Thursday, March 15, 1334
Pago 14
Daily Nebraskan
dJ teiay Hem
Continued firori Vs.?,- 13
So Reno took.up the saxophone. It
took him a year to get 'to the. point '
where he felt comfortable on stags at
the Bluebird. .
His experience at the Bluebird help
ed him define the role he desired the
saxophone to play in hii music, as well
as develop, hb style.
"I wasn't really trying to become
what I call a technically proficient and
jazzy kind of player, I was more Ulce
interested in the total style tnat tnese
guys played. They didn't use a lot of
what I call notes and jazz technology.
They really worked a style and rhyth
mic approach as opposed to a lot of
notes and improvisation stuff "he said
"It was mere rhyth mie. It wa3 a let of
use of the horn and its range from
honking to a real subtle soft kind of
style to just a wail on top, just a screa-
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COLUMBIA RECORDING ARTISTS
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THE LEROX BROTHERS
"HOT ROCICN ROLL FROM TEXAS"
THURS.-FRL, MARCH 15-16, 9-1:00
min wail that sounded like a freight
train comin That whole style really
intrigued me." , .
Alter developing a sound, Reno nit
the road with a series of Texas-based
bands, including Stcvie Ray Vaughn
and the Juke Jumpers. In May of last
5 r Reno left the Juke Jumpers to
form the Sax Maniacs. The band's pur
" pose was easily defined.
"Our main goal is to make saxo
phone king of the bandstand again," he
said. ' , '
Helping Reno pursue that goal are
"Frank Harrell (bass), Gerard Dailey
(keyboards), Jeff Howe (drums),
Kevin Hinks (saxophone) and Bill
Eden (saxophone). Several of the
band members can play saxophone,
which gives the band both an accessi
ble and innovative sound.
"I'm really trying to move the instru
ment to a position of mass popularity,"
Reno said. 'Therefore, I'm not really
concentrating on the blues as much as
other bands. When I started this band
the idea was to try and reach kids that
listened to the radio and heavy metal a
lot..."
"The instrument that I play and
playing it really flamboyantly like I do
will get their attention, before they sit
down and listen to the music," he said.
"Once you get their attention and kind
of start listening to it I think that
there's a chance for us to do better on a
larger scale."
The visual aspect is an important
part of Reno's act. His performances at
the Zoo have been distinguished by his
on-stage briQrk3, which include wander
ing into the audience and jumping
onto the Zoo's tiny bar.
As important as the visual image is,
Reno acknowledged the importance of
signing a major recording contract
The band released it's first album,
Born To Blow late last year, on tiny
Black Top records. Reno currently is
pinning his hopes on a contract with
Elektra Records, a subsidiary of the
giant Warner Communications empire.
"We have a record with Elektra
Records coming out May 1. It's a com
pilation of several Texas bands. Its ,
sort of a taste for the market to see
which bands might get a little atten
tion," he said.
- Recent trends in therecord industry
have made it more difficult for a region-,
ally popular act like Reno to hit it big.
Before the years of the big record con
glomerates, in the late 'CO-, and all the
way up to the early '60s really, you
could have independent labels work
ing certain regions and still have nation
al hit records. And that's almost impos
sible now, that hasn't happened in
years," he said.
Reno said he didn't experience any
major problems in the transition from
a "live" act to a "canned" one. "I didn't
find it difficult, just challenging. It's
challenging to make a good record it
doesn't necessarily take the same in
gredients to make a good record as it
does a good live performance," he said.
Of course, live performances do
have one key advantage over recorded
products: spontaneity. "A couple of
crazy things happened last night,"
Reno said of his Friday night Zoo per
formance. "I don't think people really
notice because it goes by so quickly.
But you notice it if you're a musician
and you play a certain pattern the
same way 100 times and it winds up
being different because either the
rhythm section or the horns do some
thing different. Technically you call it a
mistake. But I think mistakes are the
most interesting parts of art."
The life and work of rock 'n' rollers
like Johnny Reno and the Sax Maniacs
are rarely glamorous. Since they have
no roadies, they do all their own dirty
work: loading and unloadingtheir truck
and trailer, driving themselves through
a Midwest circuit which provides near
ly 200 dates a year. The glamour of the
big time may be less alluring to Reno
then the simple prospect of having a
hired hand or two.
"Once you start doing a little better,
it enables you to have a couple people
around to helpAt this level, you're
very humble. If we hit it big, that's,
; man, great lean handle it
"LET N STKEET HELP YOU C
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