JOHNNY A

He’s got taste and tone to die for, Gibson and Epiphone signature models to his name, and he’s played in the band that he grew up idolising. We join the mercurial Massachusetts guitar legend to talk gear, Yardbirds and the future...

- Rod Brakes

I was a huge fan of The Yardbirds when I was a kid. They were my second favourite band behind The Beatles, and it is a great honour to be part of that legacy,” Johnny A. tells us. Having filled some of the biggest shoes in rock ’n’ roll history, however, he’s now treading his own path with a standalone solo show. “It was great to fulfil the experience of playing music under the moniker of a band that influenced me so much as a kid,” he says. “I had a great time doing it, but I’ve been out of The Yardbirds since 2018. That’s when I started doing the solo shows. The completely solo shows. It was a huge undertaking to get that going. And it was a strange time for me.”

How did The Yardbirds gig come about?

“I had met them previously, because we were both on Steve Vai’s label [Favored Nations] and had albums coming out at the same time. When they played Boston at the original House Of Blues, I went along and introduced myself and they asked me to sit in, which I did. I had a great time. We crossed paths over the years since then and the opportunity eventually came when Jim [McCarty] was reforming the band. He was looking for guys in the States and Steve Vai recommended me for the gig. Initially, I couldn’t do it as I was already committed to a tour, but when their tour got cancelled, they rescheduled and called me again. It worked out well, and I ended up working with them for close to four years.”

How soon did things fall into place with The Yardbirds’ new line-up?