kevin admires. Not just singing but the other things. I am like a big brother to him. He tells me about things going on with him that he does not tell anyone else. I feel like I am a bit of a protector of Kevin in a way. He is a wild man and he has gotten a bit of a bad rap. I know the sweet, funny, intelligent Kevin. I feel very comfortable around Kevin; he is one of my best friends.”
After Part One of this interview, where Kevin interviewed Glenn, the tables were turned. It was now Hughes turn to interrogate his friend. The only problem was that Glenn could not find the questions he had prepared for the interview; they were lost. There was a temptation to cancel this segment but Dubrow told Glenn to throw caution to the wind and do the interview off the top of his head. Kevin stated that he knew what Hughes really wanted to know anyway,. “Glenn wants to ask me about life on the road. He is happily married so he just wants to hear all about my sexual technique.” Dubrow went on to admit Hughes friendship was about much more than locker room banter, “Glenn worries about me. I go nuts from time to time.” Hughes responds like one would expect an older brother to respond, “I let Kevin know that I am there for them. He knows he can’t fool me and he doesn’t try to fool me. I am not a cop around Kevin. I don’t tell him that he can’t do this or that. It is all up to him to figure out.”
- Jeb Wright, January 2005
Glenn: Was there a particular moment in your life when you realized that you wanted to be a singer?
Kevin: I saw The Faces in 1970. I was a photographer at the time. I had seen The Beatles on Ed Sullivan and that made me want to become a rock fan but when I saw The Faces it was different. I saw Rod Stewart having a lot of fun and I also noticed all the girls wanted him and all the guys wanted to be him. I was taking pictures of him at the time when I realized that I didn’t want to be the guy taking the pictures, I wanted to be the guy being photographed. I remember he was wearing a purple velvet suit. It was at that very moment that I knew I wanted to be a singer.
Glenn: When you were playing with Randy Rhoads, at what moment did you realize that he was a talented fellow. What was it like to actually know at that time that you may have a shot in the music business?
Kevin: The first time I ever heard him play, I realized how special he was. He was a combination of all my favorite guitar players. He looked like Mick Ronson, he played like a mixture of Ritchie Blackmore, Johnny Winter and Leslie West. Here was a 17-year-old kid that no one knew about so I globbed on to him at the time. I wasn’t even really serious about singing at the time.
An interesting side note to all of this is that the first time I ever met you, I was with Randy Rhoads. Do you remember that.
Glenn: I actually do.
Kevin: We were at a party in Malibu. Randy was already there and I drove there with Rudy Sarzo. I hooked up with Randy and he goes, “You are not going to believe who is here: Glenn Hughes.” You were wearing shoes we called The Toasters. You could only get them at this played called Let It Rock. They had that waffle soul. I thought you were such a sweet guy.
Glenn: You recorded “Cum On Feel The Noize.” Looking back, do you feel at all resentful that your most well known song was not one of your own? Did you ever feel like saying, “Man, we have a # 1 record. I wish we could have wrote it.”
Kevin: Especially in a financial sense. You knew where the royalties were going. We saw the accounting and knew what was going on. I never loved that song but at the same token, I never thought we were the greatest songwriters in the world. We were trying to be rock ‘n roll stars. All my favorite bands made great albums and didn’t really have hit singles, or maybe they had one hit per album. Slade’s version wasn’t even a hit. I think it went to # 85. I just wasn’t into bands like that. I was into Humble Pie. There biggest hit was “I Don’t Need No Doctor.” Free had “All Right Now” but you can forget that, I liked the album cuts. Growing up, I never thought about having a hit single.
Remember Foghat? They had three albums and then the fourth one went big. We skipped all that and went right to gold. We were gullible and I was an angry guy at the time. Booze and cocaine didn’t help that much. I was a guy from Hollywood who was a pissant. I made a lot of enemies along the way. Fueled by the chemicals and being the age I was didn’t help things a lot. But, there is a flip side to that coin. I got to live my dream. At 49 years old, I still get to live my dream. That song is greatly responsible for us having this conversation today. It was stupid of us to do “Mama, Weer All Crazee Now.” Doing another Slade song was a bad move. I now tend to look at the glass way more than half full. Because of that song we are still having this conversation.
Quiet Riot will go onstage before bands that have a greater back catalog of hits and a history of being more popular but we have those two songs -- “Cum On Feel The Noize” and “Bang Your Head” -- and most bands have a hard time following us because of those two songs.
