Michael Des Barres, the ultimate rock and roll star sits drinking decaffinated coffe in the health food-come-curio shop on the Portobello Road, London. He's swamped under an enormous cloak, playing with two white kittens.

"Sit down," he says, sweet and soft voiced, and pours wine into a dusty old teacup supplied by friend and rock adventurer B. P. Fallon.
I feel slightly uneasy and drink a little of the fine German white wine, wanting to ask why there's no suitably delightful glasses to drink from. Correct myself and remember that we're in a health food shop. Maybe they don't like wine.

Michael Des Barres, lead singer with Silverhead, a man with a reputation. Some say the band is a pose, rock and roll children playing at superstars and doing the whole bit. It certainly feels that way: it's not every day you're invited to an interview in such strange circumstances.

I smile, slightly embarrassed, and say I like their music. It's dirty. "Sixteen and Savaged," replies Michael. We both laugh and the cool melts.

Silverhead have been around for the last year, touring, mostly in the States and slowly building themselves a reputation on both sides of the Atlantic. But it's strongest across the water.

They were formed by Michael when he got sick of Mime and playing simple songs on his acoustic guitar. He'd never lead a band before or played electric guitar. That didn't matter. He was committed to a crash course and with a good deal of hustling worked himself into the position of having financial backing to put together a band of Silverheads.

Ads in the Melody Maker were placed and soon Silverhead were rehearsing and getting ready to cut an album that was made far too early in the band's career and is best forgotten. He found Rod Davies, known as the Rook for his bird face, let him play guitar and try to forget earlier experiences with David Bowie in the Riot Squad. Pete Thompson joined on drums with absolutely no experience of bands at all and then Nigel Harrison, who'd played with Champion Jack Dupree and a couple of blues bands took on the bass guitar. Later Robbie Blunt, guitar and slide, joined. Robbie had been with Bronco and was in Suzi Quatro's original backing band.

They're a glamorous band. Not like the Sweet or Gary Glitter, but in a suicidal, nasty fashion.

"Silverhead is there to get kids sweating, but not in an egocentrical way. The Glam rock thing? Well, a lot of cards have been stacked against me because of that."

"I was singing to myself and playing acoustic guitar. I never was in a group, but then I started writing particular songs that were like me and the job was to find people who would fit into place. We cut the album, a bit too early, and split to tour America with Deep Purple."

We talk about Mime which he was deeply into at one time.

"There's nothing wrong with mime, it's really a great art form. But it's like Astrology, the Tarot card becomes fashionable and someone who has been into them for a long time is worried that he might seem terribly trendy."

For me Silverhead are like The New York Dolls in a lot of ways, except that they have more talent and are not a complete parody of the Stones.

"I think the basic influence for us with a Stone vibe and because R&B was the dirtiest vibe that was the one we went for. That's what we're about, as dirty as possible."

"I love R&B, but my roots are in the Stones, not in Elmore James as it was for Jagger. You could say I'm twice removed from the origins of R&B."

America too, is very important to Silverhead.

"I feel in love with the whole American thing and it's become something else. The lyrics are all about the American way and us. We're not verbose poets, I try to get everything as edited and clipped as possible."

"America, man it's really been edited down. An American can tell you in one line what an Englishman would take a book to say. You've got to get it as clean and precise as you can."

"The new album we're working on is about America, it's certainly not about Kilburn! It's about LA, New York and Atlanta. When I went there I felt I was born there."