saturn Posted November 30, 2014 Share Posted November 30, 2014 I'll start (obviously) The What began sometime in 1994 as just myself and a drummer/singer jamming together, grew into this big weekly jam session of all kinds of people who played any kind of instrument. Most of us all worked at BWI airport and I guess word got around about these jam sessions. We somehow settled on a core of 6 of us, and got a pretty good repertoire of mostly classic rock and some contemporary songs down. Well the holidays were approaching and we all agreed it would be cool to throw a big party and have the band play. So we planned it and spread the word. One of the guys wives (who also worked with us) came up with the band name....SPANKER and made up some pretty cool posters and flyers. Where we jammed at the drummers house was just a big unfinished basement, and we just ran some Christmas lights around the whole area for some ambiance. It was a raging success with the house overflowing people. Another guy even brought his DJ equipment and set up upstairs while the band played in the basement. Our first paying gig was at a little place in Fells Point called Adriane's Bookstore Cafe. All 6 of us somehow got our drums, amps, keyboards etc. up this narrow flight of stairs to the top floor of this small coffee shop. Again, the airport crowd came out in droves and I doubt that little cafe ever had so many people crammed in there at once. But SPANKER disintegrated not long after another gig at the same place. I know some of you guys can really write well, so I want to read some detailed stories of yours. B) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brc Posted November 30, 2014 Share Posted November 30, 2014 When we first formed our group it was 1960 and we called ourselves the "Reverbs". In so Ca. surf music was all the rage, so we at first played a lot of the surf music of the day. Our first paying gig was for an opening of a movie theater in La Mirada Ca. We cut our first record playing the surf sounds, but our record producer told us he felt the surf sound was on the way out, and he was right. We met our new manager, changed our name and started writing a lot of our own material. He had us booked all over the Hollywood area, and we met a lot of influential people in the record industry Our manager opened a lot of doors for us, and we had a great run for almost 9 years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marshall Paul Posted November 30, 2014 Share Posted November 30, 2014 1978, SpearHead, high school dance. Lead guitarist. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlie brown Posted November 30, 2014 Share Posted November 30, 2014 "The Assassins" 1964 High School Prom Night dance, in a neighboring community. We were (for that time) the only "Rock & Roll" band, in the area! Certainly, the only one of our age! Fairly well "geared up," as well, for a HS group...guitar (1964 Fender Strat..which I still own), Bass (Gibson EB-0), Drums (Ludwig Black Pearl) Amps Fender Bassman with (2) 2X12 cabinets, and Bandmaster w/1 2X12 cabinet. PA was whatever was available, at the venue, so they varied from decent, to woefully inadequate. But, hey...that was Rock and Roll, back then! CB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cookieman15061 Posted November 30, 2014 Share Posted November 30, 2014 I was 15 and rhythm guitar player for Purple Haze. I know pretty original huh? We played a sweet 16 party and as I recall our set list contained mostly Chuck Berry, BTO, Beatles and deep purple. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyK Posted November 30, 2014 Share Posted November 30, 2014 Bleeding Hearts - our first gig was a band competition at college. We did four songs: two self-penned, plus Purple Haze and Ice Cream Man (Van Halen). Line up was two guitars, bass and drums - I was also lead singer. I think I still had my 60s AC30 at that time, with an Aria Pro II guitar. Our lead guitarist was a guy called Greg Young, who I thought was really talented. We were robbed - came second. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
surfpup Posted November 30, 2014 Share Posted November 30, 2014 Wish I could remember! Excluding high school jazz band and chorus gigs it would have to have been a high school dance or party and it would have to have been 1981 or so. Our band was The Distractions. We played power poppy new wave stuff mostly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edlo Posted November 30, 2014 Share Posted November 30, 2014 I'll start (obviously) The What began sometime in 1994 as just myself and a drummer/singer jamming together, grew into this big weekly jam session of all kinds of people who played any kind of instrument. Most of us all worked at BWI airport and I guess word got around about these jam sessions. We somehow settled on a core of 6 of us, and got a pretty good repertoire of mostly classic rock and some contemporary songs down. Well the holidays were approaching and we all agreed it would be cool to throw a big party and have the band play. So we planned it and spread the word. One of the guys wives (who also worked with us) came up with the band name....SPANKER and made up some pretty cool posters and flyers. Where we jammed at the drummers house was just a big unfinished basement, and we just ran some Christmas lights