Rock ‘n’ roll is a cruel mistress, just ask Arthur Alexander. One minute you’re carving out a power-pop juggernaut, playing CBGB like your life depends on it, and the next, some corporate clown in a polyester suit decides your band ain’t marketable enough and swaps you out like expired milk. Sorrows were supposed to ride the wave with The Plimsouls and The Romantics, but instead, they got locked in record-label purgatory, watching their own songs get Frankensteined by producers who thought “punk” was a type of haircut.
But guess what? Alexander ain’t dead, and neither is Sorrows. Forty years later, he’s resurrected Parting Is Such Sweet Sorrow, an album buried by industry greed, now finally screaming back to life in full Technicolor glory. This isn’t some dusty box of demos; this is the real, blood-and-guts Sorrows, recorded in the haze of exhaustion, rage, and a desperate need to reclaim their sound.
Alexander, who still swings like a boxer with something to prove, talks lost albums, legal battles, and why, even after all the bullshit, rock ‘n’ roll is still the only thing that matters.
You’ve been sitting on this Sorrows album since 1981, what took you so long? Were you waiting for the label suits to retire or just enjoying watching fans lose their minds over “lost” albums?
The latter, I’m just a closet sadist! LOL….
Besides, I didn’t give a shit about the label suits. By then, it was a total war with our label over the fiasco that our last album – Love Too Late – had turned into, so that was a non-starter. I guess, we could have brought them this one, as a peace offering, to kiss and make up, but that would be like us saying: “we’re back to get fucked over again, yes please!”
Not sure if you, or your readers, are familiar with that whole scene, but here’s the dirt. A documentary released in 2021, when Sorrows “Love Too Late… the real album” was released:
We tried to shop this record to other labels; I took it to Europe and shopped it there, but with all the legal crap going on, we were radioactive. No one would touch us. Welcome to music business.
Let’s talk about Parting Is Such Sweet Sorrow, this isn’t a collection of demos or outtakes; this is a full-blown, all-guns-blazing Sorrows record from the band’s peak.
Well, in a way it was, a collection of demos, that is; or at least it was meant to be, or started out that way. After returning from England and those godforsaken “Love Too Late” sessions, we rekindled our relationship with Mark Milchman, our original producer on “Teenage Heartbreak”. He got tossed aside by the label when we were getting ready to record “Love Too Late” in favor of a “name producer”… (and man, did that work out real good!). At that point we were working on a bunch of new songs, so Mark took us back to Mediasound Studios, where we recorded “Teenage Heartbreak”, to lay down some tracks of this new material, exorcise our demons, and get back to being a team and a band we were before. By then, we no longer had a label footing the bill, we were ass broke, so we went in on studio “downtime”, late in the evening, for a few hours. We didn’t pay much attention to the studio setup, making things “proper”, with amps and drums just thrown in there, drums in the middle, no sound baffles, no isolation, literally as if we were on stage. We didn’t care if we were sloppy, or how things sounded, just wanted to lay the songs down, beat the shit out of our instruments and feel like we’re a band again. That at least was the plan, but really, there was no plan at all!… Just let ‘er rip!
But as the night progressed, song after song, Mark would ask us to come into the control room and listen to playback, and when we listened to what was coming out of the speakers, we started to realize this was not just your “jam night”, this was something really special. The “monster” pent up inside us was coming alive. All-guns-blazing, we were, indeed!
How the hell did it end up buried for four decades?
Well, as Lennon once said: “life’s what happens while you’re busy making other plans”. Life and total burn-out took over. Soon after, I dissolved the band, got dumped by a girlfriend, went into a drunken stupor and moved to LA (sober by then, I think). Mark Milchaman left the business and gave me the tapes. Only I had no resources to do anything with them, financially or otherwise, nor the knowledge how to do it myself. Even though by then I was getting into audio recording and record production full steam ahead and put together my own studio, it took years to actually learn and know what the hell I’m doing with all these buttons and flashing lights! So the tapes just laid in my closet.
There were also priorities. For some inexplicable reason CBS Records chose to never re-release Sorrows records after the original vinyl releases. Every Harry, Dick and Jane had their records re-released on CD, or at least as part of some compilations, but not Sorrows. Both “Teenage Heartbreak” and “Love Too Late” simply disappeared without a trace (actually, in case of the latter, a good thing!). So my focus was on re-establishing Sorrows existing legacy and re-releasing “Teenage Heartbreak” (“Bad Times Good Times, released on Bomp! Records in 2010) and making sure “Love Too Late… the cluster fuck”, returns. This time, as “Love Too Late… the real album”.
John Lennon tribute track “Cricket Man” – tell us the story behind that. Was Lennon a direct influence on you, or does this song come from somewhere deeper?
MUCH DEEPER…
I don’t think of “Cricket Man” as a “tribute”, but rather as an elegy.
Yes, of course, Lennon was a HUGE influence on me, but not in a ‘fanboy’ way. Of all The Beatles, he was the one who resonated with me and I looked up to the most. He was a leader, a rebel, and a stone cold rocker to the bone.
When I say:
“I loved you for your witty arrogance,
for always willing to take a chance,
for good and bad, for that magic touch,
Oh, I’m gonna miss you so very very much!
You used to be my guiding light,
sometimes dim and sometimes bright,
But I’m not gonna cry and mourn
“Cause for every leader fallen
there’s a new leader born!….”
I’m not paying him any ‘tributes’, or bestowing some hero worship on my teenage idol. I’m mourning and grieving over the loss of the man, a friend I never met, who truly inspired me and practically changed the course of my life.
