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Dust Interview with Marky Ramone: Paying Homage to a Heavy Legacy

In the influential and seemingly ever-expanding canon of formative ’70s proto-heavy, the name Dust has echoed for much longer than its four letters might lead you to believe. Aside from launching the careers of future Ramones drummer Marc Bell (aka Marky Ramone) and KISS producer Richie Wise (guitar/vocalist) and bassist Kenny Aaronson, who went on to play with Bob Dylan, Blue Öyster Cult and many, many others, Dust‘s two albums, 1971’s Dust and 1972’s Hard Attack stand as documents of the formation of what would soon become American heavy metal, full of the riff-led, blues-driven sensibility that  collectors have hounded after for years both from Dust and similarly-minded acts from the era.

The 40th anniversary of Hard Attack passed in 2012, but Sony/Legacy stepped in to reissue both Dust albums earlier in 2013 on a limited single-CD and double-LP collection in time for Record Store Day. Both albums are remastered for a full, louder sound, and with liner notes documenting the young trio’s getting together, writing, recording, touring and disbanding, it’s as complete a recounting of what Dust was able to accomplish during their time and their enduring influence over heavy rock as one could ask. What’s more, the songs sound fantastic, whether it’s the driving-but-melodies thrust of “Chasin’ Ladies” from the first album, or the Beatles-meets-Who exploration of “Walk in the Soft Rain” from the second. Whatever they’ve gone on to accomplish in the years since, there was still obviously a sense of reverence on the part of the band in putting Hard Attack/Dust together.

All the better to talk to Marky Ramone about putting the complete package together. In the interview that follows, the former Dust drummer recounts some of what it was like to be in the band circa 1971 and how they got started, still in high school, what brought about the end of Dust and how the reissues came about now, how it felt to revisit the material and so on. His current outfit, Marky Ramone’s Blitzkrieg, is currently on tour in Europe and will hit the road in the States as well this fall, while Wise has continued his work with KISS, Gladys Knight and others, and Aaronson can be found in the modern incarnation of influential glam rockers New York Dolls.

Hard Attack/Dust is available now on Sony/Legacy. Please find the Marky Ramone Q&A after the jump and please enjoy.

Let’s start at the beginning, how did the reissues come about? For Dust, I know 40 years was last year. Was it just a matter of being a little late on that? Where did it all come from?

Well, Legacy/Sony bought the rights to it. Originally they were on Buddha/Kama Sutra, but another company bought it from them. Over the years they were just existing, nobody was doing anything with them. They were just sitting around on these little labels like Repertoire, which has good stuff, but they didn’t remaster it. The packaging was a little dated, so when I was told that Legacy was interested in reissuing them, we went the whole gamut. We did the mastering, repackaged it, liner notes, and it’s unbelievable. It sounds twice as big, the photos are great. Never seen. The vinyl, the reissue of the vinyl, is numbered, collectible. It’s just amazing after 40 years that there’s still interest in this band that kick-started, well helped kick-start the metal scene in America.

Was it strange for you to revisit this stuff? You’ve done so much in your career and are so well known for The Ramones.

It wasn’t strange; it was more of a grateful opportunity to be able to do this because we were still in high school when we did these two albums. We were on a label called Buddha/Kama Sutra, which catered to bubblegum bands. So we really weren’t on the right label that could really push the genre of music, which was heavy metal. Looking back and knowing what we were facing and now, it was a little strange in a way. Because if we did a third album on a legitimate label that knew how to handle this kind of music, I think we would have went over the top with Dust. But in the studio we were remastering it a few months ago, we were thinking of the great memories we had.

Doing shows with Alice Cooper, John Mayall, Uriah Heep then coming back to the high school — Erasmus, where I went. Seeing the album in the windows in the record store. It was really amazing for an 18-year-old teenager to see this. Then everyone wanted to be my friend in high school. Even the people that hated me. It was strange but it brings back funny and youthful memories of how well we played as a unit, three people at that time.

The thing I continue to find so interesting about Dust, is that the genre you were playing in, it wasn’t heavy metal yet.

There was no — no one coined the phrase yet. There were bands out of England, Black Sabbath and Deep Purple; they had elements of heavy metal. But in America there really weren’t heavy metal bands yet. Mountain was around but they were really into the rhythm and blues stuff but made it heavy, like Vanilla Fudge doing The Supremes’ song, “You Keep Me Hangin’ On.” There were metal elements but Dust was metal. We lived metal. That was it. We were influenced by Cream, Hendrix, The Who, The Kinks, Deep Purple. Groups like that and you throw it up in the air and when it came down you had an omelet. That omelet was Dust.

The liner notes addressed this too, talking about the drive to play harder and faster.

There was nothing around at the time. You have to realize at that time — ‘70, ‘71, ’72 — music was getting soft. I had nothing against anyone’s taste, that’s their choice. But radio was getting softer. There was a lot of folk rock, disco was coming in. So the heavy metal, the heavy stuff, I’m not saying was being ignored, it really was becoming an album-oriented thing instead of the singles. We concentrated on our albums. Not to have a single, but if a single did come out of we would have been happy. But that’s what was happening. But the other bands that were coming out of England in ‘69 and ‘70, they already had their feet through the door. But as American’s representatives of the genre, we were and still are very grateful to know that we were one of the first bands in this country to be called heavy metal.

