Guitarist Damon Johnson has revealed he sings lead vocals on a lost album by supergroup Damn Yankees, recorded in 2000, which he still hopes will be released. Johnson, currently with Black Star Riders, told the White Line Fever podcast he remained fond of the mothballed record, which was done under the tutelage of A&R guru John Kalodner.
“I’d love for it to come out; I’m certainly proud of it,” the former Alice Cooper axeman tells the most recent episode of the program. “That’s a long time ago; 2000 is when we wrote those songs and made that album. It was a great experience for me and I was, again, just honored to be asked to be a part of it. I don’t know what’s going to happen to that stuff, to tell you the truth. Much like Thin Lizzy is Scott Gorham’s band, the Damn Yankees is Ted Nugent and Jack Blades’ band.”
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Damn Yankees initially featured Tommy Shaw, Jack Blades, Ted Nugent and Michael Cartellone. The group formed in 1989 and released two albums, an eponymous debut and the 1992 follow-up Don’t Tread. Hit singles included “Come Again“, “High Enough” and “Coming Of Age“. Members have recently said they are open to a reunion but too busy.
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Johnson continues: “I’ve been friends with those guys for a long time, I still see them from time to time and, you know, I had a great experience working with them. I don’t know if it’s ever going to see the light of day but there’s definitely some good sounding stuff on there and I know that my fans would certainly get a kick out of it. To hear me singing lead vocals on a song, Jack Blades singing harmony and have Ted Nugent come in and with a ripping guitar solo…look, it’s pretty awesome. So, fingers crossed. I hope it sees the light of day some time. I have not had any discussions about it. I know that John Kalodner, our great friend and A&R man who was in charge of that … I spoke to John, God, it’s got to be three or four years ago and he was talking about how proud he was of the work that I did on that. I’m sure he’s going to have some role to play in that as well. I don’t know … I’m just kind of looking ahead. It’s definitely almost a mysterious chapter in my musical life. But it’s fun to get asked about it from time to time. I love all those guys man. You never know.”.
Listen to the entire White Line Fever podcast at this link.
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Buy: Damn Yankees
BUY: Don’t Tread
BUY: Heavy Fire by Black Star Riders
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