Iron Lung | Interview
Iron Lung’s ‘High Bail’ album from 1975 is ultra rare psychedelic garage rock.
“High Bail”
Where and when did you grow up? Was music a big part of your family life?
Bill Boltz: I’m not sure I’ve ever grown-up. Ha! I am older… I was raised in the northwest suburbs of Chicago, Illinois (Arlington Heights and Mt. Prospect). I would say music was prominent in our house. My mother and father collected popular music records of their day ie: Dean Martin, Glen Campbell, Fats Domino, Perry Como, Broadway musicals and etc. My older brother and I collected 45’s of our time: Beach Boys, Beatles, Rolling Stones, The Animals, Everly Brothers, The Yardbirds (One of my Favorites with Eric Clapton), Steppenwolf and on and on. I loved them all! My brother played the clarinet as did I, but I wanted to play guitar, especially electric guitar as soon as I saw a guitarist play one (I believe a Fender Jazzmaster) on the Lawrence Welk show; the guy was just a great picker. Of course seeing The Beatles, John Lennon and George Harrison on the Ed Sullivan Show sealed my fate as a guitarist. I think I should add our next door neighbor in Arlington Heights, Norm Ladd who was an orchestra leader. He was very influential to my very early (5 years old) musical aspirations. He was a very positive influence on me. So, I would say that I was enveloped in modern music culture at an early age.
When did you begin playing music? What was your first instrument? Who were your major influences?
Let’s see… I started playing guitar in 1965 at the age of 13 but, my first serious instrument was a clarinet when I was 8 or 9 years old. That was when I started actually playing music. My major influences as a guitarist were and remain to be Eric Clapton, David Gilmour, Jimmy Page and Harvey Mandel. I know I’m forgetting many others like Jeff Beck, Alvin Lee… I could go on, but the major ones are listed first.
What bands were you a member of prior to the formation of Iron Lung?
I played in a seemingly endless loop of musicians from school which we formed countless garage bands. I don’t remember any of the names if we even got that far with those projects. Iron Lung, however, was created in 1967 by me and drummer Rod Anderson when we were in the 8th grade.
“I loved playing free-style jams”
What kind of music did you play very early on?
All the pop tunes of the time that we could handle instrumentally. Mostly top 40 rock station fare. However, Rod and I liked to break the rules set by the then current high school bands that played songs like ‘Little Latin Loopy Lou’, ‘Wipe Out’ and ‘House of the Rising Sun’ which we also played, but preferred the blues of BB King, Ten Years After and Canned Heat. I loved playing free-style jams like some of the early live recordings of Steppenwolf. And you know I had to play my mother’s favorite songs on my clarinet or be the unhappy recipient of the cold-shoulder and the “look”.
Can you elaborate on the formation of Iron Lung? What was the main concept behind Iron Lung?
The formation was simple. I met Rod at our junior high school talent show audition. He had this beautiful drum kit with all accessories and the boy could play! I loved his attitude and the type of music he was into which was similar to mine. We would get together and jam every Friday night and Saturday…ALL DAY. We didn’t do so well with schoolwork since we put little or no time in it to chagrin of our parents. They tried to put the brakes on us but to no avail, we were determined to JAM! Our concept was to keep precision timed rhythm with a strong down-beat so the girls keep dancing! But as I said before we both liked to jam-out on songs with free-style lead guitar/rhythm guitar and drum soloing. Rod sounded like Ginger Baker of Cream with his drum solos.
What sort of venues did Iron Lung play early on? Where were they located? How did you decide to use the name “Iron Lung”?
We played several school functions and many private parties. We didn’t always have a bass guitar player as Rod and I usually played our shows as a duo. We were White Stripes before the was a White Stripes. Well, with the small exception of Rod not being female.
