Unlike you, Danny Lama is smart. His lyrics are delivered with a lurch that makes you check for your wallet and wristwatch. With his band SUCKER'S LUCK, Lama tells stories of mad women, movie stars and the Tappan Zee Bridge with inspired directness, bordering on obsessive ranting.

With Billy Ficca (of TELEVISION) on drums, Artie Quinn (THE RATTLERS) on bass, Don Eklund (BAD POLITICS) on lead guitar, and Lama playing rhythm guitar, SUCKER'S LUCK plays rock n' roll like a brass-knuckle punch, with Lama's harmonica adding insult to the auditory injury. Their self-titled album encapsulates the myth and mystery of New York City.

Danny and I sat down in his apartment of 20+ years to talk about his experiences in the NYC music scene.

kp: How did you get started?
dl: The blues, 'cause I was always a harmonica player first. I had a band on the streets of NY when I was a little kid, called Iron Gras. I was seventeen.

kp: Was your first band to take off MALONEY'S TOUCH?
dl: I had a band before that where I was the youngest one in it. Everybody was ten years older than me and I played rhythm guitar in the band but they did all my material, all my original material. Everything was written by me. That band was called MONA ROCKS. That was in '78.

One night at CBGB's we were playing with THE RATTLERS. Artie Quinn, my bass player was in that band. When we played with them it was wild. Someone actually pulled a knife on us, right on stage. There's actually film of that in existence. The guy went after the singer.

kp: What is CONVULSION CABARET?
dl: It encompasses the no-wave scene, post-punk, no-wave type music, it's uh, my poetry, that's what it was, an experiment. A very distinct blues bent to it--twisted in a way that maybe CAPTAIN BEEFHART would have done it. That was kind of like the guiding light.

kp: What are the lyrics like?
dl: They were written as poems. There was a lot of improvisation but inspired by the classics like Rimbaud or Edgar Allen Poe.

kp: When did you start CONVULSION CABARET?
dl: 1998. It was a concept, we wanted to be more dance oriented. Using synthesizers and drum machines, it was very influenced by SUICIDE.

kp: Do you think the music around here has changed as NYC has changed?
dl: No, I don't want to say that, 'cause there's no music being done that hasn't been done before. There's nothing really groundbreaking.

kp: What about your lyrics, how have they changed in the million years you've been here?
dl: They're less abstract. Maybe more direct. With ESPIONAGE we would jam, make the music up during rehearsals and it was very riff oriented around a dance beat and there was a whole improv thing with that. I learned to improv very well during that period.

The band scared a lot of people. This woman in the neighborhood thought we were a voodoo cult.

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