First names and 5 tunes

First band was R&T Unltd, which was Jeff Rona on flute and Bill Turner on Piano - hence the R&T - and I somehow rounded out the trio. Earliest songs were recent & classic songs - Fire & Rain, Imagine, Spinning Wheel, Classical Gas, Take Five. I have a recording of our very first get together on 9/1/71. We had some people come in & out of the group and later with a bass player, we tied for first in the combo division of the L.A. County Battle of the Bands at the Hollywood Bowl. A pretty big deal for us in 1974 at age 18 and younger! Various members also recorded songs that we sent to Dr. Demento which got airplay (and ultimately led to my being interviewed and meeting Weird Al in 1980.)

They gave me my first experience with odd time signatures. Sure I knew Take Five, but then they pulled Heaven On Their Minds from Jesus Christ Superstar, which has a section in 7/4. I probably also have a recording of that as it fell apart while we were playing!

Drums were my relatively new Ludwig Standard kit in blue mist, probably using the Ludwig Paiste cymbals that came with them.

Jeff Rona went on to score music for movies and TV, and was also on the committee at Roland that invented MIDI.
 
1971-1975
Mr. Wrinkle.
Rick (keys) , Bruce (bass) , Rick (lead) , Tom (rhythm, vocals) , Me (shells) .
71 right? till 75. (2 of those fellas are still playing in the same format)
I went another way.
Our sets back then were

Street Corner Talkin- Savoy Brown
Going To Mexico- S Miller
Voodoo Child- Rick's feature
Crossroads- Cream
Down So Long- Doors
Whiter Shade Of Pale- Rick's B3
Freddie King- Help Me Thru The Day
Allmans- Whipping Post
Santana- Taboo, Black magic Woman, Ain't Got Nobody To depend On.

in 73: At a Lounge - next town over- the exact bar where Tommy James and the Shondells were formed (LO no kidding...


- like I said Tom (Vocals) and Rick (keys) still perform this way- Called Tom Bielek and The Sharks. I have moved other directions completely from 78 on.

one of our last gigs we had worked up "21st Century Schizoid Man" King Crimson and we played it one gig in 1975 before I left for Boston Berklee. Played it at the Red Top Lounge new Alex.

Sorry ta bore ya : )


Steve Miller: "Pack My Bags" Going To Mexico!

drums were: bot new in sept 71.

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ain't going back! tyvm

DeJohnette forever
 
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Rob
Todd
Jack
And myself

TNT - Seven Seas
Motley Crüe - Live Wire
Whitesnake - Love aint no Stanger
Metallica - For Whom the Bell Tolls
Accept - Head Over Heels

Back then I played a chrome over wood Slingerland set, and Zildjian cymbals. It was my 2nd "real" drum set. We played all 70s and 80s hard rock/hair band material.
 
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this was high school (for me freshman) band.
There was a grade school band- you wanna hear about that one? Up to 8th Grade? That was called Strange Daze,
That Was Bill on Binson keyboard (He has passed) Larry on Bass, Bob on Guitar, Me on Drums. I think the very first gigs (2) we used mine and bobs drums - both Ludwig- together. That was 69-70.
5 songs from Strange Daze Hollies Uriah Heep Alice Cooper - one by Capt Beefhart an older harmonica player wanted us to do and we attempted.

this picture below and the story in post above is technically 2nd band. Mr. Wrinkle. My high school age band. 1971-1975

"Mr. Wrinkle" in all their promo glory- standing outside "La-Ja-13" 1971/2 South Greensburg,

Mr. Wrinkle 002.JPG

what a fine cast of deviants. kidding;
Bruce (bass Rickenbacker) , Rick (B3) , Me (Prems) , Tom (rhythm+vocals) , other Rick (Lead) ;
all still alive (+/-)...I'm 17 there.
"Glass Harp" were the happening thing.

Evolution's real.
Always Evolve "Zoid (y)

 
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The Hummers, 1985-86:
Chris
Chris
Ian
Kyle
Me
and on keys some freshman one of the Chrises knew but who never spoke and whose name I can't even remember but who was probably the best player in the band

Lou Reed—"Walk on the Wild Side" (great song, bad choice)
INXS—"What You Need" (the others liked it but I was never an INXS fan, alas)
Phil Collins—"In the Air Tonight" (Chris had a cool drum machine)
John Mellencamp—"R.O.C.K. in the USA" (I was a Mellencamp fan at the time and I still didn't like this one)
Richard Berry/The Kingsmen—"Louie Louie"

What a strange group of songs. And memory is always dubious, but 35+ years later, I'm pretty sure our version of "Louie Louie" was no kidding absolutely kickass.
 
