Flash--That was the early 90s. And in my mind, I'm like, "I'm gonna prove that I'm alive, and I'm pumping blood!" It was that sort of an abstract thought. And once I got offstage, I was alright with it, physically, 'cause I duct-taped it up after the show, and mentally, because I knew what I was talking about.

But talking to these people after the show really freaked me out! 'Cause they're like, (concerned voice) "Oh, we love you, but god, don't do that to yourself! You're trying to kill yourself and you hate yourself! Don't despise yourself like that!"

And I'm thinking, "Jesus Christ! What are you going on about? It's a celebration, it's not all this!" And then I stopped to think, "Jesus, is that really why I'm doing it?" It really confused me for a little bit. I mean, I was in a funk for a few days after that show, until I came around and I said, "What the fuck are they talking about? This is the celebration of self destruction, that's all! "

And some other shows we did, I had this idea, of what would it be like, and what does it imply, if you take a mirror up onstage? and I could do this during "Such Men Are Dangerous", and as I'm saying, "Such men are dangerous!", show the mirror to the audience, and it's who am I talking about? These are the men who are dangerous, and as we wrap up the song, take that mirror and just BELT it one. And that's what I did! I said, "Man, just imagine all the implications of that!" You know? You're punching yourself out, you're killing yourself, you've got the bad luck omen over you, but at the same time, you're showing the audience and they're just disappearing, I didn't count on the light catching it all, it was just this incredible shattered glass, flying that way, and that became a thing I did a few times...

Derek--What year was that?

Flash--I've done that for the last twenty years, off and on, different shows. The first time I did it was in ...'83, and the last time I did it was six months ago. (laughs) So just on special occasions, when the crowd is revved up, 'cause I've brought it to shows and not used it, because the show didn't warrant it, or I wasn't in the right place, or whatever. Whatever it is that it's all about, see 'cause I don't understand it 100% myself! I can try and explain it to people like Charlie...what exactly that I'm trying to get at, it's not about...just being on drugs or....'Cause sometimes people think, "Certainly you're on heroin!"

I say, "I'm not on heroin!"

"Well, you're drunk!"

I say, "I couldn't fucking do that if I was drunk!"

"Well you're on crack!"

I say, "I'm not on crack! What's WRONG with you?" (laughs)

Derek--If you were on crack, you wouldn't have made it to the gig. (laughs)

Flash--Right?....And it's funny, 'cause I've done it (smashed the mirror onstage), and I've cut my hand pretty badly, and people come up to me after the show and they're shaking my hand, and say, "Well, that's incredible! That just looks so awesome! How did you do that without cutting your hand?" And I say, "I CUT my hand!"

And as they're shaking my hand, they stop and they look at it, and now their hand is full of blood, and they're like, "You sick bastard!"

And I tell them, "This isn't a fucking magic show! I'm not David Copperfield here! I'm hitting the fucking mirror and I'm getting cut!" But that's what it's all about! It's that exciting and it's that dangerous, and anything can fucking happen!

Derek--That's insane.

Flash--And then I also thought, another great image would be, is...to deface yourself, to graffiti yourself. And that's where the idea for the spray paint came from. I thought, "What can I do? And it would be, a sort of a statement like that." 'Cause I was really influenced by a lot of the crazy sort of things that happened in the late '60s, and the big socio-commentary things that bands were doing. So I was pretty aware of that kind of thing, and not just into going out like Kiss, and having something explode for no fucking reason. So I thought, "Well..." The first time I did it, I jumped out into the audience and spray-painted people's shirts. In 1984.

Derek--How did people react to that?

Flash--They loved it.

Derek--Really?

Flash--Yeah, everybody was standing in front of me with their arms open, like, "Me next!"

Derek--Wow.

Flash--Yeah.

Derek--I doubt that would happen today.

Flash--Nah, not today. That was back in the days when everybody was into trying something different. Now I'd get sued, right? So then it became a thing of, "I'll spray-paint myself!" And I said, "Well, what am I gonna write? There's not much room on here!" (laughs) So I thought, "The name of the band, one letter, there it is!"

