| BIOGRAPHY
The Georgia
Satellites were one of the most ferocious bands of the 80’s and
what set them apart from the other 10,000 groups who cranked their amps
up to 11 was that their wild riffs and tanked cries came from a band
that, from the start, understood it’s place in rock tradition
and fought hard to solidify it with each recording.
The story starts in the early 80’s at Hedgen’s, a "country
club for the spiritually impoverished and emotionally destitute"
, as chief songwriter Baird would later identify it. Bassist Keith Christopher,
Drummer Mauro Magellan and Guitarists Rick Richards and Dan Baird were
playing on the Atlanta circuit in various bar bands such as the Hellhounds,
the Brains and the Woodpeckers. These bands would gradually morph into
the original Georgia Satellites.
#1 fan and road manager Kevin Jennings, sold an EP of early Satellites
recordings to an independent UK record label, Making Waves and the EP,
Keep The Faith, provoked an extraordinary reaction from the UK music
press, which, in turn, woke up the previously indifferent stateside
music industry. The stand-out track on the EP and most peoples introduction
to the band was Keep Your Hands To Yourself which was swiftly culled
from the bands eponymous debut major label release on Elektra and became
a runaway grammy nominated hit, both LP and single only being kept off
the respective #1 slot’s by Bon Jovi’s Slippery When Wet
and Living On A Prayer. A second hit single, Battleship Chains, solidified
the LP’s platinum success.
Where the Satellites really earned their reputation though, was with
their live shows. All those years of three sets a night, paid dividends
as their live performances laid waste to audiences across the States
and in particular Europe, which took the band to it’s collective
heart, a love affair that continues to this day.
Two more Elektra LP’s, Open All Night and the remarkable Salvation
And Sin, plus a track, Hippy Hippy Shake, on the Tom Cruise movie soundtrack,
Cocktail, followed, but by the early 90’s, all those years of
incessant touring had taken their toll and the band split.
Dan Baird forged a successful solo career with Rick Rubin’s Def
American, scoring major hits with the album Love Songs For The Hearing
Impaired and single I Love You Period. A second LP, the critically acclaimed
Buffalo Nickel, followed and Dan also developed a career as a highly
sought after producer.
Post Satellites Mauro played on both of Dan’s Def American albums
before taking time out to raise a family and concentrate on his other
interests. Keith had also returned to the fold for the Def American
recordings and like Mauro played on both ‘Love Songs For The Hearing
Impaired’ and ‘Buffalo Nickel’. After recording ‘Buffalo
Nickel’, Keith went on to join Kenny Wayne Sheppard’s band
and play on a multitude of sessions, including Ayo's 2006 double platinum
debut Joyful.
In 2001 Dan returned to live performance, with the Sofa Kings, a band
that featured hot shot guitarist Ken McMahan. The shows producing the
live album, Redneck Savant. Dan also found time to record and tour as
part of the alt “supergroup”, The Yayhoos who also featured
Keith Christopher and long time Dan sparring partner Terry Anderson.
The Yayhoos line up is completed by Eric "Roscoe" Ambel. The
foursome have released two albums to date, Fear Not The Obvious in 2002,
following it in 2007 with Put The Hammer Down.
2003 saw the release of a compilation of Dan and Georgia Satellites
unreleased gems - Out Of Mothballs - and Mauro put out an album with
his other band The Crashers - Love School. Dan, Keith, Mauro and Ken
hit the road for the first of a sucession of tours which were documented
on the 2005 double live set - Feels So Good.
In 2007 the band decided to take some time off to concentrate on writing
and to recharge their batteries. During this period, Ken had his first
child and decided to spend some time at home. His legacy and importance
to the band are stamped all over the live cd and dvd set - Fresh Out
Of Georgia - which will stand as a worthy testament to his time with
the band.
His replacement is none other than Warner E. Hodges, also guitarist
extrodinaire with Nashville legends, Jason And The Scorchers. Warner
is probably the only guitarist capable of matching Dan's intensity chord
for chord and proved to be the missing piece in the Homemade Sin jigsaw.
Long term friends, Dan had co-produced Warner's 2007 debut solo album
- Centerline.
February 2008, Dan, Warner, Mauro and Keith embarked upon the recording
of Homemade Sin’s debut studio album. Recorded in Nashville the
fourteen tracks on ‘Dan Baird & Homemade Sin’ represent
the first new Dan Baird studio album since ‘Buffalo Nickel’.
The album was released in Europe in May 2008 to rave reviews and was
playlisted by BBC Radio 2's Bob Harris, an American release scheduled
for 2009. Live audiences got to hear the new songs for the first time
when Homemade Sin, joined the Quireboys on a highly successful package
tour of the U.K. and Scandinavia. The band were back in Scandinavia
once again in October with one veteran (and by all accounts highly jaded)
music journalist giving the band a SIX out of FIVE star review and proclaiming
the show to be the best gig he’d seen in over twenty years!
Can you give me an amen?
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