Back Stage Pass with Steve Ryan
Steve Ryan is a former Radio DJ and Music Director, as well as a Promotion Manager for major record labels and spent 18 years in Media Management. Join Steve as he interviews some of your favorite artists. For questions, comments or to book an interview, email, steveryan.songoftheday@gmail.com
Back Stage Pass with Steve Ryan
Ep. #84 Frank DiMino- Angel
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Back Stage Pass with Steve Ryan Ep. #84 Frank DiMino- Angel. Talking about the last Angel Tour, the songs, Ain't Gonna Eat Out My Heart Anymore, Tower, Long Time, Pressure Point, Feelings, LA Lady, 1975, Seduce Me Tonight and more. #frankdimino #angelband
It's Backstage Fats with Steve Ryan. And here's your host.
SPEAKER_02Steve Ryan.
SPEAKER_05Hey, brother.
SPEAKER_00All right.
SPEAKER_05Excellent. We did it. Man, I'm I'm happy to see you. Yeah, it's good to see you too. Thanks for giving me some time. I uh hey, were you in Las Vegas back in February? Um did you go to the babies show? Yes, I did. Okay. You were sitting directly behind me, and I remember I was thinking to myself, that sure looks like Frank from Angel. I I'm I don't want to say anything because I don't know if it is. But uh yeah, you were with some some other some other cats that I didn't recognize, but uh but I recognize you, so how it's cool we're here.
SPEAKER_00I don't remember who I went with. Yeah, I went because Joey uh asked me to go, and uh I'm good friends with Joey Sykes. We uh we've been writing some stuff together as well. So really you know, I in fact one of the things that I wrote with him is gonna be on the New Angel album.
SPEAKER_05Wow. You know, I met Joey that weekend and then we uh ran into each other at the airport, and so we've been we've been emailing back and forth ever since a couple of times a month. He's gonna come on the program. It's we just it just hasn't worked out yet, but uh man, he's so cool.
SPEAKER_00He's a nice guy, yeah. Very nice guy.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. Hey, um I want to go back a little bit with a band if if that's okay and just kind of work our way up. This this podcast is kind of about songs, yeah. But um, you know, I I want to talk about I love I love 70s rock and as you as you guys moved forward in time, and then you did some solo stuff that I'd like to talk about. But I know the story's been told a thousand times, but would you we talk about I read, tell me if this is correct, that um Gene Simmons kind of discovered you guys or helped get your deal at Casablanca or give me a little background on that.
SPEAKER_00What happened was uh we were um we were when we first formed the band, uh because of uh Punky and I uh had different bands. Uh and Mickey and I played together. Mickey, Barry, and I played together, and we all had different bands in in the DC area. So we knew the um the owners of a club and the booking guy the guys that booked the clubs and stuff. So um a friend of ours, Mike, who uh who was opening bogies, said, I'd like to have you guys there to, you know, when you guys come out and do your when you're ready to play, I'd like to have you guys play at the club. And uh so he said, he said, Ann, uh I have a big room upstairs where you guys can rehearse. So you rehearse, and when you're ready, you can come down and and start playing for us. So we said, that was great. So that's what we did. We uh we put the band together, we rehearsed up there. We came down and we started playing, and um we got a really good response because all of us had been been in in different bands and individual bands in the DC area. So we were we had our pretty good draw from kind of like uh it was kind of like a a lot of the guys from the band from different bands putting one big band together, you know. So um uh what happened was uh we had uh um Gordon Fletcher who wrote for Circus Magazine and Rolling Stone magazine. He just came down, he was from the area. So he would come down and he would listen to us every night and we'd sit and chat with him after the shows and stuff. And after a couple of weeks, three weeks or so, he said, you know, I'm gonna start to bring, see if I can bring some international bands. If I get like a job to do a review of a show and stuff at Largo, I'm gonna bring some bands down. And we said, that would be great. You know, that would be great to bring them down here and see the band and stuff. So that's what he did. He brought Kiss down. He got I don't know how he did it, but he got all of them to come down to the show. So all four of them walked into the into the club uh and watched the show and um and we sat and talked uh with Gene and the rest of the guys. And uh it it's weird because uh this is like about maybe a month or so after, or a month and a half after we had put the whole thing together, and we had been going back and forth with managers. We were going back and forth