So that became the big ending of the show, and it's so funny because....After having the backdrop, and after doing that, I still get people coming up to me saying, "What's the name of your band?"

I go, "You gotta be fucking kidding me!" (laughs hysterically) "Holy shit, are you BLIND? Christ!" But it's all about, how exciting can you make it? And the songs are also sort-of written like that, to....really rev up, rev up the crowd, REALLY get 'em going, push it/push it/push it/push it! And then right when you get to the very end, it's like, "Push it over the TOP!" And that's what I think is where it's at, that's what I've been trying to do for a long time.

And it's a difficult thing 'cause you never know...how much is too much? If it ever came to the point of, "Well, I've gotta jog two miles a day to be able to do the show," then I think it's wrong, I think it's become an olympic athlete thing, and that's not what it's all about. I should be able to live life like any rock n' roller, and not be a fucking ...some kinda jock, but be able to do the show. So I think that once you get to that level, where you can't do it ...

Now, I don't drink before the show, but it's not because I don't like drinking or anything, it's because it robs me of that adrenaline, I gotta be one hundred percent pure. I could have a drink if I want to, but it slows me down. And when I really feel it, is when I'm stone-cold sober so that's it. So I think if it ever gets to the point where it's like, "Well, I need to start working out to be able to do the show," then the show needs to be scaled back. 'Cause it's not about that, it's not about, "Look! I'm a fucking acrobat now! I"m doing flips!...Wait till the solo, I'm gonna fly through the air on a trapeze!" It's not about that. Just the same as it's not a fucking magic show!

So, really, a little goes a long way, 'cause I've had people come up and say, "Ah, you should do this, you should do that!"

I'm like, "Listen....No! I'm not doing all this crazy shit like some big, pyrotechnic display." I mean, I'd like to have a nicer light show or just something going on visually like that, but ... it's fine where it's used, but not for me.

Derek--All right, I'm gonna throw a name out--Robert Mascaro.

Flash--Robert Mascaro! (extended laugh) I didn't know him but I knew he was the manager of The Cichlids, and I saw him around the scene, he was booking bands at Finders Lounge in 1982. And he booked a couple of shows for F, one with Charlie Pickett, I think he did one with the Spanish Dogs. And although we played with the original Misfits at Finders Lounge, I don't think he was in on that one. So, years went by, he sort of disappeared, then he resurfaced, and it came up that he wanted to try and manage us.

Derek--Did you know him well back in the day?

Flash--Acquaintance, didn't know him that well. So, here's another guy who really didn't know what the band was all about. And he was suggesting, "Why don't you guys do sort of a song like CCR?"

(Sarcastically) "Yeah, right! What are you fucking talking about?" He had all these bizarre ideas for the sound. I said, "Don't worry about the sound, worry about getting gigs." Now, unfortunately by that time he was burnt out, on what? I don't know. I mean, he was really a nervous wreck!

Derek--He had health problems.

Flash--He was back living with his parents.

Derek--He had already had a heart attack. That's worse than being burnt out.

Flash--Yeah, so I'd pick him up and we'd go to rehearsal, he was not functioning anymore and I gave it a go, but he had no idea, and he had no connections anymore. I personally got along with him fine, because I grew up in New York, so I can get along with New Yorkers of that ilk, you know? To some people he seemed very rude and abrasive and everything, and it's like ...he was alright, he was always ok to me, and always up-front about stuff. And if he had no money, he would say, "You think you could front me a little bit of money to come out and try and get you some gigs and this and that? " And I would, because it was taking up his time, and he was coming out and stuff, so ... After that, I never saw him, don't know what ever became of him.

Derek--He's nuts.

