I had driven past Big Blue Meanie Studios and the big, rusted numbers 512 numerous times without a second thought as to who or what was going on inside. The day I arrived for the interview I was welcomed  by Jerry who was holding his three year old son Dylan in his arms. I got a warm greeting and a tour of the studio. We sat down in the room where the new Fiendz record was being produced and mixed. Jerry is a very warm, soft spoken man with a great sense of pride in what he’s accomplished over the years with his band the Fiendz. He was a very easy person to talk to. I had only met him once before but he treated me like he had known me his entire life. The Fiendz are celebrating their twenty year anniversary and plan to release a new album in early 2008. JD

James: Tell me a little bit about the studio we’re in right now.

Jerry: The studio is owned by Tim Gilles. We’ve been working together since the early 90’s.

I called Tim to do a couple of songs for a seven-inch in the early 90’s. We’ve been working together ever since. We started working together and he taught us everything there is to know about the studio. He’s worked with us since that seven inch producing all of the Fiendz records.  So we’ve been working together forever. He started out in Hackensack with a small basement studio and eventually it up. This place was for sale. A lot of great records came out of here. Inxs,

Rage Against the Machine and a lot of R&B that was popular at the time. The place closed down for a while and Tim was lucky enough to snatch the place up. There’s so much happening here and I am just so lucky to be a part of it. There’s so many bands that are recording in their friends basements and here I am just spoiled. Tim does a lot of great work here. He does a lot of the Victory Records bands. He also does a lot of major label releases. He’s worked with Thursday and Taking Back Sunday and a lot of other amazing artists.

James: Tim looks like a pretty intimidating guy. Is he tough to work with?

Jerry: Not for us because from the minute I spoke to him on the phone I immediately gelled with him. He just loved our band so much. These guys worked with hundreds and hundreds of bands yet he saw us and loved us. He wanted to work with and produce us.

We ended up working on Black Pumpkin (Jerry’s indie label) together. We pushed Black Pumpkin as far as we could on our own without Tim.  The people at the studio were already helping us. They came on board and we became this collective.  So Time and I have been working together for years. He’s been our biggest fan and our biggest supporter. He can be a little intimidating to work with but he’s an amazing drummer and he’s always managed to get the best from us.

James: How have you been celebrating the 20th anniversary of the band?

Jerry: I’ve been trying to get back to the basics. (Everything from flyers, stickers and word of mouth.) The things we did in the beginning.  Playing as many shows as we can local and out of state. We used to hit areas upstate like Trenton, which I try to do now. Try to do things like we did in the old days.  We’re also trying to move into the future with the new record. I’m really using the 20th anniversary to re-launch the band. There was a lot of interest for me to get out there again before I did this. I was being offered shows and such. I knew I wanted to do something cool for our 20th.  I never thought it would turn into something as big as this. We’ve played so much this years. What started as a couple of shows have turned into a lot of shows, which turned into out of state shows. People have been contacting me over the net everyday offering me opportunities.  I got together some friends to help me go out and play. It’s turned into something that I really didn’t expect. Now we’ve got this album we plan to release next year and we’re working on a tour. Next year I’ll be focusing on getting together a lineup that really sticks with me instead of just grabbing up friends to do shows. Right now I am just so happy with the way this year has come along. Recording, writing and playing again is amazing. The question I get a lot is “How have you been able to do this for so long?” It’s that I’ve been able to keep these relationships with people for so long. Tim has been with me since the early 90’s. The original band stuck with me for over ten years. After they left I had guys who also stayed with me for a long time. My wife has also been with me for twenty years. Ten of which we’ve been married.  She’s helped me with the My Space site and making flyers. It’s a big family effort. I always try to make it work for the guys in the band. Let them have the freedom to do what they want to do. I want to make it their band too.

James: How about the album?

