New York Dolls still in demand

• By JOHN WIRT
• Music critic
• Published: Jun 5, 2009

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Being a legend who influenced a generation of musicians doesn’t necessarily pay the rent. Sylvain Sylvain, guitarist and songwriter with the reunited New York Dolls, is neither myth nor millionaire. He’s a touring, working musician with a new album to sell.

Because living legends need roofs over their heads, Sylvain prefers that people buy the new New York Dolls CD rather than illegally download it free of charge from the Internet.

“Please don’t download the New York Dolls because we need that dollar,” Sylvain said from his home in Atlanta. “My banker tells me I can no longer deposit love or influence. I need to deposit a real check so I don’t get anymore eviction notices!”

Released May 5, the New York Dolls’ fourth studio album, ‘Cause I Sez So, got a great launch last month in New York City. Fashion designer John Varvatos played host for a record-release show staged in the Bowery neighborhood at the Varvatos boutique that previously housed the famous punk-rock club, CBGB.

Varvatos has had his critics, but Sylvain has nothing but praise.

“It’s so sweet of him that he got the old CBGB and did something with it, instead of somebody else turning it into a Blimpy’s,” Sylvain said. “He’s keeping it about music and rock ’n’ roll.”

Some attendees at the Dolls’ record-release party were disappointed that the group concentrated on songs from its new CD, but, as Sylvain explained, a record-release show is all about a band’s new record.

“Our audience is always so new but what they know is the old stuff,” he said. “Of course, they wanna hear the old stuff, but the new stuff hits home when they hear it. It’s not bad. I hope we get some success from it because we can surely use it.”

Inspired by ’60s American girl groups, bad-boy Brits the Rolling Stones and glam rockers T. Rex and David Bowie, the New York Dolls dolled up in the early 1970s via lipstick, mascara and outrageous high heels. Elaborately dressed though the band was, its back-to-basics sound laid the foundation for punk rock.

The Dolls’ first run produced two classic albums, a self-titled 1973 debut and the following year’s Too Much Too Soon. After setting new standards for rock ’n’ roll decadence, the band’s remaining members put the Dolls in mothballs in 1977.

Front man David Johansen reinvented himself in the ’80s as novelty nightclub singer Buster Poindexter. Sylvain went solo, too, and guitarist Johnny Thunders and drummer Jerry Nolan, having left the Dolls in 1975 to form the Heartbreakers, were long gone.

But you can’t keep a good band down. Upon receiving an invitation to play London’s Meltdown Festival in 2004, the three surviving members of the classic New York Dolls lineup — Johansen, Sylvain and bassist Arthur Kane — staged a historic reunion.

The New York Dolls have since toured the world and recorded three more CDs, the 2006 studio album One Day It Will Please Us To Remember Even This, last year’s Live At The Fillmore East and this year’s ‘Cause I Sez So.