Olivia D’Abo, David Cassidy and Bill Bartell filming “The Spirit of ’76” (Contributed Image)
As I was interviewing just a handful of the many people who were friends with Bill Bartell, also known as Pat Fear from White Flag, I was struck by how many people in music knew him. If you haven’t heard the sad news, Bartell died and was found in his Moreno Valley home on Tuesday, Sept. 24. My story about Bartell is posted at PE.com and there will be one in The Press-Enterprise print edition tomorrow. However, I wasn’t able to share all of the details I learned today about his shenanigans, music, and more, which is why I wanted to spend some more time with these stories here in the blog.
Marc Goldstein, a longtime friend of Bartell’s referred to him as “Forrest Punk” earlier today. Bartell seemed to know everyone (see photo of David Cassidy above) and had a magnet of a personality. And, he was going to mess with you first.
Ronnie Barnett, of The Muffs, and at one point White Flag, met Bartell when he first moved to the area at a show with King’s X and The Bangles.
Here are some things Goldstein and Barnett had to share about their friend in two interviews I did on Wednesday. Thanks to Marc for sharing the photos.
“Bill, he was all over ‘The Decline of Western Civilization,'” Barnett said.
As a big fan of the Germs, he can be seen in the film writing on Darby Crash. The urban legend is that the words Bartell wrote, “Test Pat,” were in reference to Germs member (and later Nirvana and Foo Fighters member) Pat Smear. Barnett debunks that myth–Bartell was actually writing the words “Test Pattern,” the name of his pre-White Flag band, on Crash’s arm.
He can also be seen wearing an orange shirt in that scene. When he consulted on the Darby Crash biopic “What We Do Is Secret,” he still had the orange shirt he wore and let the actor in the scene wear the same shirt, Barnett said.
“The guy had an amazing book in him or movie of his own,” Goldstein said.
He was also a big heavy metal fan and apparently gave Steve Harris the idea for the title of Iron Maiden’s live album “Maiden Japan,” Barnett said.
“Bill always had a metal side to him,” Barnett said.
But he also had a respect for law enforcement. Barnett and other members of The Muffs were at his graduation ceremony when he became a reserve office for the city of Beaumont’s Police Department in the early 1990s.
They were once in a restaurant with 20 motorcycle-riding officers and Bartell could identify how long they had been on duty by the wear of their boots.
Bartell also went on to be a rodeo rider for a while. Barnett said that another friend joked that Bartell was slowly becoming each member of the Village People. During the rodeo phase, he would go see Brooks & Dunn and wrote some country songs.
Fun fact: All of the White Flag members have joke names. Barnett’s was Lloyd Doheny, which was the intersection where friend Michael Steele of The Bangles lived at the time.
“Being in music and being a fan he would blur the lines,” Goldstein said.
Bartell loved Cheap Trick and ultimately became friends with Rick Nielsen. In August, Bartell even attended FYF in Los Angeles to see the reformed FLAG. Barnett said Bartell was on the stage, adding songs to the set list.
Goldstein said when you saw Bartell at your show, you knew it was a big one and praised his strong work ethic. One of his favorite memories of collaborating with anyone was when he worked with Bartell on White Flag’s cover of “Wuthering Heights” for a compilation.
Again, thank you to everyone who shared stories, returned my phone calls and took the time to read the story about Bill.