Kenny Gordon Of The Legendary Band Pure Hell
Interview By: Ginger Coyote
I have known Kenny for years and recently saw he was playing The Mosswood Meltdown with John Waters and The B 52’s so I decided to hit him up for an interview. Kenny obliged me I hope you dig my interview with him.
Punk Globe: Thank you for the interview Kenny. Pure Hell originated in Philadelphia am I correct ? Who was in the original lineup?
KG – Hello Ginger; the original band circa 1974 was myself (lead vocals / bass / rhythm guitars), Spider (drums), Preston Morris ( lead guitars) and Lenny Steel (bass / rhythm guitar)
Punk Globe: Tell us how you came up with Pure Hell as your band name.
KG – Initially Spider, Preston, and I got together as an instrumental trio back in Philadelphia around 1973 – early 74. We had similar tastes in music among the small ring of local musicians and artists, quite rare, innovative, and eccentric. Growing up with radio and television the whole world was exposed to us, the full range of genres in music and entertainment. We leaned toward the innovative approach of not doing what had already been done, to make our own footprints. Introduced and indulging in mind-altering drugs like LSD, it was around the glam era I named our trio Pretty Poison from the psychological thriller movie featuring Anthony Perkins and Tuesday Welds. By the time we experienced the nightlife in Manhattan (half the city worked and partied from dusk to dawn), I found out a lot a people were like us in the streets with the same motives. And also being a hot rod fanatic since I was a kid (my brother had a GTO and we’d go drag racing in New Jersey), I borrowed the name PURE HELL from a AA/Fuel Roadster that suited the emerging scene to be dubbed ‘Punk and New Wave’.
Punk Globe: You started the band in 1974 who were your influences back then?
KG – Wow! Conformity breeds mediocrity… anything that wasn’t mediocre, afraid of change or indifference: Little Richard, 60s girl groups, Alice Cooper when they were The Spiders, the horror sci-fi movie CHILDREN OF THE DAMNED, Ian Flemming’s 007, Jimi Hendrix, Otis Redding, Frank Zappa, Jack Cassidy with Pappa John Creach, Sid Barrett, Iggy and The Stooges, The New York Dolls (we came to temporarily reside in their rehearsal loft when they broke up and The Heartbreakers were formed – look for my memoir), and the MC 5 – RIP Wayne Kramer.
Punk Globe: HR from The Bad Brains has said Pure Hell influenced The Bad Brains. How cool is that!
KG – They were the only other African American punk band who knew how to detonate by with SPIRIT. Them and Henry Rollins’ era Black Flag were the epitome of 80s Hardcore.
Punk Globe: Did the band migrate to New York City or did you stay in Philly?
KG – We were 18 Spider and I when we went to New York City, we were enchanted with being where everyone was trying to make it. The business and Idols were in the Chelsea district of Manhattan, not Philadelphia.
Punk Globe: I am sure you get asked how you got Stinker as a nickname.
KG – Ha… my Mother! Some males forget where they come from, they’re Mother maybe more than their father. Who nourished them before they saw the light of day? I’m not making excuses, I could be bad. Johnny Thunders’s Swedish Mother of their daughter once asked me this same thing.
Punk Globe: Pure Hell started when punk on the East Coast first exploded. Did the band face obstacles getting shows?
KG – Honestly, there’s no other place as populated and diverse as New York City, including Philadelphia. There were a couple of venues that were reluctant mainly out of animosity when we returned to Philadelphia since the Dolls’ loft. They weren’t up to date or speed of what was going on in New York, they had no scene really until The Hot Club started booking acts from CBGB’S through Hilly Chrystal by 1977. I recall Stiv once adamantly questioned the promoter at Grendal’s Lair “Why didn’t you book Pure Hell with us?” The Dead Boys knew us from New York a couple of years before. But it’s actually a small circle of significant musicians with pretty much a similar point of view. Look at the Dolls covering There’s Gonna Be A Showdown, a Gamble & Huff Philly Soul Sound.
Punk Globe: What bands did you enjoy playing within that period?
KG – For one was San Francisco’s The Nuns with Jennifer Miro and Alejandro Escovedo, Richard Hell and The Voidoids, and The Dead Boys always had something hazardous happen and Sid Vicious was like ‘Watch that first step!’ before our European tours
Punk Globe: Are you writing a book tell us about that Kenny.
KG– I’m still in the process of writing actually, except now not for Teddie Dahlin’s New Haven Publishing in Norway. It’s a memoir aiming to be as accurate and authentic as can be, upfront and behind the scenes.
Punk Globe : Pure Hell took a hiatus from playing but you are back and playing the Mosswood Meltdown festival in the Bay Area with The B 52’s and others tell us about that.
KG – This takes us back to the roots as I mentioned earlier, we used to go to TLA (Theatre of the Living Arts) on South Street in Philadelphia and see movies on LSD like John Waters’ PINK FLAMINGOS and PERFORMANCE with Mick Jagger and Anita Pallenberg. So to get back around The B 52s (memories of them and Devo) and John Waters is like New York City 1977 all over again. When we as you say “took a hiatus” it was all over for the primary cause of figures like The Clash, Dead Boys, Sex Pistols, etc., it died along with Sid and Nancy. So this is fresh air along with Redd Kross and fresh crowd enthusiasm. I’m (we’re) gracious and delighted!
Punk Globe: Besides the festival what else does Pure Hell have in the future?
KG – Depends on how a project of confidentiality we’re currently contracted to turns out. We certainly want to do all we can, as we’ve evolved and progressed over time.
Punk Globe: Do you have any Internet addresses you would like to share with the readers?
KG –
purehell_est1974@instagram.com
purehellofficial@gmail.com
For T Shirts and Apparel
Punk Globe: Describe yourself in three 3 words Kenny.
KG – Extra Sensory Perception
Punk Globe: Any last words for Punk Globe readers?
KG – Keep your eyes on Capitol Hill !
Punk Globe: You Rock Kenny Thank you so much
