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James gang3/30/2023 The FOX SCHWARTZ BLUES CRUSADE was never a working group. He came by, we played and we immediately agreed to give him a try in THE JAMES GANG. and I invited him to sit in with us at a local gig soon after. Glenn and I spoke at length about what type of music we liked, what our goals were, etc. I agreed to attend, planning on using the rehearsal as an excuse to have a conversation with Glenn about him joining my band. I explained that I was working on my own thing right then, and was told that Glenn was also invited to the rehearsal. Soon after his return, I was invited to a rehearsal of a new 12-piece "show band" that was planning to be the host band on a local TV show. He was a bit of legend in Cleveland, and while he had been away for a few years, he was known as a guy who could play better behind his back than most guys could play regularly! I had heard that he was back in town, but I did not know how to contact him. JF: Glenn and I met in late 1966, as I was trying to get THE GANG together and he was just back from serving in the Army in Germany. PSF: When did you meet Glenn Schwartz and begin playing in the band? Drummers.Ringo, Mitch Mitchell, Ginger Baker, Keith Moon (my God!!), and a whole lot of others. By then, THE JAMES GANG was up and running. I added such groups as CREAM, HENDRIX, ZEPPELIN, etc. Many of those names are still my favorites today. my favorite music centered around the bands mentioned above with the Guv'nors, such as the Beatles, the Stones, Byrds, The Who, The Yardbirds, The Zombies, as well as Dylan, The Beach Boys, and many others. From then on, while I still appreciated blues, R&B, Motown, etc. Literally the same time I joined Tom King and the Starfires, I heard my first BEATLE record ("I Want To Hold Your Hand"), and my life changed forever. All that changed in one moment in November, 1963. I also loved jazz, and for a time, was enamored by big bands like Ellington and Basie, hard bop such as Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers (Blakey was my favorite drummer as well), Miles, etc. JF: Where to start!! I remember loving early rock and roll and bought records like "Why Do Fools Fall in Love" by Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers, "Maybelline" by Chuck Berry, early Everly Brothers, Little Richard, etc. I never had any goals that did not center around music and I cannot imagine what I would have done had music not become my career. Later in the fall of 1966, I founded my band, THE JAMES GANG, whose history is pretty well known.Īs to why I began playing music in the first place, I cannot remember a time when music wasn't my main interest in life. As luck would have it, their drummer was drafted right as the record was flying up the charts, and I was called to finish their first album and do their first tour, which included an appearance on a TV show called HULLABALOO. TOM KING AND THE STARFIRES, however, went on to become THE OUTSIDERS and had a top five national hit with TIME WON'T LET ME. We were playing British Rock.Beatles, Stones, The Who, etc. By 1966, I had moved on to a college band called "THE GUV'NORS". We played current R&B above all, a few of the "hits" and a bit of blues. My first rock band, which I joined in November of 1963, was TOM KING AND THE STARFIRES. There was also a quartet with a Cordovox and a guitar.we might have ventured into THE VENTURES, but that was very short-lived. We played "standards," such as "Dancing on the Ceiling," and even played a gig or two. There were a series of them, none rock and roll to begin with, and no names recalled!! Heck, I'm not even sure we HAD names!! One was an 8-piece "dance band," very much "of the times," with two trumpets, three saxes (including a girl who also sang lead once in a blue moon), piano, bass and drums. I began playing in bands in the very early 1960s. PSF: What were the first bands that you were in? What sparked an interest in playing music? For the first time, a new CD offers the recordings of the Glenn Schwartz-Fox Blues Crusade, taken from a 1967 recording. The Gang made their dent in the early '70's with songs like "Funk #49" and "Walk Away." Here, we take a look at Fox's pre-James Gang days, and his times with Glen Schwartz as well as Fox's musical influences, the events of the 1960's and his love of the blues. Jim Fox on the left, Dale Peters in the middle, a youthful Joe Walsh on the right Jim Fox interview by John Wisniewskiĭrummer Jim Fox worked in a blues group with guitarist Glen Schwartz (who would also later play in Pacific Gas and Electric) during the late 1960's but you probably know him better as a founding member of the James Gang, which later included Schwartz and a pre-Eagles Joe Walsh. Perfect Sound Forever: James Gang's Jim Fox interviewed
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