When we were of legal drinking age, we played our original songs with a few cover tunes mixed-in at the area bars. I can’t remember many of the bar names now, but I do remember Champagne John’s on Milwaukee Ave in Wheeling. It was the first bar to throw us out for not playing all cover top 40 rock. We auditioned and the guy liked us. There was one more incident like that in Racine, Wisconsin; I can’t remember the name. I guess we should have cased the joint out first before going in there with our repertoire.
I think with the name, we just liked the way it sounded. We were kids…what the hell did we know? I liked the “Iron” part for the force of it. The “Lung” part just came naturally I think since we can’t be Iron Butterfly.
What influenced the band’s sound?
I think, for most bands it’s a mixture of sounds. We were a bit simpler as I preferred the bluesy style hard rock guitar that Cream’s Eric Clapton and Michael Monarch of Steppenwolf played at that time. Rod really loved Ginger Baker and Gene Krupa. I would spend every day after school in my room listening to my albums and try to recreate those licks and sounds and just hope to get close, but never rarely did. My budget was zero and my sound was limited.
When we were kids, Rod had a better situation financially and it showed in his kit. His drum sound covered-up any limitations my guitar sound had at the time. I had so many different amplifiers and in the day I ruined quite a few by playing them at full-blast. Of course, when I discovered compression things changed substantially. I actually had control of my sound and could get the crunch without the volume! I could have used one when I recorded this record.
“Many years dreaming of recording an album came true in the spring and summer of 1975.”
What’s the story behind your ‘High Bail’ album? Where did you record it? What kind of equipment did you use? How many hours did you spend in the studio?
Many years dreaming of recording an album came true in the spring and summer of 1975. It was unfortunate that I didn’t dream of producing first. I would never have recorded my guitar through a solid-state amplifier had I known better. Even so, we did alright instrumentally. But looking-back at it, I should have waited for more inspiration. The time space for this recording was narrow and I was couple of songs short and it sounds that way to me. I’m a much better developed songwriter today. As I mentioned the time to record was narrow (approximately 30 hours) as Ken Young, owner of KDR Studio, KDR Records and our producer, was footing the bill for the studio time. Ken had no real previous experience at producing so the engineer and rest of us put our brains together to get the sound. I wish someone would have told me my amp was wrong. I should have known so the background hiss is my bad. I played a 1970 Fender Stratocaster going through the hissy “Acoustic 270” head with a 4 x 12 “Steamer” speaker cabinet. I used a Cry Baby, MXR Distortion +, MXR Phase 90 and a Morley Volume pedal. Rod played his awesome, double-bass blue acrylic Ludwig set with 8 other drums and a half dozen or more cymbals. Roger Repp played rhythm guitar on a ‘74’ Strat through the same type of amp I had and I think he had a Cry-Baby as well. I don’t recall any other pedals for him. Wayne Peterson played bass guitar on a Fender Jazz and would add background vocals with Roger and Rod. We were very fortunate to have the wonderful background voices of vocal group “CTS Express” in a couple of tracks and last but definitely not least the very talented Tom Kleeman on saxophone.
The album was self-released, right? How many copies were pressed? How pleased was the band with the sound of the album? What, if anything, would you like to have been different from the finished product?
Yes…the album was self-released. 1000 copies were printed with an additional 400 pressed in the UK in 1994 on the Casket Records label. The record had mixed reviews from us and everyone else that heard it. I was not pleased with it’s sound…much too thin for my liking. We did enjoy the songs overall and our instrumentation was good. What we should have done was let me replay my parts on a different amplifier, but that was shut-down immediately by Ken. He liked the sound of it and he was footing the bill, so…
What I would have liked different would be a full sounding hissless recording that wasn’t rushed.
What can you say about the K.D.R. Records?
The vibe of the studio was comfortable. We all had a great time in there that is, until the mixdown. Arguments and some yelling was imminent. Rod wanted to record the whole thing over which definitely wasn’t going to happen and Ken had his schedule that was inflexible and we had ours which wasn’t. I think this was a first time project for all concerned that went crappy. Ken was decent man who wanted to get something out there for his company. He liked our sound so rolled the dice. I will forever love the guy for that opportunity. I only wish we were ready for it.
