Madam X was formed in 1981 by sisters Roxy and Maxine Petrucci, and added bassist Chris “Godzilla” Doliber and vocalist Bret Kaiser. They released their classic, Rick Derringer produced, Jet Records debut WE RESERVE THE RIGHT in 1984, spawning the hit Rock single “High in High School”. 4 years later, after Roxy departed to join future Arena Rock superstars VIXEN, and original vocalist Kaiser was briefly replaced by an unknown Canadian vocalist named Sebastian Bach, Madam X disbanded, and would remain mostly inactive until 2014, when the original lineup reunited at the Sweden Rock Festival. There is of course a lot more to the story than that, and we caught up with Bret to talk all about those early day and also look to the future…
Corey: Hi, I just want to welcome Bret Kaiser from Madam X to The Rockpit.
Bret: Thanks for having me, can I say G’day, will everyone know what I’m saying?!
Corey: They’ll know exactly what you’re talking about!!
Bret: It’s a pleasure, it really is, it’s amazing we can do things like this, we always wanted to get to Australia, I guess I’m the first one to get there, even if it goes wrong!
Corey: It would be great to get you down here at some point, I would imagine there’d be a few Madam X fans who would definitely come out of hiding to come to that show, for sure! OK,lets get started, who were your influences? What stuff were you listening to when you were a kid?
Bret: The first thing I really got hooked on was Kiss, Alice Cooper, the show bands, Queen and stuff like that, but I’ve always been a really big Elvis fan, and that’s a whole other story in itself!
Corey: Yeah, and we will get to that later as it is a big part of your history, and of course what you’ve been doing over the last 30 years.
Bret: It’s always been show bands, I believe, if you are an entertainer you have to put on a show,if you don’t put on a show you might as well just be listening to a record.
Corey: How old were you when you started playing gigs?
Bret: Ooh, around 1976, my younger brother, about a year younger than me, was in a band in junior high school, and they were playing a talent show, they were called Slax, and they didn’t have a bass player, it was just two guitarists and a drummer, and they were rockin’! You know he was my younger brother, and I noticed all these chicks were diggin’on it, and you know what happens then, sibling rivalry kicks in, and he said to me “how was the band?” and I said “well you guys are good, but you need a bass player!” so he said why don’t you learn how to play bass and come and join the band, so I did! I taught myself how to play, joined the band and then in August 1977, Elvis passed away, and from then I just wanted to be a lead singer, I was going to be the next Elvis.
Corey: Wow! So that was your first band with your brother.
Bret: Yeah,it went through a couple of name changes, we were Slax, Trouble and then we turned in to a band called Cheetah, and then I think there was a band from Australia who came to the States and they bought the name from me, girls, I think?
Corey: Yeah, two girls, they had a hit single down here. Was that late 70’s, early 80’s??
Bret: Yeah, well they bought the name from me, it was like 78,79 something like that. Cheetah ended in something like 82, because that’s when I joined Madam X. Remember that there were girls in the band, the manager I had at the time said hey they’re trying to use your name, and so they had to pay me for the name, it’s funny, a small world!!
Corey: It is a very small world. So can you give me a run down on how Madam X started?
