"Yes sir," laughed Stephen Dees of Novo Combo. "The name of the record is "45 West 55th" and that's the address of Michael's apartment in New York City where I first met him and it all started from there. So, that's why we named it that; the album is kind of an anthology not unlike what the Beatles did; in fact, I kind of nicked the idea from them. We have songs that were unreleased demo songs from the first record and of course we recorded new songs as well. We've got five new recordings on the record and we decided that it was a nice way to reclaim our legacy."
Novo Combo is or perhaps "Was" one of the earliest true super-groups. Formed in the 1980's and described as "Power Pop" and "New Wave," their makeup consisted of some very powerful talents.
Bassist and lead singer Dees (Hall & Oates, Todd Rundgren, Pat Travers, Foghat, Bandees), guitarist/vocalist Pete Hewlett (Billy Joel, Carly Simon, Joe Jackson, Julian Lennon, Amy Grant, Eric Carmen), guitarist/vocalist Jack Griffith (Mick Jagger, Carlos Santana, Gary Moore) and drummer Michael Shrieve (Santana, Rolling Stones, George Harrison, Steve Winwood) came together to form a dynamic quartet but after releasing two albums, they kind of went their separate ways; until recently.
"45 West 55th" is the band's third studio record and one that came about for several reasons; sometimes it takes a "Loss" to make a gain being among them.
"In the past many years, people have been selling our records illegally and not compensating us and it has been happening for a long time," explained Dees. "So, we put this out to say, Hey, this is us and it's a good record and if you want to support what we did it'd be great instead of paying some guy who has been ripping us off. This guy rips off a lot of artists, he sort of does this as a living; that's the weird thing. I've talked to other people that he's selling also and in fact, I was checking him out and I talked to a friend who I used to play with who has several albums out and I asked him about this guy and he said, "Oh, well, that guy is a crook and a liar" and I was like, "Oh." This guy is one of those guys who is kind of under the radar and nobody wants to go to court and he knows that. I think we'd have to do a class action thing or a whole thing where everyone gets together and it's just not worth it. There are bad players and people who do things like that all of the time, you have to expect it but this guy really kind of takes the cake. So, that was an incentive but what really got me sparked on it was, a good friend of mine passed away several years ago, his name was Eddie Zyne. We were kids together, grew up together, he was a great drummer, we played together in many bands including the Hall & Oates Band in the '70s; it was really great and we had a great time. When he passed away, I started going through my archives of music because I wanted to hear things with Eddie on them; just remembering him. I went in there and of course there were tons of other things and there was a bunch of Novo Combo music. I listened to that and was like, wow, what a great band that was and I was really blown away at how good it was after listening to the demos because it was so real. We were a really good band, everyone pulled their weight and it was a very talented band. I was listening to the demos; some of these demos were better than what made it to the record. I know people say that a lot but it's absolutely true; back then when we were doing demos, we'd go in a studio for one afternoon and just play live, just cut the songs, here you go. There were no tricks, no computers, just boom, here it is! We were a band and we'd play it and that's some of the tracks that we put on this record. I love the rawness and the energy that's involved in just playing because over the last 30 years or so, everything has been about Pro Tools and computers and just getting everything perfect. So, it was really refreshing to have us just go in and slam it out (Laughs). So, then I started talking to the guys and we started having conversations because we're a very democratic band and we started going back and forth with the tunes and picking the songs and deciding what we wanted to do on it and we arrived at where we are now. I'm really glad that we did it because I've always loved these guys; we basically broke up back in the day because of business stuff. Seems like business stuff always seemed to mess it up back then; all the money involved, time and this and that and everything, "Oh, you've got to have a hit" and etc, you know, that kind of thing."
"When I went to New York initially, I was just a kid," he went on. "There was literally management sitting behind the desk with a cigar saying, "I'm gonna make you a star" and that kind of stuff. That sounds cliche but it's true and it really happened; initially I had no representation and no lawyer so I kind of got taken to the cleaners by a certain guy. I don't want to cast any shade but you live and learn; it has always been about the music for me. I'm not a business guy, some musicians are but most of them aren't, they usually have somebody help them out. I didn't have an attorney back in the day when I signed some things. I had a solo record on RCA and it was co-produced with Daryl Hall because I was working with those guys and it was great. I really appreciate working with Daryl, he was very considerate and kind to me, he kind of took me under his wing and that was great but it wasn't Hall & Oates, it was the business people involved. They (Hall & Oates) are fine, they're regular guys like anybody else and they're about the music as well."
The Hall & Oates connection doesn't stop there; Novo Combo has an alumnus on this release and he's a fine one at that.
"I work with a guy named Charlie DeChant, he's the saxophone player from Hall & Oates," said Dees. "He played on all of their big number one hits, he's been with them forever. Charlie is on the Novo Combo record, he plays on a track called, "It's Only Temporary;" he's fabulous. I've known Charlie forever, since I was a teenager back in Coconut Grove. He was the older cat who really had it together. He was a really good musician and in a band called Bethlehem Asylum and they had a record deal so we looked up to them. He's been a lifelong friend, we both live in Florida and we're going to be doing some gigs with my band called The WildRoots and he's been playing with us on and off for years; great guy, great player."
The luxury of having players at your disposal like DeChant is fantastic but even more nice is when you can take decades old recordings and discover that they sound as fresh today as they did years ago; in part, thanks to quality studios and those employed there.
