David Scott Schwartzman's "If It's Tuesday This Must Be Walla Walla": The Wacky History of Adrenalin O.D
The Wacky Hi-Jinx of David Scott Schwartzman
Often deemed the funniest band in hardcore, A.O.D. were a staple in the heart of hardcore: laughing their way out of New Jersey into nearby towns, cities and into many a filthy punks hearts. A.O.D. were full of piss and vinegar, ready with a quick quip up the side of the head and into an unsuspecting mohawked punk’s multi-pierced ear.
David has written a hilarious book from the perspective of being a drummer. While A.O.D. might not be a household name, their influence has had a lasting impact on many current bands. I had the opportunity to talk to David about the book, the history of A.O.D., statues, and meat products.
Buy the book. That's all I can tell you. I don't want to give away all the good parts like when your friend decides to recite their favourite lines from a recent flick. No Spoiler Alerts here. David pays well.
Read on...
Scene Point Blank: Your stepsister gave you John Bonham’s drumstick. What happened to that drumstick? Did they have any markings on them identifying them as being Bonzo’s?
David Scott Schwartzman: I only had gotten one stick and not a pair. I remember it being chewed up and you could just make out his name in cursive on the side of the stick. I thought it was a snare stick because it was pretty thick, but I was so young and it was before the drumming bug bit me so I’m not 100% on that. When A.O.D. did our first show at a Battle of the Bands at my high school, I had broken most of my sticks at rehearsal and ended up using two completely different-sized sticks -- one was the Bonham stick. I don’t remember ever seeing it again after the chaos of that show, which ended in a riot.
Scene Point Blank:: I had a friend named Wayne who was friends with the original drummer of the Misfits. He once told Wayne the name of his new band to which Wayne replied…, “Well, that's a stupid name, haha.”
I understand that you were an early fan. How did you initially get to know them? Subsequently, did they not give you articles of clothing? Last Misfit question….Were you almost squashed like a bug by Doyle?
David Scott Schwartzman: My interactions with the Misfits go back to when I was a kid record shopping at a local store called Looney Tunes, which at the time was owned by the guys who would become the popular band Dramarama. While I’m looking through records Glenn and Jerry come into the store to drop off Misfits records to sell. I purchased the Beware EP from them that day and became instantly hooked. Fast forward a bit later and I became friends with Steve Zing (Samhain, Danzig, Mourning Noise). We both were total Misfits fanboys. We would walk from Steve’s apartment to Jerry and Doyle’s family home. The Misfits would rehearse in their garage which was also known as “The Pit.” I would stand outside his gated driveway and listen to them practice. I was a clever kid and if I wanted to do something, I’d figure out a way.
And that’s what I did…I wanted to get inside The Pit and watch them practice. I told the band that I was with the Village Voice and I wanted to write a story about them. They said yes, and I asked if I could bring a photographer. They said yes, so I told Paul from Adrenalin O.D. that we’re in… I showed up with a portable tape recorder and Paul forgot to bring a camera. As far as I know, I was the only person who thought to bring a tape recorder to a Misfits practice. The tape is great and has them trying to learn new songs like “Queen Wasp” and “Mommy, Can I Go Out & Kill Tonight?”. Googy, their drummer at the time, had a hard time playing the fast part of “Mommy.” After that practice, Jerry invited me and Steve over to hang out in their basement bedroom. Jerry gave me a rare shirt featuring the art for a poster Glenn made for a Max’s Kansas City show. It was printed on a spandex Captain Kirk shirt and was too small for Jerry and Doyle, so I got it straight off of Jerry’s shirt rack.
As for my interactions with Doyle, he had me mistaken for someone else and wanted to beat me up when I was 15. Doyle was never small, so I still have PTSD from that day. Luckily Jerry straightened out the situation before I got pummeled.
Scene Point Blank: A.O.D were huge Monkees fans and you had the opportunity to meet Davy Jones from The Monkees? What do you remember about that encounter and Davy? Did you ever have a chance to meet any other Monkees?
