Dayton Ohio Drummer

Acoustic Blues Band in Dayton

When I returned to playing drums again after 20+ years of writing and producing, I decided that what I really wanted to do was play in a blues band. Well, I’m happy to report five years later (and several Classic Rock bands later) that I’m finally playing in a Dayton Blues Band – Sticky Reed and the Last Fair Deal.

Sticky Reed & the Last Fair Deal at Cadillac Jacks (with a smokin' guest sax player)

The core of the band has been together for years, consisting of Carl Moel on Harmonica, Tim Underwood on Acoustic Guitar and Dobro, Scott Stevens on Acoustic Guitar and Dobro, and my very good friend Greg McMullen on Bass. Greg and I played in Relic together, and that’s how I came to play in the band. We play interesting versions of early blues from legends like Muddy Waters and JellyRoll Morton to recent blues from folks like Chuck Berry and William Clark and more. This band is great to play in, for three reasons: 1) it’s GREAT music, 2) it’s acoustic, so I don’t have to wear ear-plugs (and neither does the audience!), 3) the band can really groove.

We actually did some recording in the late winter/early spring of 2011 so we could get a demo into the hands of some club owners. Take a listen to Sticky Reed and the Last Fair Deal.

Vanilla Fudge Keeps Me Hangin’ On

I’ve been sitting in with a local classic rock band while their drummer is out, and one of the songs they are working on is Vanilla Fudge‘s “Keep Me Hangin’ On.” At first I thought this is a fairly straight-forward song. It was always one of my favorites as I was growing up.

Straight-forward, except that a few of the transitions seemed a bit off-time, and the bridge section was played extremely odd with quarter-notes on the snare. I struggled a bit, but I figured it out…no big deal. Till I got to rehearsal. The band had learned the full length version of the song (five plus minutes). I apparently learned the radio edit (three minutes tops). So after muddling through it a time or two, and trashing all the changes, we decided to table until I’d had a opportunity to learn the other arrangement.

So when I got ready to learn the other version, I thought, “Lets see if I can find a version of this on YouTube.”

Well I found it. It’s a version of the band on the “Ed Sullivan” show (the same show where I first heard The Beatles). And low and behold the drummer was Carmine Appice. Huh. No wonder I struggled with the timing and bridge. Carmine is nothing short of amazing. Here’s the video, and even though I feel it’s a bit “over-acted,” his performance is nothing short of amazing.

FYI – you can catch the bands live performance on Jimmy Fallon here.