Presented by Rolling Live Studios and hosted at Bowery Electric in New York, the virtual concert will also feature “a mix of stories, performances and videos” from New York Dolls vocalist David Johansen, Henry Rollins, Blondie drummer Clem Burke, Sex Pistols’ Glen Matlock, The Lemon Twigs and many more.
“The New York Dolls would have been a crappy band without him,” says Johansen about his longtime bandmate An excerpt from Rolling Stones, to read the full interview click here
The death of New York Dolls guitarist Sylvain Sylvain after a long battle with cancer means that frontman David Johansen is now the last surviving member of the pioneering proto-punk band. He’s spent the past 24 hours since the news broke reflecting on his five-decade relationship Sylvain and reading fan tributes to him on social media. “It’s too bad this outpouring of love didn’t happen while he was alive,” Johansen says. “People should say, ‘I’m going to die next week, so please tell me how you feel right now.'”
Tell me your first memory of ever seeing Sylvain.
I remember it pretty vividly. We were getting the band going and we just had rehearsal a couple of times. The guy who was playing guitar didn’t show up. All of a sudden, Syl came in the room with a carpetbag and guitar. He had just gotten off the plane after being, I think, deported from Amsterdam. [Laughs] He looked great, but then he started playing and I thought, “Oh my God. We gotta have this guy. He’s great.”
Little did I know, he and some of the other guys in the band had been in cahoots before he was in Europe. They were talking about making a band. He knew [drummer] Billy [Murcia] and [guitarist] John [Johnny Thunders]. I don’t know if he knew Arthur [Kane] or not. But I didn’t know that. I just knew “this guy is fantastic,” and he was.
What role did he play in the creation of the New York Dolls look?
I don’t know. I’ve read some stuff about him being very instrumental in that. I guess he was. I know we were all very what we considered “fashionable” at the time. But he was friends with [fashion designer] Betsey Johnson and he hooked up the shoot for the first album cover. I don’t think he dressed us since I can tell by looking at the picture that they were all clothes that we had.
But he came from a long line of tailors. He was very into clothes and was a habitual shopper when we were on the road.
He was born in Egypt and lived in France for a bit. How do you think that shaped him?
His family moved to New York. The organization that sponsored them said, “You can live in any of these places.” The only place in New York was Buffalo. [Laughs] They had relatives in Brooklyn. I think his father said, “Buffalo? That’s New York. That’s near Brooklyn.” They went to Buffalo. He said his mother cried the whole time they were there. I don’t know how long they were there, but they finally moved to New York.
When I first met him, we were all New York guys. He was a fascinating guy, but I didn’t know too much about his past. When we started going to Europe, I could see that he was very self-assured.