BOB DIEDRICH
The first group I every sang with was the Tucson Boys Chorus…..a long time ago. The Chorus instilled in me a love of music of all kinds, and it put into me a love of performing with others. I was in the chorus for 6 years and had the opportunity to tour with them throughout the United States, Mexico, and Australia. After leaving the chorus, I was about 14 at the time, I sang with school choirs and whatnot.
I’d always listened to my trusty transistor radio and loved that new fangled rock and roll music, rhythm and blues, blues and funk. One day, the Beatles came along, The Kinks, Gerry and the Pacemakers, The Dave Clark Five, James Brown, Otis Redding, The Yardbirds, that whole British invasion thing mixed in with the explosion of sweet soul music in the states.
It wasn’t long til; I was jamin’ with guys in he neighborhood. Everybody had a guitar. Everybody was forming a band. My first band, formed around guys from Rincon High School, was The Nobelmen. We played junior high schools and CYO’s around the city. Eventually we became Just Us, and became a frat band. We must have played every frat and sorority at the UofA. That eventually led to playing not only the frats and sororities but also the Embers and Cedars on Speedway and becoming the Friday night house band at the Poco Loco. We had a good run of five years and broke up after we all hit our second year in college. Pickup bands followed over the years. Jam here jam there. Bands started up and closed down. I was playing some music with Steve Swinehart, who plays lead in Mid Life, and he was also playing with he guys in Mid Life at the same time.
One day he asked me to go to one of their practices and there it was; a band that was going to stick around a while. Practice, practice, practice…learn more and more tunes, make ‘em sharp, form the harmonies, get tighter. We started to play out and it started working. And, it’s still working today. We’re a cover band and we make people dance, and that’s what it’s all about.
I love playing and singing with these guys. We’re having fun and helping people to have fun themselves. The schedule is a busy one, but that’s what we were looking for when we plugged into the amps.
Rock On
-BobI’d always listened to my trusty transistor radio and loved that new fangled rock and roll music, rhythm and blues, blues and funk. One day, the Beatles came along, The Kinks, Gerry and the Pacemakers, The Dave Clark Five, James Brown, Otis Redding, The Yardbirds, that whole British invasion thing mixed in with the explosion of sweet soul music in the states.
It wasn’t long til; I was jamin’ with guys in he neighborhood. Everybody had a guitar. Everybody was forming a band. My first band, formed around guys from Rincon High School, was The Nobelmen. We played junior high schools and CYO’s around the city. Eventually we became Just Us, and became a frat band. We must have played every frat and sorority at the UofA. That eventually led to playing not only the frats and sororities but also the Embers and Cedars on Speedway and becoming the Friday night house band at the Poco Loco. We had a good run of five years and broke up after we all hit our second year in college. Pickup bands followed over the years. Jam here jam there. Bands started up and closed down. I was playing some music with Steve Swinehart, who plays lead in Mid Life, and he was also playing with he guys in Mid Life at the same time.
One day he asked me to go to one of their practices and there it was; a band that was going to stick around a while. Practice, practice, practice…learn more and more tunes, make ‘em sharp, form the harmonies, get tighter. We started to play out and it started working. And, it’s still working today. We’re a cover band and we make people dance, and that’s what it’s all about.
I love playing and singing with these guys. We’re having fun and helping people to have fun themselves. The schedule is a busy one, but that’s what we were looking for when we plugged into the amps.
Rock On
posted by Mid Life Crisis | 9:57 AM
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