around the whole area for some ambiance. It was a raging success with the house overflowing people. Another guy even brought his DJ equipment and set up upstairs while the band played in the basement. Our first paying gig was at a little place in Fells Point called Adriane's Bookstore Cafe. All 6 of us somehow got our drums, amps, keyboards etc. up this narrow flight of stairs to the top floor of this small coffee shop. Again, the airport crowd came out in droves and I doubt that little cafe ever had so many people crammed in there at once. But SPANKER disintegrated not long after another gig at the same place. I know some of you guys can really write well, so I want to read some detailed stories of yours. B) 1965 Bishop Loughlin HS we rocked our high school that night. Our band name was the Riverias. We played mostly Beatles and Stones etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milod Posted November 30, 2014 Share Posted November 30, 2014 1962, no-name high school band playing at a high school dance. We were "it" for school dances the rest of my senior year. It actually had started out to be a student-run "big band," but actually showing up for practice seemed more than most guys wanted to do. (All boys school.) So those of us sticking with it figured out enough book to make it through a dance with 50's and early '60s rock and pop/standards. m Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlie brown Posted November 30, 2014 Share Posted November 30, 2014 Yeah, we played "Kingsmen," Motown, and mostly, "British Invasion" stuff, as it was later called. CB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saturn Posted November 30, 2014 Author Share Posted November 30, 2014 It seems I was a little later in age for my first band. Most everyone else seems to have been in high school. Keep 'em comin'. I know rct has to have a good story too. B) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PingPongBob Posted November 30, 2014 Share Posted November 30, 2014 Steve's Band. That was the first "real band" I was in. Steve was our new drummer and he had a gig already booked at a club. We didn't have time to make up a name, so the club printed flyers advertising "Steve's Band". lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karloff Posted December 1, 2014 Share Posted December 1, 2014 We called ourselves ATLANTIS. We were a 4 piece. 2 guitars, bass & drums. I was 15, the other 3 were 18. It was 1975 at a little local bar called the Saddle Club. We each got $25 and all the draft beer we could drink. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marshall Paul Posted December 1, 2014 Share Posted December 1, 2014 We called ourselves ATLANTIS. We were a 4 piece. 2 guitars, bass & drums. I was 15, the other 3 were 18. It was 1975 at a little local bar called the Saddle Club. We each got $25 and all the draft beer we could drink. How goods that! All of 15, playing guitar in your first band, playing little bars, and all the beer you can drink? Careful Boris, this is how Keith Richards got started... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tman Posted December 1, 2014 Share Posted December 1, 2014 Very first band was called "the Unfinished Product" Myself and my best friend Timmy, a drummer. 1972, 6th grade talent show in Jacksonville, Arkansas. Played Have You Ever Seen the Rain, by Creedence. Just me and him. No bass. I sang. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
'Scales Posted December 1, 2014 Share Posted December 1, 2014 Local pub a couple of years back. Most of the band playing first ever gig with average age over 50 (I am the 'baby' of the group by some margin...) Rock/RnB covers from 60's and 70's. Three weeks prior I was asked to play bass as the regular guy was overseas. My only concerns were that I'd never played a bass in my life, never even heard of many of the songs, and had had carpal tunnel surgery on fretting hand a week or so prior. Many lessons were learned that day, the first of which was how stupid it is to play the first song of your first set as a sound check - then play again as first song of first set a couple of minutes later... not a good look. Played 2 long sets and got a hamburger and 3 beer tickets each - supplemented by members of the crowd bringing up trays of beers which probably contributed to some of the learnings of the day - a great time had by all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyingfrets Posted December 1, 2014 Share Posted December 1, 2014 Nightfall. High School. 1974 - 75 or so. Actually a damned good band. After HS, a couple of the guys morphed into one the better known local bands, and the rest of us individually ended up joining other successful working bands in the area. Y'know - back when pubs, bars & inns actually had live music most nights. