Well, let's see how much of this I can remember.
I met Ron Asheton in 1974 or 1975 (I was around 17 or so) when he was a member of The New Order and I was writing for a local L.A. fanzine called Back Door Man. We had put out one issue and were working on the second. Unbeknownst to us Ron was based in Hollywood with Dennis Thompson, Jimmy (then going by Jimi) Recca and David Gilbert.
We were made aware that they were now HQ'd locally and asked if we'd like to meet them and perhaps set up an interview. I remember the meeting being arranged by Ben Edmonds but it seems as though it may actually have been Metal Mike Saunders who set this up.
As we were all rabid Stooges/MC5 fans and had seen the Stooges numerous times at The Whisky the previous year we jumped at the chance. We were all very nervous and didn't really know what to expect. The 'zine was still new and we had not yet met many rock stars. It was arranged that we would first go to their H-Wood digs and hang out with them, party a bit, have a couple of beers and see what transpired.
To our surprise we were treated as though we were from Rolling Stone or Creem or something. They were happy to have someone interested in talking to them and were kind enough to not mention how amateurish our first issue really was. Ron (in particular) and Dennis answered our endless questions about the Stooges, the MC5, the Grande and every and anything else we might have come up with. They really could not have been nicer or more welcoming. It was a long, drunken night and it was in the wee hours that we all piled back into our cars and drove the 25 or 30 miles back to the South Bay section of Los Angeles where we all lived at the time.
A week or two later it was set up that myself and another of our staff would go back to their apartment building (The Coronet) on Sunset Blvd to do the actual interview. We were brand new to all of this and didn't realize that interviews were supposed to last somewhat less than several hours.We talked about the Stooges, the 5 and their plans for The New Order. The interview was spread across issues 3 & 4 of BDM.
The first half (issue three) features Ron and Dennis describing how the band got together and what their plans were. How they hoped to be different from whatever else was out there at the time and their politics as they related to the band. They were hopeful but wary - they'd both been burned before and wanted to avoid the mistakes they'd made in the past. They spoke about their disdain for the then current music scene (such as it was) and how they might fit in. Having just glanced through the interview for the first time in years it was interesting to see how upbeat they were in these early days of the band. It wouldn't always be that way.
The second half of the interview (issue 4) is mostly them telling stories about Larry Fine (the real one), John Sinclair, Tony DeFries and life as it had been for them in the then recent past.
It was a real thrill. In my teenage years I was able to meet guys who I idolized. I was also able to realize that they were, in fact, just guys - not idols. Rock stars, but no different from the rest of us - a valuable lesson at such a young age. From these humble beginnings came a long friendship with Ron that lasted until he passed away last month. Thinking about it now just saddens me so much. R.I.P. Ron.
Later I became roadie for the New Order and I will get back with more stories if anyone is interested in hearing them. And again - what I can remember of them.
Incidentally, there is a MySpace page under construction for Back Door Man magazine and eventually these interviews will be up there. I can't tell you exactly when, but the plan (as I understand it) is to get all the issues up over time.
That's all for now.
Home 
Subject: Meeting the New Order 
Thu Feb 19, 2009 9:34 am
