The death of New York Dolls guitarist Sylvain Sylvain after a long battle with cancer means frontman David Johansen is now the last surviving member of the groundbreaking proto-punk band. He has spent the past 24 hours since the news broke, reflecting on his relationship with Sylvain over five decades and paying tribute to him on social media. “It is a pity that the outpouring of love did not take place while he was alive,” says Johansen. “People need to say, ‘I’m going to die next week, so please tell me how you feel now.’
The singer calls Rolling clip to share his own outpouring of love with Sylvain, and to look back on his lifetime of memories with the guitar.
Tell me your first reminder that I’ve ever seen Sylvain.
I remember it pretty vividly. We set the group in motion and we only practiced a few times. The man who played guitar did not show up. Suddenly Syl comes into the room with a rug bag and guitar. He just got off the plane after, I think, being deported from Amsterdam. [Laughs] He looked good, but then he started playing and I thought, ‘Oh my God. We need this man. He is wonderful. ”
Little did I know, he and some of the other guys in the group had been before he was in Europe. They talked about making a band. He knew [drummer] Billy [Murcia] and [guitarist] John [Johnny Thunders]. I do not know if he knew Arthur [Kane] or not. But I did not know it. I just knew ‘this guy is fantastic’, and he was.
What role did he play in the creation of the New York Dolls?
I do not know. I read a few things about him being very instrumental in it. I think he was. I know we were all very fashionable at the time. But he was friends with [fashion designer] Betsey Johnson and he turned on the recording for the first album cover. I do not think he dressed us, as I can see by looking at the picture that it was all clothes we had.
But he comes from a long line of tailors. He liked clothes a lot and was a regular shopper when we were on our way.
He was born in Egypt and lived in France for a while. How do you think it shaped him?
His family moved to New York. The organization that sponsored them said, “You can live in any of these places.” The only place in New York was Buffalo. [Laughs] They had family members in Brooklyn. I think his dad said, ‘Buffalo? This is New York. It’s near Brooklyn. “They are going to Buffalo. He said his mother cried the whole time they were there. I do not know how long they were there, but they eventually moved to New York.
When I first met him, we were all guys from New York. He was a fascinating man, but I did not know too much about his past. When we went to Europe, I could see that he was very confident.
When you think of the Mercer Arts Center days, what are the images of Sylvain that come to mind?
He was just such a wonderful kid at the time. He was such a passionate artist. He was very positive the whole time. He was very important to the group and their success. You know what I mean by ‘success’. Not so much the cards and all that nonsense. That was what we created. He was an integral part of it.
Can you elaborate on that?
If it were not for him, the group would have sounded crazy. He knew what he was doing and he could play guitar. He came up with amazing rhythms. He was very skilled. He was a natural player. He loved to play.
The sound he got when he played with Johnny was such an important part of the Dolls sound.
Absolutely. Sail fits right in there. He knew what to do, especially in the beginning. I think of the early days. We have a long history. We then wrote songs together, but when we got together again, we wrote a bunch of songs.
New York at the time was just unimaginably different.
The city was not really equipped for bands like now. There were not many places to practice or play. Before, we had to convince people, impresarios or whatever you want to call them, that we could bring in a crowd. They were, so to speak, really not set on music. It was the same as we were on our way earlier. Earlier we had to cut down trees, build a stage and put up posters in the city. [Laughs]
The group experienced a lot of setbacks in the early days. Billy dies and the albums do not sell. Yet Syl always seemed to believe in the group’s potential.
Absolutely. He never lost his faith. I don’t think any of us, who speak for themselves, really had any expectations for world domination. We just did what we did, and you can essentially take it or leave it. John was very ambitious in those days. He was the one who would say, ‘We have to practice! We have to practice! I would like, ‘Can’t we practice on stage? What is the difference?” [Laughs]
I loved Syl. We always left together when we were on the road. There were days when we had to double two guys per room, and the fifth man had to share a room with the road manager. It would be Syl and I in a room, and when we first went to Europe and went to a restaurant, he knew all the waiters and they would treat him like a prince. It was such a thing.
The group ended up just coming to you and him at the end of the original run.
