They're an iconic rock band with a career spanning more than five decades.
The band America has released more than 50 albums and had five number-one singles, including A Horse With No Name and Sister Golden Hair.
While everyone knows the band’s music, most people don’t know the band.
Gerry Beckley, Dewey Bunnell, and Dan Peek were American teenagers living in London because their fathers were in the military. In 1970, they formed the band. Peek left several years later, but Beckley and Bunnell continued as America.
"Well, we of course had no idea about the numbers we would end up logging (on tour). When you start, you're hoping for a couple years, maybe three," said Beckley.
"You can't really plan for something like this," added Bunnell. "This business can be fickle at times, but I think the fact that we wrote our own songs was always a key factor, so we have our own identity, and if they can find their way through the generations, lo and behold, here we are."
A group of Ojai-based filmmakers has produced a new documentary telling America's story.
"We have a deep respect for music that has permeated decades worth of audiences," said Jack Piatt, the producer of the new film, I Need You: 53 Years of the Band America.
"This band is kind of ubiquitous as far as their catalog (of music). Still, after all these years...50-plus years, you can ask a 20, a 21-year-old kid if they know one of the songs, and they know the song. This film, beyond just celebrating the legacy of the music, is about brotherhood. It's about these two guys that have been playing together for 50-plus years that are still friends. They still call each other every day."
He added that it's a rarity in a field where bands break up regularly, or musicians will perform together but barely talk to each other once they step off the stage.
David Breschel and Dustin Elm directed the documentary. Breschel said going into the project, they almost saw it as a comedic 'bromance.'
"Beyond the music, who really are these guys, and how are they feeling, and what is it really like to live your entire life on the road?" asked Breschel. "That's why we called it I Need You. It's really this love story between these two guys who've known each other since high school, and have had a relationship that lasts longer than most marriages," said Breschel.
He said the two men are rock stars but don't smash their instruments onstage. Or trash their hotel rooms. Breschel said they're the first rock stars he's ever met who actually make their beds while on tour in the morning!
Speaking to KCLU News during a visit to Ojai, Beckley and Bunnell talked about why they think people still know their music, and enjoy it half a century later.
"I remember saying this even when we were much younger, you don't know what the songs that are going to be around 20 years from now," said Beckley. "You can guess what's got all the classic elements, but only time will tell. We watched this unfold over decades because our music stayed on the air and stayed in use in commercials and movies, and it didn't go away. It became the soundtrack to more than our generation."
"The career itself had peaks and valleys," Bunnell added. "We were down and out, and the shows got smaller, but the music seemed to have this timeless (element). It just stays young, and if ears want to hear it, the songs are there."
Since we’re in Ventura County, we had to ask Bunnell about his hit song Ventura Highway.
"I wrote that song based on a few family trips," said Bunnell. "My dad was in the Air Force, and we were stationed up at Vandenberg Air Force Base. We'd drive to LA on some weekends, and you'd go through Ventura. That stuck in my mind. It was really the word Ventura that stuck in my mind, I think. I wrote it when we were in England, just basically drawing on those memories from back in 1963."
Beckley retired from touring last year, but Bunnell is still on the road as the last original and performing member of America. It threw a twist into the documentary because the filmmakers thought they were almost done with it when they learned that the duo's touring days were ending. They'd also used up their funding for the project. After a scramble to raise more money, they finished the documentary.
The Ojai filmmakers are showing I Need You: 53 Years Of The Band America on the film festival circuit. It's slated to be screened Saturday night at the TCL Chinese Theater in Hollywood as part of the Dances With Films Festival.
The filmmakers hope to have it available to the general public in theaters and streaming by the end of the year.
