The unlikely band Jimi Hendrix formed while he was in the army: “A combination of John Lee Hooker and Beethoven”
When Jimi Hendrix first entered the American music scene, others were already enamoured with—and frightened by—his wildly unmatched technique. He was a jack of all trades and could go beyond what it meant to entertain an audience, proving that resonance often exceeds basic skill and talent. However, before this crucial moment, Hendrix had endured years of self-discovery.
Hendrix’s introduction into the music world will always be one of the most interesting stories in music history. He turned up with the type of unabashed fervour others could only dream of and threatened to readjust the limelight so meticulously crafted by others without even giving it much thought. Of course, he had tried his hand a handful of times before finally catapulting from the springboard in America, but to many, it felt close to instantaneous.
One musician who felt nervous about the sudden explosion of Hendrix was Jeff Beck. For a long while, everything revolved around The Yardbirds, with Beck leading the charge regarding the criteria for the next great American guitar hero. However, Hendrix’s arrival stunned Beck, alongside his collaborators Jimmy Page and Eric Clapton, who regarded him with trepidation. As he later recalled, “When I saw Jimi, we knew he was going to be trouble.”
However, before his breakthrough, Hendrix joined the army in 1961 after stealing from a local store. A judge presented him with an ultimatum: endure juvenile detention or enlist in the army. He chose the latter, but this didn’t bother Hendrix all that much, mainly because he had been long interested in pursuing a military career since an early age, drawn in by the idea of suddenly having stability, a luxury he didn’t have growing up.
Almost every night, Hendrix passed the time by playing his guitar, which caught the attention of another serviceman, Billy Cox. While others thought nothing of Hendrix’s playing and passed it off as merely another annoyance biding his time, Cox knew he had something special. He later described his sound as “a combination of John Lee Hooker and Beethoven,” becoming so intrigued that he went over and introduced himself, explaining that he used to play upright bass in school.
The pair eventually started playing together, sharing wisdom and forming a band called The Kasuals. It seemed an appropriate name considering the circumstances and how everything they did together musically was merely a hobbyist afterthought. However, this began to change when Hendrix started to value his music more than the army, and he would play until the early hours, which made him turn up tired and groggy the next morning.
Hendrix was discharged in 1962 after serving for only a year, but The Kasuals continued for a small period under their new name, The King Kasuals, until Hendrix began to gain traction on his own, at which point he decided to make a go of it himself. Although a far less stable career path than the one he initially wanted, Hendrix’s talent ensured failure was highly unlikely, especially considering his monumental presence within every musical circle he entered.
