James Gang Rides Again...

Just what the name says.
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stevef
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James Gang Rides Again...

Postby stevef » Fri Jul 28, 2006 3:18 pm


from Billboard --


July 28, 2006, 11:25 AM ET

James Gang Bands Together For Summer Outing


Image

John Benson, Cleveland

After half a dozen reunion shows in Cleveland over the past five years, drummer Jim Fox tells Billboard.com the time was right for the James Gang's most potent lineup -- Fox, Joe Walsh (vocals/guitar) and Dale Peters (bass) -- to ride again.

"When we came off the shows in 2005, I think we all agreed that they were fun enough and well executed enough that we should try to do something more," Fox says.

However, one of the biggest hurdles to any previous reunion was Walsh's Eagles schedule, which included a recently finished European leg. With a few months off between commitments from his day job, Walsh and his old cohorts decided to hit the road for a 17-date jaunt (beginning Aug. 10 in Sturgis, S.D.), which marks this lineup's first tour in 35 years.

There's talk of recording a DVD towards the end of the month-long run but for now, nothing is certain. In addition, Fox says he'll discuss with his bandmates the possibility of releasing a recently discovered 1970 Netherlands concert, which was recorded a few months before the James Gang's 1971 "Live in Concert" album.

As for its set, the band has plenty of material to work with, including hit songs "Walk Away" and "Funk #49," as well as Walsh's solo catalog. "We sort of resisted the idea of doing {Walsh's songs}, other than 'Rocky Mountain Way,' and that's more from Joe than anyone else," Fox says. "The truth of the matter is, it would be a pleasure to play some of the songs. I hope he softens his line on that as the rehearsals go. But we don't need a ton of new material just to get through the concerts."

While currently there are no new tunes in the mix, Fox is hoping pre-show dressing room jams, which back in the day produced the riffs of such James Gang staples as "Woman" and "The Bomber: Closet Queen/Cast Your Fate to the Wind," could yield a musical zygote towards an eventual full-length release.

"The last thing I want to do is put out something because we just ought to put something out," Fox says. "I don't want to do that. I want to put something out that's good, that kicks our asses."

taylorrichards
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Postby taylorrichards » Fri Jul 28, 2006 3:46 pm

Thanks a ton for posting this, Steve. I'm really keeping my fingers crossed for all things mentioned in this article.
Margaret: You know what a pervert Klinger is!
Trapper: Hey! Wait a minute! Klinger's not a pervert.
Margaret: Oh yeah? How would you know?
Trapper: Because I'm one and he's never at the meetings.

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stevef
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Location: Orange County, CA

Postby stevef » Thu Aug 17, 2006 2:57 am


from Rocky Mountain News--


The Gang's all here

Walsh and Company hit the road for the first time in 35 years

By Mark Brown, Rocky Mountain News
August 7, 2006


The classic lineup of the James Gang came together in an instant on a bleary morning in 1967.

The band lost its original guitarist, Glenn Schartz, on a Saturday night at Kent State University.

"And Monday morning there's a knock on my door. 'You need a guitar player, man?' " drummer Jimmy Fox recalls. It was fellow student Joe Walsh. "How did you find out? Glenn's vapor trails weren't gone yet."

Bassist Dale Peters soon joined as Walsh helmed the group. He gave it the songwriting muscle it sorely lacked, spawning hits such as Funk #49, Walk Away and Midnight Man, until Walsh quit the group in 1971.

So when the re-formed James Gang takes the stage at Red Rocks on Friday night, it'll be the first tour of the power trio's classic lineup in 35 years.

"There was a long period of time when we were out of touch with each other. It wasn't really a band breakup. I just got frustrated in a three-piece band, and what I was writing had a lot more instruments and texture and stuff. It was very amiable," Walsh says. "The time off - it seems like about two weeks, really. When we got back together, everybody's pretty much the same – the same humor and we've got so many crazy shared stories. We reminisced to re-bond."

Spawned in Ohio with a heavy base in rock and funk, the band became legendary on the basis of three core albums, though the group went on without Walsh for several more discs. After that initial meeting, the chemistry among the three formed quickly.

"The Cleveland community really supported its local bands. We had a lot of places to play, and we were free to come up with our own style. It was a great time back then. Those were the days," Walsh says.

"All three of us had marching-band experience. We had training beyond rock 'n' roll," Fox says. "When the Bolero section worked its way into our show (in the song The Bomber), it was certainly no surprise to Joe and me."

Early on, Walsh had a couple of lucky moments in his career, attracting the attention of both The Who's Pete Townshend and Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page. Townshend in particular has been a huge fan, saying Walsh's strength as a guitarist is knowing not only what to play but where to leave silences in his work.

"Yeah, I agree with that. I don't think you can play good lead guitar unless you can play excellent rhythm guitar. That would be my follow-up quote," Walsh says now.

"When we had our first album out, we were pretty big word of mouth in the Midwest. We got thrown on a Who show as the opening act. The Who were premiering Tommy. It just happened that Pete came early that day and stood by the side of the stage and watched the show. He really related because The Who was basically a three-piece band. He related to what I was doing. We've always been on the same wavelength, creatures from the same ZIP code.

