*This is a reprint of an entry from my "life in music" blog on MySpace . I have added Ebenezer's publicity shot (from around 1975-ish), now that I know how to do it!
Now that I was in this new and mighty rock band named EBENEZER (which the guys had mentioned was going to be called EBENEZER SCREWZZZ - glad that didn't stick, though the hip rock-ebonics spelling certainly predates metal and hip hop!), it was time to get to work and learn some songs. And what songs they turned out to be! At this time (1975), in the region of the nation is was in (the South), there was a shift in rock band repertoires. Gone were the adventurous and original song lists of the 60's. Bands were now called upon to play mostly covers in order to draw paying customers into the bars and clubs. You could still sneak in a couple of originals and generally maintain a somewhat creative mix of covers. I knew all of this, and I was super excited that EBENEZER was planning on a wide variety of songs from progressive rock, Beatles, and some pretty damned obscure but tasty cover tunes.
In a bizarre twist of fate, I discovered a pretty complete song list of EBENEZER, just a couple of months ago! How lucky was that! My 50 year old brain would have blown a gasket if I tried to remember most of these. Here are some of the ones that I think are worth mentioning:
Lots of BEATLES! Some were done straight - Nowhere Man, And Your Bird Can Sing (not an easy song!), Drive My Car and some that were brilliantly arranged by Danny - Help! (With a crazy little instrumental break that made absolutely no sense at the time I was struggling to learn it!), and a show stopping, scorching version of I Want You (She's So Heavy) that Danny incorporated a bit of a George Benson solo from his version of the song! Sounds kinda icky, but you gotta believe me - it rocked!
To satisfy our proggy side, there was YES's Seen All Good People, Long Distance Runaround and a song that we could just absolutely smoke - Lifetime by a YES wanna be band - FLASH.
To satisfy the club owners we included some of these covers - Ukiah, China Grove and Long Train Running and Sweet Maxine by the DOOBIE BROTHERS, plenty-o-ZZ TOP - Nasty Dogs And Funky Kings, Waitin' For The Bus (hot!), and The Sheik. CLAPTON's I Shot The Sheriff etc...etc...You get the picture!
Now for the strange and eclectic covers that in most cases, I had never heard before - Eagle Eye by TRANQUILITY, Don't Get Mad, Get Even (GYPSY), Somebody Help Me (STAMPEDERS), In The Winter Of My LIFE (IF), Simple Sisiter (PROCOL HARUM) and a very cool song by SUGARLOAF called Don't Call Us, We'll Call You. We all dug STEELY DAN, and we did a wonderous version of Bodhisattva. That song has some amazing guitar going on, but it gave Danny no problem at all. Playing 2 guitar parts at once was a breeze for the guy! Damned obscure, but in most cases these were tasty tunes and at times, very challenging to learn.
Speaking of challenging.... my drumming abilities were tested every rehearsal. Fortunately, Danny had a great knack for coming up with and presenting many very difficult drum parts. These were parts I would have never come up with myself, but he was a great teacher (and could actually play drums), and he very patiently showed me how to play them. Maybe even more importantly, he taught me how to think way out of the box and to incorporate that into my playing. Many of the parts would be simple in concept but difficult to play, such as playing a beat in 4/4, but every now and then, (tastefully of course!), throw in a measure of 3/4 with my right hand on the hi-hats! I thank my lucky stars that Danny came into my life, and the timing was perfect. I was making a pretty big leap musically and professionally. For the first time I was seeing myself not only as a rock musician, but a professional rock musician. I started to see a life in music without all of the Rock Star trappings. I was realizing that more than likely being a real honest to goodness ROCK STAR was not going to happen, but if I work hard and make a few concessions, I might be able to make a living playing music. This was a huge leap for me, and that concept would eventually bring my mom some realistic hope for my future. And that says a lot!
I'm pretty sure that Judi (keyboards) was already gone by the time we started rehearsing in earnest. Dennis was preparing to finish his studies at Berkeley School Of Music, but we managed to learn enough songs for a kind of going away gig for him at the local community college in Charlotte. Unfortunately for him, I believe that was the only gig he would end up playing with EBENEZER. He was squeezed out of the band when he came back for a school holiday. I didn't like it one bit - after all, he was the guy that got me into the band, but as I mentioned earlier, I think some of the guys had been planning this for some time. See you later Dennis...
Speaking of personnel, as with many bands, there are more folks involved than just the musicians. At that time you had to have a manager, road crew, light guy, and a sound guy (all bands were expected to travel with their own P.A.) The more the merrier, I say! We had a great crew that easily incorporated themselves into EBENEZER and were just as important as the band was. And yes, they also enjoyed a good party...
Manager - Mick M.. This was a most fortunate addition for us because not only could he manage, he also owned a music store, which of course came in very handy. He also provided a free rehearsal space. He also had great drugs.
Road Crew - Murphy M.. My best bud from ROCK BOTTOM saw an opportunity to be around great musicians (he shared my enthusiasm for the players), and came on board. I don't think he minded the party aspect, either!
Sound Guy - fella named Bob. Bob was totally insane. Scary looking guy with a penchant for throwing you to the ground, pulling off your shoe, and biting the holy crap out of your big toe. Not a good feeling... but a great sound guy.
Light Guy - that would be Russell. Just by looking at him you would think he was just another stupid redneck from Rock Hill, but get the guy fucked up, and he could be the funniest guy on the planet. Give him some acid, and you would soon realize that he should be ruler of the world.
In another blast of good fortune, I have also recently found a list I had made of our gigs! I don't know how complete it is, but I'm hankering' to go back and revisit some of those shows...I think.
I'm the angelic one in the middle. Jimi the bass player is seated to my left, Danny the guitarist in seated on my right and Frank the singer is standing next to me. Lordy...I was cute!
No comments:
Post a Comment