GEORGE THOROGOOD \ No More Beer

GEORGE THOROGOOD & THE DESTROYERS \ NO MORE BEER
We talk about power blues / rock ...

A few words :
.... I really got into it in '67 when I saw Frank Zappa, The Doors, Steppenwolf and Hendrix. It was a bunch of hippies playing for other hippies. And that's what I
wanted to do. I got in on the tail end of that. - George Thorogood..

George Thorogood first became interested in the blues, in Chicago style blues, in 1970 after hearing John Paul Hammond perform. He spent the next few years singing on the streets of San Francisco and playing at Max's Kansas City in New York with the likes of Bonnie Raitt and Little Feat. In the beginning he was emulating blues men such as Muddy Waters and Elmore James.

The band formed in 1973 when Jeff Simon, the drummer, got them a gig at Laine Hall, a college dormitory. George actually had to buy a guitar from a pawn shop the night before the gig. It went so well though that Jeff and George kept going, adding Michael Levine at bass with Ron Smith occasionally joining them on guitar. Thus was born the Delaware Destroyers. They spent their first years touring the Boston area playing with bands like Hound Dog Taylor and the Housebreakers. Their other early influences included the previously mentioned John Lee Hooker, John Hammond, Elmore James and Muddy Waters as well as Chuck Berry, Howlin' Wolf and Willie Dixon.

The band's first introduction to a record label was the work of their self-proclaimed Number One Fan, John Forward. In 1975 he would put them in touch with Rounder Records. They recorded their first album in 1975 but would have to wait an agonizing 18 months for it to be released as Rounder balked over paying for cover art. The agonizing was over one of the songs on the record, their now classic "One Bourbon".
George worried that if the record was not released someone else might cover it and get it to market first. He believed, correctly, that it was destined to be a classic and wanted his version out there first. George eventually chose some artwork provided by a fan and they got the eponymous record released. It was around the recording of their first album that Michael Levine left the band and Bill Blough replaced him.wanted to do. I got in on the tail end of that. - George Thorogood.
.....Bourbon, Scotch and Beer is classic. If I don't do it, someone else is going to do it. The songs made me great. It's not me. It's the songs that made me, I didn't make the songs. The only people who came up with 100 good songs are The Beatles. - George Thorogood..
The 50-50 Tour is now famous in rock history. Beginning October 23, in Hawaii and ending on December 11, 1981, they played a concert in all 50 states in just 50 days. Aside from the flights from Hawaii to Alaska and from Alaska to Oregon, George drove the entire way in a Checker Cab. This feat has not been repeated, nor even attempted to my knowledge, by any band.

..... Years of midnight club shows have trained this band to breath fire and spit nails. They were one of the tightest acts touring, complete with dead on pit stops and full-throttle boogie rock. - ...

The tour with the Stones and the 50-50 Tour, along with the success of their covers of John Lee Hooker's "One Bourbon, One Scotch and One Beer," Hank Williams' "Move it on Over" and Bo Diddley's "Who Do You Love" got them signed with EMI. They would release several albums with EMI, beginning with their fourth album, 1982's Bad to the Bone.
Bad to the Bone was certified gold on August 7, 1985. Two days later, on August 9th, their fifth album Maverick would be certified gold as well.
It has been noted more than once that George Thorogood only rates his abilities on the guitar a five out of a possible ten. Couple this with the fact that they do mostly old blues covers and we are probably talking about some mediocre old band who didn't know when to hang it up, right? Wrong.
While George may be only a five on his guitar he is certainly a ten on stage and damn near a ten when it comes to picking what songs will go on the next album. It is a long tradition in blues music to cover old tunes. Blues men trade songs, they rewrite each other's songs and they are happy to admit when someone else 'done it better.'
.......And Muddy Waters listened to me and said I had mastered it. He actually told me, on one song, I played better than he did. So I was just, like, well you can't do better than that. - George Thorogood ....

With more than 3000 concerts under their belt, the vast majority of which are sold out, the Destroyers are still one of the tightest, most high energy blues-boogie bands a person could hope to catch. George's working-man ethic, mean slide guitar and incredible ear for undiscovered gems has meant to the band a long career and incredibly supportive fan base. With their 30th Anniversary 30 Years of Rock album debuting at #55 on Billboard's Top 200 Album Chart and going to #1 on Billboard's Blues Chart they are assured of many new fans as well.

..... Some day, we'll be playing a club, such as Ziggy's, and at night when we go on it will be less than half-filled. I'll go up to the promoter and say, `Son, congratulations, you just retired the great George Thorogood.' I want to make sure it ends before it comes to that. - George Thorogood...
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