Wanna Be in the Show
Saturday, June 23, 2007 at 12:08AM 
During the height of grunge popularity, a motley band of glam-loving musicians gathered together and formed Psycho Gypsy. After several years and tours later, the band broke-up and Eddie Electra joined the now legendary outlandish glam outfit Peppermint Creeps. Tragedy has brought Psycho Gypsy back together. Now, Electra - along with Timm Tantrum - are back with a vengeance. The duo recently spoke with Bring Back Glam! about the band’s future, performing on the same stage as their idols, and music fans today. Transcription follows.
Bring Back Glam!: Tell the readers a little about the history of Psycho Gypsy.
Timm Tantrum: Eddie Electra and myself began forming the band in 1992. By, 1994 we had found a guitarist and a drummer and were starting to play live. Within a year or two, we were starting to tour to other states. We created a very large local following in our hometown of Phoenix because of our distinction as Arizona's only glam rock act. All the glam fans of Arizona only had one band to see, so we did quite well for ourselves.
BBG: What was it like opening up for major acts like Warrant and Poison?
Eddie Electra: It was a lot of fun to be opening up for people whose posters were still on our walls! The Poison show in particular stands out for obvious reasons. That has to be the most people I've ever played to.
Timm Tantrum: Growing up watching some of these guys on MTV made the experience a little surreal. Although we won't name names, what I can say is many of the bands we played with were very gracious and pleasant to be around. Others were not. Some seemed like they had a lot of bitterness that they weren't in their heyday any longer. One name I will drop is Tracii Guns. Not only was he great to be around, but also hung out with us a lot. We were never treated like "the lowly opening act." He always treated us as equals and always took the time to hang out with us on a first name basis. No rock star egos anywhere within L.A. Guns.
BBG: Why the desire to reform the band after the break-up in 2000?
Timm Tantrum: This is kind of a hard one so here it is. On July 28, 2006 Psycho Gypsy's former drummer Mykel Geyman died in a tragic motorcycle accident. Mykel and I had been working on putting together another band. Through that time, Mykel had told [me] over and over that I should work with Eddie Electra again at some point. Shortly after Mykel passed away, Eddie left the Peppermint Creeps. I approached him about doing Psycho Gypsy again largely because Mykel had always wanted to see that happen…he just wanted to see Psycho Gypsy live again.
Eddie Electra: A lot of things happened leading to the re-formation. Tim and I started talking again, and he had actually come to see me and joined me on stage when I came through his town on tour with another band…At the same time I was no longer happy in the situation I was in band-wise, so it was a no brainer.
BBG: Plans for a new album? If so, a tour of the US?
Timm Tantrum: Song writing is almost completed for a new album and recording has been going on for a while. As far as the U.S., we will be returning to our original stomping grounds soon. Of course, there will be shows set up soon for Hollywood. After the new CD drops, we will be taking aim at the rest of the U.S. We also hope to have someone sponsor us to go overseas and visit all our friends and fans over there. We have quite a large following in Europe and would love to see everyone over there. If anyone knows someone who will fly us out there so we can play, contact us on our Myspace page.
BBG: How does playing live music rate now as opposed to a decade ago? Are fans more or less interested?
Timm Tantrum: The funny thing is that I did a Google search for Psycho Gypsy and found out that we became more popular after we broke up then when we were together the first time. So, the response so far has been better than we expected.
Eddie Electra: It almost seems like they are more interested now. We formed at the height of the grunge era; nobody was doing glam anymore - that mattered anyways. It seems like every 20 years trends recycle themselves and it appears to be happening with glam again. Nobody talks about grunge anymore, yet all VH-1 seems to show are videos and stuff on all the bands we grew up to! In Hollywood, there is a new weird scene with kids like 14 to 20 years old and you would swear they are from the 80's. They look so vintage! These kids are getting into stuff like Shotgun Messiah, Skid Row, Motley [Crue], while their friends are into My Chemical Romance and A.F.I.
BBG: What was it like to be a new glam band during the height of the grunge era?
Timm Tantrum: When we first started, we were told by everyone -- especially other bands -- that we were going to fall flat on our faces. No one in the industry thought there was any market to speak of for glam. The result was that while we were headlining clubs that held 2,000 plus people, all of the alternative bands in the Arizona scene at the time were playing small clubs on Tuesday night for 7 people. We drew much more attention to ourselves in the press and otherwise because we were different and not following the trends.
Eddie Electra: It was hard to get a gig, but it was fun! Those were some of the best times of my life. It’s taken a lot to happen over the years to realize that, and [to] count my blessings.
BBG: Who are your main musical influences?
Timm Tantrum: First and foremost KISS! And of course Motley Crue, Ratt, Poison, Twisted Sister, Ozzy [Osbourne]. Maybe some things you would not expect. Iron Maiden, Avenged Sevenfold, 18 Visions, Black Label Society, Pantera. I also listen to classical music like Mozart and Beethoven.
BBG: Do you have any crazy stories from the road?
Timm Tantrum: We once had some girl sneak her way backstage when we were playing in Scottsdale, Arizona. Both of the bathrooms were "occupied" and she had to pee. Jokingly I suggested she pee in a cup. She then dropped her pants and began to pee in the cup I handed her. I guess she really had to go!
For more information, visit www.myspace.com/psychogypsy.
Reader Comments (2)
VISIT A COUPLE OF MY PAGES I STARTED FOR THESE AMAZING GLAM ROCKERZ....
WWW.MYSPACE.COM/PSYCHOGYPSYFANS
http://groups.myspace.com/EddieElectrarawks