You mentioned being aware of the British bands. You also ran concurrent to them. I think of bands like Atomic Rooster, Budgie, they were a little jammier. Were you taking influence from that stuff too? Or was it more Hendrix?

We weren’t influenced by any American bands. We were basically listening to what England was producing and bringing to our shores. Like in the notes, Hendrix, Cream again, Richie [Wise] loved Jethro Tull. That’s who we were really influenced by. But we also loved The Beatles. We also loved The Stones; we loved Procol Harum, all that stuff. Kenny Aaronson loved Yes. You have your influences, then you put your own icing on the cake.

I think especially on the second album you can hear that Beatles influence in Richie’s vocals. There’s such a jump from the first album to the second where it’s raw and gritty then the second album is a little cleaner.

I like the production personally on the second one. As producers, Kenny and Richie Wise got better. They honed their skills between the albums. So the first album we all produced, what did we know? We really relied on the engineer. There weren’t that many producers in America producing metal bands. So, we were happy that it came out the way it did, the first album. Could have it been better? Yes, definitely. Anything can be better. But everything is relative to time. So when the second album was being recorded, we knew what to do and what not to do. The drums were brought up more in the mix.

There were other basic, overdubs on it that made the songs better. Especially “Suicide” and “Pull Away.” The song structure too got more advanced. As you move on, you learn more. If were were going to do a third album and if it was a better label, and with a manager that had more experience, we would have done a third album and I think that’s the one that would have put the band over the top.

Was the production behind the choice to lead with Hard Attack on the reissue?

I don’t know. Not sure. Maybe because that was the last album and not the first. Who knows? I’ll ask.

We talked about there being few bands at the time, it seemed like there was kind of a groundswell too. You had bands like Dust bands like Sir Lord Baltimore, Stonebunny, Cactus coming up. Was there something —

Now can you count on both hands, well, obviously we have 10 fingers. Name me seven metal bands in America in 1971 that were there. That were called and were real metal.

10 American bands?

Yeah, if you can name them.

Salem Mass was pretty metal for the time. Tinhouse got started in ‘71. That’s two. You guys, Bloodrock from Texas. Sir Lord Baltimore…

You have to struggle.

Yeah.

That’s what was happening. There was hardly any metal in America. Luckily three guys out of Brooklyn played hard and fast because, again, also, I told someone else. It’s where you lived too. We lived in Brooklyn, New York. A very rough and tough, kickass borough. You had to always watch your back. I think a lot of that was put into the music too. The fast paced society we live in here. That might have developed or help develop the sound of Dust.

You worked with Kenny on these. What is your relationship to the band like? How are things between all you guys at this point?

Over the years, we all had our own separate careers. We didn’t stay in touch with each other. Richie moved out to the West Coast, he ended up producing the first two KISS albums. So did [producer] Kenny Kerner, he works at the Musicians Institute. Kenny Aaronson became a well-known sideman player, great bass player. So we weren’t that close anymore we were just more into doing different things. Different types of music within the industry. We really didn’t stay in touch, but when we met it was like we never left. It all came back, everything.

What was it that ended the band?

We were still pretty naive and young. Our manager was not really experienced handling this kind of music. Again, the production of the really great producers that were around really didn’t know this kind of genre in America yet, to produce it. So I think after the second album came out, they all charted. We were happy for that. They weren’t as smashed; they didn’t reach the top 10, 20 or 30. But I think if we did a third album with an experienced producer, or even Kenny and Richie because they were getting really good at this point. And if we had a better label like this one, I think we would have gone over the top.

But was there something in particular that cut that short?

Nah, we just fizzled out. We decided we did our best and it’s time to move on and that was it. Kenny joined Stories and had a number one hit with “Brother Louie,” the Summer of ‘73 I started with The Rolling Stones producer Andrew Oldham on an album. Richie and Kenny produced KISS the first album, then the second one. The rest is history.

Would you play again as Dust?

The frontman, lead singer, guitar player doesn’t play guitar anymore, so that’s an impossibility. I would not do a reunion unless he was on board. There are only three people in the band. I don’t believe in bands that only have one member in the group and they call it the name of the band. I think it’s unfair and it cheats the kids. I would never do that. I would never get another bass player and guitar player and call it Dust just because I’m in it. Just because to me it’s shoddy.

I agree.

There are a lot of bands that do that. Either they need the money or they can’t do anything else. So they have the one member, keeping the name but having other people in the group.

Definitely — Is there any other Dust recorded or are these two albums everything?

I think there’s two singles that are still around that, who knows?, maybe if these take off in any way, maybe the next printing we’ll put them on there. We were just happy to have this on this company, putting out these two CDs and the vinyl, which is a collectible. They’re numbered. That’s really cool too. I really love the packaging, I love the new photos. Above all, the sound. It sounds twice as big and it just blew me away.

It is a big difference sound wise. I have those Repertoire reissues, and even between that it makes a big difference.

I couldn’t believe it. I A-B’ed them and I just, the modern technology, it just brings out everything like 3-D.

Dust, Hard Attack/Dust Trailer

Dust Website

Sony/Legacy Recordings

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