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The Smithereens will be playing the Music Box Supper Club on August 22.   This time they will be joined by John Cowsill on lead vocals.  We had the chance to catch up with drummer Dennis Diken to discuss his upcoming appearance in Cleveland.

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Greg Drugan: Hey Dennis, thank you for taking some time with me today.  How has the tour been going so far with John (Cowsill) on vocals?

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Dennis Diken:  My pleasure.  John’s been doing great.  It’s like we’re stepping in to an old comfortable shoe.  It’s funny, because I look at clips of him playing with The Cowsills from The Ed Sullivan Show from ‘67 and we’re about the same age.  When I was a kid wanting to play the drums for real, and I was teaching myself at that time.  And here he is, playing drums on The Ed Sullivan Show and now I get to play drums behind him.  It’s just a funny context. 

 

GD:  You have used Marshall Crenshaw and Robin Wilson in years past, how did you meet up with John for this tour?

 

DD:  We’ve known John and The Cowsills since 1991.  Jimmy Babjak and I went to see The Cowsills play when we were working on our Blow Up album at that time.  We had a night off so we went to go see The Cowsills who were playing with Screaming Trees and Red Cross.  Quite the bill.  More than anything, we wanted to see The Cowsills.  We went to the show and we were blown away by their performance and their genetic blend vocally.  We were co enchanted by them that we asked them if they wouldn’t mind singing on a track on Blow Up. That’s how we became acquainted. We stayed in touch and John played drums with The Beach Boys for quite a few years and he sometimes invited me to sit in with him if I came to a show.  

 

There were a couple of dates that Robin (Wilson) wasn’t available for and Marshall (Crenshaw) wasn’t available for so we asked John if he would sit in and he was very much into it.  That’s how it came to pass, quite organically just like the other ones. 

 

GD:  What initially drew you to the drums out of all the other instruments, and who were your biggest influences when you were starting out?

 

DD:  If I go back to when I was very young, two or three years old, I heard the radio a bit, I was enticed by the sounds on the radio.  But it was American Bandstand with Dick Clark. American Bandstand was exciting, we were watching these kids dance to these records. American Bandstand really invited me into this whole musical sphere.  I always gravitated to the rhythms and the sounds of the drums.  When I was two and a half, I asked for and received a little toy drum.  So I got started very young and I began teaching myself how to play on coffee cans with plastic lids.  The first records I remember being enchanted by rhythmically, was Chubby Checker “The Twist.”  That was a game changer for the music business. After Elvis, it was the first big rock ‘n roll fad or phase.  The Twist was a world wide phenomenon.  The Twist was big and then I got into the drumming on The Four Seasons and The Beach Boys circa ‘62-’63.  The Phil Spector productions with Hal Blaine on drums with The Ronettes and The Crystals. Then all the British stuff with Ringo and Charlie Watts and Keith Moon and Kenny Jones with The Small Faces. There’s so many. 

 

GD:  It’s good to see Chubby Checker finally getting inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this year.

 

DD:  Yeah, ain’t it though! I’m really pleased about that. 

 

GD:  It’s funny, I saw him about two years ago here in Akron and he put on a heck of a show.  Eighty-two years old or whatever, he’s out there doing it. 

 

DD:  Yeah, I saw him within the last ten years or so and I was really surprised.  I remember seeing him back in the ‘70s and thinking, “wow, he’s a pretty vital performer.”  I saw him recently and he’s still got something, he doesn’t phone it in. Good on him! I’m really glad he’s getting the recognition because I really think he deserves it. 

 

GD:  Speaking of performances, do you remember the first band you saw in concert and how did that impact you?

 

DD:  It was in the summer of 1971.  It was The Schaeffer Festival in Central Park.  It was sponsored by Scheaffer beer.  I was fourteen years old and I was waist deep into Doo Wop. Murry the K hosted the show with The Harptones, Bo Diddley, The Orioles, The Jive Five and I think one other one. Then the second show, later that year, Jimmy and I went to see The Beach Boys on The Surf’s Up tour.  

 

GD:  Speaking of Jimmy, how did the chemistry between you and the other guys in The Smithereens come together, and what do you think gave the band its distinctive sound?

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DD:  Like everything we do, quite organically.  Jimmy and I met, day one, period one, row one, seat one, first day of freshman year, September 1971.  We went straight from eighth grade to freshman year.  When I was coming out of grammar school, we had a relatively small student body and I knew going into high school I would be meeting a lot more kids. My dream was to form a band, I was playing drums, and I thought if I could meet a guitarist who could play “I Can’t Explain" by The Who, that was a great starting point. First day, Jimmy opens up his loose leaf, and I’m in the second row, plastered in his loose leaf are pictures of The Who from Hit Parader magazine. Lightbulb went off in my head. So that day after class I introduced myself.  “My name’s Dennis and I play drums, do you by chance play guitar?”  “Yeah I do.”  “Can you play ‘I Can’t Explain” by The Who?” “Yeah, I can.”  We started playing together that week and we haven’t stopped. A beautiful friendship blossomed that is still vital and strong to this day. 

 

Mike Mesaros, our bass player, I’ve known him since third grade. Jimmy went to a different grammar school.  But he went to the same church as Mike so they knew each other from their communion.  So we all came together in high school. Mike saw Jimmy and I playing and we needed a bass player so he learned how to play bass.  We kicked around for the rest of the ‘70s and we didn’t meet Pat until 1978.  Once he started writing songs and had us play on the demos, it all came together. 

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GD:  As a drummer, what’s your approach when it comes to shaping the feel of a Smithereens track? Do you start with the groove, or do you build around the melody?