with Lieber and Krebs, David Krebs, who who were managing uh Air Smith, and uh David Joseph, who was part of the Gem Toby, uh who they had Main Man, they had Gary Glitter, David Bowie, they had a lot of a lot of big bands from from uh the UK. So we were going back and forth, we didn't know which ones to go, we ended up going with David Joseph. And when Gene came down and Kiss came down to see us and talked to us, they wanted us to sign with with Bill, of course, Bill Coin. And we said we had just signed a management deal. He said, Oh, okay, all right, I get it. Um, so uh we had a conversation, we had a really good conversation and stuff, and he was giving us tips and stuff like that. So uh, and that was the end of it. Uh what happened was now we go to LA and David says, I know uh Neil Boga from Casablanca, and he's looking for racks. So I'm gonna go to Neil and and bring you guys to Neil, see what he says. So he uh he talked to Neil and uh and uh he said to Neil at one point, he said, Well maybe you should put them on a date with with KISS or something like that, you know, to see to see them, or if you want to come down to rehearsal or whatever. So he said, Well, what let me he said, Did the guys in KISS know them? Did they see he said, and David said, Yeah, they they came down to the club and they saw the band. So I guess he had called Gene and uh talked to Gene about it. And he called David back. He said, I don't have to see the band. He said, uh I'll sign the guys because Gene gave me a a really uh great a great review of of of the band and stuff and said uh you guys looked great, you guys were a great band, great musicians and stuff. So so that's how that's how that whole whole thing kind of unfolded. Wow, wow, that's so cool. Is is just like a one in a once in a lifetime kind of thing, yeah. Well, yeah. All of us and all of us were struggling, you know, with different bands and stuff, trying to put these kind of things together, and this just came came together so quickly, you know? Yeah, wow.
SPEAKER_05Did you guys like it written 75 when you're getting ready to put out the first album? And who are your influences? Who are you guys, who are you who are you kind of listening to? And maybe we you could even go back to when when you know you were a kid and teenager and you were discovering music and trying to you know figure out what what really you know pushed your buttons. And I don't know if I would I guess progressive rock kind of kind of works for especially of 1975, but is that where you guys were going? Or tell me about how the music influenced you.
SPEAKER_00I think it was a mixture of it. Look, you know, uh Greg Punky and myself were writing all the material at that point, and uh you know, Greg was more from the Genesis kind of like uh progressive kind of stuff, and and Punky is more from the um kind of heavy pop stuff, and I'm I'm really kind of just uh uh heavy uh rock and roll, like D Purple, uh you know, Humble Pie, that kind of stuff was uh, but you know, uh all my influences were you know uh Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Humble Pie, uh, you know, the Jeff Beck group. I love the Jeff Beck group. I saw them on their first tour. I saw Led Zeppelin on their very first tour at a little place called uh the Boston Tea Party when they their very first tour. I saw the Beatles twice. Yeah, so uh, you know, um all that stuff kind of like comes comes together. And I think with the three of us, all of our influences kind of like mixed in with each other, and we were able to kind of you know work it out where where uh the songs were uh a little bit of this and a little bit of that. And uh, you know, they had we had progressive, but we had hooks as well. So I mean that's what we were looking for. And and we really wanted to put the um the uh guitar and the uh keyboards uh working together, you know, something new and something different, you know.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, I I think later on bands like like Europe, I think took a nod from you guys.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I think when I look back on it, I the there's a lot of uh a lot of that kind of stuff that I can look back on and see that you know, maybe maybe they did have some different bands uh took took a big but we all do that, you know what I mean.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, you know, but um but the thing about you guys, which is why I kind of lean a little progressive rock, is because you on a lot of your songs you have these tempo changes, you know what I mean? I mean it's not you know this consistent, you know, like you know, pop rock stuff is just you know, it's kind of you know 126 beats a minute, you know, and that's all we do. And so a lot of your stuff is like that, and I love the tempo changes, and uh, you know, tower that you know from from the debut album is is a perfect example.
