FEATURED IN THIS ISSUE
1. A SPECIAL PONY INTERVIEW WITH BILL CHINNOCK
2. CALENDAR OF EVENTS
This Week at The Stone Pony: Gary U.S. Bonds (Friday), Bill Chinnock (Saturday)
The Stone Pony will be open at noon for lunch and dinner, as well as "happy hour" specials from 5 to 8:30 pm on Friday, Saturday and Sunday (December 5-7).
The Official Stone Pony
Store now online!
We're proud to announce the debut of our brand new Official Stone Pony
Online Store! The store has a widely expanded assortment of items and is
ready to serve you right now with secure online ordering. Get a head start
on holiday gift giving with a visit to the all-new
Official Online Store.
ONE OF THE FOUNDERS OF THE ASBURY PARK MUSIC SCENE RETURNS WITH HIS FIRST NEW ALBUM IN A DECADE
Fans along the East Coast know Bill Chinnock as "The Legend of the North Country," performing blues and R&B from Maine to Nashville and points in between. During his career, he has released albums for major labels Atlantic and Sony/Epic, written music for television shows, recorded a duet with Roberta Flack, and received a Grammy Award for Musical Direction and Composition in 1987. But, before moving to Maine in the early 1970s, Chinnock made his first musical mark as one of the founders of the Asbury Park music scene, performing at rooms such as the Upstage and Hullabaloo. Born in Newark and living in Millburn at the time, Chinnock played in bands with names such as Night Riders, Story Tellers, the Downtown Tangiers Band and Glory Road. Notably, the Downtown Tangiers Band included Vini Lopez, Danny Federici and Garry Tallent as band members at one point, and those musicians played with each other in several other incarnations, along with other talented area players, including David Sancious, for much of the late 1960s.
Returning to the Pony on Saturday, December 6, Chinnock has been touring to help promote the release of his latest album, Livin In The Promised Land (East Coast Records), ten tracks filled with his lyrical guitar work, soulful bluesy vocals and a style best described as "American music," drawing on influences as strong and diverse as the country itself.
The Pony Newsletter had an opportunity to discuss a bit of Chinnock's Asbury history, and fast forwarded to the current day and the new album, which is set for national release this coming January. Fans at the club have a unique opportunity to experience the talents of a performer called "one of the unheralded greats of American Rock & Roll," near the clubs and streets where it all began, and listening to the music that will take him forward in the latest phase of his fascinating career.
The Stone Pony: You’ve been credited as one of the founders of the Asbury Park music scene, but left the scene before you were 20 years old, and eventually settled in Maine to pursue your music and media careers. What are your feelings about returning to play at The Stone Pony now, and bringing along your first album in over a decade?
Bill Chinnock: It feels great to come home. I came of age at the shore and have life-long friendships with so many musicians and friends there. Most of my family live in NJ, including my son, John.
I believe that "Livin In The Promised Land" brings all the elements of my musical journey into focus. I wanted it to be an American Music record that draws from our roots yet is hopefully contemporary and looks forward. All of us who grew up in NJ, we have a big V8 engine in our musical car, we can't help it. We awoke listening to James Brown, Wilson Pickett, WNJR Blues Hour, The Temps, Marvin Gay, Albert King, etc. We all use it differently, but that angst is what moves us. Inside, I remain the same skinny kid with a Stratocaster and harmonica. Playing loud. I am proud to come home. It's natural.
The Stone Pony: To briefly recap your Asbury roots, some of your early bands, notably The Downtown Tangiers, included such players as Danny Federici, Garry Tallent, Vini Lopez and David Sancious. Are you still in touch with any of those people; do you still feel a connection to the area, or does that seem like very long ago and far away?
BC: I have been close with Danny since childhood; and Gary, even though we don't communicate as frequently. They are incredible musicians and great guys. We grew up together, played together, recorded in a time when four-track recording was a breakthrough, and will always be friends. We even did a reunion in '92 of the Downtown Tangiers band with Dan and Gary, recorded three songs. Much to our surprise, we didn't get a deal so we didn't continue. I will always feel connected to the shore.
The Stone Pony: Your last album was 1992’s “Out on the Borderline.” Have you been waiting for all of these years to release a new album, or had you lost interest in recording until recently? Why is now the right time for a new Bill Chinnock album to be released?
BC: I loved "Out On The Borderline." The title cut is about my growing up at the shore, the Upstage, and all of us kids maturing and continuing. The album hardly got any mainstream radio play. It was extremely discouraging. Good reviews, no national radio. People need to be able to hear the music to decide for themselves if it is meaningful to their lives.
"Livin In The Promised Land," after 9-11 and all we have been through; plus I am just emerging from three-plus years of lyme disease. The music just happened.
The Stone Pony: Eight of the ten tracks of “Livin In The Promised Land” are originals. Are all of the tracks material that you had recently written, or material you’ve accumulated over the years?
