by Dave Reid

"Forest Hill Drive" contains forty-five minutes of finely crafted pop songs centered around catchy melodic vocals and crunchy guitars with lots of jangle. But there is more to this music than meets the ear on the first listen. After about three listens I began to find my way into this record and discovered a body of music with a great live feel about it.

This music has a heart and a pulse. In my mind, the disk really takes off at track number four, "Brakeshoes". I love the groove and think the guitars are arranged really well. Next up is "My Way". The thumping bass line catches me right away and I love the feel during the verses. Again, great guitar sounds and cool arrangements. Track seven, "Driving Days", may be my favorite. The floating feel and the drumming reminds me of moments from "Dark Side Of The Moon". "Should've Slept In" is another strong cut. Great writing, interesting sounds and another thoughtful arrangement make this song a standout.

All in all "Forest Hill Drive" is a complete package of catchy songwriting, curious grooves and brilliant arrangements. Johny Vegas is an American success story in the making!

Cleveland Free Times: Tuesday, March 23, 1999

by JOHN C. BRUENING

Indie Gamble:
Johny Vegas bets on the rock game

Rock probably isn't the first word to come to mind when you hear the name Johny Vegas. These days, a name like Johny Vegas is likely to make you think swing. Or better yet, some goofy lounge lizard in a bad dinner jacket.

Don't be fooled. This quartet from Syracuse has been plying their trade in rootsy, melodic rock since 1993, well before the advent of Jumpin' This and Daddy-O That. For the record, there's no one in the band named Johny Vegas. The name comes from guitarist/vocalist Keith Calveric's old college buddy, Johny, who later picked up the nickname Vegas. When Calveric and his three bandmates (guitarist Mike Shimshack, bassist Mike Miller and drummer Alex Smolinski) assembled early in the decade, they took the name on a lark and it stuck. Call it the Jethro Tull Syndrome.

Forest Hill Drive, JV's third release on their own Leprechaun label, hit the streets just this week. The album is in some ways a combination of the better elements of the band's first two efforts - Dog in 1995 and Super Cool American in 1996.

"What we tried to do is combine what we learned from the first two records," says Calveric. "Our first record was really stripped down and really acoustic. We tried to top that the next time by using more guitars and having more stuff going on. I think we tried to find a happy medium with this record."

That "happy medium" is something that sounds old and new at the same time. There's an unmistakable element of classic rock about Forest Hill Drive, with nods to a variety of pop predecessors - from the Doobie Brothers guitar riff of "Favorite One," to the Billy Joel piano progression of "See You Again." Along the way, expect to find shades of the Allman Brothers, Jackson Browne, the Eagles and Randy Newman.

But the retro pop sensibility gradually gives way to the ironic fuzz of the Squeeze-like "Should've Slept In," while "Temper," with its carefully layered vocal harmonies and oddly repetitive refrain, is a dead ringer for R.E.M. By the time "Beautiful Train" pulls out, the album is heading for far more progressive territory than the place where it started.

(And anyone who still insists that a band called Johny Vegas should play swing will appreciate the jump-blues backbeat of "When Will My Weed Be Free," the goofy mystery track perhaps best described as "stoner swing," complete with gurgling bong water in the background.

"Our main objective was to one-up ourselves, to put an album out that was a solid record from top to bottom, with no holes in it," says Calveric. "We didn't rush it this time. We took a lot of time in the studio with multiple sessions."

But the studio sessions were easier this time than with previous albums, he adds. "You learn that by the time you walk out of the studio and put the record on your tape deck for the ride home, you already feel like you could do something better than what you did. So you kind of learn that it's a tiny little time capsule. We're a lot better and more efficient in the studio than we used to be. We do more on the pre-production end, and that helps a lot. Going in for your third record, you know a lot more than you did on your first one."

With little more than their own home-grown label and indie status as their calling card, Johny Vegas has moved more than 14,000 units of their first two records, maintained an ambitious tour schedule that averages 20 shows in 20 cities every month, developed a hefty mailing list, and landed consistent radio play in upstate New York. Calveric says the band would still be willing to trade it all in for a record deal that would improve their tour support and provide more backing - but only when and if the time and the deal are right.

