I got my first guitar Christmas 1965. It had been 22 months since the Beatles played the Ed Sullivan show, which had changed my life. Those 22 months seemed like an eternity, but I finally had a guitar. I was 12 years old. It was a nylon string classical guitar and I started taking classical lessons at the local music store in the suburbs of St. Louis, MO where I grew up. I didn’t really like classical music at the time but at 12 years old I just figured this is what I had to do to play like the Beatles. This lasted a year and a half. By the time I figured out you DID NOT have to play classical to play like the Beatles, the invaluable “damage” had been done. Even though I didn’t really like it I’m am so thankful of the foundation that those lessons provided.
At that point I met Norman Merritt in 8th grade. Norman had an electric guitar and somehow I borrowed one and he showed me a bunch of chords and songs. I didn’t know it at the time, but looking back now, I think I had a good amount of natural ability because I picked things up quickly. Soon after, maybe a month or two, my parents got me my first electric guitar, a Gibson SG Junior. They were very supportive of me and my younger brother Matt in our pursuit of music. (Matt was 2 years younger and started playing drums when I started guitar.) Matt and I started a band with Norman on guitar and vocals and another friend David Goldman on bass. We were called “The Tasmanian Devils”. By the end of the school year we won the junior high talent show (my brother was only in 6th grade and had to get excused from his elementary school that day to do the show with us). We played “The Last Time” by the Stones and “All Day and All of the Night” by the Kinks. Ironically 43 years later I’m still doing “The Last Time” with Jumping Jack Flash! The Taz Devils stayed together through the 9th grade with a new bass player, playing rec center teen dances and partys. Our first paid gig was a party for a bunch of 6th and 7th grade girls for $40, $10 a guy! Wow, that was cool!
When I started highschool in 10th grade the first band Matt and had I together was “Orange Trash” with our next door neighbor Mark on bass. (the room in our basement that we practiced in had orange carpet and orange décor and was aptly named “the Orange Room”, so 60s, thus, “Orange Trash”)This was my first trio and my first attempt at singing lead. This was also the start of my lifelong love affair with the music of Jimi Hendrix. The first album had just come out and we were already doing Purple Haze, Fire , and Manic Depression. That band was short lived (I was having a hard time trying to sing and play increasingly more complicated music at the same time.)
Through highschool, sports got top bill in my life even though Matt and I were always jamming together even if it was just the 2 of us. Senior year I was the guitarist in the school jazz band, Matt was the drummer, and our 2nd bass player in the Taz Devils was on bass. In one memorable moment Norman showed up at one of our concerts and the band director let him sit in and the 4 ex “Devils” did a few songs together. It had been 2 ½ years but we easily remembered the songs.
After highschool, I did some traveling on my motorcycle, got a real job, got married at 19(!!!!!!!), had a son, started college part time, so guitar was on hold for a bit. When was 20, I auditioned and got the gig in my first night club band called “Central Blue”. They had been together for awhile and had lost one of their guitarists. This was a 5 piece band with 2 lead guitarists and an awesome singer that could sing anything! The year was 1973. This was the first band I had been in without my brother. He was on the East Coast where my family had moved in 1972 in his junior year. I was still in St.Louis. What a lucky break to get in an established band doing all the coolest rock music of the day! Led Zep, Deep Purple, Allman Bros, Humple Pie, Montrose, Ted Nugent, James Gang, we did it all! This was when I started to understand how guitar harmonies, and harmony in general worked. Also, I started to really make money with guitar, although not enough to quit my day job. We gigged almost every weekend. Central Blue lasted 2 years (seems longer than that), and I look back with fond memories and as a pivotal time in my development as a guitarist. Unfortunately, I have no pictures from that band.
Well the singer left for another band and we broke up in the fall of 1975. For the next few months I was jamming around town and then January ’76 I auditioned for “Candy”, a glam band. Spandex and platform shoes were “in”, so it looked like fun so I said “what the hell” and went for it. Candy played all the covers of that genre that were happening at the time: Bowie, Sweet, NY Dolls, Kiss, IggyPop, etc. I lasted until about September (it was fun while it lasted).