Flash--(laughs) I've forgotten exactly what happened during this one show, I know I broke some ceiling tiles there (Finders Lounge) with my head. You know, just the usual vandalism. But after the show, whoever we were opening for was on, and I could see Robert across the room, and he pointed at me very angrily. And started coming over, the only thing I could think of to do was run! (laughs) So I ran downstairs, and they had the bathrooms downstairs, I heard him coming, so I ducked into the ladies room, and I heard him go into the mens room, so I ran back out! (laughs) And as I'm doing it, I'm thinking, "Why am I running? I'm running through the club, and he's running after me. And I get out into the parking lot, and I lose him. I still don't know what it was! That was one of the stupidest things, and I actually remember it!

Derek--He could be intimidating.

Flash--Yeah, he was coming after me for something, and it was so funny...I was laughing the whole way, 'cause it was like, "Oh! Better run, look out!"

Derek--What about The Cichlids?

Flash--Didn't know them. I was only a fan at that time, 1980. Although I was in bands, I really wasn't playing the clubs. I didn't know them, I saw the show at Peaches (Records), the Halloween show in 1979, might have said "Hi!" or something, but I was just a kid.

Derek--What about Z-Cars?

Flash--Saw them once and didn't like them. Like I said before, that was the commercial side of things. I was into The Reactions...

Derek--Critical Mass, that was probably before your time also.

Flash--I mean, I was a fan in the audience, a face in the crowd. I was playing, we were learning how to play our instruments, and we were playing covers, I hadn't written a single song at that point. It was 1980, and the bands I was into at the time, was The EAT, and I did like The Cichlids.

Derek--Did you have any interaction with The EAT guys?

Flash--I mostly knew Chris (Cottie), the drummer. I talked to him the most. He was more accessible, he would come out to the crowd, and say, "How ya doin?" I could talk to him. I spoke to Eddie here and there, but didn't know him.

Derek--Just a fan.

Flash--Just a fan, yeah. But that's the side that I was into, them, The Reactions, The Roll'n'Pinz...

Derek--Oh, Steve Hoffman (Roll'n'Pinz front man), that's a whole chapter all on it's own.

Flash--(laughs) Well, he ran a club for awhile, called Snuffy's. It was on Oakland Park (Blvd.), and it was an upstairs thing, we had to drag all the gear up, it was terrible.

Derek--I didn't know you played that.

Flash--Yeah, we played it. So we get in there, we're doing a soundcheck, and....He's being real arrogant. Just pushing everybody around, "Do this! Do that!" And Mike Chatham, our bassist, is up there checking his mic, and Steve goes, (loudly) "Talk into your mic!"

"Ok, one-two, one-two."

"LOUDER!"

"One-two one-two."

"I SAID LOUDER!"

(slightly louder) "Ok, one-two one two."

So finally Steve goes up to the stage yells into the mic and it goes, "WUUUUUU!!! (Feedback) Ok, see, now you know you got a problem!"

And I said, "I knew that when we walked in this place!" (laughs)

And he looks out and says, "Who said that?" (laughs)

I'm thinking, "You know, if you're gonna be such a hothead, maybe this isn't the right profession for you, dealing with bands and all this shit." I mean, I saw a bunch of crazy shows that they did, The Roll'n'Pinz, at the Agora. I thought it was pretty entertaining. And I've talked to him here and there, and he....this guy is off the hook, he needs to be committed! (laughs)

Derek--He's crazy. He used to harass me, when the Creepy T's needed a drummer at some point, and I was dumb enough to put an ad in The Rag, and he used to call me, like three times a day, to try and be the drummer.

Flash--What? Since when is he a drummer?

Derek--Evidently he does a stand-up drummer thing, where he plays drums. But I'm like, "I'm not dealing with a double-crazy drummer!" Steve Hoffman, the drummer? No way!

Flash--I had an ad in The Rag for something or another, around then, and he answered it. So he's going on and on and on and on, and I didn't know who it was.

Derek--Yeah, he would never tell you who he was, you'd have to figure it out.

