A Tribute to Bobby Durango

Bobby Durango by C. Anderson

My friend Bobby Durango passed away last night.  I met Bobby way back in the early to mid 1980's before anyone outside of South Florida had heard of The Rock City Angels.  Bobby had one of the best voices in rock n roll and stage presence to boot.  RCA left South Florida and signed with Geffen Records.  They released one classic album, "Young Man's Blues" and then seemed to fade into obscurity. Several years later New Renaissance Records released what is known as "The Glam Album."  This is another "classic" which was recorded prior to the band leaving South Florida and signing with Geffen.  It was actually their "demo" which they talk about in the interview below.

Sometime in the mid to late 90's Andy Panik and I crossed paths on the net.  Andy told me about this new recording by RCA.  At some point I became the band's "manager" (that would be Andy and Bobby as there was not an active band at that point).  We worked on putting together Rock City Angels reunion in Miami and tried to get a record deal for the new music - "Use Once and Destroy."  I created and managed the bands's web page and over time it all kind of fell apart.  A long story not really worth telling.  In any case, Bobby eventually found the money he needed to "sweeten" Use Once & Destroy.  He put a new version of the band together and  released the album!!!!   One of the band's first shows was in Fort Lauderdale, Fl and I went to see them.  Bobby was still the great performer I remembered.  The picture above is from that night after RCA played. 

Bobby's passing makes me sad.  He is a rock n roll legend in my book.  Not knowing what else to say, here is a transcript of an interview I did with Bobby and RCA circa 1980 something.  This article appeared in Gold Coast Live! magazine with RCA on the cover.




Rockin With The Angels

words & photos by Catharine Anderson


The Rock City Angels have become South Florida's very own "underground rock stars." Though there are very few clubs allowing bands such as the Angels to grace their stages, The Rock City Angels have become very well known and very popular inspite of the fact. The band gets press. The band gets girls - lots of girls. The band gets fan mail. And...most important, they get gigs when there are gigs to be had. The Rock City Angels are in demand. Everytime a new "progressive rock club" or "original music club" opens up they want the Rock City Angels to play. Why so? Because the Rock City Angels can draw a crowd and that's what it takes to keep a club owner happy.

Although the Angels have become"glam" stars on the so called South Florida "underground circuit." they still have a long way to go in order to reach their ultimate goals. The band members feel, in their hearts, that they play the kind of rock n roll that people would really get into if exposed to it. The Rock City Angels play the type of music they grew up with - glam. The band's influences include Gary Glitter, The New York Dolls, The Rolling Stons, The Sex Pistols, The Dead Boys, The Bay City Rollers, The Monkees, Aerosmith and a variety of styles from Motown to metal to everything inbetween.

"We just play a straight rock n roll type of beat," claims bassist Andy Panic. "We're trying to bring rock n roll back."

"Instead of liking all kinds of music, alot of people only like a certain type of thing," states vocalist Bobby St. Valentine. "Let's face it, if you're a mature musician, you listen to all kinds of things. We don't want to be labeled "heavy metal." You're going to hear all kinds of influences in our music - heavy metal, Motown, punk, every kind of music there is. Funk. It's all there."

"Rock n roll never went away, its always been consistant," points out guitarist Jimmy James. "There have been other fads, like disco and heavy metal."

Bobby interjects, "Yeah, but its gotten to the point where rock n roll is underground."

"All that other stuff is popularized," explains Andy. "Pretty soon what will happen is people are going to go 'remember guitars?'"

"And drums. Real drums. Not synthensizers," adds Greg Sparks.

The Rock City Angels differentiate between stage costumes and music. The Angels believe that if you dress "glam" and sell yourself as "glam" then you should play the music that fits the image. "All these bands look like Aerosmith ten years ago," points out Steven Knight, "But they don't have the balls to go out there and play the same music. That's one thing we can say."

"Even Aerosmith, these kids don't know what Aerosmith is," says Andy.

"In California the big deal is that all the heavy metal bands go out and say, 'We're a glam band.' They all try to look like The New York Dolls or something. And you know what they sound like? They all sound like Ratt!!!! \" explains Jimmy.

"I get so mad," Bobby says. "They're taking our image. They're taking our whole look and everything like that. They're just giving us a bad name because they're not playing rock n roll. They're palying bullshit!"

"Its all connected to the look," agrees Andy.

"the New York Dolls could come out right now and people would call them a heavy metal band," claims Bobby. "And that's the truth! And anybody who thinks Aerosmith is a heavy metal band is stupid


"Anybody who knows about blues and rock n roll knows," states Andy.

"Even T. Rex," adds Bobby. "People would think they are a heavy metal..."

"yeah, they have long hair," agrees Steven.

"The Who could come out right now and people would call them punk," says Bobby. "Its true man."

Being in a band in South Florida is not always encouraging. The Angels have managed to stick it out over the years and still believe in what they are doing. The band has recorded an eleven song cassette which will be released shortly. "Alot of people have other Rock City Angel demos," says Bobby, "but this one is different. This one is definitely better than any we've done in the past. It's like the first time it's happened! The only reason we're putting this out is because me and Andy have been playing together for five years and this is it! We're sick of all the bullshit. This is kind of a last ditch effort. We're sick of sitting around. We want to get the attention of a label. Not a big label. Just a label that will get it distributed. Safety Net, Enigma...we don't care. We want to sign with anyone who will get our stuff out."

"Especially Enigma," says Jimmy. "I played the stuff out in California. People really loved it!"

"The funny thing is that people who don't know us, or never heard of us, hear us and like us, " explains Bobby. "We get alot of letters and stuff. People around here just don't understand."

"Yeah, people see us with long hair and they think we're heavy metal. They hear us and find out we don't play heavy metal and then they think we suck!" explains Jimmy.

"WE could play heavy metal," Bobby points out. "That's the thing. This band is so multi-talented. You listen to our tape and there's not one single kind of song on there. Not all the songs sound the same. There's alot of range. There's a range of musical styles."

The Rock City Angels have a number of originals which they play as well as a number of 70's style "glam" covers. The band does songs by all their favorite influences, but really rocks when they do their own songs. Included in their live set, as well as on their cassette, are songs like "Out of the Mouths of Babes," (an "All the Young Dudes" type anthem song), "Wild Tiger" (a straight ahead rockin "come on baby and f----me song), Rough and Tumble" and one song that sums up what The Rock City Angels are about - "Teenage Lipstick Boys."

"Every single song sounds real simple and everything," says Bobby. "But if you liten to the words, they're not. All our words deal with subjects like lonliness...but its not pessemistic."

The Rock City Angels asked that this interview be dedicated to Ricky Nelson. "The thing is they blame it all on drugs," Jimmy says. ""Well, f---- that man. He died! F--- the drugs! He's dead! Why nail him for that? He's dead already. Poor guy - he's got the music behind him."

"We knew him," says Andy.

The Angels want to thank everybody for their support! Their tape will be available in any record store that will carry it or by mailing. $6.95 to the Angels. "If the postage is less than 75 cents, we'll put a quarter in the envelope with an autographed picture of Andy," they promise.

Use Once & Destroy