Ask me who my favorite song-writer is and it’s a very short list, but I think over the years Donnie Vie is consistently at that summit. The music he has made of the years just plays with your emotions and that’s the power of music and what it should do. So when I found out that Donnie had written a song on the new Enuff Z’Nuff record I couldn’t help but wonder what the story was and if there was more. So I called Donnie to ask. Here’s his story about that song ‘Strangers in my Head’ and a whole lot more…
Mark: Hey Donnie, it’s Australia calling, how are you mate?
Donnie: Pretty good for my age!
Mark: Let’s get right down to the big news! We had your wonderful single ‘All My Favourite Things’ not that long ago and now there’s more – your wonderful contribution to the new Enuff Z’Nuff album. Let’s hear from you how that came about?
Donnie: Well when the pandemic came on, you know I have a lot of issues with Chip both professional and personal as far as legalities and things like that and his morals and ethics and I was really struggling with it. And then the pandemic came, and we talked a little bit because I hated hating him and I’d rather love him and so he texted me a happy birthday and that was my opening and I started talking to him a little bit and in light of all this stuff we though “well life is short and nothing is guaranteed” and if we ever had any plans to ever do anything again then it was probably a good idea to do it. So one thing led to another, I kind of got duped into it. I was kinda led to believe it would lead to more than it did but it just led to one song. I said where do we go from here? Why don’t we do a couple of shows for the fans? Maybe one in Chicago, one on the East Coast, one in Europe? I told him that I thought we could do some good numbers and a lot better business than he’s drawing in right now. But really for the fans. So we got a song, a single and something to talk about, but it kinda fell on deaf ears. But I think his agenda is more personal and he’s happy doing things like he is now, he’s satisfied with that and he’s not really interested in anything else. So it is what it is. I noticed that he wasn’t even pushing the song or releasing it (as a single) which I thought was stupid because here’s a brand new song after 5 or 6 years, or actually since the ‘Dissonance’ record – a brand new song with us together!
Mark: It sounded like a great opportunity.
Donnie: It was. You know I had it written, I played him a couple of songs, I even told him send me an idea or something of yours, it will be like the old days, I’ll take one of your ideas and do my thing to it. But he didn’t do that and I thought “Well if you’re not even gonna push it and put it out there”, I felt like he’d just used it to put my name on the record. So I thought, well I’m gonna put it out there, and I did.
Mark: I’m glad you did. It was interesting when I got the first press release from Frontiers it didn’t mention you on there. It seemed strange.
Donnie: I know.
Mark: I said to Chip the other day when I interviewed him, just listening to that song the first time I knew it was you. I told him I just thought it was very strange that it didn’t get more of a mention. He told me his story but for me it was the big news.
Donnie: Thank you.
Mark: On another note though things are pretty terrible out there for everyone at the moment, what’s it like where you are?
Donnie: The country’s like split in half – half of them are really still afraid and the other half are like my attitude which is hey this thing is here, it exists are we just going to cease to exist like we did and live in the fear of this or are we just going to try to be mindful and careful and go about our lives again and not let this thing completely take over because I don’t firmly believe they’re gonna cure it and I do know that everyone in the world is going come into contact with it at some point. So we just need to be mindful of it and hope for a vaccine. But over here they’re starting to open up, you know the clubs are opening and bands are starting to play again – not huge concerts or anything yet but in clubs and places like that. Just last weekend I got talked into getting up in this one club with these guys I know – they were like “Hey can you just get up and play a couple of songs” and so I reluctantly agreed – I said “Oh fuck it, I’ll come out and do it.”
Mark: How did it go?
Donnie: It was interesting. So in the club they only allowed 75% capacity, but that still looked like a lot of people, it seemed jam-packed so you wouldn’t have known that, and nobody is wearing masks, everybody was being very lax about it. So I tried to keep as many people from in my face as I could, but it’s hard when somebody wants to tell you something in a loud club and it’s really important to them so you gotta kind of accommodate that. And my sister and my mother told me “You shouldn’t do this, we’ve got a bad feeling about this, the virus is still here” and I’m old now and I have a few pre-existing issues they think. So I did it anyway (laughs) and as luck would have it the guitar player in the band I was going to sit in with two days later was down with coronavirus, and here I am, rubbing shoulders with it, I was that close you know.
Mark: Wow.
Donnie: So I was basically face-to-face with it and nothing happened, I didn’t get it or anything but I definitely came in contact with the virus. I guess some people it’s going to affect and some people it’s not you know, and the majority I don’t believe it is. And so companies are going out of business, in the music business a lot of guys can’t pay the bills and they’re out of work, and people are in that horrible position where they have to decide do they just go under or try and survive? And so I can see why people want to take their chances and I understand that, but we just gotta be mindful and be careful, but you gotta continue life.
