Now the fun is about to start, a band in the area called "The
Loose Ends" called Novaks inquiring about drummers that might want to
audition. The Loose Ends liked the way I played "Wipe Out" and I
was in the band! ‘About a month later the lead singer went out and
bought mikes for everyone, he came over to me and put a mike on a make
shift stand and said "you are going to sing"….. I heard you
singing in the hallway, that was the start of my singing while playing
drums and I have had to do it ever since.
The Loose Ends went on to having managers and a recording contract only
to be broken up by the Vietnam draft. Our claim to fame was beating the
MC5 in a battle of the bands marathon that lasted a whole summer weekend.
One hundred bands participated and we came in fourth. The bass player for
The Loose Ends family owned a very popular music store in Mount Clemens
where I began to hang out. I stayed in the bass players basement to stay
close to the action, to pay room and board I would sit in for drummers who
wanted a vacation or where ill. This intense learning experience really
brought my drumming and singing to a higher level rapidly. It was really
great to be a part this very concentrated musical experience.
The Vietnam War took me away from the USA I was stationed at a base
camp along the east coast that consisted of several tents, chopper pads
etc. this camp was about two and a half miles radius. I drove a five and a
half ton truck most of the time. After about two months I heard what
sounded like a live band playing off in the distance! I walked for a while
and saw a four piece band playing on the bed of a troop transport. There
was about two hundred troops standing around listening, drinking beer and
pop. I sat down to listen and they where pretty good, doing old Chuck
Berry tunes. A friend of mine from California nicknamed "Tostie"
showed up and started yelling "hay, my friend here is a great drummer
let him sit in"…. Well Tostie was calling my bluff! Because he had
never heard me play. To my surprise they said "come on up
drummer" the drummer seemed really quiet, he just handed me the
sticks, and jumped off the truck and disappeared into the crowd. Well as
corny as this sounds, I started playing "Wipe Out" and I was the
drummer from then on. The drums belonged to the supply sergeant (doesn't
that figure vets?)…. So we played all around the base camps and in Da
Nang.
When I got back to the states I was even more hungry to make the
"big time" so I went to every dumb audition in the newspapers
(1970) I went through two agents and had nothing but bad luck! The studio
couldn't help because all the people I knew where gone. Finally I landed a
commercial gig with a duo, a Hammond X66 player that lasted about a year.
To help me learn this type of music I went down town to some obscure place
and took lessons using brushes and commercial theory. About this time some
of my former musical buddies started coming back from Nam, they called me
and we started a wedding band, it still wasn't what I wanted and THEN………
In 1974 I auditioned for this guitar band that did classic rock tunes
that only keyboard groups dared to do! Lee Phillips (lead guitar) played
so tightly with the rhythm guitarist (Bill Anderson) and the bass player
(Jim Dominick) put down such a tight bottom that it sounded like a large
group! Jim, the bass player had a real knack for picking very cool tunes
(and still does) anyway they liked the way I played and I was on to
another experience! We stayed together for about ten years and had to
break up for personal reasons.
About two years ago Lee called me and wanted to put the group back
together. In the meantime Bill Anderson had passed away and we wanted to
add a keyboard player and a lead singer .to the group. Well all this
clicked by adding April and Kurt and we now have a group that has a wider
coverage of material and really can do about anything there is to do!
Musical Influences:
All music really, but especially English Invasion and drummers that use
triplet patterns: Keith Moon, Ginger Backer.
Instruments.
That great Gretch sound for thirty years and now a eight piece Pearl
set with twelve cymbals
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