After an eight-year hiatus from the recording studio, Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, a.k.a. “the world’s greatest bar band,” are finally back. The group, considered one of the pioneers of the shore sound (along with Bruce Springsteen), recently released their 16th album entitled Messin’ with the Blues. They are scheduled to kick off a European tour in July. But first, they will visit Hoboken to headline at the city’s biannual Art & Music Festival on Sunday, May 6 at 4:30 p.m.
Last week, “Southside” Johnny Lyon, the Jukes’ lead singer and harmonica player, shared some thoughts about street festivals, Bruce Springsteen and sausage sandwiches.
Johnny was born in Neptune, NJ. He grew up loving R&B and playing music in groups like the Sundance Blues Band and Dr. Zoom and the Sonic Boom with those other Jersey shore rockers, Springsteen and Steven Van Zandt.
“I started to play over 30 years ago, when I was 16 years old,” Lyon said last Wednesday from his home in Nashville. (In search of a more tranquil life, Lyon moved from the Jersey shore to Tennessee four years ago, but still considers the Jukes a Jersey-based band.) “I played in a million little bands.”
After a brief stint in a Virginia-based band called Studio B, Lyon returned to the Asbury Park area where he formed Southside Johnny and the Kid with Steven Van Zandt. When Van Zandt left to become a member of Springsteen’s E Street Band, Southside Johnny hooked up with the drummer Kenny Pentifallo and added a horn section, and the band became Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes.
“In 1972, I took up residence at the Stone Pony,” Lyon said, referring to Asbury Park’s famous rock venue. “We made our first record in ’75 and have been making records and touring ever since.”
Produced by Steven Van Zandt, the Jukes’ debut album, I Don’t Want to go Home, featured tracks by Ronnie Spector, Lee Dorsey and the boss himself, Bruce Springsteen. Van Zandt went on to produce and play on the Jukes’ second and third albums as well.
“Of course, now he has a real job as a Mafia hit man,” Lyon said, referring to Van Zandt’s current gig on The Sopranos. Lyon admitted that he hasn’t seen many episodes of the HBO hit show, which features his old friend as the manager of the strip club Ba Da Bing. “I don’t usually get to watch things that are really popular on TV because I’m either playing or on the road,” he said. “And I don’t have HBO. But I did see a couple of episodes and it was like Old Home week. It’s funny to watch a show and be like, ‘I know that guy … and that guy.'”
L ike most musicians, Lyon eventually grew weary of the music industry, and, in the early ’90s, he decided to take a break.
“I quit for a couple of years because I got so fed up with the music business,” he said. “It’s such a dichotomous relationship. The musician just wants to be free, and the businessman just wants to control. At times it drives me crazy. But [music] is the only thing I enjoy doing, and the only thing I’m really good at. And I can’t imagine not playing.”
With diplomacy perhaps acquired with age, Lyon was willing to acknowledge the importance of being backed by the industry.
“It’s nice to have had the push,” he said. “And we’ve managed to get out and see most of the world. Now we’re going to see the streets of Hoboken.”
Lyon, who moved to Nashville because he “needed to calm down a little,” always looks forward to returning to his home state, especially when it’s to play a gig.
“It’s always a lot of fun to play street festivals,” he said. “People come out with the best attitude and you get to play to all ages. And the band’s looking forward to sausage and pepper sandwiches. That’s the main reason we’re coming. We don’t even need to get paid. We just want sausage and pepper sandwiches.”
When he’s not making music, Lyon enjoys listening to it. And like most musicians, he describes his taste as “eclectic.”
“I listen to jazz when I’m reading,” he said. “And Dusty Springfield when I’m driving. Sometimes I listen to modern rock radio. But only one in five songs appeals to me. I’m 52 years old, and the songs are by 26-year-old guys trying to get laid, and I’m not interested in helping them do that.” Lyon paused, laughed, and then added, “Of course, I used to be like that.”
Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes will perform at the Hoboken Art & Music Festival’s First Street Stage on Sunday, May 6 at 4:30 p.m.