SPEAKER_01Send alone and tell the tale of the land of Belly.
SPEAKER_00It was very influential on on all of us. I mean, uh it was one of those things where there was it was, you know, there were a little bit, there was some different things going on back and forth before the the five of us all came together. But when the five of us finally came together and would were in one room together and started playing together, uh, I think we all felt the same that you know there was there was something, some kind of connection was being made musically between all of us. And that's what I think uh really pushed us forward together. Yeah.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. You know, another song on that debut album that I love is uh is a track called Long Time.
SPEAKER_00Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. Can you believe that was fifty years ago? No. Yeah. Wow. Crazy. Yeah. It's crazy when I think about that now.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_05Do you guys do you guys still record that way when you're when you're recording new stuff? Do you still all get together in the in the studio? I mean, you were talking about recording in at home. You just do your deep a lot of people have their their you know, their home studios and they do their parts and then they send it, you know, over the internet and then somebody edits all together. Is that what you mostly do now? That's pretty much what we do now, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Because we're all in different areas.
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Except for the vocals. Uh when the vocals, when I do the vocals, uh uh Punky and Danny are there uh with me, and uh so that we can get uh you know a good character of what the song is and stuff, and uh online? No, no, we get together. In the studio.
SPEAKER_05In the studio, yeah. Yeah, cool. The um the next album was Hell of a Band. Yeah. There's a song on there called Pressure Point. Yes. Man, the guitar work on that song is so great.
SPEAKER_00We you know, we put that in the set. That's what we've been uh doing live. And uh Pressure Point was uh was a late composition on that, uh, because we spent so much time on the fortune trying to make sure that we got that correct and and got it right with uh with with everything with all the keyboards that were going on and stuff. And uh and funky and I did uh Pressure Point uh and Mirrors, those are the last two I think that we we uh wrote and uh recorded for that album.
SPEAKER_05Uh feelings is on there too, which is another track that I really dig.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that was that was kind of Greg, Greg and I doing uh working on that. And and like I say that, you know, but but in the end, the three of us really kind of like uh contributed to every all of those songs. I mean, there were there were some that were like, you know, mainly uh, you know, Greg having an idea and me singing along with it and then writing all the lyrics. I I wrote lyrics to all all the stuff on the uh on the albums, except for maybe four or five songs. But uh but yeah, um in the end, the three of us pretty much wrote uh contributed you know to all the songs together. So and of course there were songs too that uh that uh the whole band did uh contribute to uh you know there was that we did a rehearsal uh on and on, I think was one of those where Mickey and and Barry uh contributed to that song.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. Is there a point that now that you kind of in retrospect look back, do you would you feel like we really hit our groove right then? That's that's that's the time where I I really feel like we we hit a groove, you know. It kind of went to the next step. Do you is there do you have that?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, I think so. Yeah. Um I I think that uh right um I would say uh we were just starting to hit our groove. I I think by the time we got to to the White Hot album, uh we we felt like we were really as a band sonically were really sound and really uh really able to do uh pick songs with whichever ones we wanted in in the set to play live. And that's the main thing was playing live, you know what I mean? Yeah, and I think that uh we had we finally had found uh uh uh you know the crew, we found a uh a a sound man and stuff that we felt really uh which was Angelo at the time, Angelo O'Curie, who went on to do Dio after uh after we left, after we split up. But uh yeah, I mean sonically we felt we were coming together as a band right around that time, 78, when Felix joined the band and stuff. So yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_05That White Hot album has the um ain't gonna eat my heart out anymore on it. Yeah, which is as close to a pop hit that as you guys had.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, and that was one that uh you know, we used to look, you know, Punky and I uh like I said, and and Barry and Mickey, we we all played in clubs and we all did a million different songs. So at rehearsal, whenever we got bored or whenever we got to the point where we said, hey, let's let's loosen up, we always pulled out songs. Hey, let's do this one, let's do that. Oh, I remember that one. Let's pull it. And somehow that was one of the ones that we used to screw around with all the time at rehearsal.
