Ted Poley | Danger Danger | Bone Machine | April 2003 |

 

This was in interesting one for me.. its the first time I've interviewed someone that didn't

 want to talk about the band they came from.. which for you that read this site regularly.. 

you know that cuts out most of my questions.. so I wasn't really prepared for that.. 

but I held my own.. and just had to fast forward to present time... quickly.. :)

I've been a fan of Ted's since way back in the Danger Danger days.. they were always a FUN band.. 

good looking and great performers.. it was a shame that all the mayhem started in the band.. 

but at least he is still plugging away and releasing tons of music... 

so here it is.. straight from Ted Poley himself..

 

J - First off.. back in the day.. how did you hook up with the guys in Danger Danger?

T - Well lets see hooking up with those guys.. to tell you the truth.. if this is a "where are they now" .. I don't even answer the Danger Danger questions.. I  don't know if your aware.. and I don't want to be a dick about it or anything but quiet honestly they screwed me pretty badly.. and I'm not going to promote anything they have done.

 

J - And I totally understand that.. I shouldn't say this is a where are they now..

T - As far as how did I get together with the band.. that's questions I would answer while I was in the band..8 years ago.. I'm into promoting what I do now.. I don't even want to get into the why the band broke up.

 

J -Ok.. well then ill skip ahead to once your out of the band..

T - Yes if that is ok.. I'd prefer that.. its fine to give a little background.. but ya know.. I've been out of the band for longer then I was in it.. that's like why where you hanging out with in high school... hahaha.. well what difference does that make..hahaha..

 

J - Well I mean I don't ask who your influences are.. but like what's the biggest crowd you have ever played for.... what's the craziest thing a fan has done to meet you..cause a lot of times I have fans writing in the questions..

T - Oh no, no, no... that's perfectly valid.. especially if its personalized to me..as far as Danger Danger stuff goes..ya know.. I just don't have time to promote them.

 

J - Ok.. well tell me about Bone Machine then.. after Danger Danger..

T - Ok..well after Danger Danger.. I had a few bands.. I had Bone Machine..which was a very heavy.. well not "very heavy"  but heavy melodic rock band.. we toured Europe.. had a very good run.. obviously on smaller labels...all the stuff you can get on my site www.tedpoley.com you can get music.. free downloads.. pictures all that cool stuff.. from there.. but Bone Machine was basically straight out of Danger Danger.. I just didn't want to give up..so I had a great band..and we went, and we rocked and we actually took it pretty far..well as far as you can take an independent band..ya know we weren't on a major label or anything.. but I was pretty fed up with major labels at that point anyway..hahaha...

 

J - Who wrote the music..?

T - Myself and a guy named John Allan lll J3 oh is now the guitar player for Tommy Lee's band.. so he's really talented.. super good guy. super talented guy.. and playing guitar.. I don't know if he is still in the band.. he was just this last year.. I don't know much about those guys but he hooked up with Tommy Lee.. I saw him on MTV and stuff.. but that's what he's doing.. Bone Machine was a cool band..

 

J - How many releases did u do with them?

T - We did three.. the first one was called "Dogs" .. the second  was called Search and Destroy" .. which was a live one, when we toured England.. we  put out a live video as well.. which is really cool.. it is an hours length.. of backstage and out takes and all kinds of stuff, and the full concert.. and that's from England.. well its sold here.. but it was filmed in England, then we did one which was called "Disappearing Inc".. which was put out in 1996 and it had the World Trade Center.. Twin Towers all destroyed on it.. so it was a bit of a premonition.. so that cover is out of print, needless to say now.. but that's a great record, if anyone can find that.. its a really really good record..then of course after that.. I moved on.. took a couple years off, moved onto the Melodica gig. and that's with my partner Gerhard Pichler who's from Austria, a really good guitar player.. and an excellent recording engineer ... and everything so he gave us the ability to record again.. without spending a fortune..so we put out .. with Melodica.. the first one was called "Long Way From Home" these were on Now & Then Records.. and then we would maintain on our label in the states..Lets see "Long Way From Home" then we did "Acoustica" which is acoustic versions of some of our songs.. which was a really good selling record.. we were surprised..we just did that as a little off record to fill the void between 2 other c.d.'s and it was really well received.. then we came out with the "Love Metal" c.d. which is really cool.. that's a good summer cranking rock.. Danger Dangerish kind of c.d... then my latest one is "Big" which if you like Danger Danger.. you'll like this..

 

J - Right.. very cool.. and how can you get the c.d.'s are they all on your site?

T - yes..please  come to www.tedpoley.com You can get them there.. and listen to sound bites...lots of photos..and lots of cool stuff.. we sell bootleg c.d.'s live shows. other acoustic shows..etc.