"We knew it was going to take a long time to do it the way we wanted to do it," he says. "So many friends of ours, so many bands that we've played with, have gotten their deals and have been dropped already. I remember thinking, 'I can't believe they got their big record deal.' But a year and a half later, they're getting dropped, and the story's over for them.

"We want our body of work to speak for us now," he says, "instead of having to put together a three-song demo and hiring an entertainment lawyer to shop us around and get us a deal. We're basically going to wait and make enough noise so that people can't ignore us anymore."

Buffalo News: October 11, 1996

by Anthony Violanti

... Johny Vegas is a group with local connections. The Syracuse Band seems on the verge of a major breakthrough with the release of a delightful CD on an independent label.

Vegas features singer/guitarist Keith Calveric from Orchard Park. He is joined by Mike Shimshack, guitar/vocals; Mike Miller, bass/vocals; and Alex Smolinski on drums.

Vegas flaunts a pop-flavored sound. This is a band that sometimes sounds like Hootie and the Blowfish, the Eagles and the Counting Crows all rolled into one.

That's not meant as a knock. Vegas has a knack for producing tightly crafted, original pop sounds. "Tea" is a slow, beguiling number where Vegas hits its stride. "Good Day Henry" is a churning rocker with an irresistible beat.

The real killer track, though, is "Thank You Ringo Starr." This is a masterful pop song, the kind of number that you feel you know by heart after one listen, sort of like when the Eagles sing "Take It Easy."

The "Ringo Starr" track moves to the same infectious beat and has hit single written all over it. If "Thank You Ringo Starr" gets any radio play, Johny Vegas might become a household name. The CD shows how much Vega has matured as a band.

The sound varies from hard rock to softer digressions, but all the songs display the band's compelling music and personality. "Super Cool American" is a joy and stamps Vegas as a band to watch.

RATING ***1/2 (three and a half stars)

The Musicians' Exchange: December 1996

Independents' Day

Hailing from the ever snowbound Upstate town of Syracuse NY, Johny Vegas is trying to heat up the American music market with a AAA radio songwriting sound that ranks up there with Bootie & The Ho Fish and that band I really want to like, Counting Crows. For any insiders, I'd say this band is even a little better than Todd Hobin. The band's skill in the songwriting and vocal performance departments are clear and they never go for anything they can' reach. The excellent lyrics made me listen a little closer. I also like the fact that this band is working hard, writing and touring and not waiting around for success. My favorite tracks were "Something So Wrong," "Blue" and "Thank You Ringo Starr."

The Album Network: January 31 1997

Johny Vegas
Album: Super Cool American
Label: Leprechaun (002)
Members: Keith Calveric (vocals/guitar/keys); Mike Shimshack (guitar/vocals/keys); Mike Miller (bass/vocals); Alex Smolinksi (drums)
Guest Artist: Ron Hirschberg (keys).
Producer: Johny Vegas
Origin: Syracuse, NY

What You Should Know: Keith Calveric and Mike Shimshack met over five years ago while attending Oswego State College, where they performed as an acoustic duo. Not much later, Mike Miller and Alex Smolinski joined the band and Johny Vegas was born. Since then, they have built a reputation as one of the Northeast's best live bands. Their first album, DOG, released regionally, has sold several thousand copies, prompting them to go back into the studio to record Super Cool American. The disc contains 12 organic, vocally rich songs that are not only enjoyable to listen to, but also sound like they should be on the radio. Find out why The Syracuse New Times says, "Johny Vegas has enough power to put its name in lights,: and Rochester's Freetime describes the band as "solid, guitar-driven, melodic guitar rock."

Suggested Songs: "Thank You Ringo Starr"; "Good Day Henry"; "Just One Trip."

