Very first band...........

[Gerben]

I was 17 when I bought an electric guitar from a school mate. It was 1976. I started to learn how to play (could read music and play the piano) with stuff like "house of the rising sun" and all that.
After about half a year later a few guys wanted to start a band. I pictured myself on the front of the stage, doing Ritchie Blackmore things and all, but hey, "you're only playing a few months now, you're the least experienced player, so you play the bass...."...
I removed the b and e string and started to "play bass", on an old tube radio (needed some wiring..). Shortly after that I decided "well if I really have to play bass, I might as well buy one", and bought my first bass, a genuine Dutch "Egmond" bass, which I turned into a fretless after buying the second one: my 1977 Fender P-bass: black body, maple neck. Still have it, still play it, still love it.

 

[Wissen]

My first band was in college - North 5th. We were almost all music majors. As these things normally go, the lead guitarist and lead singer were the only two who weren't, and they definitely had the most mojo.

We played a couple house parties in the house where we rehearsed, but our only paying gig was as the stage band for a fashion show the guitarist's girlfriend was organizing. She was a merchandising major or something like that. We played a 45-minute set of funk and blues covers to an audience that could not care less. But it was awesome.

Singer was a flaky heroin addict, but a rare talent. Band broke up when he went AWOL and most of us graduated and left town.

We did write one song, that to this day I'm still fiercely proud of:

 

[mellowgerman]

The Surfing Derangers, circa 2004. Punk rock! I actually played guitar in this one. I was 15 or 16 in this photo -- white shirt on the left. Even then my main instrument was bass, but our group of friends had another bassist, so since I played both, I ended up on guitar.
Happy to say we were pretty decent for a young punk band. We played in tune, had real amps, played mostly (naive) politically-charged original tunes.

 

[Paulabass]

In an earlier post I mentioned getting a better drummer. I forgot to mention who he was- His mother was movie star/singer Ima Sumac, the 'bird lady'. His father was Moises Vivanco, the Andean folk music star who played Vegas for years. Their son Chuck, our drummer, used to sit in on drums with Sammy Davis Jr. and Frank Sinatra at age 8. When we got our recording contract, Marlene Dietrich sent us her microphone.
After we broke up Chuck was never seen around the music business again.
Of course none of this has anything to do with why we are in the 'Where are they now?' files

 

[Fun With Dirt]

I was 19. Funny enough, it was a very well established band. I had really just played with friends here and there since 13. There was an ad looking for a bassist and a guitarist. At the time, I had a bass rig that would have been more appropriate for what they were after, so I auditioned as a bassist. I got the job. ...shockingly. These guys had been around for nearly 10 years at that point. Their practices were very professional in nature. A lot was demanded. So, for me to walk into a situation where we got paid up front, had our own sound/lighting people, security, and techs was just crazy. We auditioned people left and right for guitar. Just couldn't get that right mixture of ability and personality. One day, I asked the guitarist if I could toy around with his rig because I have never played, at that point, through a half stack and outboard rack system before. He was gracious enough to allow me to as they all left the room to smoke and/or chat. I noodled around for about 20 minutes. Having my fill, I turned off his rig, set down his guitar, and turned to leave the room. The three others in the band were standing there looking at me. "You mother@#)(." I was like, "What?" The singer said, I remember this, "We found like 5 bassists that would work and not one guitarist. ...and you could do it the whole time?!" I shot back with, "I told you I played guitar." ...only to be met with "Yeah, but you didn't tell us you were any good." It was pretty toungue in cheek. Long story short, I was the second guitarist from there on in. I had to sell my bass rig to buy a guitar rig. I love to play music. LOVE it. ...but it was in that band that I decided that I just didn't want music to be my life. It got where it just wasn't fun anymore.

 

[MrLenny1]

13. We practiced 5 nights a week. Didn't know a scale but
kept banging it out. Started gigging at 15, got a local manager,
we were not old enough to drive, and got booked in large venues
because we were a novelty,kids playing RnR. It was a great 2 years.

 

[Jon Lars]

My first band, UHF, booked a show at the Long Goodbye in Portland, Oregon on May 18, 1980.
That morning, Mount St. Helens exploded.
We incorporated tv news broadcast into the performance.

 

[jeffbrown]

Wow - if memory serves, I was 16. Some buds were forming a band and asked if I wanted in. Well, of course! (Rock n roll, chicks, etc.! ) I was the singer, we had drums, guitar, keys and bass, playing Doors, Hendrix, Animals, and so forth. We called ourselves Green Lightning. I have no idea where THAT came from. We played 2 gigs at the dance hall at the YWCA in Manchester, NH, and maybe one other somewhere else, I can't recall. We didn't totally suck, but we weren't great, either, haha!

The keys in the band I'm in now is the same guy, reconnected after all these years! We have improved greatly, thank goodness, but they won't let me sing....

 

[dbsfgyd1]

How old were you when you joined your very first band? And how good was that band?

1973. I was 14. The band REALLY sucked. Drummer was a beginner. Guitarist consistently played the wrong chords and would get mad when I would point it out to him. Keyboardist just wasn't really interested. He had potential but wasn't interested in being a musician. Go figure. I was WAY ahead of them skill wise but I had no other outlet........until I got the call for band #2.....a real band. Only played 2 gigs before I got the call for band #3.....an even better band that lasted 2 years.

13. Not very good. 5 guitarists, passable drummer, no bass or decent vocals. I was the youngest and was let go for a keyboardist. One of the other guitarists bought a bass. The result was not much better, but at least they had better instrumentation.

 

[ZedLepp]

I started learning the bass at 10. By 13 I was playing with all the neighborhood kids. Seemingly I was the only bass player in this neighborhood. I didn't join my first gigging band till I turned 21. I would answer ads in the Reader (San Diego) but no one would have me until I turned 21. Played in a band called Suntower for about 13 years then that fell apart and I moved to AZ.