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1990
Eric - vocals
Dan -drums
Carol - bass (she could sing just like Geddy Lee!)
Me - guitar

Dokken - tooth and nail (we did a bunch of Dokken, I worshiped George Lynch)
Van Halen - aint talkin 'bout love
GnR - welcome to the jungle
Ozzy - crazy babies
Tesla - modern day cowboy

We were the merger of the remaining members of two cover bands who had lost members. My band was metal, and the other band had been classic rock.
We compromised and settled on a modern hard rock format, somewhat centered around my guitar style and Eric's fantastic voice. We did some classic rock too, but I insisted it be reasonably "heavy" like Aerosmith, Sabbath, and Zeppelin.

There were several bands with "band rooms" in the storage place we used. On my spare time I would walk around the corner to the prog rock band's room and play Rush songs with them on drums when their drummer wasn't there. We all just jammed on Rush tunes from memory, it was amazing.
 
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No Name Band 1991. Junior year of high school.

Jason - Guitar and vocals. Heard he's an Orthopedic Surgeon now.
Brett - Lead guitar. Went to LA after HS to make it big. Never heard from him again.
Jamie - Drums. Moved away after HS and lost touch.
Abe - Lead Vocals. Still my best friend.
Me - Bass and vocals.

Poison - Talk Dirty To Me
Black Crowes - Hard To Handle
Faith No More - Epic
Zeppelin - Stairway
Sabbath - War Pigs
 
God, I was probably ten or eleven.

Band name: Chelsea

Members:
Peter: piano and vocals
Martin: bass
Kimmy: flute, tambourine, vocals

Songs:
Queen: We Will Rock You. We had no guitar so it was just me on drums and everybody singing and we ended with a drum solo.
Ramones: I Wanna Be Well; Teenage Lobotomy; Sheena is a Punk Rocker
The Animals: It's My Life

These all sounded atrocious because we were very young and no one could really play their instruments and we didn't have a guitar player. We only practiced maybe 4 or 5 times. But a few years later, I got into a "real" band that played some gigs and stuff.
 
Prophecy: 1985-1993ish
Andy - guitar
Aaron - guitar and vocals
Jim - (me) bass and vocals
Jeremy - drums and vocals

we did all originals in the vein of Maiden, Queensryche, Ratt, Angel Witch, Fates Warning, Lizzie Borden, Anthrax, Dio etc....

we would sometimes learn covers to entertain our selves at practice, but never played them live. To us back then, covers were what "old washed up guys did".

We are all still great friends, a family really, and all still live within a mile or two of each other. We played our first show ever on Friday Dec 19th, 1985 - the first Friday of Christmas Break. It became a tradition for us to get together that weekend for the past 20 years and have a weekend of "arrested development". We play through the old originals set list - all 60 of them - then head to White Castles and get a ton of Sliders to take back to the house, and then we watch either Spinal Tap, Caddyshack, Fast Times at Ridegmont High or some other movie from back in the day. Afterwards, we listen to music and end up falling asleep in the basement of Jeremy's house. He bought his parents house from them, so it is literally the same basement we used to practice in.

That band formed all of our lives, more than anything else. I became a music major/teacher because of stuff I learned in that band. I am currently teaching Jeremy's younger son in high school. Jeremy and I were best men at each others weddings.

I was lucky to have been in that band with those guys!!!
 
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Athens, GA, 1989 with Bruce on keys, Tony on lead guitar, and Tim on rhythm guitar and vocals.

Should I Stay or Should I Go - The Clash
Just Like Heaven - The Cure
I'm Down - Beatles
Paint it Black - Rolling Stones
No Feelings - Sex Pistols
Just a Touch - REM
 
Tommy on drums, Tor AAge on bass and me on guitar and vocals.

Before You Accuse Me
Honky Tonk Women
Runing on Faith
Lay Down Sally
Sunshine of Your Love

The second year the threw all the old tunes out and played only AC/DC.
 
First names of the friends in your very first band
J.
J.
N.

and 5 tunes on your song list.
You wouldn't know them because we did all originals (Contemporary Christian Music).