Mark: It’s crazy but you’re right, we’re so lucky here in Western Australia we closed our borders and we have practically no cases as a result, but that’s more the luck of geography really.
Donnie: You’re so lucky there, still time to put a ‘chimp on the barbie’ and enjoy yourselves (laughs)
Mark: I did tell you last time it’s not the chimps we put on there!
Donnie: (laughs) There’s cases here but it’s really publicised and it’s really under the microscope and it’s really focused on right now and I believe that it wasn’t and it was treated like a hazard or any other disease that could kill you. And there’s a lot of them, there’s AIDS still, there’s a lot of things that could get you, driving in your car or motorcycle you could get killed, a lot out there can kill you, but if it wasn’t so publicised it probably wouldn’t have been noticed as much. There’s a spike in people being killed but that’s because they’re looking for it. They’re really watching for it, it’s big business on the news and it was really highly publicised. Anything that you focus on attracts that energy to it, I mean I’m not minimising it whatsoever but I think for the most part we have a better chance than not. We’ll get through this.
Mark: Touch wood I’ve never had flu and that’s been around forever.
Donnie: You know I don’t get sick either, if I get sick it’s normally because an organ died…
Mark: (laughs)
Donnie: (laughs) or maybe my heart exploded or something like that! Big sick, but I don’t get colds or flu or anything like that and a lot of people don’t. It just depends on the situation and what your health’s like to begin with. But I guess you gotta wonder is it your time (laughs).
Mark: Yes is the hand of fate on your shoulder or is it not.
Mark: Last time we spoke I wanted to fit in an Anniversary but we got side-tracked! Enuff Z’Nuff’s ‘10’ is twenty years old this year
Donnie: Yeah that’s crazy, are you sure it’s only 20 years old?
Mark: Yes, 2000.
Donnie: Yeah, that wasn’t the last album we released, that was right before I left the first time, I think ‘Welcome to Blue Island’ came after that.
Mark: Yes back in 2003 and another great record to checkout in lock-down. But ‘10’ stated out with a little track called ‘There Goes My Heart’ – what a song!
Donnie: Oh thank you. ‘10’ is interesting – there’s a record called ‘Paraphernalia’ and part of ‘Welcome to Blue Island’ were kind of part of one big series of recordings that we did at the same time. They were all kind of interconnected those songs – they were all recorded kind of at the same time, but only some of them were finished up. Obviously we picked the first bunch for ‘Paraphernalia’ and then we picked the next bunch, ‘10’ was the second bunch and then we added a few more for ‘Welcome to Blue Island’. So we had three records that came out of those sessions and we just picked what we thought was the strongest first – that was ‘Paraphernalia’ then ‘10’. I like ‘10’ it’s a poppier record.
Mark: ‘Paraphernalia’ is sort of like the heavier record, I guess, probably the heaviest you did, then as you say ‘10’ is like, as you say, the lighter material. Both wonderful albums. I mean I’d be happy with any to take into isolation. And I know we touched on this before, but of your solo records, as well as ‘Beautiful things’ I’d also take your previous record as well.
Donnie: You mean ‘The White Album’?
Mark: Yeah.
Donnie: Thanks Mark, that was my first attempt at doing everything completely by myself. I mean I demo a lot of these things by myself especially now I’m starting to track stuff myself not just because it’s cheaper but because I can focus on stuff when I’m alone. But that was my first attempt at trying to engineer and track things and I got a guy to mix it. But it ended up being two records – a double album because that was just my scam to get more money from the label (laughs)
Mark: (laughs).
Donnie: (laughs) but I do think if you’d taken all the best from those two records you’d have ended up with one good record. But that was a very dark time in my life so I don’t think much about it but when I do listen to it there was some good stuff on there.
Mark: We’re sort of in a funny year at the moment because last year was the 30th Anniversary of the first album and next year is the 30th Anniversary of one of my favourites – ‘Strength’ which I still think to this day is an absolute work of genius that has held up so incredibly well. And it’s also an album that to this day I can play to people and set them off on a journey listening to your music.
Donnie: Well thank you.
Mark: So it would be a great shame if something special didn’t happen to mark those anniversaries, but if something doesn’t happen and Chip stays the way he is I’d love to see you out there in 2021 celebrating your music and that particular anniversary. So now that you’ve told us the tale of how Chip reacted to the song you put on the record, and the fact that it was so downplayed, what do you think will happen next? You’ve held out that olive branch, what would you like to see happen?
