During the early to mid 60's, it seemed every neighborhood had their own band and quite often you could here these "garage warriors" playing on a summer day to neighbors. Parents were usually happy for the music, but there are always those that had to call the cops to have it shut down, but they couldn't stop us. Without formal lessons, we literally had to teach each other how to play, so we started with easy parts and eventually had an entire set of songs. I remember wearing out certain 45's on a single record player trying to learn a bass line or figure out what they were signing. No computers back then.

I really don't remember why I switched to bass except that the band didn't have one and I came up with the idea to detune my guitar, cut the treble and reverb, and turn the bass up. I remember begging one of our guitar players' brother to borrow his Teisco bass for jobs and never wanting to return it. Now that was fun, a real bass that probably cost every bit of $39.

My first real gear was a sunburst Fender Precision with an Ampeg B-15 FlipTop. Back then, that was the real deal and even today Fender basses and Ampeg's is a perfect match. That was one bass I really wish I still had, but the one thing that was always with me from the very beginning was a beautiful brown leather bass guitar strap that is probably more important to me than any one thing I've ever kept from my career. That strap has toured with me for over 40 years and has seen thousands of shows. I finally retired it last year and it now rests in very good hands.

During the 60's, I played with a few different groups and filled in with whom ever would have me. I always liked the opportunity to jump in with other musicians because each was unique and you always learned something. I played a little during my senior year of high school at a local club and other small paying gigs, and formed a group out of Allen Park with Paul Lunwick, a local guitar player who was already jamming with a group of great musicians.

This band was called Doggin Heat fronted by Lauren Marcee, a self described Iggy Pop clone who also took claim to picking the band name and was a real Blue Blood Downriver Detroit Legend. One of his "confirmed" stories is that he lays claim to actually being backstage at the Grande Ballroom and gave Iggy Pop a handful of Rorer 714's (Qualudes) and it wasn't long before Iggy was puking on stage but the show went on. It wasn't uncommon for Lauren to show up late and just high enough to get the job done and the last time we spoke, he told me he was in town for a couple of days, living in Arizona working in the Aerospace Industry. Somehow that made perfect sense.

What a time for music. Just think about the local bands that played our schools, the band shells, teen clubs and pavilions. Grand Funk, Bob Segar, Rare Earth, Mitch Ryder, the Stooges, MC5, the Frost, Savage Grace, Ted Nugent, SRC, the Rationals, the Woolies, Brownsville Station, even Alice Cooper played our high school. I know I missed some, sorry guys, and bands like Journey, J Geils, Meatloaf and many others made Detroit their second home. There was also a local band called the Detroit Vibrations that had a big hit record in 1970 who changed their name to Frijid Pink. 5 Million records and gold status was a big deal.

Sometime in the early 70's, I hooked up with Bob Gilbert who had a band called Heaven. This was a local group that was doing some local TV and opened for major acts as they came through and was a personal friend of Randy Bachman of the Guess Who and BTO. Heaven was a unique band in that everything in the group, the equipment, clothes, staging was all painted white. Different, today think White Stripes… I joined up with Bob and Ray Knapp (keys) and we called ourselves Amaze because of the 200 plus stage lights we used for each show, and we were loosely tied with Clyde Stevers who managed Frijid Pink. Clyde loved what we did so much that he and his co-manager Ron Geddish signed us to a managing contract. They had two other bands, Frijid Pink and Toby Redd and out of Toby Redd came Chad Smith the current drummer for the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Ron is with the Insane Clown Posse. Clyde and Ron sent us immediately on tour. Their thought was to get us on the road, get some writing in, perfect our sound and stage presence, and then come back to Detroit a complete pro band. Well, things have a funny of working out. Pink had personnel problems that ultimately separated the members after their second album, and Clyde was in the unfortunate position to back fill players to keep the band together. After two more albums with disappointing sales, he took the three of us, and along with the original drummer Rick Stevers, we were Frijid Pink. Actually we stayed together for about three years, hit the road, recorded and kept busy but we were up against the struggle of our lives, DISCO. During the Bee Gees and Kool and the Gang era, hardly anybody was getting signed and very few rock albums released. Even heavy weights like Springsteen and Elton John had difficult times, but truth win out and we're still rocking.