Jerry: We actually started work on the album in 2003. I wanted to release something right after “Redemption” . With Redemption I got the best reviews of my career. Things were going really well. I thought to myself “I’ve got to get another record out quick.” I started writing the record at the end of 2003. I jokingly said to my wife who was pregnant at the time “Don’t worry I’ll bang out this record before the baby is born.” What happened was she had to go on bed rest half way through the pregnancy and had a really rough delivery during which she separated her pelvis. So for months and months she was in serious pain. There was nothing you could do but let the bones take the time to heal.  I had to take time off from the band for the first time. The band had to take a back seat to family. As time passed and things got better I thought to myself “This record is possible,” For me having down time was driving me crazy. I was getting offers to do this and that and not doing the band for the first time since I was a kid was really getting to me. It was really hard for me. I was depressed and I couldn’t figure it out because I was so happy about the baby and my wife. Things were getting better. It was scary because at one point we really thought we were going to lose the baby when she was on bed rest. So we had already gotten through the hardest time in our life. Dylan is great. He’s such a musical kid. He loves the studio and the rehearsals. He loves the shows and when the guys come over.

It’s almost as if I wanted to do this for him. I think it was really important for us to get back to who we were after all that. Make a good life for him.

James: So Dylan’s here a lot?

Jerry: Yeah, he’s here a lot. He’s been hearing this album since he was in the womb. He knows the rhythms and the songs. He loves it hear and I try to get him involved as much as I can. I try to keep him around because it’s such a great experience for him.  He loves all the engineers here and the people who run the place. We have a couple of upcoming shows we want to bring him to. There outdoors so it won’t be as loud.

James: Are you producing full time?

Jerry: No, I mostly produce the Fiendz but I do produce other bands. I have something called “Old Man Jones Productions.” I only get involved with bands I really, really like and they really want to work with me. I just don’t have the time to do anything more than the Fiendz. But if a band comes through that I really love I will set aside the time.

I work a full time job for the county. It works for me because I get off early. I don’t have to work weekends. I get sick days and those crazy holidays. It’s always allowed my weekends and time to tour. This year I plan to turn this into a full time gig. Every moment I’m not working the job I’m going to be networking, playing a show somewhere, or rehearsing. We’re going to do every aspect of it the way we did in the beginning. That’s why these benefits have come up. The Fiendz have always done benefits throughout our career.  That’s why this year I wanted to start doing that again. Even though benefits have become a little trendy these days. I’m trying to find ones that can really help out.

James: You’re playing one next week.

Jerry: In the next two weeks we have two big benefits coming up. Next week there’s going to be a big one in Secaucus for Multiple Sclerosis. Jim Testa from Jersey Beat helped me get on that show.  He came to see us in New York City and told us we should really try to get on this MS benefit. It’s a good scene with a lot of good people. He likes us and he wants us to get out there. He feels that we’re the forefront of this whole movement.

(I.e. pop punk) This year has really been the best year in the bands history. People from our entire history have been coming out of the woodwork. They’re so excited about the band.

James: Who’s playing on this album?

Jerry: This album is just me and Tim. After “Redemption” the band sort of fell apart. Tim came to me and asked, “Do you have a lot of songs? Let’s just record them and I’ll play drums on them and we’ll get it done.”  So we did rhythm tracks for twenty songs. We had about an hours worth of material. We didn’t have a band together at the time so Tim did the drums and I did everything else. I did the bass, the guitars and all the lead vocals. The album is going to be us. We’re going to produce it.

James: As a band you’ve always been about melody and harmony. What about tension?

Jerry: Twenty years into this I’m still learning everyday in this game. How to deal with people and situations. I’ve also been the manager of the Fiendz. It’s been a crazy ride.

James: Well. I’ve been listening to the band for twenty years and I’ve met you a few times. You seem like a really nice laid-back guy. But where does the fire and the tension in the music come from? The bands signature has always been harmony and melody but there has to be tension. There has to be fire.

Jerry: I don’t know what it is but I am one of those guys who always has to be writing. I just always had a passion for writing and performing. I just can’t stop writing. I have the twenty songs for this record. I have all the songs I wrote between “Cole” and “Redemption” If I had a label behind me and I wasn’t just doing this myself I would have more than twice the albums I have out now. All the songs just come from my heart. I don’t know where else they come from. I don’t even know what some of them are about sometimes. They get released and hit someone in a certain way. Maybe down the line I come to grips with what the song was really about.

My Dad was a musician and really into classic Rock. He couldn’t believe when I started writing. I told him I just wanted to write my own stuff. He couldn’t figure it out because he was just into doing covers. I don’t know what it is about me but I use music to get over certain situations. I was going through some of the worst shit in my life during “Redemption”. We’d go down to the basement to jam out and I would just pour my heart out into the songs. It is a gift to have all this material coming out of me but I don’t know where it comes from. It’s just something I have to do.

