Talk to us about this era of the band – the members, the recording of the album etc. Paint a picture for the OG fans of what it felt like to be in the studio laying down tracks like “44 Caliber”?
It was amazing. Most of the time I was a walking drunk then, but I drank wine, you know? “Alcoholic Haze” on that record. I sang that in the studio half drunk. Michael Johnson from the band Catera produced the album. They were sort of like Mother's Finest. We had Smooth, their backing vocalist, sang amazing on “Damn Saint,” and their keyboardist, Chavez, did some work on “Boney Fingers Of Truth,” “Loose Screw,” and “Damn Saint.” But yeah, being in there during that time, man, and being in the studio, being in there recording “.44 Caliber,” it was a vision of just, you know, being a gunslinger or something. Sort of like a Stephen King book, you know, it felt like I was a gunslinger of other dimensions. And then I’d have visions of the Son of Sam murders, you know, and I'd go deep in imagination and a lot of it was dark, you know, a lot of dark and haunted imagery, and I loved every haunted minute of it. We recorded it in Ringgold, GA at Michael Johnson’s place, Ultrasound Studio. But doing that during that time was wonderful and it felt good. I was on top of my game during that time. We started recording that record in ’98 with Tony Byers but ended up re-recording the whole thing with Dave Schenk.
Do you have a favorite track off the album and why?
My favorite track from the album, “Alcoholic Haze.” I love the whole record, but “Alcoholic Haze.” I did my crying solo like Lux Interior on it, and I loved doing the crying solo, but that was where I was at, you know, and I mean it was getting me ready to quit alcohol, quit drinking. We were having a ball. I'd get drunk on the weekends, you know, like I’d be working all week and then come Friday I'd be drunk. I’d get to Johnny’s, they’d throw me in the back of the hearse with the equipment, like I was a piece of equipment, and then we’d go to a show. I'd be drunk at the show, and we had a ball, it wasn’t a big deal. But then everything started becoming a problem because I couldn't even go to Best Buy without being drunk. I couldn't hang out with my friends without being drunk. I wanted to enhance it in some way, and it seemed like that my whole damn life was becoming, you know, a freaking drunk joke. I couldn't just enjoy myself without trying to get drunk. “Alcoholic Haze” told the truth. And there's a lot of songs like that. The first song on the record is a part of that, Pretty Weird, Huh? It's part of that whole trip, you know, the whole thing was about being too messed up to even have people come over. I mean, it’d become a problem, and recording the album itself I was drunk, you know, so Real Gone Pale Face was probably as close to self-destruction as I could get, and it was the truth, you know? I was a “real gone pale face and that’s no illusion…I’m never, ever, ever gonna drink again…”
Also, can you share with us what formats the album will be released in – CD, Vinyl, Cassette? Please share/plug everything about the reissue so our readers know where they can get it if they can’t make the show.
I'm gonna let Lysa roll it down for you.
LS – RGPF will be available on CD and eerie green 12” vinyl in limited numbers and you can get one at the Halloween Resurrection Show on Oct 31st at Songbird’s. The CD's we may reissue one more time, but the 12” will be in the limited number of 100 on the green vinyl. If you come out to the release show to get one, they will be available at a discounted rate, and you can get them signed for free. We will even have collector sleeves available at the live show, so you don’t have to feel bad about taking your record out of the plastic for signing. If you can't make it to the Halloween Resurrection Show at Songbird’s to pick one up on the release date, we will make any remaining copies available through our website at:
theunsatisfied.com on the merch and discography pages Nov 1st.
I know it’s been years since the album was originally released, but were there any cuts that didn’t make the album? If so, have they been released on anything else or are they still lingering in limbo waiting to be unleashed?
They're probably a few songs that we were doing during that time period that that didn't make it. I can't remember off the top of my head, but Johnny would remember that stuff. For most part, that whole album was the set list that we were running by at the time. You know, that was probably pretty accurate on that. As far as any extra songs there might have been a couple. There might have been some songs that made it to Seven Inch Rock Scar that we were doing during the Real Gone Pale Face era that waited until we got to the next album.
While we’re talking about Unsatisfied albums, please share where your physical albums can be purchased. Tell us what you have available physically, I’m sure there are a few good people out there that would like to have an Unsatisfied Record or CD!
That’s a Lysa question, she’s the go-to on what we’ve got and where to get it.
