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Now celebrating close to 35 years in the tumultuous world of the music
industry, Canned Heat is back with an album that finds their musical
heritage and integrity intact and thriving. With their new album FRIENDS
IN THE CAN ìthe Heatî is deep in the blues, part and present.
Not only a celebration of the blues, in this official ?oYear Of
The Blues,? FRIENDS IN THE CAN features the talents of
contemporaries like Taj Mahal, Roy Rogers, Corey Stevens and Walter
Trout, and mentor John Lee Hooker, to create an album that consistently
measures up to the musical highs of Canned Heat?Ts classic
records.
Emerging in the mid 1960s, Canned Heat was founded by blues historians
and record collectors Alan "Blind Owl" Wilson and Bob "The Bear"
Hite.? They gained international attention and secured their
niche in the pages of rock 'n roll history with their performances at
the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival (along with Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin
and The Who) and the headlining slot at the original Woodstock Festival.
Wilson was already renowned for his distinctive harmonica work when he
accompanied veteran bluesman, Son House, on his rediscovery album,
"Father of the Blues," and retaught him how to play like Son House,
again.
Hite took the name Canned Heat from a 1928 recording by Tommy
Johnson and they were joined by Henry "The Sunflower" Vestine, another
ardent record collector capable of fretboard fireworks at a moment's
notice who was a former member of Frank Zappa's Mothers of Invention.
Rounding out the band in the early years were Larry "The Mole" Taylor on
bass, an experienced session musician who had played with Jerry Lee
Lewis and The Monkees and Adolfo "Fito" de la Parra on drums who had
played in two of the biggest Latin American bands, Los Sinners and Los
Hooligans and then with The Platters, The Shirelles and Etta James.
Canned Heat's unique blend of modern electric blues, rock and boogie has
earned them a loyal following and influenced many aspiring guitarists
and bands during the past 35 years. Their Top-40 country-blues-rock
songs, "On The Road Again," "Let's Work Together," and "Going Up The
Country," became rock anthems throughout the world with the later being
adopted as the unofficial theme song for the film
?oWoodstock.?
Right from the start, Canned Heat has been at the forefront of
popularizing blues music. Their second album, "Boogie With Canned Heat,"
included the worldwide hit "On The Road Again" and a twelve minute
version of "Fried Hockey Boogie" that established them with hippie
ballroom audiences as the "kings of the boogie!" Their third album,
"Living The Blues," included a 19-minute tour de force,
"Parthenogenesis" which displayed the quintet at their most experimental
along with their incarnation of Henry Thomas' "Bulldozer Blues" where
singer, Wilson, retained the tune of the original song, rewrote the
lyric and came up with "Goin' Up The Country," whose simple message
caught the "back-to-nature" attitude of the late '60s and went to #1 in
25 countries around the world.
The band can boast of collaborations with John Mayall and Little Richard
and later with blues icon, John Lee Hooker, the musician that they
initially got much of their musical inspiration from in the first place.
This union first produced the spirited and revered album, "Hooker 'n
Heat" and then Hooker's 1990 Grammy Award-winning classic, "The Healer."
The band is also credited with bringing a number of other forgotten
bluesmen to the forefront of modern blues including Sunnyland Slim, who
they found driving a taxi in Chicago, Memphis Slim, with whom they
recorded an entire album in Paris, France and Albert Collins. They
brought Collins to California where they had their manager negotiate a
recording agreement for Albert that started him on his way to becoming a
well known musician throughout the world.
On September 3rd, 1970, the band was shattered by the suicide of Alan
Wilson. His death sparked reconstruction within the group and member
changes
continued throughout the next two decades. On April 5th, 1981, following
a gig at the Palamino in Los Angeles, gargantuan vocalist, Bob Hite,
collapsed and died of a heart attack and on October 20th, 1997, Henry
Vestine died in Paris, France following the final gig of a European
tour.
Despite these untimely deaths and assorted musical trends, Canned Heat
has survived. Since 1967, the band has toured extensively all over the
world, performing at numerous festivals including Monterey Pop, Newport
Pop, the Sturgis Motorcycle Run U.S.A., and the original Woodstock. They
have performed at world-renowned venues such as Paris' Olympia, both
Fillmore Auditoriums, The Kaleidoscope, Carnegie Hall (with John Lee
Hooker), Madison Square Garden and even Royal Albert Hall and have
played more motorcycle rallies than any other band in the world. They
and/or their music have been featured on television (In Concert, David
Frost, Merv Griffin, Midnight Special, Playboy After Dark, etc.), and in
films ("Woodstock," "Flashback," and "Forrest Gump" etc.). Their legend
has recently been heard and felt in various television commercials ("On
The Road Again" for Miller Beer, "Goin' Up The Country" for Pepsi,
Chevrolet and McDonalds, "Let's Work Together" for Lloyd's Bank,
England's Electric Company and for Target Stores along with other songs
for 7-Up, Levi's and Heineken Beer).
Now, more than thirty six years later and with thirty-four albums to
their credit, Canned Heat is still going strong. Anchored throughout by
the steady hand of drummer/band leader Adolfo "Fito" de la Parra (a
member since 1967), Canned Heat is well on track to carry the
boogie-blues it made famous, well into the 21st century. With one of
their strongest lineups ever, now together since the end of 1999, Fito
on drums, Greg Kage on bass and vocals, Dallas Hodge on guitar and
vocals, John Paulus on guitar and vocals and Stanley Behrens on
harmonica, flute, saxophone and vocals, they have just completed
recording their new CD entitled FRIENDS IN THE CAN. This record brings
together a number of Canned Heat's musical friends from the past and
present to join them in this musical collaboration and celebration of 36
years of Canned Heat music.
Fito's book, "LIVING THE BLUES" is available through the band's website
at www.cannedheatmusic.com and at? most popular book outlets. It is
the complete and outrageous Canned Heat story of "Music, Drugs, Death,
Sex and Survival" along with over 100 captivating pictures from their
past. And, as The Bear would say: "Don't Forget To Boogie!" www.cannedheatmusic.com
www.fuel2000.com
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