The Interview
Interview with Jeff
Yost by Jim Carney (Jan. 2006)
Q: Why "Master Bates and The Beat Boys"?
Jeff: Why not? It's a name; a bit of an attention getter, perhaps a nod to Dickens.
Q: But didn't it cause you any censorship problems at the time?
Jeff: Hahaha. Well, it didn't get a lot of mainstream press, and radio
stations wouldn't say it at the time. We did get mentioned in a
newspaper ad once. It was way at the bottom of a huge, perhaps a full
page ad, and it must have been in about 2 point font; but it was there.
We all cracked up when we saw it.
Q: Do you fellows still keep in contact?
Jeff: Well John and I have played on and off together since then, and
George has chimed in on several occasions. The three of us worked in
John's blues band, Rude Mood, a few times, and we've played as the Beat
Boys when George, or Andy as we called him back in the day, is in town.
He's been busy working on The Gin Blossoms cd out in Phoenix.
Christopher and I talk on the computer every so
often, and he has come down for a visit or three over the years. He's
happy up in Canada. We couldn't get in touch with Scott for years. I
guess he was out playing with search engines looking up Master Bates
and the Beat Boys, and ran across some listings, and, low and behold, I
got an email from him; so we're keeping in touch from time to time now.
Q: Are there any plans for a reunion?
Jeff: Actually we had one this past summer, slightly augmented.
Christopher was going to make it, but had to bow out due to some
pressing personal matters, and we still hadn't found Scott; so John,
George, and I were joined by Rude Mood's bassist, Gary Keaton, and Ryan
Jackson, a friend George and I met when we were attending Music Tech
school. Ryan played second guitar for the show.
It was just a small private party, actually my
retirement party, but I had so much fun that I decides to hit the road
again. I've canceled that tour since John didn't want to do it, even
though everyone else was on board. So I blocked this year out to do my
first studio album. I've been wanting to do it for years, but something
always seems to rear it's ugly head and tramples all over my plans.
Q: I've really enjoyed some of the things you fellows recorded.
Jeff: Well the mp3s that are out and about were done by a variation of the Beat Boys.
Q: A different lineup?
Jeff: Yes. John was there, but we hooked up with Cub Koda's band at the
time, The Points. That means that John and I were joined by Joey
Gaydos, Pete Bankert, and 'Cool' Fred Schmidt. We recorded that project
live at former Brownsville Station drummer, Henry Weck's Schoolhouse
studio outside Ann Arbor, Michigan. Al Cole set up the deal.
As far as the recordings go, those are my favorite,
although on the cd George put together from old cassettes, there are
certain things that trip my trigger. "Buzz On" live was.... well, you
had to be there! Maybe one of the other fellows will explain that show
on their page.
Q: Al Cole seems to have played a major role with the Beat Boys. Was he your manager?
Jeff: Actually Al and I became friends very young. Our fathers were
best friends, so we would hang out from time to time, especially New
Years Eve. Our parents had great New Years Eve parties at our house.
Al and George were working together at Al's T-Shirt
shop when the band got together, so Al let us set up practice space
there. He would critique us, and come up with presentation ideas,
He had this old Navy ambulance, and would drive us
and our gear to the shows. We could have never really done anything
without his help. If he wasn't our manager, he was as close as one
could get to it.
Q: Are the other Beat Boys going to ad comments on the site?
Jeff: I sure hope so, and a few have said they were going to. "Come on
fellows, add your two cents, photos, any old interesting stories".
Q: Well, thank you Jeff for taking time out from your recording to have a chat.
Jeff: I enjoyed it! Let's do it again sometime down the road.
