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Band officially formed: March 2002 Members: Douglas Caldwell - Guitar ? - Drums Tony Hindman - Vocals ? - Vocals Big R - Guitar Joey P. - Guitar ? - Bass History: I heard through the grapevine that this "local band" made up of players form the hospital where I worked at would soon be losing their guitar player. I was told that this band had been playing out, and had many gigs lined up for the future. I decided to have a go of it. I contacted the band leader and offered my services if and when their other lead guitarist was leaving. He said that he thought it would be a good idea if I came in and sat in with the band. I showed up early, got my gear set-up. Noticed that there were a lot of "hangers-on" for lack of a better term. Hmmmm . . . We started getting warmed up. Bass player was late. Hmmmmmmm . . . I brought a bass, so we practiced with me on the bass. I calmly mentioned that if the bass player is continually missing practice like this, then maybe they should fire him. Heh, my first day and I'm calling shots. One of the "hangers-on" gave me a funny, frowny look. Found out later that she was his girlfriend. Hmmm . . .  |
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Not a very promising first practice. Coupled with the fact that they DIDN'T have all kinds of gigs lined up made me more suspicious. Pauline was telling me to ditch the whole thing. I figured it had been a while since I played with anyone, and this would be a good way to at least get my chops back up to speed.
Well, the practices did get a bit better. At least we were getting together a couple of times a week. The yearly MEDCOM picnic was booked. So that was a way to at least get the band name out there for the general populace. Figure at least 2,000 people would be there. As the practices wore on, I was realizing that this band wasn't really my cup of tea. After playing with so many professional musicians, most of these guys just didn't get it.  |
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The drummer and female vocalist were married. Two real nice people, but unfortunately, when there are spouses involved, you can't openly criticize or attempt to fire either one of them without some kind of retribution. Drummer was great. Vocalist wasn't. Flat and out of tune for most of her songs, it was really, really straining on my ears. And I was supposed to go out and kick ass? Hmmm . . . maybe Pauline was right.
We went ahead and played a private party to kind of get some experience playing together in a different situation. I normally don't play for free, but I figured this was definitely needed. I also needed to shake down my PA and make sure it would work OK for the MEDCOM gig. Party went OK after the bass player showed up. Lots of food and beer. Can't go too wrong there. I was really getting along great with Doug and Tony.  |
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Well, the MEDCOM gig time came around. I was dealing with several personal issues at that point. I'll just say VERY HEAVY stuff that came up unexpectedly. I got to the gig early, set up everything, but missed the first set. That was OK though. They did all of the songs that I didn't play on, or had small parts in.
Gig went off OK. I drank a lot. Had my 64 oz. coffee mug filled with beer for the show. No one was the wiser. I played OK, and the video of the show confirms that. After this show, the group disbanded. Mainly due to military commitments. I'd say it was better to let this group RIP. Where are they now? Tony is still at Travis. Doug is stationed in Turkey now, but is still recording original stuff on an indie label. Don't know where the rest of the players wound up. |