Gary James' Interview With
Kevin Fowley



He's a record producer, He's a songwriter. He's a musician. He's an actor. He is Kim Fowley.

Kim Fowley spoke with us as he was rehearsing for his up-coming European tour.

Q - Mr. Fowley, what is the name of the band you'll be performing with in Europe?

A - I'm performing with individual musicians in four different countries that bring their instruments to the venues. I don't know any of them. In France, Spain, Holland and Germany, it's who ever shows up gets to be onstage with me and I don't know any of them. I won't know any of them when they're there either.

Q - What kind of venues will they be? Theatres?

A - Some are theatres. Some are schools and some are churches.

Q - You recently traveled to the South By Southwest festival? Were you scouting for new talent to produce or were you promoting something that you did?

A - If you read Facebook, you'll find out I was in a movie with Johnny Depp, Mickey Rourke, Keanu Reeves and myself, were in a movie and so I went there for the world premiere of it. I was on the screen as an actor.

Q - That festival is more than music these days, I guess. They also get into movies and financing.

A - Well, I've been doing movies since 1946, so it's 66 years of movies on and off.

Q - You do listen to other bands when you're in attendance at this festival, didn't you?

A - I didn't hear any groups. I was doing the movie media thing and then went home. The only band I saw was Bruce Springsteen And The E Street Band, and they were great. I went to that event and they were tremendous. They're the best performing Rock 'n' Roll band in the world. That's all I need to know about South By Southwest.

Q - Where did this ability of yours to produce records come from?

A - From my soul and shattered life. You're either born with it or you're not. I was born with it and it came out naturally over time.

Q - You were in the Air Force?

A - No, I was in the Army and Air Force National Guard, both branches of the service for 3 1/2 years.

Q - What did you get out of that experience?

A - How to be a warrior.

Q - What song did you write for The Beach Boys?

A - I co-published "Alley Oop" by The Hollywood Argyles.

Q - Do you think The Runaways could have been more successful if they were around today?

A - Possibly. But that's only a matter of speculation. Anybody could have done better. Anybody could have done worse. They did whatever they did.

Q - Is it true that you worked as a fortune teller at one time?

A - Yes, sir.

Q - How successful were you as a fortune teller?

A - I sold 102 million records in 53 years, so I must have known something about the future.

© Gary James. All rights reserved.