In a double bill that is sure to shake the stage at the Townshend Theatre, two great bands will bring soul and rock and roll to the area.
Johnny Max Band is a staple of Blues and Roots festivals for over 25 years, according to their bio.
“We started out as a blues band specifically,” Johnny Max said. “But we have morphed into mainly what I like to call roadhouse soul. Essentially the premise behind that is it’s like going down to a roadhouse down south in Memphis, or Louisiana or Kentucky or something. You hear all sorts of different genres of music from rhythm and blues, to soul, to blues to country and we’ve been doing that for 30 years. So we basically made our name on the fact that we did things that other bands wouldn’t do.”
The Weber Brothers – Ryan and Sam – came up under the tutelage of the great Ronnie Hawkins, widely considered a pioneer of rock music in Canada. Ryan Weber says that they were always interested in older rock and roll music.
“Our parents have a great record collection so we listened to a lot of it there and and just always were into it,” Weber said. “We started playing probably somewhere around 10. We always pulled to music of all kinds pulled towards the 60s and then from the 60s into the 50s and that kind of went on up through high school and then we discovered The Last Waltz (a film about the last concert played by The Band.) We watched that so much and that’s where we first saw Ronnie and that’s kind of where that began.”
The Band had long been Hawkins’ backup band known as The Hawks, after touring with Bob Dylan they went on to change their name to The Band and recorded 10 albums in 10 years between ‘68-and ‘78 to great acclaim.
Because of The Band and The Last Waltz, Ryan and Sam Weber went out in search of Ronnie Hawkins according to their bio.
“Ryan and Sam Weber left their Baltimore, MD home one night as teenagers, with the aim of meeting their idol, rockabilly legend Ronnie Hawkins, and ten hours later showed up at his doorstep. “The Hawk”, the elder statesman of rock whose former protégés (Robbie Robertson, Rick Danko, Levon Helm, Richard Manuel, Garth Hudson) went on to reshape music history as “The Band”, was duly impressed by the pair’s immense raw talent, and promptly invited them to audition for his storied backing band, The Hawks.”
The bio goes on to say that “by the ages of 18 and 21 they had already performed alongside Kris Kristofferson, Levon Helm, Garth Hudson, Jeff Healey and the Tragically Hip to name a few.”
“We played with Ronnie Hawkins for 20 years so certainly we are, I would say, pretty steeped in rock and roll music, blues, 50s style up through there, kind of to current,” Weber said. “We’re always, I think, striving for that nameless thing which is at the heart of what we call rock and roll, which I think you can hear in any genre.”
Max recalls meeting the Webers for the first time while playing a fundraiser gig in Toronto. After the brothers had played and were coming off the stage Max’s bass player at the time told Ryan Weber that he played just like Rick Danko, who had been the bassist for The Band.
“I’ve mentioned it to Ryan a few times and he doesn’t remember,” Max said. “But I swear it’s the truth.”
After playing at that same gig they kept in contact. They often crossed paths playing the same festivals and other gigs.
“A friend of ours, Lance Anderson does a Last Waltz tribute show. It was commissioned by the Kitchener blues festival and it’s been going for 14 years now but Ryan and Sam were in that for about five or six years,” Max said. “So you really get to know people and, and me now being like an elder statesman, like I love playing with younger bands.”
They were in the process of setting up a tour as a double bill for a while when the COVID-19 pandemic hit so now several years later they’re finally able to hit the road together.
During the pandemic the Weber brothers were able to record three albums over the course of one day, a trilogy they’ve dubbed the Water St. Trilogy. The first album was called Wild as the Wild Dogs released in 2022. Part two of the trilogy released in 2023 and the third and final installment of the trilogy entitled “I’m Free” will release on April 5 as the band starts their string of double bills across northern Ontario with Johnny Max Band.
Johnny Max Band has plans for new recordings but it’s been a while because of the cost and the margins.
“Once you come out of the pandemic, we work with investors, the investors were broke as well, so you’re waiting for that,” Max said. “It’ll probably come out next year but we’re working on a brand new original album, eight to 12 original songs. As well, at the same time is an acoustic album, maybe some of the new songs and definitely some of the old ones.”
Max says the music industry is tough in the age of streaming music as artists are not remunerated the same as if they were selling CDs or records.
“It’s a hard sell because it’s hard to make money now that everybody just listens to Spotify and Apple Music. There’s no money in it for guys are our level,” Max said.
He recalled when Peter Frampton spoke to US Congress in 2017 about the inequity of revenue from streaming music. Frampton said that for 55 million streams of his hit ‘Baby I Love Your Way,’ he only received $1,700.
Max says this is why it’s important for artists’ fans to make sure they buy their favourite artists’ albums whether that be in the form of CD, vinyl or by purchasing via online download rather than streaming.
Tickets for The Johnny Max Band and The Weber Brothers double bill are available through tourdefort.com or at Ski’s Variety or the Fort Frances Public Library Technology Centre. The show is Monday Apr. 8 at 7:30 p.m.