Bret: OK, Cheetah was a tri state band which meant we played New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, we used to play with all the Long Island bands like Zebra, Swiftkick, Twisted Sister, and stuff like that. We had this big club called Hammerheads, we were truckin’ along real good, basically we did a bunch of covers, but we had our own original stuff, and then this band comes in to town, called Madam X, and we opened for them. Well I saw the band and I was like “Holy Shit!!” the band just blew me away, the girls that were in this band were amazing, there was this tall “lurchy” looking guy, but they had a really weak singer. I’d just finished my set, we rocked, we were partying and having a really great time watching this band, and in the dressing room we got to say hello, and I was actually trying to hit on the girls! I was this cocky New Yorker, and I was going to get one of them or both, but anyway, that was just my attitude at the time, but I told them you were fantastic, but your singers weak, so if you ever need a real singer give me a call!! So, about 2, 3 months after I get this call from them, and they said hey, we want you to be the singer in our band, we’ve got this house in Connecticut we’re rehearsing at, we’ll be going on the road etc., and one of the toughest things I ever had to do was leave the band with my brother in and my childhood friends, but I made the decision this is the way to get my foot in the door, and so I did and I joined Madam X. I went up to Connecticut with them, and we rehearsed in this house, I was expecting a great beautiful house, it was a big house, empty, I got the furniture up there for my room and then we go out on the road. We rehearsed the set, got the show down and everything, we go to New York, to Arizona, we go back and forth about four times, from 1982-1984, when we decided we would play every club we could play, I’m talking big clubs, and medium clubs, we’re standing in beer and urine, but we were rocking man, we were honing our craft! We were in Arizona and we finally decided, we have an original show down now, lets go to California, Los Angeles and get a record deal, and that was the attitude we had, we had a semi, full of equipment, we lived on the premise of live big, act big, and be big. We pulled up to some of the clubs and our semi was bigger than the club! So, we went to LA, we had 2 or 3 gigs lined up, first one was at Madame Wong’s West, and we played to about 12 people, and there was one lady in the audience, and she said “wow!” my god you guys have got to come with me to The Rainbow, OK we said, let us change, “NO”, no change, just as you are! So she took us there, we walk in, in our full stage gear, and spoons drop, hit the floor and people were like “What the hell?”. I remember seeing Blackie Lawless there, and a couple of rap stars, and we were like, wow, this is awesome! We were sat in this booth, and this big black guy comes up to us and says excuse me, who are you guys?!! So we told him, and we had a press kit, and he said I work for Jet Records and Don Arden, do you have any other gigs? We just happened to be playing at The Troubadour, so he brought Don Arden down and the whole of Jet Records, Don signed us, and it was like a dream come true. We were young and we put our minds to something and we got the record deal, and the whole process of that whole thing, you know, hurry up and write me some cute songs, Don was very much in to the cute songs, “you’re my greatest find in 5 years, I want cute songs!!” So we wrote “High in High School”, “We Reserve the Right”, “Dirty Girls”, “She’s Hot Tonight”, and “Come One , Come All”, so we did this and went in to the studio, Cherokee Studios in LA, and before you know it,it was done, and we were on our way to the UK, and we played in England. Everything happened early!
Corey: Yeah, I was going to say, from the point where you got signed to, going in to the studio and then straight out on tour, is that right?
Bret: Yeah, we went in to the studio, and then we did 2 videos, we did “High in High School”, and that was with Pendulum Productions, I’m not really sure about that, but it’s the same company that did Quiet Riot’s videos back in the day. They had this big, elaborate set, set up, and we auditioned, what’s politically correct? 50 little people?? back in the day we called them midgets, dwarves, whatever!! And we picked the one that was in Star Wars,he was an Ewok, anyway he had to jump in to my arms and I’d catch him, and I think on the 16th time, I dropped him, because he was so damn heavy, but he was a great guy, and we had a blast doing it. So, we did the two videos, and then we had to do this show in England, and we played The Marquee, and then we did this TV show, ECTV, it was their metal version of MTV, and we played the Marquee theatre, and they turned away about 500 kids, they had to close the street, kids were showing up from Japan and everywhere to come and see us! We’d go shopping during the day, and I had black and white hair at the time, and we had like 20 kids following us asking for autographs, and taking pictures! It really was a dream come true.
Corey: That’s great, but when did it all stop happening for you?
Bret: We did our tour of the States before we got signed, then in The UK, we were supposed to do The Dominion, and what happened, the promoters were worried about pre sale tickets, and they weren’t moving fast, and they got worried, so they made up this story, that I’d had a bereavement and my sister had died, I never had a sister! he sent us back to the States and then we toured Canada. And then before you know it, sitting in LA, in a two bed-roomed apartment, we were wondering whats going on? Actually we know Don is under indictment, he had this reputation of being like the Godfather, and he hung somebody out of a window by his feet, there was all kinds of stuff. Anyway you get four band members and your road crew in a little apartment and you get a little crazy. I was the first one to pop the cork, and said I’m going back to New York, when you guys know whats going on, call me, and in the mean time Roxy was being pursued by Vixen, so at around the same time as she joined Vixen, and the band got a new singer, and then they got this young kid that we all met in Canada, who was a big Madam X fan, who’s name was Sebastian, so he joined Madam X, I’m back in New York, they’re playing, I’m doing my thing, Roxy’s in Vixen, and the world goes on! Sebastian got a gig with Skid Row, who by the way I turned down when I was in New York, I still have the tape I had to audition, but I had just gotten out of Madam X and I just wanted to relax in New York. I mean the songs were great and I dug it and I wished them all the luck in the world.