Good Times, Long Island: November 5, 1996

by Dan Murphy

I once lost my lunch money and all my school books to a guy named Johny Vegas. Carrying on the tradition, Syracuse's Johny Vegas are holding the best poker face I can remember. If Gordon Lightfoot and Hootie had a mind meld Vulcan-style they would have come out with Super Cool American. Containing more hooks than an ejected Islander's water-logged mascot, these boys are in it for the long run. They band out one great melodic song after another, including standouts like "Just One Trip" and "Waving," then just as I'm fixin my tie and leaving the money on the dresser, I get hit with a mushroom cloud this way of Sponge Avenue, Detroit City Called "Run," it's the whole enchilada topped off with wah-wah distortion and tougher than a naked Iggy Pop stage-roll, I'm betting the mother-lode on Johny Vegas, these boys are on a winning streak. 

U. The National College Magazine: Winter 1996 Review

For those of you who always wished the Barenaked Ladies would just be a little less goofy and a lot more serious, we have a secret for you: Johny Vegas.

This album is packed with sunny, organized rhythms. It doesn't tweak your adrenaline, but rather your ability to crack a smile. But lacking depression or euphoria doesn't leave this record substanceless. The band is just straightforward in their approach to lyrics and pop rock. The lyrics are something to relate to and the music is something to like.

In "Much Too Much," they sing, "those feelings, here they come again... it hits me like a brother, like a hurricane / It's in my mind, it's headed for the door / You're a mother of a lover, can I have some more?" Your response will be "yes" -- as long as they continue to back up the great song-writing with their not-too-grassy acoustic gu000000itar. 

Freetime Magazine (Rochester, NY): January 15, 1997

by Michelle Picardo

Originally forming is Oswego NY and now based in Syracuse, Johny Vegas is a band on the rise. At least that's what you'd hear if you were to ask any of the devoted fans that make up their impressive grassroots following, routing these guys on from one level to the next. Johny Vegas current release has a title that sums up the record, Super Cool American.

With a roots-rock (American) mentality and in a Hootie sort of way, Johny Vegas create easy-listening alternative and pleasing pop. The stand-out track especially reflective of this is "Good Day Henry" which reminds me of a lighter (low-cal) Goo Goo Dolls with memorable hooks and melodious vocals. This song is my choice for a big radio hit! Johny Vegas sets itself apart by adding some groove and funk, spawning an infectious vibe. And this is all fortunate for the friend of this band was named after, a guy nicknamed Johny Vegas, whose namesake band is pretty cool.

Bet on Johny Vegas

Call me prejudiced, but I can't help but like a band photo in which one of the members wears a cow hat and another sports a bathrobe. Add to that the patriotic popsicle on the cover, and it really just makes me want to like the CD even more.

Luckily, such was the case with Johny Vegas and its latest effort "Super Cool American."

"Super Cool" was actually fun to listen to; I found my head bobbing back and forth while walking around my home. But the tunes aren't bubble-gum catchy (you know, those sickening sweet songs that should be ad jingles). Instead, they're more sophisticated, and hard to peg as one distinct style.

Listening to the CD, I found myself thinking of Counting Crows, Jackson Browne, Tom Petty and a bunch of other singer.songwriters. Mike Shimshack (lovingly referred to as "Shack" by fans and friends) said, indirectly, that was the goal.

"Each of us is really into a different style of music," he said. "But it was the singer / songwriter quality of say, the mid 1970's to now that we were really looking for."

The quartet -- which includes Shack on guitar and vocals, Keith Calveric on guitar and lead vocals, Mike Miller on bass and vocals and Alex Smolinski on drums and percussion -- dates back about three years, but Johny Vegas (You guessed it! It's the band's name and not a real person. Catchy, huh?) has a much longer history than that. After Calveric, Shack and Miller formed the core, Johny Vegas went through a Spinal Tap period with drummers.

"Nobody spontaneously combusted or anything like that, but we kind of wished some of them had." joked Shack.

"Dog" was released shortly after the band got its bearings. Shack describes the first production as "very innocent. That was when we were in college and everything was carefree and happy-go-lucky."

