So this email was forwarded to me by a friend. It came from a journalist friend of his from the UK after his son stumbled upon a video of The Fuzztones on youtube. I just had to share!,

For the record, even though I was once in this band... I side with the kid on this subject!!

• The album said singer is self praising only had 2 original songs on it.
• He introduced Garage to Europe? Really?? I mean c'mon there were already Garage bands playing there when we got there, for example The Last Drive, The Stomachmouths, not to mention the first wave of authentic 60's garage bands that started the whole thing.  This claim would be like Keith Richards claiming he invented the Chuck Berry duckwalk! 
• I was in this band when it was in its prime (major label, RCA) and that was 23 years ago. Since then there has been a revolving door of musicians, very few lasting more than a year or two...so celebrating the 30th anniversary to me is quite funny.
• Is he going to claim that he invented the wheel, sliced bread & the internet next?? lol!
• The black Phantom he's playing in the video is a stolen guitar. It belongs to Jordan Tarlow.... Here's the email...

My son was logged on to you-tube and he ran across the Fuzztones and he asked me and couple mates of mine who work for Mojo and NME if we had ever heard of them. My son showed us this clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96Bo5rFjIG4 and we could not stop laughing after listening to the lead singer, i forgot his name, tell the crowd that he was the first to ever introduce Garage music to the European audience. My son was very angry and so were my 2 mates when he nothing good to say about the Strokes, Hives and White Stripes. All 3 of those groups are my son's favorite. All 3 of those groups have made front pages of Mojo, NME and other music papers. 30 years in the business and they are still playing empty little clubs and they never get media coverage. Are they mates of yours? The reason i asked, aren't they an LA band? Was Kim Fowley ever the group's manager/producer?

My answer: No Kim Fowley was not the groups MGR or producer. No they are not an LA band. They were for a while when we were in the band. Nowadays, the Fuzzclones live in Berlin. 

So when you hear this kind of stuff, don't be mad at me. I'm appalled too.

Dave: It was a rockin' show here in London On too!!  Rudi hooked up with a real young girl at the show here, Jailbait by Andre Williams springs to mind!!

dave machine said:

Yeah, have to agree with whatwave dave, I saw the fuzztones in Waterloo On around the same time at the City Hotel, and it was a rockin' show. I have the album, Live in Europe on  Right Side Records and Fringe, and  I still like it. Don't be ashamed John, some of us don't give a shit about the poliitics, we just remember a good time and still rock out to your tunes. I do remember someone in the "scene" of the time complaining about the singer coming on to their girlfriend. So he's a womanizer, no shortage of them in the world. Act accordingly.

whatwave dave said:

 

 

Sorry John, couldn't resist, but here's a picture of John C as a Fuzztone in London Ontario Canada 4/5/87 in the Fuzztone uniform!!  And it was a great show that night too!!

Yeah, have to agree with whatwave dave, I saw the fuzztones in Waterloo On around the same time at the City Hotel, and it was a rockin' show. I have the album, Live in Europe on  Right Side Records and Fringe, and  I still like it. Don't be ashamed John, some of us don't give a shit about the poliitics, we just remember a good time and still rock out to your tunes. I do remember someone in the "scene" of the time complaining about the singer coming on to their girlfriend. So he's a womanizer, no shortage of them in the world. Act accordingly.

whatwave dave said:

 

 

Sorry John, couldn't resist, but here's a picture of John C as a Fuzztone in London Ontario Canada 4/5/87 in the Fuzztone uniform!!  And it was a great show that night too!!

 LA Donna,

It's more than just creative differences. It's exploitation. He's exploited my musical talents & that of the other former bandmates for years, without our permission. His next release "Raw Heat" is the Demo tapes for the In Heat lp, recorded 25 years ago. Since Jordan owns the masters, these are from an inferior quality cassette tape. His last cd "Horny as Hell" featured a song I wrote in 89 "Blood From A Stone". He rejected that song for In Heat, & then it turned up first on "Flashbacks" without my knowledge or permission, except he changed my lyrics & gave himself writing credit. Ruining the song in my opinion. Then he ruined it even further  by adding a horn section to it on last years record. His version sounds like a high School marching band, in fact it sync's up perfectly with a video I have of a marching band from the Rose Parade! (I will you tube it as such one of these days). You can hear the song as I originally wrote it & how I have heard it in my head these past 25 years on the new Kiss Kiss Bang Bang CD. (Gone are his atrocious, male chauvanist pig lyrics) My song was based on a true story.

