#The black moods series#

“I decided when I was 13 that I was going to play guitar for the Gin Blossoms,” he says. Kennedy’s dad told him he could write music like that because it wasn’t virtuosic. “This one day I was in my room playing and my dad says, ‘Hey Bub – he calls me Bub – come check out this band.’ It was the Gin Blossoms playing ‘Hey Jealousy’ on an awards show.” He found his calling when his dad summoned him to the living room to see a band that he liked. Kennedy was bred in the most unlikely of spots for a rock singer – Wheaton, Missouri, in the Ozarks, where his head was filled with Southern rock and country music. “It’s good for you and bad for you at the same time.” “It’s a deadly flower and a drug from the ’60s that Robby Krieger told us about,” Kennedy says with a laugh. Kennedy was vague about the song’s meaning.

Pairing with the song is Bella Donna wine, created by Scottsdale’s Desert Rocking Winery. “Here is a prime example of fresh, new rock.”

“It’s always great to hear someone plug a guitar into an amp, and turn it up,” Simmons says. The Black Moods and folks associated with them played “Bella Donna” for Gene Simmons, Robby Krieger and Alice Cooper, all of whom loved the song, Kennedy says. I didn’t know if Johnny would like it or hate it. came around and we were doing back-up vocals. “We lit into it and everything started falling into place,” Kennedy says. He played for drummer Chico Diaz and bassist Jordan Hoffman what he was working on. When I returned, we talked about what we were working on.” Nobody was there, and it was the first time I had been there alone. “When I went back to Missouri, I was sitting by myself in my grandparents’ house. When I was leaving, he was trying to bring out a Doors-esque style groove, ‘Love Me Two Times.’” “We were working on the EP and our producer, Johnny K, was in town,” Kennedy says.

#The black moods series#

The sessions produced by Karkazis – whose resume includes work with Shinedown, Adelitas Way, Megadeth and Plain White T’s – spawned a series of singles, including “Bella Donna.” The relentlessly addictive, Doors-influenced song hit streaming services June 1. When everything started working, I said, ‘Oh my God, hold on.’” I figured this could fall apart at any moment. “I didn’t know if this was going to work,” singer Josh Kennedy says. Arizona-based rockers The Black Moods were hesitant when Grammy Award-winning producer Johnny Karkazis walked into their small, makeshift studio for the first time.įor five hours, the trio and the Chicago-based knob-turner lugged the equipment Karkazis shipped to Arizona in The Black Moods’ home base.