The Animals’ John Steel tells their origin story
Newcastle, England, 1963. The Alan Price rhythm and Blues combo were a backing band with a regular club gig, supporting artists passing by. That same year, the band changed their name to The Animals and recorded some of the most well known songs in modern history.
“The name was a bit clunky to say the least”. The voice chuckling on the other line is that of Drummer and founding member John Steel, on the eve of The Animals’ 2022 Australian tour. “This tour has been postponed about three times due to that damn pandemic finally happening – it’s good to be back on the road again; it’s such a good feeling to be active again” says Steel, with a genuine humbleness from his home in the Northumberland countryside. “We’re especially looking forward to Australia because it’s been such a disappointment having to cancel.”
The Animals were a part of the British Invasion, a cultural phenomenon started in 1964 when The Beatles brought the British rock sound to America and blew the collective minds of the entire country before the effect rippled around the globe.
“We were all working class Geordies enjoying ourselves playing in a great club in Newcastle called the Club A’Gogo” says Steel. “When visiting Blues and rock people were coming up, we would play backing for them – people like John Lee Hooker and Sonny boy Williamson; That was a lot of fun . It was about 1963 when we first realised there was more going on – The Beatles had just kicked the door down all over the world, and suddenly everybody looked up and saw we’d all been doing the same sort of thing in Liverpool, Newcastle, Glasgow, and South London.”
“All of us had been inspired by the same kind of music, and all of us had been doing pretty much the same thing. it wasn’t until The Beatles kind of blew everything up that we thought Wow, let’s get into this.”
The Animals owe their sudden rush to the top of the charts to musician Graham Bond, who would eventually be referred to as the British Godfather of R&B. One night after sharing the stage with the Alan Price Rhythm and Blues Combo, Bond got talking to the club owner and turned him on to the potential of the group. “Graham said, I can introduce you to some people in London. We need to get these guys down there, that’s where the action is.”
“So Graham took Mike down to London and introduced him to Ronan O’Rahilly who had a great club, and later founded the first pirate radio station, Caroline. There was another guy called George Gomelsky, who was at that time managing The Yardbirds. So Mike came back, we met him at the club, and he said great we’ve got a good deal sorted out – George has got The Yardbirds and we’re going to do a swap; you’re going to go down there and do all their gigs, and they are going to come up here and do all your gigs For a couple of weeks.” That was the time that Gomelsky reached out and said “you’ve got to get something a little more snappy… How about, The Animals?”
“It sounded outrageous at the time!” laughs Steel. “That’s how we came to be called The Animals, and that’s how we moved from Newcastle to London. Fortunately for us, we just hit it off right from the very start and had a lot of success around the clubs.
It was during that band-swap period that the band were introduced to Don Arden “The English godfather of rock – Arden says We’ve got Chuck Berry coming over for his first ever tour of the UK, and I want you to be on the bill with them, playing support. We thought Wow, fantastic! So within what seemed like only weeks from being the house band in Newcastle, here we are in this agent’s office in Mayfair and he’s telling us we’re going to go on tour with one of our idols?! That was a three week tour, two shows a night, every gig sold out. It was bloody marvellous, really good fun.”
Steel continues “Right in the middle of that tour, there was this new song we developed from an old folk song, House of the rising sun (maybe you’ve heard of it?). We had developed that into an electronic version which was going down so well at the shows that in the middle of the tour we went into a studio in London and knocked it out in one single take – because we didn’t have any time to spare. One single take. In a mono studio. It was number one within weeks and number one worldwide in no time at all.”
“There’s been quite a few changes of the line up over the years, even since the pandemic got in the way. It’s only a four-piece band now, because our lead vocalist is also our lead guitarist. We’ve got an excellent bass player too – he has a South American background but he was born in New York City in the Bronx – he’s a hell of a good player, and I’m just doing my bit as I ever did, alongside Barnie Williams on keyboard, who really brought some fresh stuff to the band. We’re just having a good time, and really enjoying playing.
The Animals are about to kick off a huge farewell tour throughout Australia.
THE ANIMALS – The Farewell Tour: The Final Encore Dates
Friday 25th May – MELBOURNE, The Palms at Crown
Tuesday 28th May – ADELAIDE, The Gov
Wednesday 29th May – RENMARK, Chaffey Theatre
Friday 31st May – LAUNCESTON, Country Club Showroom
Saturday 1st June – HOBART, Theatre Royal
Sunday 2nd June – BURNIE, Burnie Arts Centre / Town Hall
Thursday 6th June – BRISBANE, Princess Theatre
Friday 7th June – TWEED HEADS, Twin Towns
Saturday 8th June – D’AGUILAR, Dag Pun and Motel
Sunday 9th June – CALOUNDRA, The Events Centre
Wednesday 12th June – SUTHERLAND, Pavilion Performing Arts Centre
Friday 14th June – CHATSWOOD, The Concourse
Saturday 15th June – THIRROUL, Anita’s Theatre
Sunday 16th June – SPRINGWOOD, Blue Mountains Theatre
Wednesday 19th June – WYONG, The Art House
Thursday 20th June – KINGSFORD, The Juniors
Saturday 22nd June – CAMPBELLTOWN, The Cube
Sunday 23rd June – PENRITH, The June
Tuesday 25th June – MANDURAH, Performing Arts Centre
Wednesday 26th June – PERTH, Astor Theatre
Friday 28th June – WARRAGUL, West Gippsland Arts Centre
Saturday 29th June – BENDIGO, Ulumbarra Theatre
Sunday 30th June – FRANKSTON, Frankston Arts Centre
Tuesday 2nd July – MELBOURNE, The Palms at Crown
Wednesday 3rd July – NARRE WARREN, Bunjil Place
Friday 5th July – WARRNAMBOOL, Lighthouse Theatre
Saturday 6th July – BALLARAT, Wendouree Centre For Performing Arts
Sunday 7th July – GEELONG, Geelong Story House
Tuesday 9th July – ADELAIDE, The Gov