I could tell that Dad was interested, but he didn’t have an electric guitar anymore; all he had left was an old 70s Yamaha acoustic - which is my favorite guitar ever. I had rarely heard the man play. He had taught me a few things when I started playing, but I had never heard him play an entire song. I recognized that there were going to be some obstacles if this was going to happen, but I was up to the challenge.
For Father’s Day that year, I purchased and Lotus Strat copy off of my buddy and gave it to Dad. That, combined with my constant harassing and my mother’s encouragement, finally got him to call Billy.
It was a while before I was really involved. I went to a few practice sessions here and there, but they had a lot of trouble in the early days getting a drummer and a keyboard player. I even helped run sound at practice for a while, but with girls and work, and friends and a rotating door of people in and out of the band, I pretty quickly lost interest in hanging out in either a too cold or too hot garage.
Not too long after I stopped showing up, Dad, Billy, and former rhythm guitar player Ken, convinced a former Scoutmaster of mine, Mike, to join. Mike plays keyboard, organ, tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone, and typically anything else that is requested of him - he brought a lot to the table. Around this same time, they hired on a steady drummer, Pappy. I have no idea what his actual name was. The band was together! It was really great to see them play. I was, and still am, in constant awe of Dad’s ability.
Pappy left eventually and in walked Damon. Fantastic drummer. No slight against the former, but Damon just seemed to fit. It was around this time that I took on duties running the soundboard for the band when they played out. Towards the end of 2005 there was a lineup change and I was taken off of the board and put onto rhythm guitar since Ken’s spot was vacant. Sure, I could keep a beat and sing harmony, but I really had no idea at that point what I was getting into.
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