Recently, Punk Globe got a chance to speak with Don Bolles – the legendary drummer of The Germs, and member of 45 Grave, Fancy Space People, The Consumers, The Exterminators, and dozens of others bands.  

 We spoke about the Arizona music-scene and influences, about playing drums and the L.A. punk-scene,The Germs and Darby Crash, about DJ-ing and Junkshop Glam.Hope you enjoy! 

Punk Globe: As one of the most kickass punk-rock drummers, could you please tell me - what did you feel when punk-rock stated happening in the 70's ? 

Don: I don’t know! We just were sick of everything else! There was all this corporate-shit-rock in the world. Like The Eagles and other stuff like that. We hated it! It was all you would ever get to hear! So punk-rock had to happen. I was always interested in punk-rock. From Iggy and The Stooges and MC5 to The Sex Pistols and New York Dolls. I like glam a lot too! I’m a big fan of bubblegum music and glam-rock. Actually The Germs was more like a really EXTREME glam-band. We just sort of loved punk-rock and Darby used to cut himself and so…

Punk Globe: When did you start playing in  bands?

Don: I’ve been singing in bands when I was a kid. When I was 12 years old I was into, what we called “Top 40 bands” – we did covers of all hit-songs: Rolling Stones, Alice Cooper, The Who, The Beatles and all that stuff. So I’ve been always sing very well. And all the older kids – who played guitar, and drums let me to sing in the band, cause I can make it sound like the stuff on the radio. Being a little kid – when I was 12, I was playing in bands. We were playing at a local high-schools. With older kids. I was always doing that. But I wanted to play instruments! And I started playing drums. I got my drum-set when I was 14. And I beat it up so bad that I just destroyed it! Then I got another one and I destroyed that too. Then my mom said: “No more drums for you!”. Then I would try to play on my friends’ drum-set. So I would do the same thing to their drum-set. So they won’t allow me to play on their drum-set either. Finally, I got the drum-set on my own. Right before I moved to LA and joined The Germs. But I had punk-rock bands in Phoenix too – I used to play bass and sang before I moved to Los-Angeles.

Punk Globe: When did you play in The Consumers and The Exterminators?

Don: Yeah. I was in The Exterminators. I barely was in The Consumers! I tried to play in The Consumers. But I was SO TERRIBLE in playing bass. They kicked me out before I did a show with them. I think I only lasted to practice…

Punk Globe: But as musicians, were you saying fuck you to these artists that you had been listening to at a young age? Elvis and The Beach Boys…

Don: No, I didn’t listen to that at all! I listen to The Beach Boys! Not Elvis! I didn’t like Elvis.

Punk Globe: Really ?

Don: Yeah. My mom got me a bunch of Elvis’ records when I was six years old and I hated them! But when The Beatles came out – I thought these guys ruled! I was 7 or 8 years old when The Beatles came out. I love The Beach Boys. But I just didn’t like all these Italian-stylian guys. Like Frankie Avalon and all that stuff. But I loved the Beatles, I love the Beach Boys. Mainly, I listened to a lot of psychedelic stuff and a lot of krautrock – when I got a little older. Faust and NEU! and I got really into avant-guarde music. I really love Artemyev, for instance. And  Karlheinz Stockhausen – all those guys. John Cage. All the French concrete music – like Bernard Parmegiani.

Punk Globe: Who inspired you?

Don: Well, there was The Beatles’ element in punk-rock. Beatles’ wrote the great songs. Punk-rock had the similar formula to The Beatles songs. To any songs! They’re songs: intro, versus, chorus etc. These are the elements. And punk-rock isn’t different. I love noise. I used to make tapes of shortwave radio-noise. And just listen to that – just like the noise between the stations. And that was great for me. But I love noise and I love ABBA. I love a good song with great vocals. And I love noise! So punk-rock was really good, combining these two parts of my musical life into the one thing.

Punk Globe: A few years ago, with The Exterminators you reunited and released your first album – “Product of America”.

Don: Yeah! Too bad! It’s so terrible! I went in there to record that band! And nobody else remembered the songs. So I used to play them by myself – alone, in a room ( laughs ). And then I had to teach the other guys how to play them! I don’t know what happened – the producer really fucked it up! I can’t even listen to that record. I did what I could. But we were so much better, really! That record sounds like SHIT ( laughs ).

Punk Globe: Are there anything you’re working on currently? 

