PUNK GLOBE: Give the readers some information on your background?

ROY: I was born and raised in Michigan, spent a lot of time in Detroit once I started playing music. Basically at the age of eighteen I decided I needed to get out of Michigan and I headed out west. I ended up in the bay area and hung out there for a few years. Ended up back in Detroit and formed a band with my good friend Johnny. We formed a band called Pretty Rotten which became the Neurotics. Here we are, twenty years later in L.A.

PUNK GLOBE: At what age did you start playing drums?

ROY: Nine, ten years old. Much to my parent’s displeasure. I started out playing band stuff, you know on the snare drum. At twelve I got my first drum kit, which was a real, regular drum set. I started from there. I started my first band probably a year later, playing Kiss cover songs. We were the baddest band in the 8th grade.

PUNK GLOBE: I know you have played with the Lazy Cowgirls. What other acts have you played drums with?

ROY: As far as main bands I’ve played in, I was in the Excessories with Rich and Melanie Coffee. I loved that band, they were great. The Chopsticks, the Neurotics… Texas Terri. I play with Kevin K on a regular basis when he comes out here. Nikki Corvette, I’ve done some small tours with. I just did some shows with the Waldos. That was a dream come true to play with those guys. I played with Sonny Vincent. I’ve sat in with Lords of Altamont. There are a couple of bands I’m not going to mention because they don’t deserve any press.

PUNK GLOBE: What other instruments to you play?

ROY: I play very little guitar, very little bass. Just enough to give the basics of a song to my guitar player who actually knows how to play. To get the basics of what I’m trying to do because I do write songs.

PUNK GLOBE: How long have you been booking shows?

ROY: I’ve been booking ever since I started playing music because I got so tired of getting lumped in and playing these shows where there would be a speed metal band, a country band… I could do a better job then that, so I would always buddy up with the promoters at a place and get one night and prove myself. It would escalate into a once or twice a month thing. I’ve done it at a lot different clubs all over town.

PUNK GLOBE: What prompted you to book at the Redwood?

ROY: I had played there a few times and a good friend of mine, Edgar Rodriguez from the Guilty Hearts was booking there. I started doing shows with him at first but then he just burned out. It’s tough after a while. After he burned out, I started taking on more and more. And the other booker left to live in Europe. So I partnered up with Bob Cantu and between him and myself, we book a good portion of the shows that go on there. There’s a few side guys that book shows occasionally but we like what we do.

PUNK GLOBE: How did your connections to Nikki Corvette and Walter Lure come about?

ROY: I was playing in the Kevin K band and we opened for Walter Lure a couple of years ago. Walter loved the way I played drums. It was sleazy enough for him in the style of Jerry Nolan, who I’m a huge fan of. As far as Nikki Corvette, we had a lot of mutual friends throughout the years. There were some shows that popped up, so I put something together and I started playing with them. I do the same when Kevin K comes out. I have a great backing band called the Hollywood Stars with Tsubasa from the Rough Kids and Dino Webber who’s been in a million bands like me.

PUNK GLOBE: Do you get to rehearse much when you do those types of shows?

ROY: No. With Walter Lure we rehearsed for about two hours and then played the shows. Nikki will probably be the same way for the upcoming shows with her. We learn the songs when we go in to rehearse, it’s just rock ‘n roll. It is what it is. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. With the Waldos, it couldn’t have been any worse than some of old Heartbreakers shows. We pulled that one off pretty well.

PUNK GLOBE: How many dates on the Nikki Corvette tour?

ROY: Los Angeles on June 30, then Sacramento, Santa Cruz and Oakland with Paul Collins and a bunch of other really cool bands.

PUNK GLOBE: How long have you been friends with Nikki and Walter?

ROY: Walter, not so long. I met Walter and I was a little star struck the first time I met him. He’s one of my musical heroes. He wrote so many of my favorite songs. Nikki and I had a lot of mutual friends and we dated for several years and we’re still, to this day, are very good friends. Both of them are the real deal and it’s a pleasure to play with people like that.

PUNK GLOBE: Are you open to playing with other artists in that same way?

ROY: It’s got to be something I really want to do. Not necessarily… Unless there’s a lot of money involved. Hell, I’ll play with anyone if there’s a lot of money involved. For the most part it’s artists that I really want to do something with and that want to do something with me. Like when Texas Terri came up this last time, we put a band together specifically for her shows.

PUNK GLOBE: What do you think are the best shows you’ve done at the Redwood?

ROY: That’s hard to say. Paul Collins and the Chopsticks were really good. The Waldos… Captured by Robots was great. The Mau Maus shows were fun. The original Blasters on New Year’s Eve was an awesome show. That’s not going to happen too many times.

PUNK GLOBE: What’s the procedure for a band who wants to get booked at the Redwood?

ROY: You can either email roy@theredwoodbar.com or bob@theredwoodbar.com and if we like you, we’ll book you. If we don’t, you probably won’t hear back from us.

PUNK GLOBE: Do you have any advice for bands who want to break into the L.A. club circuit?

ROY: Go back to school and get a real job. No, just don’t play too much in the same area once you’ve established your name. Pick and choose your shows and don’t play too many shows in the same area. You’re just killing yourself and you’re killing the promoters and they won’t book you. Make it more of an event.

PUNK GLOBE: What do you have in store for the rest of 2011?

ROY: We have a show coming up with the White Trash Debutantes, Throwrag, Zero Boys, Angry Samoans. An up and coming band called Dirty Eyes that I really like a lot. Who knows what’s in store for the rest of the year? Hopefully I’ll go tour Japan with the Waldos and the Chopsticks. And we’ll see how the rest of the year goes.

PUNK GLOBE: Thank you so very much Roy for the interview... You Rule!!