Loch Ness Johnny first started playing as a group of three musicians in the summer of 1997. The three original members were Mike Cappel, Phil Hurd, and Donald Merckle. Their first public performances were mainly acoustic instrumentals in the Celtic tradition and long forgotten covers such as Tainted Love by Soft Cell and Superfreak by Rick James at coffeehouses in Columbia, SC.
Loch Ness Johnny then decided to become a little more serious and put a little more time and effort into "creating a style" and doing original pieces. They played Pizza Bistro, Sharkey's, The Village Idiot, Gilligan's, The Publick House, The Elbow Room, New Brookland Tavern, The Art Bar, and Jillian's. They played everywhere, including private parties, weddings, and celeidhs in Charleston, Sumter, and Camden to name a few. They kept playing locally and regionally at many of the same clubs, parties, and celeidhs as they as they had earlier, but adding more and more original material all the time.
In the early spring of 1999, the four members decided to record a CD. The self titled CD was released in early summer of '99 at the Elbow Room. Shortly thereafter, Loch Ness Johnny played at the Iris Festival in Sumter again, but this time on their own stage. An entertainment coordinator for Celtic festivals was there and invited them to play at the Virginia Scottish Games in Alexandria, Virginia in July.
The members of Loch Ness Johnny decided that they wanted to take the music in a slightly different direction and go more rock. They wanted it to be louder, faster, more electric, and more intense. The band played at Smiths Olde Bar in Atlanta, Georgia and got a rave review in Southeastern Performer Magazine. Loch Ness Johnny debuted its new sound - to overwhelming enthusiasm - as the opening act for Seven Nations at Be Here Now in Asheville, NC. The band carried its success into the New Year with a packed house of riotous fans at Hannah Flannigan's in Asheville.
Loch Ness Johnny played as the main act at Jack of the Wood, Be Here Now, and Stella Blue. They were also the headlining act at the St. Patrick's Day Festival 2000 in Knoxville, Tennessee. By the end of March, the band was back in the studio recording a new CD, Sunflower Dragon. The CD was completed just in time to make record sales at the Grandfather Mountain Highland Games. These games are world renowned and attended by more than 70,000 people every Summer in the NC Blue Ridge Mountains. Celtic Grove Web Radio broadcast live from the games featuring Loch Ness Johnny and the many other great bands present during the three day festival. New and returing fans from the Alexandria Games (also covered by Celtic Grove) were clamoring for the band to play venues in in Virginia Beach, Northern Virginia, Washington DC, and Baltimore.
Loch Ness Johnny returned to Columbia for their hometown release of Sunflower Dragon at Delaney's in Five Points on July 29th, again making record sales. Delaney's Management said that in the history of the pub they had never seen so many people.
For promotional CD's or booking, please email Donald Merckle or Eva Thompson at LNJohnny@aol.com or call 803-787-5843 for Donald, or 803-254-7389 for Eva.
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