[l to r]Stan Behrens (flute, saxophone, harmonica, vocals), Greg Kage (bass, vocals), Dallas Hodge (vocals, guitar), Fito de la Parra (drums, vocals) & 'J.P.' John Paulus (guitar, slide-guitar)
"As long as de la Parra is alive, the spirit of Canned Heat will never die." - George Thorogood, blues-rock legend
In 1966, Alan "Blind Owl" Wilson and Bob "The Bear" Hite, both blues historians and record collectors, formed the country blues and rock band, Canned Heat. Completing the classic line-up was drummer, Adolfo "Fito" De La Parra, lead guitarist Henry Vestine, and Larry "The Mole" Taylor on bass. Canned Heat is held together today by De La Parra, who is author of a biography on the group called :Living the Blues." He shared some of his personal reflections of the band in a recent phone interview.
Born and raised in an upper middle class family in Mexico City, he took up the drums after his father gave him a Little Richard record and took him to a Bill Haley and the Comets concert.
By the time I was 16 years old, says De La Parra, "I was recording and performing with two of the biggest Latin American rock bands, Los Sinners and Los Hooligans. Then I met guitarist, Javier Batiz from Tijuana, who is now called the 'Godfather of Mexican Rock. He was Carlos Santana's first guitar teacher."
When Batiz moved from his native Tijuana to Mexico City in 1964 he met De La Parra and introduced him to black rhythm and blues, which he had incorporated into the sounds, his band was famous for.
"I turned away from pop rock because the blues had heart and feeling to it," says De La Parra.
He soon migrated to Los Angeles and Canned Heat saw him perform one night. Impressed with his skill, they invited him to audition for the band.
He showed up at rehearsal with an album he had just bought at a record store that featured Chicago blues greats Junior Wells and Buddy Guy. Unbeknown to him, Wilson and Hite were huge blues connoisseurs.
As he recalls, "I didn't know they were crazy about the blues, and when Bob saw that record, he got a big smile on his face. He told me later that they had already seen how I played, but when I showed up with that record in my hand, they knew I was the drummer for Canned Heat."
Their debut album, released shortly after their appearance at the famous 1967 Monterey Pop Festival, was deeply rooted in the blues and received moderate success, but their breakthrough moment occurred with the release of their second album "Boogie with Canned Heat."
"It was our plan all along that we wanted to be different; we wanted to put country blues and rock n' roll music together," he says.
That second album included the hit singles "On the Road Again" and "Fried Hookey Boogie," established them with hippie ballroom audiences as the "Kings of the Boogie."
By late 1969, they were offered a headlining slot at the Woodstock Festival. Their hit song, "Going up the Country," was adopted as the unofficial theme song for the film Woodstock.
Canned Heat co-founder Alan Wilson died of a drug overdose in 1970 and the band was devastated on a personal and popularity level because the media begin to ignore them. The band did what it could to survive. De La Parra began taking more responsibility for the business aspects of the band as Hite's drug and alcohol problems began interfering with him continuing in that role.
They kept performing and recording their own material, and also worked with blues inspirations John Lee Hooker, as well as appearing on albums by Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown and Memphis Slim.
Says De La Parra, "We loved John Lee Hooker and his music even before Canned Heat became a band. Amazingly, I used to play drums behind his music when I practiced the drums as a kid in Mexico. After we became famous, we ran into John at the Portland airport one day." We told him we were the Canned Heat band and he said, 'Oh, I like the way you guys boogie. We shook hands and right there, we agreed to do a record together. And 'Hooker and Heat' became one of the best collections that John ever did."
In 1981, Bob Hite died of a heart attack, and De La Parra took over completely as bandleader.
The group is discography includes 32 releases. They have played over 30 European, 15 Australian and 20 Mexican tours. Their sound has been utilized in commercials for General Motors, Miller Beer, Levi's, Pepsi and 7-Up.
The current lineup of De La Parra, vocalist/sax/harmonica & flute player Stanley Behrens, guitarists Dallas Hodge and John Paulus, and bassist Greg Kage has actually been the longest surviving version of Canned Heat, together since 1999.
The musical friendship of Batiz and De La Parra has endured. Batiz still lives in Tijuana and owns a club there called Casa Del Blues Latino. Javier played guitar on a track called "World of Make Believe" on Canned Heat's "Boogie 2000" album and he toured with the band in Italy. Recordings done with Batiz in 1969 accompanied by various Canned Heat members were recently digitally re-mastered into a new CD by De La Parra.
In 2003, Canned Heat released "Friends in the Can," once again, a blend of blues, country and rock with guest appearances by ex-Canned Heat member Walter Trout, Taj Mahal and Roy Rogers. The bands hit song "Lets Work Together" was part of the soundtrack of the recent Academy Award nominated film, "Big Fish."
Says De La Parra, "The hope for music is with the youth that approach the music the way we did in the 60's. Don't go into music expecting fame, popularity and money. Go into it for music itself, just like we did and you will find a lot of satisfaction."
www.cannedheatmusic.com
top
