Hey kids, welcome to the Phile for a Monday. How are you? I have to mention this... today would been my parents' 50th wedding anniversary. If they were still living I wonder what they'd be doing to celebrate. Hmmm. Anyway, moving on... Caitlyn Jenner must have had conflicted feelings about Mother's Day. On Mother's Day yesterday, she posted, and then later deleted, an Instagram post saying she was "blessed" to have "so many amazing moms" in her life. However, it's true that a lot of the mothers she used to be really close to (Kris Jenner and Kris' three daughters Khloé, Kourtney, and Kim Kardashian) are not currently in her life, due in large part to claims Caitlyn made in her autobiography. The Instagram post Jenner shared included four pictures. The first two were never-before-seen pics of her daughter, Kylie Jenner, who just recently became a mom (to baby Stormi with rapper Travis Scott). That's not surprising, but what is surprising is that the other two moms she included in the post were Kim Kardashian and ex-wife, Kris Jenner, given their feud. Here's another weird thing... why would she leave out the other two Kardashian girls, Khloé and Kourtney, both of whom are moms? Did she just not have any pictures of those women with their babies on her phone, or was the slight intentional? But before anyone could finish reading into the situation, Jenner deleted the whole post! So who knows. Was that Jenner's attempt at a reconciliation? And if so, was that reconciliation just shut down hard? Also, did Kylie get mad that Caitlyn included pictures she herself hadn't chosen? And really, what was up with snubbing Kourtney and Khloé. So many questions, so few answers!
Despite having no security clearance or experience in diplomacy other than soliciting foreign governments for money for his family business, Jared Kushner has been tasked by his father-in-law with making peace in the Middle East. It is not going well. Donald Trump has officially moved the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, an exciting moment for Evangelical Christians who think that it'll help bring forth the rapture, but a bad one for people hoping for a two state solution. Palestinians have been protesting the move at the Gaza border, and over 40 people have been killed (and 1,600 hurt) by Israeli forces. While all this was going on, the Kush's voice made a rare public appearance as he spoke about the embassy move as huge for the "journey to peace." This is not what the "journey to peace" looks like, my dude.
It's almost like he made things worse.
It is with a heavy heart I report that all those adorable photos of Meghan Markle's dad so wholesomely studying up on England before his daughter becomes a duchess are fake news. Thomas Markle Sr. was spotted reading Images of Britain: A Pictorial Journey Through History at a Starbucks in Mexico... and reading about his son-in-law-to-be at a local Internet café. He was even spotted walking with weights (#SheddingForTheWedding) and going to the tailor, making for an adorable "getting ready" montage that would work perfectly with "Walking on Sunshine" in the movie.
With some creepy screenshots of CCTV footage, The Daily Mail revealed that the pictures were staged, and Mr. Markle scored around $180,000 for selling them. Meghan's super fame-hungry half-sister Samantha told the press that the photos were her idea, but it wasn't for the money. "I'm entirely the culprit. I said to him to show the world 'I'm getting in shape and getting healthy' so I suggested it to benefit him and the royal family," Samantha said. According to TMZ, this debacle is such a big deal that Thomas Sr. is no longer going to the wedding. "Thomas says he suffered a heart attack 6 days ago but checked himself out of the hospital so he could attend the wedding. He's now decided not to go because he doesn't want to embarrass the Royal Family or his daughter." Damn. Looks like the British royal has a strict policy against grifting... unlike the American Royal Family.
In a glorious tribute to male of the species' habit of misplaced confidence, "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire" U.K. host Jeremy Clarkson done fucked up his one job when he insisted that he knew about ibex. "I’m not even going to look at the screen. That’s the correct answer," Clarkson said, when the contestant answered that an ibex is a type of deer. Welp. An ibex is a goat... a very majestic goat that can scratch its butthole with its own head.
