American guitarist Mike Pinera, who performed with Iron Butterfly, Alice Cooper and Blues Image, has passed away at 76 years of age. St Pete Catalyst reports that Tampa native Pinera, who wrote and sang the Top Ten single “Ride Captain Ride” as a member of Blues Image, died on November 20 after a long illness.
“Ride Captain Ride,” which is still in rotation on Classic Rock radio, reached #4 on the Billboard chart in 1970. It was the only hit for Blues Image, a popular Tampa band that re-located first to Miami, then to California upon signing to Atco Records in 1969.
Band founders Pinera, Mike Betematti (drums), Malcolm Jones (bass) and Joe Lala (percussion) met as students at Tampa’s Jefferson High School. Pinera had been part of the Impalas, the Motions and the El Dorados, teen garage bands.
Blues Image, thanks to the Cuba-born Lala, added Latin rhythms to its rock ‘n’ roll/blues mix. The band opened Tampa’s first “psychedelic” nightclub, Dino’s.
In 1969 Blues Image was support for Led Zeppelin at Miami’s ultra-hip Thee Image club, and Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page began a years-long friendship with Pinera. Page pronounced Blues Image, which by then included keyboard player Skip Conte, “the most dynamic sound in the country.”
After the collapse of Blues Image, Pinera joined Iron Butterfly (he appears on Metamorphosis, the group’s final charting album) and formed the band Ramatam with Mitch Mitchell, drummer for the Jimi Hendrix Experience.
He also formed the New Cactus Band and Thee Image, making records with each, and played with Alice Cooper for several years in the late 1970s and early ‘80s.
Read more at St Pete Catalyst.
