The James Gang -- family tree...

[dcoyle@xxxxxxxxxx (David J. Coyle)]

>What bands did the James Gang come from?  I am
>stretching my head around to think.. some
>relationship to the Choir/Raspberries?  What I
>don't know about Ohio could write a book...

Joe Walsh's first band was the Measles. I don't know if they made any
actual recordings as the Measles, but several tracks by the Measles were
included on the first Ohio Express album ("Beg Borrow And Steal") as well
as the aforementioned single's flipside.

According to the liner notes of "Choir Practice," after the Measles, Walsh
formed a power trio with Dave Burke and Dann Klawon of the Choir. Then,
Burke and Klawon moved on (Klawon would re-join the Choir in 1968), and
Walsh formed the first James Gang which included future Choir keyboardist
Phil Giallombardo. This lineup did a lot of different Brit-influenced pop
covers like "Indication" by the Zombies (which they recorded in 1967) and
"She Needs Company" by Manfred Mann.

THEN, in 1968, Walsh formed _another_ new band called Pie which included
Giallombardo, and Jim Bonfanti, who had been in the Choir since their days
as the Mods in 1965, and would later be the drummer for the Raspberries.
Later that year Bonfanti and Giallombardo were in the Choir, which saw a
pretty major transformation, going for a more progressive sound with
Giallombardo being one of two keyboardists in the same lineup!

It was then that Joe Walsh formed the more familiar James Gang, which
included Tom Kriss and Jimmy Fox. I guess it was this lineup that did stuff
like "Funk 49," etc. I wouldn't know if it's the same guys who did the Drew
Carey cameo (which I'm _really_ sorry I missed...) "The original James
Gang," as you can now tell, would infer that Phil Giallombardo was there.
:)

Incidentally, one of my friends at Ohio University in Athens claimed once
that Joe Walsh had been a student there, and that the other members of the
James Gang were dormmates of his in, you guessed it, James Hall (where my
friend lived and was an R.A. at the time). Then when I found out they were
from _Cleveland_, well...


||     "Every new beginning comes from another beginning's end..."    ||
|| David J. Coyle            //             E-Mail: dcoyle@bright.net ||
|| Chillicothe, OH           //   Pursuer of various trivial pursuits ||
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