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Dave Peifley Interview
Lance Monthly (LM): How did you first get interested in music?
Dave Peifley (DP): It actually happened gradually from playing Beach Boys records then The Beatles, and finally the Monkees' TV show convincing me to pretend I can play bass guitar and get in a band.
LM: Was D.B.L.I.T.Y. your first band?
DP: No. My first band was called Stonehenge. It existed during my last two years of high school and a couple members went on to long careers as musicians. Poor lads.
LM: Where and when was D.B.L.I.T.Y. formed?
DP: We all came from the deep west end of the Allentown area and formed in 1975. I don't know who actually started [the band]. Guitarist Andrew Benton Green dragged me into it.
LM: Who all comprised the band?
DP: Greg McCoy (aka Iggy Norant) — vocals and guitar; Dave Peifley (aka Arro Gant) — bass guitar; Andrew Benton Green (aka Obby Noxious) — lead guitar; Terry Lee Gross (aka T.L. Gross) — drums. The alias names were our punk monikers: Ignorant, Arrogant, Obnoxious, and Gross.
LM: What does "D.B.L.I.T.Y." stand for?
DP: D.B.L.I.T.Y. was a depression era formula for prosperity. It stands for "Dress British, Look Irish, Think Yiddish." Our guitarist's mom suggested it and we all loved the name, so that's what we always were known as.
LM: Where did the band typically play?
DP: We played at high schools, colleges, parties and mostly in bars in spite of the fact that Andy and Greg were only sixteen and still in high school. This reulted in the Pennsylvania L.C.B. threatening to fine any establishment serving alchohol that hired us.
LM: How would you describe the band's sound? What bands influenced you?
DP: Take a big heaping spoonful of The Beatles and another of The Who — basically the same formula as The Nazz I would say. You may as well throw in a pinch of The Stones and The Kinks while you're at it.
LM: Were any of the Allentown teen clubs still opened by the time you started?
DP: I was at King Arthur's Court just before it closed. We played mostly at ski lodges, bars and nightclubs in Pennsylvania until the L.C.B. forced us into playing mostly in New Jersey. I can tell you we were very much in demand at the Jersey bars, which were primarily attended by high school and college students.
LM: Dale Schneck, who also managed some of the area's bands of the '60s, managed D.B.L.I.T.Y. How did you hook up with him?
DP: I approached Dale and he was not crazy about our tape, although I think he did like "Go West Young Man." Dale had a lot to do with directing us in a more commercial mode and I think like with The Beatles and George Martin it was our pictures that peaked his interest.
LM: How popular locally did D.B.L.I.T.Y. become?
DP: Well, being chased out of the Pennsylvania clubs by the L.C.B. didn't help our popularity at home, but we were very popular in Jersey and also at Parkland High School where Andy and Greg attended, and in the "Cut My Hair Today" period in L.A. We were doing very well on the radio at Beverly Hills High School.
LM: How far was the band's "touring" territory?
DP: The Poconos, Scarsdale High School in New York and finally the band moved to Los Angeles.
LM: Did D.B.L.I.T.Y. release any singles?
DP: No. Dale was trying to create a tax shelter to release records and later we were dukin' it out with The Bee Gees for the top spot on the Beverly Hills High radio chart.
LM: D.B.L.I.T.Y. has two songs on the new "Allentown Anglophile" CD. Where and when were the songs recorded?
DP: "Go West Young Man" was from our first session done in a studio in Limport, Pennsylvania in early '76 and "Cut My Hair Today" was recorded in a studio on Hollywood Blvd. in '77. What amazed me about the first session was how flawless the rest of the band was being in the studio for the first time, thus enabling us to record songs for under a hundred dollars. The "Cut My Hair Today" sessions in L.A. were marred by the people who owned the studio wanting to sign us to all kinds of contracts, but it was a disaster because they wanted us to update our sound and we refused to.
LM: Who wrote "Go West Young Man" and "Cut My Hair Today?"
DP: "Go West Young Man" began with Andy who had the chords and the title. I wrote the verses and the remainder of the chorus while listening to him playing the chords at his house one afternoon. I wrote "Cut My Hair Today" which turned out to be our swan song. I wrote the whole thing in my head while lying in bed after a night of discord with the people at the studio who thought we would be fantastic if we just sounded like other '70s bands.
LM: Did D.B.L.I.T.Y. write many songs?
DP: Yes. Fortunatly I have about an album's worth of recordings we did of original songs. I had a live tape some years ago but I gave it to Greg and I don't know if he still has it.
LM: Did the band make any TV appearances?
DP: We did a half hour TV show at Beverly Hills High at the very end of our time there. I have only seen it once, but I remember I thought it turned out very well. Andy has it now. The person who did it is Jordan Bernhard and I believe he still lives in Beverly Hills.
LM: What year and why did the band break up?
DP: In 1978. We just didn't feel part of the '70s and felt more of a kinship to late '60s bands like Badfinger and The Nazz... and then to The Ramones and The Sex Pistols.
LM: What about today? How often, and where, do you perform (if at all)? If not, what keeps you busy?
DP: I have never been a member of a band since D.B.L.I.T.Y. because I feel this was the perfect band for me to be a part of and anything else would be a step down. I owned several record stores in the '80s called Play it Again, which I started in 1980 and another called Toones, which I purchased in 1984. All were located in Allentown or Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Neil Hever worked for me in the early days as did a friend of his, Howard Leon, who is now V.P. of Promotions for Universal Records in New York. I currently own a record store in the west end of Allentown called POSITIVELY 19th STREET which has served as a focal point for me to meet people like Bob Daugherty of The King's Ransom, Mark Jennings and Hub Willson of The Shillings, and Richie Kerecz and Dave Wagner of The Dooley Invention. Mark Jennings even brought Dale Schneck with him when he came last year.
D.B.L.I.T.Y. wrote and recorded some new material in 1993 to help singer Greg McCoy launch a solo career. Three members were involved, excluding our drummer [with whom] none of [us] has been in contact since the band broke up. I know it is not common practice for your website to cover post-'60s bands as it is not common for labels like Distortions to include such bands on their '60s comps, but with D.B.L.I.T.Y., I think Dave felt the band was the younger brother of bands like The Shillings, King's Ransom, Limits and Dooley Invention. This is a testament to the profound impact of the British Invasion on the Lehigh Valley, which lasted long after John, Paul, George and Ringo played their last notes together.
LM: How involved were you with the Allentown CD?
DP: I acquired the King's Ransom material and gave it to Neil Hever to salvage. I also made a prototype with a basic design of the cover and the name.
LM: How do you best summarize your experiences with D.B.L.I.T.Y.?
DP: When you consider that Andy has been working with former Velvet Underground member John Cale for over fifteen years including playing in Cale's band for the last few years, I think I can say with confidence that the industry's practice of ignoring talented young bands has lead us to where we are now, which most certainly is NOWHERE.