Goldy McJohn and Friendz at Jimi Hendrix birthday concert, Seattle 11-29-08 ~ photo credit TheWrightImage.com

In the mid 70’s the legendary rock band Steppenwolf parted ways. John Kay went on to tour as John Kay and Steppenwolf without the original members of Steppenwolf. The original members went onto other projects. In early 2008 it was learned that John Kay was not going to tour anymore. Original Steppenwolf keyboard player Goldy McJohn decided to come out of retirement to form Goldy McJohn and Friendz for a “Tribute To Steppenwolf”. Because of legal battles that took place over the rights to the name Steppenwolf nobody actually has toured as Steppenwolf. Goldy and John were in Steppenwolf from the beginning, the band went through different guitar and bass players, but Goldy and John were the driving force of the band. The band was famous for John’s bluesy deep voice and Goldy’s Hammond B3 sound which nobody has been able to duplicate.

So comes Goldy Mcjohn and the Friendz, all seasoned veterans playing all the famous Steppenwolf hit songs. The band plays them like Steppenwolf recorded them and then some, because live the guys take it to the next level with intense jams on the solo parts of songs like Born To Be Wild, Magic Carpet Ride, It’s Never Too Late and other hit songs. McJohn and the the Friendz are in the studio at this time recording their first LP with originals which are receiving air play, Blues Road, Rock 420, Hungry For Love and several other rock/blues originals that when played make the crowds go crazy !!!!

Goldy’s new band has headlined venues across the Northwest ranging from arenas, county fairs, clubs to private parties and benefits !! The band also performs classic rock and blues songs from other famous artists and when asked to they do requests !! Nobody’s sitting down when Goldy and the Friendz hit the opening chords to the first song of the show, when this band comes to your city you will want to buy tickets for a concert that will bring back memories and make you dance all night long !!!!!

Tags: Add new tag, Blues, classic, goldy mcjohn, Goldy Mcjohn and friendz, Rock, steppenwolf

Hey Attention all songwriters and artists… weather you are dreaming about your very first big cut, have had cuts, hits, or even had big #1 parties thrown in your honor …I want to let you in on one of Nashville’s fun for the whole family, best kept secrets. It’s called a GUITARBQ! I know you’re probably thinking’ “a Guitar B what?” A GuitarBQ! This is where your very generous host Doak Turner owner of the Nashville Muse supplies 50 lbs. of really great Bar BQ meat and the entertainment is provided by YOU and folks just like you! The annual GuitarBQ which takes place in the Spring time usually has over 300 hungry individuals who are either songwriters, guitar players, people who like listening to guitar players, singers, people who like listening to singer’s and people who love a good old fashioned down home Back yard Bar BQ! This my friends… is where Folk’s come to enjoy, relax and socialize each month on the third Sunday at 3PM. Unless of course we are talking about the Mondo GuitarBQ which is only once a year and that.. is what I want to talk about right here and now! It’s a great big music party held at a house, no a party house no well kind of like Animal House only without the toga’s! (Doak your host probably wouldn’t mind if you wore one…he’s kewl like that!) The 4TH Annual GuitarBQ was a blast, it was held right after Tin Pan South on April 2nd 2006 at a rockin’ house in the West Meade Dist. Not too far from Nashville’s Music Row. Doak Turner the owner of Nashville Muse supplied 50 pounds of GuitarBQ, sponsored by Milos Sweet Tea who donated 200 bottles of their refreshing drink and everyone brought a dish to pass and some Folk’s brought “Brews n Tunes” It’s a Sunday party where folks get together and share music, live! A couple of very entertaining rounds included Larry Weiss singing his hit song, “Rhinestone Cowboy”, Gunner Nelson performing his dad’s big hit – “Garden Party”, Steven McClintock singing a Tiffany hit, “After All This Time” Marc-Alan Barnette “Too Much Blood in My Alcohol Level and Marc and I even performed a song that we co-wrote “That’s Still Me”, Other hit writers included Gary Hannan “Tequila Makes her Clothes Fall Off”, Joie Scott “Shoes“-Desperate Housewives soundtrack” artist Ray Scott “She Don’t Like My Kind of Music”. Gary Talley – guitar player for The Box Tops “The Letter” “Cry Like a Baby”, “Soul Deep”. Songwriter and host of the open mic at the Blue Bird Cafe Barbara Cloyd “Guess You Had to be There” Pat and Pete Luboff authors of the songwriting book “88 Songwriting Wrongs and How to Right Them and they also lead the Sounding Board Songwriting Think Tank in Nashville on Monday nights as well, Tirk Wilder “Theme from Walker Texas Ranger” Charlie Daniels Jr, Dan Harr from Music News Nashville and even Steven Stills daughter Jenn Stills were all in attendance. Songwriters from South Africa, England, Canada and all over the U.S.A. Everyone at the event just kicked back either inside or outside and had a good-ole time. The house is kind of like a maze almost every room in the house had some kind of rippin’ amazingly cool entertainment going on! The Mondo GuitarBQ is only held once a year…but you can still have fun throughout the year at Nashville Muse’s 3rd Sunday GuitarBQ’s which are held every 3rd Sunday of the Month! Check out www.nashvillemuse.com for more information and follow the link to see photos that my friend Kat took of all the happenings at this popular Sunday hot spot! Mark your calendars and you will soon be joining in on all the fun…and tote along your guitar a dish to pass and a song to share at Doak’s next Nashville Muse GuitarBQ!
www.nashvillemuse.com

review by KK Ryder

Tags: Add new tag, Barbara Cloyd, Charlie Daniels Jr, Dan Harr, Doak Turner, Gary Hannan, Gary Talley, GuitarBQ, Gunner Nelson, Jenn Stills, Joie Scott, K.K. Ryder, Larry Weiss, Marc-Alan Barnette, Milos Sweet Tea, Mondo, Nashville, Nashville Muse, Pete Luboff, Ray Scott, Steven McClintock, Steven Stills, Tirk Wilder

I’m very pleased to announce that RockTheBlues.com is featuring Teri’s (fun to be around) “Band Boost” on our website. Teri is loved and respected by many and we are honored to have her be a part of the “Rock The Blues” family. Please stop by BAND BOOST and check it out. The featured band this week is No Quarter, a Led Zeppelin tribute band. The band is from Seattle and have a very large fan base that keeps growing in numbers. They do an excellent tribute that is hard to distinguish from the real thing. If you ever get a chance to see them live….do it. You’ll be glad you did. Teri will feature a different band each week on “Band Boost”.

Tags: Add new tag, Blues, Jimmy Page, John Bonham, John Paul Jones, Led Zeppelin, No Quarter, Robert Plant, Rock, rocktheblues, teri

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