Clarkson was officially inducted into the Backpedaling Hall of Fame when he insisted that he's "seen ibex boinging along and they definitely looked like deer." The poor guy was promptly eliminated, loosing £15,000. Sad!
Gender reveal parties and photoshoots seem to be all the rage nowadays, but not everyone is on board with them. Just Google "gender reveal parties" and you'll see. However, if every "gender reveal" photoshoot turned out like this, I have a feeling they'd be much more popular. When Gracie Gonzalez found five abandoned puppies alongside a Texas railroad track, she knew she had to take in the little fur-balls and see that they get adopted. She posted about the pups on Facebook, and eventually caught the attention of Carlye Allen, a photographer from Lufkin, Texas. "I saw a post about the puppies and forwarded it to my friend. She and her husband were wanting to adopt a rescue pup, and I thought that this one would be a perfect addition to their family," Allen told WISTV. "I drove two hours to pick up the puppy, and my friend drove three to meet me." Then Allen had a stroke of genius: a puppy-reveal photoshoot with one of the pups and her new mom, a woman named Joy Stone.
Even better? Stone didn't tell her husband about the photoshoot, and nearly gave him a heart attack. "Her husband (Stone) had no idea that we had this up to our sleeves. I was a hostess for a shower the day prior and happened to have a tank of helium and extra balloons in my trunk," Allen said. "I joked about doing a gender reveal to my friend, and she loved the idea. Fifteen minutes later, we were in my yard snapping pictures." "When my friend brought the puppy home, her husband was in shock (she posted a video on her Facebook)," Allen added. "He was thrilled to welcome Rey (they're avid Star Wars fans) Dakota (also avid Cowboys fans, lol) Stone into their family." Congrats to the new puppy parents!
I was thinking, instead wasting time doing this blog thing I should be listening to this record...
Ummm... maybe not. If I had a TARDIS I would go to see Queen Elizabeth when she was young and attractive, but knowing my luck I'll go back too far and see her during her World War II service...
So, did you hear about Channing Tatum's new movie? If not I have the exclusive of the movie poster here...
There's 27 of those bloody movies? Man, I only saw the first one. Haha. So, back in the day on the Phile I would show you some pics that looked photoshopped but are not. Like this one for instance...
Casey Anderson has raised grizzly bear Brutus since birth, and invites him to Thanksgivings. That's nuts, right? So, parents, if your kid did this school work what would you do?
Haha. I think it's funny. Alright, so you heard of the Avengers, but did you hear about the Revengers. No? Here's one of the action figures...
Haha. Speaking of the Avengers, you know in Infinity War when Thanos snapped his fingers? Well, it seemed that affected a lot of different "universes" as well...
That's so stupid. That's as stupid as...
Haha. Okay, so, you know I live in Florida, right? Well, there's stuff that happens here in Florida that happens nowhere else in the Universe. So once again here is...
Word problems can be a real doozy. One minute you're trying to figure out the answer to a math or science problem, and the next moment you're dividing Sarah's bucket of apples by Tom's razors and your brain is a total mess. Most of the time, these problems are absurd or inane, but occasionally the scenarios can border on outright inappropriate. At least, that's what the Florida father Omar Austin found when he peeped his 11th grade daughter's take home science test. One of the problems approached the science of blood types with a very Jerry Springer approach. The question read, "Ursula was devastated when her boyfriend broke up with her after having sex. To get revenge, she had sex with his best friend the next day. Ursula had a beautiful baby girl 9 months later. Ursula has type O blood, her ex-boyfriend has AB blood and his best friend is type A blood. If her baby daddy is her ex-boyfriend, what could the possible blood types of her baby (NOT) be?" Understandably, Austin was alarmed to see such a bizarre revenge-sex scenario being used in high school curriculum. He quickly shared the test question on his Facebook with demands for the school district to do better, and his post went viral. While speaking with the local news station First Coast News, Austin shared exactly why the language alarmed him. "Those type of questions should be left for reality TV and soap operas, not an 11th grader's anatomy class. The words 'baby daddy' and 'baby mama' being used, that's foresight. The fact that she's having sex with one guy, and to get revenge on this guy she has sex with his best friend the next day? I mean, that's not something I would want to teach any student." In response to the viral debacle, the Duvall County Public Schools released a statement acknowledging the inappropriate nature of the word problem. "The question was highly inappropriate and was not part of a district assessment. We are thankful to the parent who contacted the school directly to share his concerns. Immediately upon being made aware of this matter, school and district leaders began conducting a review of the situation. Appropriate and corrective action will be taken." While all of the recourse all feels completely appropriate, one looming question remains: what did Ursula name her baby daughter?!
