Female rock band Fanny returns (sort of) with new album as Fanny Walked the Earth (03/2018)

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by pghmusiclover, Jan 4, 2018.

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  1. pghmusiclover

    pghmusiclover Senior Member Thread Starter

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    It's Jean and June Millington from the original band, with Brie Darling from the second version with the hit single.

    Brie Darling remembers vividly the first time she met June and Jean Millington. It was 1966, and Darling had traveled from California to Nevada to audition for the Millington’s high school band, the Svelts, as their newest hot drummer during a performance at The Lemon Tree in the town of Sparks. Just 16 years old, Darling approached the sisters – whose music she already knew well – in the parking lot.

    “I still see that picture,” says Darling now. “They were just like goddesses to me. They looked bigger than life. And we just immediately bonded.”

    What eventually followed was the groundbreaking formation of Fanny, the California-based band that would pave the way for women musicians for decades to come. After formally coming together to form the group and relocating to Los Angeles, Fanny landed a deal in 1969 with Reprise Records, becoming the first-ever all-female rock band to sign a record deal for a full-length album. Now, nearly 50 years since that parking lot meeting, Fanny has reunited as Fanny Walked the Earth — a name that reflects all that they’ve accomplished in their lives; all they’ve seen, done and lived through — for their first album in decades.

    “There is something about us playing together,” says June. “It’s incredibly special; it’s beyond words.”

    Drawing influence from Motown bands to the Beach Boys to Jimi Hendrix, Fanny released their first five albums between 1970 and 1974 with various iterations of members. Working with producers including Richard Perry, Todd Rundgren and Vini Poncia, their sound was a mix of full-throttle, rockin’-funk vocals; unapologetically heavy rock guitars; and hard, punchy beats.

    “We were exploding with our own creativity and musicality,” says June. “We were in sync.”

    The band was also shattering expectations. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, to say that rock was male-dominated would be a gross understatement; rock was almost completely male. But the girls of Fanny never backed down from the challenge. “I just wanted to have fun, and I wanted to show off, and I wanted to do what I loved doing,” says Darling. “If anyone was ever a little snide, I thought, ‘You just wait.’”

    Adds Jean, “We were just involved with our band and our mission. We weren’t focused on being women trying to make it in a man’s world; we were focused on the challenge of it and having a lot of fun.”

    In 1975, the band had a breakout hit with “Butter Boy,” which hit number 29 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song, written by Jean, was about her then-lover, David Bowie. “It was tongue-in-cheek,” she says. “He was the inspiration.”

    Over the years, Fanny became major influences for bands like The Runaways, The Bangles and the Go-Go’s, and have been recognized as the trailblazers for decades since. NPR described the band as “the most masterful all-female band of the classic rock era,” and Pitchfork recently labeled June a “rock n’ roll pioneer.”

    “The women in Fanny are like queens to me,” says Cherie Currie of The Runaways. “They started all of it. They cracked that door and made it possible for us to believe that we could do it too.”

    Fanny broke up soon after “Butter Boy” hit the charts, but stayed in touch as they went their separate ways, always keeping their music and their experiences close to their hearts. And so, when Laudable Productions and the Massachusetts-based Northampton Arts Council decided to host a tribute to June in February of 2016, Jean and Brie didn’t hesitate to participate. From the moment they played together at their first rehearsal, it was as if no time had gone by at all.

    “It came right back,” says June. “The minute we hit the stage, it was right back to that thing that was fresh and exciting and an adventure.”

    It didn’t take long before they decided to get back together in the studio, too. Their new self-titled album is an 11-track, all-original LP that’s shot through with the same raucous courage and fearlessness as their original works. “Lured Away” tells the story of rock n’ roll lives that are still going strong – “I’m coming to, time to fully wake up / I gotta burn, don’t wanna give it up” – while “Storm Crossed” is an homage to Jimi Hendrix. "When You Need Her” features appearances by rock legends Currie, Kathy Valentine of The Go-Go’s, and Susanna Hoffs, Vicki Peterson and Debbi Peterson of The Bangles.

    “I feel like Fanny Walked the Earth has an encoding of what we’ve experienced over the years,” says June. “This is an important stand we’re taking. Who gets to be 69 and still playing? Back then, it was just proving that girls can play like guys. Now, it’s like, ‘Ha!’ Women can break another glass ceiling.”



    Fanny Walkd the Earth is set for release on Blue Élan Records in early 2018.
     
  2. Derek Slazenger

    Derek Slazenger Specs, rugs & rock n roll

    I love Fanny but whenever I tell an American that they look at me weird. As if they hold them in disdain.
     
  3. silverhead

    silverhead Give them an inch and they will take a mile

    Location:
    Edinburgh Scotland
    Sorry to be childish here but,what a title!.:agree:
     
    Michaelpeth likes this.
  4. pghmusiclover

    pghmusiclover Senior Member Thread Starter

    More than likely they don't even remember them!
     
  5. Michaelpeth

    Michaelpeth Forum Resident

    Location:
    Durham, UK
    Absolutely. Sounds like one of those Two Ronnies sketches from back in the 70s
     
    All Down The Line and The Killer like this.
  6. Man at C&A

    Man at C&A Senior Member

    Location:
    England
    They should call the album Take A Load of Fanny.
     
  7. Halfwit

    Halfwit Forum Resident

    Location:
    Dublin
    Suddenly I am reminded of this:

     
    hamicle likes this.
  8. TwentySmallCigars

    TwentySmallCigars Forum Resident

    An excellent and unfairly forgotten band. I have all of their albums and will buy this one.

