JOHNNY THE SPLIFF VAMPIRE ROLLS ANOTHER. The afternoon goes up in smoke. A study in inertia, Thunders wraps himself up in watching television; politely dismissing the studio engineers request to come and listen to a playback. The memories of fleeting productivity are put on hold for a permanent tea break where Johnny takes more sugar than anything else. The other two musicians at the hub of the sessions, bass player Keith Yon and drummer T (Tony St. Helene) more often referred to by the rather hip shakin' motivatin' moniker of the Black Cats, have retracted their claws and turned into placid kittens on a paid vacation as the comfortable inactivity takes hold like valium 10. There is vague talk of a mystery guitar; a misplaced grail of untapped possibilities.
'Que Sera, Sera', for all its artistic flaws is as much a part of Thunders' bruised mythology as '78's divine 'So Alone'. Sometimes he could soar higher and faster than rock 'n' roll dreams allow, other times he would stumble on flightless wings, trapped by studio confines and pressures. In the August of '85, Johnny wasn't just up against recording schedules, he was also trying to deal with a coliseum's worth of emotional rubble littering his creative flight path. The previous year had been relatively dandy, what with the Heartbreakers grand reunion at the London Lyceum, captured on film for an official Jungle video; not to mention the release of 'L.A.M.F. Revisited'. Then there were five nights of mid-summer electric storms at the Marquee Club, Johnny and his Swedish girlfriend Susanne honeymooning on Wardour Street, watching the line of punters snaking down the block, spilling over flagstones, hyped up on anticipation. Detox was the slogan for '84, as Thunders' manager Christopher Gierke turned oblique philosophies into an actual working campaign; attempting in the process to wean his charge off chemical dependency whilst booking him on an around the world tour with the Black Cats and veteran of many a last minute call to arms, Henri-Paul. The afterglow of a series of dates with Hanoi Rocks was snuffed out by the untimely death of 'Rocks' drummer Razzle but the Thunders agenda held a steady course into early '85, secured by a managerial safety net and a Swedish sweetheart.
By April, Johnny and the crew where holed up in Tin Pan Alley studios working on the demos that Gierke hoped would propel Thunders into a big league deal. Stiv Bators dropped by, Mike Monroe wafted around, pretty as Marilyn. Champagne and reefer, life couldn't be sweeter. Good times on probation. Circumstantial evidence guaranteed misfortune could bust down the door anytime. With the majors taking platinum bets only and the victory of a home town comeback shredded by nerves, the sorrows start to snowball. Johnny resorts to heavy doses of self-medication. Through a valium veil he hears Susanne whisper a long good-bye. Christopher has already packed up the safety net and returned to Paris to fulfil film-making commitments. Washed out and wounded, the guitarist comes adrift in London and calls on his friends. Amidst a clutter of personal effects, he crashes first with Stiv before finding sanctuary on the sofa at Patti Palladin's place.
Whatever the situation, Johnny could always pull on his considerable reserve of defiance and notoriety assured that he would be picked up by some stray rock 'n' roll valet, willing to take care of business. The opening scenes of the Que Sera story take place with Johnny trying to salvage his relationship with Susanne and the declaration that he would write a song for her. Negotiations for the album begin between Jungle Record's Alan Hauser, Thunders and his new personal assistant, a former roadie known as Chief. In keeping with the guitarist's wishes to find a studio with a big live room, Jungle book West 3, in Acton. Rehearsals begin at the Black Musicians Co-op in Harlesden before moving to the Depot in King Cross.
Smooth running miracles are best left for the Bible, not the epic of Johnny Thunders, as Alan Hauser soon discovered: "On the eighth of August they started recording in Acton. On the ninth of August they stopped. We had hired Johnny a Fender Gibson, a hollow Gretsch, a 12 string Gibson, a Telecaster and a Les Paul Junior but Johnny insisted that he couldn't record without a special guitar made to his specifications by James Trussart in Paris. Trussart made very unique looking guitars out of either aluminium or stainless steel. Chief had mentioned it at one of the original meetings but I'd conveniently chosen to overlook this detail.
I turned up at the studio and there's Chief and T and Keith all backing Johnny up, saying they can't record without this guitar. I had confirmed all the studio booking and the clock was ticking away at £25 an hour, or whatever it was those days. I argued with them about how I'd hired all the best guitars in London, but they insisted. I wasn't getting anywhere so I reckoned I could rush to Heathrow, fly to Paris, pick up the guitar and be back by the evening. A courier would have taken 24 hours. I phoned James Trussart's shop and his assistant told me he would be there by the afternoon. Later that day, in the shop on the Rue Du Pere, I am told that Trussart has gone A.W.O.L. No one knows where he is. Putting the shutters up, his assistant tells me to come back the next day.
Outside, luckily I bump into Henri-Paul who says I can stay on his floor. That night he took me to the Gibus Club which seemed to be a shrine to Johnny, with pictures and posters everywhere. In the morning I went back to the shop; Trussart has gone to the country, they can't reach him. "By this time I'm absolutely frantic, pleading. They say they might be able to contact someone who might be able to contact James. I passed the evening with Henri-Paul, back at the Gibus again but the novelty was wearing thin. The following day, I finally got the guitar and rushed back to London, where recording resumed. Predictably, the guitar was hardly used".
Johnny, Keith and T tore themselves away from the cathode ray hypnosis of afternoon television and plunged loud and live into the project. Unfortunately, this created later problems when it came to mixing. On the 22nd, the guests started to arrive, including Patti Palladin, John Perry, Monroe, Bators, Nasty Suicide and Dave Treganna. Wilko Johnson, just in time to be too late to join the ensemble, made his contributions after the party was over. 'Que Sera, Sera '94' adds a slight nip and tuck to the former, with the inclusion of the title track, previously only available as a single. Charmingly ironic, Johnny updates the Doris Day classic with loopy aplomb, backed by the St. Theresa's School Choir, otherwise known as Glen Matlock and J.C. Carroll. The single's B-side, a remixed version of 'Short Lives', with guitars overlaid by Johnny at Matrix studios in February '87, replaces the original, slightly softer attempt. A 'Heavenly' mix by Patti Palladin and Ken Thomas also appears on the album. The song was probably inspired by Katinka Mason's book 'Short Lives', a mournful celebration of tragically abbreviated artistes. A rather ragged copy of which was spotted around the vicinity of the sessions.
Pulling from Thunders past musical liaison with Wayne Kramer, Johnny works his way through 3 from his Gang War period, 'M.I.A', 'Little Bit Of Whore' and 'Alone In A Crowd', giving them more of a tart pop taste than G. War's rumble rough 'n' tumble. The gawky rap attack of 'Cool Operator' may well make you replace the receiver but it's more than compensated for by the pleasures of hearing Johnny and Patti coming over all Lee Hazelwood and Nancy Sinatra for 'Tie Me Up'. 'Blame It On Mom' rides the same breezy swing as Johnny's rendition of the Dolls' 'Endless Party'. The only instrumental, 'Billy Boy' (one for Billy Murcia?) might have been down to a lyrical blank but it still cuts a dash. Before the mixing was finished, Johnny raced to Stockholm to present Susanne with a copy of 'I Only Wrote This Song For You'. Some say it with flowers, others with perfume, but they weren't Johnny Thunders. (c) Nina Antonia. Shattered again. An updated, revised edition of Nina Antonia's official biography 'Johnny Thunders - In Cold Blood' is due to be published shortly.