The Rockets (Detroit band)

Biography

The Rockets are an American rock band founded by guitarist Jimmy McCarty and drummer Johnny “Bee” Badanjek, former members of Mitch Ryder's Detroit Wheels.

Along with slide and rhythm guitarist Dennis Robbins, bassist John Fraga, and lead vocalist David Gilbert, the Rockets reached their pinacle of success in 1979 with a Top 40 hit (a cover of Fleetwood Mac's “Oh Well”) and an appearance on The Midnight Special. ROCKETS HISTORY.... The Rockets were formed in 1972 by former Mitch Ryder & The Detroit Wheels members Johnny "Bee" Bandajek and Jim McCarty. Vocals and drums were handled by Bandajek, McCarty was on lead guitar, John Fraga was on bass and Marc Marcano was on keyboards. Johnny Bee was the driving force and primary songwriter for the Rockets. In the early days, The Rockets paid their dues playing gigs at venues such as, The Rainbow Room and The Peoples Ballroom in Detroit, and The Rock 'N Roll Farm in Wayne Michigan. The band took on a new sound in 1976 when David Gilbert was brought in to take over vocals from Johnny Bee. Gilbert had fronted several garage bands and had a brief stint singing for Ted Nugent and The Amboy Dukes in 1971. His drinking and drug habits didn't set too well with the Motor City Madman. Gilbert's raw vocal power proved to be just the ticket to complete the Rockets sound. However, as Nugent had before them, Bandajek and McCarty quickly realized Gilbert would be trouble for the band with his frequent drug and booze binges. The friction between them would go on for seven years before it eventually tore the band apart.

Five studio albums produced several minor hits including a rocking rendition of Fleetwood Mac's "Oh Well". Always a popular group in Detroit, and Michigan, The Rockets had gotten some attention outside of the state, but never really got the big break to become a true national act. The first album, Love Transfusion, was released in 1977. It failed to produce any hits. The 1979 self-titled release featured the hits, "Oh Well" and "Turn Up The Radio". This record also featured on bass, David Hood, one of the "Swampers" from the famous Muscle Shoals Sound Studios in Alabama. Muscle Shoals was mentioned in Lynyrd Skynyrd's southern rock anthem "Sweet Home Alabama". Also, this Rockets album was dedicated to Skynyrd members Ronnie Van Zant, Steve Gaines and Cassie Gaines, who all perished in Skynyrds infamous 1977 plane crash. The third attempt came in 1980 with "No Ballads", "Desire" was a popular tune from this album. Next came the "Back Talk" album in '81 and then finally "Rocket Roll" in 1982. "Rollin' By The Record Machine" from this release was the last hit for the band. The final release, "Live Rockets" was recorded on New Years Eve 1982 at the Royal Oak Music Theatre near Detroit.

The Rockets performed for their last two shows at Pine Knob (now known as DTE Energy Music Theatre) near Detroit on August 28 & 29, 1983. The band splintered and the members all went their separate ways. Bandajek, McCarty and the rest went on to other projects. Gilbert played in a couple of short-lived local bands and ended up taking a job hanging drywall. His lifelong abuse of drugs and alcohol along with divorces, death and suicide had taken its toll. Former rock star David Gilbert was 49 when he died of cirrhosis in 2001. R.I.P. David. ROCKETS SINGER DAVID GILBERTS DETROIT FREE PRESS OBITUARY (8/4/01)

In 2009, Johnny Bee, Jim McCarty, Jim Edwards, Marvin Conrad, & Danny Taylor formed the local Detroit band, The Hell Drivers with the intent to play local gigs and celebrate the music of legendary Detroit artists. In April 2010, after getting bombarded by requests to play music from "The Rockets", and feeling like just another cover band, it was decided to drop The Hell Drivers name in favor of revitalizing the name "The Rockets". They will be announcing tour plans for the summer of 2010 with their first official reunion gig set for July 2, 2010, at The Stars & Stripes Festival in Downtown Mt. Clemens.

The Rockets 'Takin' It Back' at Detroit Music Awards

Published: Friday, April 16, 2010 - By Gary Graff, For the Daily Tribune

What are you doing?

