Vocals - TambourineBelieve it or not, my interest in music started way back before I even heard a Rick Springfield song. This may be somewhat shocking, but true nonetheless! My Mom and Dad used to hook me into listening the The Oak Ridge Boys, Statler Brothers, Larry Gatlin, etc on family vacations. Yes, there is some Country in my past but I look on it fondly. Those groups had some serious harmonies and that's where my love has always been-vocal harmonies and melodies.
Fast-forward to 1985 and my Senior Year in High-School. I decided (on a dare) to sing "Method Of Modern Love" by Hall and Oates at a school assembly. It was really fun and energizing-hokey but in a fun way! There was also this local group called the Windows who always played at the school dances and assemblies. They were so cool. I don't think I really thought too much of their set list but they played well and had so much fun doing it! It was a that point that I talked to one of their guitarists named Dave about forming a "Senior Band" for our Senior Skits just before graduation. Dave said it sounded like fun so we got some guys together and gave it a whirl.
We played two songs at the historic first get-together. The full band played "Walking On A Thin Line" by Huey Lewis and Dave and I performed a song about graduating called...ooops! The title has escaped me for the moment. Anyway, that was my first dose of playing live in front of more than just people in my family-and I LOVED it!
In December of 1985, Dave and I formed "Panorama". I liked Rick Springfield and Hall and Oates, he liked Dire Straits and Van Halen. But we both like Def Leppard and Bon Jovi so that was the common thread. Our original members were Matt, Mark and Brian, all from Tipp City. The first song we learned was "Just What I Needed" by the Cars (with me on drums believe it or not). Our first gig was in front of 50 or 60 people at a Fourth of July show in Tipp City 1986. We thought we were very cool. However, if you were there you know better. We were extremely average-but we were having fun!
We went on to write and record four cassettes of original songs between 1988-1991. Let's see if I can remember the titles: "Here We Go" 1988, "Havin' Fun Tonite" 1989, "After Hours" 1990, and "After Hours (with remixes and bonus cuts)" 1991. We got some radio airplay in two places: 98 WZZY in Winchester, Indiana (where I happened to be employed-but they MADE me play it!), and Magic 104 (now The X!) on a battle of the bands contest (we won one round).
In 1991, the band went through some different faces and all of a sudden we were called "Stranger". It was still Dave and I but everyone else had moved on (we all still got along, some just had a real life!).
So enters Tom who suggested we call the band "Stranger". I was never into the name nor was Dave, but Tom convinced us it was great concept so we bought it. Well, Tom played a few shows and then left to form the briefly successful "Psychological Vacation". All of a sudden, Tom is becoming wildly famous and we're left with this new band name we didn't care for-go figure! We already had new T-shirts printed so we had to go with it, right?
The year everything happened was 1994. We got a new Bass player named Bruce. He had an incredible sound and a very cool attitude. He had come to see several of ours shows as an observer and decided to get involved. We were happy! Then, in April of '94 Dave exited to start making a family and finish school-I retreated and started sucking my thumb in a corner. Not really, but I hadn't ever worked without Dave so it was a big step.
Enter stage right...a guy named Matt. Matt was the ultra-hip guy from "Blue September" who, for some reason, would come to see us play at Stubbies in Vandalia. He was even known to sit in with us from time-to-time for fun. We knew that we had about two weeks to replace Dave and keep all the shows that we had scheduled (at the time we were playing 3-4 times a week!).
We offered Matt our WHOLE pay from the night to have him learn 40 songs over a weekend so we wouldn't have to cancel anything. He accepted. We didn't cancel any shows and Matt learned our WHOLE set list in a weekend-and took all of our money (love ya buddy!).
We were truly blown away. We really didn't even practice with him-we just winged it. Our first gig was at "Jammers", better known now as..."Diamonds". Hmmm. I think they have better crowds now. Matt said, "Two months tops and I'm outta this gig". We understood and just keep forking him all the dough (haha!). Meanwhile, we were in the midst of recording our first CD which was almost done. Dave agreed to see the project through.
In September of 1994, a keyboard-extrordannaire named Brian joined the band upon recommendation of our then-drummer Chris "Meat Behind The Beat" (confusing isn't it?). Brian could sing, play keys and guitar. This was good. In April of 1995, "Stranger" released a CD called "All". It was bittersweet for me. Here, we finally put ten years of work onto a CD to release it the public, and one of my biggest champions wasn't there to enjoy and celebrate it.
In October of 1994, my Dad passed away suddenly without warning. He, my Mom and brothers had always been my biggest support for so many years-it tore me apart that he wasn't there for it. I remember, he couldn't wait to hear it and he would always have me play him stuff from our sessions even though it wasn't finished just so he could hear how it was coming along. The guys were so awesome after it happened and said they wanted to dedicate the project to him. We put his picture and small written tribute inside the CD in remembrance of him. Matt even wrote a short instrumental that closed out the CD alled "All." It still gives me chills to hear it. It showed me alot about who I was working with. I knew this group of guys was special. P.S. I still have some CD's if you are interested, by the way (they are in the bargain bin too!:-)
In August of '96 Brian told us to check out this great drummer named Rob to replace our departing Shane Marshall. Shane was a great guy who could sing and play a killer drum set. He was with us on two different occasions and we were sorry to see him go. Rob came out and played one show with us at Wallaby's and we knew we had to have him. The rest is history...
This is the longest period of time that the band hasn't changed. This is more fun than I have ever had playing in a band. There are so many great memories from all the years but now is a great time to be playing with these guys and I'm thankful for how lucky we are to be together. We have seen so many good bands come and go over the years-it's kinda nice to still be kicking it around. The neatest thing about playing these days, is the friends that we get to see over and over and the new ones we meet every time we play. It sounds cliche', but you guys make the shows, not us. We're still doing what we were doing when 12 people were in the audience, now it's so much more fun!
In 2003, you'll hear new original material from us-which we've never done with this group of guys and hopefully you'll see us in some new places. Oh yeah, we'll also continue the finest delicasies from the 80's for your listening pleasure. Thanks for the support over the years and thanks for keeping it fun!
