"There's a lot of improvisation when we play it, and it's almost like a turning point in the set. We're really enjoying it lately"

Guitarist Steph Paynes didn't realize she was in a tribute band until New York audiences kindly pointed it out. via StarNewsOnline.com

The new Jo Jo Gunne CD, titled “Big Chain” is now available at CD Baby! Here’s the link: http://cdbaby.com/cd/jojogunne

You can also listen to samples. Take it from me, this CD is everything that you ever hoped it would be and more!!

The hard-rockin’ ’70s band, led by Montecito’s Jay Ferguson, is back with a new CD

October 6, 2005
An astute land speculator and an even better songwriter, Jay Ferguson has resurrected his legendary ’70s rock band, Jo Jo Gunne, and recorded a high-octane album called “Big Chain.”

This shouldn’t come as too big of a surprise because, as we all know, every musician who ever sang a song or played a note either comes back or refuses to go away.

But for Jo Jo Gunne, a return engagement is actually a good thing. Not only was the group a kick-butt rock outfit, but Gunne’s singer-keyboardist Ferguson and bassist Mark Andes were alumni of Spirit, one of the greatest of the many under-appreciated Los Angeles bands from those silly ’60s.

Jo Jo Gunne lasted for four albums — or about as long as Spirit did — and notched a Top 30 hit in 1972 with the song “Run Run Run.” After the group split, Ferguson got into film soundtracks, landing tunes in “The Terminator” as well as several of those nightmarish “Elm Street” movies and many more. He cut a string of successful solo albums, too, scoring hit singles with songs like “Thunder Island” (No. 9 in 1978) and “Shakedown Cruise” (No. 31 in 1979).

Now, at the urging of mutual friend and producer Rod Ensminger, Jo Jo Gunne is poised to make a comeback. All four of the main characters — Ferguson, Mark Andes, guitarist Matt Andes (Mark’s brother) and drummer Curly Smith — are back together, albeit with less hair but more musical talent than ever.

Not only is Ferguson a working musician — he just finished another film project, “Paradise, Texas,” and produced a new band, Jade Redd — but he’s smart, too. He bought a house in Montecito when houses there were actually affordable.

Ferguson took time out of his busy schedule to chat about all the fun he’s had doing the rock ‘n’ roll thing over the years.

Talk about the Jo Jo Gunne biz. You guys are back?

We’re back. We’re back in our original form. The band went through a couple of permutations, but the original band — the core band, the soul of the band — is back together for the first time since 1972. That’s why this is such an exciting record.

So there will be Jo Jo Gunne gigs?

There has been talk of a House of Blues-style tour, and judging by our Internet base and the response to the re-releases of the original catalog, it seems like there are some fans out there that might come out and see us.

Are you talking soon?

In the fall sometime, because the record will just be getting in gear then.

So where does “Big Chain” fit in?

The title kind of says it all. It is a return to the source; it is the circle finally becoming unbroken again. It’s making the record we’ve always wanted to make since the first one. What was so gratifying is that I don’t think anybody lost a step in 30 years. As a matter of fact, I think the other guys in the band are playing better than ever. It wasn’t really a matter of dusting this thing off; it was more plug and go, and that record was recorded in about 10 days.

All of the Gunners owe a debt of gratitude to Rod Ensminger because he’s the one that really lit the fire and said, “C’mon guys, get off your butts, come out to California and make this record.” He was the cheerleader that got this whole thing going.

The Andes brothers used to live here, but now they’re in Texas?

Mark used to have a great place in Oak View. Now he and Matt are both in Austin, Curly lives in Arizona, and I’m up here in Montecito.

I got lucky. People say I was smart, but I was just lucky. I bought a house here in Montecito with the first royalty check I ever got from Spirit, and that’s before real estate here was so valuable. At that time, Montecito was considered a backwater, and nobody wanted to buy anything here. I’m still in the same place. That’s the smartest thing I ever did.

To begin in the beginning, where does Spirit fit into the rock ‘n’ roll cosmology?

Spirit seems to have its reputation growing in retrospect. People now look back and say that Spirit was one of the top L.A. bands of the ’60s. I think now you would call it the L.A. psychedelic era or the acid-rock era.

