Johnny Blitz
Encyclopedia
John Madansky, known as Johnny Blitz, is a punk rock
drummer from Cleveland, Ohio
, best known as being a member of the bands The Dead Boys
and Rocket From The Tombs
. With the Dead Boys he helped pioneer the punk rock
sound, look and attitude of the mid to late 1970s.
A Boston Globe retrospective described a Dead Boys concert. "The first time I saw Stiv Bators and his band, the Dead Boys, was at the Rat in 1976, with about 50 other people. At one point, the bare-chested Bators stuck his head inside the kick drum as drummer Johnny Blitz played. Bators followed by jumping to his feet and slashing his chest with a broken bottle."
He is not to be confused with Bryan Adams
1983/84 tour keyboarder Johnny 'Blitz' Hannah.
John Madansky) moved to Toronto, Ontario, Canada with his wife "B Girl" Lucasta Ross. He hooked up with singer/guitarist/songwriter Leo DeLyon (né Leonard Nieberg) and bassist Tommy "Gun" Keating from power punk trio The Blitz (unrelated to Johnny's stage name). Johnny and Leo later formed a band called Slaughterhouse with Mark Crosley on bass, playing Toronto's top clubs and concert venues with a large fan following that guaranteed a packed audience at every gig. Johnny's band Slaughterhouse and Cheetah's band, Cheetah Chrome and Skells headlined on Saturday, August 6, 1983 at New York City's CBGB
. Dead Boys bassist Jeff Magnum came to the show to see his old bandmates and later that night, he, Cheetah and Blitz encored the show with some Dead Boys songs that brought down the house.
After Blitz and Lucasta Ross split, he remarried and fathered three boys. Blitz and DeLyon went on to form The Tribe with keyboard player Polly Gruen and bassist Tommy "Gun" Keating, recording originals that were a little more mainstream. After taking a few years' break to focus on family, Johnny, Leo, and Tommy regrouped back to their power punk three-piece hardcore roots to form Raw Dog. Over their twenty-five years together as band mates, the group co-wrote and arranged all original material together. They recorded a number of unreleased songs at Comfort Sound and Metalworks studios; these songs included "In From the Cold", "I like Girls", "Television Religion", "Call of the Wild", "Anxiety", "Kill 'Em All", and many more.
Blitz returned to Cleveland for the Dead Boys reunion gig in 2004 at Cleveland's Beachland Ballroom. The reunion included a question-and-answer session at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. The reunited Dead Boys also performed at CBGB in 2005. Johnny and Leo went their separate ways in 2007. Johnny still actively plays, writes, and arranges with his band The Highschool Hookers, and currently lives with his girlfriend in Toronto, Canada.
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
drummer from Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately west of the Pennsylvania border...
, best known as being a member of the bands The Dead Boys
The Dead Boys
The Dead Boys were an American punk rock band from Cleveland, Ohio. Among the first wave of early punk bands, the Dead Boys were initially active from 1976 to 1979, briefly reuniting in 1987, 2004 and 2005.-Formation and 1970s punk rock era:...
and Rocket From The Tombs
Rocket From The Tombs
Rocket From the Tombs is an American rock music band originally active from mid-1974 to mid-1975 in Cleveland, Ohio.Heralded as an important protopunk group, they were little known during their lifetime, though various members later achieved renown in Pere Ubu and the Dead Boys...
. With the Dead Boys he helped pioneer the punk rock
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
sound, look and attitude of the mid to late 1970s.
A Boston Globe retrospective described a Dead Boys concert. "The first time I saw Stiv Bators and his band, the Dead Boys, was at the Rat in 1976, with about 50 other people. At one point, the bare-chested Bators stuck his head inside the kick drum as drummer Johnny Blitz played. Bators followed by jumping to his feet and slashing his chest with a broken bottle."
He is not to be confused with Bryan Adams
Bryan Adams
Bryan Adams, is a Canadian rock singer-songwriter, guitarist, bassist, producer, actor and photographer. Adams has won dozens of awards and nominations, including 20 Juno Awards among 56 nominations. He has also received 15 Grammy Award nominations including a win for Best Song Written...
1983/84 tour keyboarder Johnny 'Blitz' Hannah.
Blitz's subsequent career
After leaving the Dead Boys and New York City in 1980, Johny Blitz (néNE
-Places:England* NE postcode area, a postcode for the City of Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and WearItaly* Ne, Liguria, a comune in the Province of GenoaNiger* Niger, ISO 3166-1 country code** .ne, the country code top level domain for Niger...
John Madansky) moved to Toronto, Ontario, Canada with his wife "B Girl" Lucasta Ross. He hooked up with singer/guitarist/songwriter Leo DeLyon (né Leonard Nieberg) and bassist Tommy "Gun" Keating from power punk trio The Blitz (unrelated to Johnny's stage name). Johnny and Leo later formed a band called Slaughterhouse with Mark Crosley on bass, playing Toronto's top clubs and concert venues with a large fan following that guaranteed a packed audience at every gig. Johnny's band Slaughterhouse and Cheetah's band, Cheetah Chrome and Skells headlined on Saturday, August 6, 1983 at New York City's CBGB
CBGB
CBGB was a music club at 315 Bowery at Bleecker Street in the borough of Manhattan in New York City.Founded by Hilly Kristal in 1973, it was originally intended to feature its namesake musical styles, but became a forum for American punk and New Wave bands like Ramones, Misfits, Television, the...
. Dead Boys bassist Jeff Magnum came to the show to see his old bandmates and later that night, he, Cheetah and Blitz encored the show with some Dead Boys songs that brought down the house.
After Blitz and Lucasta Ross split, he remarried and fathered three boys. Blitz and DeLyon went on to form The Tribe with keyboard player Polly Gruen and bassist Tommy "Gun" Keating, recording originals that were a little more mainstream. After taking a few years' break to focus on family, Johnny, Leo, and Tommy regrouped back to their power punk three-piece hardcore roots to form Raw Dog. Over their twenty-five years together as band mates, the group co-wrote and arranged all original material together. They recorded a number of unreleased songs at Comfort Sound and Metalworks studios; these songs included "In From the Cold", "I like Girls", "Television Religion", "Call of the Wild", "Anxiety", "Kill 'Em All", and many more.
Blitz returned to Cleveland for the Dead Boys reunion gig in 2004 at Cleveland's Beachland Ballroom. The reunion included a question-and-answer session at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. The reunited Dead Boys also performed at CBGB in 2005. Johnny and Leo went their separate ways in 2007. Johnny still actively plays, writes, and arranges with his band The Highschool Hookers, and currently lives with his girlfriend in Toronto, Canada.