Don't blame me because I was once in the Fuzztones! lol!

[John Carlucci]

So this email was forwarded to me by a friend. It came from a journalist friend of his from the UK after his son stumbled upon a video of The Fuzztones on youtube. I just had to share!,

For the record, even though I was once in this band... I side with the kid on this subject!!

• The album said singer is self praising only had 2 original songs on it.
• He introduced Garage to Europe? Really?? I mean c'mon there were already Garage bands playing there when we got there, for example The Last Drive, The Stomachmouths, not to mention the first wave of authentic 60's garage bands that started the whole thing.  This claim would be like Keith Richards claiming he invented the Chuck Berry duckwalk! 
• I was in this band when it was in its prime (major label, RCA) and that was 23 years ago. Since then there has been a revolving door of musicians, very few lasting more than a year or two...so celebrating the 30th anniversary to me is quite funny.
• Is he going to claim that he invented the wheel, sliced bread & the internet next?? lol!
• The black Phantom he's playing in the video is a stolen guitar. It belongs to Jordan Tarlow.... Here's the email...

My son was logged on to you-tube and he ran across the Fuzztones and he asked me and couple mates of mine who work for Mojo and NME if we had ever heard of them. My son showed us this clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96Bo5rFjIG4 and we could not stop laughing after listening to the lead singer, i forgot his name, tell the crowd that he was the first to ever introduce Garage music to the European audience. My son was very angry and so were my 2 mates when he nothing good to say about the Strokes, Hives and White Stripes. All 3 of those groups are my son's favorite. All 3 of those groups have made front pages of Mojo, NME and other music papers. 30 years in the business and they are still playing empty little clubs and they never get media coverage. Are they mates of yours? The reason i asked, aren't they an LA band? Was Kim Fowley ever the group's manager/producer?

My answer: No Kim Fowley was not the groups MGR or producer. No they are not an LA band. They were for a while when we were in the band. Nowadays, the Fuzzclones live in Berlin. 

So when you hear this kind of stuff, don't be mad at me. I'm appalled too.

 

[whatwave dave]

 

 

Sorry John, couldn't resist, but here's a picture of John C as a Fuzztone in London Ontario Canada 4/5/87 in the Fuzztone uniform!!  And it was a great show that night too!!

[IDON MINE]

Super! Rockin in style, that John!

whatwave dave said:

 

Sorry John, couldn't resist, but here's a picture of John C as a Fuzztone in London Ontario Canada 4/5/87 in the Fuzztone uniform!!  And it was a great show that night too!!

[John Carlucci]

HAHA, but yes, I was the rebel, I played Rickenbackers & not the Vox Phantom! Wish I still had that 4001!

 IDON MINE said:

Super! Rockin in style, that John!

whatwave dave said:

 

Sorry John, couldn't resist, but here's a picture of John C as a Fuzztone in London Ontario Canada 4/5/87 in the Fuzztone uniform!!  And it was a great show that night too!!

[dying slowly]

To be fair the necks on the phantom basses isn't good.

Fang I belive swapped his for a fener p-'s necks

[The Pygmies]

I still like the fuzztones, even though the singer does sound like a bit of an ass. But if I quit listening to every band that acted like dicks, I'd have a pretty small record collection.

[whatwave dave]

That's very true Pygmies....that could be the whole start of another discussion on this group.

I met Rudi once, and he came off as a really nice guy. I dig his music and have nothing against him or any of The Fuzztones.

The Pygmies said:

I still like the fuzztones, even though the singer does sound like a bit of an ass. But if I quit listening to every band that acted like dicks, I'd have a pretty small record collection.

[Paul Messis]

Everyone forgets the best and truest New York based 80s garage revival band.... The Optic Nerve.. these guys and the band before them; The Bohemian  Bedrocks, were much better than The Fuzztones (no offence to John)

Shamless plug here.... but check my stuff out for authentic garage revival.

www.paulmessis.moonfruit.com

[Gringo Starr]

@John - Have you seen the new Fuzztones tour poster? It's bizarre! A graphic of Rudi as a Medusa with every member of the Fuzztones throughout the years in his snake-like hair! Check it out:

[Barry Stark]

John..I saw you in the Fu**tones in Glasgow many moons ago...good rockin' gig that night. Played with the 'tones in 91 in Edinburgh at the venue - by this time Chris Harlock was on bass and Phil Arriagada on guitar. 'Twas a great gig, but my memories are kind of spoiled by the fact that Mr P kept trying to trade his pussy paisley tele (or strat) for my '63 English baby blue Phantom (rarer than rocking horse shit BTW, 'tho I didn't know it at the time) and he kept hitting on my girl...so yeah, he's a big headed c**t

Baz

[John Carlucci]

Btw, that's not even a real Fender Tele. It's a Japanese Tokai copy & as for the girl...  I know the story, he hit on every girl I ever brought around. It was weird, like he was in competition with me. It created a lot of bad blood which eventually killed the band. That's why he can't keep anyone in his band & has gone through like 30 band members.
 
Barry Stark said:

John..I saw you in the Fu**tones in Glasgow many moons ago...good rockin' gig that night. Played with the 'tones in 91 in Edinburgh at the venue - by this time Chris Harlock was on bass and Phil Arriagada on guitar. 'Twas a great gig, but my memories are kind of spoiled by the fact that Mr P kept trying to trade his pussy paisley tele (or strat) for my '63 English baby blue Phantom (rarer than rocking horse shit BTW, 'tho I didn't know it at the time) and he kept hitting on my girl...so yeah, he's a big headed c**t

Baz

[John Carlucci]

Wow, that's pretty creepy. It's gonna give me nightmares! And he's putting out our In Heat demo's as an album now??? LOL!!! Can't he do anything new??? It's so weird. He's still mining the past & exploiting us for not just our talent, but our images. I can't wait to show this to Jordan & Gabe. Weird.

 
 
Gringo Starr said:

@John - Have you seen the new Fuzztones tour poster? It's bizarre! A graphic of Rudi as a Medusa with every member of the Fuzztones throughout the years in his snake-like hair! Check it out:

[John Carlucci]

We all have stories.  Some are quite unbelievable. The reason why he's not in the states anymore is because there's no-one left here that he can scam. He's run out of victims.(& by that I don't mean just band mates). Mostly it's women. He's always managed to attach himself to some impressionable girl on the scene that he ends up moving in with and living off of. Then he takes off on the road & cheats on the poor girl he left home paying the bills.

 

Hafensabine♥ said:

uh, that poster is scary, just like rudi... have seen them playing many times and they used to be good when they were (or let's better say: when rudi was) in a good mood, but listening to narcissistic statements like that in the video made them so unappeling and it was awful to see that horny old man loving himself way to much.

There were many bands that brought Garage Rock to Europe, first of all the Miracle Workers in my case, but of course the Fuzztones have some great albums. Of course Jordan Tarlow is a great musician, too! The best show I have ever seen with the Fuzztones was the last tour with Debonair - they did hardly say a word during the whole show, it was pretty psychedelic and everyone was in a good mood.

I'm pretty sure that Debonair could tell a story about Rudi and his behaviour and why he lives in Berlin now and not in the States anymore, but that's another story...  ;)

käthe