James: You’ve had a lot of people coming in and out of the band. Most recently you had one of the original member return in Jim Joyce. Is this something that might be permanent?

Jerry: No. I wish it were because I love Jim. He’s one of my best friends in the whole world. But he has three kids and a job. It’s hard for him to even find time to do the rehearsals and play shows. He really wanted to come back for the bands 20th anniversary. He called me and said, “Yeah, it is the 20th anniversary isn’t it?” He never left the band on bad terms. Joey and me were way too enthusiastic for him to keep up with us. The bottom line is I love Jimmy and I wish it could be permanent but he’s just way too busy.

James: You mentioned Joe. He left the band in 1999. Was there any animosity? We’re chairs thrown? Were feelings hurt?

Jerry: Joe really didn’t leave the band on good terms. Honestly, I’m still upset about it. It really bothers me because he spent a lot of time in the band and he never really quit. We were going through a tough time and I think he saw a better opportunity to join this band the Rosenbergs.. When we were kind of down and out he jumped ship and went to them. He never really quit the band and honestly, I never got over it. He spent so much time in the band. We spent so much time together. We were partners in crime as far as I was concerned. It’s hard but I still love Joe.  I just saw him the other day. He’s working on his album here as well. I wanted him to come back for a full on Fiendz reunion but he doesn’t play drums anymore. He stopped playing after the Rosenbergs broke up. Now he has his own thing and he’s just singing.  It was a bad split and I’ve had a couple of them.

I’ve also had beautiful long-term relationships. He is one of them because we did so much together. It’s a sore subject and I’m not used to talking about it. I’ll be truthful with you. I’ve done so much with this band. I’ve come to terms with everything we’ve done, where we’ve been and where we haven’t been. I found that old interview you did with Jim and Joe and I put it up on my site. I want people to see and know where we’ve been and what we’ve done. A lot of that interview was really great. They were talking about that Ramones show. Playing with All, D.I. and 7 Seconds. It was great.

James: That interview was done only two years into your existence.

Jerry: That was our heyday though. We didn’t know it at the time but we were doing very well for ourselves. We’re really proud of our past. We got into this band when we were in High School. We were really serious about it.  We were fifteen and sixteen when we started this band. We did a lot in those early years. When we got out of High School we just toured and toured.

James: So what do you think is the key to the bands longevity?

Jerry: I hope the records and the songs are what keeps it alive.  Sometimes I  go out and do a different live than what’s on the record.  There are things I can’t pull off on a small stage like a horn section but hopefully the impact is the same.  Sometimes people will come up to me and say “wow, that was different than the way it sounds on the record but it sounds great.” I just hope it’s the songs.

James: You can talk about the songs and the records but a lot more can be said about the fans.

Jerry: I always try to look out for our fans. I try to do shows with good prices. I can’t be Ian Mc Kaye. I don’t have that kind of power. But I try to keep prices around five dollars.  I’ve come to realize that we’re a cult band. We’re not a big band at all but we have people who are passionate about this band. Where we go and why we do it. I’ve just come to realize this in the last year. I try to treat the fans as well as I can. A lot of the “Wact “ album was me saying I was sorry to the fans for changing so much. People were really taken aback when we started doing the “Wact” album as opposed to the “We’re the Fiendz” album. I was watching this video the other day of us playing a record release party for “Wact’. Kids were just screaming out all the words to the songs on “We’re the Fiendz”. They didn’t care about the new album at all. I always played for the fans. If that’s what they want to hear I’ll play it. This year I’ve been playing almost the entire first album because everybody asks for it.  I’m their slave. I don’t care. I don’t need to play songs I think are really great. I’m there for them. I encourage people to call songs out. With the drummer I have right now I’m trying to work on every song we have on record so nobody can stump me. No matter how many songs I have worked out somebody will call me out on a song I haven’t worked out. My relationship with the fans is amazing. I worship them a whole lot more than they will ever worship me.

James: The last time I cam out to see you two of my friends were playing with you. (Joel from the Undead and Dan from Electric Frankenstein.) Why aren’t they playing with you anymore?

Jerry: Dan and Joel were two good friends of mine from the old days who happened to be around when things started coming together. I grabbed them and said “you guys have to play a show with me.” “You’re here, you’re right now, and I’ve got these songs. Let’s do this.” Both of them were very busy but both of them had a major history with the band. They rehearsed the songs and came to play the show. Dan has this long history with Electric Frankenstein and Joel is playing with the Undead and Broken Heroes. He also has his writing. They were both way to busy to commit to the band.

