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Lloyd Slaven

lloyd@trilogy-band.com

Lloyd Slaven

Bio

I can't remember exactly when I started playing music, it's just always been a part of my life. Being the youngest of six, there was always music in our house because everyone played something, including my parents. My two oldest brothers and my sister all had piano lessons when they were growing up, one of those brothers also played trumpet and French horn, another brother played trumpet, French horn and guitar, and another brother played sax. My mother could play just about anything she picked up. Throughout her life she learned to play the piano, organ, guitar, tenor banjo, ukulele, mandolin and the fiddle (or violin for you city folk). My dad mostly played the guitar and just sort of toyed with the other instruments.

My first musical experience was with the piano. My older brothers use to show me how to play some of the songs they knew. I finally started taking piano lessons when I was about in the fourth grade. The Beatles inspired me to play the guitar at about the same age. When I was in the fifth grade I started on trombone in school and even had a private teacher that came to our house. I continued to play trombone until I graduated. I took an interest in some of the instruments around the house and persuaded my mom to show me how to play the mandolin and the fiddle. I did pretty well with the mandolin but I sounded horrible on the fiddle so I put it back in the closet. I was always fascinated with the five-string banjo but we didn't have one of those around so my dad bought me one for Christmas when I was about fourteen.

Throughout my school years I always found myself hanging around with other guitar players to learn whatever I could from them and formed a few bands that played at various functions, mostly school dances. My first real gig came when I was in the seventh grade. I started playing the clubs when I was still in high school. After graduation I started working full time and played guitar and sang with a band doing Country and fifties music. I don't remember the name of the band but the members were Chuck Mundy (guitar-vocals) Bob Deitrich (bass) and his brother Joe Detrich (drums). We played mostly weddings and a few clubs.

In 1978 I started playing with a band called Slicker with Dale Showler (guitar) my brother-in-law Keith Johnson (guitar) Ken Jelen (sax-vocals) and Jimmy Luff (drums). This was when I started playing bass guitar. I also sang and used my trombone in this group. We played a fusion of rock, blues, jazz and funk at few clubs around town during the Disco years. We also played hall parties, some schools and a few concert venues but our home base was Captain Ahab's in Wyandotte. We got a record deal, recorded an album and released a single in five states, which did quite well in a few cities. We were on the TV news as being the first band to play at the newly opened Hart Plaza in Downtown Detroit. The band dissolved after about two years.

Then there was Charlie Scrapper. There was Ray Laurman (guitar-vocals) Keith Johnson (guitar-bass) Pat O'Hern (drums-vocals) and myself (bass-guitar-vocals). This band played top forty rock, fifties and sixties rock at local clubs.

The next band had me back on guitar and singing with a Country group called The Silver Creek Band. There was Chuck Mundy again (guitar-vocals) John Hagerman (bass-vocals) and Pat O'Hern (drums-vocals). This band played during the "Urban Cowboy" days. Chuck had us booked constantly for a couple of years at clubs all over town but mostly on the eastside. I started using keyboards in the band during those years.

When the country music craze fizzled, I went back to my roots with a band called Vintage playing, of course, classic rock. This band started in about 1982 and lasted about ten years. I was playing and singing with my old friends Keith Johnson (guitar-bass) Ray Laurman (guitar-vocals) Pat O'Hern (drums-vocals) and an old friend from high school band, Neil Kesterson (sax). Having a sax in the band allowed me to utilize the trombone again on certain songs. I played bass most of the time but also played keyboard. This band went through several changes over the years that we were together. Neil left the band and was replaced by Jerry Napier and years later when he left the band there was Tomo Thomas. We marched to the beat of several drummers as well. Among them were Gary Ponder, Doug Golema, Bruce McCloud, Bob Cunningham, Rob Patterson and Merle. No one knows Merle's last name. We played local clubs, weddings and some concert venues. We were Freddie Cannon's band when he came to town and also were the warm up act for The Contours and Rick Nelson.

In 1992 or thereabout I started in a band called Four Play with Bob Cunningham (drums-vocals) Dave Doyle (guitar-vocals) and Danny Taylor (keyboards-vocals). In this group I played bass most of the time but also utilized keys and guitar. This was also a classic rock group and lasted maybe two years.

Around 1994 I was part of a songwriting and recording project with Greg Scott (guitar-vocals) and Phil Bourassa (bass-vocals). I switched between guitar and keyboards and sang as well. It was a short lived but productive venture. We mostly played showcase performances.

The Mersey Beat was the next band I joined. An old friend, Mark Rice (guitar-keys-vocals) invited me to be the guitarist in the band that he had founded many years before. He also needed a bassist, so, I recommended Phil Bourassa who happened to be available. We struggled with several drummers and no one seemed to fit until we hired the man with no last name, Merle. As the name of the band implies, we played a lot of British rock, especially Beatles. We were together for about six years.

In 1994 I heard from my old school friend Neil Kesterson. He told me of his experience with the big band at Henry Ford Community College and persuaded me to come and sit in because they needed a trombonist. In case you're not familiar with big band music, it consists of piano, guitar, bass, drums, four or five trumpets, four trombones, first and second alto sax, first and second tenor sax and one baritone sax. Rick Goward conducts the group. It was the first time that I had read trombone music since high school. I passed the audition and was asked to join the band. I traveled to Europe for two weeks in 1994, with concerts in London, Oxford, Paris, Euro Disney and ending with performances at the Montreax jazz festival in Montreax Switzerland. In 1995 the group performed concerts in New Orleans for the Mardi Gras festivities. In 1996 we traveled to Montreal to perform at a jazz festival. In 1998 the group returned to Europe for two weeks with concerts in Barcelona Spain, Nime France, Vienne jazz festival, Lyon France, and once again at the Montreax jazz festival. In 2000 we returned to New Orleans to participate in the international association of jazz educators world convention. In 2001 we performed at one of the inaugural balls for President George W. Bush. In 2002 we took a trip to Honolulu, Hawaii for a week and played three concerts there. We also perform every year at the Detroit jazz festival at Hart Plaza downtown. The HFCC Big Band has performed at local concert venues such as Orchestra Hall and the new Dearborn Performing arts center. I am still a member of the group and play at nearly all of the performances.

At the current time I am playing guitar, keys, trombone and singing with Trilogy. Tim Adkins (keys-vocals) and I have known one another for about ten years and had talked of possibly playing in a band together someday. Well, the time has arrived and a good time it is. In December of 2002, Tim introduced me to the band members and in the short time we've been together we have accomplished an amazing amount of work. This is by far the hardest working band I have ever had the pleasure of playing with. Good communication, common goals, organization, and above all respect for one another make this a band that I want to stay with for a long time.