In 1977 the three of us pulled away from Pink and started Outer Drive with one of the best drummers I've ever played with, Rich King from Saginaw, Michigan. We worked as best we could but we finally hung it up in 1978. The next year a crazy thing happened, I was asked if I was interested in a new group that people were calling a "Detroit Super Group" with Craig Frost and Drew Abbott (Bob Seger) and Don Brewer (Grand Funk). I jumped at the opportunity and made the initial meetings but the project really never got off the ground, but I always thought that it was amazing I was even considered for such a position. I recently spoke with Drew about the project and at the time everybody was between bands and trying to get something started. That’s Rock n Roll.   

In the mid 80's I played for a local orchestra/calypso/oldies band that once did a rally for President Clinton over a live CNN feed and then hooked up with two long time friends, Gary (Bubba) Michels and Jim Alexander to start the Trilogy Band. What Trilogy meant to us, was Oldies, Classic Rock and Motown, in other words, dance music. It wasn't long that we asked Tim Adkins to join us on keyboards. Rock and Roll takes some interesting turns, and the fact that Tim was now in the band was certainly one of them. During my Frijid Pink days, Tim was a part of our road crew who at the age of 16 went on the road with a touring rock band and I sometimes wonder if I'm not partially to blame for what we did to him, but he turned out just fine and has made Trilogy what it is today.

I had to leave the band due to a promotion at work, but fortunately I was asked to join the backup band for the Doo Wop group the Reflections, who had a major hit with Just Like Romeo and Juliet along with Poor Mans Son and Shabby Little Hut. I really had a great time with the boys playing many concerts, television and live radio events and I especially enjoyed playing with other major acts. Once at the very last minute, I got a call to play bass for the Drifters who were in town to do a couple shows. My claim to fame is that I'm the only white bass player to have ever played for the Drifters….We had a great time and did a couple of cool shows and after growing up with these guys and all those great songs, it was a dream come true. Under the Boardwalk in F, no problem, let's go boys…  

Then came Frijid Pink (again). At the time, I was writing a Rock and Roll article for Michigan Bands.com called Motor City Flashbacks and I wanted to dedicate an article to a one hit wonder band called Frijid Pink. I met with my old friend and Pink drummer Rick Stevers. As we were talking about the old band, Rick and I received a call from Clyde Stevers our old manager, who said he'd been getting a lot of European interest in the band and was considering some tour dates. After a lot of self examination and consults with friends and family, I didn't think it would be something that would consume my life and the fact that we already had Rick and Randy Mac on board, I was interested. A year later and after a whole lot of hard work, with Fate Dotson on vocals, Bill Gordon as our "new" drummer and Tim Adkins (Trilogy) on keys, we wrote and recorded an original album and reworked some old Pink material. As always, outside influences affect the Rock n Roll world. After the World Trade Center terrorist attack, everything changed and the thought of going oversees seemed a little less important. We did a show with Dick Wagner and the Frost at the Lansing Center for a 911 benefit and shortly after that Pink ended, but amazingly the music didn't. We were contacted by Jeff Funk of Dynasty Records who was very interested in the new album and we were on full go. Jeff took us to Nashville to have the songs mastered and we met with the VP of Sony Records who also liked the project. We received some industry recognition and as things turn out, we renamed the band Inner Heat after the title of the new Pink album. At the same time and with the same band members, we had another side project called Gunslinger. Under the Dynasty name Gunslinger released, Kickin' It Up with one of the cuts making it out as a commercial song for International Harvester. In some Michigan markets and a few southern states, we had three songs on the radio in regular rotation. Things were looking good until legal issues and worse yet ego problems killed both projects.

Like many things in life, everything seems to come full circle and I'm happy to say that I'm back with Trilogy. We've been fortunate enough to have one of our original songs used as the theme song for a local TV show and it's amazing that after 20 years we're still here and better than ever. With newer members, John Liddell (horns), Lloyd Slaven (keys, trombone, guitar) and Dennis Gabbert (guitar, sax) we're bigger, better and more diverse in our music than before, and we've enjoyed some really cool things and had the opportunity to play a lot of places I never would have dreamed when we put this thing together. Trilogy is the ultimate variety band for all occasions and I'm happy to say, the most successful band I've ever been associated with.