    Pretty sad that after the announcement of this amazing news, nearly all the following posts are in the vein of 'You said Fanny. A-hyuk-hyuk'.
     
    EwaWoowa, Lownotes, MoonPool and 5 others like this.
  9. pghmusiclover

    pghmusiclover Senior Member Thread Starter

    I agree -- it's been very depressing to check in here and see the Beavis-and-Butthead comments...

    I'm glad there's another fan excited about this news! Actually there's a short clip on Facebook where you can hear a little snippet and it sounds good (and original 4-piece drummer Alice De Buhr is there too)!

     
  10. Very Cool they're Back!

    Whatever happened to Nickey Barclay?

    Mother's Pride is their masterpiece...love it!
     
    Greenalishi likes this.
  11. Derek Slazenger

    Derek Slazenger Specs, rugs & rock n roll

    I think it's just a bit of harmless fun :) It's good news! Certainly not to be sniffed at.
     
  12. Black Thumb

    Black Thumb Yah Mo B There

    Location:
    Reno, NV
    Wow! I never knew that tidbit of local lore (I'm in Reno, right next door to Sparks). I'll have to ask my vintage friends if they remember The Lemon Tree.

    I've never really given Fanny their due, something I feel I should rectify being a Bowie fanatic.
     
  13. pghmusiclover

    pghmusiclover Senior Member Thread Starter

    I don't mind people having fun with it -- if there's also something in addition to that (which there wasn't in a few of the cases)...
     
  14. pghmusiclover

    pghmusiclover Senior Member Thread Starter

    She's retired. There's a note from her on the official Fanny website:

    Nickey
     
  15. pghmusiclover

    pghmusiclover Senior Member Thread Starter

    Hep Alien and bluemooze like this.
  16. LandHorses

    LandHorses I contain multitudes

    Location:
    New Joisey
    Great news.......looking forward to this album. I hope they might consider some concerts too.
     
    pghmusiclover likes this.
  17. Greenalishi

    Greenalishi Birds Aren’t Real

    Location:
    San Francisco
    Cool band. Love that photo of them. Special Care had a video i saw years ago and thought who is that. Cool band. Wonder what the record will sound like. I remember hearing that George Harrison suggested the name and they didn't know the meaning of Fanny in the UK and were kind of pissed about it. Kind of like in my city there is an area called Nob Hill and all the kids from the UK snicker when you mention Nob.
     
    ~dave~~wave~ likes this.
  18. Humbuster

    Humbuster Staff Emeritus

    thanks for posting the website. never knew it existed. i have some cds to purchase.
     
    Hep Alien and pghmusiclover like this.
  19. That's right..I had read that before..

    I hope she's doing OK, she was/is my favorite Fanny...oh dear..walked right into that one
     
  20. Trevor_Bartram

    Trevor_Bartram Senior Member

    Location:
    Boylston, MA, USA
    Good to hear, they'll probably give Haim a run for the money, nothing wrong with a bit of competition.

    I play Fanny Hill (my favorite) regularly, I prefer the Rhino MP3 to the recent CD remaster, anyone else have a problem with the remaster?
     
  21. RickH

    RickH Connoisseur of deep album cuts

    Location:
    Raleigh, NC
    I’ve got an old cassette I recorded off the air in 1975 of a local FM station and one of the songs on that tape is “Butter Boy”. Looking forward to hearing their new material!
     
  22. There have been several threads over the years about the band 'Fanny'

    Fanny

    This one, started by our host:

    Any Fanny Freaks here?

    This is something I posted in a thread about bands with names which possibly held them back from success:

    And yet they were probably more popular in the UK from '71 to '74 than anywhere else.

    I had the inestimable pleasure of working with these young ladies for a day, doing a temporary roadie gig at the Colston Hall in Bristol, when they were a support act for Jethro Tull, sometime in late '74

    For the very brief time we were working with them, they were hugely charming, very witty, down-to-earth and friendly people with none of the adopted/developed arrogance of many of the so-called stars we sometimes worked with

    It's amazing how small things make such an impression but they were one of the very few acts who acknowledged what we did and said thank you. They didn't make a big deal out of it, it was obvious that this was just how they were - decent people.

    Best Wishes,
    David


    I wish them well with the album release, which I shall buy.

    Best Wishes,
    David
     
  23. pghmusiclover

    pghmusiclover Senior Member Thread Starter

    [​IMG]

    Track Listing

    1. Lured Away
    2. When We Need Her
    3. Walk The Earth
    4. Girls On The Road
    5. One
    6. It Happened Here
    7. Not My Monkey
    8. Cool Girl
    9. What Are You Waiting For
    10. Storm-Crossed
    11. Love Farmers
    12. Halycon Days

    The album is now available for pre-order:

    Fanny Walked The Earth Archives - Blue Élan
     
    Hep Alien and adriatikfan like this.
  24. pghmusiclover

    pghmusiclover Senior Member Thread Starter

  25. Wombat Reynolds

    Wombat Reynolds Jimmy Page stole all my best riffs.

    Location:
    Atlanta, GA, USA
    They were pretty good back in the day, yeah, June Millington is certainly a pioneer.

    Heart came along and rocked a LOT harder, and were more rock-FM-radio friendly, but they werent all female either.

    I like some of Fanny's stuff. Comes up on shuffle play every so often. Very good vocal harmonies.
     
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