At that time my brother Matt moved back to St. Louis with bassist/vocalist Pete Harrigan in tow and we formed the trio H-Bomb. We all lived in the same band house and made just enough to survive! Oh, that house could tell some stories about the period from January ’77 through June ’78! Think the movie “Almost Famous”. Wild times indeed!
During this time, in June ’77, Matt and I and another friend came to So Cal on vacation for a week. While there I checked out the club scene, it was way more happening than what was going on in St. Louis. I made the decision right then that I was moving to So Cal. It took me a year.
In July ’78 I left St. Louis by myself pulling a U-Haul trailer with my gear and basic essentials. Three days later I was in Orange County and I went to the nightclub “Smokey Stovers” in Westminster (It was one of the clubs I had checked out the year before). The band “Slingshot” was playing. I started talking to the lead guitar player on a break and found out he needed a roommate! Cool! I had a place to stay. I moved in the next day. Then he told me of a band named “Hit ‘n’ Run” that was looking for a guitar player. I auditioned and got the gig! Okay, it is summer in OC, I just pulled into town and I got a gig and a place to stay! Pretty cool for a guy from the Midwest.
Hit ‘n’ Run was a really good 5 piece band and it was my first time with a keyboard player. Wow! We did Boston, Queen, Steely Dan, The Who, Kansas, Styx, etc, all stuff I had only dreamed about playing but couldn’t without a keyboardist. This was my first time trying to make it as a full time musician without a day job. I was making it, but barely. But hey, I was in CA and I didn't work days and was learning to surf. I was 25, life was good.
I was with Hit ‘n’ Run for a year and a half. The singer left in Nov ’79. We kept going a couple more months with a new singer then broke up at the beginning of the 80s.
The next 8 months were pretty rough. I was working as a doorman at one of the clubs I had played while in Hit ‘n’ Run that had turned into a showcase room for original bands only. It was called “Casablanca” and it was on Ball Road in Anaheim. I really wanted to get into an original band, so I was checking out all the bands that were playing the club, and not making very much money.
Nothing panned out and then in August my buddies from Slingshot called and said they needed a lead guitar player and would I like to audition. I jumped on it. At the time Slingshot and another band Burlesque were the two heaviest working hottest cover bands in OC! I got the gig and was in Slingshot from Sept’80 through Jan ’84. During that time the band was peaking and we worked about 250 days a year! I was 27 and on top of the world! I played lead guitar and keys. It was during this time that I really took off as a guitarist.
Well about spring of ’83 our lead singer moved back to Fl and we broke up. (are you picking up on a pattern here?) Well the bass player Mirk convinced me to keep the band going so we hired my younger sister Jill as the lead singer, the previous lead guitarist before me, John, as the other guitar player, and a new drummer. We carried on like this for about a half year before officially ending in Jan ’84. This was the first time working with Jill but far from the last.
During my early years with my brother Matt, Jill was just a little girl but was watching her brothers from afar. During her teen years, I was already gone, so I wasn’t there while she was singing to Heart and Bad Co records honing her skills as a vocalist. She had moved to So Cal in ’79 shortly after Matt, to be with her brothers and go to college. For a short time the 3 of us lived together. So in ’83 when we started working together for the first time I was already 30 and she was 23.
When Slingshot broke up I was burnt out on the being up till 3am 250 days a year. So I got a job in a music store and soon after started teaching guitar at the store. No longer did I have to work 5-6 nights a week to make ends meet. I started writing songs for the first time and Jill started writing lyrics and in early ’85 we started the band “Hennessy” doing all original music. I must note Matt had moved out of the country during my tenure with Slingshot. If he had been in OC he would surely have been the drummer in Hennessy.
Showcase rooms had popped up all over OC by now so there were plenty of places to play especially because we were known from Slingshot. Hennessy was a 5 piece band with a female keyboardist that sang harmonies ala Heart with Jill. We stayed the course for about 2 ½ years constantly writing knew material. We were only playing about 3 times a month. That is what you did in an original band. We built a pretty good following, but by mid ’88 I had grown weary of playing so infrequently.