Do you miss those days?..
The only thing I miss is how idealistic I was about what I was doing. We got to open for some big-ish names in the CCM industry at the time which was exciting then. I made friends that I'm still in touch with today, and this was between 25-30 years ago.


what was your kit like.
Early 1990s Tama Rockstar. Sounded horrid, but I thought it was the best drum kit in the world.


Any personality standouts?. Tell me about it.
Not really.
 
First band: Green Rye Telephone Bread.

"Gloria"
"House of the Rising Sun"
"Jumpin Jack Flash"
"No Sugar Tonight"

That's all I recall

It was just a basement band. I used gold sparkle Stewarts
 
Mid 1967, Flushing Queens NY. Lenny- guitar , Danny - Guitar, and me (Aldo) on Drums. No name was ever established. 3 Amigos at Flushing HS who just picked up those instruments , learning as we went along. Danny had a basement in his house which housed our equipment. I don't recall the name of my drum set (we called them drum sets not kits in those days). But it was purchased with my own $$$$$ at the local Music/Record store where I took 10 lessons or so. Lenny was lead singer, Danny and I pitched i !! Ha Ha... First song we learned and played was a cornball tune : Tammy. Then graduated to : In The Midnight Hour, We Gotta Get Outta This Place, Gloria, My Girl. After June 1969, HS Graduation, we went on tom play a little longer through the summer and then we all went separate ways. Living in an apartment with parents, I had no room for Drums. Then after a 50 Year Hiatus [1969]. in 2019 I have returned and resurrected playing drums for pleasure at home as a retirement Hobby.
 
1981, the band was called Revolver, myself, Jim, Lester and Walter. We all went to school together, we learned together and started in high school. Lasted about 3 years. Jim still plays, and is one of the most sought after bass players in our area. Lester plays with his brother at church regularly. We've lost touch with Walter. I stopped playing after this group split up, came back to playing 20 years later, we're working most every weekend now, and I'm loving every minute of it.

We played lots of Beatles, Stones, etc when we started. Ended up with quite a diverse setlist, especially for young (at the time) kids.

5 songs? Let's cover some ground...some of my favorites:
U2 - I Will Follow
The Who - Shakin' All Over
Pretenders - Mystery Achievement
Jimi Hendrix - All Along The Watchtower
Talking Heads - Life During Wartime

Fun times
 

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I didn't have any input into the first band I was in. None of the music nor name. Even the drums were someone else's choice. I was along for the ride as a new drummer. And that start is why I still drum. Two of us still play in bands.

The guy singing was first to bail. He was just doing it because he was looking to hang. He went back to watching the tv show Living Color. He stays home mostly, still.
The bass player bailed hard when he got a steady girlfriend. Boom. Gone. None of his friends ever liked her, so at least she wasn't around to see. The replacement bass player is still gigging a bunch as a hired gun. The lead guitarist he brought in still jams but they never get to the gigging level for some reason.
 
First band I ever gigged with was a Blackpool UK rock band I joined in 1990 called Torn & Frayed:

Dan - vocals
Ash - guitar
Crud - guitar
Andy - Bass
Al - drums

We did originals written by the other guys and covered amongst others:

Aerosmith - Draw the line/Train kept a rollin’
Black Crowes - Thick and thin
AC/DC - Rock and Roll damnation
Lords of the New Church - Method to our Madness
The Rolling Stones - Brown Sugar

I was 18 and had just upgraded to a white pearl 7 piece Trak double bass kit (4 up, 1 down) before joining the band. The kit was the main reason I got the gig I reckon (my hair hadn’t grown out properly yet so I was the least “cool” looking member of the band)! :ROFLMAO:

I always look back on playing with those guys with great fondness. Dan the singer left and we were treading water for a bit. I bailed to join a Preston band shortly after which is something I ultimately regretted.

Andy the bass player was my rhythm buddy and all round top lad. I tried to get him to play on an album I was recording in 1997 but unfortunately life had gotten a hold of him by then and he just didn’t have the time to do it.

I’d play in a band with Andy tomorrow if he asked me to!:D(y)
 
Not the first band, but the third and best of the three from high school: Mike, Allen, Jim, Gerry and yours truly. We cut a 45 in a crummy recording studio in autumn '67 that's become infamous among collectors of 60's garage rock.

Five songs:

Rolling Stones, "Empty Heart"
Yardbirds-"Shapes Of Things"
Animals-"Hey Gyp"
Steppenwolf-"Born To Be Wild"
Vanilla Fudge-"You Keep Me Hangin' On"
 
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