By MICHAEL C. MOORE
MMOORE@KITSAPSUN.COM
www.kitsapsun.com
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Goldy McJohn & Friendz
There was a time, not so very long ago, that Goldy McJohn had resolved never to play music again.
Nowadays, though, it’s all he wants to do.
“I want to play … every night,” said the former keyboardist for the iconic Sixties rock band Steppenwolf. “I was sick of it. I put the lid down on the piano a long time ago. I said I wasn’t going to play.”
Fortunately for Northwest rock fans, McJohn - disillusioned from years of sniping with former Steppenwolf leader John Kay over royalties and the rights to the band name and catalog - rediscovered his will to make music. He’s launched a new band, Goldy McJohn and Friendz, which will headline a four-band lineup Aug. 30 at MoonDogs Too in downtown Port Orchard.
“I’m chompin’ at the bit,” McJohn said during a recent phone interview from his Burien home. “Everybody’s always said, ‘You have one helluva way of playing an organ.’ I was thinking about that, and I started to get that buzz again, get that feeling. And that’s what I’m on now.”
That buzz was a long time coming - at least with enough intensity to goad McJohn back onto the rock ‘n’ roll stage. Since the mid 1990s, he’d been living in West Seattle, working at the public golf course there and eating into his Social Security.
In recent years, though, he starting gigging - and golfing - with other rock luminaries who had settled in the Puget Sound area, notably Roger Fisher, the guitarist from Heart, and Alan White, the drummer from Yes. Then he met Mason County-based guitar veteran Glen Bui (Eddie Money, Tower of Power, Waylon Jennings and many others), and the two began to talk about making rock ‘n’ roll a full-time pursuit once again for the 63-year-old McJohn.
“I want to make sure this continues,” said McJohn. “We’ve got, I’ll tell you, one of the finest bands - they tickle me pink. All the reviews from fairs and other shows we’ve been doing, they’re like we’re wowing them, kickin’ butt.
“We’ve got so much going all of a sudden, it’s, like, snowballed,” he marveled.
The band - McJohn and Bui, with drummer Jack Rabbit English, bassist Laurie Miller and vocalist Paul Ventura - have been playing an increasingly full schedule of shows at clubs, fairs and private functions. (Guitarist Kent Henry, who was in Steppenwolf for a time and later played in Blues Image, has indicated that he’ll come north from his Portland base to join in at several upcoming shows.) In addition, McJohn and Bui have been writing original material, and the band (in both its present and a couple of past incarnations) have been recording.
“We’ve been working on some of our own originals, and they’re getting better and better,” said McJohn. Among the recent tracks is a remake of Steppenwolf’s defining hit single, “Born to Be Wild,” which they recorded at Fisher’s Bellevue-area studio.
Another track, “Rock 420″ - written by McJohn, Bui and Tim Holycross - was recorded prior to the current lineup being cemented. It features Holycross on vocals, but is informed by Bui’s bluesy guitar and McJohn’s rich, soulful organ.
That organ, along with Kay’s gravelly vocals and the band’s rough-and-tumble image, made Steppenwolf one of the late 1960s’ most memorable bands. Coming south from their spawning grounds in Toronto, they churned out a string of hard-edged rock hits that included “Magic Carpet Ride” and “Rock Me” before breaking up, reuniting and breaking up again in the first half of the 1970s.
Though Kay has carried on with various incarnations of Steppenwolf ever since, McJohn hasn’t been involved with the band since a short-lived 1977 reformation with Henry and bassist Nick St. Nicholas. He recorded with other artists and joined a post-Peter Frampton version of Humble Pie, touring and becoming friends with the band’s leader, Steve Marriott.
“Steve was my favorite guy to be on the road with; I’ve never been so thrilled about being on the road with somebody, even Steppenwolf,” McJohn said with obvious affection for Marriott, who died in 1991.
The music Goldy McJohn and Friendz play these days is all over the map of McJohn’s extensive career, which also includes a half dozen solo recordings. Besides Steppenwolf hits, he said they’ll do a variety of blues tunes and oldies - and, apparently, requests.
“We were playing the fair on Camano Island (Aug. 2) - the place was packed - and this row of kids shouted to us to play ‘Free Bird’ (the megahit by Lynyrd Skynyrd). I just said, ‘Free Bird?’ OK. Glen, take it away,’ and we did it.”
Goldy McJohn and Friendz will bat clean-up for an afternoon and evening of music at MoonDogs Too, which is a benefit for the South Kitsap Skate Park Association. For a $5 cover, the musical lineup includes Super Heroes in Training (3 p.m.), Snakebite (4:30 p.m.) and Leon Hendrix, brother of Jimi (7 p.m.). McJohn and the Friendz should go on about 9 p.m.
“Yeah, Glen’s on the phone, getting people interested,” McJohn said of the band’s busy schedule. “We want to play fairs, casinos, whatever. There’s a possibility of Japan later in the fall, for a month.”
After all the years of inactivity, it looks like McJohn’s a full-time rocker again.
“I couldn’t be happier,” he said.
Goldy McJohn, left, sported a world-class ‘fro during his days as keyboardist for Steppenwolf.
Back behind the keyboard, McJohn gets by with a little help from his Friendz.
Tags: Add new tag, Blues News, BluesNews, Gary Draper, goldy mcjohn, Goldy Mcjohn and friendz, goldy mcjohn and friendz kitsap sun steppenwolf rock the blues gary draper westseattle2000, kitsap sun, Rock and Blues News, Rock News, Rock The Blues, steppenwolf, westseattle2000
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