The Yardbirds

The Yardbirds is a rock and rhythm & British blues formed in 1963, particularly active during the 1960s, being one of the bands of the so-called British Invasion. The band broke up in 1968, although they returned to activity in the 1990s.

Their style was focused on a kind of English version of what traditional American blues musicians were doing, and in the same way they came to work in collaboration with prominent bluesmen such as Sonny Boy Williamson II. Apart from the influence it had at the time, which was moderate, the reasons why this group is best remembered is because three of the most important guitarists in rock history came from its ranks: Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page.

The group was ranked 89th on Rolling Stone magazine's 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.

History

The group formed on the outskirts of south-west London, as an offshoot of the Metropolitan Blues Quartet, a group that Keith Relf (vocals) and Paul Samwell-Smith (bass) had originally formed. After being joined by Chris Dreja (guitar), McCarty (drums) and "Top" Topham (guitar), at the end of May 1963, it was decided to change the name to Blue-Sounds, and after a couple of concerts in September 1963, they decided on the final name: Yardbirds, which was at the same time an expression for bums hanging around railroad yards waiting for a train, and also a reference to jazz saxophonist Charlie "Yardbird" Parker.

First working as a backing band for Cyril Davies at the Kingston School of Art, in late May 1963, they achieved some notoriety on the growing English R&B scene in September 1963, then opened for The Rolling Stones at the Crawdaddy Club in Richmond. In their early days the Yardbirds played music by Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, Bo Diddley, Sonny Boy Williamson II and Elmore James, including "Smokestack Lightning", "Good Morning Little School Girl", "Boom Boom, Boom Boom& #34;, "I Wish You Would", "Rollin' and Tumblin'" or "I'm a Man".

Original guitarist Anthony "Top" Topham decided to leave and was replaced by Eric Clapton in October 1963. Businessman Giorgio Gomelsky became the band's manager and its first producer. Under the direction of Gomelsky, the Yardbirds signed with the Columbia-EMI label in February 1964. Their first album was the "Five Live Yardbirds", a live recording recorded at the legendary Marquee Club in London. The aforementioned blues legend Sonny Boy Williamson II invited the group to tour Britain and Germany, a union that subsequently spawned a new live album.

Clapton for his part also left the group to join John Mayall's Bluesbreakers band, being replaced by a young and still unknown Jeff Beck in 1965; With Beck they would record between 1965 and 1966 the LPs Having a Rave Up and Yardbirds, known as Roger the Engineer, or Over Under Sideways Down in the United States. Bassist Samwell-Smith retires from the band, and is provisionally replaced by Jimmy Page, a renowned session player at the time, for which Page and Beck lived together in the ranks of the Yardbirds for a brief period, that one on bass and this one on lead guitar: both can be seen together in the band's fleeting appearance on the tape "Blow-Up" by Michelangelo Antonioni (1966), interpreting the theme "Stroll On". However, Beck also moved away from the group in 1966, to continue his personal projects, with Jimmy Page on lead guitar, and The Yardbirds forming a quartet, with rhythm guitarist Chris Dreja on bass. With that formation (Page-Dreja-Relf-McCarty) they would record the album Little Games (1967), a psychedelic rock and R&B record that would mark the dissolution of the group.

When The Yardbirds dissolved, around 1968, Jimmy Page decided to gather a new band around him that would initially be baptized as "The New Yardbirds"; shortly after this new band would become Led Zeppelin. On the other hand, Keith Relf, the singer of the Yardbirds, would form the folk rock and progressive rock group called Renaissance, shortly after he formed Armageddon and Illusion, the latter with his sister Jane Relf. Keith Relf died in 1976.

After almost 25 years, in 1992, Chris Dreja and Jim McCarty reactivated the group, recruiting John Idan on bass and lead vocals, and lead guitarist Gypie Mayo; As a result of this union, the group's first studio album in 36 years appears in 2003: Birdland, in which they remake old hits along with new songs, the album was dedicated to their old companions from the 60s., and to the memory of Keith Relf. In 2013 Chris Dreja had to leave the group for health reasons, being replaced by Anthony "Top" Topham, guitarist from the band's early days.

