Gabby Johnson
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3
songs
2.1K
plays
We're just a band that likes to play loud and have fun. We've been marked in the past as a cover band because we basically were for a few years, but that's changed. Since we got together in June of 1997, we've kept all the original members and never added or taken away any members. As of April of 2004, we've released 3 all-original full-length CD's. We're just gonna keep doing what we do and hope it works out for everybody.Band/artist history
Here's a little history about the band. It can be traced back several years (Donnie's been playin' drums for about 20 years), but as far as us four go, it goes way back to a church band that Joey & Donnie were in (with local singer/songwriter, Al Johns) back in the early '90's. They played a few times, but when they played a song that rocked at a church service one day, that pretty much ended that band.
Then I (Juno) met Joey. We went to the same high school and when his girlfriend broke up with him, me & her started datin'. She took me to church with her and that's how I met Joey. He played guitar, but at that time we were both fairly new to the whole guitar thing. He had played with Donnie in that band, and I had been playin' for a few years, but I had never been in a band. So, me & Joey got together after church a few times and played here and there. . .no big deal. We were never a band, and never played in front of any people.
Then I graduated high school and didn't talk to Joey much until I started datin' his sister. It was on one fateful night at CottonBowl Lanes in Southaven, Mississippi (December 3, 1995) that I asked Joey if he wanted to start a band. Well, he was enthusiastic about it, but we both played guitar, and didn't really have a drummer yet (not to mention a singer). I had been playin' with a guy named Jeff West throughout high school. He was a drummer!!! I mean, he knew what he was playin' when he played it. . .very musical guy. Anyway, I asked Jeff if he'd be our drummer and he, of course, said "yes". So, now there's three of us, but we don't have a singer or a bass player.
Well, my uncle had let me borrow his bass guitar, so one day we all got together, and Joey picked up the bass and started playin' a few songs on it. Our first (and only) gig was December 31, 1995. We knew about 9 songs, and I sang all of them (not a good thing). Joey played bass on half of them and guitar on half of them. Very versatile young man. So, we were a band; we just had a crappy singer. Joey and I had talked about naming our band (if we ever got in one) Gabby Johnson. Well, Jeff and I had talked about naming our band (if we ever got in one) Fear Not (because those words are in the Bible 365 times - one for each day). Anyways, since that was our only gig, the name conflict never came to be a conflict. Jeff went on to school and got his bachelor's degree and became a music teacher. Joey & I kept tryin' to start a band.
When that "band" ended, Joey was gonna try to turn himself into a bass player. We tried to get with a few people in the neighborhood, but nothing really ever panned out. Joey got an offer from Trent Rock (of 69 South) to play bass in his band (called Plaid). Joey happily accepted and after his sister told me that he was in another band (because he was scared I'd be mad at him), I went to hear them and he had truly converted himself into a bass player. The only thing that he wasn't happy about was the music they played. The played a more alternative side of rock and roll. Some new stuff, almost no classic rock, and some originals. He liked playin' bass, but just didn't feel like that would be the band that he stayed in forever.
In the meantime, Donnie & Travis had been messin' around with bands themselves. They never had any real gigs or made any money, but Travis had written some songs and Donnie had written some songs, and they played them for their friends, and all that. They were actually more of a country band. Donnie's Dad had been the drummer for several famous country stars, so Donnie was always surrounded by famous people, and a lot of country music. At one point, the one and only Ryan Kuykendall was a member of one of their "bands". No big successes or failures came from Donnie & Travis' get-togethers.
One day I was over at a friend's house and she was datin' a guy named Rusty Lemons (whom I had never met). He had heard that I played guitar, and he needed a guitarist for a gig that he was gonna do. He was gettin' a band together for the Sunset Serenade thing in Collierville or whatever it is. Well, Rusty is a singer. He was more into country and pop music than I liked, but it was music and it was a band, so I was gonna go with it. We played some pop and very few rock songs, but mostly country. Anyways, I noticed that the drummer had on a ROCK 103 T-shirt (that's a local Classic Rock radio station here in Memphis). So, I approached him and asked him if he liked Rock & Roll and he told me something about The Eagles bein' his favorite band, so that was good. I mentioned to him that we oughta start our own band, a classic rock band. He agreed that he'd rather be playin' Rock & Roll. I didn't know at the time that I was talkin' to Donnie.
So, we stayed in The Rusty Lemons Project for quite a while. A couple months, I think, but due to creative differences between me & Rusty, I quit his band. After my "I quit" speech, I said, "So Donnie, c'mon, let's go. . ." And Donnie was like, "Okay." The night that I quit the band, Donnie introduced me to a friend of his named Travis. He had mentioned Travis to me before, but said that he was really young. He was 16 at the time. Well, that night (the night I quit The Rusty Lemons Project) Travis sung Margarittaville with us while we were on a break. Joey just happened to be there that night too, so we decided to all get together the next day (Sunday, June 22, 1997) to see if we could get us a band goin'. That was the first day me & Joey had really met Travis, but I sorta knew Donnie and Donnie & Joey knew each other because they were in that church band and Donnie & Travis knew each other. Actually Joey & Travis had met some time earlier because they both had to go to driving school to get a ticket off of their record or something like that.
On June 22, 1997, we all got together at my house to sorta jam or whatever. . .I got a phone call. . .one of my brother's friends had heard that I was in a band. . .(The Rusty Lemons Project). . .I told him that I had a new band. . .very new. . .only about a half-hour old actually. . .Anyways, I told him that we didn't know very many songs, but we'd try to play for 'em. So, we have this gig. . .we were supposed to start at about 8:00, but we got started about 10:30 because we lost things, we left things at home, things wouldn't work, etc. . .Well, it was during a Sweet Home Chicago that Travis introduced us as "Gabby Johnson", and me & Joey looked at each other like, "That's sorta cool. . ." But we didn't know what to think. Evidently Donnie had told Travis that we were gonna be called Gabby Johnson, so that was cool. We had always talked about bein' in a band called "Gabby Johnson", but just at that moment realized that we actually were in that band.
Since then we've been called several names: Gabby's Johnson, Gabby Hayes, Gabby Johnson Band, The Gabby Johnson Band, all kinds of stuff, but the fact still remains, WE ARE GABBY JOHNSON.
So, our first gig was on Friday, June 27, 1997, we released our first CD on October 29, 1999, our second CD on November 3, 2001, and our third CD on April 22, 2004. Our first CD did okay, and our 2nd one did better. The third one is doing better than the other two, and we're quite proud of the third one. But we're still not "there".Have you performed in front of an audience?We play live almost too much. I mean, there are plenty of bands that play more than we do, but we play consistently over 200 gigs a year and we're trying to constantly write songs. We would like to play less and write more, but the playing pays the bills.
Your musical influences
Stevie Ray Vaughan, Eric Clapton, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, Elvis Presley, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Marshall Tucker, ZZ Top, Tom Petty, etc. . .What equipment do you use?
We use EV mic's for lead vocals, 57's on all the instruments (including drums except for the kick which we use some type of EV mic for that too). We've got a Fender Strat/Tele going through a DeVille, and a Gibson Les Paul going through a Marshall. The bass end is a 5-string Lakland played through 2 Goliath SWR cabinets (not sure about the amp). Drums are DW Pacific series; kick, snare, rack and floor tom.
Southaven, MS
USA
ID
1028
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