LS – We currently have Street Shaman on CD and 12” black vinyl. We also have Songs the Belt Taught Us on CD and on limited edition autographed CD. These are available at live shows and on our website at:
theunsatisfied.com, just check the merch and discography pages. Or feel free to email me at: theunsatisfied2020@gmail and just ask, and I will put together an invoice for you through there 😊 This last option works best if you are buying multiple copies or combinations. Real Gone Pale Face will also be available this way after Nov 1st. If you would like to hear samples of the songs, check out the discography and EPK pages of the website at:
theunsatisfied.com
Let’s shift gears and talk about the movie, Ambition Withdraw. It’s a documentary of the band, it was originally released several years ago, and it made the rounds at some of the biggest movie festivals. It also got released via Amazon digitally. How did you feel recording the doc, did you find it challenging? How long did it take to get enough footage to put it together? Were you pleased with the result?
It took three years of my life. It was, uh, it was, it was hard. It wasn't easy. I love Jason, Dragon, with all my heart. When he was 17, he told me he was going to make a movie about my band. He came back almost 10 years later, showed up at a show and said he was ready to do a documentary. He went to film school for that and that was the last thing he did film-wise. It took a lot out of him too. It was trying, I think we're both really wore each other's nerves down. Um, I think it was subconscious. It took a toll subconsciously on me and him both. It's almost like you become the director, become the focus and the focus become the director, you know, and I think me and him both were draining each other's energies. And I think a lot of it's got to do with the fact that maybe Jason has some issues that he never addressed, and I know did too, so for a lot of things we weren’t medicated. It wasn't easy. It wasn't an easy shoot at all. It was like literally he got 72 or 80 hours of film and a lot of it didn't make the final cut. A lot of it was some great stuff that hit the floor. There was footage of us touring with The Impotent Sea Snakes that didn't make it floating somewhere out there. Some of the biggest concerts I did at the time, you know, where we were touring, didn't make it. That upset me and we've recut the thing how many times? Three times, we've cut it three times. There was the original and then there was one minor revision and then Chris Braly, Braly Image Group, did the newest version, Ambition Withdraw: Redux that's available now.
Yeah, Chris did this one, but I mean, we did it where we had to shorten it from the original one. A lot of people thought the original was the best one, they loved the original and want to see it. But Chris is like, it's too long, you know, about two hours, almost 3 hour movie. It still won Audience Choice Awards and people sat through it. That was how we originally got with Mark Berry. Me and Jason, Dragon, went to the University of Kentucky and met with MTI. At the time MTI was doing digital theaters and we were the first digital movie in the festival circuit that was getting the right kind of attention, and they were going to show it at their theaters. We were at the table ready to sign deals with them when Jason had come across Mark Berry. Mark Berry worked with Bowie, Paul McCartney, he got his start with Sir George Martin. He was Attack Records & Filmworks at the time and Morrissey was on Attack Records and Filmworks. I mean, it was a no-brainer to go with Mark Berry. And once it got there, I sold my lawn business and Jason panicked and was like, “Oh God, why did you do that?” I don't know how it got messed up with Mark, but somewhere, the ball got dropped. Because when you make a movie, you've got to invest. You can't just go, OK, I'm signed to a deal with these people and they’re going to pay me like a record company will do. Where you're borrowing the money from these people and, you're gonna have to pay that money back. It’s not like that. This is where you must invest a certain sum of your money in it. Jason got us in the door, but then he backed off when the door was open so, you know, that door stays open for a little while and then it shuts. But I stayed in touch with Mark Berry and now it’s back in his hands. So, I mean, making the movie was hard, but at the same time, man, you know, you got a documentary made about your band, you know, give me that. Give it to me.
Is there a street date when Ambition Withdraw will hit the streets again in physical format – Blu-ray, DVD, Digital? Is there anywhere where the movie can be viewed, currently?
You can see it now; you watch it now on Roku’s Fawesome channel. You can directly access it through theunsatisfied.com HOME page. When you go to
theunsatisfied.com HOME page, you’ll see the movie poster for Ambition Withdraw, click where the arrow is. It’ll drop down to a picture of the band, where it says “Click Here To Watch” click it and you can start watching the movie immediately. You will also see links to the LA Punk Film Festival where it's being featured this year, and you can rent it there and vote for it. We really need to push that more. That's so stupid that we're not doing that. It’s the 9th Annual International LA Punk Film Festival and it runs from Oct 9th – 18th, please go check it out and vote for Ambition Withdraw: Redux. That information is all on the HOME page at:
theunsatisfied.com
As for a date on physical copies, we haven't really discussed that with AMG at this point, but we are getting ready to decide on a street date for the digital release to make it official this fall. The territory is the world; Mark can even get it shown on planes. So, we're still working through all of that. There are phases of that contract that have to be dealt with one at a time and then we have the Universal Music Group licensing deal behind that, you know, he's [Mark Berry] literally introducing us to the world.
