steppenwolf

Steppenwolf made it happen with heavy metal thunder on the explosive hard rock blues of their adventurous debut. Lead singer Joachim Fritz Krauledat (John Kay) was born in East Prussia and spent much of his youth in West Germany before his family relocated to Toronto, Canada. When he was nineteen, he started travelling around the United States as a folk singer and joined Canadian blues-rock group the Sparrow whose lead singer Jack London had just left. After a couple of unsuccessful singles, the band splintered with drummer Jerry Edmonton, keyboardist Goldy McJohn, and later, guitarist Michael Monarch joining John Kay in a new band that eventually became Steppenwolf. Kay recalls: "'Steppenwolf' was originally a book written by Herman Hesse (a German author), and it was a book I was totally unfamiliar with when the band that became Steppenwolf was in its infancy. The young man who lived next door to where Steppenwolf started to rehearse (by the name of Gabriel Mekler, born and raised in Israel), he had read the book. When it came time to put a name on the demo box that was going to go to the first label, he said 'Well, what is the band called?' and aside from the obvious joke names and other obscene suggestions which were not marketable, he finally said, 'Well look, how about Steppenwolf? I think it's a word that looks good in print, and it denotes a certain degree of mystery and power and you guys are kind of rough and ready types."'

'Steppenwolf' was recorded in only four days. Kay says: "For the times, Steppenwolf was an uncharacteristically tight band. Our philosophy was 'hit 'em hard, make your point and move on.' "

The sessions were produced by Gabriel Mekler and engineered by Bill Cooper and Richard Podolor with John Kay on guitars, harmonica, and lead vocals; Rushton Moreve on bass guitar and backing vocals; Michael Monarch on guitars and backing vocals; Goldy McJohn on Hammond organ, piano, and electric piano; and Jerry Edmonton on drums, percussion, and backing vocals. Kay says: "'Steppenwolf' was first recorded at United/Western Studio's in Los Angeles. We didn't care for the results at all. Through my friend Morgan Cavett, we discovered The American Recording Studio, with engineers Richard Podolor and Bill Cooper. Everything fit together. They, along with Gabriel Mekler our producer made for some very exciting recording sessions. We were knocked out by what we heard. It was everything we hoped for. We recorded onto an eight track machine through a tube board using a live echo chamber that Richie and Bill had built, which was one of the best live chambers in Los Angeles at that time. We recorded seven songs the first day and four more the next. The majority of the vocals were recorded on the third day and the album was mixed on day four. The entire album cost around $9,000.00 to make. We thought it sounded pretty damn good and in my opinion it still holds up to this day. Someone once said, "You have your entire life to get readyfor the first album, and no time for the next one". That was certainly true in our case."

'Steppenwolf' went to number fifty-nine in the UK, six in the US, and number one in Canada.







https://steppenwolf.com/








'Born to Be Wild' was written by former Sparrow Mars Bonfire (Dennis Edmonton):  "I was walking down Hollywood Boulevard one day and saw a poster in a window saying 'Born to Ride' with a picture of a motorcycle erupting out of the earth like a volcano with all this fire around it. Around this time I had just purchased my first car, a little secondhand Ford Falcon. So all this came together lyrically: the idea of the motorcycle coming out along with the freedom and joy I felt in having my first car and being able to drive myself around whenever I wanted. 'Born To Be Wild' didn't stand out initially. Even the publishers at Leeds Music didn't take it as the first or second song I gave them. They got it only because I signed as a staff writer. Luckily, it stood out for Steppenwolf. It's like a fluke rather than an achievement, though."  The single climbed to thirty in the UK, twenty in Austria and Germany, five in the Netherlands, and number two in the US.  The inclusion of the song in the opening credits of the counterculture film 'Easy Rider' starring Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda has cemented it as a rock and roll classic.

Get your motor runnin'
Head out on the highway
Lookin' for adventure
And whatever comes our way
Yeah! darlin', gonna make it happen
Take the world in a love embrace
Fire all of your guns at once
And explode into space
I like smoke and lightning
Heavy metal thunder
Racin' with the wind
And the feelin' that I'm under
Yeah! darlin', gonna make it happen
Take the world in a love embrace
Fire all of your guns at once
And explode into space
Like a true nature's child
We were born, born to be wild
We can climb so high
I never wanna die
Born to be wild
Born to be wild

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03FzVEUxEPU





'The Pusher' was also used in 'Easy Rider'
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xqp3u_steppenwolf-the-pusher_music

Steppenwolf - The Pusher by DwightFrye
            





'Steppenwolf'
full album:


Side one
"Sookie Sookie" (Don Covay, Steve Cropper) – 3:12
"Everybody's Next One" (Kay, Gabriel Mekler) – 2:53
"Berry Rides Again" (Kay) – 2:45
"Hoochie Coochie Man" (Willie Dixon) – 5:07
"Born to Be Wild" (Mars Bonfire) – 3:28
"Your Wall's Too High" (Kay) – 5:40
Side two
"Desperation" (Kay) – 5:45
"The Pusher" (Hoyt Axton) – 5:43
"A Girl I Knew" (Morgan Cavett, Kay) – 2:39
"Take What You Need" (Kay, Gabriel Mekler) – 3:28
"The Ostrich" (Kay) – 5:43