Birth of the Blues: Canned Heat

"Take a hint from me mama please don't you cry no more - don't you cry no more.
Cause it's soon one morning down the road I'm gone".
"On The Road Again" – Canned Heat

In the mid to late '60s, when the blues were having their initial 're-discovery' and blues rock was becoming the fashion de rigueur for the rock and roll camp, it was the British bands that seemed to have the best handle on the genre. The Rolling Stones, John Mayall and the Blues Breakers, Cream, The Yardbirds and the like had discovered the blues and had learned how to merge it with the fat, heavy tone of rock for a unique sound that became the foundation for much of what rock was to become. It's interesting when you consider that the blues (as well as jazz) really were uniquely American by birth. Although many American rock bands were incorporating blues licks into their music, there were very few that were truly blues based or blues/rock bands.

Enter Canned Heat.

Canned Heat could be seen as America's primary response to the blues rock explosion. They re-worked the boogie blues with a typical American electric sound while staying true to their blues roots. Even their name, Canned Heat, came from a recording by Tommy Johnson back in the 1920s. "Canned heat" was slang for Sterno, which was cooking fuel that when strained through a nylon sock or slices of bread would provide a very risky methyl alcohol product that many people would mix with seltzer or soda to drink during Prohibition and The Great Depression.

Vocalist, blues enthusiast and record collector, Bob 'The Bear' Hite and harmonica player, guitarist and pianist, Al 'Blind Owl' Wilson met at a record store in L.A. and upon learning of their shared love of the blues decided to put together a band. Initially, Canned Heat was formed as a jug band in 1965. With guitarist Mike Vestine (formerly of Frank Zappa's Mothers of Invention where he had been dismissed for excessive drinking) and drummer Frank Cook, Canned Heat quickly moved from a country style blues jug band to a more electric, blues rock outfit.

Canned Heat played their first official gig at the Ash Grove Club in Los Angeles and shortly thereafter became the house band at the famed hippie / counter culture club, The Kaleidoscope in Hollywood. In 1967, the band was signed to Liberty Records and released their first single, the blues classic 'Rollin' and Tumbling' with 'Bullfrog Blues' as the B-side. On June 17th, 1967, they played at the renowned Monterey Pop Festival, sharing the stage with such legends as Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Steve Miller, The Who, and The Mama's and The Papa's. Canned Heat was featured prominently in the D.A. Pennebakers documentary of the festival. With tracks already completed for their debut album, Liberty saw the bands performance at Monterey as the perfect vehicle to launch the band nationally and quickly released their self-titled debut album, Canned Heat, shortly afterwards.

Their first album contained no original material, but was rather reworking of blues classics. It fared well for a debut, hitting #76 on the national charts.

Their first national tour was cut short when the band was busted for possession of marijuana in Denver, Colorado. Being struggling musicians, the band was strapped for cash and found themselves in a difficult situation. In order to make bail and retain a top-notch defense attorney, the bands manager made the decision to sell a part of the bands publishing rights back to Liberty Records President Al Bennett for $10,000. The band ended up getting probation for the bust but lost several thousands of dollars a year for several years from their panicked deal with Liberty.

Shortly after the Denver arrest, the band replaced drummer Frank Cook. While sharing a gig with The Bluesberry Jam, Hite and Wilson became captivated by The Jams drummer Alfredo 'Fito' de la Perra and invited him to audition. De la Perra, also a blues aficionado, came to the audition clutching albums by Buddy Guy and Junior Wells and made the statement that 'I was born to play with Canned Heat' which made quite an impression on Hite. In a strange shift, de la Perra became the drummer for Canned Heat while Frank Cook took de la Perra's spot with The Bluesberry Jam (later to become Pacific Gas and Electric).

With de la Perra in the lineup, Canned Heat began to tour heavily and garnered a great deal of attention from the national press. In December 1967, Variety lauded the band by writing that they were 'one of the most devastating, ear shattering, psychedelic units to play this 'now' music' and went on to write of Hite, 'one of the rare species floating around (and he does)who shows promise of being singled out in this new crop of bands as a top performer'.

Their second album, Boogie with Canned Heat, was released on EMI records in 1968 and contained their first certifiable hit 'On The Road Again' which became a staple of nascent FM radio stations around the country. Amphetamine Annie, one of rocks first anti-drug records, also did well for the band but perhaps one of the most interesting tracks was the meandering 11 minute version of "Fried Hockey Boogie" which finishes the album. During 'Boogie', Hite introduces each member of the band and allows them to take their place in the spot light and stretch their legs with extended solos.