Spirit started in ‘67. Mark and I went to high school together in the San Fernando Valley. We were part of the original band Spirit, and after four years and four albums that band flew apart. It had always been a band of several radical personalities and musical styles, and the center of gravity just couldn’t hold after four records.

This is the dreaded and often fatal creative differences?

Exactly.

What was the West Coast scene like back in the ’60s?

It kind of had a backwater reputation, oddly enough, because the spotlight was on San Francisco and the British Invasion. But in L.A., you had the Byrds, you had the Doors, you had Buffalo Springfield … you had bands like Spirit and Canned Heat. There was this tremendously vital scene that I don’t think got its respect until a couple of years later.

You wrote two of the best songs — “Mr. Skin” and “Animal Zoo” — on one of the best albums of that era, Spirit’s “Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus.”

Oh, thank you. Got to figure out a way to get “Mr. Skin” to the Chili Peppers. They could do a killer version of that song.

Spirit went to England, and Led Zeppelin opened for you guys?

Actually on Led Zeppelin’s first American tour — the band’s very first U.S. date — they opened for Spirit. When we went to England, we had Joe Cocker and the Bonzo Dog Band open for us, which was equally wonderful.

Wow, the Bonzo Dog Band. They were entirely too much. Tell me an Atlanta Pop Festival story.

I’ll never forget the acts that day. We were sandwiched in between Janis Joplin and Led Zeppelin. The next day the Grateful Dead, the Allman Brothers and Spirit spoke to each other on the phone and decided to play a free concert. So we did a free concert with those three bands in the park in downtown Atlanta.

So how did Jo Jo Gunne come about after Spirit imploded?

Rather than imploded, Spirit exploded because there were so many styles and so much creativity, and it kind of flew apart. The area of music Mark and I were always championing in Spirit was the rock ‘n’ roll side. So we decided to really indulge ourselves and do a stripped-down, straight-ahead rock ‘n’ roll project.

Jo Jo Gunne made several albums, had some hits. Then what happened?

It just seemed to have run its course. I think after the original core group split after the first record, we were kind of a little bit off our mission statement. We did have four albums and were a very successful heartland touring band.

How does Jo Jo Gunne compare to Spirit, or does it?

Jo Jo Gunne was more of a straight-ahead, American rock band. Someone once categorized us as “California’s greatest boogie band.” I guess that’s sort of a left-handed compliment.

Well, you’ve got Canned Heat in there, so that can’t be a bad thing.

Yeah, I look at them and ZZ Top and some other bands that have been called that, and it’s not a bad moniker.

If someone says, “Oh, Jay Ferguson — he’s the guy that plays classic rock.” Is that a bad thing or does it even matter?

Well, I guess I’m still around to hear it.

You’ve been doing movie soundtracks for many years. How is that different than writing songs for a Jo Jo Gunne album?

It’s a different situation. You leave the world of song, words and structure, and you kind of enter this non-linear world of painting with sound. I really enjoy it. I ended up building a studio here in Montecito. It’s an entirely different discipline; there are different kinds of people you work with — very visually oriented people — and I like the mix.

What’s been really nice about the last year, I’ve kind of come back to the rock ‘n’ roll world. I find myself getting up one day doing some film work, then getting up the next day and doing some rock ‘n’ roll work. I love that back and forth energy.

On one of your solo albums, I noticed it was produced by that guy with no vowels in his last name — Bill Szymczyk. I remember that name because he produced one of the greatest under-appreciated bands of all time, the New York Rock Ensemble.

Oh, absolutely. In Jo Jo Gunne, we were listening to the James Gang, and we thought, “Boy, we want to sound like that,” and that’s where we hooked up with Bill and then all that came to fruition on my solo work. That’s when he brought in Joe Walsh and people like that. It was great.

When did you know you wanted to be a musician?

I kind of just fell into this. I was at UCLA when I first started doing the Spirit thing. Then Spirit got a record deal. I took a leave of absence and figured I’d be back in school in about six months. I never went back.

What happened to your long rock ‘n’ roll hair?

I stuffed a pillow with it.

Hear it, buy it

Jo Jo Gunne’s new 14-track “Big Chain” CD is available online for $12.97 plus postage at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/jojogunne. Clips of all the songs are available for preview on the CD Baby site.

