Views the "Master Bates and the Beat Boys" daze.
"Master Bates and the Beat Boys???????. Are you kidding me?"
My first thoughts were #1, with a band name like that, no newspaper would ever print the adds. #2, It sounds like a bunch of jerk-offs. #3, I sure as hell don't want to be called a Beat Boy. But after some convincing from my good friend George Keller, I agreed to go with him to an audition.
I remember walking into a back room in downtown Fremont at Big Al's T-shirt shop. That is where I first met Mr. Jeff Yost. Jeff was the brains behind this crazy idea. He also was the lead singer and he wrote all the songs. Next I met Scott Spiers, the musically talented, ex-marching band tuba player. He would be the bass guitar player. Then I met Christopher Martin with his clean sounding Fender amp playing funky jazz chords. My buddy George would be on drums. ( He's the reason why I'm here.) But why me? I'm just a 21 year old punk kid with an extremely loud Marshall half stack and a Stratocaster guitar. I never learned how to read music so Jeff would give me the basic chord structure of the song then he would hum specific parts to me.
" But what the hell is an E-flat augmented chord?" I didn't have a clue.
The band painfully played a few songs tht first night and truthfully (and I've never told Jeff this) I didn't even like the music back then. But looking over in the corner of the room, here's this guy they call Big Al and he is moving his head and tapping his toe and smiling. I think to myself who is this Big Al? Why is he letting us practice in his place of business for free and why is he smiling? Is it so pathetic that it's funny or does he actually like these songs?
At the end of that first night I was asked to join the band. I don't know why but I immediately said yes.
Now, here I am twenty-some years later and I'm asked to write a few band stories for the whole world to read. How can I do that? It would have to be a 1200 page novel. There are so, so many stories. The Ten Day Recording, The Roof Top Story, The Cookoo's Nest John's Most Embaressing Moment Story, The Infamous Blood Bath Party, The Sandusky Quarry Show, The Quitting of Christopher Martin, The Rock on the Dock Is Jeff Dead Story, The New Year's Eve Puke Fest, and on and on and on.
I guess I will call this my first entry. Jeff, I promise I will submit my first story soon. The hard part will be deciding which one to tackle. But for now, almost midnight, I think I will crack open a cold one, put in my Beat Boys CD, sit back and really think about those stories.
And Jeff I now absolutely love the music.
“The Rooftop Story”
If I had to guess, I would say it was Jeff’s idea. I also think that Big Al probably had something to do with it. “Yeah Jeff, great idea, go ahead and do it!”
Downtown Fremont, where the bands rehearsal room was, hosted an annual “Sauerkraut Festival” which we tried to get an legitimate gig at but we were coldly turned away. (Hey Jeff, maybe because of the name of the band?). Jeff later decided that Master Bates and the Beat Boys would play the festival after all, but how?
Big Al’s T-shirt shop (our rehearsal room) was an old two-story downtown building located in the heart of the sauerkraut festival. The back section of the building was only one-story with a flat roof. This would provide the perfect platform for infamous show. From this rooftop we had an unobstructed view of the festival, and them of us. Jeff decided to set-up a full production show, (lighting, stage, drum riser, PA system, etc…) and perform our own unauthorized concert.
I remember getting started early the day of the show. With ladders and a lot of muscle, we hauled the entire show up 15 feet to this flat roof. We also ran cables across an alley to an adjacent building to set up the light and sound technicians. I think we even rented a follow spot for the show. The band worked their butts off for the entire day. Around early evening a large crowd of curious on-lookers had gathered below. Even with the number hours we invested that day, the show was not quite ready. We were all novices when it came to sound and lighting systems and our hired technicians were in-experienced at best. The anxious crowd grew that evening to an estimated 400-600 people as we scrambled to finish the set up. We decided to start the show with no sound check or anything, just turn it all on and go for it!
And were was big Al, the tenant of the building that we were abusing? At the start of the show he locked all the doors and walked away to melt into the crowd.
“The Start Of The Show”
I don’t remember the opening song but burnt into my memory is the start of the show with everything going wrong. The sound system sucked, but worse, when Jeff stepped up to the microphone, his voice was completely gone. He lost his voice on THE VERY FIRST SONG!
I give Jeff an “A” for effort as he turned around, looked at me and shrugged his shoulders and slowly walked to the drum riser and sat down right in the middle of the song.
The band kept playing as Jeff just sat there deflated and defeated. I don’t know what hit me, but I went up to the microphone and started singing the remainder of the song. As we ended the song, the huge crowd was no longer curious and had begun to move on down the street. We lost 90% of the audience before the first song had ended. What a confidence builder for the band. To this day I hate singing, it just hit me, I now know why.
I continued to labor through a couple more songs at the microphone as Jeff sat on the drum riser with head in hands. I remember the festivals featured country band starting there second set about a half a block away. We were so loud that we defiantly disrupted their show.
I’ll bet Big Al a big laugh as he watched the police stand in a huddle at the base of the building, scratching their heads trying to figure out how to stop our show.
After we refused to stop playing, the police located the owner of the building whom was sitting in the bar across the street. With the keys in hand the police entered the building and began yanking out our power cords.
What a beautiful memory I have of playing and singing an extended version of “I Don’t Wanna Stop” as our show was forcefully shut down. First the lighting went out, next the sound system, then Scott’s bass amp went dead. George and I were the last two members to keep playing, just guitar and drums, “I Don’t Wanna Stop”. After my guitar amp went dead, I will NEVER forget the Dennis The Menace look on George’s face as he alone, continued to play, “I Don’t Wanna Stop”.
After awhile we all realized that we now had to descend to earth to accept our punishment. As we walked into our rehearsal room, there stood the Fremont police with Mr. Al Cooper, the owner of the building. They did not look happy to see us.
I believe Big Al was there to witness what happened next. Jeff took a step forward, (remember this was his idea), hands in pockets, looking down at the ground and sheepishly said “Geez, I’m sorry!).
To me Jeff looked like an eight year old getting in trouble for stealing cookies from the jar.
The band, including Big Al, stood there speechless as the police and Mr. Cooper whispered to each other. Then looked at Jeff and said that no charges would be filed, and don’t ever, ever do this again!
As they left we were all happy and relieved, but now, as tired as we all were, we had to take everything down from the rooftop. What a day!
Before I went to sleep that night, exhausted as I was, I had to recall the events from the day. I think I slept the entire night with a smile on my face!