I had to replace the horn section when they went out with Diana Ross. I wasnt going back to working at the post office. accounts, the history behind an article. "It really was a great crucible, and sort of our college, because we were teenagers back then, and we learned so many styles of music - country and western, blues, guitar rock - because nobody said 'no' to anything. 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 The following year, Southside Johnny revived the Asbury Jukes for the album Better Days, a set in the group's classic style that was produced by Steve Van Zandt and included appearances from Bruce Springsteen and Jon Bon Jovi, the latter a longtime Southside Johnny fan. Be Proactive. Toronto Star articles, please go to: www.TorontoStarReprints.com, Conversations are opinions of our readers and are subject to the, 211 Pritchard Road, Unit 4, Hamilton ON L8J 0G5. Anyone have insght as to his scene that was cut? SOUTHSIDE JOHNNY: Well, you plan in a vague way that you want to get another album done, but even if you write the songs and you know which way you want to go, when you take it to the band, sometimes they change a little bit and they may shift it a little bit in a different direction and you go, "Oh, I like that," or you don't and you say, "Let's not do it that way. He had a lot of confidence in me. We sat down after that and talked about working together again, Lyon said. Soundtrack: Home Alone. The Sundance Blues Band fizzled out after the closing of the Upstage Club, and by 1972 Springsteen had founded a hard rock band called Steel Mill. The move came at a lull in Lyon's musical career, and life in San Clemente (which he shares with his wife, Jill, and their two canaries) has been mostly quiet: walks in nearby Ronald W. Caspers . "But we're always there if anybody needs us. There are other things I'm interested in. Its one thing to do Fever and I Dont Want to Go Home, which I still love and get a great reaction, but when you get a new song that you havent played a thousand times and it still gets a great reaction, its really a big thrill.. While the group's membership has gone through dozens of changes since the mid-'70s, with Southside at the vocal mike their sound has remained remarkably consistent from their '70s efforts (1976's I Don't Want to Go Home, 1978's Hearts of Stone) to their 21st century sessions (2002's Going to Jukesville, 2010's Pills and Ammo), though the group did detour into dance music on 1983's Trash It Up (produced by Nile Rodgers). Lyon's parents were music fans with a taste for jazz (his father played bass in a jazz combo before landing a steady job with the post office), and he grew up with the sounds of Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday, Count Basie, and Duke Ellington filling the house. My wife, Jill, keeps wondering the same thing. Ive been very lucky. Critics have called us the worlds greatest bar band, Lyon said. She has been a musician and songwriter throughout her life, and although her own creative pursuits have often taken a back seat to those of her much more famous husband, Scialfa has continued to work both with and without the E Street Band for over 35 years. To me, the spontaneity of making music is the beauty of it, instead of this idea that you're going to program everything and everything's going to work out right. I have a vague idea about what I want to do and I'd like a set list, but if at any moment I want to do a different song, I'll just call out the title of the song or the opening riff and we'll do it. A. I take performing and recording very seriously. I don't define myself entirely by music. It's one of my favorite places to play. I think that would be boring. When you watch old clips on YouTube, it's uncanny how closely aligned Springsteen and Southside are musically - both representative of the Jersey Shore sound of the '70s, with its big band rock spiked with romanticism and a rootsy, heartland ethos. I think we knew it at the time. Gallery | Links This is a must-ask question: What is it about New Jersey? I said, Great--any towns got a pool hall cant be so bad. Well, of course, as soon as I move in there they close it down and make a Volkswagen parts joint out of it. The Jukes have had a number of personnel changes over the years. He is back fronting the nine-piece Jukes and resuming a heavy performing schedule that includes shows tonight and Wednesday at the Coach House in San Juan Capistrano, Thursday at the Roxy in West Hollywood, and Friday and Saturday at the Strand in Redondo Beach. to colleagues, clients or customers, or inquire about Those things were never really that important to me, but what was important was, I was allowed to do whatever I wanted onstage or in the studio. 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 Recording Sessions As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. There are times when I feel, What am I--chopped liver? Lyon acknowledged. If you do not yet have a Torstar account, you can create one now (it is free), Copyright owned or licensed by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited. I wasnt a big cocaine person, though. Each contributed songs to the band that was known then as Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes, and Van Zandt, known nowadays as political rocker Little Steven, served as the bands manager and producer. Nevertheless, the old links to Springsteen and Van Zandt are inescapable, given the mutual roots, and the fact that they wrote many of the Jukes most notable songs. Wikidot.com Terms of Service - what you can, what you should not etc. As Lyon honed his chops on the blues harp and learned lyrics to some of his favorite songs, he would occasionally perform a few songs with friends who had formed bands. They treat us great. CLEVELAND, Ohio - Go to any Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes show these days (the band still plays regularly up and down the East Coast) and you'll find a new, coveted item amongst fans. We were young and we wanted adventure and there was this music that promised that. Eager to record again but not excited about signing another record deal, Southside Johnny devised a new strategy and formed