I formed a new cover band with my old buddy Mirk who was now working at the music store with me. We were a 4 piece band called Lucky 13. Mirk, I, and Ed Coatney the other guitarist all sang. This was my first band since I had moved to OC that didn’t have a stand up lead singer. What a fun band! I was again playing 2-3 nights a week and kickin’ ass! Mirk can sing ACDC like nobodys business. Joe Satriani had just hit the scene so I got to challenge myself covering some of his stuff. Lucky 13 lasted 2 fast years till the early ‘90s.
During 90 and 91 several things were happening simultaneously. I was in 3 piece cover band called House of Mirrors with Kerry Chester and Rick Lindley, and I was touring with Christian blues artist Darrell Mansfield. All while trying to keep my now stable of guitar students happy. I had to quit House of Mirrors so they could get someone else because I was gone so much. The year and half I was with Darrell wasn’t fulfilling as much musically as it was spiritually. He called himself a “muscianary” and we went around the States, Europe, and Australia, spreading the good news about Jesus.
My tenure with Darrell ended and in early ’92 I started a new cover band with my sister Jill called “Naughty Face”. Naughty Face was a 4 piece band and was together a whopping 10 years! The amazing Kevin O’Connell was our only drummer/backing vocalist during the length of the band. We had 3 different bassists, Eric Rollins, Leigh Lawson, and Bjorn Englen.
During this time, in ’97 I started the power trio “Triple 7” as an outlet to do originals. I recorded my only album that year with me also doing the vocals. Tom Lilly was on bass and Chris Frazier or Gary Ferguson on drums. We played a bunch of showcases in ’97 –’00 culminating with an opening slot with Robin Trower in ’99 (probably the best show of my life) and the Doheny Blues Fest in 2000.
Also, around the same time I got a call from Deannie Wood to do an acoustic duo with her at some restaurant in Newport Beach every Wed. All these years playing guitar and I had never done an acoustic gig! I thought “what the heck, it’s extra money on an off night” so we started. At first I disliked playing acoustic, I was such an electric player, but eventually I really became to enjoy acoustic work. Our duo soon turned into a trio with the addition of Kevin from Naughty Face on percussion/vocals and the RocKodz were born. Kevin and Deannie are the best harmony singers I have ever worked with and I had them both in the same band! I think my ability to sing harmonies improved greatly working with the two of them. Jill retired from club work in 2002 and we respectfully retired the name “Naughty Face” with her. We logically carried on with Deannie replacing Jill but called the band Triple 7. Deannie continued with the band until 2004. Since then I have continued as trio, and currently have Joey G. on drums and Trent Stroh on bass.
In 2005, I got the call to do some acoustic blues duo gigs, so I needed a partner. Upon a recommendation from Trent Stroh, I got together with Terry Mederios and started doing gigs. We’ve been playing together a couple times a month ever since and have never rehearsed! It has been a pure pleasure sharing the stage with “The Count”!
In 2006 my good long time friend Young Hutchison approached me with the idea of wearing a wig and becoming Brian Jones in his new Stones tribute band. He was to be Keith Richards. Kind of like I did in’76 when I had to put on the spandex and platforms for Candy, I said “what the hell, why not”. “Jumping Jack Flash” has been going strong ever since.
Last year I got the call to be the guitarist in the long running doors tribute “Wild Child”. I had known keyboardist Kit Potamkin since we had worked at the music store together in ’84, and singer Dave Brock since the early 90s, but we had never been in a band together. I am the guitarist only 1/3 of the time with Wild Child which has worked quite nicely with my schedule.
The newest addition to my schedule is being the guitarist/music director for the “Greg Wolfe Band”, a long time Rod Stewart tribute. It's all good!
What an awesome blessing to have played with so many great players over the years! It’s been a great ride so far and I don’t plan on stopping anytime soon! Stay tuned!
