Gary Rasmussen RIP

[P. Aaron]

I saw Sonic's Rendezvous Band starting in the late 70's when I turned 18 and could get into bars. Sonic's was one of the 1st bands I ever saw live and they were LOUD, fast, intense and never let up. Fred 'Sonic' Smith(g-v), Scott 'Rock' Ashton(d), Gary Rasmussen(b) and Scott Morgan(g-v) were a terrific Motor City factory of beer drinkin' HELL YEAH ! rock 'n' roll. Patti Smith would hang in the shadows at Second Chance, their mainstay in Ann Arbor. Numerous record companies wanted them but in true MC5 fashion, I was told by people close to Fred that they knew big studio wouldn't work for their sound. They wrote the best originals and paid odes to Chuck Berry & the 'Stones often.

Here's a few Sonic's tunes. Gary's bass playing was so key to their rockin' manner. Fred & Scott Morgan killed it on guitars & vocals and Rock killed it keeping it all steady. It was an era, along with so many other great acts coming thru the Ann Arbor area, it was a killer buffet of affordable entertainment and excellent parties. Kegs, rolled thingy's, and other "just say NO!" type entities were a part of that special time.

The fidelity on these isn't great but, it's there and the music is worth getting into. THanks for reading.

 

[P. Aaron]

A regional obit:

In Memoriam: Gary Rasmussen — Pencil Storm

Jeremy Porter remembers Gary Rasmussen, bassist from Sonic’s Rendezvous Band and The Up, and Ann Arbor/Detroit early rock/punk music scene legend.

www.pencilstorm.com

 

[r_bnks]

RIP, Sonic's Rendezvous Band was really, great. I really dig Scott's singing and playing style too.

Here's a cool cover:


And some rerecorded songs by Scott

 

[P. Aaron]

RIP, Sonic's Rendezvous Band was really, great. I really dig Scott's singing and playing style too.

Here's a cool cover:


And some rerecorded songs by Scott

Scott Morgan's singing was terrific from the Rationals days thru his solo efforts after SRB. Sonic's on some nights was the best rock music could offer one for a $3.00 cover charge. Over the course of about 3 years, we'd see them about 6-7 times a year along with Destroy All Monsters (Ron Ashton/Mike Davis) and occasionally The Dead Boys, or Pere Ubu The Cult Heroes. SRB broke up about early '81 or there - abouts. Still, the rest of the 80's brought us many other punk acts that filled the void pretty well.

Put many stadium acts to shame in terms of accessibility and entertainment value.

 

[Michedelic]

Scott Morgan's singing was terrific from the Rationals days thru his solo efforts after SRB. Sonic's on some nights was the best rock music could offer one for a $3.00 cover charge. Over the course of about 3 years, we'd see them about 6-7 times a year along with Destroy All Monsters (Ron Ashton/Mike Davis) and occasionally The Dead Boys, or Pere Ubu The Cult Heroes. SRB broke up about early '81 or there - abouts. Still, the rest of the 80's brought us many other punk acts that filled the void pretty well.

Put many stadium acts to shame in terms of accessibility and entertainment value.

It’s a shame that they didn’t fully seize the indie movement moment, and do a proper album; like the iconic bands they came from, the outfit was a little ahead of the curve.

 

[P. Aaron]

It's a shame that they didn't fully seize the indie movement moment, and do a proper album; like the iconic bands they came from, the outfit was a little ahead of the curve.

You know what they did tho', they inspired hacks like me that couldn't cop the high-production stuff from radio to keep at it and find one's own musical identity, wherever it led. These guys launched a lot of boats. Many still afloat and running fine.

This era I've been party to leaves with much to be grateful for.

 

[P. Aaron]

It's a shame that they didn't fully seize the indie movement moment, and do a proper album; like the iconic bands they came from, the outfit was a little ahead of the curve.

From what I gathered at the time and even more recently, Fred Smith, the ostensible leader didn't want to and really didn't want to be in Sonic's much longer than 1980-81. I'm just grateful to have been a witness to some great regional music and Ann Arbor in general was a town where I saw everyone from Yo-Yo Ma and Segovia to King Crimson, Iggy, The Stooges, Peter Tosh, Megadeth, Johnny Thunders' Heartbreakers, B.B. King, Bill Bruford & Patrick Moraz, Alan Holdsworth, Lena Lovich, Suzanne Vega, and David Lee Roth with the Eat 'Em & Smile tour. Probably missing some but, university towns attract great shows.

