Practice makes perfect. I remember all my life hearing that famous quote, and while it does hold true, it can sometimes reveal changes in people as well as bring out the best in them.
Summer Heat did practice, and practice a lot. During the late 60's, there was a lot, and I do mean a veritable plethora of music out there that the band tried to keep up with and learn to play. Practices were usually very low keyed, very informal, but a lot got accomplished, that is, when everyone showed up.
Summer Heat was a very versatile band, not only playing all different kinds of current rock music, but the musicians were also quite versatile.
Denny played guitar, bass, and keyboards. He was damned good on all three.
Jay not only sang lead vocals, but he also played rhythm guitar and keyboards.
Mike played awesome lead guitar and bass. Matter of fact, Mike possessed a tremendous amount of talent on the guitar, playing what I always considered to be on a professional level.
Jim played drums, and while not the best drummer, because he had a habit of changing tempo in a song, he was still good at his craft. Unfortunately as time went by, he got to thinking he was much better than what he actually was, and it showed in his attitude. Sometimes he showed up for practices and sometimes he didn't. When he didn't, it really fouled up a lot of things. It was hard to practice without a drummer.
It was because of this that I started bringing along my friend Bill, who was not really an accomplished drummer, but he was learning, and if Jim didn't show, Bill was able to fill in and do a good job so the band could at least work on some new jams. Later on, Bill would get rewarded for his efforts to help the band out in a big way.
Jim brought his cocky attitude to the dances, too. He became beligerent at times, downright mean at others, and became aloof as to what he was supposed to be doing as the band's drummer.
I remember one night in particular, it didn't seem anyone could do anything right in Jim's eyes but Jim. He didn't want to play certain songs, he was later coming back at both breaks than the rest of the band, and he smarted off to all the guys in the band, and even told me to quit using the strobe light during certain songs because it was "throwing my timing off."
After that particular night, the band got together, drafted up an agreement detailing a policy for practice attendance and overall attitude during performances. Everyone signed the agreement, Jim quite reluctantly, and even going as far as to purposely change the spelling of both his first and last names when he signed it, but I think he got the overall picture. He knew that if he didn't comply, he would be let go from the band.
Things did get better and once again practices became fruitful and successful.
Here we were, a group of high school musicians, taking on covers by Blue Cheer, Steppenwolf, Cream, Vanilla Fudge, Edwin Starr, the Rascals, Wilson Pickett, Traffic, Jimi Hendrix Experience, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Chicago Transit Authority, The Doors, The Stones, The Beatles, The Spencer Davis Group and countless others.
We also had some original material that the band had written. One song, quite the long, drawn out yet quite heavy number entitled Quicksand Mother, which I always thought would have been a killer name for a band. Jay and I worked together to write a good rock and roller called Sounds From 46,000 BC. The tune just came out during practice one night and I improvved the words on the spot for Jay to sing, and the song became a part of every dance we played, and was always welcomed with applause or requests for "That BC Number." During the Woodstock Music and Art Festival, we would hear Country Joe and The Fish perform a number called "Rock and Soul Music," and the tune was almost note for note what we had created during a practice that we ended up calling Sounds From 46,000 BC. Talk about strange.
Rehearsals also brought about talking about what we could do next to "shock" the masses. Some of those things we did, most we didn't, but more and more everyone was giving imput as to what they wanted us to do. Denny gave me a couple of songs to play the bass on while he played keyboards, nothing complicated mind you, because I truly had no talent playing anything. Jay gave me a couple of songs to play keyboard chords on so we could provide that full sound we missed on a few songs, and of course, I also played the tambourine, the morraccas on several songs, and we introduced the sound of the cowbell on several songs including Steppenwolf's "Rock Me" and the Chamber Brothers' "The Time Has Come Today." I remember getting so into playing that cowbell that I broke more than one drumstick in the process.
Word continued to get around about that really good high school rock band from Rushville, too. We received word that a sorority from Franklin College wanted us to come play a dance they were going to have at a great location called the Lincoln Center in Columbus, Indiana. We gratefully accepted, being offered a substantial amount of money for the dance. I thought we were really going to have a great time playing for college age students.
I was going to end up being disappointed beyond words.
To be continued.....
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