If you go
› Where: Songbirds Guitar Museum, 35 Station St.FROGGY FRESH› When: 7:30 p.m. Thursday, April 5› Admission: $20 general admission, $50 VIP meet and greetFAREWELL ANGELINA› When: 7 p.m. Friday, April 6› Admission: $15SCOTT SHARRARD› When: 9 p.m. Friday, April 6› Admission: $15 in advance, $18 day of showTHE WHITE ANIMALS› When: 7 p.m. Saturday, April 7› Admission: $15› For more information: 423-531-2473
The song “For Your Love” was an instant hit for The Yardbirds upon its release in 1965, and it became a bar/frat party favorite for ’60s/new wave bands like the White Animals in the ’80s.
Fans of the original and the synthesized updated ’80s version have loved the instantly recognizable opening guitar chords and the trippy, easy-to-sing-along-with lyrics.
“I’d give the moon if it were mine to give (For your love), I’d give the stars and the sun for I live (For your love.)”
They love it still, apparently.
“It’s still a monster song,” said Steve Boyd, the White Animals guitar player.
During their heyday in the ’80s, the White Animals were known from Washington, D.C., to Dallas to Kentucky and all points in between as a great, hard-working party band. They were a fan favorite here and up and down the East Coast, regularly playing to sold-out crowds at Yesterday’s or the occasional special show at the National Guard Armory. People in Chattanooga and elsewhere felt an almost ownership of the group, as if only they knew about them, or felt such a deep connection to them.
“We played the West Coast some too, so I’d say there were about 30 or 40 cities that fell under that description,” Boyd said.
“People in their 40s and 50s especially had a connection with us, and it’s a trip to be able to still get hundreds of people out to see us,” Boyd said.
The group, featuring original members Boyd, Kevin Gray, Ray Crabtree and Rich Parks, will reunite for a show Saturday night at Songbirds. Boyd, who lives in Dallas and is married to Gray’s wife’s good friend, said the band gets together for a few concerts or private parties about 10 times a year. He teaches guitar these days and does some recording of his own.
Gray is a geriatric psychiatrist. Gray and Parks live in Nashville. The band’s sound guy, “Dubmaster” Tim Coats, tired of the road and stopped going out with the band entirely a few years ago.
Boyd said the band came along at the right time.
“The ’80s was a period of time in music where there was still a void left to fill. Bands like us and the other great bands were still staking new territory. There was an opportunity for bands to attract new followers through hard work. We made records and videos and we were on MTV.”
He said hard work was key.
“We’d play three or four hours a night and then hang out and be with the people. It was a scene.”
He said when he first joined the group, “We were a frat band. A really good frat band, but we were a ’60s cover band and a guitar band.”
As the group evolved, it tried to respect the innovations of the past, such as Buddy Holly’s use of the Fender Stratocaster and new equipment of the day, such as the E-Mu Emulator II synthesizer.
“But, we were always a song-oriented and guitar-oriented band.”
Contact Barry Courter at bcourter@timesfree press.com or 423-757-6354.