The first time Ted Nugent and his band played fabled New York arena Madison Square Garden, back in the mid-1970s, the crowd that night was in for a huge surprise. The band’s opening number was “Just What the Doctor Ordered,” a bluesy-rocker off Nugent’s self-titled debut album. “We come out — ‘Please welcome Ted Nugent!’ — and we start that song,” recalls Derek St. Holmes. “Everybody’s looking at Ted. And then I start singing it and the whole audience turns and looks at me with a big question mark on their face, like, ‘Wait a minute. I thought Ted sang that.’ It was pretty crazy.”
In addition to playing second guitar in Nugent’s classic-era band, St. Holmes, as many knowledgeable rock fans these days know, sang lead vocals on many of Nugent’s best songs. Hits like the sauntering single “Hey Baby.” Roof rattlers like “Snakeskin Cowboys,” “Turn It Up,” “Stormtroopin’,” “Live It Up,” and the aforementioned “Just What the Doctor Ordered.”
Most significantly, St. Holmes belted out those hot and high vocals on Nugent’s signature tune, the immortal trance-inducing rocker “Stranglehold.” In addition to being one of the most essential tracks in all of ‘70s rock, “Stranglehold” has been often featured in films, most notably in the soundtrack to the great stoner-comedy “Dazed and Confused.”
St. Holmes is also heavily featured on Nugent’s landmark 1978 three-platinum live double-album “Double Live Gonzo!”. Nugent’s band back then also boasted bassist Rob Grange and drummer Cliff Davies.
If you mostly just know Nugent’s politics, “Cat Scratch Fever” or even “Stranglehold,” listen to “Double Live Gonzo!” or view the band’s 1976 performance on German TV show “Rockpalast” to experience why this scorching combo was highly influential on the next generation of rock musicians, including Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash, Stone Temple Pilots bassist Robert DeLeo and Brother Cane guitarists Damon Johnson and Dave Anderson.
By the late ‘70s, St. Holmes and Nugent had parted aways. They’d reunite for albums and live performances in the ‘80s, ‘90s, 2000s and 2010s.
St. Holmes’ next chapter found him teaming up with another secret weapon from another great American rock band, Aerosmith guitarist Brad Whitford. Their 1981 “Whitford/St. Holmes” LP, produced by Judas Priest/Black Sabbath studio-wiz Tom Allom, was filled with melodic Camaro-cruisers like “Every Morning,” “Whiskey Woman” and “Sharpshooter.” Decades later, St. Holmes and Whitford got back together for the strong 2016 album “Reunion” and new Whitford/St. Holmes tour.
These days, St. Holmes, a Detroit native, resides in the Nashville area. Vocally, he hasn’t lost a single step, and he frequently gigs at everything from local and regional club dates to festivals and more.
“I’m Ted Nugent music without the politics,” St. Holmes says with a chuckle. “You can just enjoy the music and the people absolutely love it.”
Derek St. Holmes is shown performing live onstage in 2013. (Photo by Owen Sweeney/Invision/AP)Owen Sweeney/Invision/AP
The best way to keep up to date on St. Holmes’ live schedule is via his Facebook and Instagram accounts. On a recent afternoon, Derek St. Holmes checked in for a 30-minute phone interview from his home. Edited excerpts below.
Derek, I saw one of your shows in Nashville a couple years ago and was shocked how good your voice still sounds. What do you attribute your voice holding up that well to?
I would just attribute that to my upbringing in Detroit. You had to be good, and you had to be good all the time and better than the next guy. And so I take a lot of pride in making sure that I can sing everything that I record, you know?
But yeah, I didn’t think at the age of 22 singing all those songs so high up there that it would ever be an issue later, but I’m lucky it is not an issue. [Laughs]
You’ve made a lot of great music, but “Stranglehold” is a track that will hold up until the end of time. Why do you think that song has endured?
I think, Matt, it is probably the groove. It’s just that grinding groove that once you start you know you’re in for at least the next seven to nine minutes of it. You can kind of lose yourself in it, and many nights when we did it, we did. It was euphoric, and it was fun. And thank god for Ted playing everything lick-for-lick so we knew where we were. [Laughs]
But you never know. I always say that if we had known some of these songs would have lasted this long, we’d have done them better. But I don’t know if we could have done them any better.
