Danielz/T.Rextasy interview

Prior to T.Rextasy’s ‘Commemorative Anniversary Concert’ in memory of Marc Bolan, I was granted an interview with flamboyant frontman Danielz.
Arriving at the rear end of the venue, my teenage dream of ever getting to meet and interview anyone connected to T.Rex begins to crumble when I find the stage door, which was supposed to be open, locked. Besides, I am not scheduled to interview just anyone, I am scheduled to interview Danielz! Upon realizing the band is in full rehearsal with music blaring out loud, my heart begins to sink when no one reacts to my banging on the door. Luckily, there is a minute pause between the next song and eventually, someone does hear me and opens the door.

I’m ushered to a seat in the venue’s corner by Danielz manager/partner Caron and enjoy watching the band via mirrored walls while I’m waiting for rehearsals to finish. Then Danielz comes to greet me and the first thing you notice apart from his corkscrew hair (real and not a wig!) is the almost uncanny physical similarity to Bolan, even without the glitter make-up. He leads me to a quiet and separate little room that is not the dressing room. Exuding warmth and friendliness, combined with a smile that’s a little mischievous and an observing look that is slightly on the curious side, you just know that you will feel relaxed in his company. Sitting on a white sofa, I momentarily imagine it to be a white swan that we ride throughout the interview…

Music-News:
Most people who got into Bolan/T.Rex (either as tribute bands or otherwise) always quote ‘Jeepster’ as the one song that did it for them. Was this particular track the one that changed your musical life, too?

Danielz:
Well, ‘Jeepster’ isn’t like that for me, though when I heard it I became instantly a fan of T.Rex. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great song but a lot of people don’t realize that ‘Jeepster’ is actually a take on an old song by Howlin’ Wolf, called ‘You’re So Fine’. But Marc took the first lyric “You’re so sweet, you’re so fine…” that was actually the first lyric of the Howlin Wolf song as well. You know, Marc often did that; he was very good at hearing really good songs and then adapting them and changing them around to become this unique and powerful T.Rex song. But my favourite song and I think what changed my life in music was the song ‘Metal Guru’. That one did it for me and the reason being is lots of facets, really. Lyrically, it’s so out of this world, haha, it’s almost like a Salvador Dali sonic painting if you like. And I think that 3 minutes, or 2.45 minutes or whatever it is, Tony Visconti and Marc produced this amazing sculptural piece of musical art. Almost like a T.Rex version of a Phil Spector production. All that wrapped into one, it’s just that amazing wall of sound… great lyrics, fantastic tune. And that’s the song that changed my life!

MN:
What other T.Rex songs are your favourites apart from ‘Metal Guru’ and for what reason?

Danielz:
Oh, it’s difficult. There’s many, so many. I love ninety percent of what Marc has released in his lifetime. There’s only a small exception I’m not that keen. Let’s see… ‘Venus Loon’ I have always loved, maybe because lyrically it’s fantastic. And it’s a song I think that should have been released as a single in the UK. I think in Germany it was released as a single. But in England, I can’t understand for the life of me why it wasn’t. So anyway, ‘Metal Guru’, ‘Venus Loon’ and let’s see… there’s a song called ‘Till Dawn’ which is one of the last songs that Marc and Tony Visconti produced together. So these are the three I would say are my favourites. But if you’d talk to me in an hour’s time, I’ll have two other songs again – but ‘Metal Guru’ will always be the one.

Really, Marc had so many songs and it’s also about how you feel, you know. One minute you want a lovely kind of ballad or something kinda Dylanesque. You could pick a certain song if you wanted a rock song, that’s the great thing. But what annoys me are the critics who say “Oh, Marc Bolan. All his songs sounded the same.” But listen, listen! They don’t sound all the same. If you sat down and bothered to listen and dissect different songs from different albums, you’ll realize they are works of genius. There is a reason why I became a Marc Bolan fan, because of the sound. I don’t wanted Marc to change like, say, David Bowie, who became like this chameleon, with every album sounding different as opposed to just some songs. Like, one time it’s folk and then it’s rock and next time it’s electronic. I don’t wanted Marc to sound like that. I wanted Marc to be the Electric Warrior.