Your last release, Street Shaman was released a few years back on Vinyl/CD. On it, you re-recorded “Angelic Wall” and “White”. Can you share with us the reason you chose those two songs as opposed to some of your other songs?
It that was, that was Duane Denison's choice. Duane plays guitar for the Jesus Lizard, for Mr. Bungle, for The Legendary Shack Shakers…Duane’s a big deal, and getting Duane on there was a big deal, and those are the songs that he liked most. It was Duane’s idea to call it Street Shaman, in fact, the whole thing was pretty much a Duane Denison production. He liked The Unsatisfied and that's what he wanted, and you know, I didn't argue with him. In the studio, you know, we recorded that and the Buzz Cason’s studio, Creative Workshop. Buzz Cason was Elvis's guitar player and that studio recorded everybody. Dolly Parton recorded there. The Faces - Rod Stewart and Ron Wood recorded there. T.G. Sheppard recorded there. Kenny Rogers recorded there. Mastodon recorded there. Duane did Mastodon’s album there as well with Joe Funderburk, the engineer from Mastodon who engineered Street Shaman as well. So, I mean, a lot of the people from the South, from down here, a lot of the major bands that have been playing for a long time worked through Duane and them, so it was a great opportunity for us to work with Duane. My feelings on that though are that yeah, I thought there was going to be a lot more hands on in the marketing and helping us push it, but it stopped there and I wish it didn't. I wish we could have had more help pushing it. I thought that was our introduction to the world, but it wasn't, you know?
One of my favorite releases from the band is Seven Inch Rock Scar. Is there any current thought or urge to remaster/reissue and release it too? It’s a need in my opinion.
Oh yeah, yeah, we'll end up doing that too. I mean, we're gonna end up reissuing all of them in the end, really. You know, it’ll end up happening. We'll probably make just as big of a deal out of that as we're doing on Real Gone Pale Face. And by the time we get there, we'll have the muscle of Universal Music Group behind us. So, you know, get ready for the future, man, it’s bright.
Do you have a favorite track off the album? Tell our readers a little bit about this album, as it’s been out of print for some time.
God bless. What was on that record? I do believe, uh, I think “Prayer of a Broken Man,” “You Don't Know Me.” There's a bunch of really great songs, “Fed-Up,” is on that album. Yeah, “Prayer of a Broken Man” is probably my favorite track. Yeah, and that's another record that's freaking awesome. That's another thing where we went into Gene Norman’s up on Highway 58. It was just a demo, you know, it wasn't supposed to be a full record. We ended up going in and making a full-length record out of it. But that was like, it was totally raw, you know, that's sober record. I just got sober, dropped a ton of weight. I became the new Iggy Pop because I’d gotten so skinny at the time, and uh, everything was great during Seven Inch Rock Scar. The movie was being filmed, we had everybody looking, we had been playing. Johnny Colt from The Black Crows had that uh, Avatar Studios going on and Johnny Colt was going to produce it, and then we talked to Sylvain Sylvain (Sylvain Mizrahi - The New York Dolls); I was going to get him to do some production on it, but it ended up just being, you know, just being produced by an old dude named Gene Norman. But off that album, “Prayer of a Broken Man” really, that was me working and me praying for something to give in my life after I've given so much to music. It was my, “Please God, let this be the one,” you know, and knowing that the kind of God that made me kind of laughs at me, you know? But that track really resonates, really, that was pure begging God and then being like Conan, you know, talking to the God Crom. Conan's getting ready to battle and he goes, “I've never prayed to you before, but I'm praying to you now. Grant me this. And if you do not listen, the hell with you!” That's my feelings about God in “Prayer of a Broken Man.”
You’ve played on stages all over the East Coast, is there a favorite place that you’ve played?
CBGB’s, beats ‘em all. CBGB’s, that's the best, and second best is The Masquerade, third best Star Bar. Every other place is a pain in the ass. Knoxville, pain in the ass. Songbirds has been really good to us, that’s a new one, and locally, you’ve got a lot of really good clubs. But I'm gonna stick to my guns and say the greatest club that ever existed was CBGB's and they treated me better than any place else. And that was New York City, and we got the OK from Hilly Kristal that we mattered, that we were something. Every place else they got some snooty-ass doorman, or some friggin’ sound guy wanting $500.00 for production, and they don't give a damn about what you're doing, you know. So, I don't have any feelings for any of them.
Do you have a favorite show/tour or band that you’ve played with?
