The Tim “Napalm” Stegall Substack Interview: Pearl Harbour, Part Two
The former Pearl E. Gates talks about Pearl Harbor and The Explosions and explains how she ended up in England making a rockabilly album with 3/4ths of The Clash, & does a mean Kosmo Vinyl imitation.
Yeah, I know. I didn’t post once last week. Because I got a promotion.
My new day job, a call center job which I work from home, promoted me last week to the business-to-business sector after two months. Which meant my night owl ways just got shifted to the weekends. I now, like many of you, rise at 6 AM Monday-through-Friday and clock in on my laptop at 8, calling the offices of politicians, lawyers and captains of industry until 3PM. And yes, it takes a Herculean effort to not tell some of these fucks what utterly detestable sacks of flotsam and jetsam they are! I guess I’ll save it for future Hormones songs….
So, I spent much of last week sleep deprived. What energy I had for writing had to be reserved for editing interviews for my book, which should be wrapped up at the end of the month, And yes, I hear tell from my publisher that we should, indeed, soon be announcing the 500 lb. gorilla that has taken up every space of my life for just over a year now. And guess what? We begin planning my next book right after! Not that I mind in the least. Being this busy beats the bejesus out of the alternative.
But I need to shut up, as this is supposed to be about Pearl Harbour, not Yerz Troolee. We left off last time with Pearl easing into the tale of Pearl Harbor and The Explosions, the prime San Francisco New Wave outfit she fronted for two years, after dancing with The Tubes and serving in Leila and The Snakes.
TIM: I just got through watching the “Drivin’” video on YouTube and yeah, it sounds like the musicians in the band at least wanted to become some sort of jazz fusion quartet or something.
PEARL: Yeah, that's what I called it. But to tell you the truth, I'm not sure if the kind of music that they liked was jazz fusion, but that's what I call it, because it was certainly a mystery to me. I wanted to play rock ‘n’ roll and they didn't. And I've said it before, but if I had known then what I know now, I wouldn't have the same musical taste. So it was hard for me to be in that band because they were playing music that I didn't quite care for, even though I appreciated that it was really good music. And by the way, Pearl Harbor and The Explosions was the most successful I've ever been in my life. And it doesn't matter to me whether it was successful or not. What matters to me is that I didn't really like the music. But we had fun touring, and we toured with the Talking Heads for three months, and that was really fun for me.
And I didn't care that I didn't like the music, because I was on stage every night singing and dancing. And I was backstage with Tina Weymouth, and that meant more to me than anything. So I really enjoyed that tour. That was the fun part about being in Pearl Harbor and The Explosions.
TIM: You had actually brought Wanda Jackson’s “Fujiyama Mama” to The Explosions back then, correct?
PEARL: Yeah. They weren't interested. It wasn't their fault. They just didn't like it, that's all. They just said no. They used to tease me and say, “You and your mindless rockabilly!” And I'd go, yeah, “That's me, alright. Thank you. I'll be happy to lose my mind without you.”
TIM: It was in this period that you started getting associated with The Clash, primarily through Kosmo Vinyl.
PEARL: Yes, that's true, when Pearl Harbor and The Explosions were rehearsing. Well Tim, I think it might have even been in Leila and The Snakes, because this was 1977. Yeah, it was Leila and The Snakes, because we were in the rehearsal studio, and Ian Dury and The Blockheads were in the studio next to us, and I didn't know it. Then I was in the lobby, and Kosmo walked over to me and said, “You're the second most beautiful girl I've seen today.” I was Like, “Oh, God! Who the hell are you?” I was like, “Yeah, what do you want?” He said, “You want to see the best rock ‘n’ roll band in the world? I said, “Well, yeah! Who's that?” And he said, “Ever heard of Ian Dury and the Blockheads?” I said, “Yes! Oh my God, you're with Ian Dury and the Blockheads?!”
I knew about them because of Elvis Costello, because we had been the support act for Elvis Costello and The Attractions. They were in San Francisco for a couple of weeks, and they told me all about Stiff Records and Nick Lowe and Graham Parker and Wreckless Eric and Ian Dury, and so I went and bought all those records. So when he said Ian Dury was there, I lost my mind! So I went and watched them rehearse, and it was fantastic. So then I became friends with Kosmo ,and then he said, “Yeah, I'll invite you to shows, and I also work with The Clash. Let's have some fun!” And I said, “Alright, sounds good to me.” And he saw Pearl Harbor and The Explosions and said, “Yeah, you guys are a good band, but you need to get into your rock 'n' roll shoes.”
I said, “Yes, I do.” So he said, “Why don't you move to London?” I said, “OK, I will.” And that was that.
TIM: By the way, you do a very good Kosmo Vinyl impersonation. [laughs]
PEARL: Well, because I'm a singer, I listen to people's accents. And then I can imitate everybody. I'm a mimic. I think a lot of singers probably are. But when I lived in London, I had to try really hard, and I lived there for eight years. I had to try really hard not to have an English accent, because I didn't want to be one of those Americans that were walking around pretending they were English, you know? But yes, I would go home and I'd imitate everybody that was at the flea market. I’d meet somebody, and Kosmo was a real Cockney. And a Cockney means it's the East End of London, and you're within the sound of Bow bells. Bow bells is a church, and if you can hear the sound of the church bells then you're a true Cockney. And we lived above the Bow Road tube station. So I was a funny American who didn't understand the whole Cockney history, but it's very interesting. I know a lot about it now. So I was imitating everybody because the Cockney accent is so strong and it's so... they use a lot of rhyming slang so that people don't know what they're talking about. It's just really fascinating to me, a great bunch of people, because it was a poor section of London. So no Americans ever went there.
And all these English people said, “Hey, you're American, ain't ya?”
And I'd go, yeah.
And I'd say, “Oh, well, I came here from San Francisco.”
And they'd go, “You left San Francisco to live in Bow?!” And I'd go, yeah.
And they'd say, “You must be bloody mad! Leaving San Francisco to live in Bow?!” And I'd go, yeah! And they'd say, “You must be bloody mad!” [laughs]
So, I had fun with all that too. They thought I was funny, and I thought they were funny, and that was a good way to have fun.
End Part Two
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