About Me
........."Theres one thing I've always wanted to do," Johnny confesses, and that is to sing.In a business where success is defined as getting a second single; and longevity measured in nano-seconds; just surviving for thirty plus years is a rare accomplishment. But Johnny and the Jukes have not just survivedthey have flourished. Twenty-seven albums; thousands of live performances around the globe; a legion of dedicated and enthusiastic fans; dozens of classic songs; a record-Hearts of Stone-that Billboard called one of the top 100 albums of the 70s and 80s.To Johnny its just what he does. I grew up on music. We listened to Billie Holiday, T-Bone Walker, Muddy Waters and Big Joe Turner. My parents loved music, the louder the better. Born and raised on the Jersey Shore, Southside's fascination for the club scene started early. My father played in bands for years, and my mother actually went into labor with me at some seedy New Jersey club. I guess some things were just meant to be. Singing and playing in a number of blues and R&B bands at what is now the legendary Upstage Club, often joined by pals Bruce Springsteen, Miami Steve Van Zandt, and Garry Tallent, Johnny worked at making meant to be into is. It wasn't easy. We played for years on the shore, but it wasnt until Bruce hit with Born to Run that these A&R guys would drive to Asbury Park to see what was happening.Southside (a nickname picked up because of his bent toward the blues sounds of the Southside of Chicago) and his band, eventually called the Asbury Jukes, worked on their growing reputation as a dynamic live band through the late 60s and early 70s. We built a big band, a home for lots of musicians, horns and all: sure we called it Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, but it was really just a bunch of guys getting crazy on stage. Then, in 1975, they signed with CBS/Epic Records and released the critically acclaimed I Dont Want To Go Home and a legend was begun. What followed was two decades of recording and touring and solidifying a place in rock n roll historya period of ups and downs, dozens of great songs, and storied live performances.In 1992, following the release of Better Days, and its unexpected lackluster reception, Johnny, never a fan of the big record business, soured on the rat race altogether, and took a hiatus from the studio; though he continued to work the road. I went through some really bad times and never wanted to record again, he recalls. He spent eight years working on the massive record collection he shares with E Street bassist, and childhood buddy, Garry Tallent, ruminating on life and his music, and just plain moping until, in 1999, the light finally came back on.The release of Messin with the Blues, in 2000, on his own Leroy Records label, was a return to making music for the sheer joy of it. A collection of old and new true-blues songs that Johnny had long coveted but couldnt record in the pop-single driven, major label environment, Messin with the Blues was the catharsis Johnny needed to get the band back in the studio and himself back in the groove. You can be free do what you want, as you wantwe werent trying to be perfectwe just wanted to playwe were professional about it, while having a lot of fun.Recharged and energized, with a rejuvenated balls-to-the-wall, honest-to-goodness Jukes attitude, Johnny followed up Messin with the Blues with Going To Jukesville in 2002, a classic Jukes rocker; and the newly released Into The Harbour, a retrospectively-toned collection celebrating the Jukes 30 years on the road.Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes are brassing their way through the first decade of of the new millenium the same way they always rocked the old oneno holds barred, good-time rock and roll. Ill stack my group up against any group out there. We enjoy playing, and the audience enjoys having a good time. Music is a shared emotion. We distill it down to that.When you distill Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, what is rendered is great music and good times. Its been thus for three decades and counting.
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