The passing of Jeff Beck affected few people as much as it did Johnny Antonopoulos.
“It had the same impact as when I heard John Lennon died,” said the Grammy-nominated guitarist whose career included seven years as guitarist and musical director for J. Geils Band front man Peter Wolf before launching a solo act as Johnny A. in 1999.
“It wasn’t until Jeff passed that I felt that same kind of vacancy. Part of it was because he was still active and vibrant, still on his game.”
Beck had always been a part of his life.
“He came along when I was discovering guitar, and I had never seen anyone so connected with their instrument.”
In 2000, Antonopoulos opened for Beck at the State Theater in Portland, Maine. The legend passed in January of ’23, and later that year, Antonopoulos’ agent suggested a tribute. At first, he resisted, in part because of how others have interpreted Beck’s music.
“To me, something gets lost in the translation,” he said. “Jeff Beck was such an emotive player. There was sarcasm, angst, humor, and sensitivity in this playing, and he never played the same way twice. So, I wasn’t really interested. I’ve always been much more into writing my own music or interpreting other artists’ material in my own way.”
The agent persisted, though, pointing out that Antonopoulos had played with a latter-day version of The Yardbirds. But…
“I thought there would be a lot of criticism and a lot of arm-folding in front of the stage,” he said. “When you ask most pros who their favorite rock player is, they’ll say ‘Jeff Beck.’ There’s nobody who phrased like him, that had a touch like his.”
Finally capitulating, Antonopoulos laid out the condition that, “The only way I’m going to approach this is the way I did with the Yardbirds – pay respect to the guitarists and try to capture the spirit of what they were about, but maintain my own voice. I was going to do the thing that, as a fan, I would need to hear, but I’ve got to leave some of my own blood on the stage.”
The Beck-Ola project was born.
Antonopoulos assembled a five-piece band with the realization that, “There’s a lot of front-loading by every member to learn the material before we get together, because the musicians I know don’t have endless days to rehearse.”
To gauge interest and make it worth everyone’s time and effort, he planned six to eight dates in a two-week period. Formation of the band started with the rhythm section of Antonopoulos’ current trio – bassist Dean Cassell, who has been playing with him intermittently since the mid ’70s – and drummer Marty Richards, who played with jazz vibraphonist Gary Burton for 10 years before joining Duke Robillaird, The J. Geils Band, and The Joe Perry Project. Steve Hunt, who has played with Alan Holdsworth, Stanley Clarke, and Billy Cobham, is on keyboards, and Mike Gill from the White Snake/Deep Purple tribute band Beyond Purple, will handle vocals.
Antonopoulos’ amp for the gig is a Fender Tone Master Pro Guitar Workstation running to matching powered cabs because, “I’m crazy for consistency. The Tone Master Pro is giving me the most options with the least amount of effort.”
Fender Custom Shop builder Austin McNutt created a one-off Strat for the shows, with hotter pickups, an original Wilkinson roller nut, custom Sperzel locking tuners, and a Wilkinson VS1300 vibrato tailpiece modified to accept a traditional Fender-style arm. A concentric Master pot controls all three pickups, with the Volume on the ring and Tone in the dome because, in playing Beck music, “There’s a lot of maneuvering volume, tone, pickup selection, and vibrato. This way, I can control the Volume knob with my pinky finger and manipulate the Tone control with my index finger and thumb. The five-way is directly under the Tone so I can just flick my pinky finger and don’t have to move my hand.”
The Custom Shop’s Jay Nelson painted the Strat a metallic version of the avocado green borrowed from a picture of a 1955 Porsche.
The band’s seven-show tour begins April 19 in Beverly, Massachusetts, and will include 21 of Johnny’s favorite songs from 11 Beck albums, 60 percent of which will be instrumental.
This article originally appeared in VG’s May 2024 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.
