John Easdale of Dramarama looks back on the band's fan-favorite "Anything, Anything" and performs acoustic at KROQ.
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00:00now what an honor
00:01johnny's deal
00:02of drama rama is sitting across me dot a lot of southern california
00:06good afternoon kevin and all this is all you people out there
00:10this is incredible to uh... just chat with you john
00:13and it's for good reason to you're doing three dates that will talk about
00:16san diego
00:18anaheim and then actually next saturday right here in los angeles the peacock
00:20theater
00:21an event hosted by our very own richard blade
00:23yes yes the lovely and talented mister richard
00:28we will be there
00:29all your
00:31eighties faves, lost eighties lives
00:33yes this is for all of our rock of the eighties fans out there john for sure
00:36now uh... you actually hold a quite the distinction you might not even realize
00:38this in k-rock folklore
00:39you are the only band to my measure
00:41that performed at the very first almost acoustic christmas and the very first
00:44ever weenie roast yes that is true
00:47that's incredible and you're actually in even more of a rare club because you're
00:50actually one of the few people
00:51who have been injured at a k-rock weenie roast surely surely from uh... garvin
00:56i did fall through a hole in the stage that i didn't know was there
01:00i bounced right back up though
01:01they did bring the paramedics
01:04and we checked out but i was ok
01:06oh my gosh
01:07so and you recovered of course yeah well i would
01:09i fell through the hole and i
01:12caught myself with my face
01:14right on the bottom of my chin so by the end of it i looked like jay leno
01:18there you go i bet that was very in vogue in nineteen ninety three
01:22that is so funny and then i i reference that uh... the band we just played baby
01:25right there from the u k i thought they were from san diego for some reason and you
01:28guys actually i relate to this in a lot of ways because you're from new jersey
01:32which i am too but people thought you were from france and people a lot of the
01:35k-rock listeners today they assume i'm foreign because of my lack of command for
01:38the english language and you actually you weren't french you were on a french
01:41label back in the day yeah our first album came out on a label
01:45called new rose which was based in paris
01:48and that sounds elegant but i'm sure back in the day that was just the only
01:50people that said yes we were
01:52delighted so that anyone
01:53wanted to put it out because we were just putting stuff out
01:56ourselves you know spending our own money
01:58working our day jobs and spending money on
02:01recording studios
02:03we pressed our own
02:05three song seven inch and then we pressed a five song twelve inch and then
02:10this french label said hey we'll put it we'll license your uh... full length album
02:13we said please yes please thank you
02:16that's incredible we'll get into how that song made its way to k-rock and the
02:19history of uh... jamarama and k-rock right after this we got john easdale
02:22jamarama live in the studio it sounds like i'm lying but i'm not i'm looking
02:26at the man right now handsome as ever talented as ever
02:29and he's here to talk all things anything anything he's actually gonna
02:32perform that song i don't know how we roped you into this john
02:36twisted my arm yeah we really did and a big bag of cash yeah exactly
02:40some k-rock perks behind the scenes
02:42uh... and then of course we want to remind you listen to k-rock right now if
02:45you grew up on a rock of the eighties there's an amazing event
02:48that is happening at peacock theater next saturday night august twenty fourth
02:51tickets on sale richard blade hosting john will be performing jamarama and a
02:54bunch of your other k-rock
02:55eighties faves now i want to talk to you john about this anything anything song
02:59right because i read that it only cost you the song has been a k-rock for thirty
03:03some odd i mean longer than thirty years maybe even closing on forty years at
03:06this point we played every damn day this song cost you two hundred bucks to
03:10record back in the day i've heard which is almost unimaginable
03:13i guess short of a night out at the body shop in your younger years is that the
03:17best two hundred bucks you ever spent oh yeah it's kind of prorated because we
03:21we probably did like five songs for a grand or something you know yeah
03:24so average out and actually that song probably took less time than the other
03:28songs because it was
03:30it was really just straightforward everybody
03:32you know and and and the guys in the band didn't know what was going to come
03:36because i just said okay it's these four chords and just keep going
03:39yeah and uh... until i sang it they didn't know they were like there's
03:43there's because there's no chorus, verse
03:46there's no changes it's just
03:48four chords in a row, four chords in a row and the truth john
03:51well yeah that's the most important part absolutely though i think you're
03:55right that's what
03:58so uh... you know
03:59allows for its longevity yeah well and it's the old cliche rock and roll story
04:03right these guys make the song and nobody thinks it's going to be hit why
04:05do you think you didn't realize at the time that you were putting together a
04:08song that would be on k-rock and zillions of other radio stations for
04:11forty some odd years
04:13we had no
04:14inkling that anyone would ever play anything of ours on the radio it was uh...
