For the first time in over a decade, I’m looking into being part of a new band. I’m not sure if it’s some kind of mid-life crisis or just that I really miss it, but I think I’m going to give it another shot just to have some fun. So I thought it might be interesting to blog the developments here, but what good would that be without telling you a little of my musical history? (The short version, of course).

Music has always been a big part of my life. I have many fond memories of being a small kid and just sitting in front of the radio for hours listening to whatever came out of it. At that time, it was mostly stuff like Led Zeppelin, Wings, Elton John, and loads of other classics from the 1970’s.

Growing up, I picked up a thing or two on my own but never really got good at any one instrument. I remember being in second grade and using an old coffee can with a pair of drumsticks my mother gave me to try and learn drums. Then as time went on, in school they’d give you practice pads, which were just pieces of wood with a rubber slab stuck to the top of them. They weren’t terribly exciting and in hindsight, I think it discouraged me. I would have done better with a small drum kit. I wanted to make noise, not learn rudiments. I was a small kid listening to Kiss and Led Zeppelin on the radio, not a kid being primed for drum & bugle corps.

My mother tried sending me for piano lessons but I didn’t have the discipline to sit and practice. She also sent me for drum lessons but lo and behold, they gave me another practice pad to learn on and I didn’t like that. I was impatient as a kid, I guess. I wanted to play drums, not a piece of wood.

I got a guitar and took a few guitar lessons a few years later but again, no discipline - but I did learn chords and some other useful things that I never forgot. So after a few years of tinkering, I got my first real drum kit for $40 at a garage sale somewhere in northern NJ. It was a white no-name brand but it must have been from an old big band or something. The shells were real wood and it had that look and sound, which was great. I fixed up a few broken parts and set to work learning every song I could.

I’d sit in the basement (which was my room) with the stereo blasting and play along with everything I possibly could. In short, I taught myself drums by listening and mimicking the parts. It worked for me and it stuck. I didn’t know anyone else who could play anything so it was just me and the drums for a few years. But I was learning every day and getting better, which meant a lot to me at the time.

Before I joined a band, I just did small “as needed” jobs like playing for a school mass or a student group presentation. It wasn’t until the late 1980’s that I actually joined my first band.

The late 80’s was filled with what we now call “poser” rock or “hair bands.” Some of them were OK if you really stripped the tunes down but some of them were just horrible. The band I was in was not a glam or poser band, thank goodness. We didn’t wear make-up or lick the guitars.

The band was called Masquerade and I can’t really give you a good description of what we sounded like. At times we sounded like Iron Maiden but at times we sounded like Great White. We did original metal tunes with the occasional cover of “Johnny B. Goode” thrown in for good measure. All in all, it was a fun few years and a good time. I think all that practice drumming downstairs really paid off with this band because I could just let loose.

We always had trouble keeping a bass player. We’d rotate them in and out like the drummers in Spinal Tap. Other than that, the lineup pretty much stayed the same. There was Mike (singer), Kenny and Elio (guitars), myself (drums), and the rotating bass players. The one we kept the longest was named Danny and to be honest I don’t remember many of the others. One of them reminded me of Mick Mars. Good times.

We played a few gigs back in the day, mostly at a place called Studio One on the Newark/Belleville border. We’d open up for the flavor of the week bands who somehow got signed to major labels in the days when the companies would sign a metal band and let them play rock star for a year while they took all the money. I can’t remember them all but some of the bands we played on the same night with were bands you probably don’t remember or never heard of like Circus of Power, Sons of Angels, and more… man, I really can’t recall the others. It’s been a while.

The group disbanded and I think they regrouped again afterwards without me but that didn’t last. There was no animosity, we just agreed to stop playing because it wasn’t fulfilling our needs or something like that. We didn’t play out more than once a month and it was getting stagnant. My friend Elio went on to play with a band called Chyna and enjoyed some local success. He left that band and I haven’t seen him in a while so I’m not sure where he is now. I don’t know what happened to the other guys.

All this time I was working in either a record store somewhere or Robbie’s Music City in Wayne selling instruments. While at Robbie’s, I met a number of people with whom I’d collaborate over the years. Some of them were putting a band together in the early 90’s that went through a few name changes but ultimately ended up being known as The Many because there were a bunch of members, I guess.

When I joined as a percussionist (not a drummer) there were already 7 or so members, making me 8. There were three horns, guitar/bass, keys, drums, and percussion. It was a really nice big sound but we couldn’t get everyone together to practice regularly. Therefore, when we had a gig the horns were slightly off or some other such problem. Bands that big have to be tight.