While Super Cool is a little more serious, many songs deal with the theme of relationships, it still has an upbeat tone. "Good Day Henry" is a borderline rocker, but some of the best cuts are "Sweet Haley" and "Thank You Ringo Starr."

While "Ringo" has lyrics very similar to Geggy Tah's release "I Want To Thank You," -- "I want to thank you Ringo Starr / I want to thank you wherever you are / I want to thank you Ringo Starr / I want to thank you for driving my car" as opposed to "All I want to do is thank you even though I don't know who you are / Because you let me change lanes while I was driving in my care" -- Johny Vegas is nowhere near as stupid.

All of "Super Cool" is tight, a quality production, making it that much easier to listen to -- there are no tell-tale signs that this is for the most part a regional band from Syracuse NY, like fuzzy guitars and dropping equipment in the background.

While I highly recommend "Super Cool American," it's not readily available around here yet. But wait! You're in luck! Johny Vegas will bring plenty of copies along when the band performs at the Stone Pony Pub on High Street. The show begins at 9:30 pm.

Syracuse New Times (Syracuse, NY): November 20, 1996

Rock On!
by Larry Hoyt

Despite two CD releases and a recent win at the local level of the Ticketmaster Music Showcase, Johny Vegas remains one of the best kept secrets of the Syracuse music scene.

After starting as an acoustic cover band in Oswego five years ago, the group released its first all-original rock CD, Dog (Leprechaun Records), two years ago and promptly relocated to Boston. Earlier this year, this polished pop-alternative quartet moved back to upstate New York, using the Salt City as home base for touring club and college venues throughout the Northeast, playing some 150 dates a year. While little know among Syracuse rock fans, Johny Vegas impressed judges at the Ticketmaster Music Showcase at Styleen's Rhythm Palace in September, winning the right to represent upstate New York at the regional showcase in Cleveland Nov 1, one of 22 bands out of 10,000 entrants nationwide tapped to compete in the regionals.

Even though no band from the Cleveland showcase advanced to the national finals in Los Angeles, Johny Vegas is still riding high. The quartet works steadily to fan support with a lively mix of pop melodies and tight arrangements, which often give way in live performance to expansive but attention-getting jams. The band's latest CD, Super Cool American (Leprechaun Records), recorded at Rochester's Dajhelon Productions, delivers ample proof of Johny's potential, displaying the high level of musicianship and imaginative songwriting needed to attract a national audience.

One big plus for this band, in addition to a gift for creating accessible melodies, is an acute sense of musical dynamics. Almost every one of the 12 tracks here (11 listed songs plus one jazzy bonus track and a borderline bonus snippet) pulls the listener in with an appealing rhythm, only to shake things up with a tempo shift that emphasizes the song's complexity without losing the basic groove.

"Something So Wrong," with its starts and stops, entertains with rhythmic surprises, while the moodier "Tea" intrigues with a spooky vocal harmony and it mystifying chorus of "I'm the one with rose colored gun." Guitarist and lead singer Keith Calveric often mixes in a laid back sense of cool admist his wailing, as he does on the opening track "Just One Trip," while lead guitarist and backing vocalist Mike Shimshack shows a wide array of distorted guitar sound that catch the ear without over-powering the tunes.

A razor-sharp rhythm section of bassist Mike Miller and drummer Alex Smolinski add momentum to every track, from the subdued "Much Too Much" to the quirky, almost country-ish "Thank You Ringo Starr" to the swirling, feedback-laced instrumental "Boat Song." The band's electric and driving version of "Waving" (previously released in a more mellow arrangement on Dog), shows the stylistic progress Johny Vegas has made, while the panting energy of "Run" provides and endorphin rush of psychedelic funk.

Combine this disc's excellent songs and production with the group's serious commitment to touring, and the result is a real shot at reaching a national audience. Now if they can only get the attention of rock fans here in Central New York.

