Co-Founder of Quiet Riot Kelly Garni recently spoke to Jimmy Kay from The Metal Voice on June 23, 2022
In the chat Garni spoke about the highly anticipated and recent re-issues of the rare Randy Rhoads era Quiet Riot 1 & 2 (via No Remorse Records), He comparing the sound quality vs the original recording and how impressed he was with the new packaging.
Garni also spoke about growing up with Randy Rhoads, the rivalry of Randy Rhoads and Eddie Van Halen, as well as being replaced by Rudy Sarzo when Quiet Riot 2 was released and who he considers an original member.
Quiet Riot was founded in 1973 by guitarist Randy Rhoads and bassist Kelly Garni.
Quiet Riot is the self-titled debut studio album, it was released exclusively in Japan on 2 March 1978.
Quiet Riot II is the second studio album, released in 2 December 1978. As with their first album, it was a Japan-only release.
Jimmy Kay from Canada’s The Metal Voice recently interviewed ex-Quiet Riot‘s co-founder, bassist and best friend of Randy Rhoads, Kelly Garni. Part 2
Watch the Pt 2 of the interview here:
Garni spoke about his book Angles with Dirty Faces, which talks how he and Randy disliked Black Sabbath in the early years, Garni conflicts with Kevin Dubrow, Randy Rhoads letters, poor management in Quiet Riot, re-releasing Quiet Riot 1 and 2 and the gun shooting incident with Randy Rhoads that led to Garni being fired from Quiet Riot.
When asked about why he did not get along with Kevin Dubrow
“I never really got along with Kevin Dubrow from the very beginning because I didn’t like him. Kevin was not a nice person. He was obnoxious and he hated me. Kevin loved and adored Randy and he wanted to be really close to Randy and I was like no that is not happening that’s my best friend. If you asked anybody in the music business back then what was Kevin like, they would say he was a prick and that’s even after he is dead. Kevin doesn’t even get any respect after he died. Kevin was a dick, he was a prick and asshole and he certainly made his own bed in that regards. Later on in the ending of my book I talked about how I learned a different side of Kevin and how I became extremely good friends with him and close enough with him, that if I had a brother this is the guy outside of Randy and Kelle Rhoads. ”
When asked about their opinions of Black Sabbath and Alice Cooper at the time in the early years
“Black Sabbath to us were trying to be evil. Randy Rhoads and I didn’t really get it. That is why it’s so weird that Randy Rhoads ended up with Ozzy because we never listened to Black Sabbath, we didn’t think they were very talented. Randy and I loved Alice Cooper it was a whole different realm of music, this was like going to see a horror movie. Black Sabbath to us was like a church of evil to us. That is how we saw them. When you went to see Alice Cooper you understood the entertainment value, it was a show. The Black Sabbath guys to us at the time appeared to be really into worshipping the devil and our upbringing didn’t support believing into anything like that. We didn’t want to be evil at all. Alice appeared to be more crazy than evil. When Randy first told me he joined Ozzy I was like really Ozzy? We hated that shit but Randy said this was different he got to write the music and work with these other guys well respected artists.”
When asked about Randy Rhoads letters to Kevin Dubrow in his time with Ozzy Osbourne
“Kevin did have a tendency to write letters to Randy and Kevin showed me the letters Randy sent to him and Randy was clearly clearly unhappy in Ozzy. When Randy did come to Las Vegas during the Blizzard of Oz tour and we spent time together, Randy was very clear about how unhappy he was in that band. Kevin Dubrow said the most interesting thing to me later on in life that I could never ever believe. He said, you know what after you left Quiet Riot Randy just wasn’t the same anymore and he wasn’t into the band Quiet Riot anymore like he was, he felt alone and Kevin said I think that is why he left to join Ozzy. ”
When asked if Randy appreciated the position in being in Ozzy band
“Randy was given free reign in Ozzy and was really appreciative of Ozzy giving him the opportunity. Randy felt pretty lucky to be playing and writing with band. I know he was particular close with Bob Daisey. Also Bob deserves a lot of credit for helping Randy getting out of his shell that Randy was put in the Quiet Riot days by the people who managed us.”
When asked about the gun shooting incident with Randy Rhoads
“The only thing out there that I would debunk or argue with is people say I tried to kill Randy Rhoads with a gun. People call me out on that one all the time and I almost got into a fist fight with Ozzy about it. Nothing could be further from the truth. First of all when it comes to Randy everyone thinks he was so angelic, well we used to go out and shoot guns all the time. One time the S.W.A.T. team was called at my house because we were firing guns off in my backyard.”
