bottle a little bit, which was not good. But I
really enjoyed doing this film after that,
although I don’t know when it’s coming
out.
IE: But Michael Madsen was in it!
CC: And he is such a sweet guy. The movie
had a bit of an apocalyptic groove to it. I
wasn’t able to read the entire script, because
IE: I still remember as a kid, feeling so
proud to have tracked down a Japanese
import edition of The Runaways — Live in
Japan.
CC: That was a fun album. And that’s my
favorite album, that’s for sure.
Photo: Robert Sobree
IE: The other night, Rock and Roll High
School came on at 3 a.m., featuring your
05•2020
a lot of the stuff was on-the-spot directing.
But I just loved working with all the other
actors, and I brought a lot of props from my
house. It was a super low budget fun thing
to do. posters in scenes. I compulsively watch it,
every time.
CC: I was up for that film. I was up for that
and the film Foxes at the same time, and I
had to choose between the two.
CC: And Alan Merrill was in it, the guy
who wrote “I Love Rock and Roll” and a
recent victim of the coronavirus.
CC: I did not know that. I loved him. He
probably filmed his scenes in New York,
because I know that the director flew out
there to do the movie. He passed away from
the coronavirus, and he was a sweetie. A
few weeks ago, I was looking through my
drawers and he had sent me a CD that I
hadn’t even had the time to listen to. I’m
gonna pop that in and give it a listen now.
But he was truly a darling man. He a very
popular guy, especially in Japan, but you’d
never know it. Because I’ve watched a lot of
people in this business get some stardom
and change. But that was not Alan. IE: YOU were almost Riff Randall?
CC: Maybe. I can’t remember who exactly I
was reading for, but it looked like they
wanted to give me the part. But I wanted to
work with Jodie Foster in a bad way. But
what an iconic film, though. It’s still very
cool.
10 illinoisentertainer.com may 2020
IE: The song “Roxy Roller” is a cover,
right?
CC: Yeah. Nick Gilder wrote that. I opened
for Nick a couple of times.
IE: How did you assemble this cast of
cameos?
CC: Matt did. Billy Corgan is a good friend
of Matt’s, Juliette Lewis was a friend of
Matt’s. The Veronicas and Brody were big
fans of The Runaways, and a fan of mine
just because I was the lead singer. So they
were on board, and they wanted to pay
their homage to the song. And of course,
The Veronicas couldn’t be nicer girls or
more talented. And Brody was incredible –
she was pregnant when she did that, and I
was so happy for her. And – being a mom
myself – we just connected on some deep,
wonderful levels. She was just so much fun,
and very giving of her incredible talent. An
what you see on that video we made of the
session is live, and those are the vocals we
used on the record.
IE: And you dedicate the disc to late
Runaways drummer Sandy West.
CC: She passed away in 2016. It was just
horrendous. But even when she was terri-
bly ill and she was bald, she went to see my
son’s shows. Just to give him respect. She
was just my best friend, and best friends
basically from the time I left The Runaways
— we always stayed really close. She
helped me paint my house, helped us build
a room when I was married to Robert Hays.
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