Jimmy Kay from Canada's The Metal Voice spoke to Missy Whitney author of the upcoming book on Kevin Dubrow and Quiet Riot called ' Keep on Rollin'.
Joining her on the show legendary photographer Mark Weiss and filmmaker Ron Sobol ( documentary Randy Rhoads- The Quiet Riot Years) who also contributed photographs to her book.
Book cover Photo by Mark Weiss
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Missy Whitney writes about her unique experiences running the Dubrow and Quiet Riot fan club in the 80's. The journey, that starting at 16 years old, promoting Kevin Dubrow's solo career, attending 105 gigs, up through Metal Health's release and beyond. Fan accounts, plus, video shoot stories from “Bang Your Head” and “Cum on Feel the Noize,” and the shock of Kevin's untimely death in 2007, plus, much more... When did you first meet Kevin Dubrow "I saw Quiet Riot play at the very tail end of the band (Quiet Riot Randy Rhoads era) 1979. As far as meeting Kevin I met him sometime in 1980 after Randy (Rhoads) went to Ozzy and we actually started out as pen pals. I was terribly shy so I found his address in the phone book. He lived in an apartment and I sent him letters and I sent him copies of photographs that I took at Dubrow (Pre Quiet Riot Metal Health band) shows and there were a lot. Then one day he wrote back. He sent me discount tickets, then he started sending me more discount tickets and asked for my help to help spread the word. Then actually one time he called my house , when I got on the phone I didn't know who it was and so he started singing the song 'Slick Black Cadillac' (Quiet Riot song) and I just thought that was so cool. After that I had a 'Dubrow' shirt made because there was no merchandise back then and I wore it to the Starwood (club) that night so he knew it was me, so during soundcheck he walked over to me in the parking lot and he introduced himself and I have a photo of this very first meeting in the book. " Missy Whitney
Kevin Dubrow and Missy Whitney
How did Mark Weiss and Ron Sobol get involved in the book "I can't take credit for Ron, Mark got him involved, these two were the two main photographers of the Quiet Riot years. I have been wanting to do this book for a long time but life gets in the way and I never got around to it. I had pieces of it done and then when Kevin died I just really didn't want to do it anymore cause I was just upset. 2020 comes around and everyone is stuck at home and one day I went out on a walk and said this is the year I am going to do it. So I sat down and put on an 80's music station just to get me in the mood and tried to remember all the memories I wanted to share. At one point I knew I wanted a really great book cover. So I was looking around online for a specific photo of Kevin where you can clearly see the gold charm necklace of his microphone stand which I had given to him on his birthday before they went on stage to perform on the Solid Gold TV show. So I saw this photo online and I saw it was done by this guy named Mark Weiss which I had no idea who he was but only to find out Mark is the man. So I send an email to Mark. " Missy Whitney
Care to comment Mark? "I get this email from Missy and I didn't know if she was self publishing or what the deal was. I asked her for the manuscript and I read it and I fell in love with it. I thought it was very heartwarming and I knew Kevin as he was. Kevin had a big mouth but that was just him even if he was just working as a janitor he had that same mouth it was his DNA and he just spoke his mind and he was proud of it. I always gave him credit for speaking his mind. Kevin had a sense of humour that is why I liked him. Kevin was always on your side if he was your friend he would have your back. " Mark Weiss
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Tell me about how a band's fan club was the social media of its time "It was the only connection fans had to the band, unless you were a photographer, groupie or you knew the band you could not get backstage. True fans had no connection to the band other than the fan club." Tell me how the Dubrow band was the missing link between Quiet Riot, Randy Rhoads Era and Metal health era "I was there doing lights, I took a few pictures for Dubrow that had Chuck Wright, Frankie Banali and rotating guitar players." Ron Sobol "When Randy Rhoads left and then Rudy Sarzo, Kevin said to me I am going to name the band 'Dubrow' so I can call all the shots and he was very happy with that. That's when Kevin started to fine tune who the lineup would be. When they got the record deal, Kevin told me they thought it would be better to use the name Quiet Riot again. So in a way the Quiet Riot (Metal health Line up) the world knows is 'Dubrow'. A lot of the songs are written by Kevin too." Missy Whitney How did the band Dubrow get signed whereas Quiet Riot (Rhoads era) could not get really signed? "They had a producer that came along, Spencer Proffer, he saw 'Dubrow' play and he said Kevin sounded like Noddy Holder fromthe band Slade and he thought he could do something with this band and he signed them. Proffer wanted them to record Cum on Feel the Noize , which they refused but he made them because he was the producer. " Ron Sobol
