Roscoeheads - Past to Present .......

[JOME77]

We all know that Roscoeheads play Roscoe basses but how about a little history of our music voyage from the the beginning to the present! I think that it would be cool to know and see a little more history of all of the various Roscoeheads.

I'll start ......

I started playing in bands in 1969!

First band was called .... Hot Crystal Rock

That's me on the far right ..... I played guitar and we didn't have a bass player!!!



The next band was The Expedition (1970)

That's me on the far left ....still playing guitar!

Then came Friction (1971)

I finally had switched to bass .... Didn't we have that 70's vibe? That's me 2nd from the left.

Then came Wildwood (1972-73)

That's me far right. Check out the Les Paul Bass! It weighed 100lbs!!!

Then came Willis Still (1974)

That's me in front of the first mailbox. I actually still had hair!!! This was the only band that I actually gigged with full time. We toured primarily around the southeast. I played a Fender Precision bass.

Then I met my wife, went back to school, got a job and played lounges with a group called Shiloh (1975-1977)

We played private parties & Officers/NCO clubs. Weren't we dressed real cool? That's me dead center. I played Fender Precision and Jazz basses.

After that group broke up I took a break from playing and started back in 1979 playing Christian rock with a group called Malachi

We played mostly original songs for church youth groups and colleges. I switch to Musicman basses with this group and played an Alembic Series 1 bass for a couple of years before moving back to Musicman.

Another Christian Rock group was Dwayne Bosewll and The Heard (1990-1993)

We played all original tunes and played for church youth groups, local concerts and colleges. I played Pedulla and Tobias basses with this group. That's me 3rd from the left.

Here's picture of the group that I've played the longest with. We call ourselves Deacon Fish Fry (2001 - kind of present)

We played for the youth group at my church for 8-9 years and also did other local youth groups, concerts and colleges. I've played Roscoe's exclusively with these guys!
That's me far left.

For some reason I must have quit taking pictures after that group but I played in a variety of original Christian rock groups for the next 5-6 years. I eventually switched to G&L L2000 basses (1982-1989) and then Pedulla (1989-91) Tobias 1991-1995) and eventually to Roscoe's in 1996.
I've been using Roscoe's ever since and currently play my 3006 every week in a church praise band.

I've yet to take any pictures of me playing with my current Roscoe 3006 but here's one from a video (screen capture).


Next ......

[Darkstrike]

Excellent stuff Joe, great read!

[JOME77]

Originally Posted by Darkstrike

Excellent stuff Joe, great read!

Thank Bill.
I'd love to hear your story and see any pic's that you could pull together!

[JBFLA]

First bass, a '63 P-bass


An original project; the inscription reads "To my good friend Jimmy, Keep the faith Ken..." Ken now runs a home studio in Hollywood doing pre/post production movie soundtracks.


To the 70's, Disco ruled the bar circuit:


New wave; suspenders and Google-eye glasses:


The 80's: cute girls in the band was a selling point:


80's Costume contest... I swear!!


90's; There's a story here, really:


2000'ish: Yeah a Schecter 5, my first 5'er not my last...


2003 and past - all Roscoes ( it's good to exorcize these non Roscoe demons!)

(I feel cleansed, in a non-Roscoe way.)

[Darkstrike]

Originally Posted by JOME77

Thank Bill.
I'd love to hear your story and see any pic's that you could pull together!

I wish I had one to tell you! Hahahaha! I'm just a punk who plays in his bedroom.

[JOME77]

Very cool pictures Jim! Do yoiu still have that 63 P Bass? That would be worth some cash now.
All of my Fenders were 70-74 models. They weren't put together very well either.


Bill,
Nothing wrong with being a bedroom player dude! I certainly play more at home now than I play out.

[Darkstrike]

No sir, nothing wrong with it, just not much of a story to tell, heh!

[VroomVroom]

Love this. Joe, great topic! I appreciate the trip down memory lane - that's really generous of you, and you are truly a special human being, my friend. Jim, likewise - thank you! I so dig the matching leather pants & tie. My "formative" years were spent in Germany, and Looking back, I must confess to parachute pants and a skinny leather tie collection that would make Dieter proud.

[LilRay]

Originally Posted by VroomVroom

Love this. Joe, great topic! I appreciate the trip down memory lane - that's really generous of you, and you are truly a special human being, my friend. Jim, likewise - thank you! I so dig the matching leather pants & tie. My "formative" years were spent in Germany, and Looking back, I must confess to parachute pants and a skinny leather tie collection that would make Dieter proud.

Jerry B with hair and Parachute pants? I gotta see that

Joe, I'll fire the ol' laptop up and see what I might find.

That and I wanna get a better view of the pictures.

LOVE the topic!