“What happened was I had robbed a bar the night before and stolen all their liquor and I was very drunk that’s why Randy was at my house because we were drinking and we were drinking for about 6 hours straight. Randy and I had an argument over whether was should kick out Kevin Dubrow from Quiet Riot. People say that during that fight I tried to shoot Randy Rhoads and that is not true. I fired a bullet through the ceiling. (in the book Garni claims 10 feet above Randy’s head 8 feet in front of him). The bullet went no where near Randy Rhoads and in no way would I ever try to kill my best friend. And yes a pretty good fist fight happened a rather violent one. Randy left my house bleeding pretty badly and so did I. But that is what friends and brothers do is they roll around the ground, beat each other up and that’s all it was. People have made a big deal about a fight between two best friends who are brothers and have construed it in a completely negative manner then it actually was. In no way did I try to kill Randy Rhoads, in no way. Because of this fight I was thrown out of Quiet Riot, I was kicked out of Quiet Riot because of this. I have no problems saying that. Once I started to pull a gun out the management said he is out of control which I agree to that decision that they made and have no issues with. I deserved to get fired from Quiet Riot, totally deserved it. But I will say Randy called me up after I got out of jail from the incident the next day and he was laughing cause I got thrown in jail. How I got thrown in jail was, I got in my car and I was very angry and I knew that Kevin was down at the Record Plant recording vocals for Quiet Riot 2. Like I said the fight was over kicking Kevin out of the band and we got into a mix about it, the gun was fired and we got into a fist fight, I probably got into a dozen fist fights with Randy over the years. That’s how brothers are you fight, you cry, you say you are sorry and then you do it again. I pulled out a gun to make my point, to make a big loud noise which was sort of my way of saying everyone just shut up. So after Randy left my house with the aid of a friend who was sitting right there who will back up everything I am saying Kim McNair a good friend of Randy’s and mine. I was very drunk and after Randy left I said I am going to fix this deal and I am going to blow Kevin’s ass away. I got in my car and I tried to drive clear over to Holly wood which was 25-30 miles away and I was going to kill Kevin, that was my big drunken plan and as soon as I got in my car and started driving I realized I couldn’t drive. I didn’t have the ability and I was like well there goes that plan, well I’m going to have to go home. So in order to park in front of my house I had to go around the block and I had to go into a major intersection and when I made that turn, I blew the turn and there was a cop car and they pulled me over in front of my house. I had the gun in the shoulder holster and they had me get out of the car . Next thing I know I was on the ground and then I woke up in jail with my face covered in blood. I was charged with DUI and felony possession for a concealed weapon. I know what I did, I owned up to it I am not going to lie about it and I’m not going to try and sugar coat it, there is no way to sugar coat it . I fucked up.”
Jimmy Kay from Canada’s The Metal Voice recently interviewed ex-Quiet Riot‘s co-founder, bassist and best friend of Randy Rhoads, Kelly Garni.
Garni spoke about his book Angles with Dirty Faces, which talks about growing up with Randy Rhoads, playing in bands together prior to Quiet Riot, hiring Kevin Dubrow and getting into trouble with the law. Watch part 1 of a 2 part interview.
Watch the interview, Pt.1, here:
When asked about growing up with Randy Rhoads
“We were twelve years old at the time and Randy made me into a bass player and together we had this dream of becoming rock stars. We did not like hate, adversity, differences, people not getting along or people judging others. Also there were a many times when me and Randy got thrown in jail for some things. We got thrown in jail for being out too late, being in the wrong place at the wrong time and being drunk. Randy even got arrested once for playing his guitar too loud in his house. Me and Randy were jamming in his house, a cop showed up and said the neighbours were pressing charges because we were playing too loud, then the cop put Randy in handcuffs, into the police car and then to jail, he was 15 years old. But didn’t take me to jail? There were also some more circumstances that pissed the neighbours off that aggravated it all that lead to do this as well. But we learnt our lesson and did not annoy the neighbour anymore. ”
When asked if Randy Rhoads older brother Kelle exposed both them to the world of rock music
“I have to say that Randy’s brother influenced us in lots of ways not only in music. He was older than us and he was a lot like us. Kelle was wearing all these cool clothes and we kind of emulated him. Then musically he had played in bands and me and Randy would be roadies for them just to be around the music and to be at the parties. So we watched his brother doing this and we said we can do this too and so we did. Kelle Rhoads also introduced us to a band called Alice Cooper and we really liked the way the band looked. Kelle Rhaods then brought us to see Alice Cooper which was out first real concert and we thought we want to be and strive to be like them. ”
When asked about bringing in Kevin Dubrow as the singer of Quiet Riot
“We auditioned a lot of singers at the time and we were trying to find the right guy and then we met Kevin Dubrow. The second we laid eyes on him we said let’s go. He was not what we wanted. We just thought at the time Kevin he was a complete loser. We both did not like him at all. Kevin was not like anything we were looking for, Randy and me had a dream of having a singer that was like Alice Cooper or David Bowie. Neither of us wanted Kevin Dubrow but Kevin was such a forceful person and such a driven person we just said oh man why the hell not. let’s just go with this guy at least he is into it as much as we are. I will say this about Kevin as much as me and Randy wanted to be rock stars Kevin wanted it even more so he did have that going for him. We then jammed with him at Randy’s house and he sounded terrible. So we finally made Kevin a deal, we said we will be in a band with you but you have to learn how to sing because you can’t. But if you listen to us maybe we can help you. Kevin tried so hard and over time he became passable and then from there we decided to form a real band. Kevin went out and got us a real manager that would put some money into the band and a manager that would give us a real place to rehearse.”
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