 

J - How would you describe the music to someone who hasn't heard it?

T - well if they liked Danger Danger..they would certainly like it.. and its a little more mature but better written..but its rockin fun.. its not trendy or what's happening now.. I guess you can say..hahaa.. it aint creed or Britney Spears...hahaha.. that's for sure..it's closer to Journey or Danger Danger.. that sort of stuff..sorta picked up where Danger Danger left off in 1992.. and I think they will like it.. its just good melodic rock..

 

J - Any touring plans..?

T - Right now we are still touring.. we started in England in October.. and just the States as far as we can get here, we don't get to cross over to California.. cause we are unsigned  .. well we are signed to Z Records in England.. but that doesn't help us much over here, haha..  so we do it our selves, and sell c.d.'s and all kinds of things.. we go out and meet the fans and do it at grass roots level.. which is actually kinda fun.. cause you get to actually meat the people that are enjoying your music.. which I love..so we have been on tour since October and we will be on tour indefinitely till... I'm looking at.. retiring January 2004.. so right now we are on till then..and getting out as far as we can, but based in out New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania area..

 

J - I was gonna say.. no Florida shows?

T - Well Id like to try to get down there once, before I give it all up.. but um.. maybe go down there.. and work my way back up the coast or something.. but as far as getting out to the Rockies out west.. it gets pretty expensive.. I can get out to Ohio, West Virginia, maybe Florida.. but for now we do this area..within a few 100 miles.. and it's going very well.. then we go to Europe.. which is kinda weird.. we can afford to play here.. and Europe... but that's where we get the crowds, so that's where we can play.. they are still into this kind of music.. around here we get a few 100 loyal fans that we love but it doesn't sell a million records anymore.. so its' tough to tour.. no more tour busses.. ya know.. you get out there and you drive, so it's grouling to tour these days..

 

J - What's the biggest crowd you have played for and where?

T - Ummm.. probably on the Kiss tours.. and we did a gig in the middle of Columbus Ohio.. for like the whole city, in there town square.. that was cool... maybe 50,00 or something.. Actually the biggest one.. it was live.. but not in there face... I did a... the day after we signed a contract in England.. I had to go live on the BBC and do some acoustic songs.. and that was like 4 million listeners.. hahaha.. that was a little scary.. But it's not about the numbers. I don't mind if there is 10 people there we don't care.. we have a great time..clubs are great.. but arenas are greater..hahaha.. I'm not gonna kid ya..we would rather play arenas.. but we have just as much fun in clubs..hahaha..

 

J - What's your favorite tour you have done? as far as package tours?

T - Oh Kiss.. Kiss.. you can't beat that.. cause when I was a kid.. they were the greatest.. I loved them.. I used to go to there concerts..  when I was kid.. and saw "Detroit Rock City" when the bombs went off..and thought.. that's a cool think to do for a living..so I'd have to say Kiss had to be the highlight, cause those guys were always total rock stars.. but we went out with a lot of really good bands.. like Extreme..

 

J - Ya I saw you guys with Extreme.. it was really cool..

T - Oh cool.. in Florida? Was that when I fell off the stage  and hit my head..?

 

J - Umm I don't recall that happening..haha

T -Ya I don't remember much either.. but it was somewhere in Florida.. and I recall it was a very hard floor.. I went up to shake somebody's hand..and they pulled me off the stage.. hahah..

 

J - well this was an outdoor show..

T - Oh outdoors?..

 

J -Well its technically half covered.. at a place called Jannus Landing.. and it was before "Screw It" came out.. cause I remember you guys doing songs from the album.. before it came out.. great show.. you guys were one of my favorite bands.. and you as a performer were amazing..

T - Well thank you.. we are still kicking ass..and giving it our all.. that's really nice of you to say.. thanks..and that's what really put us over..cause there were a lot of "hair bands" at the time.. and a lot of them couldn't really play that well.. and some of them were just too into there looks.. we  really had to prove ourselves.. cause we had a pretty good looking band.. so everyone thought here comes a bunch of posers.. and we had tours with like Warrant.. that was the first tour.. then we had a huge tour w/Alice Cooper.. and you can't go out in front of Alice Cooper's crowd and not kick ass, or they will kill you..so we definitely honed in on our live skills..live is definitely heavier then the album... it's a lot more energetic.. cause we went out with some heavy bands.. Alice Cooper.. with Kiss.. in the arenas so we really learned how to do it..and it was great cause we could show the people that we were a really talented band..and hopefully as good as or above some of the bands, that looked the same..

 

J - Well Andy Timmons is an amazing guitar player..

T - Yes absolutely.. well the thing is ..the whole band.. Bruno, great bass player.. and that was the thing.. live..cause I think that's why we survived.. people saw us live from the Kiss tours..and the arena tours.. a lot of the people saw the countdown stuff on MTV.. but there were a lot of bands on there..but what really put us over was when they would come see us live..and have a good time.. that's why I still like playing live..

