FTV: Steve Murphy
Before 2006, I had no idea that there was a drum manufacturer called Canopus or that drummer Steve Murphy endorsed Canopus Drums. For that matter, I didn’t even know there was a drummer named Steve Murphy. All that ended when the Alan Parsons Live Project performed at Michigan Technological University’s Rozsa Center with the Keweenaw Symphony Orchestra.
The press leading up to this concert was mostly focused on a) Alan Parsons’ previous work with The Beatles at the famed Abbey Road studios and b) APLP singer PJ Olsson’s father, Milton, happened to be the director of the Keweenaw Symphony. The senior Olsson had a hand in arranging some of the orchestral parts for Parson’s music so there was a lot of interest in the father and son working together with Parsons . The rest of the band featured in this excellent concert were all unknowns to me until that show.
For the record, I checked out the Canopus Drums web site and found they are considered a ‘high end’ drum manufacturing company from Japan with a list of at least 100 drummers on their roster of endorsees. Maybe I am out of the ‘high end’ drum loop as there were only two names I recognized on this list. One was Louis Cato (from Steven Colbert’s talk show band) whom I knew as the guitar player who took over as the leader when pianist John Baptist left. When The Late Show with Stephen Colbert’s regular drummer (Joe Sailor) was missing for one show, Cato led the band from the drum stool. I thought, “I didn’t know he also played the drums.” The other recognizable names on the Canopus list were the versatile Bobby Rondinelli (Blue Oyster Cult, Rainbow, Quiet Riot and Black Sabbath) and Brian Tichy (Whitesnake, Billy Idol, and Foreigner, among others).
When writing an account of the 2006 APLP concert at MTU, I had nothing but high praise for Murphy. Yes, he is a talented drummer and vocalist, but his performance went far beyond acting as one of Parsons’ side men. Murphy was the one core band member who took the time to interact with the symphony members who were seated behind the members of the APLP touring band. He often turned to smile at them, give them a thumbs up gesture, and to applaud them for adding so much color to the music. I did a little research on Murphy at the time, but twenty years ago, the well of information about him was not particularly deep.
Flash forward to sometime in the 2020s. I was working on an article about The Turtles and found some clips of their long running Happy Together Tour. Over the years, these HTT tours featured Flo and Eddie’s touring band backing a bevy of beloved 1960s and 1970s artists. I should probably mention that ‘Flo & Eddie’ would be the alter egos of the late Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan of The Turtles. Artists like The Cowsills, Gary Puckett, Chuck Negron (from Three Dog Night), The Fortunes, The Association, and Ron Dante (from The Cufflinks and also the voice of the cartoon band The Archies) have been part of the show at various times. Each group would come out and sing a few of their hits while Flo and Eddie would MC the show and also sing a few of their hits. At the end of the show, each group would be brought out to sing a couple of lines of their biggest hit before the entire ensemble got together on stage for a big finale. The big group sing-a-long that always ended the show was, what else, The Turtles’ Happy Together.
The clip I unearthed just about knocked me over. The core band featured Steve Murphy on drums, guitarist Godfrey Townsend, bassist John Montagna, and keyboard player Manny Foccarzzo – all of whom played with the Alan Parsons Live Project at MTU in 2006. Watching highlights from the most recent HHT shows, I noticed Murphy is no longer with them but Townsend and Foccarzzo are. Flo (RIP) and Eddie (retired) are no longer participants in their own tour and their MCing job has fallen to Dante (who also covers The Turtles songs). Digging a little deeper, I found that Godfrey Townsend has played with many high profile artists without becoming a household name himself. These include Mitch Ryder, Spencer Davis, Joey Molland of Badfinger, Todd Rundgren, Ann Wilson (Heart), Jack Bruce (Cream), Mark Farner (Grand Funk Railroad), Christopher Cross, Dave Mason (Traffic), and John Entwistle of The Who.