Glenn: What was your biggest learning curve in 1983?
Kevin: I learned that I could drink, have sex and snort at the same time --and still talk!
Glenn: At what moment did you realize that you were gay?
Kevin: [much laughter] Do you mean extremely happy?
Glenn: How did you feel when Paul Shortino took your place in the band?
Kevin: I thought it was a joke.
Glenn: [laughs] I have to agree with you Kevin.
Kevin: They should have called the band something other than Quiet Riot. It was a very tumultuous period at the time. I wanted to fire Spencer Proffer, who was our management and our record label. Everyone said if we do that then it will get tied up in court and Quiet Riot would not be allowed to record. I wanted to just go out and play smaller clubs and make a bunch of money without all the nonsense that we had been having to deal with. Unfortunately, I fell under the spell of the Bolivian scientists. I became very aggressive. I angered everyone and got in their faces, the way that I can do. The band decided to get rid of me and find someone else. Joe Lynn Turner was actually up for the job and I thought that he would have been a good choice. Instead they got Paul Shortino and made that album, which does not sound like a Quiet Riot record. I thought it was foolish. We were an anthem oriented band. Does it bother me? Not at all. I thought the ride was over at that point. I thought it was all silly.
Glenn: Every band has a peak in their career. Howe did you cope with real life at the time?
Kevin: The cocaine and the booze were flowing nicely in the Hollywood Hills. In the early 90’s, I learned of the anger management issues I have going on inside of me. I can be much to much in-your-face. I am my own worst enemy on many occasions. I try to take time to think about things a lot more. Instead of saying one more thing, I just try not to say anything. It is the whole ‘count to ten’ type thing. I won’t let myself get the better of myself in many situations. In the last six years, I have learned that if I am unhappy about things that I need to end it and not let it fester. If I let it fester then I let it build up and I self destruct. If I am not happy with a bad situation then I am not going to suddenly wake up the next morning and become happy about it. I need to end it. If I don’t then I will self destruct, that is my nature.
Glenn: What did it take to make you wake up and gain this knowledge of yourself?
Kevin: When I self destruct, I hurt everyone else around me and that is never my intention. I never meant to hurt Frankie Banali. Frankie and you are my two best friends. If someone is going to get screwed in a situation then you certainly don’t want it to be somebody you love. I don’t want to have history repeat itself. The true definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. I don’t want to go back there.
Glenn: How do you feel about yourself as a person these days?
Kevin: I feel great. I got what I wanted. I love to sing. It is not just what I do, it is part of who I am. I am not the worlds greatest singer but I am not the worlds worst singer. I enjoy performing. I can’t do it in a situation that is not right for me. I have managed to hold on to what I love, which is the spirit of the original Quiet Riot with Randy Rhoads. Frankie and I retain the spirit of the original band. We no longer have forces that have their own agendas that want to take it somewhere else that I don’t want to go.
We have a new record out titled Live & Rare that is a compilation that we recorded in the 80’s. It is a stopgap until we finish recording the album we are working on now. I want people to know that you, Glenn Hughes, have been lending vocals melodies to me. You helped me with chord patterns that I am not used to singing. You heard it once and out came the right melody.
You may end up with a writers credit! I just love being able to go to the best and get something out of it. The plan I would like to do may or may not happen. I don’t know if you will have the time or even contractually be allowed to do it but I would like to do a Spooky Tooth song called “Evil Woman.” Time will tell if it happens or not. If the timing is right and you are not in Russia then maybe it will happen. Then I will have sex with your dogs -- I do anyway. I only do it because you asked me.
Glenn: Oh my God! [makes violent grumbling noises before erupting into laughter] Where do you see yourself in five years?
Kevin: I will be 54 in five years and I see no reason that I can’t still be doing this. I want to make a Quiet Riot record that sells in good numbers but I am being realistic about the industry right now. I want to have a really musical album. I want to have a little more depth in my music than the “Bang Your Head” type thing. I think we are on the right track. Right now, I am just living my life a year at a time.
Glenn: What do your want to be remembered for?
Kevin: I think that is for other people to decide. I don’t want to be remembered for being the one hit big mouth from the 80’s. I am aware that perception exists. I don’t lose any sleep over it though.
Glenn: We did a show together last year and we played “Bang Your Head” together. You tore it up. You blew me away. You are a great front man and a great singer. To me, you are the best front man to come out of LA in the 80’s. I have seen all those other chaps but you are committed and you are together. You don’t get high when you work and you don’t drink when you work. You are a professional.