 

J - What was your  favorite video to have shot?

T - With Danger Danger.. hmm..well the one that no one ever saw which was "Monkey Business".. have you seen that?

 

J - I love that video..I have that on tape..

T - Oh do you..cause that was the end, like the day after we filmed that..everyone started wearing flannel... ya that video was out of control.. it had the biggest stage, biggest lights.. biggest bombs.. its got actresses.. actors.. monkeys on motorcycles.. that's a good video.. I like that one..

 

J - What's the craziest thing a fan has ever done to meet you?

T - Ummm.. I don't know... well some of the craziest.. a lot of them tell you they have cancer and they don't..hahaha.. stuff like that..

 

J - That's what I hear a lot of.. I would have never thought of that..

T - Oh ya.. there is this one girl.. recently.. cause on the internet.. they can all get in touch with you..and I'm happy to hear from her.. but I'm wondering why she's not dead.. hahahah she was like 2 days away at the time.. so I took extra time with her and was hanging out.. ya know, trying to do everything possible.. and ya know you don't hope they are gonna die..hahaha.. I'm hoping they get better, but I kinda doubt a miracle happened when I look back now.. ya know what I mean. I feel like a sucker.. but the things that I like  I'll play.. in Pennsylvania, New  Jersey.. and I have people driving all the way from California, and Canada..some people from Rhode Island.. and even one person came from Germany just to see our show.... not just cause they happened to be here.thats the stuff that's more important. and that impresses me, that I think is really cool.. so I make sure we hang out, and have a good time.

 

J - How do you feel about the music downloading.. and music sharing..?

T - Its destroying everything. I think the internet in general is the biggest piece of shit.

 

J - Hahaha..

T - I think almost nothing good has come of the internet except if your sick you can look up symptoms..and get help early or something. I can see how that might help people..as far as chat rooms.. and people being anonymous and full of shit I just think the internet is.. and you can quote me .. "A Big Piece Of Shit" .. I think people posting anonymously I think there print looks just as big as everyone else's when you read them.. and that's what's giving people power.. that they never had before.. and I really  think its horrible.. so it lets in the music sharing.. and the file sharing.. and what that does is basically destroy there music.. cause what they are doing is they are stealing.. and for music labels that sell 5 million albums of something.. now are selling 2 million of something.. but they are still selling 2 million. so I'm not worried about them.. however for bands at my level that sell say.. 5000 copies of something.. and your profits are going to come after the 2 -3 thousand sold.. then its all profit..and it all kicks in, and your band can really get paid..well when you take away 50% of them your lucky to even pay for the record at our level.. so its not between selling 2-million instead of 6 million.. but all the bands like me that could do really well and sell 10,000 records or even 5,000 records.. are now selling 2,000.. and that's not even enough to make it worth it.. you spend a year making a record.. and spend all kinds of money.. and you cant even re-coup it.. cause everyone is burning it.. and file sharing it..  its great if your a fan of course.. my god when I was a kid.. you basically had no music.. you had to save up for a record or a tape.. maybe tape a song off the radio.. I remember even having to find someone older to buy a Playboy magazine.. now I think things are pretty fucked up for a kid.. its instant porno..instant stealing music.. instant everything.. you could be a 10 year old kid at a porno site.. I know it would have messed me up..

 

J - Ya, just cause I clicked on the little thing that says I'm over 18.. doesn't mean I am.. hahaha..

T - Ya they don't know.... everyday.. I check my email..and there is one or 2 good emails.. and then there is  "grow your penis" haha..

 

J - I'm a girl and I even get those... hahaha..

T - Oh ya everyday you could "make lots of money" and "get out of debt" "free mortgage" hahaha.. it's like I can't keep up deleting it. I think its ridicules.. I think its a big crap fest.. its good in a way.. I have my website..  since I cant go all over the world, the kids can go on there, and see what happened at a show recently.. I can email  directly to them now.. but once again.. I'm selling less now.. cause people are buying it from me, and burning 5 copies for there friends. so small companies like mine.. it really kills them..

 

J - How do you feel about all these 80's bands getting back together and touring with different members?

T - I hate it.. I think it's a bunch of... ya know I sound like such a grump.. hahahah... but I answer honestly.. but ya know it effects even mine.. cause they went out and got a new singer.. and they go out and sing songs I made famous and people show up.. and they walk out, cause no matter how good the singer is.. and no reflection on the new singer...it doesn't matter.. its not what they went to go hear,, I mean myself to go see Foreigner without Lou Gramm ..I'd rather go home..

 

J - Well what about Kiss.. they have different members w/make-up on..?! That's really weird..

