'The Roar of L'Amour'

THE REAL STORY OF WHY I QUIT L'AMOUR IN 11/88 AND WHAT I TRIED TO DO

Taken from a Facebook post:

First off, I never wanted to be a club DJ.

I fell into it by accident when a DJ at The Factory Rock Club in SI called in sick.

He suggested I fill in because I had a lot of albums and I did and the crowd and staff liked me better and I was hired.

When the club closed, I became a regular at L'Amour and eventually situations led me to the booth.

I mention my lack of DJ pedigree, because I never wanted to be one.

I never cared to learn BPM, etc.

Never interested me.

What did interest me was the burgeoning scene.

I was 21 in the summer of 84, I was one of the "metal kids" and the SCENE was the appeal.

It's one of the reasons the club sought me out.

They felt the crowd could relate to me and I could be the conduit between the crowd and the owners who were FAR from metalheads.

Then my DJ position turned into much more.

In the club, I also booked, promoted and had my own nights (60 a year).

But one of the things I did on accident was publicity .

I say on "accident" because radio stations and magazines were approaching me.

Heck eventually MTV did too.

That was a lot of fun but also made me realize how the club itself sucked at marketing.

I mean look at the legendary "L'Amour Rocks" merchandise.

The club never trademarked the club's name or logo.

The cheapness cost them hundreds of thousands because other clubs used the name and were direct competition.

As awesome as the venue was, I realized how much better it could be.

By 1987, I was having less fun working. I was near my height popularity wise; I was on radio and in magazines, I had a brand-new sports car, I was dating the prettiest girl I ever seen and I am still a kid living at home ... yet I was beginning to be depressed.

It was tough for me to see so much potential wasted at the club.

By this time White Lion was starting to make waves, and the 2 main owners of the club seemed to be "focused on being the next Leber and Krebs" (as one music industry veteran recently said to me).

We had equipment falling apart and never getting replaced.

I was down to one light on the floor and my RGB bulbs for the video screen was down to just RB.

The bulbs cost about $85 each ... EIGHTY-FIVE AND THEY WEREN'T REPLACED????

By 1988 it eroded even further and was no longer fun because it seemed like I was the only one that cared.

In June of 88, I moved out and got my own apartment.

I was no longer the metal kid but a 25-year-old who had no practical skills outside of being "The Roar of L'Amour" ... in the real world that meant ZERO.

I now had rent, plus car insurance, cable, phone, electric, etc. to worry about

The long-haired kid that lived at home with a sports car, beautiful women around him and rockstar friends had to grow up ...

I sat the owners down and said the club was not what it should be, I suggested changes ...

I would stop spinning records but continue to host all events. I would intro bands, do stage and mic work, but others could spin.

I suggested David Gizzo for commercial nights, Ken Kriete for hardcore/heavy thrash nights and Alex Kayne for everything in-between.

They all were already working with me as back-ups (with Gizzo as one of my AYI assistants) and all great guys who were more than ready.

I said on nights where we didn't have national acts, let me get the local bands in for free and instead of 200 people seeing a local band, we can do 300-500-700 and create a ... SCENE again.

It meant more people drinking and also bands supporting each other.

Those added people would drink and perhaps come with people who would pay

I then said on national nights, limit my guest list and on really big nights, I could possibly spin between bands and we can promote that.

Sounds good right?

Sounds like a SCENE?

You know the saying "If it ain't broke, don't fix it?" ...

Well, the club was breaking and they refused to see it.

They laughed at me and said, "you want us to pay you to let your friends in free and get drunk?"

They didn't see the big picture.

Cat Club was packed every Wednesday no matter who played because it was a "scene", L'Amour stopped becoming a scene and was just a place.

My ideas were shot down and I was depressed and ... turned to drugs.

Yes ... SKITTLES (as we been calling them).

The growing up that I had to do wasn't happening, I couldn't quit working at L'Amour because I had adult obligations as far as bills, so I wallowed in depression.

I was partying way too much and now it was costing money, so ... I became a SKITTLES supplier.

Now I am SKITTLING constantly and taking nights off and financially in hell.

The club should have fired me but didn't.

I guess they figured I would quit first, or they thought I would fall in line or they were afraid of the backlash ... I have no idea because by September of 88 I barely talked to them.

It was like a married couple that are staying together because they are afraid to separate.

I hated seeing the scene fall apart.

The scene was what attracted me, not being a DJ.

I never wanted to manage a club; I just fell into it.

The camaraderie of the scene was what I loved.

One-night late October I was in the booth, and I declared I am done.

I thought I would go to the end of the year but one weekday in November, I decided to pack up and drive somewhere and get a hotel for a week and clear my head.

I left a message that I quit, and they can keep all my albums and videos ... I replaced most with CDs by then anyway.

I thought that was a decent gesture for leaving abruptly.

After the week away I came home and decided to get healthy.

I would still be in the SKITTLES business but not partake.

That lasted a month ... I was a mess and was on/off as far as partying for the next 18 months.

The club closed the Thursday nights that I promoted and they hired rotating DJs and my buddy Ken took over my duties.

The "rotating" DJ situation (I was told) was because they didn't want to create "another Chuck" ...

#1. They didn't create me ... the scene did

#2. Yeah, why "create" another guy that would bring them national publicity for FREE and work his ass off for pennies on the dollar?

Again, it shows the focus went from the club to band management.

That is fine, but it meant I had to quit.

I wanted to TRY to save the scene and club that inspired me so much.

L'Amour should have been as revered as CBGB but nobody cared.

The club eventually closed.

It didn't close because I wasn't there, it closed because nobody fought for it to grow and change ... I tried.

Mike Tramp said in an interview that when White Lion ended, it was sad because nobody fought for the band once it went downhill.

The same people owned L'Amour that managed White Lion ...

I am not putting anyone down; I am telling THE TRUTH.

What the owners did with the club was amazing and legendary ... I just saw it as so much more ... THE SCENE WAS DYING and so was my passion.

I eventually quit the music industry all-together and started a new life.

I miss the good old days but miss what the club could have been way more.

There is a reason L'Amour is not as revered as it should be ... the club did it to itself.

That depressed me enough to fall apart, turn to drugs and quit.

The reason I was barely heard from for 4 decades wasn't about me "big-timing" or ignoring the good times, it was how depressed I was that nobody fought to keep them.

I looked back at it as a failure instead of the many triumphs.

That is the truth.

Now after almost dying (plus seeing so many others pass) and seeing people wondering about the club and seeing so much conflicting info, I decided to come back and FIGHT FOR THE SCENE AGAIN.

I am getting offers for articles, podcasts docus and even recently someone approached me about a book.

I don't know what I will do. My health is NOT good enough for a huge undertaking

We will never duplicate the scene, but we can try to tell the TRUTH about it and get the respect it deserved.

My story of the scene isn't a "love story", it's the gritty truth and if you think back to why the scene was amazing it was because it was GRITTY and TRUE.

We can do this together, but it needs to be truthful.

That includes the truth about my departure and my demons.

Chuck Kaye

Ah Yes Indeed

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