John Easdale of Dramarama

KROQ-FM / KROQ

John Easdale of Dramarama looks back on the band's fan-favorite "Anything, Anything" and performs acoustic at KROQ.

Transcript

00:00now what an honor

00:01johnny's deal

00:02of drama rama is sitting across me dot a lot of southern california

00:06good afternoon kevin and all this is all you people out there

00:10this is incredible to uh... just chat with you john

00:13and it's for good reason to you're doing three dates that will talk about

00:16san diego

00:18anaheim and then actually next saturday right here in los angeles the peacock

00:20theater

00:21an event hosted by our very own richard blade

00:23yes yes the lovely and talented mister richard

00:28we will be there

00:29all your

00:31eighties faves, lost eighties lives

00:33yes this is for all of our rock of the eighties fans out there john for sure

00:36now uh... you actually hold a quite the distinction you might not even realize

00:38this in k-rock folklore

00:39you are the only band to my measure

00:41that performed at the very first almost acoustic christmas and the very first

00:44ever weenie roast yes that is true

00:47that's incredible and you're actually in even more of a rare club because you're

00:50actually one of the few people

00:51who have been injured at a k-rock weenie roast surely surely from uh... garvin

00:56i did fall through a hole in the stage that i didn't know was there

01:00i bounced right back up though

01:01they did bring the paramedics

01:04and we checked out but i was ok

01:06oh my gosh

01:07so and you recovered of course yeah well i would

01:09i fell through the hole and i

01:12caught myself with my face

01:14right on the bottom of my chin so by the end of it i looked like jay leno

01:18there you go i bet that was very in vogue in nineteen ninety three

01:22that is so funny and then i i reference that uh... the band we just played baby

01:25right there from the u k i thought they were from san diego for some reason and you

01:28guys actually i relate to this in a lot of ways because you're from new jersey

01:32which i am too but people thought you were from france and people a lot of the

01:35k-rock listeners today they assume i'm foreign because of my lack of command for

01:38the english language and you actually you weren't french you were on a french

01:41label back in the day yeah our first album came out on a label

01:45called new rose which was based in paris

01:48and that sounds elegant but i'm sure back in the day that was just the only

01:50people that said yes we were

01:52delighted so that anyone

01:53wanted to put it out because we were just putting stuff out

01:56ourselves you know spending our own money

01:58working our day jobs and spending money on

02:01recording studios

02:03we pressed our own

02:05three song seven inch and then we pressed a five song twelve inch and then

02:10this french label said hey we'll put it we'll license your uh... full length album

02:13we said please yes please thank you

02:16that's incredible we'll get into how that song made its way to k-rock and the

02:19history of uh... jamarama and k-rock right after this we got john easdale

02:22jamarama live in the studio it sounds like i'm lying but i'm not i'm looking

02:26at the man right now handsome as ever talented as ever

02:29and he's here to talk all things anything anything he's actually gonna

02:32perform that song i don't know how we roped you into this john

02:36twisted my arm yeah we really did and a big bag of cash yeah exactly

02:40some k-rock perks behind the scenes

02:42uh... and then of course we want to remind you listen to k-rock right now if

02:45you grew up on a rock of the eighties there's an amazing event

02:48that is happening at peacock theater next saturday night august twenty fourth

02:51tickets on sale richard blade hosting john will be performing jamarama and a

02:54bunch of your other k-rock

02:55eighties faves now i want to talk to you john about this anything anything song

02:59right because i read that it only cost you the song has been a k-rock for thirty

03:03some odd i mean longer than thirty years maybe even closing on forty years at

03:06this point we played every damn day this song cost you two hundred bucks to

03:10record back in the day i've heard which is almost unimaginable

03:13i guess short of a night out at the body shop in your younger years is that the

03:17best two hundred bucks you ever spent oh yeah it's kind of prorated because we

03:21we probably did like five songs for a grand or something you know yeah

03:24so average out and actually that song probably took less time than the other

03:28songs because it was

03:30it was really just straightforward everybody

03:32you know and and and the guys in the band didn't know what was going to come

