1984...

Cyndi Lauper, Duran Duran, and Van Halen ruled the music charts. "Mommy's Little Monster" had come the year before, and Social Distortion entered a period in their history where details are sketchy, at best. It's no secret the band went through several line-up changes at the time. One of those band members, Bob Stubbs, is now here to help fill in the blanks and tell us about his new bands, Glass Heroes and DeSade.

SxDx.com:  How'd you hook up with Social D?
Stubbs:  I used to see s.d. in san francisco a lot back then around 82-83 and I became friends with the band. Eventually when I moved to so.cal we ended up living together in a small little apartment in Fullerton, Ca. We called it the "TIN SHANTY." We were about 5 blocks from our practice place "SHERPA STUDIOS." It was Mike Ness, John Maurer, Briton Holmstrom, and me all in the same little one bedroom pad. One day Mike heard me playing drums on the arms of the chair and said "Hey! you sound like you could play drums pretty good," and after that I auditioned for the band.
(click picture for larger view and magazine article reprint)

SxDx.com:  What bands had you been in previously? 
Stubbs:  My previous bands included "THE VACANT," "FLIPPER," "CIRCLE KROSS," "THE LAMOS" and "RED TAPE"(which included members of "TALES OF TERROR" and a very young Duane Peters). 

SxDx.com:  Did you come in right after Derek O'Brien, or was there someone else in the interim? 
Stubbs:  I came in at a very strange time. The band was in a transition period. CASEY ROYER was supposed to be playing in s.d. at the time, but I think Mike didn't get along with him or something. Casey had quit his job and was living in "MONK'S" (our manager) backyard in a tent with his girlfriend at the time. I guess he didn't want to keep an apartment because they (S.D.) were supposed to go on tour.

SxDx.com:  What were the sets like? Were any of the songs to be found on "Prison Bound" or later albums developed?
Stubbs:   The sets were all the Mommy's Little Monster stuff and quite a few of the songs that ended up on PRISON BOUND. They left out "WILL YOU STILL LOVE ME TOMMORROW" a Shirelles cover song we worked on a lot. One of the songs I co-wrote but didn't get any credit for on PRISON BOUND was called "I WANT WHAT I WANT," which actually started out as a ballad about me and my girlfriend at the time Serena called the "The story of Bonnie and Clyde" or something similar .

SxDx.com: Any good band stories from that time? Best & worst moments on stage and off...
Stubbs:   One of the nights at the "CATHAY DE GRANDE," EL DUCE from the Mentors puked on my girlfriend while he was leaning over our booth talking to us. There was another time me and Mike and some others went to this kind of three floor disco in Hollywood (it burned down a couple a years later) and Mike is standing there watching the people dancing and this tall black guy comes up and is standing next to Mike and Mike says to the guy "HEY ! DO YOU KNOW WHERE TO GET ANY LUDES?" and the black guy dancing in place next to Mike says "NO, BUT I'VE GOT A COUPLE JOINTS outside in my car we can go smoke later." Mike says "THAT'S COOL" and then the black guy says to Mike "HEY! DO YOU WANNA DANCE?!!!!!!!!!!" I guess you had to be there at the time but we were teasing him about that one for weeks.

SxDx.com:  What led to your exit from Social Distortion?
Stubbs:  Mike locked up in jail, someone (a fan) broke into our house and stole everything and trashed the place, Mike pawning my drumset, the band had pretty much broken up. Dennis (god rest his soul) was in another band "KING VULTURES," and John had moved home to work with his dad at his dad's company.

SxDx.com:  What did you do after that? 
Stubbs:  Well my other friend Briton had moved earlier from the Tin Shanty back to Sacramento, Ca, and him and my other good friend Paul Medfly (House Of Wheels , S.F.) came down to Fullerton and picked up me and my girlfriend and took us to San Francisco and then eventually back to Sacramento.where I ended up back in "THE VACANT."

SxDx.com:  Still in contact with any of the band?
Stubbs:  Yes I am actually, I get e-mails from John Maurer once in a while I am checking out his new company he works for called loudenergy.com. I haven't seen Mike in awhile. Dennis and John and Chris Reece came to Arizona while on tour with the Ramones back in 1992-93 and they came to a place I hang out called "THE HOLLYWOOD ALLEY" and we all drank and had a pretty long jam session on one of the bands who was playing the club that nights equipment. It was just like we had never stopped playing together. Also I see 'em on tour whenever I can.

SxDx.com:  Glass Heroes...tell us about the band and how people can check you out. 
Stubbs:  The band consists of Keith Jackson (Gilby Clarke, The Beat Angels, Shock-Therapy) on lead vocals and guitar, Steve Shelton vocals and guitar and Steve Davis on Bass. I couldn't ask for a greater band. These guys live it! I am certain when we get a chance to tour people will dig it a lot. If anyone wants to check out the Glass Heroes, try www.glassheroes.com or on the worldwide punk page. Our new record is coming soon - watch for it!

SxDx.com:  Anything we forgot to ask that you'd like to mention?
Stubbs:   I also have a side project band I'm playing for called DE SADE. You can check out that stuff at www.desadechamber.com (SxDx.com note: also take a look at www.mp3.com/desade) or on some seach engines. It always finds stuff even I didn't know about.
  
Hope that clears some things up! Thanks to Bob for taking the time for the interview.  To keep up with his projects, be sure to check out www.glassheroes.com and www.mp3.com/desade!