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Creedence Clearwater plans local performance
By Jack Carrerow, For The World
Monday, August 18, 2008 | 1 comment(s)
Bassist Stu Cook said he never gets tired of playing the songs that made his band, Creedence Clearwater Revival, a household name in the 1960s.
As a member of Creedence Clearwater Revisited, which will be appearing at The Mill Casino-Hotel Thursday, Cook said this band can hardly be called a cover band, since it also includes original Creedence drummer Doug “Cosmo” Clifford.
“I really never tire of it because of the energy that comes from the audience,” Cook said from his Austin, Texas, home, “We tweak them a bit. How can we not after all this time? But they were great songs then and continue to be great today.”
Cook said this modern-day version of the band started out as a casual thing.
“We (Clifford and Cook) intended to just play some private parties, mostly for fun,” he said. “But it took on a life of its own and now, we play over 100 dates a year all over the world.”
This is just one more step in the musical life and times of Rock ’n’ Roll Hall of Fame members Cook and Clifford, a life that goes all the way back to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1959.
“This was before the Beatles, so they weren’t an influence yet,” Cook said. “It was after they hit that we made the decision to recommit ourselves.”
In the beginning, it was Cook on piano, Clifford on drums and John Fogerty on guitar.
“The first band was called the Blue Velvets and we were in it along with John and later Tom (Fogerty),” Cook said. “We recorded a couple of instrumentals but then Tom started singing lead and in about 1967, we changed our name to the Golliwogs.”
Besides changing names, the band made another more important switch, making John Fogerty the lead singer.
This move resulted in the band’s first Billboard hit “Brown Eyed Girl.”
After two more years, the Golliwogs again changed their name to Creedence Clearwater Revival and followed the road to the Hall of Fame.
“There was a lot of magic back then and that’s what we try to capture today in concerts,” Cook said. “We have some great musicians and really have fun. I think it translates to the audience.”
An audience, Cook said, that is multigenerational.
“We get more than the people who grew up with our music. We also get their kids and their kids’ kids,” Cook said. “And they all know the songs. It’s great.”
Because of key additions to Revisited, Cook and Clifford are able to capture not only the magic, but the sound that defined what many consider the best American band of the time.
They were able to recruit Steve Gunner and Tal Morris, and for the all-important vocals they were fortunate enough to find San Jose, Calif., native John Tristao, who had some success of his own as a member of the 1960s band People.
“John, along with the other guys, brings a lot to the table,” Cook said. “People are really going to like what they see and hear.”
Jack Carrerow is the reporter at The Umpqua Post. He can be e-mailed at jcarrerow@theworldlink.com.
As a member of Creedence Clearwater Revisited, which will be appearing at The Mill Casino-Hotel Thursday, Cook said this band can hardly be called a cover band, since it also includes original Creedence drummer Doug “Cosmo” Clifford.
“I really never tire of it because of the energy that comes from the audience,” Cook said from his Austin, Texas, home, “We tweak them a bit. How can we not after all this time? But they were great songs then and continue to be great today.”
Cook said this modern-day version of the band started out as a casual thing.
“We (Clifford and Cook) intended to just play some private parties, mostly for fun,” he said. “But it took on a life of its own and now, we play over 100 dates a year all over the world.”
This is just one more step in the musical life and times of Rock ’n’ Roll Hall of Fame members Cook and Clifford, a life that goes all the way back to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1959.
“This was before the Beatles, so they weren’t an influence yet,” Cook said. “It was after they hit that we made the decision to recommit ourselves.”
In the beginning, it was Cook on piano, Clifford on drums and John Fogerty on guitar.
“The first band was called the Blue Velvets and we were in it along with John and later Tom (Fogerty),” Cook said. “We recorded a couple of instrumentals but then Tom started singing lead and in about 1967, we changed our name to the Golliwogs.”
Besides changing names, the band made another more important switch, making John Fogerty the lead singer.
This move resulted in the band’s first Billboard hit “Brown Eyed Girl.”
After two more years, the Golliwogs again changed their name to Creedence Clearwater Revival and followed the road to the Hall of Fame.
“There was a lot of magic back then and that’s what we try to capture today in concerts,” Cook said. “We have some great musicians and really have fun. I think it translates to the audience.”
An audience, Cook said, that is multigenerational.
“We get more than the people who grew up with our music. We also get their kids and their kids’ kids,” Cook said. “And they all know the songs. It’s great.”
Because of key additions to Revisited, Cook and Clifford are able to capture not only the magic, but the sound that defined what many consider the best American band of the time.
They were able to recruit Steve Gunner and Tal Morris, and for the all-important vocals they were fortunate enough to find San Jose, Calif., native John Tristao, who had some success of his own as a member of the 1960s band People.
“John, along with the other guys, brings a lot to the table,” Cook said. “People are really going to like what they see and hear.”
Jack Carrerow is the reporter at The Umpqua Post. He can be e-mailed at jcarrerow@theworldlink.com.
Clearly Clearwater
Creedence Clearwater Revisited will perform an outdoor concert at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 21 for one night only at The Mill Casino-Hotel on U.S. Highway 101 in North Bend. Tickets cost $45. For more information, call The Mill at (800) 953-4800 or 756-8800.
Creedence Clearwater Revisited will perform an outdoor concert at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 21 for one night only at The Mill Casino-Hotel on U.S. Highway 101 in North Bend. Tickets cost $45. For more information, call The Mill at (800) 953-4800 or 756-8800.
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