04:18it was all you know a labor of love and you know
04:22ego trip
04:23no absolutely and i gotta go out on a limb here john and imagine the source
04:26material the uh... the nice lady that inspired these
04:29these lyrics it didn't work out you're absolutely right
04:33which is a good thing because now i've been married for
04:36thirty five years to a lovely young lass and uh...
04:41and yeah so yeah but you're absolutely right no happy ending on that song
04:45no and uh... now uh...
04:46i've also heard that you've co-produced the record you guys used to do that which
04:50is kind of rare back in those days is there anything you know for our friend
04:52listening right now that uh... when they hear anything anything on k-rock is
04:55there anything to that song that you can go back and go yeah i made that decision
04:58to make it sound that way that you can remember
05:01oh absolutely not no it was just you know we were always flying by the seat
05:06of our pants and yeah
05:07you know we produced it we didn't have producers so that's why
05:11that's why we did it and what would you say is your relationship with your big
05:13hit song because i find that to be such a fascinating aspect of of rock and roll
05:17and alternative rock history is some people hate they loathe
05:20their hit song they feel like they're a prisoner to this hit song right
05:24do you have a more healthy relationship with it are you more grateful for it
05:27oh absolutely no
05:30i am just you know
05:32i can't believe that anyone
05:34ever heard it that anyone knows it much less
05:37that anyone wants to hear it again and you know i've gotten up and sang it with
05:42cover bands and
05:45i'm happy i mean when i go on youtube and i see like kids
05:49doing it or someone doing it with a ukulele or something i mean i'm just
05:52blown away by that well if you are blown away i'm gonna blow your mind right now
05:55because i'm gonna ask you to play that song in just a little bit on k-rock are
05:58you down for that my pleasure oh john you're the best another bag of cash
06:02yeah exactly
06:04get the money
06:05we'll get him his money we'll get you a live performance that i've been told
06:09john co-sign this you've never performed this song live on k-rock
06:13i don't believe so but you know what my memory ain't what it used to be
06:17for the first time ever this is anything anything by john marama on the world
06:20famous k-rock
06:32do you want to eat do you want to sleep do you want to drown just settle down
07:00settle down settle down
07:07i'll give you candy give you diamonds give you pills give you anything you want
07:17hundred dollar bills
07:21i'll even let you watch the shows you want to see just marry me marry me marry me
07:34i'm so sick of you tonight
07:53you never stay awake when i get home
07:57is something wrong with me something wrong with you i really wish i knew wish i knew wish i knew
08:16i'll give you candy give you diamonds give you pills give you anything you want
08:25hundred dollar bills
08:31i'll even let you watch the shows you wanna see because you married me married me married me
08:46married me married me married me
08:55do
09:09and i was young
09:18Happiness worth seeing
09:24Now I'm older and I don't play
09:32I found out the hardest way
09:39I got wasted, she got mad
09:46Called me names, then she called her dad
09:54He got crazy and I did too
10:01Wonder what I did to you
10:09I gave you candy, gave you diamonds
10:13Gave you pills, gave you anything you want
10:19Hundred dollar bills
10:24I even let you hear the songs I wanna sing
10:29I'd give you anything, anything, anything
10:36I'd give you anything, anything, anything
10:44I'd give you anything, anything, anything
10:52Anything
11:00Anything
11:03Anything