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Recently, I spoke with Joey Jerimiah and Archie "Snake" Simpson, formerly of the Zit Remedy. The Zit Remedy burst onto the world pop scene in 1992, with their critically acclaimed debut album The Zit Remedy and Tessa. They dispanded two years later under tragic circumstances: bassist Derek "Wheels" Wheeler was involved in a drunk-driving accident that claimed the life of Gourmet Scum drummer, known as Clutch. The Zits tried, unsuccessfully in 1996 to reform without their founding bassist.
Joey Jerimiah is currently promoting his new outfit, The Joeys, while Snake works in Japan as a cable tv karaoke host.
FAN CLUB: So do you guys miss "the old days"?
JOEY: It was crazy... things started to settle down after the untimely break-up, but we needed it. It's just too bad about the circumstances that brought it all about. I've had a lot of time to learn about myself now that things have slowed down, but I definately miss the music. Not many artists are fortunate enough to run into that kind of chemistry... and magic. That's what I miss the most. We're pushing 30 now and the parties are not as important.
SNAKE: Oh, but they were. Few people have the chance to live as glamourously as we did while the Zits were together.
FC: Could you tell us a bit about your origins, the fabled "Degrassi Days"?
JOEY: Well, you're most likely familiar with our first mainstream single, "Everybody Wants Something". Well, that was the first song we wrote, performed and recorded and for the first few years it was the only song we played. We performed at our school for the junior grad and everybody thought we were cute (see photo). Then, a couple years later, Wheels started listening to all this great American garage band stuff: Iggy and the Stooges, MC5, The New York Dolls. He introduced us to it and we were really into it, we started to actually play some more songs and revamped "Everybody Wants Something". The last year at Degrassi we headlined the school's talent show and, well we totally blew them away. We had our first live drummer, the great Artie Kobalow, and our only introduction was his very swish and lispy "And right now, right now... its time... to kick out the jams mutha***kas!!!"
SNAKE: They couldn't shut us down because there would've been a riot.
JOEY: Yeah, it would've been our first of many.
FC: Tell us of your relationship with Kobalow, or Kobalowski as he was known to you at Degrassi.
JOEY: Well Artie was a strange kid. He was always trying to fit in, always doing goofy little shy things to try and get attention. He was very shy. I guess he was always talented artistically, but it took him awhile to figure it out. One day he came to school wearing these really audacious shades and a really... "gay" beret. He showed us some of his sketches, and we were very impressed to say the least. We knew that he had always had an interest in our band, so we invited him over that afternoon to watch us jam. He sat in the corner the whole time painting. He was doing Zit Remedy posters complete with dates, venues, and supporting acts -- they were amazing. He asked if he could help us book some shows. We said sure and he eventually became our manager. If it wasn't for him we wouldn't be talking to you today.
SNAKE: He took us all the way to the top.
FC: Did you guys have any imput into the 4th World?
JOEY: No, man. That was all Artie. We were the "houseband", but the whole club was his dream.
SNAKE: While we were all out partying, he was dreaming of his own fabulous parties. That scene was so special... maybe even more than the tour.
FC: Have you read Alex Yankou's new book about Caitlin Ryan?
JOEY: I was actually worried about that one, because everybody should have been so jealous of Caitlin: she had everything and everyone wanted her... but she had something very special about herself that could help people overcome their pettiness. It still works today, that's why she's so successfull in politics.
SNAKE: She's still a star, too.
JOEY: Yeah, its amazing, but being a politician must be harder than being a pop-underground darling.
FC: Do you still keep in touch, Joey?
JOEY: Well, I kind of leave her alone now, she's got so much on her plate, and like Snake says, she's a big star now. We're yesterday's news.
FC: Lets talk about yr current occupations. How's life in Japan, Snake?
SNAKE: Japan's cool. I'm developing a bit of an accent, can you tell?
JOEY: Just don't ever try and do the Green Day thing. You'll never pull it off, man.
SNAKE: Hey, J-Pop is cool. The Japanese invasion, man. It's gonna happen in a big way. I just don't understand why most of my contestands want to do Lynard Skynard and Bruce Springsteen.
FC: They don't sound like they were born in the USA?
SNAKE: No... not really...
FC: So, Joey, how are the Joey's?
JOEY: They're great. Not like Zits great, but we're doing okay. The album will be out soon, and we've got a tour with Gowan all lined up.
FC: Great. Thanks guys. Try not to look so sad. We all still love you.
JOEY and SNAKE: Thanks. ::sniffle::
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