This is the place where we will be posting all the news, events, upcoming shows, record releases and more. In case you missed it, the original members of Jo Jo Gunne have reunited (Jay Ferguson, Mark Andes, Curly Smith and Matt Andes). They have been in the studio working on a new CD that has some remakes of classic songs like Run, Run, Run and Babylon and New songs too. The Guys will be taking the show on the road soon, so stay tuned. There are a lot of cool things on the site. You can check out the Galleries, go to the community forums and talk to other fans (and even the guys), get some free downloads (music and desktops) and lots more.

We have a newsletter so if you want to stay informed go down to the bottom of this page and add your email address. Have fun and see you on the road! . . .

"Of course I did way too many drugs. I sunk to my knees and lost everything, but I'm part Italian and my good old-fashioned guilt came up and I had to check in to rehab. The only way out is through."

Steven Tyler says he is a bad advertisement for the dangers of drugs. The Aerosmith rocker, who is in good health despite his drug and alcohol-fuelled past, says the secret to his youthfulness is good genes. via The Post Chronicle

Sometime in the not too distance past I seem to remember hearing of a band called the Black Keys… but both that memory and the reason I didn’t investigate them further at the time eludes me. The other day though, I happened upon this band again, and if I had not just splurged on music just the previous day, I would have bought every one of their albums on the spot… I was that impressed, and next month, risking financial crisis, I will buy every one of their albums.

The Black Keys are another blues duo of guitar and drums the likes of the Kills and their more well known cousins, the White Stripes, and their sound is definitely in the same vein, but are still unique with their own style when compared to both of those bands, as well as other bands from the same punk/blues movement that I listen to, like the Soledad Brothers. They play blues and blues rock that has a lot of smoky darkness, some screeching slide guitar and also sinewy single note riffs that recall late 60s early 70s psychedelic and hard rock (aka, Hendrix, Cream, Zeppelin, and maybe a little Black Sabbath as well). Think delta blues and riff rock, filtered through Classic Rock, filtered through the Stooges, stripped down to only guitar and drums and you’ve got the right idea.

I’ll also draw some quasi useless comparisons to better help you get a grasp at what the band sounds like. First, the color of their name is appropriate when comparing them to the White Stripes, for you could say they are two sides of the same coin, one day…or white… and the other night… or black… you get the idea. Compared to the White Stripes, the Black Keys are definitely the night to the White Stripes day. Both are in the same arena, but the Black Keys are darker, more shadowy and attimes harder, but also less eccentric. Second, if one was to draw lines between the White Stripes, Queens of the Stone Age, and Wolfmother (three contemporaries) you could easily place the Black keys in the center of that musical triangle. Then again you could probably also make the same triangle with the Led Zeppelin, Cream and the Stooges, again with the Black Keys in the center.

These are really just first impressions though as I have yet to hear every track the band has done. I definitely like what I’ve heard so far though, a lot.

There was a statement I found while researching the band, in a review from Rolling Stone, that I really like about their last album release, 2006’s Magic Potion: “ If Led Zeppelin had formed in 1955 and recorded for Chess Records, they’d probably sound a lot like the Black Keys…” That statement sure does seem to fit the music I’ve heard. You can read that entire review here: http://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/album/11371132/review/11545577/magic_potion?source=album_reviews_rssfeed

Overall, I’d say all of these comparisons are somewhat useless because although they definitely can give you a feel of the band’s music, which is why I think they’re worth making, but you have to take them with a grain of salt. If they sounded exactly like that, they wouldn’t be exciting, or innovative, they’d just be a rehash by my ear, and the Black Keys are definitely NOT a rehash of the White Stripes, other blues rock bands, classic rock or any of their other contemoraries.

They seem start at the delta blues and riff based rock, push it through a screaming Marshall amp, add some psychedelia, a lot of fuzz, smoke, haze, very soulful and authentic vocals, and end up at something completely unique to them. Also, although these are definitely blues and rock songs at heart, they branch out while still staying true, and avoid some of the more cliché moments of both blues and minimalism, all with a buzz saw rough edge really hits hard.