John, I haven't heard from Rudi in years (since he last moved to Europe) but I believe that Randy & I knew him better than most people. I've always loved him dearly, as I have all of the wonderful people & musicians that I got to meet and become friends with because of my friendship with Rudi. In music and bands, as in all forms of relationships, there are terrible times that seem to grow out of the whole of the experiences. Creativity seems to make bigger fireworks, though. I appreciate all of you and thank you for all of the good times. That was an awesome time of my life that I was unable to appreciate fully until later years but I learned so much. I'm honored to still be considered your friend. :-)

If he thinks he's the only garage revival band has he never heard of the Hangmen whose 1989 album was a lot better than the disappointing "In Heat." Still I love the Fuzztones' music and their whole schtick. It's too bad Rudi Protrudi has the personality of Glenn Danzig.

We all have stories.  Some are quite unbelievable. The reason why he's not in the states anymore is because there's no-one left here that he can scam. He's run out of victims.(& by that I don't mean just band mates). Mostly it's women. He's always managed to attach himself to some impressionable girl on the scene that he ends up moving in with and living off of. Then he takes off on the road & cheats on the poor girl he left home paying the bills.

Hafensabine♥ said:

uh, that poster is scary, just like rudi... have seen them playing many times and they used to be good when they were (or let's better say: when rudi was) in a good mood, but listening to narcissistic statements like that in the video made them so unappeling and it was awful to see that horny old man loving himself way to much.

There were many bands that brought Garage Rock to Europe, first of all the Miracle Workers in my case, but of course the Fuzztones have some great albums. Of course Jordan Tarlow is a great musician, too! The best show I have ever seen with the Fuzztones was the last tour with Debonair - they did hardly say a word during the whole show, it was pretty psychedelic and everyone was in a good mood.

I'm pretty sure that Debonair could tell a story about Rudi and his behaviour and why he lives in Berlin now and not in the States anymore, but that's another story...  ;)

käthe

Wow, that's pretty creepy. It's gonna give me nightmares! And he's putting out our In Heat demo's as an album now??? LOL!!! Can't he do anything new??? It's so weird. He's still mining the past & exploiting us for not just our talent, but our images. I can't wait to show this to Jordan & Gabe. Weird.

 
 
Gringo Starr said:

@John - Have you seen the new Fuzztones tour poster? It's bizarre! A graphic of Rudi as a Medusa with every member of the Fuzztones throughout the years in his snake-like hair! Check it out:

Btw, that's not even a real Fender Tele. It's a Japanese Tokai copy & as for the girl...  I know the story, he hit on every girl I ever brought around. It was weird, like he was in competition with me. It created a lot of bad blood which eventually killed the band. That's why he can't keep anyone in his band & has gone through like 30 band members.
 
Barry Stark said:

John..I saw you in the Fu**tones in Glasgow many moons ago...good rockin' gig that night. Played with the 'tones in 91 in Edinburgh at the venue - by this time Chris Harlock was on bass and Phil Arriagada on guitar. 'Twas a great gig, but my memories are kind of spoiled by the fact that Mr P kept trying to trade his pussy paisley tele (or strat) for my '63 English baby blue Phantom (rarer than rocking horse shit BTW, 'tho I didn't know it at the time) and he kept hitting on my girl...so yeah, he's a big headed c**t

Baz

John..I saw you in the Fu**tones in Glasgow many moons ago...good rockin' gig that night. Played with the 'tones in 91 in Edinburgh at the venue - by this time Chris Harlock was on bass and Phil Arriagada on guitar. 'Twas a great gig, but my memories are kind of spoiled by the fact that Mr P kept trying to trade his pussy paisley tele (or strat) for my '63 English baby blue Phantom (rarer than rocking horse shit BTW, 'tho I didn't know it at the time) and he kept hitting on my girl...so yeah, he's a big headed c**t

Baz

@John - Have you seen the new Fuzztones tour poster? It's bizarre! A graphic of Rudi as a Medusa with every member of the Fuzztones throughout the years in his snake-like hair! Check it out:

Everyone forgets the best and truest New York based 80s garage revival band.... The Optic Nerve.. these guys and the band before them; The Bohemian  Bedrocks, were much better than The Fuzztones (no offence to John)

Shamless plug here.... but check my stuff out for authentic garage revival.

www.paulmessis.moonfruit.com

That's very true Pygmies....that could be the whole start of another discussion on this group.

