Tommy James Interview!

Every fan of 60s music knows that Tommy James and the Shondells had a string of hits including "Hanky Panky", "Mony Mony", "Crimson and Clover" and "Crystal Blue Persuasion." But the group had lesser known songs that fit into the "Garage" genre. Even though Tommy found success in the music business, he started off in an obscure Midwestern band called the Tornados. His early history is similar to many Garage bands. Listen to our interview with Tommy James and learn about how he got started. This will be of interest to Garage Rockers and to musicians of today who will be inspired by Tommy's story.

Tommy James hit the big time with the single "Hanky Panky" in 1966. But the song had been recorded in 1964! Listen to the interview to hear how Tommy had to scramble to capitalize on the sudden success of this record. The band quickly put together an album, also named "Hanky Panky." Two great Garage rocking songs from the album are featured in our interview podcast. The first is "Say I Am", an upbeat dance song that is in the same style as "Go Go Gorilla" (Shandells) and "Game of Love" (Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders). The other cool 60s Garage rocker is "Lots of Pretty Girls", a song with a great guitar solo that sounds a bit like "Hang on Sloopy" (McCoys).

Click here to listen to Part One of our two part interview with Tommy James!