T - Well yes its weird but a lot of people are not aware of that ..its more like a play.. as long as you have Paul and Gene.. those guys are the main stars.. cause even when Danger Danger goes out with a new singer and they do whatever they do.. but when I go out and do Danger Danger songs.. as an original guy.. even though all my guys are not original.. as long as I've got kick ass great musicians that people have a great time with.. they hear the songs the same as the c.d. with the original singer.. and to tell you the truth I'd love to go out with Danger Danger and do some of the songs.. but they are not having any of that.. I do the Danger Danger songs and people have a great time! With my band.. I'm telling you.. I can sing these songs better now then I could then.. it sounds just like the c.d.'s.. we do "Monkey Business".. " I Still Think About You"  and of course we promote our own c.d.'s as well..  there is plenty of room for all of it..  but when we do "Bang Bang" "Under the Gun" or any of it.. I hit all those notes and beyond it.. and people have a great time.. When I saw Ratt with no Stephen Pearcy.. I think it was 2 guys.. Warren was good.. and ya the drummer..  and I thought.. well they actually sound better then the Ratt I used to go see live, but, the point is, I want to go see the celebrities that I know.. I wanna see Stephen Pearcy.. I wanna see how has doing.. and how he looks these days.. Id rather see a bad show w/the original guys then a cover band charging you 12.00 to get in to play Ratt songs  that's not the real Ratt.. go out as Warren DeMartini.. playing some songs of Ratt..or something.. I don't like it from a personal level.. and I think it sucks from a fan level... if they are going out to see replacement members, they might as well go out and see a cover band..

 

J - What new music are you into?

T - None!.. and here I go again.. being a big ol' grouch.. but once again.. it used to be you had a great band.. you had talent scouts and you would play a club if the club was packed and the talent scouts loved ya.. that would start a buzz.. then you showcase for the label and they would sign ya.. on the fact that they liked your songs, and thought you were a kick ass band.. ya know what I mean.. that's putting the horse before the cart... NOW.. what they do is they designed a cart.. and they have a big marketing plan and 10 million dollars to go push what they want to push.. and they addition people and turn them into what they want.. they made them.. and they produced them.. and they walked them through, and they are untalented and they do it on looks.. weather its girls or guys bands.. its total image .. most of the times they don't even know each other when the label signs them.. and a lot of the metal bands back then.. had Dian Warren and Desmond Child behind the scenes.. and a lot of people don't understand that a lot of those songs were not written by the bands..  but at least the bands went out there and would sing them.. and perform them and in Danger Danger we wrote all our own songs..  but even Bon Jovi.. look at the big hits.. Desmond Child.. but fans don't know that.. and they don't care, and once record companies figured that out, they just make the records for 10 bucks and sell 8 million of them..and now I watch cribs and I see these guys w/there cars.. that cost more then I ever saw in my entire life... and they have got ten of them.. have you seen it?

 

J- hahaa.. I watch that and think I'm in the wronggg line of work..

T - Hahaha.. ya but I'm IN THERE LINE OF WORK.. and what he hell happened..hahaha...geez id probably be filling up there gas tank in there Ferrari's when they pull in.. hahaha... I watch that show w/my mouth open and my head going from side to side.. I can't wait to see 5 years from now when they do crib updates.. and they turn out like mc hammer.. so I'm looking forward to that. when all these guys are in jail...it amazing to me the amount of money that is made from bands that are just put together..and they just are not interested in real bands that rehearse in garages and learn there songs like the old days..

 

J- Well that's about it....

T - Geez.. I'm so freakin grumpy..hahahaha..

 

J - Hahaha.. I'm thinking gosh I normally have the funniest interviews..

T - Hahaha.. no it was fun.. I was just getting grumpy about the whole music thing.. not you..hahahah.. I just say it like it is.. like earlier I didn't want to talk about Danger Danger.. I was polite about it wasn't I...haha..  but it's like.... they actually fired me years ago, and they still put out records with me on it.. and I actually am friendly with the guys on a certain level these days, but they keep putting out records without having to pay me.. and they don't have to pay me.. and they keep putting it out. It they keep putting out greatest hits and rarities and demos that I sang on.. I think they should have to pay me. I want the fans to know I've never made a dime from Danger Danger.. and I never will.. so I hope they enjoy that stuff... and I'm so glad that they know me from that, and I love the fans.. but I don't feel like promoting the new Danger Danger album.. haha.. that doesn't make me a bad guy... I'm investing a lot of time and money in what I'm doing now.. and I'd rather talk about that..

 

J - Ok.. well there it is.. no holding back from Ted.... Now go buy the album... and tell him MusicMayhem sent ya!

p.s. A big thanks to Tony from Z-Records for setting this up...

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