Donnie: Well I’ll start by saying right off the bat that there’s a lot of shit that’s been unethical and immoral about the way he’s handling business and the consideration he’s showing for me and the fans. And just that short experience, and I hadn’t really dealt with him in 5 or 6 years. Just that short little experience of making that one song and stuff, a lot of it came back to me of what I wasn’t able to work with anymore. Everything I do musically, my purpose, is for the fans. The people I want to give something to. I make music that I hope they love and enjoy, like when I was a kid growing up and there were records that I listened to that meant the world to me. So like I said I was willing to do that for that sake and for the integrity of the band because I believe now it’s being incredibly devalued. I think the name and the reputation has fallen of for a band that was known for consistently great records for all that time. And that’s not a common thing with bands to keep putting out better records each time. You said one of your favourites was ‘10’ and the ‘Strength’ the second record and then you said ‘The White Album’ – if you look at that span you’re looking to lose to thirty years right there, and still progressing and still evolving. (But with this experience) I think I’m going to be a little more reluctant to want to patch things up with him because I don’t think he gives a fuck. I mean in a perfect world I could do it for the business side of it and for the fans. I could do it because you don’t really have to deal with each other that much. I wrote all the songs basically by myself anyway through all those years, no matter what he says, everything he says is bullshit.
Mark: Chip’s version of Enuff Z’Nuff were down here back in March and the crowd loved the music. There was a lot of love in the room, but I don’t think there was a person in the house who didn’t want to see you.
Donnie: Right, that’s how I would look at a band that I love and stuff. They want to see it with the guy. Take Van Halen, I love Van Halen, even when they came back with Sammy Hagar – it was great, but that’s not the guy! You want to see and hear the guy you listened to all that time. I’m sure they were playing great because I mean they still have my songs, you know. So I’m sure people loved the songs and I’m sure that as we’d never been there were probably people who might not have known the difference. But I would have been disappointed (laughs)
Mark: (laughs) People love the songs, but you’re right it’s not the same.
Donnie: Something like going to Australia for the first time, that’s like a big deal – it should have been something he should have called me for. Because I would have done that. I’m not going to get on those buses or in a van and play all these shitty shows on this cock-rock conglomeration tour and stuff. But things like that I would love to do and I think people would love to see me. We could have done that and then he could have gone about his business, and that’s all I was proposing to him this time – things like that and things that matter every once in a while. Make an event where people can come and see us together and then he can go about his business and he’d have my blessing. That’s just showing you care about other people’s feelings. How I feel and how the fans feel. But he doesn’t, you know.
Mark: It’s impossible. It’s like all of your favourite bands that have been through splits for any number of reasons. Those differences don’t mean much to the fans they all think that it would be so easy to get everyone together, get out there on stage and then when it’s over everyone can go their separate ways. But we all know life is far more complicated than that and that there are so many reasons why things like that don’t happen. But sometimes you can’t just put things aside even if the main reason is just to do it for the fans. Sometimes it’s just not that easy. There’s often so much that has gone on and the fans have never been in a position to see or really understand that.
Donnie: I could see him and not have a problem with him playing shows as Enuff Z’Nuff, I realise he needs that, to capitalise on that and to get work. Just like with Donnie Vie, people don’t recognise that and always relate that in their heads and think “Oh the guy from Enuff Z’Nuff” just like if they see ‘Chip Z’Nuff’ it doesn’t say enough. So I can understand him having to use that and I could live with that, I just didn’t realise he was going to start putting out new records like that. I mean I can’t say that I hate them, or it’s garbage or anything but they’re just not that, they’re not Enuff Z’Nuff. And I never thought in a million years he would do that. I just think his agenda is very questionable, it’s very self-serving, and I don’t want to be sat here bad-rapping him, I made an attempt to do something… And you know I got the shit under the stick from him really badly with the stuff that he pulled but regardless of how I feel about it, it’s absurd, and legally shit. So I have to ‘play dead or drop away’, but I put it out there I made the attempt and I made the effort and I know that was in the best interest of the band’s name and the best interest of the fans. You know what I’m saying.
Mark: I do.
Donnie: That’s not Enuff Z’Nuff that you saw, that was the bass player with three other guys.
Mark: Most importantly though, I think you’ve actually just released the best record of your career in ’Beautiful Things’ and as you say things just keep building. So the million dollar question is – what’s next? Has the pandemic seen you writing more?
