SPILL FEATURE: KISS OR KILL ME TONIGHT – A CONVERSATION WITH MICHAEL DES BARRES

KISS OR KILL ME TONIGHT

A CONVERSATION WITH MICHAEL DES BARRES

Michael Des Barres has released a new single, “Kiss Or Kill Me.” This is his first new music since 2024’s brilliant album, It’s Only Rock and Roll, but that does not mean that Des Barres has been taking it easy. Since he started acting in 1967 (his first role was in the classic To Sir With Love starring Sidney Poitier and Lulu), he has been actor (he stole all of the scenes when he was on the classic WKRP episode as a member of punk band), singer, songwriter, performer, and currently a radio show host (his show, The Michael Des Barres Program, is heard weekdays on Little Steven’s Underground Garage station).

He is funny, warm, charming and irreverent. He is exactly as one would hope he would be, and then some. While he takes his craft, and the love of his wife very seriously, everything else is really up for his brilliant observations.

“I got up really early this morning and went for a run, you know the classic egoic run,” laughed Des Barres. “I got back and the sun is shining. I abandoned any bad vices a long time ago,” and there is that laugh. The classic Michael Des Barres laugh. “Just be cool and don’t worry. Elvis worried, and that was no good.”

Des Barres says this as I spot a framed poster of Elvis behind him as we speak. And while, this is good advice, it does not tell the story of how an actor turned singer/songwriter wound up with his own radio show. “What happened was, Little Steven called me, about 12 years ago. I was very friendly with his wife, Maureen, a brilliant woman, great actress, great dancer and somehow, she nudged him and said ‘well get that talkative high cheeked bone British guy and that was me. And he called me. (imitating Little Steven brilliantly), “Hey Mike, do you want to be a DJ?” and I thought, ‘whoa, ‘do I want to be a DJ, I am a fucking DJ.’ What happened was a really amazing spiritual vibe. It ain’t my music, I am not offering you what I do but playing what I dig. The music I love. Me and Stevie really came from the same school, which is doo-wop and the beautiful music of black artists, blues. We had the same vibe, and I suddenly became this guy who plays music and I have been doing it for 12 years.”

The thing about Stevie Van Zandt, who cares about kids and goes to schools and talks about music. He is an amazing man, and you have deep respect for someone like that. He also knows rock and soul music backwards and forwards. I fell into a groove. And I just went for it. I bring it all to you. I am the Santa Claus of rock and blues. It was just so much fun playing music that I didn’t do but I love. What is better than that? It is like being married to a wonderful woman and introducing her to your friends. It is like that.”

And, for Des Barres, it is the constant learning of new music that excites him. Being a Disc Jockey has allowed him to discover music he missed during the rock era. “You know a lot about rock ‘n’ roll, but you don’t know everything. I know a lot about rock ‘n’ roll, but I don’t know everything. Sometimes the music will come up for me, and I have never heard it before. A B-side to a Four Tops song or something and I think, ‘I’ve never heard that!’ and that’s exciting for an audience to say, if he never heard it, and I did, maybe I am better than him, like a competition. And that is cute and fun.

RUM BAR RECORDS PRE-ORDERS & BUNDLES POURING ON TAP VIA BANDCAMP

While sitting in the disc jockey chair, Des Barres has also been busy writing and creating a brilliant double A side single. One side is the classic sounding rocker, “Kiss Or Kill Me” while the incredibly moving “I Was Saved in ’64.” “I haven’t wanted to play music for a year or so, and I have all these guitars, and I just wasn’t playing them. Because, for me, at that time, it felt like a job, and I didn’t need to do a job. My job is my cheekbones, motherfucker,” another great laugh with Des Barres. “So, what was, I played and I just wrote it in two minutes. The guitar player, Loren Molinare is something else. He is from Detroit, and I wanted a Stooges sound. I didn’t double the thing. I sang it in ten minutes and wrote it in three. I think it is one of the best things I have ever done, that sound.”

Besides playing guitar on the record, Molinare also co-produced the single with Richard Duguay.

“Richard Duguay, who is a terrific producer and I was doing something, I can’t remember what, and he is a very good friend of Loren. It is just one of those things that you don’t think about. You see, people think too much, especially the young ones, they think they need to be this or think they need to be that, but don’t think thinking is way overrated, in my humble opinion. It will give you four or five things to do, which will make you hysterical, which is a great name for a band.”

Keeping up with Des Barres can be tricky. His mind is always working, processing, thinking and he is very honest about what I am asking him, but it is a fun exercise. In fact, this speed in which he works contributes to his style of writing and recording. The other song on the new single is the brilliant and moving “I Was Saved In ’64. “I don’t know how I wrote it. I wrote it in three minutes. I read it to Paul III [bassist], Richard, and the great Loren Molinare, and they just started to weep. Tears were in their eyes, because it was the truth. If you are going to do anything in the arts, you have to believe it to be true. I wanted to say the real truth of the matter. I put myself back into that age and it came out, it just came out. It came out quicker than I could think as I wrote it. And that was a beautiful thing.”

While “Kiss Or Kill Me” is a rocker, “I Was Saved in ‘64” is a beautiful poem set to music. It is very emotional and somewhat out of character for Des Barres. “It is funny, because what I am saying, 90% of the feedback is what I said. That is the way the listeners feel too about that era. It is way back and a lot of young ‘uns don’t know what the 60s were, but they do when they hear me say what I said. I have always been Alistair Crowley rather than Jesus. For me to come out with this song, it is like Jesus asking, ‘where’s me leather jacket? Where did thou put my bloody leather jacket?’

Although he may come across as a rocker, underneath that humour of his is a devout love for his wife. In a sense, he is really a romantic at heart. “I love Valentine’s Day. It is my favourite. It is even better than Christmas. It’s love, isn’t it? It’s hearts, right?”

According to Des Barres, an album is coming, as he is heading to New York City soon to record the album with Steven Van Zandt. While we all wait for the new album, we can enjoy the single “Kiss or Kill Me” with “I Was Saved n ’64.” Both songs are near and dear to Des Barres, but let’s be honest, he really likes the rock ‘n’ roll sound of “Kiss Or Kill Me.” “I like it because it is the truth, and it rocks. What else do you want?”

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Photo Credit: Greg Gorman