The Druids of Stonehenge were a garage rock and psychedelic band from New York City who were active in the 1960s. They began as an R&B-based rock combo in the vein of the early Rolling Stones called the Druids, but later moved to the West Coast and changed their name to the Druids of Stonehenge, evolving their sound to fit the burgeoning psychedelic rock coming to the fore. In 1968 they recorded the album, Creation, for Uni Records. They broke up in 1969, but have made occasional reunion appearances, such as a performance in New York in 2008.
Originally released in America only in 2017 Resurrection marks the rebirth of the classic US garage band The Druids Of Stonehenge.
Resurrection is an album of classic blues covers, the music that inspired The Druids back in the day and continues to inspire them now. With the release of the brand new album "American Ghosts" this is a chance to hear The Druids Of Stonehenge at their best.
Carl Hauser said “All of the songs that we have resurrected (and that have resurrected us...) are “blues chestnuts” that The Druids have played and loved over the last 50 years - since we were teenagers. An important disclaimer is that The Druids are not and never were a traditional blues band. We were a rock ‘n roll band, growing up as friends in NYC in the late 60’s, heavily influenced by the blues, rhythm and blues and soul music that permeated that period.”
“As we grew up musically we became more interested in finding out where that music came from. And we did, moving back through Muddy Waters, Jimmy Reed, John Lee Hooker and Howlin’ Wolf to earlier roots artists. Musically though we stayed a rock ‘n roll band who had learned their rhythms from Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley.”
“The songs here are arranged to make them fit our straight-ahead rhythmic style and to highlight David’s unique approach to lyrics. So if we have “taken liberties” with the songs we hope that fans of more traditional Blues won’t be offended. Many of the songs here had already been played in multiple different forms by the time we first heard them growing up. And even if not, they usually had their roots deep in older traditional materials with ‘the deck shuffled’ to sound like new songs.”
“So we believe that it’s important to credit original authors (to the extent they are known) as well as the important interpreters of older material who influenced us. We like to think of ourselves as temporary custodians of a great tradition that embraces changing and interpreting songs as they are played. And we hope that this tradition will pass through us to others. Because as much as we have played these songs, they have played us. And as we have loved them, they loved us back and kept our musical spirit alive.”
2020 will see the release of their first album of all-original material, American Ghosts.
Website: www.thedruidsofstonehenge.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/thedruidsofstonehenge
Apple Music: music.apple.com/us/album/resurrection/