By Gerry Gittelson

Rock-n-radio.com

HOLLYWOOD -- One of the most important and influential names in local rock is Dayle Gloria, a top booker for the past three decades who somehow has managed to survive for this long in a business that applauds you on minute, then turns its back on you the next.

Always a bit on the alternative side, Gloria has forever been interested in bands that have more teeth in their music than in their smiles, and her dedication to the scene and her uncanny ear for talent has made her a legend.

After breaking into the business as an assistant at A & M Records in the late 1970s, Gloria worked as a DJ at the Rainbow and Seven Seas before launching The Scream Club, one of the scene’s most successful clubs in the late 1980s.

Gloria was among the first to book such artists as Guns N’ Roses, Jane’s Addiction, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Faith No More, X, Lords of the New Church, Red Hot Chili Peppers, L.A. Guns, Sonic Youth, White Zombie and many more.

And she’s kept right on going. Today, Gloria continues to book bands for the Viper Room, the Roxy and several other top clubs.

For most people, the club business eats them alive. How do you keep doing it?

Drugs and alcohol (laughs).

Really?

No, it’s because this is really what I love to do. I’ve always been the person that eats, breathes and lives this life. There is nothing better then finding a band you love and then helping them turn into the next big thing, or at least giving them a stage to help launch them, and since there are always new bands out there, it never gets boring. The last band I helped, the Ting Tings, no one would let me book them anywhere. Finally, Matt Diamond from Diamond Lane Productions let me put them at On the Rox (on top of the Roxy), first show in America.

Hangin' out with Steven Adler of Guns N' Roses

I think we first met when you were booking The Scream. You helped Jane’s Addiction in the beginning -- you were friends with Perry Ferrell, right?

David Navarro was actually my best friend. We were always together and to this day when we see each other we love each other, but of course I loved all the guys, each in a different way, but David and I were very close.

I think when I first started booking them at Scream, it was from their second show. I think if there was no Scream, it would have been harder for Jane’s, and if there were no Jane’s, it would be of been harder for Scream. We went together like peanut butter and jelly.

What was Dave Navarro like back then when he was just a kid?

He was and is amazing. I have tons of great pictures.

Were his nipples pierced yet?

I’m thinking no to that, but we  weren't sexual, so I can’t tell you about all that. Except for that one time … hmmm.

Well, he's usually shirtless these days. I am not his lover, either, but I know he has pierced nipples.

I think all that started around when he went to play with Chili Peppers but I can't be certain.

Here with the Ramones, who is holding up who?

How did you get started in the club business?

It began with me and Michael Stewart, who I had hired as my DJ assistant at the Seven Seas club. I would be too fucked up to end the night, so I let him spin the last couple of hours from 4 a.m. to 6 a.m.  Wwe were getting into darker music and going to Vinyl Fetish for music. Joseph Brooks inspired me in so many ways. Anyhow, The Seven Seas was closed on Mondays, and we asked Ed Nash for the night, and he said yes.

The notorious Ed Nash.

Yes indeed, but that man gave me a great break in my life. Funny how that happens. Anyhow, Michael and I didn't get along and went our separate ways.

Side note: Did you know John Holmes?

Nope, but I’m sure he was at Seven Seas. Everyone was, but we were wasted. I did see a lot of interesting things that will be in my book. But Scream really started when we went to Embassy Hotel (in downtown L.A.), then eventually we moved it to Park Plaza (in downtown L.A). Michael and I started it together. If I didn’t hire him to be my assistant, no one would know him, as he was just a kid from the Valley.

Eventually, I left because Michael was the laziest asshole I ever worked with, and that’s how Club With No Name was born – I told him I could do a club with no name and be a success (laughs).

The first Club With No Name show was with Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. I still have the original flyer.

When local rock was most popular, you were competing against the pay to play clubs ... any thoughts on this?

I never competed with Pay to Play. In fact, I wrote an article in Music Connection against it, and to this day it still holds up. Mario Maglieri actually banned me at all the clubs on Strip for one year after I wrote that.