This might be a hard one... if you spot the Mindphuck let me know. Okay, so, someone recently came on the Phile hoping he can use this blog to get a date. I have no idea how that works, but he wanted to come back and try again. So, kids, please welcome back to the Phile...
Me: Hey, Heywood, welcome back to the Phile. So, how's it ben going?
Heywood: Not so good, I was at a club the other day and met this girl and said, "I'd like to call you. What's your number?" She replied, "It's in the phone book." I said, "But I don't know your name." She said, "That's in the phone book too."
Me: Oh, man, that's rough. So, what do you think the Phile can do to help you?
Heywood: I have some pick up lines I'd like to use on your female readers... maybe one of them will like me.
Me: Oh... okay... give it a shot.
Heywood: Ladies! My two favorite letters of the alphabet are E and Z.
Me: Huh? That's very, very lame, man.
Heywood: Ladies... theres a party in my pants and your invited.
Me: Um... I think that's enough...
Heywood: I'm addicted to yes, and I'm allergic to no. So what's it gonna be?
Me: It's gonna be you have to leave.
Heywood: Okay, I'm gonna go out to the clubs tonight. Chow, ladies.
Margot Kidder
October 17th, 1948 — May 13th, 2018
Not kidding.
The 80th book to be pheatured in the Phile's Book Club is...
Phile Alum and author who put this book together, Shelly Ambrose will be on the Phile next Monday... a week from today. So... do you wanna laugh?
A student asked his teacher how old she was. She promptly said, "Thirty-nine and holding." Then the student asked, "Well, then, how old would you be if you let go?"
Today's guest is the drummer for the cool band the Handcuffs whose latest CD "Waiting for the Robot" is available on iTunes, Amazon and Spotify. He can also been seen on the road playing drums for the Romantics. Please welcome to the Phile from the Handcuffs... Brad Elvis.
Me: Hey, Brad, welcome to the Phile. How are you?
Brad: I'm good, thanks, Jason.
Me: Okay, so, before the band you are currently in the Handcuffs, you have been in a lot of bands, right? Was your first band Screams in the 70s?
Brad: My first band was actually nine years earlier. I played a couple of shows when I was a teenager like high school dances and things, that was back in the 1900s. Ha! I have done something like 4300 shows at this point. And every gig was great.
Me: That's good. What was your favorite show you have ever played?
Brad: Probably an Elvis Brothers one. Ironically it was after a record deal and all that stuff. It was the little resurgence we had in the early mid-90s. We split up in '96 then did one more show.
Me: You were in a band called Screams, which only had one album out in '79. Why only one album, Brad? What happened?
Brad: We were on Infinity Records and they only signed a few bands which was cool. They had a band called New England which was a pretty good band. We actually did a show with them at the Tower Theater in Philadelphia. Spyro Gyra, some band called TKO, and Robert A. Johnson. We did better than the TKO's, and the others. New England probably did okay. We did the Van Halen tour which was a big thing, for about four months to the very end. We played the L.A. Forum which sold out and they liked us a lot. Then we went to England on our own tour, we were on "Old Gray Whistle Test" and all that, we were doing well, getting good reviews. When we were there that's when we got the news Infinity was going to be dropped from MCA. It wasn't 'til many years later I was talking to our old manager about it. It just threw us for a loop. Within one year we recorded an album, they put us in these big halls, we rode a tour bus, a tour on our own In England, and when we were on tour over there we found out Infinity was no more. Infinity had no money so couldn't afford to fly us back. Our manager had to go to the Infinity people that were left over who loved us in England and they had to beg MCA, "you gotta give these guys money and fly them back home." We flew home and were sitting in Champaign, Illinois going well, that was fun.