Scene Magazine (Cleveland OH): January 9, 1997

Johny Vegas Gamble on Pop With Staying Power
by John C. Bruening

Johny Vegas maintain that there is such a thing a sophisticated pop. With the release of SUPER COOL AMERICAN just a few months ago, guitarist/vocalist Keith Calveric and his three bandmates from Syracuse have added a few layers of texture and subtlety to their sound since DOG, their 1993 debut.

Our first album is definitely different from this one. DOG was way more acoustic," says Calveric. "It's a lot poppier and a lot more straightforward that SUPER COOL AMERICAN. This album has an eclectic side to it that definitely wasn't part of the first one. It's something that people who really dug the first album weren't expecting, but that's going to happen with any band."

The impetus behind SUPER COOL AMERICAN was to bring the live aspects of the band to the forefront as much as possible, says Calveric. Perhaps more than any other track on the new album, "Waving" provides a benchmark of the band's evolution over the past three-and-a-half years. The song is actually a rearrangement of a track originally recorded on DOG.

"The versions are similar in their arrangements, but the feel of the new version just definitely seems more like us," Calveric explains. "Somebody somewhere - a promoter or a label or somebody - really dug the song, and wanted to hear it more like we are than what we were. When we recorded our first album, we were still just a baby band, and the studio were were in was pretty cheap - 150 bucks a day versus 150 bucks an hour, like we had with the new album. So the difference in quality is just incredible."

Like most bands, Johny Vegas can generally conjure up more energy in a live setting than on a recorded disc. But it's an energy borne of strong lyrics and tight arrangements rather than lengthy instrumental jams and other self-indulgences.

"We're definitely not a hippie sort of jam band," says Calveric. "But we do find the spots, and I thinks if you listen to the album, you can hear the spots where it lends itself to opening up a little bit and experimenting. We like to do that live, more for our sake than anything else."

Although the band produced both of its releases on its own Leprechaun label, Calveric would welcome the opportunity to hand the production chores over to someone else, allowing him and his bandmates more room to concentrate on the music and the songwriting.

"It's hard being in the middle of writing it, and the song being so much a part of you and your band, to take that step outside and say, "Now, wait a minute, what parts aren't going to work, and what's someone else going to think when they hear it?" he says. "Because you have this idea of what you want it to sound like, and sometimes that comes across and sometimes it doesn't. We not the best people to notice whether it's coming across or not. So I'm definitely looking forward to working with someone else on our next album."

For the time being, though, the band is content to take a grassroots approach to marketing and distributing its product. In addition to their regular mailing list, they've established a monthly newsletter, an Internet web page and an 800 telephone line.

"We've done it like this from the start, and we've never been in any hurry to really shop our stuff and try to get a record deal," says Calveric. "We've been concentrating way more on building our grass roots following, and working the markets that we play, and we've had a lot of success doing it that way. We definitely have the autonomy. Other than our management, we really don't have anyone to answer to, who tells us to be here or there. We can handle it the way we want to handle it. We can spend the money where we want to spend it."

Building a fan base on show at a time and one city at a time, Calveric says, is the best defense against the potential trap of getting too big too fast.

"A lot of bands spread themselves too thin too soon," he says. "They head out to all these different markets really far away, and they just don't have the time to get back there fast enough to make a difference. You go there once, then five or six months later you get back there, and no one remembers who the hell you are. So we've tried to expand our circle of shows slowly, at a pace that we can keep up with and not lose people along the way."

Although promoting SUPER COOL AMERICAN is Johny Vegas's immediate focus, the band is keeping a collective eye on the horizon, says Calveric. Ideally, the foundation they're building now will give them a better position in the long run than the legion of bands that fold after one hit single.

"I think this band has the ability to write a song right now that could hit," he says. "We could just put one down, shop it, hit it and be done with it, and just go away. But that's not what anyone of us really wants We're definitely more career minded. We want to have staying power. We want to be able to do this for years to come, and the only way to that is to have that loyal fan base - the people who will be at every show and buy every album, regardless of what the radio tells them to buy."