Roy Loney

Bay Area native Roy Loney, a founding member of the great <a href="spotify:artist:3yesh1QeNXucaDFw8ZPKxd">Flamin' Groovies</a>, quit the band in the early '70s, ostensibly to pursue a solo career. Oddly, his first solo recording didn't appear until 1979, nearly seven years after leaving <a href="spotify:artist:3yesh1QeNXucaDFw8ZPKxd">the Groovies</a>. In the interim, Loney had taken a series of record industry jobs, at one point working as a sales rep for the now defunct <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22ABC+Records%22">ABC Records</a>, and at the funky and fabulous Jack's Record Cellar in San Francisco. Despite the delay, Loney's return to rock & roll performance was auspicious; there was a tremendous EP, A Hundred Miles an Hour, dedicated to <a href="spotify:artist:1ddLhMfG9EBRKPEov0FTR0">Sissy Spacek</a>, which was followed by the wild and woolly full-length LP Out After Dark.

Eschewing the <a href="spotify:artist:1PCZpxHJz7WAMF8EEq8bfc">Byrds</a>-ian pop direction that former partner Cyril Jordan had now taken <a href="spotify:artist:3yesh1QeNXucaDFw8ZPKxd">the Groovies</a>, Loney's records were wild-eyed, rockabilly-fueled chunks of joyous noise, with much shaking, rattling, and rolling provided by the great guitar playing of ex-<a href="spotify:artist:3yesh1QeNXucaDFw8ZPKxd">Groovies</a> James Ferrell and drummer Danny Mihm. Now fully integrated into the late-'70s/early-'80s rock scene, Loney, retaining his deservedly hip credentials, released a string of fine records from 1979-1983 on mostly small indie labels, eventually dropping out of sight in 1984. Actually, he just withdrew from the rock scene for a while and continued to play in the Bay Area and work at Jack's.

In the late '80s, recording for roots rock label <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Norton%22">Norton</a>, Loney unleashed The Scientific Bombs Away, which was a terrific, if almost totally ignored record. Loaded with raving guitars, hiccuping vocals, and his thoroughly original sense of humor, Loney had made a triumphant return to rock. Too bad no one seemed to care. Later, Loney recorded a great cover of <a href="spotify:artist:05sRO4JdAtJGyZQOTb6kSL">Sam the Sham</a>'s "I Couldn't Spell !!*@!" with the Seattle band <a href="spotify:artist:6IfaumPVXMZ8iDue5QhuCY">Young Fresh Fellows</a>.

In 2009, Roy Loney and Cyril Jordan teamed up for a joint concert tour focusing on the early <a href="spotify:artist:3yesh1QeNXucaDFw8ZPKxd">Groovies</a> material. 2013 saw Jordan put together a reunited edition of the <a href="spotify:artist:3yesh1QeNXucaDFw8ZPKxd">Flamin' Groovies</a> with latter-day vocalist <a href="spotify:artist:11RVgJo3Eg1yXgfe1ZKIlE">Chris Wilson</a>, and in mid-2019, when <a href="spotify:artist:11RVgJo3Eg1yXgfe1ZKIlE">Wilson</a> was unavailable for a tour of the United States and Europe, Loney stepped in to take his place. However, a bad fall at an airport forced Loney to drop out of the European leg of the tour due to head injuries. He died on December 13, 2019. ~ John Dougan, Rovi