"Back in the day, all of the engineers; have you ever heard of The House of Music in New Jersey? Asked Dees, "I did some recording there for my solo record and Novo Combo also did some demo recording for a day. The thing is, in New York and New Jersey, almost all of the engineers that you use if you go to a good studio, are really good engineers. They know how to mix the drums and the bass there, whereas in L.A., I always kind of thought that they didn't have a handle on it as much as the New York cats and the Jersey guys. I go back and listen to these demos and the drums and the bass are really there, they were great. We'd go in, literally in an afternoon and cut four or five songs and get out and that would be it and they were always together; as a matter of fact, some of these tracks are just how they mixed them, they were that together. Even when we did our record with the record company behind us, you'd go in and you'd have more time than when we were doing the demos but you'd go in and still, everybody was looking at their watch and going, hey, this is 80 bucks an hour or whatever it was. So, you still had that hurry up kind of thing and that's the one good thing about now, when we went back and did some songs, we were able to take our time and get it right where we wanted it. So, it's kind of a nice contrast between the raw immediate stuff and some more disciplined regular recording like now but the bottom line is, we always sound like Novo Combo and we always sound like Novo Combo because we are a band for sure."
"45 West 55th" and its origin may have begun at Shrieve's apartment of the same address all of those years ago when times and things were different and according to Dees, it was a bit easier to garner feedback as you showcased your material.
"We do what we do and so we fell into it pretty easily because everybody had a life in music. Michael has a new album that came out called, "Drums of Compassion," it's an instrumental thing. He's an artsy guy, he's always chasing it and doing cool things. So, it's nice to have him with us on this whole thing and he's into it. As time passes by, hopefully you remember all the good stuff and that's what I and we were doing. Going back to "45 West 55th;" when we put this band together, Michael was the only guy living in New York at the time. So, when we went up there, we'd all crash on his floor in that very apartment. We put all of the songs together there, we worked really hard writing together and then finally I moved up there and then Jack moved up there; we were really just a band trying to do our thing because there were a lot of places to play in New York and New Jersey as well. You could find some place to play every weekend and we could go out on that first record and play for people and get a reaction and that's what you want. Get a reaction, "Hey, that song was happening" and that kind of thing. So, we really could hit the streets and do what bands do."
When you have pedigrees such as they, one of which being Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee Shrieve, you tend to gather a bit more attention, perhaps more than some others but even with that, there is not much out there on air or screen linked to the band. So; what do they intend to do to advance the new record which was released on October 18 of this past Fall?
"We have a promoter and we're doing everything that we normally do," said Dees excitedly. "We have a certain following and it's just getting the word out there to let people know that we have this out. We don't have giant money like back in the day so we expect a slow build and that's fine. We did this mostly for ourselves and our fans; we're not expecting it to change the world or anything, we're expecting; actually nothing (Laughs) other than what it already is because it has already lived to our expectations so, we're happy about that. As far as touring, everybody lives all over the country and Michael is into a different kind of thing now; he's mostly standing up and playing a lot of different instruments. He had a back operation a couple of years ago and so for him to sit behind a drum kit for a long time is kind of rough; who knows but never say never. We do have a couple of live videos that are coming out that we taped way back in '81 or something; it's probably the only film of us playing and performing live at the same time. There are a lot of videos out there and we did TV shows but those are all lip-syncing and there are several live recorded shows like King Biscuit or whatever was happening back then but I don't think there is any of us actually; here it is live with audio and visual at the same time. We have that because there was a crew that came over from Italy who wanted to film us and interview us and there is this primitive one camera and a mic and we were doing a soundcheck from a gig in Connecticut I believe and they asked if they could record a couple of songs; it's kind of low tech but it captures what we were about and of course when you have an audience it's better because we were playing to know one at that time except for the camera guy but you get a really good sense of what we were, a very high energy into it band that gelled well together and that's so important. Speaking of drummers, for me, being a bass player, the drummer is everything. So, to play with Michael and have that energy is great. I've always been a Michael fan, even before I met him; there were a lot of guys in rhythm sections who were Michael fans; after the Woodstock thing; which just blew me away like so many other people. I was just talking to someone and they were reading Alex Van Halen's book and very early on like page 24 or something like that, he said the same thing as to how Michael Shrieve blew him away at Woodstock and how it affected him. So, it was like, there you go; Michael met Jimmy Page a couple of years ago and Jimmy Page told him, "John Bonham loved your drumming" and he didn't know that until after all these years and people loved John Bonham's drumming and he was one of the main guys in the Rock pantheon for sure."
With seemingly a great amount of enthusiasm and interest in the group's revival; were there any things that "Surprised" them during this process?
"It is the same energy, everybody sounds the same, which is really great! I'm 72 and I'm the next to the youngest guy but all three singers, Pete, myself and Jack; we all sound exactly the same. So, that's cool (Laughs)! When you get older, voices change, you may not have the same range or whatever it may be and I was pleasantly surprised that it still sounds like we are kids and like we did then."
To discover more about Novo Combo and its members, please visit https://www.facebook.com/novocombo?paipv=0&eav=AfaQl3dCarWG_17cGcr-ZotpIojqTYrLz-x2HTWs8GFRi7B0ZsXiMBtKL37VvIcO5UU&_rdr
That's it for this week! Please continue to support live and original music and until next week....ROCK ON!
