Jay Olson, Steve Reid, Bill Buck, and (just like Spinal Tap's drummers) our ever-revolving Paul Stanley position... Here we are performing our fourth year in the Alice Shaw talent show in Orcutt, California. The remarkably talented Jon Reis (brother of Jay) helped create our wardrobe and makeup, providing direction as we blew the other acts off the stage... our first taste of what it was like being in a band, budding rocker elementary school kids!
We were blessed with a great music program in the Orcutt Union School District. I studied with the Great Al Cavali beginning in 5th grade; we went on to form Billy's Jazz Trio in 8th grade with Bill Wolf, my first real bandmate. Here I am at right studiously following our sheet music (probably a Sousa number) with Bill in the background on the snare drum. We played across Santa Barbara County as well as marched in parades in extremely goofy uniforms featuring long purple coattails!
Set free in high school to play some real rock and roll, I formed POCKETFUL with close friend and rhythmic prodigy Jerry Barr. We grew up together as musicians and, usually sans bassist, played many gigs at festivals and parties. Here we are performing "La Bamba" (Los Lobos version) at a Cinco de Mayo concert, temporarily pre-empting the forlorn Mariachi band. It was one of the strangest gigs we ever played. (Long story...)
(l-r, Bill Buck, Mikey Tornatore, Dave Kaufmann) Following a series of intense original bands formed in San Francisco, California, three hessians joined together as a power trio focusing on Led Zeppelin tunes. Some of the most fun I've ever had playing music, we flew across the 1970s rock catalog, adding tunes we had always wanted to perform: Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd, ZZ Top and the Who filled our many great gigs...
(l-r, Mark Meritt, Bill Buck, Aaron Barrett) The three of us share a remarkable crossover of musical influences dating back to our youth... Heavy metal runs deep in our veins, though 70s Rock was our real genesis. We remain a power trio churning out loud driving rock and roll (usually done by up to six band members) and I am proud to say that the Godz continue to rock. www.godzofrock.com
Commissioned to play gigs for 'older, more refined tastes' we decided to start a tribute to the classic tunes of AM radio. Our Titanium music project took flight, with an extended personnel of longtime bandmates playing some one-hit wonders. Songs you instantly recognize but could never name the band... It's not as easy as one might think to play some of these carefully crafted and painstakingly produced gems. We forge onward...
You can walk or drive,
Which will it be?
You don't need a tie
and the straws are free...
You strut up into the line
Select your food from the neon sign...
Look at that, look at that,
Is it really food?
I don't know, he ate it though
I thought I saw it move...
If I controlled the universe,
Only a few things I'd change
She would be the strength I lost somehow, and
I would find the buried me
She's the light that lives inside of me, the never ending need...
If a man could have just one true wish, I'd sell it all and be complete...
Cry, smile, mezmorize me with your mind
Deceive, Believe, run the spectrum all by me...
I've seen your madness, dreamer, feeler: You were born to help them see
Sins, whims, they encompass your spirit
No limits will imprison your garden