Me: When that band ended what did you do and think, Brad?
Brad: Well, I thought I never had a straight job my whole entire life, I just played music. I kept living my dream or whatever. Back in the day when they had record deals that was always the dream, I wanna be a rock star, I want to play in front of people and lights and all that kinda stuff. We had this dream, and it became true for the first time and we had had this record deal and it wasn't like we weren't doing well or were on a decline. We were playing the Marquee and in two days they were saying, "oh, by the way, you are going home," We were fairly young and we thought, now what do we do. It was more of a scramble, I don't think we had time to be bummed out. We went back to playing clubs where people never heard of us.
Me: So, where are you from originally, Brad?
Brad: Champaign, Illinois, which was a good little music town. It was a university college town, and a lot of musicians came out of there and had success. It's about two hours from where we grew up. We just stayed there over the years. The Elvis Brothers came out of there, and a few other bands.
Me: So, did Screams have a single?
Brad: We weren't in the charts and on the top 40 rotation. Someone said we were once an "on the radar" on "American Bandstand." That was probably the record label promoting us somehow. As far as the single, I'm trying to remember... there was a 12 inch that came out that had "Paper Dolls," and the other side I think was "I Play For You." But 45 wise there was "Imagine Me Without You," which is a big power pop favorite, and then "I Play For You," which was the power ballad. In England we had "Imagine Me without You," and "Paper Dolls," which was the other single. They had great picture sleeves over there. They also had a great picture sleeve or "Imagine Me Without You" which was kind of unique.
Me: Okay, so, how did Screams end and The Elvis Brothers start?
Brad: Screams went back to playing clubs and we did that for another year, we made some demos and things, and they were great. We were a really cool band and we had some really cool songs. In fact, with the Screams album that was the first batch of songs we ever wrote. By the time the album came out and by the end of 1979 we had a crap load more of songs. By the time we broke up we had about 60 or 70 extra songs. Everybody in Screams wrote songs, and with The Elvis Brothers it was the same way. Even before Screams I was also fortunate to being around pretty good songwriters. Anyway, that was a pretty good upbringing. With The Elvis Brothers, between the three of us we all wrote our own songs and had about five or six albums of stuff laying around. Towards the end of Screams, in the last six months, my old school chum and bandmate in those days was Graham and are got him into Screams. We tried to seek out other record deals, but it was hard. Record labels back in the day, I don't know what they do nowadays, but back then they were like "well, they got dropped so why would we want them?" That was New Years Eve in '80, we decided that was gonna be our last gig. Now it's 1981 and I took a little bit of a break and I sort of jumped into one "girlfriend" to another. Haha. At this point I've been playing in bands for ten years, half of my life and now I'm stuck. I thought I just need to put my head on a little bit and work on songs. That didn't take long and I threw a band together and started the band. Graham was in town, he moved to Champaign and he was playing with someone that had a record out. Actually the guy who wrote "I Play For You," for Screams and Rob was in a band called Cold Kitchen who were on Epic from '78. We all had this past from this point. Graham was in the Jets, a power-pack who had a hit called "Loverboy," and the B-side was "Paper Girl," on Twin Tone. The three is us were just doing our thing and some point Graham had this idea. I had the first Stray Cats record, I collect records, and early on right out of the age I was told to check out this band from England called the Stray Cats produced by Dave Edmunds. We never heard anything like that anymore like "Runaway Boys," which was kinda heavy. Graham was all into that and said we should start a rockabilly band just for the fun of it. Let's have some fun and play some old rock and roll songs. That came together quickly for fun and our first show was a this tiny bar and it was charming and fun and pure rock and roll, and with our bunch of personalities it just took off like wild fire.
