Life's been good for Joe Walsh, who's celebrating his 30th anniversary with the Eagles by touring for a month with the James Gang.
Say what?
The Gang's classic lineup of drummer Jim Fox, bassist Dale Peters and guitarist Walsh recently launched its first tour in 35 years. The monthlong “The James Gang Rides Again” tour – which Saturday comes to Viejas' Concerts in the Park – culminates a very slow build that began in 1996 when President Clinton asked the Cleveland trio to perform at a campaign rally, handpicking the set list himself.
They performed sporadically after that – appearing as the Horndogs on “The Drew Carey Show” in 1998, playing three charity concerts for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001 and doing three sold-out club shows last year in their hometown.
Walsh realized after those shows last year that something was missing in his role with the Eagles.
“I've been in a very good band, but you have your assignment and that's what you do. You know what note to sing. And we do that just about as good as anybody,” he said, referring to his more famous band. “But (the club shows) reminded me how much I miss turning it up and not having anything particularly in mind to play exactly, and going for it. I don't play like that anymore.”
DATEBOOK
The James Gang Rides Again, JD and the Straight Shot
8 p.m. Saturday;
Viejas Concerts in the Park, 5005 Willows Road, Alpine;
$90;
(619) 220-TIXS
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The fun and improvisational flair of those shows led to this tour. Walsh said those club shows were “sloppy” but were a blast, a spirit he wanted to maintain once they could ride again on tour. “We didn't over-rehearse. We didn't take it too seriously. We ... refreshed our minds about everything, but at that point it was time to just go out and play.”
Walsh cited 1971's “James Gang Live in Concert” album, recorded at New York's Carnegie Hall, as the “road map” for these shows.
Fox started the band as a quintet in 1966. Its keyboardist left after Walsh joined in 1968. Later that year, its singer and second guitarist quit shortly before the group opened for Cream at Detroit's legendary Grande Ballroom.
“We (didn't) have enough money to get gas to drive home; we had to play,” Walsh remembered with a laugh.
None of the remaining three musicians was a lead singer, “but I knew more words than the other guys, so we agreed I'll sing two verses and then let's go for it.”
The strong audience reaction emboldened the newly molded power trio, which enjoyed a short but fruitful run that covered three studio albums (reissued on CD in 2000), a live album and guitar-driven hits such as “Funk No. 49,” “Woman,” “The Bomber” (a suite that included Ravel's “Bolero” and Vince Guaraldi's “Cast Your Fate to the Wind”) and “Walk Away.”
Walsh left amicably at the end of 1971 – the band continued for six more years, first with Tommy Bolin, then with Domenic Troiano. Walsh started a new band, Barnstorm, to better serve his growing musical ideas, which included the slow boogie of Top 30 hit “Rocky Mountain Way.”
“I was getting frustrated as a three-piece. I had started to write a lot more melodic stuff, and I was hearing key parts and harmonies. It was just where I was going,” he said.
Walsh has no plans to walk away from either band now. He's squeezing in this tour between the Eagles' recent two-month European trek and plans to finish their slowly fermenting new studio album, which would be their first since 1979's “The Long Run.”
“First of all, I'm an Eagle, and it just so happens that we have a quiet rest of the year,” said Walsh. “We kind of feel that we should dust off the stuff we've got on the shelf and see if we can come up with an album of new Eagles songs. We can play our catalog forever, but to stay really valid, and I think we are, we should get something out there.”
The James Gang is looking ahead as well.
“We're gonna see how it turns out. With a band of this type, the best thing to do is go play in front of people, get about 10 of those underneath our belts and, if this goes well, book some more shows and maybe do a DVD,” Walsh said. “We've got some silly film footage from the old days, and we'll probably think about some product to release. Now we've just got to go out and play.”
