Originating in San Francisco in 1965, and reunited for a special reunion tour of Australia in 2013, the FLAMIN’ GROOVIES have now been touring and performing consistently for the last four years, playing throughout the USA, including repeated visits to NY, LA, a dozen shows in the Bay Area, plus several highly successful tours of Europe, and repeated visits to Japan,…the Groovies have returned in full force.
Able to reach a broad and diverse audience which includes music fans young and old, and particularly those who love garage rock, psych, power pop, British invasion, and old time rock n’ roll, they are like no other band alive. Last year they celebrated their 50th Anniversary, and they show no signs of slowing down.
The lineup featuring Cyril Jordan and Chris Wilson are BACK IN ACTION, as they continue to present their own unique and infectious style of rock n roll with such cult classics as “Slow Death,” “Shake Some Action,” and “Teenage Head.”, and a new set which includes brand new songs off their new album, “Fantastic Plastic.”
FLAMIN’ GROOVIES Bio (in more detail):
The Flamin’ Groovies story goes all the way back to 1965 when the band began as the Chosen Few in their hometown of San Francisco, California. After a name change and a self-released 10 inch album called “Sneakers”, which sold amazingly well, the band caught the attention of Columbia who signed them up and sent them into the studio with a big budget to record their first real album, “Supersnazz”, on the Epic label. Their next two albums were on Kama Sutra (home of their heroes, The Lovin’ Spoonful): “Flamingo”, and the now revered classic “Teenage Head”.
Lead singer Roy Loney left the band right after that and lead guitarist Cyril Jordan moved the group to England with Chris Wilson (formerly of Loose Gravel) taking over as front man. They continued their style of straight ahead guitar driven rock n’ roll but this time with a more 60’s rather than 50’s influence. A few singles on United Artists, recorded at the legendary Rockfield Studios in Wales with Dave Edmunds producing, followed in the early ’70s. In ’76 they signed to Sire Records, who released three true gems of power pop: “Shake Some Action”, “Flamin’ Groovies Now”, and “Jumpin’ In The Night”.
Another lineup change ensued in the next decade with Wilson moving to England and joining the Barracudas. The Groovies continued on thru the 80’s and into the early ’90s touring Australia and Europe, putting out a fine but overlooked album called Rock Juice and then finally calling it quits. Jordan formed a new band called Magic Christian while Wilson released solo albums in Europe.
Now in 2017, Jordan, Wilson led quartet have gone back into the studio to cut an album of brand new material. Having toured the world for the past five years, fans have been delighted with what is being called “a dream set list”, including original songs the band has never performed before onstage. Newcomers are asking, “Why haven’t I ever heard of this group?” It’s hard to say just why the group hasn’t gotten the attention they deserve (at least in the USA) but they’re back to give everyone another chance at hearing and seeing just why those in the know consider them one of the greatest rock n’ roll bands ever.
