Southside Johnny On The Spot

"Southside" Johnny Lyon was in a playful mood Sunday night with the Asbury Jukes, the Jersey band that's been the rock-and-horns soundtrack for generations of Jersey music fans.

The set opened with "Mac the Knife" and morphed into a few cuts from the band's critically acclaimed new CD, "Pills and Ammo." In between, the 90-minute set was sprinkled with favorites from Bruce Springsteen ("Talk to Me"), Steven Van Zandt ("I Don't Want to Go Home") and a wide variety of covers, from "Walk Away Renee" and "Love Rollercoaster" to "Fever," which has been a Jukes staple for decades.

Between songs, Lyon joked with the crowd, preened for fans taking photos from the front of the stage.

At one point, bassist John Conte blasted the opening chords of '70s funk tune "Rollercoaster" as Lyons prowled around the stage. The band joined in and they took off, ending with a raucous riff.

After the next song, "I Don't Want To Go Home," he seemed to have lost his place. "Rollercoaster got me all backwards up here," he said. Without missing a beat, keyboard player and co-writer of much of the Juke's recent efforts with Lyons, began playing a reprise with "Coaster Roller..." kicking off the quick interlude as Lyons, and the crowd, howled with laughter. 

Before they concluded the set, Lyon told the audience, "Stick around and I will sign notes for all of you so you don't have to go to work tomorrow. Hell, I will sign notes for the kiddies, too. Don't want them to have to go to school, either."

Kazee, who keeps the band on course throughout their performances, has been playing with the Jukes since 1998. An accomplished solo musician, he and Lyon have worked on a variety of projects together and are working on a cover of Little Steven and the Disciples of Soul's album, "Men Without Women." Kazee took the time to catch up about the show and life with Lyons:

You seem to be the glue guy, whom the bandmates all take their cues from. How does that evolve?

Over the years, Johnny has given me a lot of responsibility in respect to writing, recording and of course the stage.  I watch him quite closely, knowing his rhythms and moods, so (hopefully) I am able to convey SSJ's wishes to the band.  Sometimes, it's my job to keep us on the rails and sometimes it's about taking us OFF the rails--whether it's as Johnny's foil, song suggester or even providing a lead vocal to take the load off the Man for 5 minutes.  It's a lot of songs and spontaneity--and the band has to be ready for anything.  Every guy up there has a lot of talent and someone has to help wrangle such a circus so Johnny can do his thing.

What is it about the Jukes communing with their peeps, and vice versa?

We have a large, loyal fan base and we recognize the fact that people pay a lot of money — and sometimes travel a lot of miles to see us substitute a music performance in lieu of an actual psychotherapy session. We appreciate it immensely. We listen to the fan's requests and try to integrate most of them when we can. They keep the show fresh for us.

Seemed like you guys were having fun up there and that it was a pretty unpredictable evening? What was going on?

Just a typical Jukes show! We have a setlist in theory only. We started the show with some onstage sound issues and of course, Johnny had to make a "bit" out of it... from there, the vibe was set and we ran with it.  What a beautiful night it was — and a huge, friendly crowd. You have to know that we feel REALLY comfortable up there and it shows--sometimes for the best and sometimes, well..

Folks were receptive to the new stuff. Have you been finding Jersey audiences responding to the CD?

Well, people — critics and fans alike — have told us it is our best recorded work in the past 20-25 years. Little Steven Van Zandt really has supported "Pills & Ammo" with very kind words and actual radio support via Sirius/XM. In true Steven fashion, he calls it "the best Jukes record that he never had anything to do with". It rocks a lot harder in the Stones/Faces tradition than our stuff from the past few albums--and after a year of playing the new stuff onstage, I see fans singing the words and requesting songs from the album. That's the proof that most are digging it. We took a great deal of time writing the record (in my basement) and took great care in choosing the direction and tone of the disc. It's really hard to break in new material with all those classic Jukes tunes that Johnny, Springsteen and Steven wrote. With that being said, Southside has made a commitment to never settle on just playing the "hits"and most of our fans stick with us, new stuff with the old.

You tossed a towel at the drummer on one occasion? What was that all about?

I yelled at Tom on the previous song and that's my way of saying, "I'm sorry I yelled, and we're cool now!"  I learned that Passive/Aggressive streak from the Master Juke himself, Southside Johnny.

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