The first “Name” to play a Headstrong, but first a backstory…
As a few of you may know, Marc Ford was the first real “well known” guy to play a Headstrong.
There were a few others that had a Headstrong before him, but at the time not many people knew who some of the blues guys were….So for all intents and purposes, Marc was THE first.
But to really talk about this, I need to rewind back to the late 90’s when I had just moved to Portland Oregon and just trying to make my way in a very crowded blues scene. I had spent years in Northern California and Southern Oregon cutting my teeth in blues rock bands. I wanted to play the real old stuff now and I felt I needed to go to a big city and I had exhausted my time in CA, so it was time to go North.
I had been in town for a few months and made friends with a couple guys who I considered to be some of the best current blues players I had ever heard. One was Phil Wagner aka Suburban Slim, the other was a guy who I had heard was a killer on guitar, but he now only gigged on drums…this guy was Marco Savo, a cantankerous older fellow from the Monterey Bay ( I grew up in Santa Cruz). I had seen Slim play in southern Oregon several times over the years, so I just tracked him down once I was in town and my circle of contacts grew from there.
Back then, I was pretty cocky, Headstrong even…I am sure these older guys tolerated me at best most of the time, but generally were pretty nice to me. One day we met up at a Fabulous Thunderbird show in a park somewhere in PDX. Marco pointed out the Ludwig Acrolite snare on stage and told me that Richard Innes was playing drums…This is how he was, I think he knew by the snare on stage who was playing, I took note of that awareness!
I was there to see the band, but also, my favorite drummer, Jimi Bott, who I had seen with Rod Piazza and the Mighty Flyers more times than I could count! I knew he had left the Flyers and was playing with the T-birds as I’d seen them in Southern Oregon a few years prior…I actually had a brief interaction with Jimi at that time…He was a very nice guy, considering this was a somewhat obligatory conversation, at the fence to back stage signing autographs. Side note, I’ve never asked for autographs, I always liked to talk to people, trying to connect or glean info or vibes instead…It usually works by the way. Not that there’s anything wrong with autographs.
Back to that day in PDX, I asked Marco, what happened to Jimi? In typical, somewhat dismissive Marco fashion, he said “he left to join some Black Crowes, “spin off” band.” He also said, Jimi lives in Portland now…I said, “What?? Have you met him, is he playing with anyone here??”…These guys were not as impressed or impressionable as I was. I was mid 20’s, they were all late 30’s, they didn’t seem to care or think anything of it. I was stunned! The show that day was killer and the late great Richard Innes, killed it on the kit. He was also a very nice guy! I talked to him at the fence that day, never miss an opportunity guys, you never know where it may lead.
I went home that day and could not get the fact out of my head that Jimi Bott lived in the same city as me and wasn’t playing blues! A few months prior I had already begun to develop an interest in drums, Marco told me he mainly played drums because there were so few guys in town that could actually shuffle, he started gigging to fill the void. I thought, wow, there are so many great guitar players here, maybe I could gig more if I played drums too! My girlfriend at the time surprised me with a starter set of drums and I taught myself how to play “She’s Tough”, an old Jerry McCain tune on the first T-Birds record. Slow and steady, I picked up the four on the floor pattern! I wanted more of this feeling you get when you pick up a new thing.
So I thought, I should find Jimi and see if he gave drum lessons. I used this thing we used to rely on called a PHONE BOOK and looked him up. I called him and he answered!! I introduced myself and asked if he gave lessons…His response?
“How did you get my number?” I said, “I looked you up in the phone book.” He said, “oh, ok, that makes sense, sure I can give you lessons”.
He also told me about this new band, “Federale” he was in with MARC FORD from the Black Crowes…(Spin off band it was not, by the way). He said they had a warm up gig in a little town called Independence about an hour southwest of Portland, so maybe we could meet up the next week for a lesson…where do you think I went that weekend…yep, Independence, Oregon, here I come.
I stood outside most of the gig, something I often do at small clubs…and watched Jimi through the window, this was a completely different setting in which I’d ever seen him perform. At break they all came outside and I introduced myself, officially, I was noticeably eager back then, I could see though, that this was a warm up gig and they were working though things so I stepped back and listened for a bit as Marc went over a few breaks and dynamics in the last set. Jimi was very gracious that night, but he was there to play, not entertain me…I stepped back and told him I’d see him next week!
He taught me so much, so quick! He let me hang out at his house and see his new studio, he was such a nice guy! As I mentioned most of the guys back then, I felt, tolerated me at best, Jimi was so kind to me. The lessons went on for some time and he started playing around town a little and one night at a Jam he called me up on stage,
“I want to get my FRIEND, Wayne up here to play guitar, hey Wayne, come on up”…What, wait, I am Jimi’s friend…and what? you want me to come play guitar on stage??
I got up there and did my best…It was so much fun, the next day I called to thank Jimi and ask him if he wanted to put a band together with those same guys for when he was not on the road. Just to play some blues and have fun when in town.
His response, “that was fun, and yeah, we could make a demo here at my studio!”
I was now going to start a band with JIMI BOTT?!?!? I was punching well above my weight class as they say! These guys were all very established players and I was still mostly in my head at this point. Deep end of the pool for sure!
…More on this part of my life later maybe, it’s not all pretty, but for now…back to Headstrong Amps…
As I said, this was late 90’s, so let’s skip ahead to 2005, the Black Crowes were getting the band back together, …Marc was back in the fold! Jimi had introduced me to Marc, but no way he remembered that!
I said to myself, That is a band I want to work with…I reached out to Jimi before the Crowes 2006 summer tour, to see if he had talked to Marc recently, can’t remember if he had or not, but he called Marc on my behalf and told him about Headstrong…
Marc checked out the website and called me! They were going to be in Charlotte NC in July…
Continued next week…Meeting the Crowes and crew, hanging back stage, soundcheck and MORE!
Thanks for taking a trip down memory lane with me!!!
And a big THANK YOU to Jimi Bott, for being a good friend to this day!
Wayne