"After that, he kinda took me under his wing, and that's really where I learned my style of how to sing and play. It's kind of lead rhythm guitar. . . . It's not rhythm, it's not lead, it's just both of them. That way you fill up all the spaces."

It was during his time in Colorado immediately after leaving the James Gang that Walsh discovered local guitar legend Tommy Bolin and recommended him as his replacement.

"I met Tommy and heard him play. I told the guys in the James Gang, 'This guy can do it.' That's some big shoes to fill, to be the only melodic instrument in a band. I told them, 'If you don't get Tommy, you're silly,' " Walsh says.

That gave the James Gang a latter-day burst of success.

"Playing with Tommy Bolin was the delight of a lifetime. But I still identify the band as Jimmy, Joe and Dale," Fox says.

Fans agree, making many of the band's songs radio fixtures. The stuttering riff from Funk #49, the James Gang's signature song, came out of a jam session like many of Walsh's licks have.

"We'd launch into these improv sections of the song, and just whatever came into our heads is what we'd play," Walsh says. "You just found that that particular riff would show up in some of our jams onstage. When it got time to go in the studio, we kinda dusted that off and organized it a little bit, threw some words on it real quick."

"Some of our best songs came out of dressing-room jams, waiting to go on," Fox says.

"You can sit at home with a legal pad and a guitar and stay up all night and you'll come up with stuff," Walsh says. "But to not have any particular thing planned and be playing with a bunch of other musicians, you stumble across all kinds of stuff that wouldn't show up on your own."

There were sporadic one-off reunions over the years, but it wasn't until Walsh's schedule with his other band - The Eagles - made time that the James Gang re-formed.

The James Gang did benefit performances in 2001, and "by the time we got off the stage from those three performances, we had the impression that maybe this is something we should do more of," Fox says.

Last year they did some rehearsals, then went to the House of Blues in Cleveland to ask for a night, a request quickly granted. That's when plans for the tour began.

Walsh has always been a fascinating guitarist, but fans and critics alike have noticed that his playing in recent live shows has been monstrously good.

"I've been practicing a lot. Of course I have to. I've gotta have my chops up for the James Gang," he says.

"I really enjoy playing now. I see a new generation of people coming to hear me, people who weren't around when all these records came out. I see an awful lot of kids who have got to be guitar players, because they're watching me like hawks. . . . I feel like a young kid in this aging body. All the stuff I've acquired - it's time to go out and play it for people."

While the band does do Walsh's solo hit Rocky Mountain Way, "I don't think we're going to throw in more of my stuff," he says. "I wanna keep it pretty much James Gang stuff. I don't know if the audience is going to realize that Life's Been Good didn't come out of the James Gang era. They may be yelling for songs, but we're going to keep it pure James Gang."

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stevef
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Postby stevef » Thu Aug 17, 2006 3:11 am


from Rocky Mountain News--


Time just makes fans fonder of James Gang


Image
"We're the James Gang from last century," Joe Walsh
(above) wryly noted from the stage early in Friday
night's show. This form of the band hasn't toured in 35
years, causing Walsh to note that some in the audience
(admittedly, not many) weren't even alive the last time
the band hit the road.



By Mark Brown, Rocky Mountain News
August 12, 2006


"We're the James Gang from last century," Joe Walsh wryly noted from the stage early in Friday night's show.

This form of the band hasn't toured in 35 years, causing Walsh to note that some in the audience (admittedly, not many) weren't even alive the last time the band hit the road.

"Just pretend we're some really cool friends of your parents."

In a too-short show, the band lived up to the boast. The spine-tingling moments came early and often.

Take a Look Around
and Midnight Man both used to be FM-radio staples until modern-day programming reduced the James Gang's history to its two biggest hits.

Hearing them live by the three guys who created and recorded them back in the early '70s was a thrill for many in the crowd (some of whom, one assumes, drove to the band's first go-round in a '71 VW Bug rather than the scores of SUVs in the parking lot).

The upside of a 35-year break is that so many of these songs haven't been driven into the ground through repeated touring; the band attacked them with vigor, and the crowd's fresh ears adored them.

One expects superb musicianship out of Walsh, who has toured relentlessly in his day job with The Eagles.

Bassist Dale Peters and drummer Jimmy Fox, however, were amazing in matching Walsh's energy and style, with Fox particularly monstrous on drums; it really doesn't get better than the epic version of The Bomber that blasted the crowd early.

Walsh told the News he was afraid that audiences would expect his latter-day hits such as Life's Been Good when he was determined to strictly mine James Gang material (save for the inevitable Rocky Mountain Way).

His fears were unfounded; the crowd at Red Rocks was a James Gang group all the way, applauding the opening notes of obscure album cuts and going wild for Walk Away and Funk #49.

A decade-plus sober and playing better than ever, Walsh was droll and witty.

As he has for decades, Walsh announced his candidacy for presidency on two platforms: "Free gas" and "We wouldn't have all the problems we have today. We'd have different ones."

Opening the show was JD & the Straight Shot, and likely few in the audience knew that JD was James Dolan, a New York entertainment magnate who, among other things, is chairman of Madison Square Garden and CEO of Cablevision.

While he surrounded himself with crack players, Dolan was hardly a karaoke act, putting convincing voice and emotion into the blues-based set.

The James Gang


• Grade: A-