Johnny Pierre BIO:
I guess you could say that I was born to be a musician. My earliest musical memories began in New Orleans where I lived for several years when my Dad was stationed by the US Army. I was at such an impressionable age that to this day, I clearly remember being engaged by the earthy sounds of Professor Longhair and Fats Domino. After falling under the spell of the British Invasion in the early sixties, I started to form my own rock n' roll bands. My first paid gigs took place while I was a teenage Army brat living in France back in 1966. It was during this period of my life that I started writing my own songs as well. As the sixties drew to a close, I returned to the States where I had a brief fling with the folk music scene and began performing at local coffee houses and colleges around Pennsylvania. From 1970 to 1974, I attended The University of Dayton in Ohio. While there, my friend Billy Cairns and I assembled a seminal rock combo named the Freelance Vandals.
By 1977, I moved to the Long Island area of New York where I became involved in launching a new version of the Freelance Vandals. This band proved to be quite popular on the Long Island music scene and for the next seven years we performed in a wide variety of venues; opening up for such artists as John Hiatt, Dr. John and NRBQ. During this period of my career, my work as the band's lead singer/frontman received accolades in such trade publications as Variety, The Hollywood Press and Creem Magazine; my onstage antics earned me the nickname "The Jellyroll Joyboy of Rock & Roll". The band released several vinyl record projects during this period; a double 45 rpm collection known as The Dogpak (Dog Records, 1978) and a live album, Yer Money Or Yer Ears (Gunga Din Records, 1984). The band staged a reunion tour in 1996 to promote the release of the studio anthology, Songs That Never Made Us Famous (FV Productions, 1996).
Over the next two decades, I pursued songwriting and ended up working on several film projects in addition to working in two new bands, The Mighty Young Fish and The Helpless Bovines. In the late 90's, I released two solo albums, Like Milk For Feet and Radio Lux.
My most recent projects include an album by the Biscuit Kings, Hambones & Trombones (Mind Smoke Records, 2011) and a series of Holiday themed singles (It's Halloween, Happy Thanksgiving and Doin That Holiday Thing). Looking ahead to 2012, I'm actively working on several projects which should see the light of day in the coming year; a solo album titled Prayers Before Sleeping, Doin That Holiday Thing (a Christmas album) as well as the second Biscuit Kings album.
"Say, how would you describe your music?" Americana Blues music. My creative goal as a songwriter is to create modernistic songs which capture the immediacy of old time blues & jazz.
DISCOGRAPHY
Albums:
1984 - Freelance Vandals - Yer Money Or Yer Ears (Gunga Din Records)
1990 - Freelance Vandals - The Bootleg Years Vol. 1 (Mooncusser Records)
1996 - Freelance Vandals - Songs That Never Made Us Famous (FV Records)
1998 - Roscoe - Big Circle (Mooncusser Records)
2000 - Johnny Pierre - Like Milk For Feet (Mooncusser Records)
2003 - The Wonk Bros - Wonk Wishing Well (Mooncusser Records)
2004 - Johnny Pierre - Radio Lux (Mooncusser Records)
2011 - Biscuit Kings - Hambones & Trombones (Mind Smoke Records) now available @ ITunes
Singles:
1978 - Freelance Vandals -The Double Dogpak: Holiday / Ma Cherie Last Call For Alcohol / New York Girl (Dog Records)
2010 - Johnny Pierre - Adios King (Mind Smoke Music)
2010 - Johnny Pierre - Mystery Street (Mind Smoke Music)
2010 - Johnny Pierre - Songs From The Suburbs (Mind Smoke Music)
2010 - Johnny Pierre - Santa's Workshop (Mind Smoke Music)
2011 - Diamond Ray & Johnny Pierre - Sugar Hill (Mind Smoke Music)
2011 - Johnny Pierre - Mardi Gras Is Over (Mind Smoke Music)
2011 - Biscuit Kings - Close To The Sun (Mind Smoke Music)
2011 - Johnny Pierre - It's Halloween (Mind Smoke Records)
2011 - Johnny Pierre - Happy Thanksgiving (Mind Smoke Records)
2011 - Johnny Pierre - Doin That Holiday Thing (Mind Smoke Records)
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