In a new interview with Guitar By Emily, Michael Sweet confirmed that CC De Ville auditioned for STRANGLES before joining POISON and achieving multi-platinum success as the latter group’s guitarist. Regarding how he met City firstly, Soft said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “I was standing on Sunset Boulevard in front of Gazzarri’s store [famed nightclub in West Hollywood]and this guy comes, and we bumped into each other. And I’m like, “Oh, this guy is cool.” He looks cool and he’s fun. And I consider myself to be maybe fun too; I don’t know. But we got along well and we started talking, laughing. And he was leaving New York, looking for a better way, trying to break himself, like every other musician of the time. A lot of people were moving to LALA which was the hot spot – not Nashville, Austin. It was Los Angeles. This is where you wanted to be if you wanted to succeed. And CC came out and we became friends.
The STRANGLES The frontman continued: “We finally invited him to the La Mirada garage, about 45 minutes from Hollywood, and we played. And we were actually considering, on both sides, [about him joining STRYPER] and what made him make the decision to say no was all the yellow and black [image of STRYPER]. That’s what I remember. Yeah, that’s what I remember. And you might get a different version from him if you interview him, but I remember him specifically saying, “Yeah, I’m not into the yellow and black.” I prefer pink and purple. He actually said that. This is what stopped us from moving forward. And we also jammed, auditioned and spoke with Doug Aldrich [DIO, WHITESNAKE, THE DEAD DAISIES] about joining the group as well. »
Soft previously discussed the possibility of City membership STRANGLES in a 2014 interview with Lesson Weekly. He was asked how STRANGLES would have worked “theologically” with CC in the group, Michel replied: “I don’t know. CC believes in God. Spiritually and philosophically, I think it could have worked. But musically? I’m just not sure. What would be POISON it looks like with Oz [Fox, STRYPER guitarist] on lead guitar? There was a very dense network of musicians around the Strip at that time, so all kinds of mutations could have taken place. But CC I wasn’t really a fan of the yellow and black. »
Soft also thought about CityIt is STRANGLES audition in his 2014 book “Honestly – My Life and Stryper Revealed”. He wrote: “During the audition process to find an additional guitarist, we auditioned a new guy from New York named Bruce Johnsonotherwise known as CC De Ville. I had met CC before and we got along well. He seemed like a great guy and we got along well. Our band had been playing as a trio for quite a while, with me on guitars, but we were actively looking for a fourth member. CC We walked into our rehearsal studio and went through a typical audition process of playing a few covers and some of our tracks, just to get a feel for how we were going to get along. Musically it felt good, but by the end of the night he was learning about yellow and black. Want [STRYPER drummer and Michael‘s brother Robert Sweet] was adamant about keeping the yellow and black, so when CC suggested he wasn’t really interested in the color palette, I could sense WantThe defense mechanism intervenes. Yellow and black were Wantis a baby and he was convinced we should stick with it. So no matter how much CC It was that if he couldn’t wear those colors, he wouldn’t be in the group. CC politely declined the opportunity, stating that he really didn’t like the yellow and black thing and was more of a pink and purple type. And our auditions with others continued. But to think, if our color palette had been pink and purple, CC De Ville maybe I could have become a member of our group. »
He added: “Just another miracle from God, both for him and for us, I’m sure. I can’t imagine POISON sans CCand I’m sure he’s also grateful for the path he’s taken. »
Several years ago, Robert Doux explained the inspiration for STRANGLES» the yellow and black look, saying: “I wanted STRANGLES to stand up for something and be remembered. You can love or hate yellow and black, but it was my thing. Music is about music and should always come first, but I was also a very visual guy. Sometimes people said they didn’t know our names, but they knew we were the guys in the yellow and black stripes. I never took it as an insult and always smiled because it worked. »
