Hot Tuna
Jefferson Airplane's ferocious guitar/bass pairing Jorma Kaukonen
and Jack Casady formed Hot Tuna as a sideline in 1969 to siphon
off their musical excesses.
They originally named the band Hot Shit (in reference to dope
not excrement) but thought better when their record company (RCA)
decided to issue an eponymous album in 1970. By this time they had
added harmonica player Will Scarlett, drummer Joey Covington and
guitarist Paul Ziegler.
The album scraped into the US Top 30 and marked a complete
departure from the elaborate psychedelia of Jefferson Airplane in
a pared-down set of acoustic country-folk.
They turned up their amps on eight subsequent releases,
although they were constantly dogged with criticism of Kaukonen's
laissez faire attitude.
Though hardly groundbreaking, the bulk of the band's output
consisted of listenable roots rock, and Hot Tuna entertained many
other Jefferson Airplane renegades over an eight year period.
Hot Tuna eventually transformed into the mid-70s finest
(perhaps only) psychedelic metal power trio.
The band broke up in 1978.
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