Kevin: [makes snorting sounds]
Glenn: Can you expand on the demo recording that are bonus tracks on your latest Live & Rare CD?
Kevin: That was a four track demo, originally. In the band Dubrow, we did three separate demos and on this album we included the 2nd one. The one song missing is a song called “Any Time You Want Me.” Frankie is holding that back for Volume II. The “Thunderbird” demo was the 3rd one we recorded, there is actually another one somewhere that is not that good. The version on this album, is better than the one that is on Metal Health. I think this one is more heartfelt. I think the demo tracks are really cool to listen to as you can really hear where the band was at the time. There is still another demo that has not been released. It is the one we got singed off of. It has “Dangerzone” and “Save My Life” which became “Red Alert” on Condition Critical. There is also a song called “Take You To Hell” that became “Born To Rock” on Condition Critical. Frankie has them somewhere but wasn’t able to find them this time. We had enough for the album and they will likely be on Live & Rare Volume II. I hope that does not happen for a couple of years though as I want to release some new music.
Glenn: Before we go, I want to tell you that when you are on the road, I believe you can be a jackass but you are passionate. I admire passionate people.
Kevin: Thank you Glenn. Now if someone else believes you then I might get laid again.
Kevin Dubrow
Glenn Hughes and Kevin Dubrow truly form the Rock ‘N Roll version of the Odd Couple. Kevin would have to be Oscar Madison leaving Hughes to fill the role of Felix Unger. They come from opposite ends of the spectrum. Hughes hails from the industrial town of Birmingham, England and is famous for his funky vocal gymnastics while Dubrow is a party boy from sunny California who is more famous for derogatory words coming out of his mouth then any notes he sang. Hughes is the ex-partier who nearly died from his disease while Dubrow still likes to have a good time. Hughes is soft-spoken and somewhat reserved in interviews while Kevin will admit to having sex with dogs and tell you the length and girth of his penis.
As much as these men may be different, however, they each have several things in common. First and foremost is a love of music. Dubrow was a fan of Hughes before Quiet Riot was even a figment of his imagination. They also have a deep respect for each other and truly enjoy being around each other and exploring each others personalities. They also like to laugh. Kevin sums it up best when he says, “My experience with people from England is that they are reserved and eccentric. Glenn is eccentric but he is definatly not reserved. He is an outgoing Type A personality. He is also fucking hilarious. His character is only matched by the size of his heart. Glenn is also very spiritual, which is something I am not known for being. Glenn can make me look at things about myself that I don’t naturally look at. We have a natural chemistry. He is very sincere and I am very sincere with Glenn.”
Being so close with each other allows them to say things that they might not want to hear. Dubrow confesses, “I think I am one of Glenn’s biggest fans. Glenn has people who will tell him every single thing he does is great. I think everything Glenn sings is great but there are better ways to do certain things. I am honest with Glenn about it. I don’t know if he always appreciates it or not.” The flip side of the coin comes in Hughes being the older and wiser of the two men. Where Kevin may give Glenn musical advice, he takes in much deeper meanings from his conversations with Hughes. “What I have done with my life, Kevin admires. Not just singing but the other things. I am like a big brother to him. He tells me about things going on with him that he does not tell anyone else. I feel like I am a bit of a protector of Kevin in a way. He is a wild man and he has gotten a bit of a bad rap. I know the sweet, funny, intelligent Kevin. I feel very comfortable around Kevin; he is one of my best friends.”
After Part One of this interview, where Kevin interviewed Glenn, the tables were turned. It was now Hughes turn to interrogate his friend. The only problem was that Glenn could not find the questions he had prepared for the interview; they were lost. There was a temptation to cancel this segment but Dubrow told Glenn to throw caution to the wind and do the interview off the top of his head. Kevin stated that he knew what Hughes really wanted to know anyway,. “Glenn wants to ask me about life on the road. He is happily married so he just wants to hear all about my sexual technique.” Dubrow went on to admit Hughes friendship was about much more than locker room banter, “Glenn worries about me. I go nuts from time to time.” Hughes responds like one would expect an older brother to respond, “I let Kevin know that I am there for them. He knows he can’t fool me and he doesn’t try to fool me. I am not a cop around Kevin. I don’t tell him that he can’t do this or that. It is all up to him to figure out.”
- Jeb Wright, January 2005
Glenn: Was there a particular moment in your life when you realized that you wanted to be a singer?
