Mark Doyle: It was a truly amazing scene. The band was formed in Upstate New York, what was the scene like back in 1967-68? They called themselves The Ridgewoods because they used to life in Ridgewood New Jersey. Joe Whiting: My first band was with my neighborhood friends. I left that band when I was asked to join Free Will. Mark Doyle: My first band was actually called Thursday’s Children. Was Free Will your first band or were you part of any other bands back then? And I thought they would pay attention to me if I was in the band, but I didn’t see it as my life’s work at the time. Joe Whiting: Some neighborhood friends had a little band and people were paying attention, namely girls. That all changed when I saw The Beatles on Ed Sullivan and switched to guitar.

I gravitated to piano because of my dad, and became a bit of a child prodigy on jazz piano. It was an honorable profession in my household. Mark Doyle: From as early as I can remember, I always knew that I would be a musician. My dad had a big collection of big band 78 rpm records and I listened to the radio all the time.ĭo you remember a certain moment when you knew you wanted to become a musician? Joe Whiting: I grew up in Skaneateles, NY and yes music was always around. My earliest memories are falling asleep to the sounds of my dad wailing on jazz piano downstairs. My mom played alto saxophone, but only as a hobby. My dad was an accomplished jazz pianist and arranger who played daily on radio and television, and played night clubs at night. Would you like to talk about your upbringing? Where did you grow up? Did you have a lot of music at your home? “Music was truly the language of the time” They disbanded acrimoniously in 1973, although Doyle and Whiting went on to record several fine albums together on the Blue Wave and Free Will labels, and also achieved individual success in their lengthy careers – Mark as either producer/music director/guitarist for the likes of Meat Loaf, Bryan Adams, Hall & Oates, Mary Fahl, et al and Joe with Bobby Comstock, Savoy Brown, and as tour opener for Van Halen. While signed to RCA, the band toured with ZZ Top, Freddie King, The Allman Brothers, The Kinks, John Mayall, and Three Dog Night, among others. By the time of their second LP, ‘Way Down East,’ Tom Glaister had been replaced by two drummers, Danny Coward and Kevin Shwaryk.īoth albums featured original compositions by Whiting, Doyle, and Egosarian in various combinations, and were hailed by Creem magazine as seminal classics of 70’s hard rock. This was the line-up that recorded their first album for RCA, ‘Whiskey Woman’. Led by vocalist Joe Whiting and lead guitarist Mark Doyle, the band also featured George Egosarian on second guitar, John DeMaso on bass, and Tom Glaister on drums. Jukin’ Bone | Free Will | Interview Jukin’ Bone was a legendary band from Upstate New York who formed (as Free Will) in 1968 and signed to RCA Records in 1971.

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