| Garage rockers The Fleshtones will plays in BG April 9 (Photo courtesy Yep Roc Records-Phast Phreddie Patterson) |
The Fleshtones were born of pure passion for rock ‘n’ roll. Two of the founding members, Keith Streng and
Marek Paluski, moved into a house in Queens, NY in 1975, and discovered instruments left behind in the
basement by previous tenants. They decided to start playing them.
Peter Zaremba came over and joined the jam. Like his buddies his only qualification was an absolute love
of rock n’ roll. "The motivating force behind rock ‘n’ roll and rhythm ‘n’ blues is the
passion," Zaremba said. And a sense of musical illiteracy doesn’t hurt.
Zaremba was exposed to rock through his sister’s records. He was the kid, he said, who always turned the
record over to hear the B side. The Beatles’ "I’m Down," which backed "Help!" is
still his favorite of that band’s tunes.
"I loved all sort of kooky things."
With drummer Bill Milhozer, the friends, all from Brooklyn, emerged as part of the second wave of punk
music, an early exemplar of raw garage rock. They played early gigs at such legendary New York clubs as
CBGB and Max’s Kansas City.
Even then they went their own way. "People thought we were supposed to be sullen punks,"
Zaremba said in a recent interview.
Instead they embodied the joyous nature of rock ‘n’ roll, and reveled in getting people out of their
seats and dancing.
And 45 years later The Fleshtones are still at it with three of the original members. Matt Pakulski is no
longer with the band. Ken Fox now plays bass.
The seminal garage rock band will perform a free show April 9 at 8 p.m. at Grounds for Thought, 174 S.
Main St., Bowling Green. The band is also booked to play the Friday show on Sept. 9 at the Black Swamp
Arts Festival. (See related story on 1.)
Zaremba guaranteed those who come to the show will be entertained.
"If you stay home we bear no responsibility for the kind of evening you have," he said. Those
who come to the show should "be prepared to be amazed."
"We’ll have a good time," Zaremba said of the band.
"When we play, and we really reach people and when we get off the stage, that’s the best feeling in
the world. There’s no reason to stop," he said.
The Fleshtones have most recent CD is "The Brooklyn Sound Solution" on Yep Roc Records, a nod
to the New York City borough that’s still the band’s home.
Unusual for the band, it’s a collaboration with Lenny Kaye, Patti Smith’s guitarist. The album features
mostly cover tunes, including a raw version of the Beatles’ "Day Tripper" as well as
instrumentals.
The Fleshtones are fully capable of taking the material done with Lenny Kaye, and making it completely
their own.
"We’re not musical geeks," Zaremba said. Rather than respectful rehashes of these tunes,
"we definitely want to take all that out of the mausoleum, disinter all those things and mix up all
the bones."
The Fleshtones, he said, are more interested in the spirit of the music.
"The energy comes from the music," Zaremba said. "It’s life giving. It’s rejuvenating.
When we can’t go out on stage and go over the top the way we do, then it would be time to back off. That
shows no sign of happening."
