Smoking in the boys' room

>> The Toilet Boys go up in flames

by LORRAINE CARPENTER

"It's more about the sound of the explosion than just, 'Hey, that guy's breathing fire.' The fire is just an extension of the music." Words of wisdom from Sean, the gasoline-spitting guitarist for NYC's glam-punk extravaganza the Toilet Boys. With all the flaming action on stage--generated by their explosives and their virtually-she-male singer Miss Guy--it's no surprise that the Boys have caught the eye of their heroes Debbie Harry (who they opened for), Kiss (who they hang with) and ex-Pistol Steve Jones (who just might work on their next album). The Mirror spoke to Miss Guy and Sean about the music biz and making sparks.



Mirror: Can we expect the same kind of fire power we saw at the last show?

Miss Guy: It's gonna be a little bit more over-the-top, but it depends on what we can get into Canada. When we first started, we could play anywhere but now people know that there's fire involved. Ace Frehley came to see one of our last shows in New York and I asked him, in the early days of Kiss, what would they do if the club asked them not to do the pyro thing, and he said they always did it. That's what we do, even if we're told not to. We risk them pulling the plug, we risk not getting paid. Money comes and goes but you've got to do your show.

M: I heard there was a little fire when you played LA2 in London.

MG: Yeah, it was a pretty big fire but that worked in our favour 'cuz we got tons of press. The British go nuts over that kind of shit, we couldn't have planned it better.

Sean: The guy at the club is going to freak the fuck out when he reads that we roll into town and set places on fire...

M: Right, new subject. What happened with Roadrunner?

S: We were in a deal with them for a year and a half and it just went sour. Our A&R guy got fired, the president of the company got fired, so we spilt 'cuz there wasn't anybody looking out for us there. We had to turn down some really great fucking stuff, like tours with Blondie, Motoerhead, L7 and Buzzcocks, 'cuz of all the bullshit of being on a label. Now that we're released we're just going on the road to put on the best rock show in the world.

MG: It's great to be free from those fucking idiots. There's a couple of things in the works, like Fred Durst's label is interested. I used to really hate him and his band. I wrote a column for this English rock magazine Metal Hammer and in practically every article I would crap on him, but he doesn't bug me so much anymore now that there's Creed.

M: Do you see yourself alongside Creed on MTV one day?

MG: Yeah, why not? I think the world's ready for us to have our day. Fuck, there's room for everybody. Move over!

With Da Bloody Gashes at Jailhouse Rock on Wednesday, Jan. 17, 9pm, $8