03:36because i just said okay it's these four chords and just keep going

03:39yeah and uh... until i sang it they didn't know they were like there's

03:43there's because there's no chorus, verse

03:46there's no changes it's just

03:48four chords in a row, four chords in a row and the truth john

03:51well yeah that's the most important part absolutely though i think you're

03:55right that's what

03:58so uh... you know

03:59allows for its longevity yeah well and it's the old cliche rock and roll story

04:03right these guys make the song and nobody thinks it's going to be hit why

04:05do you think you didn't realize at the time that you were putting together a

04:08song that would be on k-rock and zillions of other radio stations for

04:11forty some odd years

04:13we had no

04:14inkling that anyone would ever play anything of ours on the radio it was uh...

04:18it was all you know a labor of love and you know

04:22ego trip

04:23no absolutely and i gotta go out on a limb here john and imagine the source

04:26material the uh... the nice lady that inspired these

04:29these lyrics it didn't work out you're absolutely right

04:33which is a good thing because now i've been married for

04:36thirty five years to a lovely young lass and uh...

04:41and yeah so yeah but you're absolutely right no happy ending on that song

04:45no and uh... now uh...

04:46i've also heard that you've co-produced the record you guys used to do that which

04:50is kind of rare back in those days is there anything you know for our friend

04:52listening right now that uh... when they hear anything anything on k-rock is

04:55there anything to that song that you can go back and go yeah i made that decision

04:58to make it sound that way that you can remember

05:01oh absolutely not no it was just you know we were always flying by the seat

05:06of our pants and yeah

05:07you know we produced it we didn't have producers so that's why

05:11that's why we did it and what would you say is your relationship with your big

05:13hit song because i find that to be such a fascinating aspect of of rock and roll

05:17and alternative rock history is some people hate they loathe

05:20their hit song they feel like they're a prisoner to this hit song right

05:24do you have a more healthy relationship with it are you more grateful for it

05:27oh absolutely no

05:30i am just you know

05:32i can't believe that anyone

05:34ever heard it that anyone knows it much less

05:37that anyone wants to hear it again and you know i've gotten up and sang it with

05:42cover bands and

05:45i'm happy i mean when i go on youtube and i see like kids

05:49doing it or someone doing it with a ukulele or something i mean i'm just

05:52blown away by that well if you are blown away i'm gonna blow your mind right now

05:55because i'm gonna ask you to play that song in just a little bit on k-rock are

05:58you down for that my pleasure oh john you're the best another bag of cash

06:02yeah exactly

06:04get the money

06:05we'll get him his money we'll get you a live performance that i've been told

06:09john co-sign this you've never performed this song live on k-rock

06:13i don't believe so but you know what my memory ain't what it used to be

06:17for the first time ever this is anything anything by john marama on the world

06:20famous k-rock

06:32do you want to eat do you want to sleep do you want to drown just settle down

07:00settle down settle down

07:07i'll give you candy give you diamonds give you pills give you anything you want

07:17hundred dollar bills

07:21i'll even let you watch the shows you want to see just marry me marry me marry me

07:34i'm so sick of you tonight

07:53you never stay awake when i get home

07:57is something wrong with me something wrong with you i really wish i knew wish i knew wish i knew

08:16i'll give you candy give you diamonds give you pills give you anything you want

08:25hundred dollar bills

08:31i'll even let you watch the shows you wanna see because you married me married me married me

08:46married me married me married me

08:55do

09:09and i was young

09:18Happiness worth seeing

09:24Now I'm older and I don't play

09:32I found out the hardest way

09:39I got wasted, she got mad

09:46Called me names, then she called her dad

09:54He got crazy and I did too

10:01Wonder what I did to you

10:09I gave you candy, gave you diamonds

10:13Gave you pills, gave you anything you want

10:19Hundred dollar bills

10:24I even let you hear the songs I wanna sing

10:29I'd give you anything, anything, anything

10:36I'd give you anything, anything, anything

10:44I'd give you anything, anything, anything

10:52Anything

11:00Anything

11:03Anything

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