David Scott Schwartzman:That was an incredible day for us. We were dropping off a press package to get us booked on the legendary New Jersey cable TV program, The Uncle Floyd Show. We were huge Uncle Floyd Show fans, as was every punk rocker in the tri-state area. Floyd would have musical guests like the Ramones, David Johannsen and Stiv Bators, as well as many local bands. The day we went to the studio, the special guest was Davey Jones. We were so stoked. There was no audience for the show except us. Afterwards, we got to tell him what huge fans we were and gave him a copy of our first EP, Let’s Barebeque. He grabbed it and said “Thanks fellas, I’ll give it a listen.” It made our day for sure. Davey was the only Monkee we met, however, me and Bruce did take advantage of my Village Voice story which got me into the Misfits practice. This time I called Six Flags Great Adventure amusement park, where the Monkees were doing their first reunion show. I said I was with The Aquarian weekly newspaper and we’re sending an interviewer and a photographer. Bang! Full access to the park and show for free and we saw The Monkees from the front row.
Scene Point Blank: How did A.O.D. get invited to be on The Uncle Floyd Show?
David Scott Schwartzman: It took a while for us to get on. It wasn’t until City Gardens promoter Randy Now took over booking the musical acts that we were finally able to get on the show.
Scene Point Blank: Can you explain what Pubey King is, and do you still have the unique souvenir?
David Scott Schwartzman: We played a nice club in Cincinnati called Bogarts. The dressing rooms were in a basement level and they had a shower in the dressing room. The night before our show was blues legend BB King. One of us noticed a long, black curly pubic hair in the shower and we just knew it had to be from BB’s bush. We named it Pubey King and taped it to the dashboard of the van as a mascot. I don’t think it lasted too long -- probably blew out the window. It should have been a museum piece.
Scene Point Blank: Being Canadian, SNFU and Chi Pig were a national treasure. What do you remember about playing shows with SNFU and Chi Pig?
David Scott Schwartzman: Our two bands were like peas in a pod. We instantly hit it off and became great friends with SNFU. On our 1985 tour, we were lucky enough to play with them three times. They were always amazing. Chi was fun and had a great sense of humour. I had run into him much later and was saddened by how withdrawn he had become. SNFU was one of the best live bands I ever saw. They always make my top 10 list. My favourite time with them was when we played a house party together in Florida. It was a packed house and I remember us passing a joint the size of a small baseball bat around the room as the house filled with smoke and lots of coughing. That same night we met the members of the legendary metal band Death, who were huge A.O.D. fans and drove up from Orlando to see us. The Death shirt our bass player Jack Steeples is wearing on the cover of our “A Nice Song In The Key Of D” 45 was given to us by their singer, the late Chuck Shuldiner that night.
Scene Point Blank: A.O.D. seemed to do a lot of shows with 76% Uncertain and had a close relationship with them, even citing them as brothers. Why did you align with them? Are you still in touch with any members of that band? Do you still stand by the slogan “Vive Le Fromage”?
On another note I met the band Seizure, who were lost in Toronto and ended up in a pizza shop I happened to be at. The drummer, Spaz, told me they were playing with 76% Uncertain tonight and I should go. So I did! I got the feeling the Connecticut scene was tight. In your book, you speak about that scene and how A.O.D. aligned with that scene. Why was that?
David Scott Schwartzman: While the NYC scene was a melting pot of everyone, the New Jersey and Connecticut scenes were very similar. Both scenes had middle-class suburban kids who enjoyed having fun and had the same sarcastic, wiseass sense of humor as us. We all grew up on the same local television shows and listening to the same bands. We started doing shows in Connecticut as early as 1982. Some of the people in that scene are some of our best friends to this day. Our guitar player, Bruce Wingate, ended up moving to Connecticut when he left New Jersey. We first met the 76% Uncertain guys through their first band, C.I.A. Some of the best times I have had in my time with A.O.D. were hanging out at the Anthrax Club in Connecticut. It was run by the kids for the kids. When we did one of our New Jersey reunion shows we were happy to have had 76% Uncertain play with us. Seizure rule, BTW. Their guitar player, John Sex Bomb, has many appearances in my book.
Vive Le Fromage should be a tattoo on everyone’s arm.
Scene Point Blank: If they were to erect a statue of the band and cast you in bronze. what part of the body do you figure the public would want to touch for good luck?