his own label, Leroy Records, to release his music when and how he wanted, and giving him full creative freedom. They loved good music and they had great senses of humor and some sarcasm. I honestly dont try to keep up with all that (sales) stuff because it can make you completely neurotic, and Ive got lots of other things to keep me neurotic.. I just think it's a great time to make music, and you can communicate with musicians around the world. While a video of the title tune earned some scattered MTV airplay, the album wasn't a hit, and they returned to something closer to their signature sound on 1984's In the Heat. It's just the perfect stage for us in some ways. 1978's Hearts of Stone was a superb distillation of everything Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes had been trying to do with their music in the early years, and when it failed to sell significantly better than its predecessors, it signaled some major changes for the band. ", Per "Racing In The Street: The Bruce Springsteen Reader," Springsteen and Julianne Phillips divorced in 1989, and in 1990, Springsteen and Scialfa moved to a $14 million estate in Beverly Hills, California. There was nothing that was attractive other than music, so that's what you did You were tenacious about following that one opportunity to do the one thing you really loved. So I would vacuum and make the beds and play their records and sing along with them. Lyon developed a taste for harder blues and R&B from listening to the radio late at night, and in his early teens, he began learning to play harmonica after "borrowing" one from his brother, who had bought a guitar and fancied himself the next Bob Dylan. You are all about raw and honest music, and I think this takes a lot of heart, and also takes a lot of courage; you put all of yourself into music. Some day I'll do a blues album. Live recording -- "Reach Up and Touch the Sky. It leaves you with a strong feeling of respect. When asked about Scialfa's new prominence on stage, Springsteen credited the songs' subject matter, noting, "The album is about men and women, you know." We have very eclectic taste. And, he notes with a laugh, the musical cross-pollination that began decades ago is still going on - most recently, with Springsteen's poaching of the Jukes' brass section. When New Jerseys Asbury Park music scene rose up in the 1970s, there were three bright lights on its rock-and-soul triangle. The albums appealed to the Jukes' fan base and "I'm So Anxious" from The Jukes became a minor hit, but they didn't expand their audience, and after cutting an excellent live album, 1981's Reach Up and Touch the Sky, Mercury and Southside Johnny parted ways. Every time I got off the bus, there would be literally hundreds of people sleeping there and begging and nobody was taking care of them, he said. We werent old enough to drink, but because we knew Garry we could get in. If you weren't a performer and recording artist, what do you think you'd be doing now? Why did you decide to move to Nashville at one point in your life? I always took that as a tremendous compliment because some of the best music Ive heard has been in bars. If I'd gone out and played it live, it would've made the record more accessible to people. After three years, Southside was disenchanted with the Richmond rock scene, and he returned to New Jersey. I was always of the mind-set of if you get a better offer for more money, take it. She agreed and joined the tour three days before its start. Meanwhile, Lyon has landed appearances on The Tonight Show and Late Night With David Letterman. And theres a video of Its Been a Long Time, the shooting of which picked up national media attention. They don't want us to be the same set list every night. Their onstage interactions got steamier and more suggestive, and in June they were spotted kissing in Rome, Italy. Its the stupidest drug. Sales were modest but respectable, and the band toured hard in support, eventually taking a break to cut their second LP, 1977's This Time It's for Real, which featured more guest appearances from R&B heroes (vocal groups the Coasters, the Drifters, and the Five Satins) and songwriting contributions from Springsteen. Does it bother you that you are forever being compared with Bruce Springsteen? By 1971, Lyon had formed a group called the Sundance Blues Band, which featured Lyon on lead vocals and harp, as well his high school friend Garry Tallent and other future stars such as Steven Van Zandt, Vini Lopez, David Sancious, and a promising guitarist named Bruce Springsteen. That's the common thread of almost all of the bands, even the younger bands that are coming up. In 1995, Southside Johnny recorded the title song for a low-budget movie called Tuff Turf, and the tune was issued as a 12" single by Rhino Records, becoming his first solo release. 96, but slipped the following week to No. Most E Street Band and Asbury Jukes members (past and present) were in attendance. But connecting with a woman in a romantic relationship is probably something else. SOUTHSIDE JOHNNY: That's correct. You can put it up on the internet. We honed our crafts. Q. Q. Southside Johnny & Jill Glasner Wedding Reception. The band developed a large following in Richmond, Virginia, and when Springsteen invited Southside to tag along and sing a few songs at a Richmond gig, Johnny quickly acquired a new girlfriend and was invited to join a band called Studio B. Johnny Lyon, is telling me over the phone from somewhere on the New Jersey Shore. The album is on Cypress Records, the independent label whose roster leans toward such mellow folk-pop artists as Jennifer Warnes, Leonard Cohen and Jesse Colin Young. ''. When Lyon was 16, he was asked by Sonny Kenn, leader of a popular Asbury Park band called Sonny and the Starfires, to join a new blues-oriented combo he formed, earning Lyon his first paying gig. Has it been difficult to maintain the same sound with so many changes in personnel? But I can't imagine not being in music. Learn How rich is He in this year and how He spends money? I think we know what it takes to keep an audience and to make them want to come back. 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