Devilman138 talks with London May of SAMHAIN

Location: The7thHouse - LA, CA

Dman138: What year did you originally join Samhain?

London: It was the Summer of '85 and I had just graduated high school.

Dman138: Did you know Glenn previously?

London: I met Glenn and The Misfits in 1982 and continued to keep in touch with him after they broke up. I was a big Samhain fan too. The band I was in at the time, Reptile House, actually had the opportunity to open up for Samhain a couple of times. I was also booking and promoting shows in Baltimore. I was kinda using that as an "in" to talk to Glenn. I would call him up and harass him about playing Baltimore. Glenn was always really cool to me. He actually helped me out with a high school term paper one time.

Dman138: Glenn helped you out with a term paper?

London: I was writing a term paper for my psychology class and I somehow convinced my teacher that I was going to do my paper on lycanthropy...being the pheneomon of werewolves. Anyway she went for it and we had to have an expert give us some insight on the topic we had chosen. That was another reason to call Glenn. I figured the guy who had written "The Howl" qualified as a werewolf expert. He was very helpful in this term paper and turned me on to some real great books which I still own.

Dman138: Now the band you were in at the time, Reptile House, were they a punk band?

London: Yeah kind of a noisy....kind of like Flipper. Lots of poetry set to jam music. The record we did on Discord was a pretty good representation of the band at the time. Dan Higgs, the singer, and I were both really into the Misfits. We wanted to be this dark band, but we really weren't.

Dman138: When you joined Samhain was that the end of Reptile House?

London: I joined Samhain on the eve of the first Reptile House tour. It made things very awkward for me because the band knew that I had already gotten this other job and they felt very abandoned. But we still ended up doing this tour even though they knew when we got home that I was joining Samhain. Reptile House continued on with a new drummer for awhile and then mutated into Lungfish, who are still playing.

Dman138: How long were you in Samhain?

London: About 2 years. I left Samhain in February or March of '87. During my last days with Samhain we had John Christ in the band and were rehearsing with Rick Rubin doing songs from the first Danzig record.

Dman138: So you were already working with Rick Rubin?

London: Oh yeah, since about August of '86.

Dman138: Did Rick make the band change or convert the band in anyway?

London: Yeah. He started coming to all our rehearsals and making lots of musical suggestions. Some suggestions were good, some were not. He was instrumental in Damien (guitar player) being let go. He didn't think Damien would ever make it in what he invisioned for the band. So Rick and Glenn decided to get a new guitar player. Rick later convinced Glenn to go with John Christ even though Glenn had his reservations.

Dman138: Did Rick decide to get rid of the devilocks or the "look"?

London: I think things just evolved naturally. I had left the band at the time of the make over so I can't say exactly what happened. I do remember Rick goofing on Eerie's vampire look. I think once they got signed and once they got Chuck it kinda turned into more of a hard rock band. The songs slowed down and the look softened.

Dman138: Discuss your departure from Samhain.

London: Rick and Glenn wanted a band that could musically move in any direction at any time. And at that point I was a two dimensonal drummer at best. I could play fast and faster and that's about it. I was not into "the groove" or into John Bonham or anything like that, but I was trying to catch up. I was also having money problems at the time and continually harrassed Glenn for more cash. This didn't help my situation. Once they tracked down Biscuits in California and he agreed to come out I was let go.

Dman138: So when Rick came in you had to apdat to a new style?

London: Yes because before we'd play the songs pretty much one way. Glenn would play guitar, then he'd show me the drum beat and "bam" we'd do it. When Rick came in he started to work on dynamics and slowing the stuff down. That was something I was not real good at, I was a punk rock drummer. But I was trying to be the drummer they wanted me to be. We worked on "When Death Had No Name" and some other slow songs and I could kind of see a shift in how things were going, and I was trying my best to keep up. One day they would say play like Dave Lombardo (Slayer) and then the next day they would say play like Phil Rudd (ACDC).

Dman138: Going back a bit, you played drums on November Coming Fire. Who produced that album?

London: Glenn did. I joined the band in like June or July and we started recording in August. I took the train up from Baltimore once a week. We would rehearse the songs in the morning and went into the studio in the afternoon. Sometimes I nailed it, but other times Glenn would take over and do the drum track to save time. Though I was under pressure and generally unprepared I did alright.

Dman138: And that was recorded at the imfamous Reel Platinum Studios?

London: Yes.

Dman138: I noticed that many of the albums were recorded at Reel Platinum. Was it a local Lodi, NJ studio?

London: It was a neighborhood studio. It was in a residential part of Lodi. It was in a basement of a house. You would load the equipment through the kitchen and set up in a little basement that had a washer and dryer. The little metal taps in the song "Unbridled" were done in the wash room out of stuff found in the wash room. Glenn would walk around and pick stuff up and just start banging on it to see if he liked the sound.

Dman138: How long did it take to record "November Coming Fire"?

London: Not very long. Maybe a couple of weekends. I would go back down to Baltimore for a week and come back up and Glenn would already be working on some stuff. So that was in August and the album was out by January. So the turn around was good.

Dman138: And at that time you were still living in Baltimore?

London: I ended up moving out to the Lodi area in September and stayed in NJ until '87. Then after I left the band I moved back down to Baltimore. I did the Dag Nasty tour and from there I moved to Los Angeles.

Dman138: What was your most memorable show in Samhain?

London: Must of been in Texas I think it was Houston ('86). We would open with "Diablos" and then go into "Samhain". After the first two songs a riot broke out and the cops said to us "if we hear one more note you're going to jail and Glenn said "pack your drums now." Glenn was savvy enough to smell trouble brewing earlier so he made sure we got paid in advance. We got paid and only played two songs. I have never packed up my stuff so fast.

Dman138: How many blood sets did you guys do?

London: We did two. In 1986 we did one in Chicago at the Metro and later at our first Ritz show in New York.

Dman138: So were you into the reunion tour idea?

London: There was a time were I didn't want to do it because I was trying to get my own band off the ground. I also didn't think any body cared much for Samhain in 1999. It had been 13 years and I figured most of our fans had grown up too much. I then met a couple of younger fans who let me know how important Samhain was to them and to the new generation of fans who had never got to see the band in it's hey day. I then remembered how it was to be a fan and felt an obligation to keep the band's legacy alive. The tour was great and I would do it again anytime.

Dman138: What was your most memorable show on the Samhain Reunion Tour?

London: When I dislocated my shoulder in Detroit. I ended up at the hospital that night. It was the end of the tour for Samhain at that point.

Dman138: How did you manage to continue?

London: It was painful and sore, but my shoulder was not broken. I just lost alot of mobility. I would wear a sling during the day and pull it off right at show time. We pulled all the drums in really close and bass wise it was "ok" because I didn't have to move my arm that much. I would just take it real easy. I had to ice it down every night. It was a real bummer to play these crazy shows and have to stand still, but one false move and that would have been it. Alot of people were counting on me to finish the tour so I played it safe.

Dman138: I know the fans appreciated you continuing the tour. Thanks for taking the time to speak with us.

London: Thanks to all! The box set will completeley blow your mind. It was well worth the wait. Don't miss the SF and NYC shows! 777NY2K

"FANGS" to London May for the interview.

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