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“His take on rock’n’roll was perfect”

David Johansen

SYLVAIN SYLVAIN|1951-2021

Sylvainian family: New York Dolls in LA appearing on The Real Don Steele Show, Sept 8, 1973
RICHARD CREAMER/MICHAEL OCHS ARCHIVES/GETTY IMAGES; GARY GERSHOFF/WIREIMAGE; PETER NOBLE/REDFERNS. INTERVIEW: SAM RICHARDS

WE used to rehearse in this old bicycle rental store near Central Park. In the wintertime, when there was no bicycle rental going on, the owner Rusty would set up a couple of broken-down amps and some drums so he could rent it out as a rehearsal space. Syl had been in Europe. I think he was in Holland and he didn’t have a visa, so he got deported. He literally came bouncing in straight from the airport with a carpetbag and a guitar case. I said, “Can you play that thing?” and as soon as he started playing with us I just thought, ‘We gotta have this guy in the band.’

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