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Band officially formed: Late 1981 Members: Kyle Dedrick - Guitar Jay Warner - Drums Jim Wilk - Keyboards (1981-1983, 1987-present) Mike Breen - Keyboards (1983-1987) Anthony Scott - Bass Roscoe Iron - Guitar Releases: History: Pus and Admiral Ape: Original name of the band, formed by Kyle and Anthony. Murderer: The next generation of the band, with Jim and Jay on board. Musically and lyrically, it was a play off the band Kiss. Prime Suspect: A bit older and "ready to get serious," this is where I was asked to join. When talking about this band in the early stages, you have to take it in context. At the point I was asked to join, we were in junior high and high school. BUT, we had a vision. The band was mainly geared towards writing original pop tunes that were radio friendly with good lyrics. We weren't so interested in covering songs, but writing. That is what separated us from all of the other bands we knew.  |
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Prime Suspect had its origins starting back in 1974, when all our families moved to the 'burbs from the Denver area. Our subdivision was brand new in 1973, and all of our young and motivated parents wanted a piece of the pie. Kyle and Jay and Jim an Anthony lived down the street from each other. I lived on the next block over. We met in school, but we really became friends in the Cub Scouts. Anthony, Kyle and I were in the same troop. Anthony's mom was the Den Mother one year. When we moved up in the ranks, my father was the Den Dad for the Webelos troop.  |
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Kyle got the inspiration for the guitar from his dad. His dad actually hand-built an acoustic guitar in the 1960s. Jay took up the drums in the elementary school band. Jim and Anthony both started playing piano at an early age. Anthony started on guitar early on, but switched to bass in 1981. Kyle and I started playing together in music class in 1979. He played the guitar and I played the autoharp. We performed a version of "Good Morning Starshine" for the 5th and 6th graders. We got along great musically, and wanted to do more.  |
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The ace in the hole all of the years was Kyle and Jay's father. He co-owned a radio station, and that station had a STUDIO. Before I had joined in 1981, Murderer had dabbled in studio recording, and had actually released some tunes on 8-Track. We were not only able to write our own stuff, but record and engineer it as well. It was a great learning experience for a young kid like me. I learned all about the production side of the house. This would prove invaluable in the upcoming years. We would make the three-hour trek to the studio once or twice a year. We would have to work night shift and record and mix-down while the station was off the air. We were learning lessons in preparedness and patience. We released six tapes from 1981 - 1985. Our marketing strategy was basically hawking the tapes at school to whomever would buy them. We had no distribution network.  |
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We played several "gigs" in the jam room over the years, but would always seemed to get shafted in the Battle of the Bands auditions. We played great, but since we had a lot of original material, we always got ousted. Our senior year in high school, there were NO bands from our high school there. DUH? The BOTB was HELD at our high school! I'll never forgive the judges and administrators for that one. I'm still bitter about that almost 20-years later :)  Jim went to college in 1982, and we hired long time friend and keyboard phenom, Mike Breen. We worked good together, but Mike was really too eclectic and unreliable to be playing in a band. He missed rehearsals, gigs and recording sessions. Many times, one of us would step in and play the boards because he was gone.  |
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By 1986, all of us had moved our separate ways, but we would still get together and record when time allowed. In October 1988 we hit the studio and released an EP. Some of our best material to that date. In 1990 before I joined the Army, we went into the studio again and recorded another EP, from which a video was made. It got local airplay and favorable reviews. I never got to see it air. I was in Basic Training by then. We had some jam sessions over the years. Jay and Kyle still wrote off and on. We had a PS reunion of sorts at my wedding in 1998. We got together and played our butts off. It was GREAT! We still have a lot of song ideas and are planning to get back to recording again when we have the time. Although there have been recording and performance gaps with the band, PS has never officially broken up. 21 years and counting! Where are they now? Jim is a doctor living in Highlands Ranch. Jay works for the Rocky Mountain News as an Assistant Features Editor. Anthony is working for the University of Colorado at Boulder. Kyle is living in the D.C. area working for the government. Mike Breen has recently been FOUND, and is working in Denver. Time to get back in the studio methinks. |