Kevin: I saw The Faces in 1970. I was a photographer at the time. I had seen The Beatles on Ed Sullivan and that made me want to become a rock fan but when I saw The Faces it was different. I saw Rod Stewart having a lot of fun and I also noticed all the girls wanted him and all the guys wanted to be him. I was taking pictures of him at the time when I realized that I didn’t want to be the guy taking the pictures, I wanted to be the guy being photographed. I remember he was wearing a purple velvet suit. It was at that very moment that I knew I wanted to be a singer.
Glenn: When you were playing with Randy Rhoads, at what moment did you realize that he was a talented fellow. What was it like to actually know at that time that you may have a shot in the music business?
Kevin: The first time I ever heard him play, I realized how special he was. He was a combination of all my favorite guitar players. He looked like Mick Ronson, he played like a mixture of Ritchie Blackmore, Johnny Winter and Leslie West. Here was a 17-year-old kid that no one knew about so I globbed on to him at the time. I wasn’t even really serious about singing at the time.
An interesting side note to all of this is that the first time I ever met you, I was with Randy Rhoads. Do you remember that.
Glenn: I actually do.
Kevin: We were at a party in Malibu. Randy was already there and I drove there with Rudy Sarzo. I hooked up with Randy and he goes, “You are not going to believe who is here: Glenn Hughes.” You were wearing shoes we called The Toasters. You could only get them at this played called Let It Rock. They had that waffle soul. I thought you were such a sweet guy.
Glenn: You recorded “Cum On Feel The Noize.” Looking back, do you feel at all resentful that your most well known song was not one of your own? Did you ever feel like saying, “Man, we have a # 1 record. I wish we could have wrote it.”
Kevin: Especially in a financial sense. You knew where the royalties were going. We saw the accounting and knew what was going on. I never loved that song but at the same token, I never thought we were the greatest songwriters in the world. We were trying to be rock ‘n roll stars. All my favorite bands made great albums and didn’t really have hit singles, or maybe they had one hit per album. Slade’s version wasn’t even a hit. I think it went to # 85. I just wasn’t into bands like that. I was into Humble Pie. There biggest hit was “I Don’t Need No Doctor.” Free had “All Right Now” but you can forget that, I liked the album cuts. Growing up, I never thought about having a hit single.
Remember Foghat? They had three albums and then the fourth one went big. We skipped all that and went right to gold. We were gullible and I was an angry guy at the time. Booze and cocaine didn’t help that much. I was a guy from Hollywood who was a pissant. I made a lot of enemies along the way. Fueled by the chemicals and being the age I was didn’t help things a lot. But, there is a flip side to that coin. I got to live my dream. At 49 years old, I still get to live my dream. That song is greatly responsible for us having this conversation today. It was stupid of us to do “Mama, Weer All Crazee Now.” Doing another Slade song was a bad move. I now tend to look at the glass way more than half full. Because of that song we are still having this conversation.
Quiet Riot will go onstage before bands that have a greater back catalog of hits and a history of being more popular but we have those two songs -- “Cum On Feel The Noize” and “Bang Your Head” -- and most bands have a hard time following us because of those two songs.
Glenn: What was your biggest learning curve in 1983?
Kevin: I learned that I could drink, have sex and snort at the same time --and still talk!
Glenn: At what moment did you realize that you were gay?
Kevin: [much laughter] Do you mean extremely happy?
Glenn: How did you feel when Paul Shortino took your place in the band?
Kevin: I thought it was a joke.
Glenn: [laughs] I have to agree with you Kevin.
Kevin: They should have called the band something other than Quiet Riot. It was a very tumultuous period at the time. I wanted to fire Spencer Proffer, who was our management and our record label. Everyone said if we do that then it will get tied up in court and Quiet Riot would not be allowed to record. I wanted to just go out and play smaller clubs and make a bunch of money without all the nonsense that we had been having to deal with. Unfortunately, I fell under the spell of the Bolivian scientists. I became very aggressive. I angered everyone and got in their faces, the way that I can do. The band decided to get rid of me and find someone else. Joe Lynn Turner was actually up for the job and I thought that he would have been a good choice. Instead they got Paul Shortino and made that album, which does not sound like a Quiet Riot record. I thought it was foolish. We were an anthem oriented band. Does it bother me? Not at all. I thought the ride was over at that point. I thought it was all silly.
Glenn: Every band has a peak in their career. Howe did you cope with real life at the time?