My first look at the Black Keys came when I found their myspace page through an underground radio station, you can find that page here: http://www.myspace.com/theblackkeys

The live tracks they have available here are free to download so you can do more than just listen to them.

What really put me over the edge about this band though was their live performances. I watched an entire show from the Black Keys online at the FabChannel and I was hooked.

It is a 16 song set of blues rock and roll on fire with improvisation that definitely recalls White Stripes shows, but also the grit, power and raw intensity of Nirvana on stage. I haven’t heard the album versions of all of these songs yet, but on stage they’re muscular, and powerful in their gritty glory.

Although all the performances really stood out as I said, a few struck me as absolutely amazing. “Stack Shot Billy” is a great slide guitar blues stomp workout with just enough mysticism in its feel to really drive it home and features a great drum feel. “Busted” is another ripping slide tune that channels a little more street preaching blues but absolutely goes for the jugular with the solo building into a blues rock explosion. “10 A.M. Automatic” is a great little rock song with a catchy riff and an overall great garage feel that the band just tears through on stage with great ferocity. “Strange Desire” also has a slight mystic feel and the vocals, and specifically the authenticity and soulfulness in the vocal delivery are perfect. “Elevator” seems to have blues, grunge and psychedelic roots and the band delivers it with an almost hypnotic groove. All of the last 4 songs in the set, (really a set closer and 3 song encore I believe) are all great examples of rock and roll in action, with the closer “Till I Get My Way” adding the rock and roll exclamation point to an already powerful set with some more howling slide guitar, but also a great hard rock riff.

Just a great set of my brand of rock and roll; raw, bluesy, hard hitting, and full of improvisation and soul.

Here’s the link to the whole performance so you can watch it for yourself: http://www.fabchannel.com/the_black_keys

This band is a great reminder that there still is great blues based hard rock in their world and I think if you’re a fan of blues rock, hard rock, garage rock blues/punk or just straight rock and roll, the Black Keys are definitely a band to be listening to.

I can’t wait to check out all their albums as the Black Keys have easily become my most recent favorite band.

"We both loved Led Zeppelin and played Led Zeppelin. And here we are still playing Led Zeppelin when we're 30 years old. "Initially, it was just the three of us"

Led Zeppelin is a rite of passage for every rock fan and musician. For those of us born after the baby-boom generation, sometime around junior high we were introduced to the glory of Led Zeppelin, probably ... via Free Times

"People look at us and think, 'OK, they got away with it - why shouldn't I?'"

June 20, 2007 STEVEN TYLER Says JOE PERRY 'Looks As Sculpted As One Of His Horses' James McNair of Belfast Telegraph reports: "When I look at Joe Perry on stage," says Steven Tyler of his band's lead guitarist, ... via KXXR-FM Minneapolis

It seems that there has been yet another sign that the Beatles catalog will soon be released digitally as I just read today that Ringo’s solo catalog has been released in this format. Although perhaps not as exciting as hearing that the deal for the digital Beatles has been settled, I still think this news is worth mentioning.

Ringo’s solo material may be the least popular of the solo Beatles efforts, never quite reaching the same popularity of Lennon, McCartney or Harrison, but there are still some good songs in this catalog that are worth checking out. Particularly, I’m fond of the 1973 album Ringo which had such memorable songs as “Photograph” and my personal favorite “It Don’t Come Easy”, but there were some good songs and albums from later on as well.

Overall, I think this news has gotten more press because people are feeling it’s another step towards the Beatles release. I don’t know if that’s true or not and I’m hesitant to look at it that way because it does kind of trivialize Ringo’s solo work, but I can see how it sort of ups the excitement. Still, it was a far bigger deal when McCartney took the plunge earlier this year.

In the end, I’m glad that we can now listen to Ringo digitally. As I said, he never quite reached the same popularity or iconic status in his music that the other three did, but the music is still good, and maybe this modern format can help expose a few more people to some of the great songs throughout his solo career.

"It's just things you don't want, I can use them, Meg can use them, we can do something with them, we'll make something out of them, make some money out of them, at least"

For somebody who micromanages his band's image down to the color scheme, Jack White comes off as one of the least packaged rock stars of his generation. via The Boston Globe