Page 92 - ION Indie Magazine MarchApril 2022

Marty Haviik: Thank you, Teddy, for this opportunity to work with you on this interview. I've
had the glorious pleasure of sharing the stage with you at the Coconut Teaser in
Hollywood, once upon a time, I think back in 2000, and also, in 2019, celebrating our mutual
friend Lizzie Grey's memorial celebration at the Whisky. Those were fun times for me. If
you would please share with our readers who Rebel Rebel is and what you are all about.

Teddy Heavens: Hello, and yes, the good old Coconut Teazer days in Hollywood are legendary.
We used to play the Glitter and Glam nights once a month for years. We are a shock punk band
from Hollywood, California, and we have been independent artists since 1988, when we moved
here from Albuquerque New Mexico. Currently, we have me, Teddy Heavens on guitar, Jet on
lead vocals, Erik Lancaster on bass, and Gizmo on drums. This line up has been steady for some
years and Gizmo recently came back into the fold after a good decade, after our long-time
drummer Tim Shelton moved to Tennessee. We started out playing in Hollywood and the regional
area in 1988 and released our 7-inch single ‘FTW’ on our own label FTW Records & Filmworks
and have released a slew of albums on our own label since. We were influenced by bands like
Sigue Sigue Sputnik, Motley Crue, Kiss, Fear, and the Plasmatics. In the past we were known for
our crazy stage show, setting stuff on fire, and destroying props, but we had to chill as we were
getting banned from clubs and it got too dangerous, and the liability for injury to the audience
became too great. Now we just bring high energy and hard-hitting songs to the stage along with
our cyber punk rock image and stage show. It's still fun after all these years and you can see how
crazy we were if you search on YouTube hard enough.

MH: If you would share how you all met and formed the infamous Rebel Rebel. What's the
history behind the band?

TH: Like I said, me and Jet came out to Hollywood in 1988 to get things really rolling. Initially we
were brought out by Jonathan Daniel to record demos, as he was looking for a band that was
crossed with Kiss and Sigue Sigue Sputnik. At the time he was a member of the band Candy and
was getting into production. Now he is a big-time manager for Green Day and other platinum acts.
He helped us hook up with managers like Carl Marks (Kiss/Candy), Bill Aucoin (Kiss/Billy Idol),
and Kim Fowley (Runaways), but they wanted us to go in a glam direction, which we were not into
as we wanted to be more like the Plasmatics crossed with Kiss, a lot of makeup and wild stage
show, etc. We hooked up with Gizmo early on and Erik was a youngster who used to come see
us play and eventually we brought him on when the bass position came open. We are like brothers
and really enjoy playing together and hanging out -- no drama or other bullshit, just love for playing
rock and roll. Over all the years we have been together, we have released some cool music,
including a live release from playing in Paris, France, as well as a live release from the Whisky A
Go Go in Hollywood. We have some new music coming out later this year that we are excited
about.