I first met Paul Zone as a preteen in Brooklyn. We went to the same Catholic school, were tortured by the same evil nuns, and reveled in the same sense of nonconformity. Naturally, we gravitated toward each other. Paul was a maverick, a style maven, and a musical encyclopedia even in grade school. He turned me on to The New York Dolls, The Sex Pistols, Ramones,David Bowie and everything Glam. He was my introduction to the New York Underground Music Scene at a time when it was charmed and golden...and for that I am forever grateful. Paul has written a book, topped the charts, and now has a documentary of his life in the works...He’s a true Renaissance Man...and a truer friend. I was thrilled to be able to talk to him for this very special Punk Globe Anniversary issue.


You always seemed to be a step ahead of everyone else in grade school as far as music was concerned. How and why did you veer so far off the mainstream musical arena at such an early age?

You know the saying “The fish rots from the head first”, well no offense to Miki or Jimmy, but whether we like it or not we are influenced by our older siblings in one way or another. Either you rebel against older siblings or join forces and strengthen your path together. My brother Mandy and I were right on track with Miki and all three of us worked off each other’s personality and influences. Being so close in age we sometimes had that strange triplet thing going on. I have thought about that question on our path for sometime, especially when I started writing my memoirs and it's funny I never really discussed it with Miki or had any sort of questioning, with him being the oldest, about our diverse taste and what influenced us growing up. Miki was responsible at the very beginning for bringing in new and obscure types of music that weren’t from the mainstream in the mid to late 60s and especially the early 70s. Mandy and I caught on quickly with searching out sounds, styles and vision. Miki has been long gone now and it's a bit too late to try to figure out what went on in his head after puberty or what made him make such a drastic turn to the avantgarde especially in music. The turn was taken by a lot of us who migrated to Manhattan in the early 70s lumped together on the small underground music scene. The New York band members (or soon to be band members) started gathering in the back room at Max’s Kansas City in 1972 and then discovered the Mercer Arts Center, moving over to the Club 82, then to Mothers and finally landing at CBGB and Max’s Kansas City again in 1974 through 1977. It was a very short time from Glam to Punk and the grey area in between, a mere 5 or 6 years in total.


The same would go for fashion...how did you create such innovative looks and who did you look to for inspiration?

Fashion was definitely a big part of our youth. Right after the British invasion bands took off their suits, that’s when it started to get interesting. We just loved that somewhat Victorian look 1967/68 post Mod London style with satins, velvets, ruffled shirts and all the stripes, checks, polka dots and so on worn by the Who, Kinks, Stones, etc. By the time the 60s were winding down the colorful San Francisco acid inspired fashion worked at times but when it went to hippy flannel shirts, beards and overalls we rebelled. Thank goodness for bands that didn’t go for that style like Rod Stewart and the Faces and Alice Cooper who kept dressing up... and of course the birth of Glam Rock style with our first Glam God, Marc Bolan. We jumped on the Glam wagon from the very start and fashion had a lot to do with it.


During the early incarnations of the Fast, when you were not in the band, you seemed content to be involved in the social whirl while taking pictures of the leading players of the scene. Indeed, much of your book, "Playground: Growing Up in the New York Underground" is based on that time. During that time, did you ever have the desire to be a performer? Did you always know that you could sing...and sing well?

Already being a selfproclaimed part of the New York Underground at 14 or 15 years old I was experimenting with photography, design, lighting, styling, making clothes, but never thought of singing, very strange but true. It was Miki who came to me one day in 1975 and told me that he wanted me as the lead singer in The Fast due to my popularity on the scene. Mandy was the lead singer/keyboard player from the beginning but Miki noticed that The Fast were not getting the attention that the other bands coming up were getting. He wanted to change the style and sound of the band and wanted me to be a part of that change. We went into rehearsal for four months with new songs and had our debut in June 1976 at Max’s Kansas City.


Some people, myself included, feel that the Fast were the best Power Pop band of the Max's, CBGB's scene. The band seemed to have all the elements necessary to achieve super stardom perfectly crafted pop songs, good looks, a solid following and many top name producers and record companies interested. Why is it, do you think, that the band were never signed to a major label deal?

Peter Crowley who booked Mother’s and was Wayne County’s manager loved the original Fast and when he started to book Max’s, he brought all his favorite bands there also. He started to book the new Fast as headliners right from the start and owner Tommy Dean thought it would be a good idea if he managed us. Of course we said, sure, it’s like we were the house band but were able to fill the place as well. Little did we know that for the next year and a half 1976 to 1978) while most of the local bands were signing up with major labels for their first LPs, Mr. Dean was only offering us up with the stipulation that they also have to sign Max’s Kansas City records as a subsidiary label for other acts he wanted to own the rights to. We even recorded and did demos with producers (Richard Gottehrer, Denny Cordell, etc.) on the scene and they offered to bring us to their labels but once Mr. Dean got to negotiations it soured. All in all bright times for The Fast continued throughout the late 70s into the early 80s with four single releases, touring, productions by Ric Ocasek of the Cars and two full length LPs, “The Fast For Sale” and “Leather Boys From The Asphalt Jungle”.


