Montrose

[DudeAsInCool]

Anybody remember this heavy metal band and who the key players were from the seventies?

[Tic3]

Hell yes! Montrose rocked!

Their debut album was released around 1973 or so and featured Ronnie Montrose on guitar, Sammy Hagar on vocals, Bill Church on bass, and Denny Carmassi on drums.

The debut included the songs Rock Candy, Bad Motor Scooter, Make It Last, and several other great songs.

Their second album, Paper Money, was released in 1974. It wasn't as well received by fans, but still had some decent songs on it.

Ronnie Montrose started out as a session player for several bands, including Van Morrison (on the Tupelo Honey and St. Dominic's Preview albums), Boz Scaggs, and the Edgar Winter Group. He was offered the lead guitar spot for Mott The Hoople in 1973, but chose to start up his own band instead.

I think Ronnie is still around playing and releasing albums, but has pretty much faded into obscurity.

After the breakup of Montrose, Sammy Hagar went on to form his own band with many line-up changes. He sang for Van Halen for a few years before going back to a solo career.

I have both Montrose releases on CD.

Tic3

[DudeAsInCool]

now that was impressive, tic. well, if i recall, montrose was a pretty kick ass album. these guys weren't just loud - they knew what the hell they were doing :strumma:

[deb]

... i always loved music, but realize now just how limited i was in what i actually listened to, experienced ... it wasn't until someone shared with me the music that they liked, for me to listen to, did i hear montrose ... and i loved it ... the first song i heard, now one of my favorites, is "all i need" ... just such a great song ... then the rest of the album that that song is from, "warner brothers presents ... montrose" ... great music ...

: )

[KiwiCoromandel]

excellent guitarist.....i`ve got a couple of very good ronnie montrose live club concerts with edgar and johnny winters on mp3.....choice electric rock/blues in a confined space...can`t beat it...

fav track?..." rock and roll hoochie coo "

__________________________________________________________

The first time I saw Edgar perform was with his brother Johnny at Fillmore West. Johnny played a hot set, and in the middle of it, out comes Edgar... his presence on sax and Hammond B3 did nothing short of blow the roof off the joint (or at least help Johnny finish the job)!

The next time was when I was doing a small tour with Boz Scaggs as the second guitarist in his band (side note: Boz is a great guitarist!) and we opened for White Trash somewhere in the Midwest. I remember standing on the side of the stage with my mouth hanging open! Heavy, powerful R&B coming from that band!

I didn't actually meet Edgar on that tour, only saw him play, and am not sure if he heard me play that night. But when I got back from that tour, I received a call from a fellow who knew my style of playing would be right, who told me that Edgar's management was looking for a guitarist for what was to become "The Edgar Winter Group."

They wanted to have a rock band as opposed to an R&B band, and needed a "rock guitarist"... His manager, Steve Paul called me in California, and asked if I would be interested in coming to New York to audition. My first response was concern for getting back to California in case it didn't work out! I was sent a round-trip ticket, and don't believe I used the return half... :)

My previous gigs with Van and Boz were more Blues/R&B based, and even though that was truly Edgar's background, this chapter of my playing would be my first introduction to what we called "Coliseum Rock"...

I recall calling home and stating that I couldn't believe I was having so much fun, and actually getting paid for it!

I used Johnny's amps for the first shows, and had only one guitar - I broke a string during the show, and had to change it between songs... needless to say, I got a spare guitar immediately after that! I had boundless energy on-stage, and people responded to it nightly. There seemed to be a "chemistry" balance between Edgar and myself, and I always enjoyed the musical energy exchange between us. (Keep in mind that I was still trying to learn how to properly play, and hadn't started writing much of anything... at that time, a simple thing like "vibrato" was a challenge!)

The band went through a few drummers in the beginning (Andy Newmark, Rick Marotta, and a couple of others) before we settled on Chuck Ruff - connection: Chuck was in the band "Sawbuck" with me in California.

Bass was handled by Randy Jo Hobbs ("White Trash," "Johnny Winter And") until he had a stroke and couldn't continue. I recall we were backstage literally right before a show we were playing in Texas when it happened to Randy... he was taken to the hospital, and the show was sold out, so Dan Hartman simply picked up the bass and the show went on. An altogether eerie night, to say the least...

Dan Hartman was the other guitarist in the band and when we officially became a "four piece" that night, switched over to bass. My memories of Dan are good ones... very "up", talented, enthusiastic, etc... I heard tape demos that Dan had made at his home using a pair of two-track tape recorders bouncing overdubs back and forth that blew my mind! He would use things like cardboard boxes for drums, etc., a prodigy in every sense of the word...

Both Randy and Dan have passed away, and are missed by many...

When we became the "four piece", we went into the studio in New York City to record this album. It spawned the songs, "Frankenstein" and "Free Ride," still staples on classic radio today... I don't think anyone in the entire organization had any idea how huge "Frankenstein" would become... I sure didn't!

We played constantly, on many, many shows of all sizes from 450 people to 450,000 people and eventually, I grew "restless" and felt the need to "stretch out" on my own... Back home to California then, the story continues...

Edited June 21, 2004 by kiwibank