Interview with Peter Zaremba: Hear that American Beat on the Silver Screen

INTERVIEW WITH PETER ZAREMBA: HEAR THAT AMERICAN BEAT ON THE SILVER SCREEN

By Jerry Saravia

Peter Zaremba, performing with the Fleshtones at the World Cafe Live, Oct. 2013

We are so inundated with hearing songs in movie soundtracks that we have become immune to the true rock and rollers, the ones that have their songs played loudly while burning up the screen and riveting our attention. There are but a few that manage to work so well, to convey some subtext or serve as commentary on what is happening on screen. I always think back to Jackson Browne's melodic "Late for the Sky" in Martin Scorsese's "Taxi Driver," the use of Iggy Pop's electrifying "Lust for Life" in "Trainspotting" or its more subtle use in "Desperately Seeking Susan." As far as commenting on the action, I am not sure if that is the case with the Fleshtones' "American Beat" song which is featured in a bizarre scene in 1984's "Bachelor Party" where sales clerks at a jazzy jean store called "Neon Jeans" dance to the tune. My favorite line of dialogue is when a customer is ready for checkout and the salesgirl says, "Can't you wait until the song is over?" Maybe that was the whole point - just wait for the song to be over and we will get back to the movie. Feel that American Beat.

I had the good fortune to discuss this and other Super-Rock Fleshtones matters with the one and only Peter Zaremba, the Fleshtones band member who sings, plays harmonica and the keyboards (for the uninitiated, the other band members include Keith Streng on guitar, Ken Fox on bass and Bill Mihizer on drums). He was also once the host of MTV's "I.R.S. Records Presents the Cutting Edge" from 1984-87. The Fleshtones, one of the best live bands on Earth, had played at the now defunct CBGB's in New York in 1976 and have been on the road ever since, even to this day. Mr. Zaremba took a few moments from his Spain tour to discuss the use of  the band's songs in films, his own treatment for a film that never got made, and his love for the theme of "Modesty Blaise."

1.) Tell me the story of having to re-record the song "American Beat" (original recording was in 1979) for the 1984 raunchy comedy, "Bachelor Party." I understand the issue of re-recording came down to rights to the song and, though I think it is a song that could've or should've been more commercially viable considering the box-office success of the film, I still do not get the connection of that song to that movie. I like when songs feature lyrics that in some shape or form relate to the film's themes or character arcs, but I do not see it with Tom Hanks as a lovable loser staging a bachelor party.

Peter Zaremba: 'I haven't thought about the exact circumstances for quite a while! Actually, we had gotten the rights back for the material we had recorded for Red Star already at that point. Miles had wanted us to rerecord Shadow Line for "Urgh! A Music War" and our first IRS album. Marty Thau was very reasonable about the whole thing and let us have all our songs back at a very low price as not to hold us up, and that included "American Beat," which of course I should have entitled "American Sound" but I was too clever by a half in those days. Anyway, Keith came up with the idea to rerecord the song with horns. Miles Copeland was working on that movie for Tom Hanks at that time. he was very involved in more than just the soundtrack. It's too bad the movie was already completed because when the director and producers heard "American Beat" they liked it so much they made it the 'theme' to "Bachelor Party" and said they would have had us perform the song in the movie if it hadn't been too late. They also used "Hall Of Fame." In typical Fleshtones fashion, we never built on that great 'in' to movie work because we manage to insult the director, the producers, Tom Hanks and everyone else by mocking the movie in front of them all during the studio screening. I think Keith also feel asleep during it, right next to Hanks who of course noticed. Hanks next film was "Splash,"  his real breakthrough into major box office star - "Bachelor Party"  actually did quite well for reasons I never understood. Oh well, it was great for us anyway. As to our songs connection to anything in the film well, you said it but it was cool that the film makers liked our music so much, up to that point!'


2.) Was an official soundtrack ever released for the crazy 1985 flick, "The Party Animal", and how did featuring songs like "Roman Gods" and "Right Side of a Good Thing" come into play for that film?

Peter Zaremba:  'I don't think there ever was an official album. Bob Singerman was our manager at that time and since we knew all these good bands with good tracks like REM and Smithereens, he got everyone on to the soundtrack. I wrote a theme song for it that the Fleshtones recorded, but the demo was so primitive that it was rejected. I rewrote the lyrics and we recorded it as "Whatever Makes You Happy" for both The Fleshtones and The Love Delegation.'

3.) I like that the soundtrack for 1986's "My Chauffeur" that features a sampling of your band's song "What's So New About You" in addition to "Tommy Gets his Tonsils Out" by the Replacements. Definitely an eclectic mix for a lighthearted movie. Is it a little more exciting to be featured in a soundtrack where another terrific band is featured, or were you unaware about who else was on the soundtrack?

Peter Zaremba: 'Oh that was Roberts again. He had a knack for getting these connections for a while. I have never seen the film, I thought it was soft core porno or something."

                                                          
4.) With the exception of 1996's "To Gillian On Her 37th Birthday" and 1987's "I Was a Teenage Zombie," the Fleshtones have not been featured in any other film soundtracks since. Or have they? Were there any other projects that had considered a sampling of your music? I keep thinking directors like Jim Jarmusch, Martin Scorsese, Todd Phillips, Oliver Stone and others might have benefited by using some of your band's music for their kamikaze, frenzied and perhaps lyrical filmmaking styles.

Peter Zaremba: 'What's the movie about Gillian's Birthday? Never heard of it. maybe it's a Streng song? (Note: Song "Let's Go" is used) Well to answer your question, no I don't think so although I do think our songs would be perfect for movies. I get really jealous when I hear all the cool songs in these movies by the directors you mention. Yeah, Jim Jarmusch, he was casting once at the Bayou Hotel in New Orleans when we were staying there, but we were too busy or shy or whatever to approach him . What was that movie he was shooting then? Down By Law? was that him? And Scorsese! I'd die to get into one of his movies, we'd fit right in! "Wolf Of Wall Street"? Sure. "Goodfellas"? Hell, we knew some of those people!

I wrote a treatment for a movie called "The Ghoulman." I thought it was pretty good actually and Robert sent it around to some Hollywood people who shop that kind of stuff I got. A great rejection letter back. It was so good that I titled the letter "critique of Ghoulman". I still have it somewhere. This woman really took the treatment apart point by point, but at least she seriously read the idea, maybe too seriously. Too ahead of its time. Of course many films of a somewhat similar vein have been done since then. Too bad, but it did have all these Ghoulman songs that we wound up recording. Oddly enough, the song "For A Smile" that we recently recorded with Mary Huff was also intended for that soundtrack, originally entitled "Johnny Go Wild." I intended it to be sung by the late Wendy Wild.

I don't think we've had a song perfectly used in a soundtrack yet, although I dug "I'm Back Again" coming out of a radio in "The Wire." Scorsese really uses rock and roll well. Keith has a track called Le Mistral, maybe THAT was used as a b side of a single or a vinyl only album track, anyway, I mixed that with movie theme use in mind. no takers....yet!

Hey I love the theme to "Modesty Blaise" (1966 spy comedy starring Monica Vitti and Terence Stamp) ever since I first heard it booming out of the speakers in the movie house as a kid. I like a lot of other stuff by Johnny Dankworth, like that song in the party scene in "Darling" (1965 film starring Julie Christie). I'd like to cover that, maybe in French!'