A. In 1975 Levi Dexter from Southend-on-sea was living at my mum’s house in Basildon Essex, we had met at Rock n Roll shows in London and Essex. Leee discovered Levi when he got up and sang with “Shakin Stevens” and long story short Levi and Leee wanted me in the band. Leee said ‘drums or bass?’
I replied ‘What will get me more girls?’
Leee said ‘Probably bass darling boy Smutty.’ So bass it was.
To me personally Leee was so much more than a manager or photographer. He actually was the pivotal link between NYC punk a la Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers and English punk, a la the Sex Pistols. Once Malcolm Mclaren found out that Leee had taken on Johnny’s new band (after the New York Dolls broke up), he personally invited Leee and the Heartbreakers on the now infamous Anarchy in the UK tour.
Leee’s first job as a photographer started at Andy Warhol’s factory. Leee took pictures from 1969 when he first met Andy Warhol until his passing.
I love Leee’s work because it was never so much studio shots, much more candid, he was genuinely a part of the band or subject he was capturing.
I have the biggest and rarest collection of Leee’s work.
Also, I recently found never printed or seen before pictures of David Bowie with the Lindsey Kemp mime troupe at The Rainbow Theatre August 18th 1972, the earliest Ziggy Stardust pictures that I’ve personally ever seen..
Growing up without a father and having Leee discover me changed the course of my life forever. I will always carry the torch to keep his legacy alive and continue to make people aware of his significant place in pop culture history.
Q. Your band The Rockats, how do you describe the band to anyone just discovering them? And what was that first gig at Max’s Kansas City really like?
A. With the Rockats we started out with the intention of bringing back youth rebellion to the predominantly Teddy Boy Rock’n Roll scene. There were of course bands already playing that influenced us at the time like Whirlwind in the UK, The Cramps and Robert Jordan in the USA, but there were very few young Rocking bands. Our aim wasn’t to sound like Gene Vincent or Elvis, but to add punk elements and the make up worn by the New York Dolls.
So that’s what we did, it snowballed so fast after the first show supporting The Cramps that within a year we were selling out Max’s, CBGB’S and the whiskey-a-go-go .As well as being on national prime time TV without a record deal!
Q. You were immersed in the early punk rock scene, hanging out with the Sex Pistols but dressed as a Teddy Boy, how did that work? And did you experience backlash from the Teds?
A. As a real Teddy Boy from Essex I personally was a little uneasy with going with Leee and the boys to see punk bands, but when we’d meet up on Wardour Street and hang out with Joe Strummer, Thunders, Sid and many more, I started to enjoy and embrace the new sub culture called punk rock .
I felt that the Ted’s were kinda stuck in a time zone with old fashioned attitudes and not wanting to accept any changes to the scene.
In turn we could never play to the Teddy Boys because we were punks to them .
Q. You spent time with Sid Vicious, what’s your Sid story?
A. I met Sid many times my most memorable story is when Levi and the Rockats were the house band at the Speakeasy club. Sid would go up to everyone and ask for a pound because he said he was hungry and Malcolm wouldn’t give him any money.
Q. How would you describe your style pre-forming Levi and the Rockats?
A. My personal style was always a mix between Teddy Boy, gypsy, leather rocker and The Wild One, Brando style.
I always loved the fact that the original Ted’s took from the Edwardian style and crossed it with the Mississippi River gambler, western ties and Chantilly lace with flamboyant waistcoats.
Q. You wore loads of leather during your time as a rockabilly ace-face in NYC. What’s your perspective on leather for styling a rockabilly revival look?
A. I always loved leather, going back to my Gene Vincent and Vince Taylor roots. Lots of the Ace Cafe early pictures really inspired me, especially since some of them had big Gene Vincent pictures hand painted on the back of their jackets. My dearest friend who sadly passed away did a great book called Rockers, his name was Johnny Stewart.
Love leather always have.
Q. Was Warhol and The Factory really amazing?
A. Warhol was amazing, definitely amusing and extremely charming. I first met him at the factory in 1978.
We had been invited for lunch and we demolished the food table in minutes. Andy asked, after he’d followed me around for a while ‘Can I take your picture?’
I replied ‘What do you do and what do I get out of it?’
Leee later laughing said ‘Smutty you’re probably the only person ever who’s asked Andy that, and that’s why he likes you so much.’
After that I became a regular hanging out at the factory with all the Andy drag queens and super stars.
Q. In 1981 you were photographed by Robert Mapplethorpe and wore many leather LV4 Wristbands including ones with coffin studs, square studs, round disc studs. How did you come to be photographed by Mapplethorpe and do you remember the leather wristbands?
A. Robert I met partly through Leee and meeting him at NYC nightclubs like Mud Club, Area and Max’s.
He loved my hair and style and I often wore leather. I started out at fifteen in Essex as an apprentice hairdresser and did a good quiff cut and style. I told Robert and he said ‘I want a Teddy Boy haircut’. So I agreed and he invited me to his loft in Soho NYC. After that he said ‘By the way I’m a photographer can I take some pictures of you?’
I agreed and we became good friends.
My leather cock ring wristband I got from a shop in Los Angeles in 1978 called the Pleasure Chest.