David Scott Schwartzman: Easy one…my Jewish honker of a nose.
Scene Point Blank: If you had to perform cunnilingus on a piece of meat what cut would you choose: porterhouse steak, pork chops, or chicken nuggets?
David Scott Schwartzman: I think the porterhouse would be more realistic and you would have less chance of salmonella from licking the pork chops. Chicken nuggets look too much like testicles which defeats the concept entirely.
Scene Point Blank: How did you survive largely not drinking or doing recreational drugs with the band until the latter part of its existence? I am surprised you survived partaking in drinking Molson Brador beer when in Montreal, ha! It was known as a Grandpa beer with an extra kick of alcohol. Long before microbreweries existed.
David Scott Schwartzman: To be honest, I had a shit load of energy as a kid. I didn’t feel like I needed drugs or alcohol. Also when you’re the youngest member of the band and when everyone else is trashed, it came in handy for me to be driving sometimes. I also had a lot of good friends who died from drug and alcohol-related issues. I don’t talk about it and it’s not in the book, but I was in a 10 year live-in relationship with a bad heroin addict. As a young straight edge kid, I thought I could fix her. I spent 10 years learning the hard way that you can’t fix some problems. Seeing what she went through made sure I never touched that shit, ever.
Scene Point Blank: Do you have many memories of playing Toronto -- The Siboney Club/ DMZ?
David Scott Schwartzman: Yes, I do. Lots of Chinese food. We played with HYPE and I think Sons Of Ishmael. I remember Toronto having very pretty punk girls.
Scene Point Blank: Are there any particular shows that stand out above others?
David Scott Schwartzman: The New York Thrash compilation release show at Irving Plaza was one of my faves. We went from being a Jersey band the audience never took seriously, to packing all future shows. It was a pivotal show for us. Also, we played a show in Las Vegas with Gang Green that was so crazy the owner tried to shut it down multiple times. He finally had security stand in front of the stage holding a ladder to keep the crowd from stage diving. The audience wrestled the ladder from the security and broke it into pieces. It was a ballroom type of place where they would normally have weddings. I still remember looking from my drummer's perspective at the insane amount of moshing and diving and noticed a dude swinging like a monkey on the expensive chandelier.
Scene Point Blank: Was there a rivalry between New Jersey bands and NYC bands?
David Scott Schwartzman: No, New Jersey was kind of neutral territory where we got along with all scenes including NY, Boston and DC. A good portion of the bigger NYHC bands had members that lived in New Jersey like Agnostic Front, Cause For Alarm, and The Undead.
Scene Point Blank: How involved was the rest of A.O.D. in composing this book? Or were you the only sober one that was able to retain memories?
David Scott Schwartzman: I spent time with each member to get the things I may have forgotten and correct some things I had remembered incorrectly. I will say that there are huge swathes of time that they have very little memory of. That’s the one thing about being sober back then that helped with the book: my earlier memories are still pretty clear.
Scene Point Blank: The ‘80s seemed to have an influx of bands that used initials: D.R.I., C.O.C., B.G.K.
For the win in Final Jeopardy can you name another three?
David Scott Schwartzman: Here’s five: F.O.D., D.O.A., M.D.C., C.I.A., J.F.A.
Scene Point Blank: How did COVID affect you personally? Did it not kill the opportunity for the band to finally play Europe? Have those plans ever been resurrected?
David Scott Schwartzman: COVID truly sucked! We finally had a European tour booked. We all had our passports. We were on Rebellion Festival with some of our favourite bands and POW!!! End of everything.
We are mulling over doing it in 2024. They’ve been asking.
Scene Point Blank: Would there be anything you would change if you could have an opportunity to turn back the hands of time?
David Scott Schwartzman: I would have started taking Rogaine as soon as Paul mentioned I had a bald spot in 1989. Also, I would have not eaten the bad chili that gave me food poisoning during The Misfits show at The Piast Club in 1982.
Scene Point Blank: Do you think that A.O.D influenced many bands that went on to financial success (i.e. NOFX)?