I started writing this song the night John was murdered. By the time we got into the studio, we had only just started working on it, it was still very much work in progress and it wasn’t even on the list of songs we thought of playing that night. It must have been around 5 or 6 am and we were pretty much wrapping it up when I asked Mark if we could do one last thing, a “quick an dirty” recording of it so I could take a cassette home and keep working on it. We, literally, weren’t even sure what was coming up next… are we playing another verse?… chorus?… is the Solo coming up here?… just flying by the seat of our pants. Needless to say, as we put down our guitars, to us, it was a mess, but “good enough for now”. Listing to the playback… we were dumbstruck! Mark, turned to us and said: “guys, this is a monster”. We tried another take or two, you know: “that sucks, we can do waaay better!”, but we didn’t even finish. None of it came even close, clams and fuckups included. THIS was the take, and the ONLY take of the song.
You, Joey Cola, and Ricky Street went through hell trying to get Love Too Late released in its proper form. When you finally got it out in 2021, did you feel like you’d exorcised the ghost, or was there always unfinished business?
Yeah, it was a struggle, but we were determined and relentless to finally bury that piece of shit that was foisted on us, with our name on it, by our label and the hack I like to refer to as “Mr. Legendary Producer”. “Love Too Late…the real album” could as well be dedicated to them. I have a sticker on my guitar that says: “fuck you you fucking fuck!” to always remind me of it.
With “Love Too Late…the real album” we closed the book on that one. Is there still unfinished business? In some ways, yes, there will always be. As an artist, the original album was as close as I will (hopefully) ever come to know what rape must feel like. Not sure if/how one ever recovers from that.
CBGB, Max’s Kansas City, The Plimsouls, The Romantics, Sorrows were in the thick of it. What’s one story from that era that still makes you grin like a troublemaker?
One night Sorrows were playing Max’s and the opening band was doing their sound check. We’re just standing there and, out of nowhere, Peter Crowley, the club’s booker/manager runs in waving his hands and yelling at them: “Stop! Stop!… just fucking stop… and turn the fuck DOWN!” The band looked at him, totally bewildered: “Whaaat?… Why?”. Peter yelled back: “Only fucking Sorrows can play this loud!” …and I’m, like, “Fuck yeah, man! We’re the shit!”
Sorrows have three lead singers, which is a bold move. Was that a nightmare in the studio or an unstoppable weapon on stage?
BOTH!…
It wasn’t really a “bold” move. It was part of the vision I had for our band from the get-go. There was this band I really liked, I forget their name, that had two (main) lead singers and I always liked the fact that you had this variety going on, not having to listen to the same voice over and over again, on every song. So I decided we’re gonna have three! You know, if two is good?!… 😉
For that matter, it was the same with guitars. We didn’t have the typical lead/rhythm guitar thing either. Joey and I played both, switching back and forth, often in the same song, often every few bars! NOW, you wanna talk about a nightmare for the sound guy when we played live?!?!? LOL
Your solo career has been a ride, from garage rock to blues to punk production. Does your work with artists like T-Model Ford or Dirty Eyes feed into what you do now?
Oh, absolutely! And it’s a two-way street. I love what these artists were doing and it in turn fed into my music. I take it all in and let it mix with my own take on things. I’m extremely eclectic, always have been. As a kid, I grew up on classical music and jazz, before I even got to rock & roll. It’s all in there, stored somewhere and I reach for it all when the muse strikes. Nothing is off-limits.
You’ve spent years fighting to reclaim your music. What’s your advice for young bands signing their first contract? (Besides “don’t”?)
GET A GOOOD LAWYER!!!… and not a divorce or injury one, like we had!
If you could go back to 1981 and whisper something into your own ear before all the label interference, what would it be?
Whatever you do… do not bend, do not compromise, do not let anyone change what you believe you should be as an artist. If you get a record deal and then your label tries to make you be something you’re not, like they did to us? Ask: “then why the fuck did you sign me in the first place?!”
It’s a perfect 20/20 hindsight for me, and yes, easier said than done, but that’s what I should have done back then. Definitely one of my regrets.
You’ve also been back on stage with the Arthur Alexander Band, still tearing up clubs in LA. Do you feel like a different performer now than you were in the Sorrows days?
Yes and no. Nothing can really compare to Sorrows. We were a freakin’ four-ring circus, hanging from the rafters, firing on all cylinders! I’ve never seen a drummer like Jett, pounding the skins as hard as he did, while chewing gum… both in two different meters!
These days, my brain still thinks it’s 1980, but my body quickly reminds me: “no, dude, it’s NOT!” I’m a little older now (not necessarily wiser!), but when I hit the stage all bets are off!… the flame is still burning as bight as ever.
You had your shot at rock ’n’ roll stardom, but if Sorrows had blown up in ‘81, do you think you’d have survived it?
Good question! I guess we’ll never know, but I’d like to think that we would. We were a great band and we really loved what we were doing. Like any band, we had our share of problems and issues, and stardom and success can be treacherous to navigate, but in the end I think we’d be smart enough to come out in one piece!
You’ve had critical acclaim, underground legend status, and a long-overdue victory lap, what’s next?
Yes, it’s nice to be an underground legend and all that, but truth be told, since I’m not dead yet, I think I would enjoy the status while moving above ground for a little while, before I have to move back again!
What’s next? Oh, that’s a simple one! More of the same! Make music… and then more music! That’s all I know how to do anyway.
At some point I’ve come to realize that through my entire life I have successfully managed to get fired from literally every fucking day job I ever had! And probably for a good reason – I never gave two shits about any of them! When you’re sitting there on the job, writing songs all day, or on the phone trying to get a gig, or get someone to listen to your demo, instead of doing what you’re supposed to?… Not a good look! LOL