James: I don’t know if you are aware of this but Dan is the person who introduced me to The Fiendz in the very beginning.

Jerry: I read that in the first interview.

James: I remember Dan (Electric Frankenstein) telling me he was playing with you up in Trenton. I had remembered going to shows at City Gardens long before I moved to New Jersey. Kayuri asked me “Where’s Trenton?” I said, “I don’t know but we’re going.”

Jerry: It’s funny but we’re so much better now than we were then. That was one of our first shows since getting back together, I was very nervous. I hadn’t done it in a couple of years.

It’s like getting back up on that horse.  Now that we’ve gotten a couple of dozen shows under our belt my voice is back. I have a drummer who’s been all over the place with us. He’s played shows with us in Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York. This year has been a little bit of a “whoever' around at the time.” That’s why I said 2008 is going to be the year where we’re “This is the band. This is the new album.” That’s why I went to Jim (Jimmy Joyce) I had wanted to do a full on Fiendz reunion. I knew Joe couldn’t do it but when I asked Jim he was all up for it. Our first show back with him was just down the street in Secaucus was amazing. People came from all around just to see him play with us. So he’s signed on for some more shows. He signed on for these two benefits. It’s just been amazing hanging out with someone you’ve spent so much time with. To come back now we’re both husbands and fathers. It’s like nothings a big deal anymore. Back then I was so hungry and now it’s just like “let’s play some shows and have fun.” I wish I were like this in the old days. I hear this Byrds song one day “I was so much older then.”

That’s how I feel. I was listening to that song and I thought “wow, that’s exactly how I feel.” “I know exactly what he’s talking about.” I felt like an old man when I was young. Now I feel like I’m young. Going out and having fun. This year has been exactly what I should have been doing in the old days. I’m almost glad we did it the way we did. Spending so much time rehearsing, recording and playing shows. Because we left a mark. What’s so great now is that all the people who grew up listening to us have their own families now. Now we have people coming to our shows with their kids. It freaks me out. It’s the greatest thing now that we’ve got a second generation of fans.

James: You mentioned  Jimmy. Why did he leave the band in the first place.

Jerry: The band was just too busy. We wanted to tour all the time. We were still releasing records. It was constant. I think Jimmy just saw the writing on the wall. He was married and he had kids. It was too much. He joined a local band after that. They would play an occasional show at Maxwell’s. We were a little taken aback by that but it was cool.

James: Has being married and having a child slowed you down at all?

Jerry: No not at all. Maybe because we’ve just had so many opportunities. My Space is an amazing thing. It’s made everything so much easier. It’s a lot different than in the old days. It was a lot harder to get shows and get people to come to shows. In the old days we were lucky. We got a lot of great shows and there weren’t as many bands. There are so many bands now but if you have a history and people know you it makes things easier.

This year has been incredible with the amount of shows we’ve been able to play. There really hasn’t been anything outside of the area. With Dylan he’s with me here so much. I have special headphones for him. The kind that drummers use so his hearing is safe.

You don’t stop your life for them. You bring them in. They love to travel so I always bring them along. He’s loves music. He loves the band. He loves art. He loves to play drums. He’s just the greatest kid. Dylan’s really been the inspiration to do more this year.

He doesn’t get neglected. He gets to be at home with us. He just loves this.

James: Dylan, when are you going to be joining the band? What are you going to play?

Dylan: I’m gonna be the drummer. (Dylan does an impromptu air drum solo for us)

James: The Fiendz played with an amazing list of bands through the years. Was there a band that you really felt humbled playing with? A band that might have inspired you?

Jerry: I think ALL was that band. We were just so in awe of them. Bill Stevenson was one of the biggest influences on my life. To meet him, get to know him, play shows with him and to see how he does things changed our lives. We played with ALL in Pennsylvania and had two shows in one day. Turns out the club promoter split without paying us. We had played those two shows and it was no big deal. It kinda sucked but…whatever.