Flash--But then somehow it came out that he was in The Roll'n'Pinz, and it was so funny, because the minute I told him I had seen them and thought they were pretty good and liked when they did this crazy version of "Purple Haze", then everything turned, and he was a star, and he couldn't be bothered talking to me. And he cut me off and hung up! (laughs) Can you believe that guy? (laughs longer) Oh my god! What's the matter with him?

BREAK

Flash--So I saw an ad in the back of Rolling Stone, and I'm surprised it was in such a magazine, but this guy was like, "Wanna get signed? You need exposure! etc etc." kinda crap. So I called him up, and he said, "If you'd be willing to come out here, we can get some kind of a publicity thing going."

And this was right after Two Live Crew and all that censorship bullshit that was happening. So I said, "Well-ah, what have you got in mind? The band is like... I described the band to him, and I said, "Pretty much any fucking thing goes!" (chuckling)

And he's like, "Jeez, I dunno, you could probably come out, you know, the name of the band is F, come out and fucking ....brand women with the name of the band or something!"

And I said, (Yelling) "WHAT? THAT'S A GREAT IDEA!!!"

And he goes, "Are you serious?"

And I say, "Come on, is there anyway we could possibly do that?"

He's like, "Well, honestly, you couldn't do it for real."

I said, "Well, it's Hollywood, isn't it?"

So one thing led to another, he figured out a way, he said, "If you guys can come out here, and for X amount of dollars..."

So I said "Right, we'll do this thing, and we'll film it, and we'll try and leak it to the press, and cause some kinda controversy just for publicity's sake."

So that was the plan from the beginning, we're gonna go out there, and he says, "And, possibly, I'll see if I can line up a show." Alright, so off we go on our merry way. (laughs) I don't even remember what I told the band, what was gonna happen when we got there, 'cause I don't think I divulged all that information to everyone, did I?

Derek--Yeah, you did. (Derek was the bass player in F at this time)

Flash--Did I? To you guys? 'Cause I think at the time we were in-between drummers?

Derek--No, Pete (Moss) went with us.

Flash--Pete went with us, but I don't think he was the official drummer, because I think he came along, thinking that....

Derek--No, I thought he was?

Flash and Tom Seagraves--No!

Tom Seagraves--No, remember there was stuff going on, and he went at the last minute, because I was gonna go, and then I gave my plane ticket to Pete Moss, to make it the complete, cohesive, coherent ...

Derek--He was the drummer after that.

Flash--Yeah, after that we won him over, right? But Pete being Pete, I didn't want to tell him all that business, in case he got scared. You know what I mean? 'Cause I've known him, since we were in our first band together when I was seventeen. But...It's just the kinda thing that would send him running, It's like, (imitating Pete) "Ohhhhhh, I don't know, and there's gonna be girls and this and that" So he went on the ruse that we were gonna play. Yeah, so he was a little upset with me, about that.

Derek--I actually didn't know that, because you told me about the trip, I knew what it was gonna be.

Flash--You were on the same page.

Derek--Well yeah, of course, I mean, I thought it was better than playing!

Flash--He would of been a little scared about being around girls, and wouldn't want to do that kind of thing. And it was nothing but....he got a little shy like that. Yeah, he told me, 'cause he said "Well, I'm not very happy that I was lied to!" (laughs)

That's what he told me, and I was, "Well Pete, it was just enough for....just to get you out there."

When we got done and we got back, it was all, "We had a great time! Oh man!"

So anyway, we fly out to LA. and we meet up with this shyster (laughs) and he's like, "Oh yeah, I got a plan, we're gonna film it in the penthouse of this building! I got you guys all the accommodations!" The accommodations were at a hostel with this myriad of maniacs! I mean, most were alright.

Derek--Who were your roommates?

Flash--My roommates were a guy and a girl, he liked her, she didn't know it, she was dating somebody else. They stayed up half the night, they invited a bunch of people over, and we were up until 4 o'clock in the morning.

Derek--Oh yeah, you had a party in your room, after I slept on the beach, you told me that.

Flash--Yeah, and you got stuck with Norman Bates! (laughs)

Derek--Yeah, I didn't stay in my room at all.

