Sir Lord Baltimore vocalist: I like the way Joe Bonamassa plays guitar

Yet another Joe endorsement from a legendary musician. This time being Sir Lord Baltimore vocalist John Garner.
In case you aren't aware of who Sir Lord Baltimore is, here's a short bio :

Formed in 1968, Sir Lord Baltimore stormed out of Brooklyn, New York with their debut release 'Kingdom Come' in 1970. SLB were a band ahead of their time. Playing a frenzied brand of heavy rock which was in stark contrast to the sounds which were extremely popular during the early 70's, the band put out two of the most molten slabs of heavy rock in '70's 'Kingdom Come' and '71's  self titled follow up. Featuring the incredible vocals of John Garner (also sitting behind the kit, becoming one of rock's first singing drummers ), this is a man who could literally sing the phonebook and make it sound suitably heavy. Rounding things out was guitarist Louis Dambra( later joined by brother Joey on guitar for the 2nd album) and Jack Bruce influenced bassist Gary Justin, this was one of the best bands too many have never heard.

Discovered by manager Dee Anthony, who also helped launch the careers of Humble Pie, Free and Joe Cocker, a debut album mixed by Hendrix's right hand man Eddie Kramer, featuring the involvement of future Bruce Springsteen manager Mike Appel, who co-wrote and helped arrange all of the songs on their first LP, this is a band who deserved to be HUGE. So, why weren't they? Garner has blamed drugs, relatively low record sales and being ripped off monetarily as the factors in their eventual breakup, but it may be also that they were just ahead of their time. 

Listen to "Lady Of Fire," from 'Kingdom Come' and you can hear where Deep Purple's Ritchie Blackmore snagged the riff to "Woman From Tokyo". The band was reportedly a huge influence on the fledgling KISS, namely Stanley and Simmons, who would regularly show up at their shows on Long Island. Add to the legend the fact that in a now legendary review of the first album in Creem Magazine, the first reference to "heavy metal" was used, all adding up to a story of a trio who while never getting their due in a commercial sense, one whose influence has spread throughout the years to mythic proportions.

Also, more recently Garner spent 6 years as the vocalist for New York based The Lizards, who also included former Rainbow/B.O.C. drummer Bobby Rondinelli, until recently being replaced by ex Riot vocalist Mike DiMeo.

Anyway..what does this have to do with Joe you might ask? Well, I recently conducted an exclusive interview with John Garner, during which I asked him :

RNRU : Are there any bands or artists of the present day whom particularly impress you?

JG : I have a hard time remembering all of their names, but there's a few songs by these alternative rock bands that are pretty cool. Green Day maybe? I like to listen to a few things that U2 have done, they're very good. Most of these bands are so scattered, and they only have one or two good songs. That's the problem. Most of the bands only have one or two good songs per album. They're spread wide. I like the way this guy Joe Bonamassa plays guitar, John Mayer too. There's some pretty cool dudes playing some good Stratocaster guitar blues stuff. Joe's really good. I like watching him. I'd like to see him get a bit more original, but he's great.

In case you're inclined to read the entire interview one can access it at this location :

http://www.rocknrolluniverse.com/rocknr … se_481.htm