Don: Oh, yeah! I work on lots of stuff! I have a band called Fancy Space People. I play guitar and sing in that band. It’s really good! It’s like psychedelic-space-band. Then, I have another band called Hammered Satin I sing at too. Our new album called “Velvet Vortex” is out now on Deadbeat Records and Burger Records. We’re gonna be playing all the Burger’ shows – during the next couple of months. Burgerama and all that stuff.

Punk Globe: How does it feel  to play another various instruments in your bands? We all know you as a drummer…

Don: I was a singer first. Just a singer. And then, I started playing bass, although I wasn’t very good at it. So I started playing guitar. And then, later, I started playing drums. I’ve played drums for a couple of months when I was 14. But like I said – it didn’t last very long. I was in a band called Krazy Homicide. I’m the last guy - there were four of us. And all the other three people are dead now. We were also called The Liars. We formed because I got kicked out of The Consumers. And I wanted to have a band that was more punk then them. So I made my friends to switch instruments. I made my guitar-player-friend to play drums. And my drummer-player-friend to play guitar. I played bass. So there was the same amount of terror on the instruments. Then Rob Graves moved down from Detroit and joined our band, playing in rhythm-guitar. He was like a musician for the band. Then, there was this another band in town, that started. Called The Exterminators. And they didn’t need a guitar-player, they didn’t need a bass-player. They didn’t need a singer. They needed a drummer. So I borrowed parts of drum-set and tried it out. It was good! So I played for The Exterminators. And then, Rob Graves got to play bass for them, because their bass-player quit. They were kids – like 15 years old. We were like 19 and 20. I played with The Exterminators for a couple of months. We did some shows that were really killer. And then, I moved to LA. Because, punk-rock scene in Phoenix was still not existent. And so I heard The Germs, I heard that they needed a drummer. And I called them up on the phone and told them: “I play drums! I’ll come and join your band!” – they were like: “Ok!” so I moved to LA and I joined their band. And I guess you know what happened next.  

Punk Globe: After joining The Germs you started playing extensively in LA scene becoming one of the key bands of LA punk-scene. But mostly your name has been associating with Masque club. How do you remember about The Masque ?

Don: That was a crazy place! I used to hang out there in the day times. And I played guitar with my friends from The Controllers and all these other bands. I jammed with them by day. Cause, there was a rehearsal studio by day. And then, they weren’t allowed anymore to have shows – after I moved here, in February 1978. They had shot down in January of 78’ – by the cops. But I’ve gone to The Masque before. That’s where I met these guys - Naughty Women, and some other people outside of The Masque. It was an amazing club! And graffiti…It was the smartest coolest graffiti I’ve ever saw! Inside the MASQUE. It’s still there too. But it was really a great little basement. It was amazing! They were allowed to have shows. So they did have parties. So I went for a few parties there, after they got shot down – that was really crazy.  

Punk Globe: Quite often the researchers notice that mostly, composers-avanguardists - like John Cage or Holger Czukay followed the concept of Dadaists who, wanted to break certain cultural values and create new. Being in that place at that time, didn’t you feel something like that ?

Don: Yeah! It as an insane time! We knew, we’re on class for something big. And we knew what we were doing was right thing to do. We were really shocked that it didn’t get really big until Green Day ( laughs ). We thought punk’s gonna be huge – in 1980. But it took a long time for it to really get to the mainstream.

Punk Globe: As we all know that you were pals with all the members of The Germs but you’d get asked about Darby the most.

Don: Oh, yeah-yeah! I used to do shows with this group of people called LA Music Society. And they had all different bands. In fact, I was listening to LA Music Society compilation tapes before The Germs existed! They were part of the residence with John Cage and Captain Beefheart. Darby didn’t like it! He called that stuff “hippie art-noise”.

Punk Globe: But how much these difficulties reflected\affected you on a creative level ?

Don: Mostly, Darby and I were good friends. He was a great person. I wrote a book about him – “Lexicon Devil”…I didn’t hate him too much ( laughs ). It was difficult here and there. I was better friends with Pat [Smear]. But I thought Darby was great. He was mad, because I was in this band called Vox Pop, clapping hands and looking ridiculous. He was scared that he’d be found out because he was gay and really into young skater-boys. Back then, it was scary to him for people to know he was gay. And I was bumming around with my other band and a bunch of makeup. And short shorts and stuff ( laughs ). He thought, that people would put two and two together and figure out that he was gay. I don’t know why. But that’s what he thought – that’s worried him. And then, he wanted to get his boyfriend instead of me. Because, it was his boyfriend! Pat and Lorna were shocked when he said: “Ok! Robbie is gonna be playing drums!” they said: “Robbie can’t play drums! Don’s really good! What the Hell ?!” – that was it. Then, Darby went to England hanging out with Adam and The Ants. So Pat and Lorna tried to play with this Rob-guy – Darby’s boyfriend. And he couldn’t play at all! So Lorna just said: “I quit!” – that was the end of The Germs. But then we got back together for that last show at The Starwood. ‘Cause Darby wanted to get a bunch of money and kill himself. After Darby Crash Band failed, so miserably. That’s what he did!   

