Johnny Frost and the Heatseekers rock Indian Island Winery

Johnny Frost and the Heatseekers performed at the Indian Island Winery on Saturday, March 5. Armed with three guitars, one of them a bass guitar, and another man on drums, these four dudes were setting up their equipment, and one of them agreed to talk.

 

Paul Knutson, the guy with the long gray beard, was grabbing lights. He said, “It’s been a little over a year since we spoke to the Waseca County Pioneer.” He bent over to grab the lights, then he remembered he also needed the speaker set up, then continued. “Not a lot has changed for us this past year, the same members doing what we do has been the case. We have added a few songs, and we started attending car shows, and from that we’ve added some car songs to our catalog.” He was referring to Unique Auto in Waterville and the Hot Summer Nights celebrations. “We’ll also be playing at Barney’s in Waseca on July 4 of this year over the fireworks display on Clear Lake and we’re really looking forward to that.” They are also regular performers out at the Indian Island Winery.

 

A few of the car songs the guys have added are, “Hot Rod Lincoln,” “Hot Rod Man,” “Race with the Devil” and “No Particular Place to Go.” Online they describe themselves as: “We are a roots rock/Rockabilly/blues band. We cover standards such as “Rock Around the Clock” to “Blue Suede Shoes” and yet have some originals with a classic feel.” With influences such as the Reverend Horton Heat, Johnny Cash, Elvis, Stray Cats, Mojo Nixon, Randy Houser, Jerrod Neiman and the Hillbilly Hellcats.

 

As a group they were all wearing button-up shirts–that 50s look was not only in how they were dressed, but also their hairstyles. That same look extended down into their polished guitars. Paul Knudson aka Johnny Frost said, “We get together about once a week to play and run through our stuff. We also do a music review, whoever finds something cool, a new song or something music related to discuss or that we can play, we’re always on the lookout for new sound.”

 

The lead guitarist is Devon Quiram from Pemberton. Bass guitar is David Howard who is originally from Kentucky. Greg Reeves is on drums and lives in Minnesota Lake. Paul Knudson is on guitar and is the lead singer; he’s originally from International Falls. Up until 2012, the group called itself “Bad Habits,” but when the drummer from that band retired they took a year sabbatical before, in Knudson’s words, “The stars aligned and we found Greg after a year off and things started up again. Since I’m from way up north, that’s where we got the ‘frost’ part from in Johnny Frost and the Heatseekers.”