In honor of Willie Phoenix Way, I am re-posting the four-part Ballad of Willie Phoenix that first appeared on my blog Growing Old With Rock & Roll in 2013. It’s a deep dive into Willie's history from my dual perspectives as both a fan and as his roadie. Someday I might write another chapter, but just in case I don't, let me say this: If I hadn't met Willie Phoenix (and one other) in 1978, I would have lived out my existence as a middle-manager in some retail operation. Willie gave me back music, gave me back poetry, gave me back style, and made me believe in a future where I could still be living in and writing about rock & roll in 2020.
Thank you Willie.
Tuesday, December 3, 2013 / The Ballad of Willie Phoenix, part one - Romantic Noise and The Buttons, 1978-1980
I have a heroically garbled cassette tape from 1978 of Romantic Noise, Willie Phoenix's best band EVER, playing a song called "I Feel New." John Ballor, the lead guitarist of Romantic Noise, sings lead on the tune and it is, quite simply, one of the most gorgeous, heartfelt tunes I have ever heard in my rock & roll life.
Romantic Noise was stunning. Willie wrote virtually all of the songs, played strictly rhythm guitar (he didn't start playing lead guitar until The Shadowlords in 1983) and sang about 65% of lead vocals. Bass player extraordinaire Greg Glasgow contributed the remainder of the original tunes (of which there was a mind-boggling number & variety, which we may deal with in a later appendix) and sang lead on about a third of the Romantic Noise repertoire. Lead guitarist John Ballor only sang about three leads - the aforementioned "I Feel New," "Holly," and an early raver maybe called "Politician, Politician" - but Willie generously handed him off some truly killer songs to sing. When original drummer David Machnicki (who employed a rather Ringo Starr-inspired style of playing) was replaced by madman Keith Moon-styled smasher Dee Hunt - the pride of Beckley, West Virginia - the Romantic Noise line-up was complete. (And Dee was height-compatible to fit in with the rather diminutive Small Faces-styled Romantic Noise than the too-tall Machniki.)
For the purposes of full disclosure, I was a roadie for Romantic Noise from probably May or June of 1978 until sometime in 1979 (after they had become The Buttons), so I'm hardly unbiased. I was a roadie for Romantic Noise because I fell in love with them the very first night I saw them, a week after The Great Blizzard Of 1978, at Drake Union on the Ohio State University campus. I was a roadie for Romantic Noise because I realized very early on that I wasn't good enough to actually get INTO the band, that the internal cohesion between those four players was so balanced, precise, fragile and perfect that I had no hope of entering the circle. I ran lights for that band, I took care of guitars, I published a band newsletter, I did pretty much anything that was asked of me. Willie said, "Jump" and I asked, "How high?" I was a roadie for Romantic Noise because they were one of the five best bands I had ever seen.
(This is just an intro; click the link below for the “rest of the story” if you are so inclined…….)
(Any history of Willie Phoenix is a Living History, an ongoing process. He’s still out here rockin’. Stay in the loop at WilliePhoenix.com.)
(Did I remember to mention to the editors at Focus that I was working as a roadie for the band I was
reviewing in this column? Ummm, that particular conflict of interest might have slipped my mind.)