We played two shows with ALL and that was good enough. Billy heard about this and stopped us. He said, “Here, I heard about what happened I want to give you some money.” Dipped into his own pocket and gave me money. They were living in California at the time and you couldn’t get much further from home. He took money out of his own pocket and said, “hey you guys opened for us twice today and you were great. You deserve to get paid.” I was so floored by that and I never forgot it. We still keep in touch with Billy. He’s an amazing guy. When we did the “Cole” tour we stopped in and hung out with them. Billy had us stay at his house that night in Fort Collins. We talked about a lot of things. He doesn’t even feel like he’s giving you information, advice or his ear. He’s played with Black Flag, The Descendents and All. He’s like this Punk Rock icon but he’s still this nice, humble down to earth guy. He had come to see us play in Fort Collins and said “You guys have gotten so much better over the years.” I told him that I was really nervous having him there because I was worried he would think, “Wow, these guys sound too much like what I was doing with the Descendents and ALL. What’s going on here?” He was like “You know everyone has influences.” I’ve met a lot of people but he was just one of those guys who floored me.

James: What were some of the key influences for the Fiendz in the early days?

Jerry: In the early days it was nothing but The Misfits, The Ramones and the Beatles. It was just those three bands. We were obsessed with the Misfits. Jerry Doyle’s cousin lived across the street from us. They would always come over and play football. They would still have their makeup on from the night before. I was like “wow that is so cool.” We mirrored ourselves to the Misfits. We didn’t sound like them but we wanted to do everything like them.  We wanted to do what they were doing. So we mirrored the band after them.  The Ramones were a huge influence at the time. One of the early influences at the time was the Undead. In the beginning my influence from the Beatles mixed with Punk is kind of what made the band what it was. I grew up on what my Father was into. The Beatles, the Rolling Stones and just straight up Classic Rock. Then in High School I got into Punk.

We wanted to play punk. We didn’t want to be in with the Skinheads. We wanted to deal with a lot of harmony. I wanted to create something that really wasn’t being done.

James: The term Pop Punk has really exploded in recent years. When I think of the term I think of bands like the Descendents, The Buzzcocks, ALL. I don’t see any connection to Punk with these new bands. It’s all about looks and has nothing to do with music. I was wondering what your take on it was considering the type of band you play in.

Jerry: Punk to us was always an attitude. We were never Hardcore and we wanted to be the exact opposite of what Skinheads were. Wasn’t Punk just being yourself and being true to who you are? We had the Punk ethic but we weren’t Punk so to speak. We wanted to be a Pop band more than we wanted to be a Punk band. We were kind of forced to speed it up.

I think the term is being over used now. There are so many different genres now. I don’t think we fit in with these newer bands/.

James: You’ve been around for twenty years now. Do you ever feel your influence on other bands?

Jerry: I always think I do but you never know. I hear songs. I hear riffs and sounds. I don’t know. I’m sure there are bands that wouldn’t mind saying that we influenced them.

This year I’ve had people come to me and tell me they started playing because of us.

I think I can deal with that better than I could when I was a kid. Now I’m more appreciative.

James: So when can we expect the new album?

Jerry: We’re going to finish it up this year and release it early next year. I also want to shop it around a little bit to some indie labels. I think it would be smart to sign us right now. We have this history. We don’t look to old or sound too old. We still have a fresh sound. I think it would be smart to capitalize on that. I’m going to look around and shop the record. But I’m not going to wait too long. It’s come to a point where this has become the Fiendz “Chinese Democracy” Everybody’s heard and about it and people are talking about it but they haven’t seen anything.

James: Is Dylan going to be getting producing credits on the album. (At the time Dylan was hard at work on the mixing board.)

Jerry: He’s learning a lot. Tim has been teaching him how to mix. At the moment he’s the band mascot but he’ll be running things by the end of the year for sure.

James: Are we going to be doing another interview twenty years from now?

Jerry: If you asked my wife she’d tell you yes. It seems that every five years I tell her “I can’t see myself doing this for another five years.”

“I can’t see myself doing this for another ten years.” And it just keeps going and going and going.  It’s that passion that won’t let me stop.  I want to continue. I don’t feel this need to be around forever. It’s just the way things are. I don’t want this to be the last Fiendz album. I still have a lot of old stuff I want to get out to people. I have that one album that was supposed to come between “Cole and “Redemption”. Even with this new album I have twenty songs. Some of which will fall away. I always want to put out the best material possible. So yes, I would like to be sitting here with you twenty years from now. JD

(Interview and Pictures James Damion. Flyer taken from The Fiendz My Space page.)