BC: Most of the tracks are new. "Runnin Scared" was written when I was a kid at the shore [in the 60s] same time as "Crown Liquor" and "Snake Bite." "When You Love Somebody" was recut; recorded for Atlantic in '92. They never got it right.
The Stone Pony: While the music has a classic bluesy feel, the themes are very contemporary. Do you find yourself inspired to write by what you see going on around you in the world, or is writing a more introspective process for you?
BC: Both. Events trigger emotions and there is a need, a compulsion, to capture it [and] exorcise it; especially with roots music. The wellspring is probably always fueled by pain, or passion.
The Stone Pony: You’re quoted as describing the album as “a musical tribute to America and the price of freedom...we are all joined together now more than ever before." That seems to be a direct reference to 9/11 and the world we live in since. Have you found your music affected by the past two years?
BC: We have all been changed by the last two years. After 9-11 there is no closure, no last bad guy caught and punished. This struggle is a fight for freedom and a call for all of us to come together as a nation and a family; kinder to each other, aware of the sacrifices that many are making (and have made). This is the real price of freedom, from the song "It's Measured in Lives." We all need to be united.
The Stone Pony: How would you compare the way musicians are describing the current uncertainty in the world compared to when you were first writing music in the turbulent late 1960s?
BC: Very different times, idealism of the 60s, the realities of the new millennium.
The Stone Pony: One of the coolest songs on the album is “Kings Of The Highway,” on which you play a sweet-sounding 1937 Rickenbacker lap steel guitar. Where did you obtain that rare instrument, and was that sound always intended to be included in the song, or what it added later as the track developed?
BC: I love my '37 Rick. Bought it from a collector in Louisiana about 25 years ago. I have always played it, but not extensively on records. On this album, it was the perfect voice. Everyone has always loved the "little crying man" for its singing sound [and] style. Quite unique.
The Stone Pony: Do you use different instruments when you’re just sitting around and composing music, or is there a specific instrument you like to play around and practice with?
BC: I have guitars, keyboards, drum machines (for composing), the Rick, electric harp; use them all when searching for the song. I love to play the Rickenbacker. I will be using it a lot at the Stone Pony because it's on almost every cut on the new record.
The Stone Pony: The album ends with your version of an old Civil War hymn, “Motherless Child,” where you break out the dobro to complete the roots feel. What is the story behind your including this track on the disc, and why did you feel that this song from two centuries ago fit into the overall feel and mood of the record?
BC: A blues lament for the soldiers written in the Civil War. I thought a fitting tribute and close [to home].
The Stone Pony: Is this album the beginning of an effort to re-establish your musical career, and a regular schedule of touring and new releases? Have you found that your fans over the years have kept in touch with your music, or are you making an effort to reconnect with them and introduce everyone to what you’re working on today?
BC: I have been making music since I was a kid making music in the early '60s at the shore, despite the efforts of the major labels. Every time that I would release a new album on our own label, I would be eventually signed to a major label. Once signed, I would drop out of sight like a rock. Signed, sealed and undelivered!
People [and] fans have kept my music and career alive, certainly not the record companies. Paul Pappas and I would love "Promised Land" to get national and international distribution. We need to find a way for the music to reach the people. I always thought that "someone" would step forward. Perhaps now that my role in the early shore music scene is being recognized, new energy will happen.
The Stone Pony: “Livin In The Promised Land” is going to be released nationally in January 2004, and your label is also reissuing your previous albums, “Out On the Borderline” and “Dime Store Heroes.” Do you anticipate any national touring during the new year, and do you think the national radio and music media outlets will be receptive to promoting your sound?
BC: I would hope that mainstream radio will play the heck out of "Promised Land," but I have always been an optimist!
The Stone Pony: Your website mentions that you might be playing South x Southwest; do you almost feel like you’re back as a new musician looking to re-establish yourself? Now that you can look back on critically-acclaimed albums, a Grammy Award and a being a part of music history, it is more fun and less pressure to be out there performing, or do you still feel that you have something to prove with your music?
BC: I never left. Perhaps we are making a more focused effort (because of [my] friend [and] business manager Paul Pappas). I have nothing to prove, and no expectations. I bring the music. No more, no less.
Bill Chinnock's official website can be found at www.billchinnock.com.
Now at AsburyPark.net:
Springsteen contest boosts merchants
Bruce Springsteen's three holiday concerts at Asbury Park's
Convention Hall sold out within minutes, but a contest involving the city's
business community has as its grand prize a coveted pair of tickets and a
meeting with Springsteen himself on Dec. 7.
Thursday Nights: Ladies Night
The best mix of house, trance,
progressive and vocal. 18 to enter, 21 to drink (ID mandatory). Drink
specials. Doors open at 9:30 pm. DJ Prime and B.G. are on the wheels of
steel ... Dress to impress - our promoters are tough on the door ... Come
see for yourself what all the hype is about. It's on every Thursday
only at The Stone Pony!
