About me: Butch Armstrong was born in Shaker Heights Ohio, and first picked up a guitar at age ten, having been inspired early on by the Beatles. Joey(Butch) and younger brother Vito, who played bass, actually formed their first band, the NEATLES, at eight and ten years old. later changed to the KNIGHT RIDERS at ten and twelve years old. They appeared on the JERRY G. show on WKYC TV, and the UPBEAT show WEWS TV. They would beg their mother every weekend to drive them to the Chagrin Falls Armory to hear local guitar gods Glen Schwartz and Joe Walsh, They would listened to Hendrix, Beck, and Clapton records by the hour. Butch started his professional career right out of high school with RASTUS, a local jazz-blues fusion band with a full horn section and two albums on the charts and toured with them across the country. While in L.A. in the late seventies, he auditioned for the highly successful band, CHICAGO, after the accidental shooting death of frontman lead guitarist Terry Kath. but he wasn’t chosen, only because he didn’t sing back then, and they needed a strong second lead vocalist so Peter Cetera went on to do the job alone.This disappointment taught him a valuable lesson, and he vowed to work on his vocal skills. Returning to Ohio, he paid his dues for almost a decade in GOODFOOT, a “post-disco” band that worked the dance circuit steadily through the eighties. Although the style of music was not his favorite, he developed his vocals by singing background harmony.
It was during this time that he started to lose his hair and gave in to the inevitable by shaving his head. He also liked to wear an army generals campaigne hat and camouflage clothing. (Not a common look back in the “big hair” eighties.) Goodfoot’s lead vocalist at the time was John Morton, who jokingly dubbed his guitar player “General Butch Armstrong”. (“Butch” for the buzz-cut and “Armstrong” after general George Armstrong Custer.) The name stuck but the band dissolved. When Stevie Ray Vaughan hit the airwaves, it led to a resurgence of interest in the blues. Players came out of the woodwork, and Butch saw an opportunity to return to his roots and play the music he really loved. In the late eighties, he started his own band, Butch and the Ramrods, which basically became the Sunday night house band at the Euclid Tavern.
Flashback to 1989: 2,200 headbangers are packed into the Phantasy Theater (designed for a capacity of 1,500) to see headline act Living Colour. Alas, the opening act has mistakenly gone to Rochester, New York, and the crowd is getting ugly. Butch, Stutz, and Ramrods drummer Kenny Ruscitto are rushed in from a recording session nearby as a last-minute replacement. They pound out a 45-minute classic roadhouse set, and leave the crowd flicking their Bics and calling for more. And so the Armstrong Bearcat Band is born!
Their searing brand of hard-driving, in-your-face blues soon made them “the band in demand” when a local opening act was needed for concert venues. Over the years they have warmed up the stage for Albert Collins, George Thorogood, Johnny Winter, ZZ Top, Blue Oyster Cult, Marshall Tucker band, Robin Trower, Leslie West, Robby Krieger, Rick Derringer, Humble Pie, The Kinsey Report, Danny Gatton, John Mayall, Savoy Brown, Kansas, Son Seals, Clarence Gatemouth Brown, The Allman Bro's, Meatloaf and a host of others too numerous to name. Often they have the crowd jumping to their feet and dancing in the aisles before the main act even appears (and many times get better reviews, too.)
Armstrong’s opening set for the Marshall Tucker Band prompted one reviewer to make the comparison that the trio had “half the musicians but twice the talent.” Opening at Nautica for Little Feat, Butch Armstrong’s rendition of signature tune “Mr. Cleanhead” had headliner Sam Clayton “sitting on the side stage looking stunned," The tune, a tip of the hat to Eddie “Cleanhead” Vinson, often inspires Armstrong to jump from the stage and get his clean-shaven head stroked by the throng of adoring women that crowd around him.
Eric Burdon was so impressed with the powerhouse trio that after their Agora show together, he accompanied them to the Euclid Tavern where they jammed late into the night. Another great Agora moment was the Meat Loaf show. Cleveland audiences are notorious for being less than kind to bands that open for Meat Loaf – fans are usually there just for him and no one else will do. And Meat Loaf does not allow opening acts to use his stage lights or sound system. Not so with Armstrong – their electrifying set had the fickle audience in awe and halfway through, they found themselves bathed in ambient stage light, on orders from Meat Loaf himself.
-written by Cat Lilly-Voice Magazine
Who I'd like to meet: PAUL McCARTNEY,RINGO STARR,ERIC CLAPTON,......ALL AND ANY OF THE GREAT GUITARISTS IN THE WORLD TODAY!
MARTIN SCORSESE, FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA, SIR ANTHONY HOPKINS, ROBERT DENIRO AND JOE PESCI, AL PACINO,
ACTRESSES: KARI WUHRER, HEATHER WAHLQUIST
Thank you to all friends who helped vote for Alex, in the Cleveland Cavs "Cleveland's Top Talent" Competition. New video posted from the event on Alex's page -He made the final 2, and played Van Halen's Eruption at Quicken Loans Arena at the Cavs Game--for over 20,000 people. Alex won contest, and got to play at halftime. The video of him singing & playing Sweet Child O Mine, will be posted soon!! Thanks again for helping out, please stop by and say hello!!