El Caminos, Sea Snakes, the Six-6-60s. Yeah, I love those cats. Russ Harper of Neo-Wizard and Teenage Love. Uh, there's many and if I'm forgetting people forgive me. Syrup was a great band, I loved playing with them, loved touring with them. Who else did we love, who else…we played with a lot of people. I can't even keep up with ‘em all at this point. Those are ones that mattered the most, those are the ones seared in my mind. Getting to play with Marky Ramone, The Misfits, The Misfits were great, and they treated us great. Nash Kato (Urge Overkill). And Dave Brockie, The Dave Brockie Experience and GWAR. Loved him, loved him, loved him. Ghoultown, love, love, love the Ghoultown! The Casket Creatures, I think they're great, I like them a lot. Catfight!, we're going to try to get more gigs with those girls. Yeah, there's a lot of people, man. There's a lot of people. I wanna play with Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds though, I really wanna play with Nick Cave. And I’d like to play with the new Misfits, but they're too big now. But getting to play with Danzig would be great. That would be really cool.
Any crazy stories from shows/tours that you’d like to share that won’t get you in trouble with the wife?
She’s heard it all at this point 😊 Getting attacked by the audience in Baton Rouge, LA, getting my clothes ripped off me, that was wonderful. Wayno posed, legs spread over me, playing and being grabbed and groped by a hoard of people, the cops having to pull them off on me. That was like what happens when the dream becomes real. That was with the Sea Snakes. We played three times in Baton Rouge and by the third time we were drawing 3400 people coming in, you know, for The Unsatisfied, so that was a great show. Those early shows when I when I first started, we had a lot of violence, a lot of skinheads would show up, a lot of black gangs would show up. And I had an incident where my buddy John Johnson, God rest him, from the band Feast of Pigs dove into a crowd of skinheads while they were playing. So, John jumped in the crowd and then then I saw John disappear and then I noticed some skateboarding kids out there and the skinheads were punching them. So, I dove off the stage and got into a big fight with about five of them, and they grabbed me by my hair and I grabbed nuts and punches flew and all that. The night ended up being great. And then, when we opened for The Misfits here, in Chattanooga, I snapped my Achille’s Tendon. It’s on the movie. There were a lot of people who didn't have my well-being in mind, a lot of haters, and all that hate built up in that room being laid on me and my foot touching my shin, that wasn't great. Then the next night playing with The Misfits again at The Masquerade and being on one leg and a cane with my leg in a boot cast. I had on a leopard print dress I had zipped up the front and this skinhead’s being a dick front of stage. You know, I'm trying to be cool about it and a bird finger gets laid in my face. So, I’m beating him with my cane and end up just diving into the crowd being rolled over skinheads. Andy, you were there for that one, you can answer all that, cause that's probably one of the best ones ever.
Andy - I was standing behind this massive skinhead with suspenders — the kind of guy who’d been heckling every opening band like it was his full-time job. Then The Unsatisfied hit the stage. Eric limped out in a leopard-print dress, hair teased sky-high, leaning on a cane like some glam ghoul risen from the grave — and absolutely owning it. The crowd didn’t know what to make of him, but I was hooked.
That same meathead in front of me started spitting and shouting slurs, throwing every bit of hate he could muster. Eric didn’t flinch. He strutted right up to the edge of the stage, aimed that cane like a weapon, and cracked it down on the guy’s skull — split him wide open, then dove right on top of him. Chaos erupted. Security dragged the skinhead out, bloodied and stunned, and Eric climbed back onstage like a demon who’d just won his due.
The band tore straight into “White Trash” and I swear to you — from that moment on, I’ve never been the same.
When you’re up on stage playing with The Unsatisfied, what’s going on in your mind? Are you 100% focused on annihilating the crowd or are there moments where responsibilities at home are on your mind?
Totally focused on the song. Totally focused on the moment. Nothing is there, not even an audience. The story, the graphic novel, the comic book, the movie, it’s all that. It's that one moment when life is not there. That character and that world, that I sit down with a pen and paper and draw, that I sit down and visualize. It goes all the way back to when I was a little kid and painted up like KISS and got in front of a mirror, and it's that mirror. It becomes the mirror, it becomes the paper, it becomes the pencil, it becomes the graphic novel world, you know? It becomes God and the devil and me in the middle.
The band hasn’t been playing out live quite as much the last few years; can you share with us the reason behind that? Also, can we expect to see the band back on the streets tearing up the clubs again here soon?
