#TEND MY GARDEN JAMES GANG MOVIE#

Still, Weiss’ singing on “Country Fever” gives a glimpse of the road not taken - the shrieking proto-Aerosmith the James Gang might have become had they strayed from the purity of power trio righteousness by retaining the vocalist.įilming Zachariah.

#TEND MY GARDEN JAMES GANG MOVIE#

Consequently, the movie did little to promote the group, though the band did not really need the help by then. You’re welcome.)įinally released in 1971, Zachariah failed critically and commercially. (I linked to a clip that continues with some decent acting and a mind-blowing drum solo by jazz legend Elvin Jones. At one point, Joe half-heartedly lip-synchs some of the vocals Weiss laid down. Later in the film, the James Gang appears as the saloon band performing the hard-rocking “ Country Fever” amid wriggling go-go dancers.

Walsh even perpetrates Townshend’s signature windmill move at one point, which is fitting, since Pete heavily influences Joe’s guitar work on the track. “It was hot,” Joe recalls “it was probably about 110 by nine in the morning.” Despite the heat, the band played enthusiastically to the studio recording. After Zachariah’s introductory titles, the band performs the soaring instrumental “ Laguna Salada” in the middle of a stark desert. Reconfirmed as a power trio, the James Gang landed in Mexico.

“It was so embarrassing and so sad,” Fox remembered. The jilted singer sued for $50 million, but settled, in the end, for few hundred dollars. The drummer remembered, “The hardest call of my life was at 4 in the morning, calling Kenny at his house and saying, ‘Kenny, don’t get on the airplane.’” However, as the group prepared to fly to Mexico for shooting, Walsh and manager Mike Belkin decided the band did not need Weiss. Seizing the opportunity to promote the group, Szymczyk invited the James Gang to contribute two songs to the soundtrack and to appear in the film. Who do you know?”Īfraid to lose Joe’s irreplaceable guitar skills, Fox recruited a friend from grade school, Kenny Weiss, to provide vocals for the James Gang’s new project.īill Szymczyk, the band’s producer, had been hired as the musical director for the movie Zachariah, a surrealist, homoerotic rock & roll Western loosely based on the Herman Hesse novel Siddharta. I think I might be stronger concentrating on the instruments. Walsh said, “Look, I’m not fooling anyone - I have an odd voice. “I’m not sure what to say,” replied the drummer. I’m not up for this job as a lead singer. He had received ample validation for his guitar heroics, but remained insecure about his singing.īefore the show one night in 1969, Joe told Fox, “I’ve been thinking. Walsh wondered if the James Gang should follow suit. Acts like The Who and Led Zeppelin - essentially power trios augmented by preening lead singers - seemed ascendant. Hendrix had dumped the Experience and begun experimenting with larger lineups. The James Gang in Zachariah, performing “Laguna Salada” at Laguna Salada in Baja California (Photo Credit: anyonegirl)īy the summer of ’69, the future of power trios looked uncertain.

Tend my garden james gang