 

[Michedelic]

From what I gathered at the time and even more recently, Fred Smith, the ostensible leader didn't want to and really didn't want to be in Sonic's much longer than 1980-81. I'm just grateful to have been a witness to some great regional music and Ann Arbor in general was a town where I saw everyone from Yo-Yo Ma and Segovia to King Crimson, Iggy, The Stooges, Peter Tosh, Megadeth, Johnny Thunders' Heartbreakers, B.B. King, Bill Bruford & Patrick Moraz, Alan Holdsworth, Lena Lovich, Suzanne Vega, and David Lee Roth with the Eat 'Em & Smile tour. Probably missing some but, university towns attract great shows.

I heard that.
I grew up in Kansas City(MO), and while there was a fair amount of cool shows that came through, there was still plenty missing. So I would trek out west, to Lawrence, KS, home of KU, and saw far hipper stuff…Ralph Towner, Gong, Jan Hammer's band after Mahavishnu, XTC(twice), the Buzzcocks, Marianne Faithfull backed only by Fernando Saunders(got to talk to him), The Police, Wall Of Voodoo, Devo, The Residents, Teardrop Explodes, Ronald Shannon Jackson, and because I knew someone, rode along in the limo with Peter Perrett of The Only Ones. Then, because of the relaxed after-show atmosphere, ended up partying with Ultravox and another time chatting with Dave Greenfield of the Stranglers for an hour. I later did sound for a local band with a strong following, and they once opened for Bad Brains at this interesting, uh, venue, way way out in the country…

Yep, that's Burroughs.

 

[Rich Fiscus]

From what I gathered at the time and even more recently, Fred Smith, the ostensible leader didn't want to and really didn't want to be in Sonic's much longer than 1980-81. I'm just grateful to have been a witness to some great regional music and Ann Arbor in general was a town where I saw everyone from Yo-Yo Ma and Segovia to King Crimson, Iggy, The Stooges, Peter Tosh, Megadeth, Johnny Thunders' Heartbreakers, B.B. King, Bill Bruford & Patrick Moraz, Alan Holdsworth, Lena Lovich, Suzanne Vega, and David Lee Roth with the Eat 'Em & Smile tour. Probably missing some but, university towns attract great shows.

I’m certainly not of the time or place, but I do love me some Sonic’s Rendezvous Band. My understanding was once he and Patti Smith got serious, and moved to the suburbs, Fred lost interest in beating his head against the wall that is the music business. Even when he did finally record again, it was just to back her up.

And just to keep this on topic, I’ve actually been listening to Electrophonic Tonic recently.

 

[P. Aaron]

I’m certainly not of the time or place, but I do love me some Sonic’s Rendezvous Band. My understanding was once he and Patti Smith got serious, and moved to the suburbs, Fred lost interest in beating his head against the wall that is the music business. Even when he did finally record again, it was just to back her up.

And just to keep this on topic, I’ve actually been listening to Electrophonic Tonic recently.

The underground blogging from Detroit fans backs this up. The end was near when a bunch of friends and I went to see SRB play a show billed: The Romantics, SRB and the Ramones. It was a great line up but about 2/3 thru SRB's set, Fred just stopped playing and walked off. The band closed it out and was done even tho' many (myself included) thought they were killin' it. They almost always did. I think they played the 2nd Chance 2 more times but by 1980, they were done.

The band was a sum of its parts and they were just terrific. Gary's bass lines could'a been copied by someone else but, together, whether they thought so or not, were a beacon of Detroit rock and had a sound all their own. Both Fred and Scotty Morgan wrote damn good songs and while I have some vinyl LP's and several discs, there's 2 or 3 songs missing from those collections I'd wish made it to a distributed tape somewhere.

I'm tellingly sentimental about these guys because they were so incredibly formative for myself and other Ann Arbor kids. Ron Ashton (Stooges) and Mike Davis (MC5) as Destroy All Monsters, got us kids great opening gigs for them at pubs where we were only allowed in as patrons. They also spent time with us at parties and trading records on the turntable and trading the guitar to do Rolling Stones & Chuck Berry sing-alongs.

Imagine looking at the clock on a weeknight seeing it lean towards 3:00AM and having to kick members of The Stooges outta yer house 'cause you needed a few hours of sleep before work. THAT's how many of my younger days went. They were always good about it and hung out with us often.