David Scott Schwartzman: I get that sometimes when I meet a bigger band. NOFX openly says that there wouldn’t be a NOFX if it wasn’t for A.O.D.. We’ve been cited as a major influence to such a vast variety of bands from Anthrax, Death, Dark Throne, SOD and Municipal Waste to Bouncing Souls, Screeching Weasel, Night Birds, The Melvins and Rocket From The Crypt.
Scene Point Blank: On that note, are there any bands you played with that were criminally underrated?
David Scott Schwartzman: Channel 3, The Rhythm Pigs, Th’Inbred, Kraut, BGK, and White Flag come to mind.
Scene Point Blank: Who were the scariest mofos you ever played with or encountered? Doyle? Battalion of Saints? Suicidal Tendencies?
David Scott Schwartzman: We got along fine with everyone that most people would be intimidated by including Suicidal, Agnostic Front, The Feederz, and especially Battalion Of Saints. They’re like big, ugly tattooed teddy bears, and we had so much fun with those guys. To be honest I think the only band that intimidated us were the Ramones, who would just stare at us in the dressing room with the stink eye. I don’t think those guys liked it when bands started becoming faster than them, and we had that rep.
Scene Point Blank: What type of drum kit do you play? Has your style evolved over the years?
David Scott Schwartzman: I have a Yamaha Custom Tour Kit that I bought with an Atlantic Records credit card when my old band, Lucy’s Trance, got signed to the label by now-CEO Craig Kallman. I did what any punk drummer who played on garbage equipment his whole life did. I walked into the store and said, “What are the most expensive drums that you have”? On the non-thinking end on my part, they’re heavy as fuck to carry. One thing I always tried to do was to play in different kinds of bands. That’s what made me a better drummer. I don’t think I thought much about gaining drum skills until the last 8 years when I was able to set up and play my drums in my house. I could never do that living in apartments -- and practice makes perfect. I bought a pair of isolating headphones recently and have been playing along to stuff like Beatles albums, T-Rex, Cheap Trick and even things outside of my comfort zone like Brandi Carlisle.
Scene Point Blank: Are you currently playing locally in Florida?
David Scott Schwartzman: I have been in a lot of bands since moving here in 1993. I’ve also been very lucky to be able to get good shows with the bands I play with because of the A.O.D. connection. I’ve opened for Iggy Pop, NY Dolls, UK Subs and Dead Kennedys, sometimes playing places like The House Of Blues at Disney World. I’m currently just jamming and experimenting with friends every Friday. My last band was called The Smash and it was a classic punk tribute band that formed to play my 50th birthday party.
"The audience wrestled the ladder from the security and broke it into pieces. I still remember looking from my drummer's perspective at the insane amount of moshing and diving and noticed a dude swinging like a monkey on the expensive chandelier."
Scene Point Blank: How would you and A.O.D. like to be remembered?
David Scott Schwartzman: If anything it’s that we didn’t try to stay within the formula of what people expected from a hardcore punk band. Fun shouldn’t be absent from going out to a show: it should be the reason. Don’t take anything too seriously. I went to see my old friend NOFX play last week to an immense crowd of over 16,000 people. Fat Mike and Eric Melvin gave me a shoutout from the stage...15,900 people had no clue who the hell Adrenalin O.D. was. I’m afraid that the majority of so-called “punk” fans at these shows are intellectually lazy and won’t delve into the vast history of punk rock. For so many of these kids, it’s a fashion statement and not about the music, attitude, or camaraderie of like-minded individuals. Some people knock the Punk Rock Museum in Las Vegas, but it is preserving the history of a popular underground culture. That’s what museums are supposed to do. Preserve history, so it’s never forgotten and never rewritten.
Scene Point Blank: Any parting thoughts or shots?
David Scott Schwartzman: Right now we are deciding on either going balls to the wall in 2024 and playing extensively at all the major festivals or retiring. I hope we take advantage of some of the incredible opportunities that this band has before we can’t do it anymore. People point to the Rolling Stones and say, “They’re in their 80s and still play.” I agree, but let’s see the Stones play “Bugs” or “Fuck the Neighbors” that fast at 80. Their hearts would explode. Also please buy my book. It’s fucking funny! Over 300 pages and some have words and stuff... There are plans in the works to turn the book into a major motion picture, so grab a first edition with the pink cover while they’re still available.