Flash--I don't blame you, and remember you showed me the room? And remember you showed me the bathtub? And out from the closet pops Johnny B Goode! Ha ha ha ha! And Keith and Pete had a room. (Keith Shriver, F guitarist)

Derek--Yeah, I got kicked out of their room.

Flash--I didn't even get into their room!

Derek--That's when I became homeless, at first I knocked on your window.

Flash--Yeah, I did hear it, but I didn't know what it was, 'cause I heard a sound, and I looked around, and I didn't hear it again, so I said, "Oh well"

Derek--And then I went, and Pete let me in, and I was like, crashed out on the floor or something, and the British roommate chick that they had, came in and flipped out that I was in there, and kicked me out, so I ended up homeless! (laughs)

Flash--Did you know that last year I was over there? I had a rental car and I drove down to the end of Venice Beach, parked, got out, walked down the beach, was looking for that place that we stayed at. Just as I was about to give up, I turned right, and there it was!

Derek--Wow!

Flash--There was the little cafe that we ate at, that outdoor thing. There was the Ellison hotel, everything was right there, I was like, "HA HA, how bizarre!" What a freaky time-trip it was!

Derek--I loved Venice Beach, I thought it was cool.

Flash--It was wicked.

Derek--Yeah.

Flash--Remember that guy yelling at Keith for taking pictures of him?

Derek--Keith flipped out!

Flash--Now, see, there's a straight guy, and his whole straight world got unravelled...and...I mean...I'm not a drug addict, but I aint straight! And he was like....just made the sound of a square, and he was just totally....blown away!

Derek--He was like, "This promoter can kiss my ass!"

Flash--(cackles) And then he goes on to drink so much Jack Daniels that he's having....I don't know what the fuck was happening, a mental breakdown! OK, so we get there, the guy, he's promising all this stuff, "We're going to film it in a penthouse!" The penthouse is nothing but this little top....this little room in this place, at the hostel where we're staying.

Derek--No, it was a different hotel.

Flash--That's what it turned out to be, 'cause originally he was saying we were gonna do it there, then he came up with, that it was gonna be different...another place. So alright, he seems like the usual California record executive, (businessman voice, stern and authoritative) "Ah...we gotta move some units!", you know what I mean? One of those types, so we end up going to a girl's apartment, he's got these chicks lined up, who are gonna be in on the acting part of this whole thing, he's got a guy lined up doing special effects. He's got a branding iron, he's got a tube going behind it that makes it look like it's all real, it's pretty cool to be, semi-Hollywood! So we go there, and he's got that tray of pills, remember the tray of pills?

Derek--How could I forget?

Flash--What was it? Was it even anything? Was it Contac? Was it...?

Derek--No, it was real, he let me and Pete get that shit!

Flash--(laughs) I didn't touch it

Derek--He was passed out on the toilet!

Flash--Because he's just Pete.

Derek--No, because he was on pills! I popped a couple of 'em

Flash--So we're in there, it's a party situation, um...We start getting into the filming thing, he's playing F music on a boom box in the background. And here's the girls, and we're getting along alright with them, there was one Australian chick...

Derek--They were nice, there was a girl from Colorado who smoked her whole quarter of pot with me and Pete. I was so stoned out of my mind, you have no idea!

Flash--And it's so funny, because you watch the video that we filmed, you know, the little promotional controversial thing, and it does seem pretty convincing, and pretty dangerous! But if you were to stop, and see the rest of the footage, everybody's like, (serious actor voices) "Well, I think that was pretty good. How'd you think it went?"

"Well, you know, it was very nice, I think."

"It's not too much smoke for you?"

"Oh no, no, it was very lovely!" It was a great job of acting, anyway. But as that continued on, it started to spiral out of control. Between everybody just grabbing handfuls of pills, and gulping mass quantities of whiskey. (Keith!)

