Jenny Dee & The Deelinquents seem to have a knack for being ‘heard’ by just the right people at just the right time.
After gigging monthly at The Rhumb Line and all around New England since the release of their debut album ‘Keeping Time’ (Q-Dee Records) this past March, the band heard rumors that Peter Wolf of The J. Geils Band had heard the record and was coming to check out one of their shows. A few months later the rumor became that the Deelinquents were being considered for an opening slot for The J. Geils Band sometime down the road. Then the band read in the Boston Globe that the opening slot in question was for the J. Geils Band / Aerosmith show at Fenway Park on August 14th. Two weeks after that article ran, they heard directly from a Peter Wolf representative that they’d been chosen to open the show and that news was confirmed the next day in the Globe.
They’ll be in Centerfield next Saturday, August 14 th, playing a half hour set starting at 5:30pm. For fans of Jenny Dee & The Deelinquents (or J. Geils, or Aerosmith), the show is unfortunately sold out.
But fortunately they’ll be here on Cape Ann for a free show just two days earlier, August 12th, returning to the site of their first ever show in Gloucester: Harbor Loop and the Cape Ann Concert Series. The Harbor Loop show on Thursday, August 12th begins at 6pm, is free to the public, and is all ages.
“It’s been an amazing run. Playing our first shows in Gloucester and Cambridge just over a year ago and now getting this opportunity” says Dee’s guitar player and Gloucester resident Tony Goddess, who also runs the Bang-A-Song recording studio under CVS on Main St. “I think it’s because we play music that people of all ages can enjoy. Grandparents remember seeing our heroes like The Supremes and the Shangri-La’s on Ed Sullivan, and nowadays kids watch those same clips on YouTube after hearing those classic songs performed by American Idol contestants. Hopefully our original songs fit right in alongside the “girl-group” hits.”
Another legendary performer also recently took note of Jenny Dee & The Deelinquents. La La Brooks, the lead singer of Phil Spector’s first band, The Crystals, heard the band online, wrote them appreciatively about keeping the ‘girl-group’ sound and format (three girls dancing and singing in front of a big band) alive, and asked the Deelinquents to be her backup band. After a show at PRECINCT in Somerville, and at Café 9 in New Haven this spring, they’ll be performing together again at Johnny D’s on September 9th in Somerville, at The Bell House in Brooklyn on September 10th, and at The Ponderosa Stomp in New Orleans on September 24th.
The Deelinquents formed around Jennifer D’Angora’s love of the old Motown/girl-group sounds, like those that La La Brooks made famous in the early sixties (“Da Doo Ron Ron” “Then He Kissed Me”), and she assembled her ‘dream’ band to bring her newly penned batch of songs to fruition. In addition to her husband Ed Valauskas on bass (The Gravel Pit, The Gentlemen, Hot Stove Cool Music), Jenny Dee added local musician and owner of Bang-A-Song Studios, Tony Goddess (Papas Fritas, SAFETY) on lead guitar, Eric Salt (Electric City) on guitar, Eric Anderson (Schnockered) on drums, and Phil Aiken (Phil Aiken Army) on keys. To ensure three-part harmonies and a three-female vocalist front line, she called on her sister, Beka D’Angora (of Salem), and Gloucester resident, Samantha Goddess (The Lindsey Buckingham Appreciation Society).
The band spent much of 2009 recording at Q Division Studios in Somerville, MA, and performing throughout New England. After the Spanish record label Lovemonk released a single (“Keeping Time” b/w “Shake Some Action”), the Deelinquents set out for a two week tour of Spain and sold out shows supporting Eli “Paperboy” Reed in Madrid, Barcelona, Castellon, Valencia, and finally at the Azkena Rock Festival in Vittoria-Gasteiz.
Their debut album “Keeping Time” (Q-Dee Records) was released in March of 2010, and shot to #5 on Amazon.com’s MP3 downloads chart, and the band’s cover of “Shake Some Action” by the Flamin’ Groovies was named by SPIN Magazine as one of the ’15 Songs You Must Hear Now’. Festival shows followed at Pop Montreal in Montreal, Canada, as well as five showcase shows at South-by-Southwest in Austin, Texas, and an April residency at PRECINCT in Union Square with a guest appearance by La La Brooks.
Despite having shows booked in New York, Montreal, and New Orleans in the next month, Jenny Dee will also be back in Gloucester at The Rhumb Line, and will be recording material for their next album at Bang-A-Song Studios in Gloucester.
Says Goddess, “Everyone in the band, whether they live here or not, has spent time on the North Shore and knows how much people up here on Cape Ann love music, and know how much work you can do if you work hard. Stepping up to the “3-set-make-em-dance” gigs in Gloucester at The Rhumb Line and Captain Carlos really made us realize what we are in this for: to make music fans dance and sing, just like J. Geils and Aerosmith and all the great bands did when they were working their way up . Having to focus and tighten our show up for a full 3-set night of entertainment has made us into the kind of band we want to be. I think playing The Rhumb Line for three hours a night is the best practice we could have had for thirty minutes at Fenway Park.”
Check them out right here on Cape Ann or at jennydeemusic.com before Peter Wolf scoops them up for a countrywide stadium tour!
Link to high-res band photo gallery (http://picasaweb.google.com/jennydeemusic/JennyDeeHighResPixByBethOram# – all photos by Beth Oram)
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