The two of us tried to do it. We did a lot of good things in that period after the original band disbanded. In those days, we had no one watching our careers or anything. In an ideal world, there would have been someone who trusted everyone to some degree, someone who said, “Why don’t you take six months off?”
But we were so hand-to-mouth in those days. We always thought, ‘If we do not get this concert, we will not get the rent.’
The orchestra is now so beloved that it is easy to forget that you really struggled at the time.
Life is a struggle. If it were not, it would probably be very boring.
You continued working with Syl after the dissolution.
We played together for years after the band broke up. When I got a record deal with Steve Paul, he was in the band for the first two albums I made. It was a few years, longer than the Dolls were together. Look, I loved the guy. We used to write good songs together. The things that would come out of his musical creativity I loved.
Was it any surprise that the group reunited in 2004? I’m sure it even surprised you, even though you made it happen.
When we first decided we were going to do it, I was a little hesitant. Then I thought, ‘We’re going to England and staying in a nice hotel in London. It will be a nice break. ‘I sang a lot with Hubert Sumlin at the time and did the Harry Smith stuff. I thought it would be nice to have a little refreshing thing. It thought it would be great to see Syl and Arthur.
We’re only going to do one show. It was sold out, so they put on a show again. Then we started getting a lot of offers to go to these European festival shows. It was late spring when we did the show. I was like, ‘If we’re going on, let’s do this and see what happens. Then we just do it because I do not know how long.
I think it was seven years.
Yes. At the very beginning, Arthur died completely unexpectedly. He thought he had the flu and it turned out he had leukemia. It was kind of devastating. I loved him too. Each of the Dolls was so different and so interesting. Anyway, we persevered and got [bassist] Sami [Yaffa] in the band and just kept going.
How did your friendship with Syl deepen during this period?
When you are with someone for so long, you go through different kinds of phases. We had so much laughter and a lot of fun. We both really dug to stand on stage and put it out there. I was just looking at photos of us on those tours. We always laughed.
I like the new records. It was definitely fun to make.
It was amazing. After playing for a while, we just thought, ‘We have a repertoire, but it’s old. Let’s refresh it. “We will come up with songs that really work.
Why did it end in 2011?
It was just like that … we were exhausted. We were on the road for about eight years. It was never a point of, “This is it forever.” We only cooled it for a while and it lasted just like that.
Have you talked to him a lot in the last decade?
Yes. We talked from time to time.
How’s he doing? I knew the last three years were tough with his cancer battle.
He really thought he was going to beat it. He was a tough little bastard. I thought he was going to go through that too. But it was apparently more intense and in more parts of his body than I really knew.
The news must have been devastating.
I can not say that it was a shock, but it … I do not know how to explain it, but physically there was a heavy weight on my chest. I’m still processing it. I’m sure I’ll be the rest of my life and it’s going to process.
How do you feel about being the last one now?
That I’m next.
Do not say that. It’s pretty dark.
[Laughs] It is good. I’m pretty dark. You know? I did not even think about it that much. This is too much to think about.
I’ve seen people call the Dolls the ‘unhappiest band in rock history’.
Morrissey says it. That Morrissey is like … I do not want to say … [Laughs]
He can also be quite dark.
But also, he knows how to spin a yarn, as well as the best of it.
He does have a point. There were many tragedies.
Yes, there is sure. It’s like that old doo-wop band.
What images come to mind when you think of Syl now? What are the happy thoughts?
It just makes me smile because we did so many things and had so much fun. This is how I feel. It’s mostly about me. As for him and in what situation he has been in the last few years, he was fighting against what he had. I’m really hard to find anything other than the joy we shared and created together.
It’s such a raid that you’re not in the Hall of Fame yet. He would have liked it.
He would have wanted it, yes. My feelings about it were different from his, but I felt I had a responsibility if it happened that I would have to support him about it.
If you climb in now, it’s just you on the podium.
I hope not. Maybe I can send a representative. I can send one of the 42nd Street whores to give the acceptance speech.
The band is now, of course, finished forever, right? Would you never do it alone?
I’m not going to do that, no. That would be crazy.