Those four words in 1972, spoken by Jim McCarty to Johnny "Bee" Badanjek — bandmates in Mitch Ryder & the Detroit Wheels and the short-lived Detroit — lit the fuse for The Rockets and ignited an 11-year, six-album rock 'n' roll ride. For its efforts, the group receives a Distinguished Achievement Award at tonight's 19th annual Detroit Music Awards.

The journey wasn't always smooth. The Rockets had only limited commercial success — a 1979 cover of Fleetwood Mac's "Oh Well" was its lone Billboard Top 40 hit, and the group was dogged by rancorous personnel changes and late frontman Dave Gilbert's battles with substance abuse. But the Rockets earned a solid reputation as a hard-touring, roof-raising live band, whether it was headlining or opening for the likes of KISS, ZZ Top, REO Speedwagon, Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band and others.

Even now, The Hell Drivers, which has reunited Badanjek and McCarty, of Sterling Heights, sees evidence of The Rockets' regard every time the group kicks into favorites such as "Turn Up the Radio," "Desire" or "Takin' It Back."

"Every time we play them, wherever we play them, the place goes crazy," said Hell Drivers frontman Jim Edwards. "The interest in the Rockets stuff is through the roof. People love it."

Badanjek, 61, finds the response somewhat vindicating. "(The Rockets) was a great band that never got its due, I don't think," the drummer and painter said. Before launching The Rockets, Badanjek was working with Edgar Winter in New York. Winter wanted him to move to Manhattan and go on tour with his group, but Badanjek had young children at home and preferred to remain in Detroit. That's when he called McCarty, who was in Memphis, and broached the idea of working together again.

The first incarnation of The Rockets, a quartet with Badanjek singing from behind his drum kit, played almost nightly around Southeastern Michigan and Northern Ohio, checked out by fellow musicians in bands such as the Kinks and Blondie.

"The word was out; everybody who came to Detroit knew we were the hot band to see," Badanjek said. He recalled visits by David Bowie and a memorable night at the old Red Carpet Lounge when Iggy Pop, who was sitting with Bowie in a corner, walked across tabletops to join The Rockets for a rendition of the Rolling Stones' "Gimme Shelter."

The group was eventually burned out by its grueling schedule, however, and took a break in 1975. But it came back together after Badanjek met manager Gary Lazar, who not only got the group a recording contract but also brought The Rockets to Don Davis, owner of Detroit's United Sound Studios. Davis advised them to get another singer, leading to Gilbert joining the band.

"He did a couple of tunes," Badanjek recalled, "and McCarty and I looked at each other and said, 'This guy is unbelievable!' He was a very charismatic singer, worked the stage prowling like a cat, was handsome ... " But, he added, Gilbert was also "a pretty wild guy. He was like the Keith Moon of singers, pretty much in his own world."

The Rockets' world held up — at least for a while. Three of the group's albums — "Rockets," "No Ballads" and "Back Talk" — hit the Billboard 200 chart between 1979–81, while "Can't Sleep" and "Desire" logged space on the lower half of the Hot 100.

The Rockets' dissolution — following a live album recorded at the Royal Oak Music Theatre and a farewell concert at the Pine Knob Music Theatre in 1983 — is often laid at Gilbert's deteriorating condition (he passed away in 2001). But Badanjek counters that "there were a lot of factors, a lot of little ones."

The Rockets name may well take flight again, however. Since The Hell Drivers formed in October 2008 at Mario's in Madison Heights, the group — which also includes Marvin Conrad on bass and Danny Taylor on keyboards — has packed area clubs and released a popular live album recorded at Callahan's. Now singer Edwards and a variety of agents and talent buyers are encouraging Badanjek and the 65-year-old McCarty — who also has a blues band, Mystery Train, and maintains part-time membership in the group Cactus — to adopt The Rockets moniker in order to get more lucrative gigs.

Discography

1976 Rockets demo tape
1977 Love transfusion
1979 Turn up the radio
1980 No ballads
1981 Back talk
1982 Rocket roll
1983 Live Rockets
2005 Back talk / Rocket roll (Reissue)
2006 Fast thing from Detroit (unofficial greatest hits compilation)

Bootlegs

1978 Live at the Agora ballroom

1978 Live at J.B.'s, Mt Clemens

1979 Live in Cleveland

1980 Live in Poughkeepsie
References
All music guide
External links
Facebook The Rockets

Reverbnation The Rockets

Johnny 'Bee' Badanjek Official page