Ides of March, best known for their muscular 1970 smash “Vehicle,” has gone back in the studio to record three new songs as part of a multi-disc retrospective called Last Band Standing. The set will also include music from their associations with Warners and RCA, as well as more recent independently released music.
A highlight promises to be the set’s title track, which features Stax legend Steve Cropper on guitar. This collaboration grew out of a moment of mutual admiration, one that began with a shared stage in Louisiana. From there, “he came to Chicago for a show and came in the studio with us,” leader Jim Peterik tells Ultimate Classic Rock’s Matt Wardlaw, “and it’s just a major thrill.”
Peterik initially left Ides of March for a successful ’80s stint as a co-founding member of Survivor, returning in 1990. Along the way, he served as co-writer on a number of Survivor’s biggest songs, as well as hits for .38 Special and Sammy Hagar, among others. “Vehicle,” a million-seller that went to No. 2, remains a concert staple for Ides of March. Don’t be surprised, however, is this sizzling new track becomes a fan favorite, too. “Steve was a perfect Southern gentleman,” Peterik says on the band’s official site, “with a boatload of stories that made our heads spin. And the man can play!”
Last Band Standing is due in January 2015, Peterik adds. “We leased the most important songs from the Warner Brothers and the RCA catalog,” he tells Wardlaw, “and [Survivor’s] Jeremy [Holiday] helped me out getting the tapes baked from the RCA stuff. For the first time, they’re being transferred, and I just heard the disc and it’s brilliant.”
This trio of new tunes marks Ides of March’s first major studio work since 2010’s Still 19. Before that, the group’s most recent album was 1973’s Midnight Oil. Also included with the Last Band Standing set a DVD recorded at the House of Blues in July, which Peterik describes as “a particularly good night, with 11 cameras. It’s going to be a good package.”
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