What do you recall about recording and putting together “Stranglehold”?
I remember it was a little bit of a fight to the finish with the producers and with the label, because they were saying, “This is too long. There’s no way they’re going to play it on the radio. There’s no way that anybody’s gonna listen that long.” And we just said, “We don’t care about that. We just want to make the song the way we want to make it and let’s see what happens.”
There were songs like “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida” by Iron Butterfly that worked even though they were long. They were just afraid about the length of it. But once we started coming up with all the parts [to “Stranglehold”], then people started to get on board.
Having the opening track to the debut album be more than eight minutes, that’s pretty gutsy.
I know, right? Well, that’s Ted Nugent — he’s pretty gutsy.
People’s reaction whenever you play “Stranglehold” live, even now almost 50 years later, is remarkable. It’s like the entire room rises up. What’s that like, to have a song that gets that kind of response, in your set?
It is absolutely amazing. Anybody that says it isn’t is being way too humble. When that thing starts, and you see it take over the room — I’m just so proud of that song — then that makes you want to sing it the way it’s supposed to be sung. That makes you want to play it the way it was supposed to be played. And I just love it, man. I love all of our material that we did — there’s a couple songs here and there but for the most part, I love all the stuff that we created.
You have one of the great all-time rock and roll names, Derek St. Holmes, and it’s actually your real name!
[Laughs] Well, you know the story with Spinal Tap [the fictional band that satirizes classic arena-rock bands], where they took my name? David St. Hubbins [Spinal Tap frontman played by actor Michael McKean] and then Derek Smalls [Spinal Tap bassist played Harry Shearer] ...
Wow, so they split up your first and last names up to create the Spinal Tap character names David St. Hubbins and Derek Smalls?
Yeah. And the other guy took Ted’s name and made Nigel Tufnel. And they were on tour with us for about a week, 10 days, gathering information about playing live. I think it was us and Kiss they were on tour with. But almost every night I’d get ready to go on stage and I’d look over to the tour manager and go, “What’s Lenny and Squiggy doing here”? [McKean was known for his role as Lenny Kosnowski on TV sitcom “Laverne & Shirley”] And he said, “They’re doing a movie and they’re just gathering information,” and I went, “Wow.”
Earlier you mentioned the importance of being from Detroit on you as a musician. From the Nugent band to Bob Seger to John Lee Hooker to Motown to the White Stripes ...
And the MC5, too!
Why do you think Detroit has produced so much great music?
I think it’s because we had two chances to get out of there. Trying to make a lot of money at sports or trying to make a lot of money at acting or music, because you were headed straight to the car factories.
I mean, you really had to be focused. My parents weren’t rich. When it came to graduating high school, I thought there’s no way at this moment in time I can put myself through college nor did I want to go. They’re not going to teach me anything I’m interested in.
And that’s when I just said to myself. I’ve got to be the best I possibly can be on this guitar and in front of this microphone, for the rest of my natural born life. [Laughs] And that’s what I did.
Back in the day coming up, even before you got with Ted Nugent, what was the coolest Detroit music venue to play at?
Yeah, I’d say the coolest place to play back then was a place called the Grande Ballroom. We were lucky enough to be introduced to the owner because Ted’s tour manager was friends with him. His tour manager lived in downtown Detroit where this gentleman lived, and he talked him into letting us rehearse there to get our act together. And we used to rehearse in the place that The Who used to play, Spooky Tooth, Cream, [Jimi] Hendrix, The Doors, everybody, so it was pretty cool.
Who are some of the singers that inspired you when you were starting out?
Listening to Marvin Gaye, listening to Stevie Wonder, listening to Aretha Franklin, listening to Jim Morrison, listening to [Cream’s] Jack Bruce and Eric Clapton, and there used to be a band called Spirit [known for songs like “I Got A Line On You”] that Randy California sang and play guitar for. I just put all those things in a big mixing bag and mixed it up. And that’s kind of what my voice was.