But I can understand pay to play more now than i did then, as the bands now are so fucking lazy -- and the scene needs them more than ever right now. But since they sit home on their asses and Twitter, that’s all they think they have to do, and it makes me sick. When I ask a band how many people they can bring, and band says to me, “Oh, with a month to promote it I can get 20 people,” I want to rip their jugular out and step on their head. Back in the day, if you couldn’t get 500 people out to see you, I wouldn't book you.

I booked some shows back in the day -- the G Spot Jam -- at the Whisky and Roxy; on a good night, I could make a grand or so. But god was I was nervous about paying the rent!

Well, but that’s the reason pay to play really started, in my opinion -- because it was a risk. But rents were and are too expensive.

Here is my take on it: If you have a talent buyer working at the club and their shows bomb, how come they don't pay rent? But then you bring in an outside promoter and that person has to carry the burden. I do NOT agree with that, and the bands still don't promote their shows. It’s sickening. The most talented bands of all are the laziest, but the pay to play bands work their asses off. Why? Because it’s their money. If the bands don't start taking responsibility, then its going to be over, and all that will be left is bottle service and Paris Hilton. Clubs have done a lot to try to help bands, but you know how it is. The bands come in, do their show, and leave, which really pisses me off. They have no idea what it costs to keep a club in business – the bills, the gear, the staff, insurance, booze, cleaning crew, advertising, etc.

 Here with Michael Monroe: Don't they makea nice couple?

Give me a fond memory of Guns N’ Roses.

I guess it was all the time I spent with Slash. We were great friends. He would come over late and we would stay up talking -- not just coke talk. When they played Scream, it was amazing to see. You could just feel where they were going.  I remember when I went to his apartment on Larabee above the Strip, he played me a not yet finished version of “Paradise City.” It was amazing.

Have a lot of these rock stars that you helped in the beginning turned their back, or have they remained loyal to you?

Well, I don't know if you’d call it loyalty. I do wish some of them would have come back to play for me, especially now when things are tough. One big show from any one of them could really give me some more "juice,” but I try not to get too crazy on that side of things, as most of us have stayed friends, and they do know and remember where they came from. I just saw Scott Weiland two weeks ago, and he always gives me props. Someone came up to him and said he should meet me. It was hilarious, and he told them straight out, “I’ve known Dayle for 20 years, and she helped up us get our record deal.”

Rivers Cuomo called me recently about a book he is writing, and we talked about the residency I gave Weezer at the Gaslight. He totally gave me props. Now there’s a show I would love to do now, but if I let it get to me, it will just eat me up alive. A band would really have to think of me and say, “Call me, let’s do a show,” but there are managers and agents and others involved, and I think they just get caught up, so they kind of forget on purpose. At least, now that I’m sober, that’s how I feel, but would be great to do one more Jane’s show together, a Scream reunion of sorts.

How come everyone I interview is sober now?

I had to. I didn’t want to, and if I win the lottery I think I will be wasted till I die (laughs). But I’m getting older, and it’s harder to recoup. Too many wasted days, and too many youngins coming up behind. I have to stay on top of my game, and no one wants to do business with someone slurring their words with coke caked up in their nose.

Nothin' like bringin' in the New Year with Rob Zombie

Of all the bands that you've seen become successful, what are the one or two traits they all seem to have in common that helped them make it big?

Oh god, that’s a tough one. I guess the most important thing of all is talent and luck – and to not to get too big a head before it actually happens. You meet the same people on the way down that you kicked on the way up. I've seen that happen way too many times.

Wow, A&M Records in the late 70s – were you a secret Styx fan?

No, Peter Frampton. And it was no secret (laughs). At A & M, I was Jerry Moss’ assistant. I learned so much from him – things that I use to this day. He is the most amazing man ever.

The lineup of men that believed in me – Jerry Moss, Mario Maglieri, Art Davis, Johnny Depp and Ed Nash. These are the men that believed in me and gave me my biggest chances. I’ve been lucky to have them in my life, and I’m very lucky to have led the life I have. Not everyone is lucky enough to do what they love every day.