Besides his guitar wizardry, Townsend also plays keyboards which makes him the perfect fit to act as the musical director for various projects he works on. His guitar playing chops have often been compared with Eric Clapton’s style. When Clapton’s guitar tech Lee Dickenson told Entwistle, “Hey John, come listen to this guy…he’s got Clapton down better than Clapton!” Entwistle replied, “You twit!…That’s MY guitar player!” as Townsend was a member of the bass player’s solo band. One of the projects Godfrey put together is called ‘Clapton is God-frey,’ harkening back to Eric’s early days when graffiti around London proclaimed ‘Clapton is God’. Townsend and his HTT and Alan Parsons Live Project bandmates have also done tribute tours honoring The Beatles (A Walk Down Abbey Road) and the psychedelic 60s (Hippiefest), all of which found Steve Murphy on drums and vocals.
Now that we have a little insight as to how Steve Murphy ended up working so long with Godfrey Townsend, we need to catch up to what he has been up to in more recent times. In February of 2018, Murphy sat down with Modern Drummer magazine to do just that. He introduced himself by saying, “Hey MD peeps! This is a great honor for me to be able to tell some of my story. Like most of you, I first subscribed to MD at an early age (back in the mid-’80s, yikes!) when I was busy trying to be what I eventually became?a pro drummer.” Murphy also mentioned that he is currently working out of New York City with his current project, The Hit Men (more on them in a bit).
As for his bonafides, Murphy supplied a grocery list of artists he has had the pleasure of working with in his career. Steve says his first experience with a touring band came courtesy of guitarist Andy Timmons with whom he was fortunate to tour throughout Europe in 1999. Next came two winters of touring as part of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra’s West Coast Band (2000 & 2001). These gigs led to Murphy being recruited to be part of the aforementioned Walk Down Abbey Road tour (2002) with Townsend and Jack Bruce, Todd Rundgren, Alan Parsons, Mark Farner, and Christopher Cross. He says it was a thrill to see and hear Rundgren play the solo for While My Guitar Gently Weeps on Eric Clapton’s original Gibson SG guitar, ‘The Fool’ while Bruce played his famous EB3 bass. Murphy told MD, “The musical highlights from that tour were astounding.”
On the heels of A Walk Down Abbey Road, Parsons asked Townsend to take this core band on tour for the Alan Parsons Live Project. They became a well oiled musical machine capable of playing on their own and with symphony orchestras. This incarnation of APLP lasted eight years and took Murphy and crew to forty different countries.
Murphy isn’t one to drop names to impress. As a famous TV detective used to say, “Just the facts, ma’am” and Steve has a rolodex full of famous names to draw from. The drummer summed up his post Parson years (remember, this interview was done originally in 2018): “Since my run with the APLP, I have toured with The Turtles, Chuck Negron (formerly of 3 Dog Night), Felix Cavaliere, Denny Laine, Joey Molland, Gary Puckett, the Cowsills, Mark Lindsay, (Paul Revere and the Raiders), Eric Burdon (The Animals), Spencer Davis, the Grass Roots, The Buckinghams, The Association, Dave Mason, Mitch Ryder, Jack Bruce (three separate tours), Micky Dolenz (The Monkees), Gary US Bonds, Steve Augeri (formerly of Journey) and many, many more over the last seven years. It has been an incredible ride—and I’m just getting started!”
I assume the ‘just getting started’ statement refers to his latest project, The Hit Men. There are a lot of tribute bands out there that perform the hits of other famous bands. Some dress the part and some just come out and play it straight. There are a couple of Pink Floyd tours that even bring the big circular projection screen and lasers – the whole nine yards. The Hit Men take a slightly different approach. Each of the members have spent time with other big name artists recording and/or touring. The Hit Men’s show is built around playing songs they have performed with the artists who originally made them hits.
Murphy introduced the other Hit Men for the MD readers: “The band comprises five guys who have been fortunate enough to have either toured with, been members of, recorded, or worked with many of rock’s elite. Lee Shapiro toured with Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons (as well as Tommy James, Chuck Berry, and Gene Cornish) and Russ Velazquez (Carole King, Luther Vandross, Sting) are on keys. Jimmy Ryan from the Critters (Carly Simon, Elton John, Cat Stevens) plays guitar, and Jeff Ganz (Cheap Trick, Leo Sayer, Chuck Berry, the Village People) is on bass.” Their website says simply: “On Stage. The men behind the legends. They weren’t just along for the ride – they made the music. A legacy, not a tribute.”