SPEAKER_05Let's talk about the Sinful LP if you don't mind.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_05There's a song on there called LA Lady. Yeah. Man, I love the piano in that song so much.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_05There's uh Well, you don't don't take your lovers on there. It's that's a pop song.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's got some great uh there's there's some great kind of like Beach Boys harmony going on in there and stuff that uh that I really enjoy doing it.
SPEAKER_05I love that song. Yeah, that was a good song. You know, uh in eighty-three you had a song on the Flash Dance uh soundtrack. Yes, yeah. Well, it was it was years before I knew that was you singing Seduce Me Tonight.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I I've done a lot of stuff. I've done I did a lot of uh made for television movies that probably no one knows that I sang on. Uh I I was doing a lot of a lot of sessions at the time tonight. We were working on Metropolis, and as we were doing it, Giorgio said, Well, I gotta do four songs. He was doing four songs, and someone else was doing four songs for this movie Flashdance, and uh and we would see the rushes all the time. They would send them to his studio, his house in uh Truesdale, and uh and we would watch them. I thought, oh, it's pretty interesting. But everyone thought staying alive was gonna be the huge hit. So this little movie, Flash Dance, was just gonna be like one of those things that you throw out there. So when when they asked for what happened was they wanted to put um uh brown sugar in that that that spot where seducing was where the stones? Yes, the stones brown sugar. They wanted to put that in there where the top the girl was doing topless and all that. Yeah, put brown sugar in there, and the stones wanted the money that they wanted was way too much for them because, like I said, they thought the movie was gonna be a small movie. Because it had John Travolta, so directing stuff.
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Uh so that's why they came to Giorgio and said, Hey, listen, uh, we can't pay the stones to do. We want this one section, it's a small section. Uh, if you can write a song to what that we can put in that song, uh that area. So Giorgio had this idea, and we had just I was sitting in the other room with Keith and having a drink, and we had just worked all day on this all the tunes for Metropolis. And Giorgio said, Remember that song that we were screwing around with? Uh, I want to put it in that movie flash dance because they they want to fill up some time. And so both Keith and I said, Now you want to do it now? And he said, Yeah, yeah, yeah, let's do it now. So we worked it out. I mean Keith wrote some lailets and stuff, and and um and I did it very quickly and uh they put it out and the next thing you know it's like the flash dance is a huge, huge, huge kit and uh and the soundtrack was huge, huge, yeah, millions, yeah. Yeah, wow. And when Giorgio came up with the idea of cycle five, I thought I said, Giorgio, you know, at that time it was a dog food. I said, Giorgio dog food. Cycle five is a dog food. He said, Oh, no one will care. All right, whatever.
SPEAKER_05You did a solo album in 2015, Old Habits, Die Hard. There's a song on there that I think Punky played on called Never Again. I think it's the opening track, if I remember right. Yeah, yeah. Was that was doing something, a solo project, was that a goal of yours always, or did it just just kind of happen?
SPEAKER_00It just kind of happened. I I I've been always used to playing and singing with bands.
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_00So uh a friend of mine, Ken Chinchimino, who was the executive producer on that album, said you should do a solo album. I said, you know, I mean, I mean, it's not it never really crossed my mind. And Paul Crook was uh who was was producing the uh who ended up producing my solo thing. I got together with Paul and I said, you know, um I got these uh songs and stuff. I don't know, maybe maybe I'll do a solo album. I said, you know, um i if you want to be involved in it. And he said, Yeah, of course I'd love to be involved in it. You know, let's see his stuff.
SPEAKER_05I was uh I was listening to it this afternoon as I was, you know, kind of prepping for our for our conversation.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_05And uh I listened, I listened to the whole album and and the the the streaming service I was listening to it on had a bonus track on there at the very last track called Even Now. Yeah. And there's a little the great piano solo in that. And I fit thought it finished that that set really well.
