History of Punk in Buffalo

Fred Mann: also known as ROCK 
MANN, the lead singer from The ENEMIES, the first & BEST punk band from 
Buffalo whose STYLE & ENERGY everyone tried to duplicate in their own 
bands AFTER they broke up. He was one of the four who WROTE 
'Disconnected', which you know was re-done on 'Boy'. No one from the 
band could be contacted because 3 were out of town or had unlisted #'s, 
& Fred had moved out of his apt. & back to his fathers. The Goos TRIED 
to contact him, but they didn't know HOW to, so they re-recorded 
'Disconnected' anyways & figured that they really wouldn't make much $'s 
from it anyway (they didn't know at recording time that 'Name' would go 
gold & approach platinum!!), & when 'Name' started selling, Fred called 
a lawyer & said "Hey, our tune is on the CD & we want our small 
percentage, what should I do?". Of course the lawyer got in contact with 
the band after they played the song at a Minneapolis show & served 
'legal-papers' on the band to start sending whatever %age they received 
from "Disconnected'. It would amount to  6 cents per CD sold. Well, Fred 
got his 1st royalty check 2 months ago $2500 & will receive a check 
quarterly for the remainder of the CD's sales (or radio station 
airplay). The next check should be even larger, because, even though 
'Naked' didn't do well, 'Long Way Down' will help out because anyone who 
hears the song in the movie will buy the CD, & in the video of that 
song, the GGD's will be playing "behind" & "in" the actual movie 
footage!! Should be cool. Fred hasn't played in a band in over 5 years, 
& for the other 3 Enemies, they haven't played in ANY bands for over 12 
years, & they can ALL USE the money. That's their ONLY thanks or reward 
for enduring 3-4 years of people spitting at them & throwing things at 
the stage because they DARED to play their OWN songs in bars. They were 
the GOFATHERS of punk in Buffalo. I was also VERY close to Joe Bompczyk, 
the guitar player & MAIN songwriter. After the Enemies broke up, Joe 
played with The Restless, a sort of All-Star band put together by a 
greedy promoter who broke up 4 good bands & put the best guys in The 
Restless. The promoter (who shall go UNNAMED) had MANY contacts in the 
music business, & EVERY major record company flew A & R people to 
Buffalo for about 6 months-1 year & tried to sign them. They turned down 
numerous offers, finally signing a 10 year deal with Polygram. The 10 
year deal had (in the fine print, of course) an option to renew or drop 
at the end of EVERY year. The Restless put out 1 great LP in 1984, they 
were flown to New York City to shoot a video for an old Enemies song "I 
Wann Know", & the video was on MTV's medium rotation for a few months. 
The bad part was that after the 1st LP, Polygram USED The Restless as a 
tax write-off & promoted Bon Jovi (who they also signed in the SAME 
year) to death. They were dropped from the label after 1 record, then 
Bob James, the other guitarist, left the band to form The Rain w/ 
Pauline DiGati, who he would eventually marry. Pauline is the girl 
singer on the GG Dolls video w/ Lance Diamond of the tune "My Girl", 
which was recored for a benefit gig. I HAVE a copy of the video, but NOT 
the actual 45. The Restless continued as a 4 piece band & recorded six 
NEW songs (all Joe's) with Ed Stasium producing (he had just produced 
the Ramones "Rock n Roll High School") in Toronto, & the demo was 
shopped to record companies, but there was no interest & the band only 
did 1 or 2 live shows as a 4 piece band before breaking up for good. Joe 
turned into a recluse, he was SO disillusioned with the music business, 
that he literally dropped out of sight, NEVER played again, & even 
changed his phone # & instructed his parents to NOT GIVE IT OUT to 
anyone, including me & Fred (his BEST friends). After Joe's wedding, I 
NEVER saw him again. He still lives in Buffalo, is married & has a kid, 
& that's ALL I know. I stayed friends  with Fred to THIS day, but he 
never heard from Joe either. When Fred tried to get in touch w/ Joe for 
his approval of the royalties for 'Disconnected', Joe wouldn't talk to 
him & told his parents to tell Fred to do whatever he wanted. They STILL 
haven't actually talked. SO SAD!!! Joe was one of the great guitar 
players of ALL-TIME. His tunes had hooks that could snag whales, yet the 
punk energy that every band tries to copy nowadays. I guess Joe is 
getting his money, but he's NOT talking. Robbie recorded 2 of Fred's 
post- Enemies bands demos at Trackmaster (the bands: The Immortals, & 
The Living Daylights), which I DO have copies of. I liked Robbie's 
style, so I asked him if he's produce MY band (100%) at Tmaster. He said 
YES & I gave him a four track version of the 5 songs I was going to 
record so that he could be familiar, we set up the date w/ studio time & 
were READY to go. AGAIN: misfortune. My band shows up at Trackmaster on 
the day to record, & the studio is CLOSED & no one is around. We've got 
all our equipment in our cars, it's POURING rain outside, & we're 
freaking out thinking we're in the Twilight Zone!!! After checking out 
EVERY possible entrance to the studio, we finally found a security guard 
who told us that The GGD's equipment had been stolen from their truck in 
N.Y.City the night before, & that they were going to ahng around the 

City for a few more days to scour pawn shops. I didn't have time t 
re-schedule w/Robbie because My lead player & bassist was moving out of 
state in 10 days!! I scheduled w/ my old studio & did the 5 tunes, but I 
NEVER got to record with Robbie producing. He still thinks he "owes me 
one". I understand & it's cool w/ me. But I DO wonder what the songs 
would've sounded like if HE had done them!! Anyways, I get to go 
backstage ANYTIME they play in The Bay Area, & we always talk. I moved 
here in 1991 & haven't put together another stage band yet. I was on the 
VERGE last year, when after 9 months rehearsing with a bass player who 
could SING (I had to sing before-limited range!), all we needed was a 
drummer & we'd be ready to GO ON STAGE. His wife moved back to 
Minneapolis & he followed & another attempt thwarted. Now I'm w/ another 
guitar player trying AGAIN; maybe it's not meant to be, but I've written 
over 100 songs & Joe Bompczyk PRODUCED my first 45, 'Fall In Love Every 
Minute' b/w 'Future Sound' at Squire Studios in Buff. The Enemies had 
done a couple 45's there, so it was cool. I Learned from the best. So 
did Johnny & Robbie. The Enemies were local HEROES when Johnny was a 
bus-boy at The Continental (the ONLY punk club in Buff), way before the 
GG Dolls ever existed. There you go: THE COMPLETE MUSICAL FAMILY TREE & 
HISTORY in a nutshell. Thanks for your time & commitment to the band, I 
was there at the beginning, & lived to tell the tale. EVERY word is the 
ABSOLUTE truth. Later.. Mark Cy  100%...sf, ca..................