But I never lost the Detroit soul. Because I grew up on that first, and if you didn’t know how to play soul music, you could hardly get a job, even at a junior high dance. [Laughs]
We used to have bands come and play at our high schools, and a little city right next to us the school was called Schafer High, and we went to a dance there one afternoon and James Gang played, Bob Seger played, Alice Cooper played, all these bands played. And Ted Nugent was the headliner.
And I’m standing there with the drummer of my high school three-piece band. And we’re checking out all the musicians and all the bands. Ted comes out at the very end, and he plays about two songs, and we look at each other go, “Eh.” [Laughs] Who would’ve known like three years later I’d be in the band? Funny.
How did you and Aerosmith guitarist Brad Whitford first get together for the 1981 Whitford/St. Holmes project?
Well, it came together because number one, Brad and I had mutual respect for each other. I would watch him in his band, and he would watch me in mine, and we both seem to be underappreciated at times, with what we’ve added to the band.
If you watch Aerosmith, I mean, Brad’s like the anchor. He plays like Joe [Perry, Aerosmith’s flashier guitarist] looks. [Laughs]
We had the same management, so when Brad finally said, “I have had enough of all the shenanigans with Steven and all the craziness and I’m quitting [Aerosmith],” that’s when his manager said “Why don’t you and Derek get together and put an album together?” And we both said yeah!
So we called each other up and I was living in Atlanta at the time and said, “Why don’t you come down here? It’s super warm down here and we’ll go into the studio?” [Aerosmith is from Boston.] So Brad came and spent a lot of time in Atlanta, he and his wife, and they loved it. We had a lot of fun recording that record. It was kind of effortless. You know, we just came up with the songs pretty quickly.
The “Reunion” album you and Brad did a few years ago rocks. It has this gritty street-band sound.
It was 35 years later, isn’t that crazy? Brad said, “Hey man, I’m moving to Nashville.” And I said, “Well, right on,” because I live here. He gets here and little by little, you know, we would bump into each other here and there. And then we finally start saying, “Hey, I’ve got these riffs.” And he goes, “Yeah, me too. We should get together.” And before you know it, we’re just writing songs. And we wrote 26 songs, went in the studio and recorded that album inside of four weeks. It was just straight, you know, Stratocasters and Les Pauls into Marshalls and big drums and big B3 [Hammond organ]. We just wanted to almost do a retro rock record. We also kept it a little bit Led Zeppelin-y. We wanted it to be. We really enjoyed making the record, really enjoyed touring it and we’ve had a lot of fun with it.
We both come from the school of Marshalls and loud guitars, so we both love those tones. We liked most of the same things growing up.
Brad is a year older than me, which I never want to let him forget! [Laughs] He and I are both Pisces and we were born one day apart. And the band [Whitford/St. Holmes], we get along great -- there are no outside forces coming in. Brad and I have a good time. He’s a great, great person.
Circling back to Ted Nugent, do you think Ted’s politics have diminished his guitar legacy?
The answer to your question is yes, I do. I was leery of doing an interview with somebody in Alabama because didn’t he have a gig banned or boycotted or something there? I think it hurts us a little bit. It hurts the brand to get yourself involved in politics and try to play music and rock and roll.
I want to go to a concert and have a good time — I don’t want anybody to bring the six o’clock news by me again, especially over a loud mic. All I want to do is play music and have fun, and to make everybody else have fun.
I think that’s why we were so big. Now when I go back and listen to the “Double Live Gonzo!” album and I think, wow, if we could have just gone back to that, to everybody having a good time. And if you’re not having a good time, well, then you can turn around and get the bleep out of here. That raucous kind of stuff. It just made us huge.
But I don’t know. Should we be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame? Oh, yeah. But we won’t be in this because of politics and rhetoric. But maybe one day they’ll pull their heads from underneath their armpits.
Do I think it [being far-right politically outspoken] hurt Ted’s legacy? Yes, I think it did a little bit. But hopefully his guitar-playing and his attitude will supersede all that craziness as time goes on.
Derek St. Holmes headlines a May 21 show at Huntsville, Alabama, venue Furniture Factory, address 619 Meridian St., also featuring country artists Jim Brown, Jared Hovis and Maddye Trew. The show starts at 5 p.m. and is free to attend. More info at furniturefactoryhsv.com.
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