Corey: So how long was that before Sebastian ended up joining the band?
Bret: It was in ’85 maybe ’86, in that period because when I got my band back together from New York I moved everybody out here to Phoenix and then Madam X came through town with Sebastian and that was when we hooked back up, ‘cos I met h in Canada first and I’d been friends with him here in Phoenix and stuff, you know, and we would talk and then Maxine and Chris got invited to Mark Weiss’ wedding in Jersey and that’s where Sebastian met Bon Jovi I guess and he joined Skid Row, something like that anyway. I think it was meant to be. I look at things in a way that when people say “Well aren’t you upset that happened” and I say no, not at all because it wasn’t meant for me to do that. I look at things like this it’s either ‘supposed to happen’ or ‘it happened’. It was supposed to happen that Sebastian joined Skid Row because he’s a rock star,he was supposed to do that and now he’s doing great on his own. And I was supposed to rejoin Madam X later on in 2014 when we got back together to do Sweden Rock. That’s how things were supposed to be.
Corey: So with your band Kaiser that you got together with your brother when you went back to New York did you release anything?
Bret: No releases but we were shopping for a deal but the response we got was that the name was too German and maybe you should rename your band. And I was like ‘What?’ that’s my last name! (laughs) So anyway we changed the name to the Bowery Boys and we got a bud Lite sponsorship and we did a tour from Phoenix to Memphis and back and it just kind of fell apart. At the time when it fell apart I found out I was gonna be a dad and in ’94 my son was born and I stopped playing music. I didn’t want to be an on the road dad seeing pictures of my kid growing up I decided I wanted to be in his life so I started working for the sheriffs office out here in Maricopa County and I’ve been with them for 23 years and my son is 23 now.
Corey: Wow! Does you son play? Is he involved in music?
Bret: He listens to music and he runs my sound when I do my Elvis shows or my band ’56.
Corey: Excellent. That’s awesome. Going back a little in that period where you’ve pulled back from music and in the meantime Sebastian is in Skid Row, Roxy is in Vixen, how did that feel looking at that from the outside?
Bret: To be honest with you Corey I didn’t give it a second thought. Because you know what no matter what I’ve done as a lead singer and believe me I’ve done a lot, it doesn’t compare to when I saw my son born. From that moment on I had to take care of him so I became an officer of the sheriff’s office and that became my career. But you can’t keep something like that caged up for too long so when my son was old enough I was itching to sing again and play and perform because I’m an entertainer. So I started with the Elvis thing, I started doing these shows, and as a matter of fact it started out as a tribute to my Mom. My mom and my Aunt were President and vice President of this water fitness club and they said ‘Hey we’ve got to throw a party, would you like to sing at the party?’ She said it was a ‘luau’ (a traditional Hawaiian party) and so I said I’d do an Elvis show. So I rented a costume, I glued some side-burns on and wore a wig, because I always sang Elvis, I always loved Elvis , and in my natural voice I can sing Elvis. I don’t try to impersonate him, I just let it come out. So I did the show and from that six gigs and from those six gigs and then a tour and it went steamrolling into this thing that I though ‘Wow I’m enjoying this’. I’m enjoying singing these Elvis songs and I’m having fun, I’m working full time, doing this on the weekends and making some good change at it, it became very beneficial. And then I got that call from Maxine and it turned out that she was playing in England at Firefest and she noticed a lot of Madam X memorabilia coming across the table for her to sign. So she called her sister and they thought that they ought to do something else for the fans because we all were noticing getting a lot of hits on Facebook and stuff and our own personal pages were getting a lot of people saying ‘Hey is Madam X ever going to get back together?’ And at the same time I put Kaiser back together and we would do reunions and stuff,like when Skid Row came through town Sebastian would call me and say ‘Hey come down to the show’. And I was still in contact with Rock and Roll, I was just doing my thing. So Kaiser played a bit and then we stopped and when we’d start back up again for like a Kaiser reunion or something it was at that point the call came. And Maxine said ‘Hey do you want to do something for the fans?’ and I said sure, we’ll send ideas to each other through e-mail now that technology has caught up with everything, and I said bu we’ve got to get Godzilla, because it’s not Madam X without all of us and so she said OK. So we defrosted Godzilla (laughs) he was cryogenically frozen, we wrote another ’80’s rock song, recorded it, they did the music there, I did the vocals here then I flew to Detroit and we put it all together. Then Maxine gets a phone call from Sweden Rock and Harness Lindstrom says “Hey is this all the original members?’ And when she said yes he said, well we want you on Sweden Rock so she calls me back up and says ‘Do you want to go to Sweden?’ and I’m like ‘What?’