Their third album, Living The Blues, a double disc, served not only to bring another huge hit for the band with "Going Up The Country" (Wilson's re-working of the Henry Thomas tune "Going Down South"). It became a hippie anthem of sorts, as well as a establishing Canned Heat as a premiere counter-culture, boogie/jam band. Also included on the disc was a rambling, almost painful, 40 minute long version of "Fried Hockey Boogie" and the 19:57 minute long "Parthenogenesis: Nebulosity/Rollin" and "Tumblin'/Five Owls/Bear Wires". "Parthenogenesis" was the band at its most experimental, layering in a variety of genres including blues, raga, honky tonk and sitar music.

Although the single "Going Up The Country" only reached #11 in the United States, the track hit #1 in twenty-five countries worldwide.

In what could now be seen as a strange move, the band released a Christmas single with The Chipmunks (their label mates at Liberty) in which Hite trades verbal cracks back and forth with Theodore, Simon and Alvin). The b-side contained "Christmas Blues" a slow blues (written in 5 minutes by band manager Skip Taylor) that was later re-recorded by Eric Clapton and John Popper for a Christmas charity CD in 2000.

Following the release of their 4th album Hallelujah in 1969, the band played the Woodstock Festival in August of that year. Although they had a very successful set, due to editing for time, Canned Heats performance was dropped from the documentary, again filmed by D.A. Pennebaker (although it was added back in for the 25th Anniversary Directors Cut edition).

In 1970, the band recorded a single entitled "Let's Work Together" (written by Wilbert Harrison who you may recall had a #1 hit with "Kansas City" in 1957) to coincide with their upcoming European tour. The single became the biggest hit for the band in Europe, hitting number #1 in England as well striking gold in Australia and New Zealand. When the single was released some time later in the United States, it peaked at #11.

Following their European tour, Canned Heat returned to the studio to record what many consider to be their most consistent effort (and a true 'must have' for serious blues collectors) when they teamed up with Detroit's boogie master, John Lee Hooker, for Hooker 'n Heat. A double LP which revealed several tracks featuring Hooker on his own with some minor backing by members of Canned Heat while the other disc was a full blown John Lee Hooker and Canned Heat affair. John Lee Hooker has said in several interviews later in his life that this album was responsible for the revival in his career that had foundered in the 60's and was his personal favorite from his catalogue.

The band cut one additional album in 1970, Future Blues, which became the Heat's most controversial. In Future Blues, the band began to move away from their straight blues offerings in their lyrics favoring instead for current issues like politics and ecology, a favored passion of Wilsons. The album cover featured 5 astronauts standing on the surface of the moon planting a flag in the classic Iwo Jima pose. The flag of the United States was shown upside down (a signal of distress) with an image of a polluted planet Earth in the background. When released, many segments of the population saw the cover art as a serious affront to the U.S. causing several retailers like Sears, K-Mart and Woolworth to refuse to stock the album. With or without the cover art controversy, the New York Times said in their review that Future Blues was "as magnificent a blues-rock album as had ever been made!"

Tragedy struck the band when Al 'Blind Owl' Wilson died on September 3rd, 1970 from a drug overdose in the woods behind Hites home in Topanga Canyon, California. A dedicated environmentalist, some have speculated that Wilson took his own life as he had been depressed over the state of the ecology in L.A. although most seem to agree that it appears to have been the case of an accidental overdose.

Although the band continued to record and press on without Wilson, they never managed to hit their stride again commercially. Bob 'The Bear' Hite died of heart failure on April 5th, 1981 immediately before a show at the Palomino in Los Angeles, most likely the consequence of his size and intensity. Hite weighed well over 300 pounds and spent the majority of his career stalking stages the world over, wailing on the harmonica and providing screaming vocals in the very image of Howlin' Wolf. His choice of post-gig activities certainly could not have helped either. Guitarist Mike Vestine died in Paris in 1997 following the final gig on a European tour.

The band struggled on throughout the years with a revolving door of performers including extraordinary blues guitarist Walter Trout for a time as well as slide guitarist James Thornbury. With Fido de la Perra being the only original member left, Canned Heat is still out there touring occasionally, although they are there more in spirit and as a tribute to what the original band had managed to accomplish.

It's difficult not to think about the '60s blues rock / hippie scene and not hear "Going Up The Country" or "On The Road Again" playing in your head. That's quite a legacy to be left behind by a couple of blues purists who wanted nothing more than to promote the music that they loved as much as anything else in their lives.