Blondie Poised to Rock the Seaside Summer Concert Stage @ Coney Island Show

Sitting in the conference room, the one across the hall, Waiting for Clem (Blondie’s drummer) to answer the telephone “Oh I can’t control myself, Oh I can’t control myself” I couldn’t help but play the opening bars of the iconic band’s hit “Hanging On The Telephone” as I waited for his voice to come across the line. Then after about a minute and a half I hear his voice say hello.

Sinister Girlz: Hi Clem! How are you?

Blondie (Clem): I’m pretty good how about you?

SG: Good, very excited about tomorrow’s show can you tell us what we can expect from the show?

Blondie (Clem): Well, it’s a show with The Donnas and Pat Benatar and Blondie so we’re not doing a really long set. We’re doing about an hour or 75 minutes and we have some of the song that [are well known] the hits and we’ll throw in a couple of surprises. We’ve been working on a new record so we might throw in one or two new things, we mix the set up a bit. It should be fun. We played in New York last summer but we don’t play here as much as we would like to for some reason.

SG: What song would you say generally gets the best crowd reaction?

Blondie (Clem): Oh I don’t know they all get a good reaction. In New York it’s really hard to say. It depends where we’re playing. If we play in an area where the hits are more known then [a song like] “Heart of Glass” [would get a strong crowd reaction].

SG: Let’s talk about your current tour alongside Pat Benatar, “Call Me Invincible,” how did this tour come about and have you worked or toured with Pat in the past?

Blondie (Clem): We’ve never toured with Pat, her music’s a little different [from ours] but nowadays the lines are kinda blurred [in terms of musical genres]. I know that when we started we probably would have never toured with her because our music was so different. I remember when she got signed to our label, I met her back then. We have an agent at William Morris now who also represents her. [With this tour] We were trying to figure out what to do in this economy with giving people value [for their buck] we have The Donnas [also on this tour] which is fun to have them kick off the show.

SG: It’s been 31 years since the release of “Parallel Lines” looking back did you ever think Blondie would still be around thirty-some odd years later?

Blondie (Clem): Well I thought the music might be around but as far as still being performing there’s no way you can tell back then. Rock n Roll was an adolescent when we started now I guess there are tons of middle aged musicians still performing. I guess the legacy of the band is the music. The music lives on. The image, the style and the circumstances that were around when we started all contributed to our success now it’s really about the music; the music is what people really come out to hear. The music lives on.

SG: What inspires you to keep going?

Blondie (Clem): the audiences. Before the show I have this routine where I listen to music whether it’s listening to The Beatles, reggae music or it could be anything. The stuff that inspired us originally was music from the 50s and 60s; we liked that music a lot. And as I said the music has lived on starting from the inception of rock n roll and it continues to be a medium that people are interested in.

SG: How have your lives changed since being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2006?

Blondie (Clem): I actually use that as a muse in a way. A lot of times if I’m onstage or I’m getting ready to do a show I’m thinking ‘I’m in the Rock n Roll hall of fame’ it’s inspiring to know that we’re included in the collective of all these great musicians that have passed through the rock n roll hall of fame. As far as life changing the induction was pretty stressful [reuniting] with the ex-band members who I’m still friends with. But like I said it’s inspiring to be in the rock n roll hall of fame. I was spending a lot of time in Cleveland when they were building it, was living in the Midwest for a little while [at that time]. I saw it go up thinking ‘I’ll never get into the rock n roll hall of fame’ I was in my pessimistic stage, I suppose.

SG: What have you learned from one another from playing together for so many years?

Blondie (Clem): I think we’ve all learned a lot from each other but the most interesting thing was when we regrouped in the late 90s cause we all went our own separate way and had our life experiences apart from one another and had grown up. In the break between the time we got back together I got to work with a lot of different musicians like Bob Dylan, The Ramones and The Eurythmics. When we got back together I brought in a lot of those experiences to the table and I think we’ve learned about friendship and the ups and downs of relationships. We’re like a dysfunctional family. We spend quite a bit of time together when we’re on tour so we pick up little things [from one another] here and there. I think we’ve all learned to have an objective outlook on things.

SG: This coming October you’ll be participating in the “Rock & Roll Experience: Jam with Rock Legends” how did you get involved with that project and what can audiences expect from those shows?

Blondie (Clem): Well I am a rock legend. What it is, is that there’s this rock n roll fantasy camp that I was involved with a couple years ago where mostly adults go to a rock n roll camp and I was one of the counselors. You basically get a group of people and put a band together and you have a crash course of what it’s like to be in a band. Most of the people are musicians but here they get to hang out [with different musicians] and be a band. It’s for people who have a lot of disposable money. The one I did I had a lot of young people, 17 year olds. [I had] this one high school senior who was a drummer and this 52 year old cardiologist who was a piano player. It’s just fun. It’s something a group of people initiated about 10 years ago and now there’s this new one coming up.

SG: I’m sure you get asked this a lot but what advice do you have to offer to aspiring musicians, up and coming bands in terms of having longevity in this industry?

Blondie (Clem): You need to follow your own path, believe in yourself but I wouldn’t really follow any trends. When we started Blondie we were the antithesis of what was going on in popular music. Had it not been for CBGBs in the Lower East Side and Hilly Krystal, the owner, [we might have not gotten our start] we were able to go out and perform in front of people without being completely formed he let you make your mistakes in public, it’s similar to an actor’s workshop they give you an opportunity to suck in public and I think it’s really important. People get caught up in singing in their bedrooms and trying to be the best musicians they can possibly be but then they perform live [and suck]. [Performing live] is something I really like. So it’s good to start [performing in front of an audience] as soon as possible. I don’t know if becoming a rock star nowadays is as popular a career choice as it once was

SG: It’s still popular.

Blondie (Clem): Yea, I suppose it is.

SG: Thank you so much for agreeing to talk to us. We’re super excited about the Coney Island show. Were you aware that last Saturday Dreamland’s Roller Rink hosted a Blondie themed skate party in honor of this week’s show? Attendees skated along to your songs.

Blondie (Clem): Cool. That’s fantastic, the music lives on.

For more on Blondie or the Jam with Rock Legends experience visit the band’s official website www.blondie.net