| Patrick Guyton leatherwolf shotgun messiah hail mary, fanmail the kreepdowns enticier aaronsrod little savage bacchus chaser | ||
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PATRICK GUYTON "It
all started with a broken machine head
Ya, one broken
gear. I still have it, (pictured right) |
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I was five or eight years
old when my dad, bought this acoustic guitar, tried to learn to play it
for a while until a cam broke off the machine head gear on the "B"
string, and to follow, the "High E" string brakes, he puts it in the
closet, end of story, and end of his guitar playing days...
...and the beginning of mine. I then claimed the orphaned firewood and with only four strings left, it became my first "bass" guitar. It came in handy every night that the Partridge Family was on TV, (I don't know how they ever made it without me) Danny Partridge had the gig though, so, he was my first real influence even though some people say that he wasn't really playing... ...but that's ok, the same people say that wrestling is fake. |
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I
played a few other instruments as a young turk; trumpet, drums, and
harp. The only thing I remember being able to play on the trumpet was
the "call to charge", the Kentucky Derby "call to race" and "taps". The
only thing I could do on the drums was make enemies and the
harp....well, who cares about the harp. My parents were so gracious as
to get me set up to take guitar lessons, which I did for a few years but
my teacher just wasn't getting around to teaching me "Smoke on the
water" quick enough so, I decided to teach myself. Playing by ear is
cool and all but a lot of times I really wish I would of stayed with it
and actually learned how to read music. My
first band experience came shortly after my school had a special "Gong
Show" presentation. |
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My
first line up was and is my favorite. From left to right; Kevin Waskin (guitar), Anthony Zarella (drums / vocals), Patrick Guyton (bass). These guys were and will always be, no matter how much time stands between our meetings, some of my very best friends. We grew up together, went all through school together, our parents were friends, we were in Cub & Boy Scouts together, we played sports together, rode dirt bikes together, ran from the cops together (a lot), and at one point, in fine American tradition, we actually cut our fingers open and became honest to goodness "Blood Brothers" together... (definitely not advisable in today's world) How do you ever outgrow or forget these type of bonds... well, you don't... you just make movies about them and air them on the Lifetime Channel with a handy box of extra-large Kleenex. Well, we were called many things (mostly by the neighbors) but we fancied the name "Acid Rock Band" (A. R. B. for short). It was not an odd thing to be driving up West Washington Street in New Castle, Pennsylvania and seeing a bunch of kids standing out on the second story roof of the Zarella household completely rocking out for the traffic down below. |
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"ACID ROCK BAND" (A.R.B.) |
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We were "best known" for
our big hits; "Were An Acid Rock Band" which
was our theme song/anthem
(even though we didn't
exactly know what an actual acid rock band was,
we thought it was "edgy")
"Sally"
written about a girl
(Sally Star Catron)
who the three of us went to school with and had crushes on, and
"Save Me" in which we were aided by another life long pal,
Anthony Natale who did a smashing job vocally and on bongos. We were about ten years old in the above left picture which also happens to be my first band photo... ever. |
Hey Z, this ones for
you man: you were singing "Feelings" |
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We were then joined by the great Russell Saylor, a musical
wiz-kid that lived down the street a few houses, who looked like
Buddy Holly with fire red hair. Russ was a few years older than us
and was our first real musical mentor. He played lead guitar and
sang. He taught us to write, sing, tune, play...lets just say, he
taught us a lot. Although, to know Russ is to love Russ. He did have a few things we had to agree to, in order for him to play with us. First: He would sing a handful of Elvis Presley numbers during our live sets with us playing backup. Second: He would wear a homemade white satin Elvis costume (Vegas style baby), complete with high rise collar, open chest, big bell bottoms, tapestries, rhinestones and a big old belt with chains and giant gold eagle buckle! We figured, what the heck, why not, and we got a heck of a kick watching him. The Elvis songs were definitely the highlight of our shows. I mean people loved it! Kevin and I would do the synchronized spinning around with the guitars during "Heartbreak Hotel" and ladies would be screaming for Russ... what a blast. When I think of the "good 'ol days", of playing music, I think of this... and I greatly miss my old friends. |
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"THE BADLANDS BAND" |
...Here we are as a whole group in our
early teens playing a full on hoe-down. We are also joined here by our newest member Marie Mrozek (Mo for short). She was our schools best everything, including singer. So Marie did righteous back ups as well as lead vocals. She brought a certain class to our otherwise hokie exterior... and she never wore shoes when we played. Mo was just one of the boys (but a lot nicer to look at). Funny, as I look at this pic, while everyone else was making Grandfather Clocks and gun racks, I remember Kevin and I making Anthony's bongo stand and mic boom stand in woodshop class. Russ taught us that if we played more country rock type songs we would book more shows. I can remember it taking days to find all those dang hats...regardless we played a lot of shows and had a awesome time together. We changed the name when Russ and Mo joined us first to "Atlantis" and then landed and settled on "The Badlands Band", it seemed fitting with the hats and her bare feet and all... |
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© 2008 www.patrickguyton.com |
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