Me: So, where did the name the Elvis Brothers come from? You guys weren't brothers and you were the only Elvis...
Brad: The only reason we called it the Elvis Brothers was because Rob and Graham sang like the Everly Brothers together. Literally one night before we played the gig at tis little bar that no one knew, but Rob knew a guy, we were still trying to figure out a name, While we were sitting there doing one last rehearsal I thought this was so cool, we all grew up loving the Beatles, I thought this was so unique and so cool it was more like the Everly Brothers. Rob looked at our set list that we had which was all pretty much all cover songs, except maybe one or two originals we threw in that fit, we had about a dozen Elvis songs and we had about two or three Everly Brothers songs. We were like Everly Brothers? More like Elvis Brothers. We didn't hardly have any Everly Brothers songs in the three sets we put together. We had like a million Elvis songs. We were on the floor rolling, we thought it was the funniest thing.
Me: Looking you guys up the other two guys had the stage names of Graham Elvis and Rob Elvis but your last name was already Elvis, and you changed that to Brad Steakley. Why?
Brad: A couple of weeks later we were on stage and Graham said, "Oh, by the way, we are the Elvis Brothers. I'm Graham Walker, this is Rob Newhouse over here on guitar and back here we have..." While he's saying that I'm just thinking I'm gonna say a funny name like Brad Presley or something. "And over here we have..." And I yell out, "Brad Elvis!" Graham's eye light up and he goes, "I'm Graham Elvis and this is Rob Elvis and that's Brad Elvis, and we're the Elvis Brothers. It just took off and here it is in 2018 and I still go by Brad Elvis. Steakley is my real last name.
Me: Ahhh. That's crazy. So, how did the Elvis Brothers get so successful?
Brad: September 11th, 1981 was our first show and it took off so fast like a rocket. Even out first show we had like two encores. Graham and Robbie sang like the Everly Brothers and were three good looking fellas and we were just making fun of it and goofing around. If we were gonna be serious we would never of named it the Elvis Brothers. Anyway, by December we played 28 shows, so we just took off, and the phone started ringing off the hook, So, as you can imagine by the end of September, October and November we were getting booked like crazy. December I literally have in my book 28 nights. Graham and I and our wives at the time actually took a two week vacation at the end of December and went out to L.A., and we were buying clothes and fucking hanging out. We were just going crazy, we never had this much money you know. We were goofy, and kinda making fun of it, we had a funny name, we were really good and we could burn on these songs, and we were starting to throw more original songs in that would fit. To answer your question by December we knew we had something going on here. The manager that I had mentioned already, he came to see us, he told me a couple of years ago and he unfortunately passed away in 2016, he loved Screams and we started a band together, and he said, "I remember coming to see you at the first show at Chico's and after the first set I remember thinking uh-oh. They have something." Within a few months back then we got so busy I told him to get a different drummer and carry on.
Me: I was so into the Stray Cats, and still am, but I wish I knew about the Elvis Brothers back then. I wish my dad was alive so I can ask him... I bet he knew who you guys were. I looked you guys up and I love the song "Fire in the City." Was that the only official video you guys made?
Brad: Yeah, and I remember catching it a few times on MTV. We were medium airplay which was quite a bit. I actually caught it a few times and hit the record button only Beta. Then later with our third album which was an indie thing we did three videos for that.
Me: Did you guys do a lot of TV then?
Brad: No, we toured a lot and were in a lot of teen magazines and rock magazines though.
Me: Did you tour with Stray Cats?
Brad: No, but a promotor tried to put us with them early on but we are signed and already had a pretty big buzz. They weren't really that many rockabilly bands at the time. Apparently they heard of us and didn't want us to open for them.