I met Rudi once, and he came off as a really nice guy. I dig his music and have nothing against him or any of The Fuzztones.

The Pygmies said:

I still like the fuzztones, even though the singer does sound like a bit of an ass. But if I quit listening to every band that acted like dicks, I'd have a pretty small record collection.

I still like the fuzztones, even though the singer does sound like a bit of an ass. But if I quit listening to every band that acted like dicks, I'd have a pretty small record collection.

To be fair the necks on the phantom basses isn't good.

Fang I belive swapped his for a fener p-'s necks

HAHA, but yes, I was the rebel, I played Rickenbackers & not the Vox Phantom! Wish I still had that 4001!

 IDON MINE said:

Super! Rockin in style, that John!

whatwave dave said:

 

Sorry John, couldn't resist, but here's a picture of John C as a Fuzztone in London Ontario Canada 4/5/87 in the Fuzztone uniform!!  And it was a great show that night too!!

Super! Rockin in style, that John!

whatwave dave said:

 

Sorry John, couldn't resist, but here's a picture of John C as a Fuzztone in London Ontario Canada 4/5/87 in the Fuzztone uniform!!  And it was a great show that night too!!

Sorry John, couldn't resist, but here's a picture of John C as a Fuzztone in London Ontario Canada 4/5/87 in the Fuzztone uniform!!  And it was a great show that night too!!

Yeah sad but true" Rudi Protrudi "ndeed !

But I still like the early stuff...

Si mon

Well that's why I had to say something. I didn't want people thinking we were all like that. Jason is also a great guy.That show we billed as The Phuzztones.That was so much fun. I remeber someone up front gasping, Holy Shit Rudi, what have you been eating! lol!! (those not in the know, Gary was a big dude)

lol! We broke up onstage at the Marquee in London & never had a farewell show in LA, so we did that for closure. We only played covers that night, so what the hell, we have as much right to play Screaming Lord Sutch & Sonics songs as anyone.
 
Gringo Starr said:

It's easy to crap all over the Fuzztones because of Rudi. I just gotta say here that I always had a cool time and easy friendship with you John as well as Jordan and even Mike. You guys were always really cool. Remember when Gary Wylde sang with the doppleganger Fuzztones in Hollywood and everyone thought it was Rudi?!

It's easy to crap all over the Fuzztones because of Rudi. I just gotta say here that I always had a cool time and easy friendship with you John as well as Jordan and even Mike. You guys were always really cool. Remember when Gary Wylde sang with the doppleganger Fuzztones in Hollywood and everyone thought it was Rudi?!

Great album though...

Oh ugh, Rudi...

@ Gringo, I know exactly what you mean, and that's why I put this post up. When you are or were in a band with someone, you kinda get lumped in with them in a birds of a feather kind of way. I wanted to clarify that I and the rest of the band do not feel that way. Let's give credit to The Miracle Workers, The Lyres, The Pandoras, The Unclaimed, Thee Fourgiven, The Chesterfield Kings, The Outta place, The Mad Daddy's & especially The Cramps! Hell, even Stiv Bators played a Vox Phantom & covered Sonics songs before Rudi did!

Well thanks. Becaue I was part of the LA contingent. But to be perfectly honest, we got a major label deal despite Rudi. Jordan & I negotiated that deal, which of course he fucked up by alienating the whole band with his huge ego to the point where we walked away from the deal right in the middle of recording our second lp. 
 
dying slowly said:

I think rudi got caught up in that whole 'only garage revival band on a major label' buisness and decided this made them the best and most important, to be fair i do like the fuzztones and the LA years particulaly