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When the surviving members of The New York Dolls reunited last summer for a show in London, expectations weren't high. The band's heyday was more than 30 years ago, and even then they seemed hell-bent on disaster with their over-the-top performances, substance abuse and trail of dead members, including beloved guitarist Johnny Thunders.
But when singer David Johansen, guitarist Sylvain Sylvain and bassist Arthur Kane got on stage together at the urging of Dolls fan club president Morrissey, the magic was still there. Who knew? Certainly not Johansen, who had firmly resisted the idea.
"I asked Morrissey if he would reunite The Smiths, and he said, 'Absolutely not,' so why expect me to do it?" Johansen says in a telephone interview from New York. "I thought people wouldn't accept it without John, but he said they would, and he was coming from a fan's perspective, so I decided to do it. I thought it'd be one show and I'd see the guys and have a lot of fun. But we got calls from these mudbaths in England, like Reading and Leeds, and we went to Ireland with the White Stripes, and it blossomed, and we're having a lot of fun."
The New York Dolls play the Phoenix tomorrow. Johansen also appears at the Holiday Inn King Street tomorrow as part of the North By Northeast conference.
The London show -- for which the three were joined by guitarist Steve Conte and Libertines drummer Gary Powell -- was recorded and released last year as Morrissey Presents The New York Dolls Live, a shockingly satisfying run through the Dolls classics.
"That was our first show -- we'd rehearsed three times," says Johansen. "I was skeptical. Steve Conte sent me three CDs, and every day I'd go, 'No, not today.' I had to force myself, but I turned it on and thought, 'Sounds like the Dolls. Sounds good!' "
The New York Dolls released only two albums in their mid-'70s life span, but their influence was huge. They incorporated the proto-punk of the MC5 and The Stooges -- plus Iggy Pop's wild performance style -- the Stones' rock 'n' roll and Little Richard's outrageousness, and more or less invented both glam-rock and punk. With their platforms and makeup, they probably also spawned hair-metal, but we won't blame them for that.
"Back then, I was so proud," Johansen says. "But over the years I'd pick up a rock book and look up my name and, it'd say, you know, 'trashy junkie drag queens.' And over time that idea got into my head, like that's all it was. But when I went back to it, I realized how great it was.
"I thought, 'Wow, that's a good song, how'd I write that?' I guess I was a sophisticated kid. I have no recollection, but it must be true."
After the Dolls, Johansen explored styles like blues and swing as Buster Poindexter and the Harry Smiths, and when he gets on stage, he uses it all. "I've got a whole new take on performance now," he says.
"I did this salsa record with Cuban percussionists, and I learned a lot from them. They don't play at each other, they kinda beam it up and let it sprinkle down. I started incorporating that into my performance. It makes it more reverential."
Sadly, Arthur Kane died shortly after the release of the album, but Johansen and Sylvain are continuing with Conte, Hanoi Rocks bassist Sammy Yaffa, keyboardist Brian Koonin and drummer Brian Delaney. They're even writing new material and hoping to record in the fall.
"Everybody's coming up with music and we're sifting through it," Johansen says. "It's a real band, and we get along great.
"I didn't know I'd be doing this -- it's a total surprise. But I tell you, it's fun. We're selling out, and we're slaying 'em."