Post by classic rock revival on Jun 19, 2011 7:42:44 GMT -6
CLASSIC ROCK REVIVAL INTERVIEW
LARRY RHINO REINHARDT
This is an interview I did with Larry Reinhardt in 2011.
Jim: 'Back In The Day,' is the perfect title for your new CD, It sounds exactly like a great rock album from the 70's. Is that what you set out to do?
Larry: Yes, It was a song that set the mode for the album. It was not supposed to be a 71's style, but a lot of people seem to take it that way. The album was just good rock n Roll, and a 2011 look at what it is like.
Jim: Your current band, Rhino & The Posse, is for the most part Dickey Betts' Great Southern band members. That's really cool, how'd you swing that?
Larry: The band only has three members of Great Southern in it, the whole band has eight, and with Don Bonzi, who worked on 'Last Dance,' rounds out the project. Dickey went into retirement and I asked the guys if they would do the album with me.
Jim: Of the 8 songs on this CD there isn't one clunker, every song is really good. This is a very, very good CD. I'd like to ask you about some of the songs, what inspired you, how they came about. We'll start with the title track, 'Back In The Day.'
Larry: Back in the Day is self explained, as a look at Back in the Day.
Jim: 'Rock n Roll State Of Mind,' is a killer tune. Tell us about it.
Larry: Just a good old rock n roller and with that state of mind pushing you on and on.
Jim: How about 'Testify'?
Larry: Testify was a redo from the 'Last Dance,' album, but with Frankie singing it really pushed it over the top, and a slightly religious view of whats wrong with it.
Jim: 'Shakedown,' is another powerhouse tune, tell us about it.
Larry: This is a song about a man who was set up by a woman and now he is doing time on death row.
Jim: I hear some Lynyrd Skynyrd and quite a bit of Allman Brothers influence on this new CD. In fact, your lead vocalist/keyboardist, Mike Kach sounds a lot like Gregg Allman. Tell us about Mike.
Larry: Mike is one of the best, he doesn't try to sound like Gregg, it's just the way he does his thing.
Jim: You're the owner of your record label, RLD Records. What made you decide to form your own label instead of signing with another?
Larry: I did that as a way to hold on to all of my royalties, so at a later date if I was approached I would hold all the cards.
Jim: In the late 60's you had a band with Dickey Betts and Berry Oakley called, the Second Coming, that band later evolved into the Allman Brothers. Can you tell us a bit about that period of your career? How successful was the Second Coming?
Larry: We were called the Blues Messengers until a promoter from Jacksonville saw us and said, I love you guys but I want to change your name to The Second Coming, so we did and went up there from Tampa and became a big hit in the town. But we got shut down for creating the kids with some good rock n roll, so I left and came home to Bradenton. I then formed The Load, a power trio, then moved to Macon with the Allman Brothers and formed a blues band until I was called to Los Angeles to join Iron Butterfly.
Jim: In 1969 Iron Butterfly replaced their guitarist Erik Braun with 2 new guitarists, you and Mike Pinera. How did this come about?
Larry: I flew out from Macon and played with them, and was hired. Mike came and heard what we were doing and sat in and we played our double guitars and the Butterfly loved it. They decided they wanted us both and the magic was there.
Jim: You and Pinera also got top billing on the 'Metamorphosis,' album, as it was titled, 'Iron Butterfly (With Pinera & Rhino), Metamorphosis.' It sounded as though the Butterfly was heavily promoting you & Pinera, is that correct?
Larry: Not really, that was a management thing to make us a group within a group to protect us from unwanted people that were trying to interfere with the project.
Jim: 'Metamorphosis,' was a very good album that made Billboard's top 20. What's your opinion of this album?
Larry: I thought it was a break through album. It took some time to catch on, but when it did around the time we went to Europe we were red hot. But then Doug Ingle left the band and all we did was lost.
Jim: After Iron Butterfly broke up you and Butterfly bass guitarist, Lee Dorman recruited Johnny Winter's drummer, Bobby Caldwell, along with original Deep Purple vocalist, Rod Evans and formed the band, Captain Beyond. Captain Beyond's self titled debut album sold very well, achieving gold status, but you guys never received a gold record award for it, is that right?
Larry: Yes it is. We found out in the lawsuit we had against Capricorn Records that Phil Walden was not reporting the true sales figures as he did with the Allman Brothers. We did collect some of the funds due but too late to get our gold record that surpassed that in the next few years.
Jim: How well did Captain Beyond's second album, 'Sufficiently Breathless,' do? Has it reached gold or platinum status to date?
Larry: Oh yes, but that was still part of Capricorn and the same old shit. Those two albums, over the years probably did but there was no way to confirm it.
Jim: Larry, thank you for doing this interview with Classic Rock Revival.
Larry: And thank you.
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