Corey: (laughs)
Bret: So I said ‘Sure’. We had no idea how big things were, when we flew into Copenhagen there were kids at the airport with Madam X T-shirts and posters they were wanting us to sign. I was floored man I really was. We played the last day of the Festival at 12.45 in the afternoon,we got to see Black sabbath with Ozzy, we were hanging out with Alice Cooper, Tommy Hendriksen (who is in his band) is a great friend of mine from Long Island. Volbeat was playing, Queensryche, Ted Nugent, who Greg Smith and Mick Brown from Dokken were playing with who are really good friends of mine. When you say it’s a small world it really is. We got treated great and we were blown away by people in Sweden, there was so much love. And as we were playing so early people told us don’t be disappointed if there’s only a few hundred people, but we were just happy to be there. So the area we’re getting ready, the stage is a way away, and as we’re getting nearer in the golf carts all we can hear is “Madam X, Madam X” and as we get closer we can see that there’s a sea of people out there. There were like 13,000 people! So needless to say when I hit the stage I was a walking erection!
Corey: (laughs)
Bret: There was so much energy from the fans, the people knew all the words and I knew that because I sang a wrong line in ‘High In High School’ and I got looks from the audience! It was amazing we had such a great time but it was over before we knew it, and afterwards we had a signing session where half of the people got turned away and they had to give us an extra half hour. The day was such a success and we looked at each other and thought, because honestly that was just going to be our farewell, Roxy had Vixen, Chris was doing his thing, Maxine was doing her thing, I was doing mine. But at that point we new we had to do another record. So we started writing in 2014 and starting to put it all together and that’s how long it took because we didn’t just want to put out a record quick, like we did with ‘We Reserve the Right’ we wanted to really work on it and make it worthy.
Corey: It’s a a great record.
Bret: On the first record the girls really didn’t have a lot of input,me and Chris wrote most of that record. This one the girls stepped up to the plate and knocked it out of the park, their writing was amazing, and then Michael Wagner produced and Mark Slaughter mixed a few of the songs on the records. And it just came out so good, and we got a deal with EMP. And things are just happening now – we did Monsters of Rock Cruise in 2016 and now we’re doing it again in 2018 and then Sweden Rock again.
Corey: So when you played those festivals did you play any of the new material?
Bret: We just played the old stuff, and we did ‘Another 80’s Rock Song’.
Corey: How come that didn’t make the new album?
Bret: Well you know what we had so many songs we wanted to save ‘Another 80’s Rock Song’ for a limited vinyl release for Japan and I think the UK. But we did play ‘Monstrosity’ on the Cruise, we wanted to check it out and we did ‘Hello Cleveland’ because we had to do a couple of new songs so that people would know what we were doing.
Corey: What’s your favourite song the play from the old set?
Bret: ‘She’s Hot Tonight’ and not ’cause I wrote it! But I love ‘Metal in my Veins’ and ‘Stand Up and Fight.’
Corey: I think ‘Good With Figures’ is my favourite.
Bret: I love that one too.
Corey: Both albums are killer and I can’t wait to see some of those new songs live,’resurrection’ I can’t wait to see, ‘Detroit Black’.
Bret: ‘Detroit Black’ has Godzilla on vocals, did you know? He just fits that song so well. Those three guys are from Detroit, I’m from New York.
Corey: So do you think we’ll ever see Madam X make it down-under?
Bret: You know what I’m settling for nothing less than World domination. I won’t stop until we get to Australia, Japan and England again. There’s so many people that I want to meet, so many that I want to rap with and I really feel that this is our time.
Corey: Thank you so much for taking the time, and please say hi to the rest of the band. You definitely have fans down here so if there’s any way that we can make that happen please let us know. It’s been great chatting to you. All the best with Madam X and hopefully we’ll catch you live one day.
Bret: Thank you so much.