When did Kevin change the name from Dubrow back to Quiet Riot "From what I remember Kevin telling me, the band name went from Dubrow, record deal, changed name back to Quiet Riot, then Randy dies. " Missy Whitney Tell me about Kevin Dubrow's personality "Sarcastic, witty, he liked his women. I liked his personality" Mark Weiss "One of the big reasons him and I got along well is because we were both very business like. We had the exact same goal and we worked beautifully together. Over time we became friends and he would do kind little things. I think part of it was I didn't ask him for things I just wanted to help and as time went on he realized I wasn't out to get something from him. " Missy Whitney "If you were Kevin's friend he had your back and he had mine many times. He was quick witted. Kevin got me to get out of my house as I was 25 years old and still living with my parents." Ron Sobol Tell me about the time when Kevin bad mouthed the up and coming bands in the L.A. scene and got flack for it in the 80`s "Kevin liked it and the journalists liked it, it was like a love love relationship he wasn't pissed that they wrote about it cause he stood by everything that he ever said and more. He loved it, did it help sell records I don't know? I don't think he pissed journalists off he just pissed band members off. " Mark Weiss "Kevin rubbed fans the wrong way back then, the band kind of went downhill after that, Kevin admits that later on, no one could tell Kevin (what to say) anything." Ron Sobol
What was the reason for downfall of Quiet Riot at the time after they hit number 1 with Metal Health in Nov 1983 "Not building (fan base) slowly, Kevin`s mouth (his negative comments towards bands), the second record was not as good as the first and another mistake was doing 'Mama We`re All Crazy Now' (a second Slade cover) that didn't help at all." Ron Sobol
Did abusing drugs play a role in Kevin and the band`s downfall at the time "Kevin was out there, so he took it a little too far, too much partying and thinking he was immortal, we`re number one and everybody loves us, I can do whatever I want, you can`t. Kevin started pissing off people that had influence over record buyers. This story I hate to tell but I am going to tell it and I don't think I have ever gone public with it. Kevin would have me make a bunch of Ice Tea and put it in his Jack Daniels bottle. I didn't realize that the writer from People Magazine was in the dressing room when I was making the tea to put in the Jack Daniels and what the journalist did was she wrote about it. And guess who finds out about that David Lee Roth and what does David Lee Roth do when they are onstage during the 1984 tour, he holds his bottle of Jack Daniels up and goes this ain't no Quiet Riot (drink).That didn't help either ." Ron Sobol "I am not sure what he was doing (drugs) but he was clear headed and took care of business, I could have sworn he said that he did`t start getting involved in drugs until he was 28 years old and I knew him before that. So I knew the clear headed business focused person. I think if he was doing anything even if it was a small amount he kept it from me. I put him on a pedestal as the singer and he might have put me on a pedestal that I am not going to ruin her innocence." Missy Whitney Background on Keep on Rollin In Missy's quest to find the perfect photo for the book’s cover, she met the iconic 80s rock photographer, Mark "Weissguy" Weiss. He was curious about my project, and after a few phone conversations (I'm west coast, he’s east), Mark shared a bigger vision for my book. As it turns out, Mark was friends with Quiet Riot, and he suggested adding some of his incredible photos. And then Ron Sobol also came aboard, offering photos from his treasure trove from the Randy Rhoads years. With your pre-order, this book will be a collective gift in honor and memory of Kevin's 65th birthday. Plus, a portion of all book proceeds will be donated to the Pancreatic Cancer Cure Foundation in memory of Frankie Banali.
Pre-order Book here https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/keep-on-rollin-pre-orders-book-phase-2?fbclid=IwAR1_a3KxAFLHxMcSUsHVBT1FNutoTeyTFPhyEzWrsQdQ4l1TKv5cAGoJanQ#
Mark Weiss -The Decade That Rocked order here
Ron Sobol- Randy Rhoads The Quiet Riot years documentary order here http://www.redmatchproductions.com/index.html