Oh to be a fly on the wall in, buzzing from the vibration of the bubbling rock revolution in England in the early 60’s.
A live music ecology of working class heroes was born, all with something important to say carried by the electrifying, genre-forming sounds. Over in Liverpool, Beatlemania was ramping up as the mop-top Fab Four were exploding, London was looking fine with The Rolling Stones seduction, The Who’s heavier rock rhythms, and The Kinks cool craft. Across St Albans, The Zombies were zooming into the rock scene in ‘61 and The Hollies were marching onto the scene in Manchester.
The British Invasion would change the shape of live music forever and at that forefront was John Steel, drummer of the Newcastle upon Tyne birthed five-piece, The Animals.
Keep up with the latest music news, festivals, interviews and reviews here.
“All of us from that time were teenagers in the 50’s and we were listening to great music – some of my favourite music is that generation of rock and roll like Chuck Berry and Little Richard and Fats Domino, but the funny thing was, when we were finding our way in the late 50’s and into the early 60’s and The Beatles sort of exploded on the world, we didn’t realise that we had all been doing the same thing in our own provincial towns,” Steel explains.
“It wasn’t until The Beatles changed the whole music business that we looked up and realised that The Rolling Stones and Spencer Davis and The Kinks were all doing the same thing and very much influenced by the same people. It was very surprising when we found out we weren’t alone,” he laughs.
Whilst sitting into the rebellious sounds of the decades, The Animals carved out their own unique signature sound, in part due to their gritty blues influence, but also because of their unique blend of playing styles. The distinct deep drilling of Eric Burdon’s vocal, the soul-quaking shrill of the keyboard, the groove-driven bass lines, the powerful guitar moments and Steel’s jazz infused rock pounding beats set The Animals apart.
“It was just how we gelled together and our own unique talents somehow made us stand out. Alan Price was absolutely brilliant as our keyboard player which made us slightly different from a lot of the bands around at the time because it was mostly a guitar lead, but with The Animals, the keys were as important as anything else.”
“I’ve always been proud of what we did back then as The Animals because that music, and those records stand up so well today 60 years on.”
The hold of The Animals has lasted generations, with their cover of ‘House Of The Rising Sun’ becoming their own, the irresistible ‘We Gotta Get Out of This Place’ becoming an anthem and the bellowing ‘Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood’ taking on a world of its own. The staying power of the band is undeniable, though the original bands active years together was a mere toe-dip in the music pool at just three years. A reunion, multiple reformations and reincarnations on the live front kept The Animals’ spirit alive with Steel spearheading the charge; a sense of responsibility attached to his shoulders.
“I do think it has lived with me but it’s the songs that deserve to live on,” Steel says.
“The strength of the band is that the catalogue of the music that we put down in the sixties – those songs are so strong and it’s what I call “growing up music” – everyone can remember the first time they heard ‘House Of The Rising Sun’ and ‘Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood’ and ‘We Gotta Get Out Of This Place’ and “It’s My Life’ – they’ll all great songs and all so strong that it never really feels like an alien band to me as long as we’re playing the music. It sounds like and feels like The Animals to me because all I can do is play The Animals,” Steel laughs.
Now at 83 years old, Steel has decided it’s time for The Animals to depart from the live music scene. Following a successful Final Tour run, Steel alongside now mainstay band mates Danny Handley, Bobby Ruiz and Barney “Boogie” Williams have just signed off on a final farewell tour, titled The Farewell Tour: The Final Encore, where they took through Australia for a massive 29 dates. They signal that it is time to, in fact, get out of this place but slight trepidation tingles from Steel as he discusses the end.
View this post on Instagram
“It really is the fun of playing and when you’re on stage with these brilliant players and it all locks together and everything is tight and we’re all listening to each other – there’s nothing like it! It’s a terrific buzz. I love it,” he says before adding sheepishly “It’s a really bitter sweet moment for me. We’ll see how we are feeling at the end of this tour.”
Even though hope for continued touring surrounds the final conversation send off, it seems as though it really is all over now, Baby Blue.
