New York Dolls Reunite With Producer Todd Rundgren For New CD

NYDolls
The New York Dolls are true originals. A renegade, trend-setting rock–and–roll–glam band that took the early 70's music scene by storm with their high heels, outrageous clothes and make–up.
The initial reaction to the band represented polar extremes; you either thought they were the best new band around, or you thought they were “trash” (pun intended). Love 'em or hate 'em though, the Dolls recorded two hugely important rock albums – New York Dolls in 1973 and Too Much Too Soon in 1974 – before finally imploding for good in 1977. The New York Dolls were the seminal proto–punk band and along with their style and self–titled debut album especially, greatly influenced what was to become the punk rock, new wave and 80's hair–metal eras.
Having worked with legendary musician and producer Todd Rundgren on that first record, original Dolls’ David Johanson and Syl Sylvain began wondering if they could re–capture that magic again. After all, it had been over 35 years since the original Dolls worked with Rundgren, so when it was announced last fall that they would indeed be reuniting to record a new album titled 'Cause We Sez So, needless to say, quite a buzz was created and the news traveled fast.
“When we approached Todd last fall about the possibility of working together on a new record, we were quite lucky that the schedules worked,” Dolls’ guitarist Syl Sylvain stated in an exclusive Message interview. “We were able to track him down through Liv Tyler, actually, who is still very close to her 'uncle Todd'. We asked Todd if he wanted to do it and he said yes. And he asked us if we had a record deal and we said yes, so we said okay, let's do it!”
However first, we must flashback to 2004 when Johansen, Sylvain and original Dolls' bassist Arthur Kane had reformed the band to much acclaim after Smiths front man Morrissey, a long–time fan who even ran their UK fan club in the 70's, asked the Dolls to perform at the annual Meltdown Festival in London. After getting a very positive response from the crowd and the press the Dolls planned a tour, but sadly the plans were tragically derailed when Kane was diagnosed with leukemia shortly thereafter, passing away literally days after receiving the horrible news.
Johansen and Sylvain mourned, endured and eventually got back together two years later in 2006 to record the Dolls' third album and first in 31 years titled One Day It Will Please Us To Remember Even This, released on Roadrunner Records. Featuring Johansen, Sylvain, Steve Conte (The Contes, Crown Jewels) on guitar, Sami Yaffa (Hanoi Rocks), drummer Brian Delaney and keyboard player Brian Koonin, the album received a good response from not only long–time Dolls fans, but also a new generation of followers as well.
The attention prompted the Dolls to go on an extended UK tour that no doubt, recaptured some of that bad–ass magic that set the rock world on fire when they first burst on the scene. “Let me tell you a quick story... we were recently touring in South America, in Buennes Aires,” Sylvain mused. “And after doing a photo shoot, we were walking by this school and all these kids noticed us and started following us around. A girl came up to us who couldn't have been more than 14 or 15 years old and asked us if we were the New York Dolls. “We thought that was pretty cool! Actually, we've been getting reactions like that all the time. It's a great feeling when you know you've made some kind of impact on someone out there, even after all these years.”
David JohansenNow we fast–forward to the fall of 2008, as the Dolls enter Utopia Sound Studio, Rundgren's home base in Kauai, Hawaii, to record their fourth studio album. With once again Johansen on vocals, Sylvain on guitar, along with the new comers Conte, Delaney and Yaffa, 'Cause I Sez So features 11 original songs, mostly penned by Johansen and Sylvain, plus a re-make of the Dolls' classic track “Trash” from the first record.
The entire project was recorded in just a month's time, simply because of everyone’s tight schedules, while Syl was anointed musical director from the outset of the project. “We had around 20 song ideas going into the project, and everyone had input in the recording of the final tracks,” Sylvain stated. “We had worked up some ideas at Steve Conti's studio in New York, then continued to tighten them up after we arrived in Kauai, then recorded the final tracks over a six–night span.
“Todd has a wonderful studio set up and we had a great time working with him again. He did some background vocals on a couple tracks in that classic high tone of his, (laughing) but he made us re–record a couple of them because he thought they sounded too much like Paul McCartney!” But it was all very laid back, in fact, when we first arrived, Todd wasn't quite ready for us, thinking that we were arriving in town the next day.”
So, how did it feel working with Rundgren after all these years? Did it take long to get on the same page and re–kindle the magic? “It all worked pretty well. We have so much respect for Todd and what he's accomplished over the years. But to be honest, we didn't have enough time to 'really' get to know each other again, ya know? “I know the cool thing would be to say that we all got to spend a lot of time together and really work on our craft, but when you only have a month, there isn't time to get too involved with any one aspect. You gotta go with your gut feelings and lay down the tracks. But we also feel the songs are really strong. For years we've had people telling us that we can't write songs anymore or we can't do this or that, but we don't want to be considered some revival band and we don't want to do these epic things, but we do still have something to say. Ya know, it's pretty cool when your 57 years old and still get asked to make a record.”
The record deal came from Atco, the revived Atlantic Records import label that is now owned by Rhino Records. Dolls manager Ron Stone, who is also co–founder of Gold Mountain Entertainment, worked out the deal through Rhino. ‘Cause I Sez So was released world–wide on May 5 and the Dolls hosted a CD release party at perhaps the most fitting venue imaginable, the John Varvatos Boutique at 315 Bowery on all of the Lower East Side. Which of course, used to be the home of the legendary CBGB’s club, where it essentially all began for the Dolls. The band will also continue to tour, including a jaunt across America, featuring some double–bill shows with Rundgren, which all begins on May 20 in Solana Beach, CA. and will continue trips to San Francisco, Seattle, Vancouver, Denver, New Orleans, New York City and Boston.
From there, the band will return to England for more shows, including a television appearance on the Jules Holland music show. Not bad for a band that originally shook up the music world some 35 years ago, and are now proving they still have something to say.