Through Tragedy And Triumph, Canned Heat Stays Together

No matter what the naysayers tell you, Canned Heat is not now, and never has been, broken up.

So says the band’s drummer, Aldolfo “Fito” de la Parra.

“The mainstream press has always tried to kill us just because our main singer died in 1971 and the other frontman we had - The Bear - died in 1981,” he says. “The band has never ceased to exist. We’ve been active all the time.”

Despite those deaths and multiple lineup changes during three decades of existence, the band that once performed at Woodstock continues to record and tour and will stop in Coeur d’Alene at the Tubs Cafe Blues Garden Friday.

Bob “The Bear” Hite and Alan Wilson created Canned Heat in 1966. De la Parra, who grew up in Mexico, joined as their drummer a year later.

Canned Heat was among the first bands to make blues acceptable to white audiences.

“In those times - even in the ‘50s and early ‘60s - this kind of music was only played on black stations,” de la Parra says. “It was regarded as the devil’s music by the whites.”

Canned Heat fused country blues with the rock and roll of the time.

“In the early ‘50s we loved rock and roll, but all of a sudden it started getting very commercialized and very bland. Somehow each of us made the choice we would rather play something with essence and soul rather than be popular and famous.”

But their music did bring them fame - for a time.

Their song “On the Road Again” shot to No. 16 on the music charts while “Going Up the Country” peaked at No. 11 - both in 1968. And, of course, there was Woodstock.

“I was very tired and I didn’t want to go,” de la Parra says. “They practically dragged me out of my room that morning to attend that show.”

Flying in by helicopter, he finally saw the crowd below.

“That’s the first time it really hit us just how big it was,” de la Parra says.

By the mid-‘70s blues had fallen out of favor, replaced by disco.

“We went down to playing in filthy joints with pool tables in the center and no dressing rooms and no nothing,” de la Parra says. “We were basically struggling and starving.”

But the band kept plugging along. With Hite and Wilson dead from drug-related incidents, de la Parra took the helm and watched as the band found renewed interest in the 1980s, although never to the earlier extent.

These days Canned Heat is made up of de la Parra along with original guitarist Henry Vestine. Robert Lucas is the new frontman with Greg Cage on bass.

“We’re alive, we’re working, we’re making records,” de la Para says. “That we can still put up a good show and make people feel good, that fulfills you more than money, more than fame or acceptance.”

Tubs Cafe is located at 313 Coeur d’Alene Lake Drive. Show starts Friday at 5:30 p.m. and lasts until 9:30 p.m. Tickets are $10 in advance and $12 at the door. l

, DataTimes