craigbfd

St Paul, MN, USA

At age 6, my Dad started teaching me ukulele then later guitar and keyboards. I asked for a drum set which I never received so I played drums on coffee cans with pencils. In 3rd grade I started my first pretend band, The Monkees Junior, where we mimed along with Monkees records on the front steps to entertain the neighborhood. My Dad was a member of The St. Paul Clown Club. They had a traveling variety show which entertained at hospitals and nursing homes. It was my first experience playing in front of an audience. I played a 14 dollar Airline electric guitar through my Dad's old tube amp and my friend Bob played one snare drum. I believe I was in my teens then. In High School, I had a few basement bands that never played in front of anyone, mostly three piece power trios, guitar, bass and drums. We were covering songs by Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Zeppelin, etc. I lived for music then. Every weekend I went to the record store and bought albums by new bands like The Ramones, Buzzcocks