And then ...Mr. Promoter talking that chick into going topless, remember that? That same guy, the guy in charge, that was his idea, (business voice) "It won't mean anything, nothing will happen...we're all here..." So ok, she does it, the other girls didn't like that, and in comes these guys...

Derek--The Australian girl flipped out and made a phone call.

Flash--Ok, so in comes these guys, and now, we're in the middle of fucking "Animal House". Like these sororities , or all these fraternities and shit, and we're like, "What's going on?" And here we are, this band from Florida, just desperately trying to make it out alive! And I just remember heading out of there, heading towards the elevator in more than a hurry and with people chasing us! (cackles) And so we went down, picked a street, and TOOK OFF! I remember us not exactly running at full speed, but we were jogging the hell out of there!

Derek--And then I had to buy that fucking guy a sandwich!

Flash--(extended cackle) I forgot about the fucking guy's sandwich, what happened there?

Derek--The promoter guy, after we got done booking out of there.

Flash--You bought him a sandwich? I don't remember that.

Derek--We stopped at that street stand, and me and you got food.

Flash--That's the price you PAY!! You paid your dues, son! (laughs)

Derek--That was hysterical.

Flash--We were there for two days, and the next day we flew out.

Derek--Oh, I remember on the plane ride home, you drank every little bottle of liquor on the plane, you kept on mixing them, I had never seen you that drunk.

Flash--(hearty laugh) Well, that's my thing. You know how people say that you should never mix (different types of) alcohol, because you'll get really sick? Well if I drink one (type of) alcohol, like if I just drink gin and tonics all night, I'll get really really sick, but if I have a gin and tonic, a vodka and orange, a jack and coke, a rum and coke, and a beer, I'm fine. If I have the whole spectrum of shit, I'm fine. So I don't know, I'm wired differently, I don't know what that's all about. Remember Pete and his Skittles? I'll always remember that. He had all these Skittles, and he had them all lined up according to color. (laughs) And it was like, what's the Chinese thing they count on? It looked like that, on his tray.

Derek--Oh, an abacus!

Flash--(laughs) And he had all this shit going on, and we're like, "What the fuck?!?!" "Oh, I'm just taking care of this..." And then I remember that we didn't get any food on that flight, and we were begging those Skittles from him! (laughs)

Derek--Oh my god, when we got pulled over on the way to practice, on the way to Keith's once. And the cop has us all out of the car, and he goes to Pete, "What's in that bag?"

"My lunch!" He looks at it, and it's all full of candy!

Flash--We were on the way OUT of practice.

Derek--Oh, we were on the way home, sorry!

Flash--11 o'clock at night, now Pete worked from 12-midnight until 8 in the morning at a hospital, so I was gonna drop him off at work after rehearsal, and he would bring his lunch. So here it is, 11 o'clock at night, cop pulls us over, we got all this gear in the car, musical crap, and the three of us, (laughs) we don't exactly look like outstanding citizens! He pulled us over because a tail light was out, so we all get out, and he's looking in the car, he's looking at us, he's looking in the car, and he's looking at us! We're all standing out there, he says, "What, are you guys in a band or something?"

"Yeah.'

He looks and me and goes, "What's the name of the band?"

"F."

He looks at Pete, "What does that stand for?"

We're like, "Oh man." (laughs) "Don't say anything Pete!"

He just looks at him and goes, "Nuthin'." (laughs)

So this cop's looking in the car, there's a brown paper bag in the back seat, at 11:00 at night, "What's in the bag?"

Pete says, "My lunch." (laughs)

Cop looks at me "Ah, your tail light is out, you guys can go."

It was just that pregnant pause, where we were all like, "Aiiiieee" (mucho ha ha)

Were you there for the loaf of bread in the road? We were going out to rehearsal, right about the same place where we got pulled over. And Pete says, "Hey, what's that? Looks like a loaf of bread in the road."

I say, "Yeah, whatever."

So we drive on to rehearsal, we come back, on our way back home, and he says, "Hey, see if that bread is still there."

I said, "What?"

He says, "Pull over for a little bit."