Me: The second album sounds a little different to me, more glossy and 80s sounding. Did the Elvis Brothers fans like that?
Brad: Yeah, they didn't mind. By the time we recorded out first album, like i said, we started off doing just cover songs, and by September '82 we weren't really going anywhere we thought maybe we should move on and do something else and kind of do what we always did and write rock pop type of songs. A year or so later no one needed a rockabilly band, but in someway I think that's why we got signed. CBS guys at Portrait saw us, that's what labels do. "These guys are popular right now so let's have our version of the Stray Cats." They liked us a lot and when they saw us we were probably doing some of those covers, and the rockabilly kinda originals that we had, mixed with our hook pop songs, and they liked that. We were a trio and had that look. Early on I had my hair all rockabilly style, but then I thought I was gonna make my hair all spiky and stuck out weird, which was influenced by Terry from Fun Boy Three. So, we were starting to move away from it a little bit. We still got out in that category as a rockabilly band.
Me: After the Elvis Brothers you were in a band called Big Hello. With each new band do you feel jaded, or do you like to start new projects? Does that make sense?
Brad: Let's see, it's quite the opposite of feeing jaded I think. Neither band ending was my fault or my bands actually. I always got good reviews about my drumming or my stage presence or my songwriting whatever. I know what I'm capable of and I know I can still do this. I know I can have success... if so and so can do it I know I can do it. I know what I can do, I am capable and I'm the Energizer Bunny here. I keep going and I'm creative so I write songs, recored them and I wanna go out and play them. I kept on going and had Big Hello, and kept on releasing records with that. I always feel that I haven't achieved what I know, I just keep going and people enjoy watching me play, and stuff.
Me: What do you think of the music business now now that you are in the Handcuffs?
Brad: There are no record deals now within the last couple of years. When we grew up we had a specific dream of I want to be like the Who or Badfinger, or whoever we grew up listening to. Now probably around 2000 or so, actually Big Hello and Handcuffs had another record label story. Now musicians who are 16, 17, 20, however age they are, think they are gonna start a band, play gigs, then they're gonna record some stuff, put it out, everyone is gonna steal it off the Internet, they won't make any money, they'll have to pay to go on tour in a crappy van, sleep on people's floor. A part of it is being creative and it's in your heart, at the same time what's the pay off? What is the goal? Maybe they''ll be on a commercial, which is not a bad thing either nowadays. I'm talking about a real good rock and roll band, I'm not talking about them gonna be on "The Voice," or "American Idol." A lot of people do it that way. Sparks would not be on "The Voice," or the Kinks. I don even consider that stuff. There are bands that are doing it though, God bless them, rocking, playing shows and touring.
Me: When I first read your bio I was like you're the drummer with the Romantics? What? But I thought that was Clem Burke... but then I looked it up and saw they had a bunch of drummers over the years. I can't believe you have been with them for 15 years this year. How did this happen?
Brad: Yeah, it was a good thing. Clem Burke suggested me for the band. How it came out was one of those faith things, the Blondie reunion was happening and he said he was gonna be out touring with them and asked me if wanted to be in the Romantics. I asked what were they doing and he said nothing. He said they didn't believe him but he was gonna be out for two years. Little does he know he's still touring with them. He asked me what I was doing and I said we just started this new project called the Handcuffs but we weren't playing, we were just working on songs and recording stuff. He said I need to start playing with the Romantics, they needed to get out there and promote their new record they had at the time. Well, I was around if they wanted to do some dates and stuff. I went out to L.A. and when I was out there I got a call from them. I came in and tried it out and I have been with them ever since.
Me: That's so cool. Now with the Handcuffs, your wife is the lead singer, am I right?
Brad: Yeah, lead singer, rhythm guitar.
Me: How did you guys start to work together and get connected up?