Donnie: I go in spurts. Like a lot of songs will come when they’re sent to me from wherever they come from. They come in like a batch. And right after ‘Beautiful Things’ came out a new batch came right then which is strange because normally after I finish a record I’m not in that mode anymore to write and record anymore, I’m in the mode to support that record. But another big batch of songs came almost immediately and we’re talking 15 really strong songs and they’re not all softer like on the ‘Beautiful Things’ record. There are a lot that are heavier and more like my Enuff Z’Nuff writing style. And ‘Strangers in my Head’ was one of them. But that last experience with ‘Beautiful Things’ cost me so much money, and I recouped it, but I didn’t make any money (Donnie is talking about the PledgeMusic experience) It really hit me financially and so it didn’t really economically make sense to go out and make a whole record right away. So I have a lot of songs backlogged and I just wrote one the other day and I keep writing them and I track them and I demo them, and I’m trying to demo them better now so I can actually use the original recordings. But ‘Beautiful Things’ I don’t want to give up on because I think it’s the best record I’ve ever done, it’s like the perfect record for me. But I didn’t get a chance to support it live – we were just getting ready to when the pandemic hit. We were all set to go out live and do some shows and stuff, so it didn’t get the support. So I’m releasing singles now still with the theme of that record. Almost like additions to the ‘Beautiful Things’ record. I feel like I’m still building that record, adding more things to it, you’ll see – I’ve got a ’45 coming out next month on vinyl – an old ’45!
Mark: Put me down for one of those, I’ll be buying one!
Donnie: Oh absolutely, I’ll send you one you don’t have to buy it. I might even hand it to you personally.
Mark: I’ll look forward to it.
Donnie: It’s a new song called ‘Party Time’ that I was going to release first and ‘All My Favourite Things’ was going to be the flip-side. But in light of what happened it wasn’t the right time, it wasn’t appropriate for the times and what was going on and the vibe out there. But I think it’s closer now as things are starting to loosen up and people are starting to go out and party again. And this song is a real party anthem. I’ll send it to you when we get off the phone.
Mark: That would make my year so far.
Donnie: (laughs)
Mark: Were getting close to being out of the pandemic over here, starting to see a few live bands locally, but I miss my live music so much we’ll have to get you over to play it for us! 2021 – save a date, if things keep going well!
Donnie: Absolutely, If I’m still alive next year (laughs)
Mark: (laughs)
Donnie: (laughs)
Mark: But you never know what’s next: maybe the Zombie apocalypse, maybe the alien invasion?
Donnie: (laughs) Well so far we haven’t seen anyone that’s died that’s appeared to come back to life so we don’t have the zombies yet. It’s just one of those things, the world goes round in cycles and every now again something happens and some changes are made. Things change and we have to evolve and we have to adapt until one day it all just ends. But I believe there are higher powers that have more to do with things than just us and there’s reasons for everything and when you look back years later you can see it unfold. Even things that seem unpleasant maybe can end up being a good thing.
Mark: Maybe, I just find it hard to get a positive at the moment out of this thing though, it seems to be driving us all apart in so many ways. And personally for me it’s taken away the thing I love most – live music, and you don’t realise how important things are until they’re taken away. Maybe that’s the lesson. The only consolation Donnie is that people like yourself are writing some wonderful music for us – music that has passion and emotion, the way music should be. I think I need to hear ‘Party Time’ actually I think we all do!
Donnie: Can I just say one thing before I go?
Mark: Of course.
Donnie: Two of the greatest people I ever met that were Pledgers (For the ‘Beautiful Things’ record) and were big fans, people would pledge for all kind of things like dinners and stuff like that, and I started doing a few of them before all this went to shit and one of the was this Australian couple – Jason and Veronica Larson and they are just the most amazing people and I miss them and I wanted to see them so I just wanted to do a personal shout out to them and say ‘hello’. So I hope they’re doing well and maybe they’ll like seeing their name in something!
Mark: That’s wonderful, I hope they read The Rockpit! (laughs)
Donnie: I’m sure they do! They were just two of the coolest people and I felt real comfortable with the right away. They’re out there in Australia, I’m not sure where, but hello!
Mark: Last time we spoke 32 hundred people read the interview, and 14 hundred of those in Australia. There’s plenty of love out there and plenty of fans of great music and there’s no better music than the music you’ve made for us over the years! It’s certainly helped me through these crazy times.
Donnie: Well thank you very much for still thinking of me and for saying that. That’s what I do it for and that’s all I really care about getting out of this – making people happy. And what you said you can’t put a price tag on that I really appreciate that.
Mark: Your legacy I think is that you’ve created some truly timeless music, it’s not 80’s Hairband music, it’s not Power Pop, it’s not Hard Rock, but it’s got elements of all of that and so much more. Music that fans of anyone from The Beatles to Cheap Trick could love. I put up on social media that we were talking tonight and we got a lot of responses if you have a few more minutes to answer some of them?