God Bless, Ray

[Pacman]

Originally Posted by LilRay

Jerry B with hair and Parachute pants? I gotta see that

I think I have some of those pictures.... Jerry, should I dig em up?

[VroomVroom]

Ha! Sure...let's relive the good ol' days. Thinking back, there may be a pic of me sporting my Ibanez P bass...and a Miami Vice blazer, complete w/ rolled up sleeves.

[Pacman]

I know I have some pic of me in spandex with that red Ibanez destroyer....and hair...

[LilRay]

Originally Posted by VroomVroom

Ha! Sure...let's relive the good ol' days. Thinking back, there may be a pic of me sporting my Ibanez P bass...and a Miami Vice blazer, complete w/ rolled up sleeves.

Don't tell me you covered Smugglers Blues too.



God Bless, Ray

[Joel B]

Great topic guys. Now I guess I will go looking for some pics as well. Oh yea, Jerry, I went in to Gelbs the other day and met Ed.

Very cool guy. I talked to him about a 5'ver Rob Allen. Told him to tell you I said hi.

He had lots of good things to say about you. It's not too far from me, only about an hour and a half. Lets get together sometime.

[JOME77]

Jerry in parachute pants and Jon in spandex!?!



Part of me would love to see that and then again ......part of me is real scared!

I'd definitely love to some of the historic pic's of you two!

I need to contact some of my old band mates and see if I can round up some pic's of the more recent groups I gigged with.

Jon, did you recognize Rob Walker in the Willis Still "mail box' picture? He's in the upper right hand corner.

[Pacman]

Originally Posted by JOME77

Jerry in parachute pants and Jon in spandex!?!

It was the 80's. What can we say?

Jon, did you recognize Rob Walker in the Willis Still "mail box' picture? He's in the upper right hand corner.

He slipped right by me, but wow, that's a great pic! What a nice guy...

[LilRay]

Originally Posted by JOME77

Jerry in parachute pants and Jon in spandex!?!

Part of me would love to see that and then again ......part of me is real scared! .

Well I look at it like this, It's kinda like watching those Daredevils gone wrong TV shows.

As long as it's not in person, it can be quite entertaining.



God Bless, Ray

[JBFLA]

Originally Posted by JOME77

Very cool pictures Jim! Do you still have that 63 P Bass? That would be worth some cash now.

No, sad story.
1973, had never played any instrument before. Went to see a band that I knew at a club, the bass player comes over to say Hi during the break. I ask (out of curiosity) "How much does a bass like that cost?"

He asks if I'm interested in buying a bass - if so he has a couple for sale and he'll bring them in the next night for me to look at.

"umm, OK"

Next night he shows me two basses - the one in the picture and a matching Jazz. I'm thinking that I don't know squat about basses (still don't - except that I love Roscoes) and the one with fewer knobs and electronic stuff looks like it would be easier to learn...

"How much?"

"$125 for the P-Bass, $175 for the Jazz"

" I'll take the P-Bass."

Sold it 3 years later. My teacher had a Les Paul Recording Bass that was amazing. Couldn't afford that but bought a Guild copy - total POS.

Tried to buy the P back for 7 years - guy wouldn't sell it to me.
Go figure...

[JOME77]

Originally Posted by JBFLA

No, sad story.
1973, had never played any instrument before. Went to see a band that I knew at a club, the bass player comes over to say Hi during the break. I ask (out of curiosity) "How much does a bass like that cost?"

He asks if I'm interested in buying a bass - if so he has a couple for sale and he'll bring them in the next night for me to look at.

"umm, OK"

Next night he shows me two basses - the one in the picture and a matching Jazz. I'm thinking that I don't know squat about basses (still don't - except that I love Roscoes) and the one with fewer knobs and electronic stuff looks like it would be easier to learn...

"How much?"

"$125 for the P-Bass, $175 for the Jazz"

" I'll take the P-Bass."

Sold it 3 years later. My teacher had a Les Paul Recording Bass that was amazing. Couldn't afford that but bought a Guild copy - total POS.

Tried to buy the P back for 7 years - guy wouldn't sell it to me.
Go figure...

lol

Yep! Hind sight is 20/20!

I had a similar story but not at $125/$175. I sold a fairly new 1973 Fender Tele bass to a local guy for $500. When it came time for him to pay me he said that he had also purchased a 63 Jazz and didn't need both. He said I could take the 63 Jazz if I preferred. Of course I was upset that he had used the bass for 2 weeks and then backed out of the deal but like a fool I took back my 73 tele (because the 63 Jazz was 10 years old and my Tele was new). That Tele was the worse sounding bass that I ever owned (neck humbucker). And to think that I could have had a like new 63 Jazz! Of course you know that I would have eventually sold it anyway.

Again, hind sight is 20/20!

[Darkstrike]

Funny thing is, Id love one of them vintage Tele basses, I have a Squier one that I love.