MN:
The first time you saw T.Rex live was in Münster, Germany, in 72; then in Essen, Germany, in 73 and then again in London at the Lyceum in 76 and the Rainbow in 77. Had your perception of T.Rex changed between the first time and the last time you saw them play live?

Danielz:
Oh yes, totally. When I saw Marc live in 72, he was this kinda young, vibrant glam rock star that had it all. And the difference between then and 1977 of course was that Marc was no longer this gigantic rock star he used to be. The difference was, I think, he became a better person. Because suddenly, instead of the posing and perhaps not concentrating too much on his guitar-work, in 1977 he was really getting his guitar together. You know, some of his guitar solos on the ‘Dandy In The Underworld’-tour were spectacular! His sound and his timing and everything, he still had it, you know. The only thing he didn’t have of course was the adulation that he used to have in the early days. But for me he was still Marc the superstar and he always will be.

MN:
One of the previous bands you sang and played with was Tarazara. Unfortunately, things never really took off on a grand level and once the band had called it a day, why did you decide to form a T.Rex tribute band, as opposed to simply just another rock band?

Danielz:
Because I grew up with T. Rex in my teenage years – in my eyes and my ears – being the pinnacle of what rock n’ roll music should be. So I grew up with Marc Bolan if you like. Tarazara was one part of my life because I always, even in Tarazara, still had the Marc Bolan image in a way, though not the curly hair because I used to backcomb it then. It was the 80’s, you know (laughs). But I still wore a feather boa. When we formed the Tarazara band, I always wanted it to have a glam image because image to me – growing up with Marc Bolan who always looked fantastic – I wanted to have that kind of image even though we were playing hard rock. But the image was so important to me.

MN:
You had (and still have) so many highlights with T.Rextasy, from playing with Tony Visconti and also playing at the premiere party for the movie Billy Elliott, and so forth. What’s been your favourite highlight so far?

Danielz:
God, there’s quite a few because I had ambitions when I started this band in 1992. I thought if I can achieve some of these ambitions I’ll be happy. I achieved them all. So I think, “What can I do now?”. The first was to tour Japan; actually, we toured Japan twice and had an amazing time out there. The second one was to play Wembley Arena where Marc did Born To Boogie. We did Wembley Arena three times. The third was to get a major record contract and Columbia Records signed us up. So I fulfilled all my ambitions.

But musically, in concerts, my highlights were the Cambridge Corn Exchange on 30th September 1997, in celebration of what would have been Marc’s 50th birthday. Because I got Mickey Finn on stage with us, and I got Marc’s son Rolan Bolan who, until then, had never appeared live on stage in public before! And he sang ‘Dreamy Lady’ with me. That was also the first time he’s ever been to this country. He had to come from Los Angeles to Cambridge to sing a song with me, which was a great honour. So that was nice.
On par was the Shepherds Bush 25th Anniversary concert because Tony Visconti flew over from New York, got a string quartet for me and then we had people like Marc Almond who performed ‘Tainted Love’. Gloria Jones flew over just for the concert, and I thought, “Wouldn’t it be great if Marc and Gloria did ‘Tainted Love’ together?” And they did and it was fantastic (Gloria originally wrote the song). Of course, Gloria can’t really sing that much now, but they still did a minute or two of the song together. I feel privileged really that all these people participated. It was a great evening!

MN:
You also played the Proms in September 2007…

Danielz:
True, we also played the Proms, which was another highlight. There were about 40,000 people there. It’s a funny thing you know, because sometimes I say, “Oh, isn’t it great to play to the biggest audiences ever”. Well, we played to thousands and thousands of people in Germany, right, but the problem with those concerts is that they are so-called ‘Oldie Festivals’ and so people don’t necessarily come to see your band. They come to enjoy the whole evening and they come to enjoy every band. So we were playing in front of thousands out there, but it didn’t matter as such. The good thing about the Proms in Hyde Park was that we played in front of 40,000 people and we played for an hour. So all these people had to stay there for one hour to watch our set, and it was amazing. So yes, there are quite a few highlights that I’m very proud of.