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karloff Posted December 1, 2014 Share Posted December 1, 2014 How goods that! All of 15, playing guitar in your first band, playing little bars, and all the beer you can drink? Careful Boris, this is how Keith Richards got started... lol, oh yea. "Top of the world ma !" lol. you can only imagine how great it was for me, like you said, to just be 15 and playing out in a bar, getting paid & free beers... led me down the road to ruin it did,,, lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marshall Paul Posted December 1, 2014 Share Posted December 1, 2014 And what a happy road it is too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milod Posted December 1, 2014 Share Posted December 1, 2014 As to karloff's "road to ruin..." Yeah, it was indeed great fun for a kid. More fun for a single 20-something in ways because there was more in my wallet. At my age, though... it's sad to see the number of really talented kids I played music with who ain't with us any more. I think most of the folks I played music with in the 60s and 70s are gone. Others haven't gigged in 40-plus years in spite of "success" as everything from weekend warriors to making some major label "albums." I'm awfully lucky to be in pretty decent health for my age, and still qualified as a "workaholic" some few months ahead of the Biblical "three score and ten" we're allotted. But I do think that's due to far more luck and lucky genes than prudence on my part. I can't forget a phone call in the early '90s from a kid I played music with in my first really decent rock band who lived some 1,500 miles and 30 years away. He didn't say so, but he was dying - and he was a cupla years younger than I was. He was gone in a cupla months I found out later. It's not that our friends will pass on before we do, though, that struck me. That happens to us all as we age, some more than others and from a myriad of causes. In this case, I think he was just touching base with his past before going on to a great unknown; and the music and those he'd played music with were the unchanging thread of his life. There certainly are other "lifestyles" that have special and mostly good memories of those we worked or shared recreation time with, but I think playing music with others is somehow a special instance in a unique way. Each of those "special relationships" has its own rationale, emotion and reasons, but there it is in music, and mostly with smiling recollections. On the other hand... I wonder too about folks who always figured they wanted to play music, if only for their own enjoyment at home, but never took the step. m Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marshall Paul Posted December 1, 2014 Share Posted December 1, 2014 Wish I could remember! Excluding high school jazz band and chorus gigs it would have to have been a high school dance or party and it would have to have been 1981 or so. Our band was The Distractions. We played power poppy new wave stuff mostly. (lol). for me, if I could only now just remember the 70's I'd probably have some great memories! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimi Mac Posted December 1, 2014 Share Posted December 1, 2014 Absolutely! My first band was "The Whiskey Lake Review" Did an open-mic gig that was put on by a large area college radio DJ/Program; Blue Bill in the late 1980's, from UMASS Amherst at a place called L'Oasis in downtown Northampton MA. The place was part of a parcel of buildings that was later torn-down for the parking garage in downtown Noho and no longer exists... In fact I have a pic. Me and my new Torino Red American Standard Strat circa 1989. I woulda been 21... The story is we went up there with some goofy long name like; The Whiskey-town lake Blues Review." The Host announced us and arbitrarily shortened it up to; "The Whiskey Lake Review." It sounded better so we let it stick and kept that name... The other bands did a standard 2 or 3 quick song set, the standard Sweet Home Chicago among others, and sounded rather professional to me. We simply did our instrumental "jam in G" and we got a Standing-O and were voted the best act of the night on my very first gig... It was magical! That song later became a staple of my band and was entitled "So Sad." Later I joined up with a girl from highschool that was a powerful singer; Susan Angeletti (Angeletti was a stage name) and she put lyrics to it and we copyrighted it together. I spent some time in her band before they went on the road and she ended up opening for and touring with Johnny Winter during the mid/late 1990's and the performed that song and recorded it on their band's 1st album. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
btoth76 Posted December 1, 2014 Share Posted December 1, 2014 Hello! My first and only gig was supposed to be at a festival organized for unknown young bands. The band I was playing lead guitar in was called "Ham&Eggz". We were playing Sabbath and Ozzy songs. It was in 1993, and the band couldn't appear at the show. The mom of the singer didn't let Him to attend. :D This is the most complete story of my career as a rock star. Cheers... Bence Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marshall Paul Posted December 1, 2014 Share Posted December 1, 2014 It was in 1993, and the band couldn't appear at the show. The mom of the singer didn't let Him to attend. Too funny! Just like Detroit Rock City. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
btoth76 Posted December 1, 2014 Share Posted December 1, 2014 It was in 1993, and the band couldn't appear at the show. The mom of the singer didn't let Him to attend. Too funny! Just like Detroit Rock City. It was better for everyone this way. :D Cheers... Bence Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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