What were the influences and inspirations for the songs recorded?
That was a long time ago…let’s see, I think the band Chicago influenced my writing the song ‘Tell Me’. A song ‘What Comes Around Goes Around’ on the album ‘Choice Cuts’ by Pure Food and Drug Act with Harvey Mandel influenced the title track ‘High Bail’. Most of the songs I write come from all the music I’ve listened to my entire life. I have such weird melodies that I never use but they’re my head and I laugh when recreate them. Seriously, I sit down and jam out rock and blues rhythms and lead riffs until something strikes me.
“The European band Epitaph spent a night with us in our practice studio.”
What are some bands that Iron Lung played with?
The European band Epitaph spent a night with us in our practice studio. We also did a show with CTS Express playing Motown hits. That was fun and the only band we played with. The problem answering this question is Iron Lung disbanded soon after the album was released. Roger left to raise his newborn and moved to New Mexico or Arizona to pursue his career as an expert in the study of reptiles. He became quite famous in that field.
What happened after the band stopped? Were you still in touch with other members? Is any member still involved with the music?
I continued trying to make Iron Lung work with a new set of musicians but that was folly. Iron Lung died in 1975 although the Iron Lung II version did record two songs at a recording studio in Schaumburg, IL in 1977.
Those songs did get airplay and they did have the proper full sound I was searching for all those years. One was a remake of ‘Nobody Cares’, a song from the album and the other was newly written then by the bass guitarist and vocalist Stan Shook called ‘Satisfied’. I speak to Roger during the holidays. He’s well and hasn’t picked up his guitar in 30 years. My wife and I drove to Great Falls Montana in 2019 to visit my old friend Rod. He still plays drums, but not regularly. He’s not playing with anyone out there. Wayne Peterson is playing his bass guitar for his church. I am playing in bars regularly with my brother John “Pitbull” Bentall on bass and lead vocal and Jeff “Crasham” Basham on drums and background vocals in our band named ‘Hot Hole Plumbers‘. We are a power trio playing rock songs from AC/DC to ZZ Top, plus two originals.
Looking back, what was the highlight of your time in the band? Which songs are you most proud of? Where and when was your most memorable gig?
The highlight to me was recording that album. Even though it didn’t turn-out the way we’d like, it was still a fantastic time in my life. I learned a great deal from that experience. I’m most proud of the songs I wrote later. I guess if I have to pick one from the record it would have to be ‘Tell Me’. It was a fun arrangement to play. The song ‘High Bail’ was the snappiest to me. The gig at the van-in party at a forest preserve in western Illinois was to me most memorable. The day started cold and then got colder. I was breaking strings and Rod was breaking drumheads it was so cold. It was the coldest night of the late summer back in ’75. They started a fire to warm us up which almost killed us from smoke inhalation… WTF!! We were warmer at least.
Is there any unreleased material by Iron Lung?
I’m afraid there are no other recordings that I can recall of the original Iron Lung band. I tried keeping the name going with another group of musicians, but the sound changed from hard-rock blues to just hard-rock. We came-up with the Name “Alien”. That was before the Sci-Fi movie by the way. People sometimes give me a bit of a time about that name. Anyway, we recorded a couple of songs that sounded great as mentioned earlier and were played on local radio, but we couldn’t generate funds to record more.
Thank you for taking your time. Last word is yours.
Well, Klemen, thank you for your interest in this little project in my past. I even had to buy one of those UK copies because I lost mine over time. My sister has an unopened copy…that’s right still sealed. It looks beautiful. If she eBay’s it she may get over a grand for it. But she won’t sell and I love her for that. Music is my life, I’m still composing and recording in my home and I’ll stop only when I can no longer physically play.
Peace and Rock Forever! Bill Lytning Boltz
Klemen Breznikar
