There comes a time when you have to stop and take note of one who stands out amongst the rest of the many musical creators of our times. This creator of music who paints images and scenarios in your mind through his guitars, his songwriting and his expertise producing is no other than Roger Nemour.
After seeing the Beatles when he was 12 he talked his mother into getting him guitar lessons at La Jolla Music. Growing up in La Jolla in the 60’s and finding others to play music was impossible to find. With a little luck he found another guitar player, a drummer and a someone who played a Hammond organ that sang from the students of Muirlands Jr. High School. They named the band “The VIP’s”. They played all the La Jolla Socialite parties and local events. Then Roger and the drummer expanded their horizons and joined “The Double Bubble Blues Band” and played a couple of Love Ins. This then led both Roger and the drummer to audition with a local popular band “Gnarly Beast” which they both were hired to join the band. Roger was 15 while the rest of the band was in their early 20’s which made it a little challenging for Roger to say the least. Roger went on to play lead guitar and later on playing bass after the bass player quit without any previous notice with Gnarly Beast. From 1967 to 1971, they became one of San Diego’s top band’s that opened for many major concert acts such as Jethro Tull, Canned Heat, Fleetwood Mac, Chambers Bros, Eric Burden and War,etc. besides being the house band that played 6 nights a week at the Palace night club or JJ’s. On some weekends after playing 5 hours at their house band gig they would go directly to National City and play the Pleasure Club after hours from 2am to 6am both Friday and Saturday. They had created their own sound with the originals they created plus the Motown covers they played with the style of Aerosmith and the Stones. Gnarly Beast finally made it to Hollywood to record their first 45 “Cheatin’” which was some of Roger’s first writing endeavors.
Few years later, Roger teamed up with a female singer, Leslie Lyons, and the band name changed to “Madame Beast.” This new band took the world by storm. Far ahead of its time, the band toured the USA with its unique heavy metal music.They basically were a heavy metal band with a Ziggy Starr Mott the Hopple look with a little pyro-technics that mainly toured the whole USA opening up for concert acts like Kiss and also playing showcasing clubs for bands that played all original music. While touring with Madame Beast he met someone who changed the way Roger played and listened to music and who has been a life- long friend Phil Brown.
Madame Beast broke up in 1977 and Roger moved to Hollywood where he started jamming and recording with some real world class musicians. Through Phil he was able to meet and jam with some amazing people. One day Phil and Roger went to audition for “Motels” and got the gig Roger stayed and Phil declined and again they went off in different directions but always stayed in touch. After a year with Motels Roger hooked up with some old friends and put “Tokyo Rose” together. Roger’s wrote some great songs and his playing was getting noticed and praised while the band became a popular Hollywood band always playing the Starwood, Whiskey, Troubador, The Rock, etc. Verdine White from Earth, Wind & Fire, took notice of the band and signed them to a management contract and then Tokyo Rose recorded an album. The band broke up in 1980 and Roger was looking for a change of musical direction and was leaning in the direction of what Jeff Beck and Mahavishnu Orchestra were creating.
Roger is inspired by the radical freedom and innovative music of Jeff Beck and Jimi Hendrix. His music is impacted by influences from a host of different genres, such as Hard Rock, Fusion, Reggae, and the Blues. His songs resonate with Roger’s personal experiences are all mostly instrumental. Roger Nemour has numerous awards to his name, including but not limited to Best Album of the Year Award in 2016. He is also known for having produced a Grammy Award Winning Album for Ike Turner in 2007.Roger currently has two albums distributed at all the major venues and at all of the most popular internet charts and playlists. At this time he is currently in the studio recording his third album, which will be released in January / February 2022.