Brad: I had a couple of versions of Big Hello early on, and then I was up in Chicago and it looked like Elvis Brothers was coming to an end, or at least to a point where I thought I need to be doing some of my own songs. The guitar player from Gentle Giant was in my early Big Hello band, and we started out as a trio. I put an ad in the local music newspaper and she responded. We talked and I didn't know who she was and she didn't know who she was talking to for the longest time. She didn't call me to be in the band just because I was in the Elvis Brothers or something. It turned out she heard of us and liked the show. We always hit it off great musically and she had great songs also. That started up the Big Hello thing and I was married at the time We were in the band together for a couple of years and my marriage fell apart for whatever reason. I was then I don't want to go out with her, I don't want to turn into Fleetwood Mac. We were like best friends already and literally for a year or two we avoided that. Eventually we were constantly talking to each other about this and that and were like what are we thinking? We had a really good thing, she was always there for me and I was always there for her, so that's how we got together. We three albums, and a vinyl EP, a cassette, all kinds of stuff with Big Hello. That was a good band. It was my band bit then we got to the point at the end it was her and I doing everything. I always tried to keep it equal with all the band members this and that, and had a little bit of a dictatorship because I have to have a hand a little bit saying yes or no. But we got to the point where we thought why don't we just do our own thing together. So we came up with the Handcuffs.
Me: Where did the name the Handcuffs come from?
Brad: No one had had it, and we grabbed it and trademarked it. I said I think I have a band name, we did a quick search and couldn't find anything. There's two of us, we are handcuffed together, so we're basically the Handcuffs, the two of us, but as time goes on we had a few different band members. They're probably relieved they don't have to do any of the business end of it and pay for anything. We do all that, songwriting, arranging, and booking, and shows.
Me: Do you mostly play around Chicago or do you go on tour?
Brad: We mostly play around Chicago, we've played in L.A. before, we played in New York, we've played in Nashville, a quick drive up to Milwaukee. We've played around in other places, but we mostly played in Chicago. The line-ups great, we're a really good band. Working on a new record.
Me: When do you think we'll see a new Handcuffs album?
Brad: Gosh, these things take so long but we just started on it. Hopefully this year I would think. There's so much to do. We've got five songs tracked, and we are still dubbing stuff. We just started last December or so. We've got eight other tracks I'm gonna lay down, then we got to mix it, master it, then there's album covers, print the stuff, get photos. The first album we really liked and were proud of it and got a lot of different licensing and things. The second album we were like wow, it was better yet, we got some good reviews, third album was this was the best album we ever recorded. This new stuff we are like this totally rocks. We are so excited about it. I want people to hear this, they are gonna be totally knocked out.
Me: How often do you play with the Romantics?
Brad: Usually April to early September every week there's a bunch of shows. I look out the plane window and think when is this gonna end, I'm not 22 anymore. We go out there and give it our all and totally rock. We played at this giant festival in Belgium last August, and it as all these 80s bands. We were out there just rocking and we got off and the promotor goes, "Finally! A rock band! You guys gotta come back next year. You guys just totally rocked, it feels so good to hear a band totally rocking again."
Me: So, is the Romantics the side thing or is the Handcuffs the side thing?
Brad: The Romantics is the side thing. It's not really my band but I've been with them so long, I'm playing all their songs. They love me and I love them, but my heart is with my own band.
Me: That's cool. Thanks a lot for being on the Phile, Brad.
Brad: Thanks, Jason. We went though my whole career. Haha.
Me: Yeah. Mention your website and please come back when the next CD comes out.
Brad: Sure. Thehandcuffs.com/ and romanticsdetroit.com/.
That about does it for this entry of the Phile. Thanks to Brad for a fun interview. The Phile will be back on Sunday with actor Felix Silla. Thanks gonna be a "short" interview. Haha. I wonder how many of you know who Felix Silla is. Anyway, spread the word not the turd. Don't let snakes and alligators bite you. Bye, love you, bye.
Not if it pleases me. No, you can't stop me, not if it pleases me. - Graham Parker
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