Johnny O'Neil announces his new live album “Live at Le Musique Room”, out now on Bearded Maggie Records. The live album features a live performance of a brand new song “Lover” that will be released on his upcoming new studio album.
JOHNNY O’NEIL “Lover” Official Music Video from the Album “Johnny O’Neil Live at Le Musique Room”: https://youtu.be/9NtXsFZSHVg
You can stream and purchase “Live at Le Musique Room” at: https://linktr.ee/johnnyoneil
Talking about the new live album, Johnny O’Neil said, “Our new live album was recorded in a very intimate theater setting at Le Musique Room, opening for our good friends, Bobby Jensen and the Dead Cowboys. The album represents a true inflection point for our band. After our former guitarist, John Funk, informed us last spring that, “I just have no passion to play hard rock anymore,” we had to decide whether to replace him with another second guitarist. We very briefly considered holding auditions, but rather than going through the agony (and time!) of that process, we elected to forge ahead as a three-piece, and have never looked back or regretted our decision.
The album features songs from our first two studio albums, as well as a brand new track, “Lover,” a tune I wrote about a fellow who has watched a woman being mistreated by someone from afar, and tells her to “leave him – c’mon with me”! “Lover” is the first single from our upcoming third studio album, which again will be co-produced, recorded, and mixed by Johnny’s “Blood Brother,” the incomparable Brian Bart. We cannot wait for our fans to hear us get back to our hard rock roots - this time as a three-piece!”
Band Members:
Johnny O’Neil: Lead Vocals, All Guitars
Benny Craig: Bass Guitar and Background Vocals
Joachim Baecker: Drums and Background Vocals
JOHNNY O'NEIL:
O’Neil has been in practice as a Ph.D.-level clinical psychologist for over two decades, quite a feat considering he dropped out of high school at 16 to focus on his burgeoning music career. After more than a decade of achieving many of his musical dreams, including the ‘80s with Dare Force, O’Neil decided to go back to school at the age of 28 to get his GED. He went on to earn his Bachelor’s degree from the University of Minnesota, followed by a Master’s degree and eventually a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from The Ohio State University.
Now a solopreneur in private practice as a forensic psychologist, O’Neil conducts Independent Psychological Evaluations (IPEs) of claimants involved in workers' comp and personal injury cases, and provides courtroom testimony as an expert witness – a fascinating occupation to be sure. In fact, he found himself interviewing dozens of Minneapolis police officers who filed disability claims due to PTSD in the wake of the murder of George Floyd in 2020.
Not surprisingly, for O’Neil, playing music is an invaluable form of therapy and expressing his emotions. “I don’t have a choice, I have to play music,” he says. “It’s how I’m wired and how I preserve my sanity. It’s therapy for me. I’ll be performing until my last gasp.”
O’Neil fell in love with music at the age of five, begging his parents to buy him a guitar after seeing The Beatles perform on The Ed Sullivan Show, which they finally did when he turned eight years old. The stars aligned when his future Dare Force bandmate, Brian Bart, moved in across the street when he was nine. “We had a tussle over something silly in the front yard, then my mom invited us in for a piece of cake; we’ve been thick as thieves ever since,” O’Neil says.
O’Neil and Bart immediately bonded over their mutual love of music (including The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Johnny Winter, Steppenwolf, and Creedence Clearwater Revival), and quickly formed a band together. One of their first gigs was at Sunny Hollow Elementary School in 6th grade, where Bob Dylan’s younger brother, David Zimmerman, was their music teacher and introduced their band to an audience of 500-some fellow classmates.
Infusing his songwriting with his personal values of tolerance, compassion and empathy throughout his career, O’Neil believes that an important part of an artist’s job is to not only reflect what’s going on in the world, but also to comment on it and influence it. To this end, O’Neil’s driving rock tunes go beyond being simply upbeat, feel-good rock ‘n roll, to songs that really have something to say to the world.
