Illinois Entertainer May 2020 | Page 10

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. Continued on page 18