Kevin: The cocaine and the booze were flowing nicely in the Hollywood Hills. In the early 90’s, I learned of the anger management issues I have going on inside of me. I can be much to much in-your-face. I am my own worst enemy on many occasions. I try to take time to think about things a lot more. Instead of saying one more thing, I just try not to say anything. It is the whole ‘count to ten’ type thing. I won’t let myself get the better of myself in many situations. In the last six years, I have learned that if I am unhappy about things that I need to end it and not let it fester. If I let it fester then I let it build up and I self destruct. If I am not happy with a bad situation then I am not going to suddenly wake up the next morning and become happy about it. I need to end it. If I don’t then I will self destruct, that is my nature.
Glenn: What did it take to make you wake up and gain this knowledge of yourself?
Kevin: When I self destruct, I hurt everyone else around me and that is never my intention. I never meant to hurt Frankie Banali. Frankie and you are my two best friends. If someone is going to get screwed in a situation then you certainly don’t want it to be somebody you love. I don’t want to have history repeat itself. The true definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. I don’t want to go back there.
Glenn: How do you feel about yourself as a person these days?
Kevin: I feel great. I got what I wanted. I love to sing. It is not just what I do, it is part of who I am. I am not the worlds greatest singer but I am not the worlds worst singer. I enjoy performing. I can’t do it in a situation that is not right for me. I have managed to hold on to what I love, which is the spirit of the original Quiet Riot with Randy Rhoads. Frankie and I retain the spirit of the original band. We no longer have forces that have their own agendas that want to take it somewhere else that I don’t want to go.
We have a new record out titled Live & Rare that is a compilation that we recorded in the 80’s. It is a stopgap until we finish recording the album we are working on now. I want people to know that you, Glenn Hughes, have been lending vocals melodies to me. You helped me with chord patterns that I am not used to singing. You heard it once and out came the right melody.
You may end up with a writers credit! I just love being able to go to the best and get something out of it. The plan I would like to do may or may not happen. I don’t know if you will have the time or even contractually be allowed to do it but I would like to do a Spooky Tooth song called “Evil Woman.” Time will tell if it happens or not. If the timing is right and you are not in Russia then maybe it will happen. Then I will have sex with your dogs -- I do anyway. I only do it because you asked me.
Glenn: Oh my God! [makes violent grumbling noises before erupting into laughter] Where do you see yourself in five years?
Kevin: I will be 54 in five years and I see no reason that I can’t still be doing this. I want to make a Quiet Riot record that sells in good numbers but I am being realistic about the industry right now. I want to have a really musical album. I want to have a little more depth in my music than the “Bang Your Head” type thing. I think we are on the right track. Right now, I am just living my life a year at a time.
Glenn: What do your want to be remembered for?
Kevin: I think that is for other people to decide. I don’t want to be remembered for being the one hit big mouth from the 80’s. I am aware that perception exists. I don’t lose any sleep over it though.
Glenn: We did a show together last year and we played “Bang Your Head” together. You tore it up. You blew me away. You are a great front man and a great singer. To me, you are the best front man to come out of LA in the 80’s. I have seen all those other chaps but you are committed and you are together. You don’t get high when you work and you don’t drink when you work. You are a professional.
Kevin: [makes snorting sounds]
Glenn: Can you expand on the demo recording that are bonus tracks on your latest Live & Rare CD?
Kevin: That was a four track demo, originally. In the band Dubrow, we did three separate demos and on this album we included the 2nd one. The one song missing is a song called “Any Time You Want Me.” Frankie is holding that back for Volume II. The “Thunderbird” demo was the 3rd one we recorded, there is actually another one somewhere that is not that good. The version on this album, is better than the one that is on Metal Health. I think this one is more heartfelt. I think the demo tracks are really cool to listen to as you can really hear where the band was at the time. There is still another demo that has not been released. It is the one we got singed off of. It has “Dangerzone” and “Save My Life” which became “Red Alert” on Condition Critical. There is also a song called “Take You To Hell” that became “Born To Rock” on Condition Critical. Frankie has them somewhere but wasn’t able to find them this time. We had enough for the album and they will likely be on Live & Rare Volume II. I hope that does not happen for a couple of years though as I want to release some new music.
Glenn: Before we go, I want to tell you that when you are on the road, I believe you can be a jackass but you are passionate. I admire passionate people.
Kevin: Thank you Glenn. Now if someone else believes you then I might get laid again.
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