MN:
Your own album Personal Touch features tracks that in parts sound quite T.Rex like, while other tracks sound more like melodic power rock a la Tarazara. Was this done deliberately?

Danielz:
Well, my very early stuff, before the ‘Personal Touch’ album and Tarazara, did actually sound like Marc Bolan. So it was like Bolan sounding, and then rock sounding, and then of course I went back to sounding like Bolan again, if you like. Also, my voice now, whenever I try to sing in another style, say the Tarazara style, I can’t do it anymore. So I can’t go back, it’s impossible for me to go back to a different voice because I’ve done T.Rextasy for so many years now. It’s in my blood, it’s part of me, it’s my way of life. I’ve been doing the Bolan thing since 1992 and I find it very hard to do anything else.

MN:
Tell me a bit more about your book Wilderness Of The Mind which you wrote in collaboration with Caron.

Danielz:
We got that written just before I formed T.Rextasy, otherwise there wouldn’t have been time. I always wanted to write a book about Marc, and Caron did as well. We have a collection of beautiful memorabilia that a lot of it had never been seen before. So we thought, “What a great thing for a fan to own”. A whole book of photos, writings, sketches, interviews and stuff that previously had not been seen. So we compiled all this into one book and we were lucky enough to get a deal in Japan as well. Once again, I’m very proud because our book ‘Wilderness Of The Mind’ was the first Marc Bolan book to ever be translated into Japanese. So that was a nice thing as well. Also, in Japan, the T.Rex Fan Club is also the T.Rextasy Fan Club. When they put out magazines, they send out two at the same time – one is a T.Rextasy magazine and the other is a Marc Bolan magazine and they send them to fans simultaneously together. The Japanese take their adoration for him very serious. When we toured Japan, the fans were queuing around the block for two hours before we even arrived, because they all wanted to be at the front. Also, in Japan everyone knows who I am because of a Japanese megastar called Hotei I’ve collaborated with. He is so massive, he only ever plays gigantic stadiums, and he is a huge Bolan fan! Of course, here in England nobody really knows who Hotei is. Once, during one concert in Japan, I announced to the fans that Hotei would come to play on stage with me and of course, they all thought I was joking. When he appeared on stage, they just couldn’t believe it!

MN:
What do think of other T.Rex tribute bands, in particular the one that call themselves T.Rex now…

Danielz:
Shall I tell you how that band came about? It’s all my fault. Remember how earlier in the interview I mentioned my band played the Cambridge Corn Exchange and we got Mickey Finn on stage with us? Well, we also got Paul Fenton because Bill Legend – someone we would have loved to get - couldn’t do it, as he was working with a country rock star in America at the time. So we thought since Paul Fenton did a few bits and pieces with Marc, let’s get him instead. So we had Paul Fenton on some of the tracks. We played to about 1,500 people that night and Paul thought, “Hmm, this looks quite good.” So he phoned me up a few months later and asked me would I quite T.Rextasy, because he was forming T.Rex. So I said, “Sorry, but I don’t agree with that. I got T.Rextasy and it’s my band and I prefer to stay with my band.” Also, everybody knows who we are and I know, being a fan myself, that most people in the UK would not accept any other band that call themselves T.Rex, and rightly so. How can there ever be a band called T.Rex when there is no Marc Bolan? Impossible! Marc was T.Rex! I heard that Rob Benson (frontman for Fenton’s T.Rex) left the band once they decided to change name to T.Rex after Mickey’s passing (Finn played with Fenton’s band). Whether that’s true or not, that I don’t know. Even if it’s ‘Mickey Finn’s T.Rex’, it’s still not a hundred percent right, but at least people knew what it was. When I get criticised for saying all this, I really don’t care because most fans would agree with me: no Marc Bolan, no T.Rex!

MN:
Many thanks for the interview and it’s been great talking about your band and Marc.

Please read my T.Rextasy review in our ‘Latest Live Reviews’ section)