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DD:  You follow what’s being played by the guitarist. I always lock into the vocalist quite a bit. I always gravitated towards the feel of the vocals.  You try and build the groove around the thrust of the guitar. You try to season the song based on what the lyrics are singing.  You try and accentuate where the changes are in the song and create some excitement.  None of us in the band ever studied, it’s all coming from the gut and the heart.. 

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GD:  You can tell that.  I read that originally Madonna was scheduled to be the back up singer on “Girl Like You” is that true?

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DD: Yes it is!  She was supposed to, it was all scheduled and she was supposed to come to the studio and do it that fine day at Rumbo Recorders in Los Angeles.  The story goes, she had a fight with her then boyfriend Warren Beatty and nixed it. What are you gonna do?

 

GD:  It’s still a great track! You talked about some British Invasion bands that influenced you. One of my favorite bands of all time is The Kinks.  You got to play with Dave Davies, what was that experience like?

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DD:  If we backtrack a little more, it was December of ‘91, The Smithereens were on tour promoting our Blow Up album.  We were scheduled to play a show in Boston, a multi-artist show and Ray and Dave were promoting their Phobia album.  They were doing just the two of them with no band. We got word of that and we said “hey, maybe we can back them up if they want a band.”  Back in the ‘70s we went to all of their shows and we went to their hotels to stock them, we were fanboys and still are.  They agreed to it.  We worked it out when they got to the end of “Lola” which is a big sing-a-long, we joined in and the curtain went up and the crowd nuts then we played “You Really Got Me.”  It was a big, big thrill.  That was our first experience performing with them. 

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We developed a relationship and through a series of circumstances with Dave, around 2012 he asked me to play a couple of tours with him.  It was a lot of fun to do that.  People ask me, “what is Dave like?” and I say he is a punk at heart but he had the aura of a wise, old sage.  Playing with him was being a kid again and playing with your favorite records. 

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GD:  You were actually behind the kit the last time that Ray and Dave Davies played together.  What was that experience like?

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DD:  Yes, thus far.  It was December of 2015 and we played a show in a section of London at the hall there.  It was around Christmas time and at that point, they had not played together in nineteen years. There were rumors that Ray might show up tonight. None of us really knew for sure if he was going to show up until he did. We were on stage at the time and somebody got word to the guitar player that Ray is here.  Then he came up and joined us on “You Really Got Me.”  Big thrill.  They both seemed very happy to be on stage together again with each other.  My wife happened to be there and she took a picture and posted it on Facebook and the internet was aflame! 

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GD:  I’m sure!  That’s amazing and to be a part of that.  I’m hoping they will do it one more time! 

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DD:  Hopefully they will.  Everybody asks me, “what do you know about it?”  I don’t know anything.  Your guess is as good as mine. No matter what you’ve heard throughout  the years, there really is a deep affection between the two of them.  

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GD:  You also got to tour with the legendary Ronnie Spector.  How did that experience differ from Dave Davies?

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DD: That was a dream come true for me.  In 1963 when I was six and heard “Be My Baby” on the radio just fried my brain.  Hal Blaine’s drumming on there.  I always loved The Ronnetts and I loved Ronnie.  Her voice was like no other, she had a unique gift.  She was the real deal until the day she died.  She never assumed the oldies kind of role.  She was a vital performer who always brought it at every show. You asked the difference.  Her show was a little more produced, there was scripted dialogue, there were visuals. The band was a little bigger but in both cases both artists were still close to the bone.  Sometimes when an artist gets on in years, in my mind, they lose sight of what it was that made them essential. Neither Dave nor Ronnie did. They were true to their game the whole time.  Anytime I took the stage with Dave or Ronnie, it was never lost on me how special this was. 

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GD: Getting back to The Smithereens, how do you maintain the energy and tightness in a live show, since you’ve been playing for so long?

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DD:  That’s a hard question.  Jimmy says it well and he talks about it on stage. We could be having a bad day or be tired of traveling or having an ailment but when we take the stage it all fades away.  We feel like we’re teenagers again, we really do.  We didn’t start playing to become rock stars or make a lot of money.  It’s nice if it happens but we started because we love to play.  We like to hang out together and that’s still what drives us.  If you love what you do, it’s really a gift and a blessing.  We will both keep playing as long as we are physically able to. 

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GD:  So you will be playing at The Music Box Supper Club in a couple of weeks here in Cleveland, what can fans expect from the show?

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DD:  We certainly play all the songs that people know us for. I know that I feel cheated if I go and see an artist and they ignore the songs that the public bought and know them for.  We dig deep into the albums and play some deep cuts and then we throw in some covers.  We just like to have fun, that’s what it’s really about.

 

I want to add that the Cleveland and Akron area is really special to us. The first couple of years of the bands existence, we played in New Jersey and New York.  We got an in through some friends of ours in the Cleveland area. There was a trio called The Action and they were pretty popular.  They played The Phantasy, and another place called The Bank in Akron.  We became friendly with them.  They put out their own independent records and we put our our own EPs.  They would come out and open for us in New York and New Jersey then we would come out and open for them.  We’re talking ‘81.  Cleveland was the place from our immediate tri-state area that helped us branch out.  Any time we cross the border into Ohio I think about those days.  We still have a soft spot in our heart for Cleveland and Akron. 

 

GD:  We’re known as a great music town and we still hold on to that tradition.  We love our rock and roll, straight ahead rock.

 

DD:  We always have good audiences and we always look forward to it.   Thank you good people of Ohio. 

 

GD:  I wish you safe travels on the road and I”m very much looking forward to the show on the 22nd. 

 

DD:  Come back and say hi.  From the bottom of our hearts, we really appreciate the fans that have stuck with us for the past forty-five years.  We couldn’t do it without them, so thank you very much!

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Come out to The Music Box Supper Club on Friday, August 22 and see The Smithereens with John Cowsill on vocals!

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The unedited Zoom call is posted below. 

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