TWENTY QUESTIONS
RANDY HOLDEN is the legendary one-time guitar slinger for such Californian garage and psych luminaries as The Sons Of Adam,The Other Half and Blue Cheer. He then created the world’s first power duo album, Population II, with Chris Lockheed, formerly of Kak. Following various adverse incidents, Randy quit music for nigh on 25 years before returning with a new lease of life in the ’90s.
AUSTIN MATTHEWS turns the amps up to 12
Shindig!: Who was the biggest influence on your playing?
Randy Holden: Chuck Berry was probably one of the biggest influences. He was doing Beatle recording techniques before The Beatles recorded anything. You have to study what that guy did to really understand it. Berry was a completely different influence than say Dick Dale. I loved the sheer machismo energy Dale played with.
26 SD: At what age did you play your first gig?
RH: I think I was 14. I played solo electric guitar and amp at a high school dance. I was scared to death and shaking so bad I could hardly hold the neck, but I was determined to do it come what may. I think I did a couple of Link Wray and Johnny & The Hurricanes songs.
SD: How far do you think The Sons Of Adam could have gone?
RH: I think had we had a hit record we probably would have gone a lot further than we did. The band just tore up the stage. That was our strong asset. It was all else that lacked, but since that hit record never materialised, the band went as far as it could.
SD: How close did you come to joining The Yardbirds?
RH: As it was put to me, Jeff Beck just refused to go onstage at the last minute, and quit the band [at which point Randy was asked to play a gig in Santa Monica with The Yardbirds as lead guitarist]. I loved what the guy did, and I didn’t want to be a jackass to move in his gig when it was only minutes old that he’d supposedly up and quit. No one wanted to see The Yardbirds break up, so I said no. It was a breath away from being reality (the gig saw Jimmy Page “stand in” as lead guitarist). I must admit I had mixed feelings whether I should have done what I did. I think I would have really liked playing with that band.
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