After the Fast, you and your brothers experimented with different looks and musical genres until you eventually settled on you and Miki becoming Man 2 Man. How did it feel when you finally achieved success?

Mandy left the band in 1978 and formed Ozone and performed into the early 80s with a few indie singles released. The Fast continued with a changing rhythm section until Miki and I had a short stint in 1982 at the end of The Fast as an electronic duo with the release of a single Moontan (with backing vocals by you, Donna Destri). From 1982 to 1983 we perfected our sound and style with influences that were coming in from UK club records, German and Swiss dance music and Bobby “O” Orlando’s HiNrG street sounds with Jellybean Benitez and retro disco. Now using the name Man 2 Man we did a few demo’s with Bobby ‘O’ and finally released our first 12” single “Hottest Of The Hot” recorded at B.C. Studio with Martin Bisi of New York band Material. Hottest of the Hot made all the dance club charts and was a hit in the bigger gay dance clubs across America. We started to perform at venues like The Saint in NYC, Studio One in Hollywood and major gay hot spots crosscountry. It went to #1 in Mexico and we spent most of 1985 south of the border and touring the USA. Our next 12” single released at the beginning of 1986 was “Male Stripper” coproduced with New York Electro Master Man Parrish who had a monster N.Y. street hit with “Hip Hop Be Bop”. “Male Stripper” became a big record in all the gay dance clubs in the USA but went to the #1 slot as the dance club single in the UK and throughout Europe by the year end 1986. In March 1987 it crossed over to the UK pop charts and peaked at #4 and secured a spot for Man 2 Man to perform on Top Of The Pops TV show. It also crossed over to pop charts throughout Europe, Mexico, South America & Australia.


You lost your brothers to AIDS and also many friends...Do you feel any bitterness now that HIV has essentially become a manageable disease? Do you feel that the administration in power during the first wave of the AIDS crisis was negligent? Do you feel that the current administration is doing enough to keep AIDS awareness alive?

Being sexually active in the early 1980s was pretty terrifying to all of the LGBT’s & heterosexuals. There were so many misconceptions about what the disease was exactly about, how it was transmitted, and what could be done to save one’s life. What we all learned was that there were no answers and it seemed like everyone around us was dying. You would hear about another one of your friends or your friend’s friend or an acquaintance or someone in the arts who was close to dying, or had died without you even knowing that they were HIV positive. Most were never even diagnosed before they found out that they only had weeks or months to live. If you didn't live through it it's hard to try and explain to someone younger what it was like because now it is a manageable disease and the thought of someone dying a quick death from AIDS is not likely. Thinking about it now is just as heart wrenching as living it back then because the memories that you have of what you went through with everyone you knew are truly heartbreaking. When it comes to the government doing something more rapidly about dealing with it in 1982 or 83 and throughout the 80s, yes it would have helped to start the battle against HIV as soon as possible. It still would have taken years for the medical community to even know how to keep people alive from a disease that the world had never seen before. Today we are going full speed ahead trying to fight HIV, we do have needle exchange programs in many states, well the ones that fight for it and aren’t mostly governed by Republicans. We know that safe sex practices prevent HIV and there are drugs now that do suppress the disease and actually make HIV undetectable in your blood. Some people who are not HIVpositive have chosen to take these drugs daily and not practice safe sex but taking a powerful drug, as a preventative drug has not been proven 100% safe and long term effects are still not in.


You have a documentary about your book “Playground” in the works. How did it all come about?

When I started working on getting my photos together and doing some gallery shows I was already thinking of a documentary or a book. The book deal came first and to my surprise my publisher Marta Hallett from Glitterati Inc. asked me to write extended captions documenting the photographs. I did about twenty extended captions and she said I should take a year and write a full biography as fifty percent of the photo book. I knew right then and there that a documentary wouldn’t be far off in the future. Not only will the documentary focus on my brothers and me, but it will also document the Glam & Punk scene of the 1970s photographed in my book. Director Jason Viteritti has interviewed over fifty people so far and digitized 8mm film of me and my brothers growing up together in the 1950s and 1960s. For some reason we were lucky enough, in a time before video cameras, to have filmed a lot of live performances, interviews and music videos of The Fast. Also featured will be live footage, TV appearances, and music videos of our group Man 2 Man.


Paul...how would you describe yourself in three words?

Past, Present, Future

Well, in the Quantum World these would be all happening simultaneously...so yeah! I like it! Paul, do you have any final thoughts for the Punk Globe Readers?

I'd like to send some love to Ginger Coyote who has been a close friend for almost forty years. We met in the late 70's and were always included in Ginger's original fanzines and magazines from the very start. Ginger is an important, innovative pioneer from way back in the first wave of American Punk from coast to coast. We should be thankful that she has kept the flames burning brightly for all of us that were there at the beginning as well as for those who need to be schooled, truthfully.