Discography

Albums

• Five Live Yardbirds (live December 1964)
• For Your Love (July 1965)
• Having Rave Up (November 1965)
• Sonny Boy Williamson and The Yardbirds (live January 1966)
• Yardbirds (album) (also known as "Over under Sideways Down" and "Roger the Engineer") July 1966)
• Little Games (July 1967)
• Live Yardbirds: Featuring Jimmy Page (live May 1971)
• Birdland (April 2003)

Simple

• "I Wish You Would / A Certain Girl". Columbia DB7283 (May 1964)
• "Good Morning Little Schoolgirl / I Ain't Got You". Columbia DB7391 (October 1964) - UK #44
• "For Your Love / Got to Hurry". Columbia DB7499 (March 1965) - POP #6; UK #3
• "Heart Full of Soul / Steeled Blues". Columbia DB7594 (June 1965) - POP #9; UK #2
• "Five Yardbirds E.P."[My Girl Sloopy / I'm Not Talking / I Ain't Done Wrong]. Columbia SEG 8421 (August 1965) - UK #5
• "Evil Hearted You / Still I'm Sad". Columbia DB7706 (September 1965) - UK #3
• "I'm a Man / Still I'm Sad". Epic 9857 (October 1965) - POP #17
• "Questa Volta / Paff...Bumm". R International SI R20-010/Only in Italy (November 1965)
• "Shapes of Things / You're a Better Man Than I". Columbia DB7848 (February 1966) - UK #3
• "Shapes of Things / New York City Blues". Epic 10006 (March 1966) - POP #11
• "Over Under Sideways Down / Jeff's Boogie". Columbia DB7928 (May 1966) - POP #13; UK #10
• "Happenings Ten Years Time Ago / Psycho Daisies". Columbia DB8024 (October 1966) - UK #43
• "Happenings Ten Years Time Ago / The Nazz Are Blue". Epic 10094 (November 1966) - POP #30
• "Yardbirds E.P." [Over Under Sideways Down / I Can't Make Your Way / He's Always There / What Do You want]. Columbia SEG 8521 (January 1967)
• "Little Games / Puzzles". Columbia DB8165 (April 1967) - POP #51
• "Ha Ha Said the Clown / Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Sailor". Epic 10204 (July 1967) - POP #45
• "Ten Little Indians / Drinking Muddy Water". Epic 10248 (October 1967) - POP #96
• "Goodnight Sweet Josephine / Think About It". Epic 10303 (March 1968) - POP #127

Members

Current members

• Jim McCarty - Battery (1963-1968, 1992-present)
• John Idan - vocal (1992-2009, 2015-present), guitar leader (1992-1994), bass (1994-2009), rhythm guitar (2015-presente)
• Kenny Aaronson - low (2015, 2016-present)
• Myke Scavone - harmonic, percussion (2015-present)
• Godfrey Townsend - guitar leader (2018-presente)

Former members

• Keith Relf (deceased in 1976) - voice, harmonic (1963-1968), rhythm guitar (1966-1968)
• Chris Dreja - rhythmic guitar (1963-1966, 1992-2013), bass (1966-1968)
• Paul Samwell-Smith - bass (1963-1966)
• Anthony «Top» Topham - guitar leader (1963), rhythm guitar (2013-2015)
• Eric Clapton - Leading Guitar (1963-1965)
• Jeff Beck (fallen in 2023) - leading guitar (1965-1966), rhythm guitar (1966)
• Jimmy Page - bass (1966), guitar leader (1966-1968)
• Rod Demick - bass, harmonic (1992-1994)
• Ray Majors (fallen in 2022) - guitar leader (1994-1995)
• Gypie Mayo (fallen in 2013) - guitar leader (1995-2005)
• Alan Glen - harmonic, percussion (1996-2003, 2008-2009)
• Billy Boy Miskimmin - harmonic, percussion (2003-2008)
• Andy Mitchell - voice, harmonic (2009-2015)
• Laurie Garman - harmonic (1994-1996)
• Ben King - guitar leader (2005-2015)
• David Smale - bass (2009-2015, 2015-2016)
• Johnny A. - Leading guitar (2015-2018)

Timeline