SPEAKER_00The um that that's a song that Barry and I wrote together, and um the uh the electric that you you heard the electric version as well, right? There's two versions on there. The bonus track is the acoustic. Yes, that's the one we send to uh Japan.
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_00The electric one is is the one that's uh that's on the uh the uh US album. And my son played uh acoustic guitar on that. Really?
SPEAKER_04Yeah, wow.
SPEAKER_00So that was a big deal for me to have him come down and and play on that. I mean, it was like it was so it was just a cool thing to have him play on that whole thing and have him go through that whole process.
SPEAKER_05In 2019, the uh Risen album. Yeah, I'm man, I love that album so much.
SPEAKER_00Thank you.
SPEAKER_05I love that, and uh and it's just there's a song on there that and I actually I listened to it like three times in a row, 1975. Yes, yeah, and it's got great acoustic, there's great acoustic work on that too, and it's like a seven minute song.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's it's it's very strange. You know, uh Punky had written some lyrics for it, and I had written down some lyrics with without really even thinking about uh the song. I was just writing at the time, just writing some stuff, and I thought, hey, maybe I kind of think this fits in with what we're talking about. Uh Punky wrote that opening part uh with you know about uh Queen uh Kiss and Angel stuff. And I had this other thing, and it kind of just kind of like fit, and I love when stuff like that happens, it just kind of fit right into it. And I wasn't writing for that particular song for that particular reason. I had just been writing lyrics down because you know often I sit down and and write some lyrics, uh, you know, and just just to keep them on top of myself, yeah. Keep on top of it, and and it just kind of fit when I had to change a few things around, but yeah, it fit perfectly with that whole thing.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, I love that song. Did I see are you guys on the road? Yes or about to just got back. Just got back. Okay. What's the plan for the rest of the year?
SPEAKER_00Uh well, we have um let's see. We have West Coast coming up in August. Uh that would be the whiskey, uh, a place out here in Vegas. The um what's that club? Uh the club in San Juan Capistrano. Uh there's a few other clubs that we're doing all West Coast stuff. And uh then in um I think it's September when we do the Gene Simmons thing. He's doing he's doing that at the Westgate. There's a whole bunch of people doing signings, and and we're gonna do a signing in, we're gonna play live. Nice thing, yeah. And then we have some dates in Texas. Uh we have some dates in Florida coming up. So there's a it's uh it's gonna be I hopefully a busy uh this year, the end of this year, and next year, and then the touring was probably gonna stop for a while. Yeah. Uh we we we uh I'm sure we'll do, you know, keep on doing, you know, solo stuff or here and there, but and we'll do angel stuff whenever if there's a festival that wants angel, of course we'll we'll come together and do a festival. So I think festivals are the best way to approach these kind of things.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. You know, I I I didn't realize you're based out of Las Vegas. So uh when I when I asked you earlier, were you in Vegas in February? It's like I live here. Yeah, so now it makes sense. Joey was gonna be playing in town, said come to the show. Yes, of course. Yeah, hey, um Frank, where if people want to follow you uh in what's happening with you and with the band, what where what's social media websites, what's the best place for them to go?
SPEAKER_00Um, I have my uh uh Frank Domino official uh website on uh Facebook, and I have my uh my personal uh musician uh Frank Domino on Facebook.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, there's an Angels website too.
SPEAKER_00Oh yes, of course, the Angel Official, and there's also uh uh I think it's the Angel Band official uh uh website. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_05Man, Frank, I I've kept you way past what I promised, but but I've enjoyed talking to you so much, man.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely, it was great.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, let's I would love to I I only got through half my notes. So I've got more songs I'd love to talk to you about. We do a follow-up sometime. That would be awesome.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, if you want to break down each one each one, uh I'll I'll go through that too with you. Yeah, that'll be fun.
SPEAKER_05All right, brother. Thanks for uh thanks for giving me some time in the evening. I I really appreciate it. Yeah, let's talk again soon. All right, brother. I'll see ya. Thank you.
SPEAKER_02For questions or comments, email Steve at steveryon.song of the day at gmail.com.