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A little bit country ... a little bit Rock-N-Roll

They say that somewhere between Memphis and Nashville is a fork in the road where country turned left and rock-n-roll turned right. Lazy Ike’s mission is to rock and twang at the intersection. After leaving the Northwoods at 18 to see the country, Ike studied in the school of the open road. After hitchhiking through much of the U.S.A. -- and catching rides with many truckers, some of whom had met Pops at a diner here or there -- Ike made his way to Minneapolis in 1999. Finding kinship with greasers in the rockabilly band The Vibro Champs, and with neo-hillbillies in the honky-tonk-rock outfit, Trailer Trash, he soon met some like-minded musicians and set about making his mark. Not too long later, Lazy Ike & The Daredevils rocketed onto the Twin Cities music scene.

Imagine Johnny Cash fronting Dwight Yoakam's band, or Waylon Jennings fronting The Kentucky Headhunters, and you'll get an idea of the high-octane, country-rockabilly energy unleashed by Lazy Ike & the Daredevils. Offering an original blend of Outlaw Country, ‘50s-style rockabilly, juke-jumpin’ honky tonk, and straight-up, four-on-the floor country rock, Lazy Ike & The Daredevils pleases both the dancing crowd and the barstool set. Pithier than pop country, but far from a nostalgic anachronism, Lazy Ike & the Daredevils will crowd dance floors as long as bartenders pour whiskey and men and women pine for lovers they’ll never win.   The band has been thrice nominated for a Minnesota Music Award. Highlights of Lazy Ike’s career thus far include: opening for the legendary George Jones in June of 2005; playing every Wednesday night at Lee’s Liquor Lounge for about two years; playing First Avenue twice; twice playing for several thousand people at Stillwater’s Lumberjack Days; performing in three “Cash Only” Johnny Cash tribute shows; and recording the CD “Someday” at Sun Studio in Memphis, Tenn.

Lazy Ike & The Daredevils play nightclubs, dive bars, private parties and weddings. They have more than four hours of material -- they once played six and a half hours without repeating a song!

Somewhere up north, shimmering on the sylvan surface of one of 10,000 lakes, is a blue moon that keeps on shinin’. Lazy Ike and the Daredevils will take you there.

The real Lazy Ike story: An “a-luring” tale!

Following is the story of the authentic Lazy Ike (quoted from an article posted at www.mybaitshop.com/lazyike.htm): “The Lazy Ike Corporation began in 1897, founded by Joseph Kautzky, an Austrian immigrant. The Kautzky Manufacturing Company, as it was originally named, started in the gunsmith business and over the years expanded into other lines of sporting goods. Somewhere around the mid 1930's there was a fisherman in the Fort Dodge Iowa area named Newel Daniels that was hand carving what was to become the Ike. Apparently Joseph Kautzky Jr. saw Daniels fishing the lure and remarked "look at that lazy Ike." From 1938 to 1940 the entire production was hand made by Daniels. When Daniels left the company in 1940 he turned over the rights to Kautzky. Production then shifted to "Pop" Shuck who hand made them until around 1945 when lathe production began. Wood prodcution ceased in 1960 when the plastic version was made. Kautzky produced many baits, the most famous being the Lazy Ike. The Lazy Ike and the other Kautzky lures are not generally considered to be collectible. However as the more famous lures are becoming a bit more scarce, the Lazy Ike Corporation and several other companies are starting to draw some attention. ... The Lazy Ike is probably one of the most widely fished lures in the world. Lazy Ike's storied history included purchasing the Creek Chub Bait Company in 1978. Lazy Ike is now owned by Pradco. A few plastic lures are still made including the lazy ike.” And from www.lazyike.com: “The lazy roll of an Ike has started the fishing memories of generations and generations of anglers. Whether it is a walleye, bass or northern pike, many fishermen caught their first fish on a Lazy Ike. In fact, it is safe to say that the Lazy Ike is one of the most used artificial fishing lures in the history of fishing.”

A Man, a Band and a Lure
A foundling raised in a remote cabin on an island in Northern Minnesota’s Voyageur’s National Park, Minneapolis-based musician “Lazy Ike” took as a stage name the nickname given him by “Pops,” the hermit fisherman who raised him.
As the story was told to him, Ike explains, Pops discovered him -- then only a toddler -- floating in the lake in a life jacket, a little fishing pole still clutched in his hands. “Pops clamored to fish me out of the lake only to ...

Introducing The Daredevils

(A rotating cast of characters)
Clint Mahkimetas: Drums
The only founding member left in the band! Also played in Thunderball 3 and The Camaros. Clint has lived and played in Nashville. He attended McNally-Smith School of Music, where his advisor was Gordy Knutson, the drummer for the Steve Miller Band.

Clint Lecy: Guitar
Clint is on loan from his own band, Canyon Cowboys. He also fills in on bass from time to time. He grew up on stage, playing with his dad, a steel guitar player.
Regan Swedeen
Regan plays left-handed electric bass and is blessed with a deep, Waylon-like bass voice. He also plays in The Country Doctors and a few other area country bands.

Dan Neale: Guitar
Dan fills in when Clint Lecy is playing with his own band. He also plays with Mark Stary & The Whiskey Roses, and formerly with Martin Zellar of The Geardaddies. He has played several times in the band on “A Prairie Home Companion.”
Dan Gaarder
Dan plays lead guitar or electric bass, as needed. He also plays guitar and sings in Trailer Trash and The Country Doctors.
Uncle Jesse: Bass
The funniest once and future Daredevil, Jesse named his upright bass “Big Jen,” after his wife, “Lil’ Jen.” He now plays blues with Lamont Cranston, but fills in once in awhile.
Lyle Swedeen:
Lyle plays guitar, steel guitar, keyboards and fiddle. He has lived and gigged in New York City and Los Angeles. Ask him about hanging out with Joni Mitchell back in the day!

Randy Broughton
Our favorite pedal-steel guitar player. We hire him when we can afford him! He played lead guitar in the Gear Daddies and plays steel guitar in Trailer Trash. www.myspace.com/lazyike
Music
(Samples)
Long, Tall Shadows.mp3
Someday, Someone.mp3
For Lost Time.mp3 Reviews

http://72.14.203.104/search?q=cache:jXVv61qb64MJ:www.othersideofcountry.com/MinnesotaBands.html+%22Lazy%2BIke%2B%26%2Bthe%2BDaredevils%22&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=14
www.howwastheshow.com/reviews-2003/lazy_ike_and_the_daredevils-04-26-03.html
www.demorama.com/reviews/archives/feb2004.html

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Although Pops, a retired truck driver from Memphis, Tennessee, worked hard to school young Ike with lesson plans derived from articles in old National Geographic magazines, Ike says his real education came from Pops’ record collection. “Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, Waylon Jennings, Buck Owens, Hank Williams, Hank Thompson, Ray Price -- he had all the greats. We didn’t have electricity, but he had this old record player rigged so you could crank it up and it would spin for a song or two.” Pops also had an old acoustic guitar and taught Ike his cowboy chords. “He tried to teach me how to pick that thing, but I was just too much of a dreamer for it to stick, I guess,” Ike explains. “Every time I’d start practicing a scale, I’d think up some story and start strumming away and make up a little song. Eventually, Pops gave up on teaching me riffs and began accompanying me on harmonica, explaining ‘You don’t change lures when you’re close to catching your limit.’” Along with albums by the country legends in Pops’ record collection were some Elvis and Jerry Lee Lewis records as well. It didn’t take Ike long to discover that the rock-n-rollers were playing most of the the same chords as his country heroes, but faster! It was on that foundation that Ike eventually built his band.