Interviewed by Brian Rademacher
Date: February 22nd, 2005
Let's start at the beginning of your career.
Well if you want to go way back in the beginning, I use to bang pots and pans on my mother's floor. I was playing piano at the age of three.
What about the Prophet days?
When I joined Prophet we first played High School Proms and it was kind of funny, like most of the time. High school proms were slow dance stuff. We came out and played one whole side of 2120 by Rush and people would just look at us. We recorded one LP at that time. After that Bruno Ravel asked me to join Danger Danger.
Tell us about the first time you got signed by Sony/CBS?
It was a thrill. We got signed and we started working on the self-titled release in 1989.
Did you expect “Naughty Naughty” to be the big song on the CD?
Actually not, we had a ballad that we recorded but “Naughty Naugty” took off. That whole LP did great we sold in the millions.
Your second release in 1991 "Screw It" came out after that. It didn't do as well.
I thought "Screw" was a great release. It had some great songs. It did well but not as good as our first LP. Then Cockroach came out in 1993 with the grunge scene taking off and it just wasn't happening for us at that point. And the band fired me. I was like the 3rd man out. It was all a business decision.
After Danger Danger you formed Bone Machine.
Yeah Bone Machine was a great band. We formed in 1993 and had current Tommy Lee guitarist John Allen. Well before the Crue reunion. We released 3 CD's - "Dog", "Search and Destroy", and in 1996 we release "Disappearing Inc" - which is a much sought after CD not only for the music but in 1996 I had a premonition about the Twin Towers and we had the cover of the CD with the Twin Towers crumbling. It's eerie that later that would actually happen. We do not print that cover anymore.
I read something that you worked on the Sonic the hedgehog Sega Game. How did that come about?
The maker of that game was a big fan of Danger Danger and got in touch with me. I did the voice and sang for the character "The Big Cat" Then I also wrote the melody and lyric's plus sang on the sequel Sonic 2... It's funny because I have a huge following in Japan. There is this whole underground thing in Japan about Sonic and just think one of my biggest accomplishments I will be known for is Sonic ha-ha.
In 2000, you formed Melodica.
Melodica was a cool band we played the Godz Festival in 2002. My favorite Melodica release was "Lovemetal" we had a guest appearance by Tony Harnell of TNT. Melodica later formed into Poley/Pichler (Gerhard Pichler). We released a new CD called Big on Z records. The LP did good it was more melodic than past releases.
Ted you have been very successful in your career.
Yes I have been lucky....
You're back with Danger Danger. How does that feel?
They asked me to come back and it is great. Everything comes full circle. Danger Danger is a part of my life and I will always be a part of it. Like I said the reason for me being fired was a business decision. Not that we had bad blood.
Are you recording a new Danger Danger CD?
No, we are just touring and playing to big crowds. Just going out and having fun as Danger Danger.
Do you plan on recording anything in the near future?
To tell you the truth, as I called you earlier this morning to move the interview from 9am to noontime. I was in the recording studio where I called you. I have been working for the last three days recording a new Ted Poley CD.
Can you tell me the title or record company?
All I can tell you this is my best work I have done by far. This will be a killer CD. It is explosive and fans will love it.
When will the CD come out?
Around summer/fall...
In conclusion, do you want to say anything to your fans and friends?
Yeah. We are working hard on the new CD. It is my best work I ever done. It is total killer. Please visit me at my website. www.tedpoley.com I am a true fan of fans. I will do anything for the fans. You want something autographed that you buy from my site. No problem you got it. I love the fans and want to thank them for all the support they gave me through all the years. You are all the best. And I want to thank Brian from rockeyez.com for the interview. I hope to see you all when we go out on tour.
Thanks again!
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