Donnie: Sure, no problem.
Mark: Casey asks “When Enuff Z’Nuff first came onto the scene and because you had such a different sound to most, who were the bands around you, your contemporaries I guess, that you enjoyed?”
Donnie: (laughs) The bands that came out at the time and what I enjoyed are two different things! There are the obvious ones – Warrant and Poison were out at that time, all of those ‘Cock Rock’ bands were out and I never really enjoyed any of those, it’s just not my bag, not my style you know. But there were a few then or a little later I enjoyed, I loved Oasis they were out but they weren’t in my scene but they were a band I loved to listen to. Then Van Halen of course, that love never went away. It just sucks that we came out at that time just before Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden came out a little bit after ‘Strength’ they weren’t huge when we came on the scene, but I enjoyed those bands. I like good songs, you know, not some Cock Rocking ‘Bang Your Head’ type thing, I like when someone has a good quality song and you can just pick up a guitar and sing it – that’s a sign that somebody has a good song.
Mark: Sometimes when I read the questions that come through I feel I’m reading a 70’s Pop Magazine! No one’s asked what your favourite colour is yet, but I feel that one’s coming!
Donnie: My favourite colour?
Mark: Yeah, we’re not there yet, but we’re close. Steve has asked “What’s your favourite meal in lock-down?” (laughs) I’m imagining it’s the same as your favourite meal out of lock-down!
Donnie: (laughs) Well I really love pizza but there’s other things I’ve been enjoying lately, I got a great family now with Dianna and the kids, I’m lucky in that she cooks for me all the time and it’s always something different. But I eat a lot of stuff on rice, I love rice, it doesn’t have to be Chinese, I like all kinds of things on rice! And she’s been making me Wiener schnitzel – man I love that and I eat a lot of sweets, I eat a lot of cake and pie and shit like that! (laughs)
Mark: They have parmigiana over here in Australia, it’s almost like an adopted national dish, the favourite is chicken parmigiana.
Donnie: Well you’re bound to like that because you’ve been eating tarantulas and shit like that…. And Vegemite! (laughs)
Mark: Vegemite is too far for me, it’s a crazy thing! (laughs) it’s like the leftover stuff when they make beer but horribly sweetened, it’s crazy, only certain people can eat Vegemite, I’ll stick to the beer and stay off the Vegemite!
Donnie: (laughs) You guys eat stuff like I’ve never tried, like I’ve never eaten monkey!
Mark: (laughs)
Donnie: (laughing) I’ve never eaten tarantula!
Mark: (laughing) I’ve never eaten a whole one!
Donnie: (laughs) I’ve never put another Chimp on the barbie either! (laughing) I mean that’s new to me so we’ll trade that for parmigiana! Anything with red sauce and Parmesan cheese can’t be bad! You could have tarantula parmigiana you know what I mean? (laughs)
Mark: I’ll have a leg! (laughs) I’m looking on the floor now to see if anything’s crawling past, but we’re OK so far.
Donnie: That’s a good day!
Mark: Thank you so much Sir! Always a pleasure
Donnie: We’ll stay in touch!
Mark: I’m not going to sleep now till I hear ‘Party Time’!
Donnie: I’ll send it to you right now! It’s coming right over man. Look after yourself buddy!
Mark: I will mate, you too Donnie. We’ll talk real soon!
As a footnote to the interview Donnie told me a tale bout an old Enuff Z’Nuff Tour that seems fitting in the crazy times we’re going through because you never know what might happen or how and when your world gets out of your control… I wasn’t quite sure how to fit it in but here it is…
Donnie: One of the last times Chip and I went to Germany, we were on a tour with a bunch of bands, we went through Europe and we got to Germany, and by the time we got to Germany we were miserable. The bands sucked that we were playing with, the people had been rude, at the hotel they were rude, the staff in the restaurants were rude, it was just a bad experience. The bands all went out after the last show and Chip and I didn’t go out because we finally got a chance to rest, so we stayed in and the next day we had a bunch of TV interviews and shit like that. But while they were all out someone had broken into their Hotel rooms and stolen all their passports and money and shit, so they were looking at us, pointing the finger. And we were like ‘Fuck you man’, and Chip and I said “that’s it we’re cancelling everything for tomorrow, cancelling all these TV shows and we’re going home”. And we did, and right when we got off the plane in Chicago that’s when I watched on TV right then, the second plane hitting the World Trade Centre. So if we didn’t leave when we did, we would have been stuck there for a month or more – that would have been fucked up!