Punk Globe: Listening to your G(I) I can’t but  help but feel the energy and intensity of the recording. But mostly how you all worked together as musicians. Listening to your drum-parts and Lorna’s it feels that you didn’t only have a great feel of each other but could read each others’ thoughts. Was it hard for you to get that sound at the beginning ?

Don: I wasn’t very good. But the people we were listening to – were gods. I listened to the guys from King Crimson and Van der Graaf Generator and Genesis! Phil Collins was a great drummer. I listened to Aynsley Dunbar as well. He was a great drummer too! Not in Journey. But with Mothers of Invention and stuff. He’s amazing! I listened to those guys. And I was doing shitty version of these most amazing drummers in the world instead of shitty version of all punk-rock drummers ( laughs ).

Punk Globe: Did you co-found Nervous Gender…

Don: It was already formed! They asked me to play drums. They were great! They didn’t need a drummer! Four guys: three playing synthesizers, one – plays guitar and sings. They were PERFECT without me. And I beg them for not making me playing drums. But they did! They insisted on heavy drums. So I did! And I tried to make it interesting. I had a kick-drum and I had sneer with kick-drum-pedal on it. And also floor-tom. On my left I had a real tape-machine with tape loops and the magic marker to hold the tape loops and play. So that was the pretty crazy time! A little later I played on their album…

Punk Globe: With 45 Grave, you not only played quite different, in comparison with The Germs. But also started writing your songs. So  was that the moment when you really started writing music ?

Don: Well, that was more or less 45 Grave. I’ve always came up with my drum-parts for everything. Cause, no one else would came up with my drum-parts ( laughs ). I started writing natural songs in Phoenix. But that band broke up. We did some of these songs inVox Pop, and we did more for 45 Grave…Actually, I was practicing guitar – we’re doing a show with Weasel Walter from Flying The Flying Luttenbachers and Paul Roessler playing the shows of 45Grave – we’re Snowsnake Orchestra. And I’m playing guitar. Paul Cutler was my favorite guitar-player at that time. Him and Pat Smear! They are both, the most amazing guitar-players I knew! And Rob Graves was the most amazing bass-player. That’s how 45 Grave came out. I just got my favorite guitarist and my favorite bass-player to play with me. And I got my girlfriend to sing – cause, she was cute.

Punk Globe: Nowadays, people know you not only as one of key-musicians on LA-punk-scene but as a DJ as well. How did you got to this ? I suppose it has started while you were working as radio-host, am I right ?

Don: I DJ now all the time. I DJ a Junkshop Glam– it would have been a forgotten genre that people, somehow find in the 90’s and put out the compilations. It’s great stuff that never came to America! It was only in Europe and England. It’s actually the bands that tried to be like Slade and T Rex and Gary Glitter and the Sweet, but weren’t as successful. But the records are still great! I’ve been spending lots of time and money getting those records! So play them for people. And my partner at Hammered Satin – Noah Wollace, who’s a lead singer – he’s got 10 tones more than I do! He’s been collecting them since the 90’s! I didn’t figure it out until the 2000’s. That’s what I DJ now. I also do radio-shows – avant-garde sound collages on the radio. We play stuff like Schnittke – I love Alfred Schnittke! He’s f*cking amazing!

Punk Globe: But for many people being “punk” means to follow a certain philosophy. It’s not just a fast chords, loud sounds of snair drum or three letter – DIY.  For you, what is punk ?

Don: It means doing what you want and doing it out loud. It means short fast songs to the point, with no thrills. You won’t put any long guitar-solos and the things like that. It wasn’t punk at that time. Later – maybe that got punk! I thought, punk was the things we did with Vox Pop – with our hear out, putting dresses and making a bunch of noise! I thought that was really punk too. Even though there wasn’t a punk formula its still was very punk.