Murphy himself has worked extensively in the New York City music scene since the late 1980s, He is a multi-talented drummer, singer, producer, and engineer. In 1998, he was asked to work as a vocalist on an Elton John project by none other than the legendary producer Phil Ramone. Steve’s voice has also been featured on many nationally distributed commercials including the Army’s “Be All You Can Be” campaign. Though he currently lives in New Jersey and works a lot in NYC, his home studio (Murphonics) in Florida is the mothership for much of his commercial work. Custom drum tracking for various projects can be arranged via his murphonics.com website. Besides his association with Canopus Drums, he also endorses Vic Firth sticks, Remo heads, and Zildjian cymbals.
Some years ago I was lucky enough to see The Classic Rock Allstars at the Calumet Theater. At that time, the band consisted of drummer Pete Rivera (Rare Earth), Guitarist Mike Pinera (Blues Image, Iron Butterfly), keyboardist Jerry Corbetta (Sugar Loaf) and bassist Dennis Noda (Cannibal and the Headhunters). The band had actually been formed in 1992 by guitarist Spencer Davis (who had previously formed the Spencer Davis Group with Steve Winwood and his brother Muff Winwood), but he left the Allstars in 1995 to pursue other interests. Davis was also a participant in the HTT in 2016 (he passed away in 2020). Pinera continued rotating versions of the CRA brand that later included musicians like guitarist Mark Farner, drummer Albert Bouchard (Blues Oyster Cult), bassist Prescott Niles (The Knack) and keyboard player Goldie McJohn (Steppenwolf).
The Classic Rock Allstars featured the original lead singers for radio staples like Get Ready (Rivera), Green Eyed Lady (Corbetta), Land of a Thousand Dances (Noda), and Ride, Captain, Ride (Pinera). The band played a number of hits from their former bands and obviously enjoyed backing each other up. The biggest difference between them and The Hit Men is name recognition: The Hit Men played on some notable records and with big name artists, but they were more sidemen than the ‘stars’ of the show.
There didn’t seem to be any information on upcoming shows by The Hit Men so I took a little time to explore their website. Keyboard player Lee Shapiro is listed as the man in charge of their tour coordination. If you have never looked at the ‘tech rider’ for a touring band, it is worth your while to check it out. The ‘tech rider’ specifies everything that a promoter needs to agree to do when they hire a touring band. From equipment needs to catering to stage set up, it is all there. If one wonders why ticket prices for live shows are high these days, it takes a lot of equipment and knowledge to get a musical production from place to place so they can put on a memorable show.
For the record, I did not see anything like the famous Van Halen rider that said there had to be a large bowl of M&M candies but absolutely no brown ones. Some speculated that this demand gave the Van Halen band an out if they decided to cancel a show – “Hey, there are brown M&Ms so we ain’t playing!” Eddie later admitted it was just them being jerky rock stars. He later told an interviewer, “We thought it was funny that there were always more brown M&Ms than any other color and some schmuck would have to sit there and pick them all out. I want to apologize to anyone who had to do that – we were just being jerks.”
In this age of watching the true classic rock and roll artists leaving this mortal coil in ever increasing numbers, I have no problem whatsoever with musicians making a living while keeping these great songs alive. One of the biggest thrills I got out of playing in bands was performing the songs no matter how many times we did classics like Proud Mary. Classic rock radio does its part as do we at WOAS-FM 91.5, but there is nothing quite like live music. I tip my hat to Steve Murphy and The Hit Men for doing just that – keeping the ‘live’ part, well, alive. The Hit Men’s site does list some shows already booked for early 2027 and there are many samples of what they do live available to listen to online so check them out if you have a chance.
Top Piece Video: Here it is – fast forward introduction to The Hit Men show featuring drummer Steve Murphy.