"The hardest call of my life was at 4 in the morning, calling Kenny at his house and saying, 'Kenny, don’t get on the airplane,'" Fox says. The band members were hired to perform the songs in the film, but by the time the cameras rolled, Weiss was already out of the lineup - a decision Fox says started with Walsh and manager Mike Belkin. man, he can play."įox turned to his grade school buddy Weiss after his conversation with Walsh, and invited him out to sing with the James Gang - a gig that lasted about as long as it took Weiss to track a couple of cuts for Zachariah, a movie that James Gang producer Bill Szymczyk was working as the music director. And I’m comparing him to everybody, you know, Clapton and everybody else. "He’s the only guy I know who does all three about as well as they can be done. Joe is the only guy I know that’s a phenomenal slide player, a phenomenal acoustic player, a phenomenal electric player," Peters enthuses. ![]() You know, there’s guitar players that are great electric or great acoustic or great slide. Walsh is a fine singer, but as Peters points out, he's a truly singular guitarist. I think I might be stronger concentrating on the instruments. "I said, 'I’m not sure what to say.' He said, 'Look, I’m not fooling anyone - I have an odd voice. ![]() I’m not up for this job as a lead singer. "Joe comes to a gig one day and says, 'I’ve been thinking. Walsh was upfront about being uncomfortable being the James Gang's lead singer. ![]() And on a bad night, there’s nothing worse." I’m grateful that happened, because being in a three-piece band, there’s nothing better on a good night. It’s kind of 'lead rhythm' in the James Gang. That’s the reason for my style, which is kind of Pete Townshend-ish. But I never would have learned how to play and sing if I didn’t have to - then I never would have been the singing guitar player unless I had to, but I had to and so I did. When we got home, we looked at each other and said, 'Well, do we really need anybody?' We just decided we’d do it as a three-piece, and that was really the beginning of the James Gang. "We got a standing ovation and an encore, and we got gas money to go home. I just played guitar, but I sang a lot better than the other guys," Walsh tells Wardlaw. "I couldn’t sing - well, I didn’t sing - I had never been a lead singer. As Walsh says, he only took over vocals for the band because the group's last singer quit the night of a gig. Peters' addition was an obvious fit for the James Gang, but the same could not be said for vocalist Kenny Weiss, who was briefly brought in to try and relieve Walsh from the double duty of singing and playing guitar. It was just natural right from the beginning." We’re completely different people and we never really hung around together, but we could always play together. If we got together tomorrow, it would just work. "I mean, we had the same record collections, we liked the exact same kind of music - we could just play. "We could just play instantly," Peters adds. It was like, 'Well, Tom’s got his wish.' The next day, we sat Tom down and we said, 'Tom, you know, we talked to Dale Peters, another bass player, and you’re free to go.' He goes, 'Wow, thanks man, that’s a load off my mind.' Literally, the following night, Dale was in the slot and we never looked back." It was instantaneously an upgrade, which we never expected. Why don’t you come down tonight after the gig and we’ll play for a while?' And he did and it was magic. We have an unhappy bass player, who I think we’re going to have to replace. "I said, 'Well, there’s a situation here. I was thinking of going back to school,'" Fox recalls. "I said, 'What are you doing? I know the band is not doing well.' He said, 'Yeah, we’ve kind of split up. Peters was drumming at the time, but he'd since picked up the bass - and Fox happened to know he was at loose ends with his own group, the Case of E.T. 'Tom, aren’t you somewhat equally responsible for the music we’re making? What do you want to do?' 'Well, I don’t know, but I can’t take this anymore.'"įortunately, Fox knew just who to call: Dale Peters, who had replaced him in a college band at Ohio State University a few years before. You know, it was like, he was, I thought, a very fine player. I don’t think I can play it anymore.' Joe and I were blindsided. "He just spilled his guts," Fox tells UCR's Matt Wardlaw of a band meeting called after he and Joe Walsh realized Kriss "hadn’t said shit in six months." Fox remembers Kriss saying: "'I hate this band.
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