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The 3rd phase of STRANGER became the most
successful band of my entire 9 years in upstate New York. The band rehearsed
a tight show and I decided to engage an agency called Roadshow in
Burlington, VT. Steve Nolan, Me, Lisa Cragun, Ben Everest Jr. STRANGER was also satisfying on a personal level because at the heart of it, there was a kick-ass power trio. Nolan was using a custom 'Time' guitar, and he created his own unique sound. Ben & I just simply locked-up, right from the beginning, and over time, a number of songs were given 'arrangements' that kept the music fresh. We also worked up a few originals.
After a nice long run, Steve decided he
wanted a break, Lisa was homesick, so I went fishing in the Saranac river
for 3 months.
Keith Kincaid, Me, Pam Lee, Brent Murphy
It seemed at the time, that Indiana
had a Bermuda Triangle where bass players
go missing, because I
THE RED BALL JETS soon became very popular on the Indianapolis hotel circuit, and I must admit I was loving the lifestyle. We did spend roughly half the year on the road, and during a gig in Ohio we were approached by a talent scout from the Department Of Defense for a 33 day USO Tour of the Caribbean. We spent 17 days in Puerto Rico, where I fell in love with the country, as well as the island of Vieques, and my wife and I have been there many times now(But that's another story).
A former band mate came to see the JETS
play one night, and offered Greg and I
It was during this time that I would
frequent Don Lynn's Music on Indy's west side. For some reason, Don would
give me very nice deals on just about everything I purchased.
I had now been in three bands since
returning to Indiana, and had found someone in each group that I wanted for
a 'Dream Band'. Well, I ended up with 2 out of 3, which gave me another
power trio. But going into the hotel circuit was going to be tricky, so we put
on the 'sheep's clothing', and served up Rock & Roll. Me, Brent Murphy, Greg Bond
We hit the road with gigs from a local
agency, and the offers never stopped. As a trio, we put no limitations on
what music we could play. We tried everything, and for the most part, found
that we could pull it off. After a year or more of roadwork, we decided to
look for a housegig in Indianapolis. As it turned out, it is more important
who you know, rather than how good your band is. We knocked on a lot of
doors, and handed out numerous promo packs, and eventually landed a spot at
what we thought must be the bottom of the circuit. This club was a major
learning experience for me. Completely different from the Rock clubs, Dance
clubs and the Hotel circuit.
Over the next few months, I worked with a
few local groups, but none of them were very satisfying.
Then the stars aligned, and fate stepped
in. I woke up from my sleepwalk when Brent and Greg were ready to give The
SPOILERS a Brent Murphy, Me, Greg Bond, Geordy Ashmore The Spoilers fared much better this time around. We built a good reputation with the clubs as well as the local musicians, and had something we were proud of.
Being a 4-piece group without a 'Front
Man', or 'Focal Point', you have to give the audience something to focus on.
In our case, it was our songlist.
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We started playing weekends at The Rook, and ended up being booked 4 to
6(sometimes 7) nights a week. We had fulltime light & sound, run by Don
Harris and Dean LeClaire. We also leased a maxi-van, and I remember many
'white knuckle drives' up Sugarbush Mountain to the ski resorts in Vermont,
where Ben and I became masters of Galaga.
I
approached them and said I could sit in for the rest of the week, after
which they offered me the gig. Since the pay was more, for less than half
the time I spent pushing appliances, I dove into the Holiday Inn circuit
with NEXUS. I didn't stay long, as this group had a 'band leader', and our
philosophies didn't gel . . .
quickly had a number of offers. But the most
interesting band for me was THE RED BALL JETS, because of their great
drummer, Greg Bond, who could also sing. It also didn't hurt having the
lovely Carolyn and her unique, quality vocal.
a gig. The premise was to feature her on vocals as well as many different
instruments. We would also play more adventurous music. This was very
intriguing so we jumped on board with PAM LEE & THE RAVE.
to
make the salesmen a little crazy. I believe you should play the new
instrument, unplugged, for 10 to 20 minutes to see how it feels. The
salesmen will walk up every 5 minutes and ask, "Are you sure you don't want
to plug that in and hear how good it sounds?"
worked. I now had
a couple of musicians that knew what their job was and didn't need a 'band
leader' telling them what to do. We sat down and came up with a game plan,
and I would act on behalf of the group with agents, club owners, etc . . . 
second chance. This time we added the keyboards of a very talented Geordy
Ashmore.