The Yardbirds — rock of all ages
18.05.12
Jim McCarty laughs at the question.
After all, it’s a natural one to ask a man who started in rock in the mid-1960s and whose band now includes musicians in their early 20s.
“Yes, they’re young,” McCarty says, “but they’re very good musicians — and they’ve got the energy that we need.
“But, yes, they’re young. One of them told me his mom was just five when The Yardbirds started.”
That was back in 1963, when a group of musicians in England came together, did a few gigs as the Blue-Sounds, then changed their name, drawing the inspiration from both the writings of Jack Kerouac — he used the word to describe hobos hanging around railyards waiting for trains — and in homage of jazz saxophonist Charlie “Yardbird” Parker.
McCarty, the band’s drummer, came to music via a high-school band that preferred a playlist of Elvis Presley, The Everly Brothers and Gene Vincent.
But, once he heard the Mississippi blues of Jimmy Reed, “I knew that was really the music I wanted to play.”
Source: Kamloops This Week