The Tireless Tubes

When the Tubes burst upon the music scene 25 years ago, they brought along a stage show so outrageous they were eventually banned in Las Vegas--no mean feat for a rock band. These days, without the theatrics, but with four of the original members, the Tubes have mellowed out enough to play the Ventura County Fair twice on Friday night.

The old Tubes’ shows consisted of wild sets and all sorts of actors doing things unsuitable for a family newspaper. Most memorably, frantic front man Fee Waybill played Quay Lewd, a stoned-again rock star who sang one of the band’s most famous songs, “White Punks on Dope.” Waybill would don costumes--or nothing at all--while, outside, feminist groups protested songs such as “Mondo Bondage.”

In the early ‘80s, the Tubes gradually became less a satirical cult band and more a hit-making machine, scoring on the charts with mainstream rock songs such as “She’s a Beauty” and “Talk to You Later.”

Despite all the touring and mostly good press, the band never made much money. Waybill left the band in the mid-’80s to act and write songs for others. Waybill continued the story during a recent phone call from his Los Angeles home.

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How is this version of the Tubes different than it was, say, 20 years ago?

We never really changed our version of the band from its inception until I left the band in 1986. Actually two of us left: [keyboardist] Mike Cotten left too. Over the years, the band played without us, slowly fell apart and then stopped. We still have four of the original seven members in this band.

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What resurrected the Tubes?

Back in 1994, Capitol released a “best of” Tubes album that did really well in Europe. So Capitol made us an offer we couldn’t refuse to go to Europe, play some shows and sell some records for them. The whole thing was contingent upon my rejoining the group, and I did. So we went to Europe, had a good time and sold a lot of records for Capitol--we owed them money from before. We decided to stay together. I was getting really bored sitting around writing songs for other people to sing, and I was tired of not performing and wanted to get back on the stage. Things are slowly working out. Tediously slow, but we are having a great time playing.

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Are the Tubes more popular in Europe than they are here?

I dunno. But when we used to do our big show with all the theatrics, the Europeans enjoyed satirical Americans parodying Americans more than the Americans did. It’s hard to convince people: Hey, “White Punks on Dope” was a satire, remember?

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No more theatrics?

Not anymore. We were faced with a problem this time. Those big shows cost us every dime we ever made, and there was never anything leftover for the band. So the problem was, should we do what people expect and do a stage show that will look tired and will never be as good as people remembered it? We decided to make the music first for a change. Before, the music was second and we sold tickets, not records.

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There’s a new album?

Few people know about it, but we actually recorded “Genius in America” last fall and the label [Popular Records] promised a big November release, but then didn’t. Then during Christmas, they sort of just threw it out there and did nothing. They promised us a big re-release in January, and that didn’t happen, either. Then they wouldn’t let us do a video. I told them, “Hey, it’s part of the game, the business, the perception. I don’t care if it sucks and nobody plays it. We want to make a video.” Anyway, that one went right down the tubes, so to speak. The album is more of our social commentary once again as we try to be as sarcastic as possible, but there’s a ballad on it I wrote with Richard Marx, called “How Can You Live With Yourself?”

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Hey, I know her.

Yeah, me too. Anyway, that song was a hit in Denmark and Holland, so they put a sticker on the album, which--get this--due to space constraints, said, “How Can You Live?” That’s not even the name of the song. It’s just been an insane struggle. I think this album is very rock, but the label told us there’s too many different styles on the album and it won’t fit into any radio formats. I said, “Listen to any Tubes album--they’re all like that.” This will be the last Tubes album on this label and you can quote me. We’ll break up and become Sebut. That’s Tubes spelled backward.

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What’s the most misunderstood thing about the band?

Everything. No one understands the satire. Everyone took it literally. They thought I was Quay Lewd. . . . We were too convincing. We were picketed by members of the feminist movement, but in every skit, it was me who got killed. We’ve been totally misunderstood from the very beginning.

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How did the Tubes get banned in Vegas?

Vegas is just total hypocrisy. I think it was around 1982, and we just did our regular show, not trying to top Vegas or anything, and they thought we were lewd. They offer clean, wholesome family sex, but we were lewd. Sometimes the humor did get a little twisted, and every show had to top the one before and we had to outshock ourselves.

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What was your strangest gig?

There’s been a lot of those, but one time around 1978 or so, we played the Dominican College in San Rafael. It was a Catholic girls college run by nuns. They must’ve hired us for a joke, because it’s not like they couldn’t have known what we did. So all the girls were sitting there wearing plaid skirts and white blouses and we started to play. Later, when we put the stage lights on the audience, nobody was there. The nuns had quietly filed all the girls out while we were playing. We just quit and left after that.

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Who goes to a Tubes show?

We get the adult alternative types, especially at fairs because they get in free once they’re in the fair. We get a lot of kids whose parents were Tubes fans. We played the Mid-State Fair at Paso Robles recently and during sound check there were these three chubby girls sitting in the sun and it was at least 110 degrees. Their parents were Tubes fans and they knew all the words and got albums autographed afterward. We do two shows and only repeat two or three songs.

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How did the Tubes go from a cult band to a fair band?

Hey, it’s the summer and everybody is playing fairs these days. Also, it’s pretty hard to shock anyone anymore. Marilyn Manson has taken that one over. They’re going back to the devil, and I wonder what Ozzy thinks about that? Have you ever seen a band called the Genitorturers? They pierce their genitalia every night. I’m not going to do that, man. I’m happy to play the fair.

BE THERE

The Tubes at the Ventura County Fair, Ventura Station Stage, Friday at 7 and 9 p.m. Free with fair admission. (805) 648-3376.