Oh, you’ll see more of us now, you’ll see more of us now. Not so much the past few years because Johnny had a lot of work going on and we’d been dealing with a drummer issue, then COVID, my relapse into alcoholism and going to jail. Um, you know, bad life shit stepped in the way. I'd started doing the Bowie tribute thing to fill in the gaps when we weren’t playing and now, we’ve started writing originals. The time down gave me a chance to work on my vocals and work on my delivery and get away from the chaos of The Unsatisfied World while battling my demons. Because it’s a totally different world being in The Unsatisfied, being in that graphic novel or art world like that, as opposed to just being a musician, concentrating on being a good vocalist, a good steward of the songs. I got to play in a lot of empty rooms, a lot of people not paying attention to what you're doing because you're in a cover band. But doing that helped me. I've become a better musician during that time and I'm able to come back to The Unsatisfied now with a really good voice and a really good approach to it. And now the business is much better with The Unsatisfied too. You know, sometimes you're too close to it, you must step away from it and give it a chance to breathe and come back to it after you've learned. I didn't get away from music; I just got away from from me.
What would Eric Scealf be doing if he weren’t a Bonafide Rock Star/Frontman extraordinaire?
Dead. Lysa said evangelism 😊 I think that The Unsatisfied is the evangelist church.
What’s next for The Unsatisfied outside of this Real Gone Pale Face Reissue show?
This deal with Universal. Marketing all our songs, you know, for licensing and synching. There is a lot to do with the licensing deals and AMG. That's the next step, and pushing the movie, getting that demand for The Unsatisfied. Growing theunsatisfied.com, stretch our reach. We're talking about maybe doing a podcast or two, really building our YouTube channel, doing even more for our following, going those routes. And choose our shows wisely, you know, don't play everything. Here lately we've played some really amazing shows with some really amazing people. I wanna reach out to all the bands and tighten all my connections with Atlanta. I think the next phase would be to really, really, really, really sew up my Atlanta connections and tell everyone how much I love them. I love you! Getting to do more stuff with Andy Burke would be wonderful. Let's take it all on and see what happens, you know, life’s too freaking short. I'm going to try to live as much as I can and get this thing out there as much as possible. And get ready for The Last of the Dudes, my original thing I'll be doing with the Bowie guys, it’s a whole new ball of wax. I even play some guitar on that. I’m also working on a little Goth project with my friend, David Black from Dogs of Verona. We’re calling it Jesus Legosi. It’s going to be a big deal, it’s going to be huge, gonna bust the goth world open with this. For the past three years we’ve been doing some shows together. He's such a great fucking guy. He reminds me of a gothic Robin Zander, he's freaking amazing. So, this project will be a lot of fun for everyone.
As we wind down this interview, please take a moment to share your thoughts with the young cats on what it takes to stay reverent in the scene.
Be involved, get out there, get to the shows even if you ain't playing. Get to them shows and support each other. Support the other guy, give the other guy some Luv ‘N Blood. Give the other guy a little dose of you and then make that motherfucka accountable for coming to see you. That's how you do it. Reciprocity - you scratch their back, and if they don't scratch your back, make them scratch your back. It takes us all together. Forget doing it on your own. Grab up your friends, make a scene, put it together, link together. It's a link in a chain, man, you gotta make an unbreakable chain that they can't break. Support each other. Have your feelings, keep them to yourself when it concerns politics. Release it creatively, inspire change and thought through your art. Do not let politics get in the way of your feelings towards music. You have to hold on to each other, you have to make a link in a chain and then hey, go for the world. I tell all these young people stick together, support each other, that's what makes a scene.
Any last words of love and thought to your fans and anyone who might be reading this interview?
I love you; I want you to be happy. And if you're not happy, write that shit down and make a song out of it. There ain't no better therapy than art, man. If you're pisssed off, if you're mad, draw a bloody fucking face and bones and whatever, get it out. Love each other and, and don't pay no attention to all this other crazy shit. And if you disagree, hold it to yourself. Let somebody else run their mouth. If you're not doing something positive and doing something for your art, don't say anything, write it. Write all your feelings down. Make music with it. Go work out, lift weights, do something constructive. Don't argue with each other. Don't swing punches at each other. Let the other guy be. Support each other and love each other. Even if you disagree, love each other anyway. Luv ‘N Blood, that's all I'm talking about, Luv ‘N Blood.
Well there you have it folks, spoken from the White Trash Glam King of Chattanowhere - tales of love, woe and the want to just play music for his kind of people. If you haven't listened to or seen The Unsatisified live, you're sincerely missing out. Hit their site up, grab one of everything they're offering, you won't be sorry. And if you get the chance to take in a show, don't fucking blink, it's a RITUAL and your cup of Rock Salvation with be overfilled!