Nonetheless, we played a few fun gigs and had some fun. It was at this point I met Chris Preston whom I would soon be playing with in another band I’d join. He was the songwriter behind the songs of The Many and when he decided to leave, the band just didn’t stick it out. Some of the guys just went off in their own directions but Chris decided he wanted to start a power trio with me and one of his old friends Nelson Pyles. This power trio eventually became known as The Automatics, another all-original song playing band in a state that wanted nothing to do with them.

Chris Preston is a really talented songwriter and we took a couple of songs we knew from the previous band and reworked them as a trio, along with some new material which was always coming in from both Chris and Nelson with the occasional Lou tune in there.

The songs sounded great and I think I was playing at my best. I was using my drums as more than just something to keep a beat with. All my influences came into play. At times I was as loud and deep as John Bonham, other times I was as fast and diverse as Stewart Copeland, and at other times I was as crafty as Phil Collins.Each song really took on a life of its own and when Nelson and Chris switched from guitar to bass or vice versa (they played both) the whole dynamic would change. It really helped us generate a good sound that kept changing, even during a set.

The Automatics was probably the best band I’ve played in to date and I have to admit, I really do miss playing those songs. I thought they were well crafted and fun to play. There were a couple I’d call “filler” or some that were not as exciting as others. They tended to bring a set to a grinding halt. But they were still good songs and we colored them nicely with our individual styles.

We played some great gigs and did some really ambitious stuff for a trio. We played indoor and outdoor gigs using our own PAs, we were featured on the radio a few times on WDHA’s Homegrown Spotlight and one Christmas on the Rocky Allen Showgram, performing live. We even did a traffic jingle for that radio show which we recorded in my basement.

It was a good time all around.

Chris disbanded the group, for reasons he really didn’t disclose to me fully, I suspect. It just ended, he picked up his gear, and that was that. He’s still in the NJ area as far as I know, and Nelson moved away to PA, I believe.

That was the last time I played with a full band.

However, I did play some acoustic gigs after that with a good friend and also a former Robbie’s Music employee, Steve Savona, who has been playing with his band now called The Collapse Method for a good number of years (and as many name changes). He was interested in playing some acoustic gigs on the side with me and I gladly obliged since I was looking to get out from behind the drum kit for a long time.

Steve and I played a few small gigs, one at a bar at Willowbrook Mall which was a lot of fun, actually. We played originals by the two of us plus an Arlo Guthrie tune and I actually had the balls to play a solo tune, Juliana Hatfield’s Ugly. Somehow I pulled it off. Another time, Steve couldn’t make a gig so I turned to my old friend, another former Robbie’s Music employee and member of The Many, Brian Csencsits, and we played the acoustic gig together.

Even when I was in The Automatics, I sang lead on a tune from time to time and once, when Nelson couldn’t make a gig, Chris and I did an entire acoustic set with just him and I on two guitars in Hoboken, NJ. I really loved that show, even though there were only about 10 people there. It proved to me that I could get out there and do it. I really enjoyed being up front for a change and I even tried recording a few tunes in Brian’s studio. I had made my own demos before but Brian had some great gear and I think he now works in a studio of his own, though I haven’t talked to him in a long time.

Over the years, I’ve dabbled with this and that, played on a demo here and there, but The Automatics was the last real band I was in. Now, here I am almost a decade later and ready to do it all again. This time, however, the idea is to have fun, first and foremost.

I decided to post a message on a NJ musician forum with a full description (vision) of what I want the band to be like. If you picture Wings circa 1976 (re: Rockshow and Wings Over America) then you’ll get the idea. We’ll probably end up playing covers at first and integrate originals into the line up as we go. Once it sounds good, we’ll take it to the next level and play out.

As of now, I’ve met with some of the guys and talked to the others via email and they all seem interested. I’ll be singing and playing backup guitar, we have two lead/rhythm guitarists, a bass player, keyboardist, and drummer. Some of the guys also play other instruments like sax so we’ll be switching off instruments whenever possible. It looks like fun and I’ll keep posting developments here.

If you’re from northern NJ and you’re interested in perhaps helping out or being in the band, just let me know by posting a comment below and I’ll get back to you.

I don’t know what it’ll be called or even if it’ll work out in the end, but this post marks the beginning of a new phase in my so called musical history and I’m pretty excited about it.

Stay tuned for more updates as they happen…