We pull over, he gets out and gets the bread. I go, "What the fuck?"

"What? It's good!"he says. (laughs) He takes it, he's eating it on the way home!

I go, "What are you doing man?"

"What? There's nothing wrong with it!" (laughs)

"You don't know where that bread's been!" (laughs longer) That's Pete for you!

Derek--Tell me about you and Pete in high school, how'd you meet?

Flash--The first time I met Pete, I was going out to do an audition to be a singer in a band, my first band, and he was there the very same day.

Derek--What was the name of the band?

Flash--We ended up calling it Stonehenge! (mucho ha ha)

Derek--(laughing) You're fucking kidding me!

Flash--No, we did our first show (on) New Year's Eve 1977 and Pete was there...

Derek--(laughing) Oh my god that's so Spinal Tap.

Flash--Yeah, right? Beat Spinal Tap by about eight years or so. Pete was there auditioning to be the drummer, I walk in, and I knew the guitarist, he invited me, that's how I got the audition. So I see Pete there, he set up these drums, and it's a drum kit, but it's five different colors! The tom was from one set, the bass drum was from another, the snare was from...it was all cobbled together. 'Cause he didn't own a set, so he just borrowed stuff from everybody, so he's back there, "Argh, this fucking set"

So I said, "Hey, how you doing?" And I go to shake his hand and he...completely blows me off and I'm like,"Oh, busy working on the drums?" alright. So I go and set up the mic and everything, we had a bass guitar, a rhythm guitar, a lead guitar, and my vocal, all going through one amp! (laughs) So I do a, "ONE TWO." Ok, I can hear something, and I go back over to the drums and introduce myself, "Hiya, how ya doin' here?"

Same thing, "Ah, these fucking drums! I don't know what I'm gonna fucking do..."

I say, "Well, this guy's a fucking work of art, isn't he?" (laughs) And that was the first time I met Pete! (laughs)

Derek--Awesome. And you were in high school at that point?

Flash--Yeah, Stranahan High School. We hung out in the parking lot in-between classes, and during lunchtime and stuff. And I remember one day he missed school, and it turned out that he had found this bottle of VO (whiskey) that his mom had in his house, drank half of it and got so sick he couldn't come to school. I don't know if you know a song by The Kinks called "Alcohol"?

Derek--Oh yeah.

Flash--There's a part where it goes, (British accent) "Rum, scotch, vodka on the rocks."

And so I took that recording, and I plugged the mic in, and instead of vodka, I said, "VO on the rocks."

Put it on tape, and went to pick up Pete to go to school. And as we're going there I'm playing it, and that comes up, and he's just sitting there, and he goes (hysterical laughter) "HAHAHAHA!!!" He says "What the fuck was that?" He goes, "You know? You're gonna be a good friend of mine!" (laughs) Just for that, just for poking fun at him!

But we used to hang out in my mom's car, 'cause I was driving then. And um...funny thing, I'd leave it open for him (leave the car unlocked), 'cause he would want to skip class sometimes, and he'd go and just sit in the car and listen to the tape deck, 'cause you didn't need the key to listen to it. And he left a note for me one time, saying, "Hey-ah, thanks for letting me crash in your car...I'll see ya later."

And my mom found that note! (laughs) And immediately it was like, (hysterical mom voice) "What happened to the car? Where? What is it? Who did it?"

"That was Pete!" (laughs) I was a senior, I was 17, he was younger than that when we were auditioning for that band, I think he was two years younger than me, so I guess he would've been....a sophomore. But we ran in the same bizarre circles at school, of only knowing a few people, we weren't very popular.

It's funny, because a lot of people knew me at school, many more than I ever knew, because I have them coming up to me all the time, saying, "Hey, I went to high school with you!" And it's all these fucking old people, that I have no idea who they are! (laughs) But they all remember me, and I...didn't have many friends in school. I wasn't really popular. I think I was...What's the term, anti-popular? Infamous, that's it! Like Charles Manson!