In his band oh my god — an AltRock crew that had a sizeable audience in Greater Cincinnati thanks to frequent tour stops and a high-powered live show — Chicago-based musician Johnny Iguana’s talents on the keyboard fueled the music, turning the organ into a lead instrument in a Rock band better than anyone since Deep Purple.
But Iguana’s skills are even more impressive than many oh my god fans probably realized. He has toured or recorded with Blues legends like Junior Wells and Buddy Guy, and he’s currently a member of acclaimed Blues tribute acts The Muddy Waters 100 Band and Chicago Blues: A Living History.
With The Claudettes, Iguana stays in the Blues realm, but he also gets to get his ya-yas out and show the breadth of his abilities within songs that blenderize every conceivable style of Blues, are sometimes arranged like Jazz or Classical compositions and also often creatively work elements of Soul, Pop and Rock into the stew. Innovation isn’t a hallmark of much Blues-based music anymore, but listening to The Claudettes’ compelling 2015 album No Hotel manages to provide a new perspective on the music, something that should be appealing to both Blues and non-Blues fans. How many other groups have earned comparisons to Chopin, Minutemen, Ray Charles, Otis Spann, Professor Longhair, The Ramones and cartoon-music icon Raymond Scott? Or perhaps the better question is — how many bands have received those comparisons and actually live up to them?
The Claudettes first came together in 2011 as a duo to play instrumentals in a bar in Oglesby, Ill. The group’s name is based on the bar’s “somewhat unhinged” owner, who purportedly began trailing the band to other gigs in order to sell beer from the stage and allegedly added a singer/dancer to the fold. Iguana apparently broke free of Claudette’s grasp and rebuilt the band with bassist/singer Zach Verdoorn and drummer Matt Torre, then added engaging vocalist Berit Ulseth. The band is gearing up to record new material this September. Iguana has referenced Meat Puppets, Carole King, T. Rex and Beastie Boys when describing the new songs, making The Claudettes’ Cincinnati visit event even more intriguing for fans of musicians who thrive on coloring outside of the lines.
Click here for more on Friday’s free show.
This article appears in Aug 3-10, 2016.