This is the continuation of a series of posts – select Category LIFE AS A BAND MEMBER to read in sequence.

I learned many songs from Dennis but the first two songs that LEAF actually played publicly as a band were Strutter by KISS and Jumpin’ Jack Flash by the Rolling Stones.  We spent hours practicing these songs in a sound proof music booth at the Music Center on Fort Hood (TX). We didn’t have enough songs for a full 2 hour set at a local bar, so we couldn’t get any gigs. Let’s be honest, at this point, we were not very good.

Finally, an opportunity presented itself to play our hard learned songs for people other than girlfriends.  A Battle of the Bands was held at our weekend hang out, the Music Center.  We were pumped.  There were only three bands in the competition.  We had never seen these bands practicing at the Music Center, so we felt pretty good about our chances of winning.

We drew the short straw and played first.  We boldly set up our borrowed beat up Music Center amps and drum set.  We plugged in our no-name pawn shop guitars and bass, and we played our hearts out.  I don’t recall us making any mistakes. From where I was standing, at the right side of the stage, I thought we sounded really good.  We hit our marks as practiced and Bill sang the best I’d ever heard. We completed playing our two songs and looked out to the audience for appreciation. There was a smattering of applause from our girlfriends. The audience consisted of our girlfriends, the other two bands, and their girlfriends. We left the stage on a high, congratulating each other on our accomplishment.  

That high lasted about 20 minutes.  That’s how long it took the next band to set up their own, not borrowed, amps, their very expensive Gibson Les Paul guitars and their own shiny drum set and start playing.  They were good.  They were better than good.  They could play their instruments on a whole higher level and they were playing songs that made our simple songs sound like nursery rhymes. 

I don’t remember the band’s name, but I would later learn the name of the guitarist who was playing a red sunburst Gibson Les Paul.  A real Gibson Les Paul.  His name was Doug Soto and he was the nicest person you could ever meet and an extremely talented guitarist.  We were in awe of their perfect rendition of Blue Oyster Cult‘s Dominance and Submission.  You could’ve closed your eyes and swear you were listening to the BOC album Secret Treaties.  I don’t remember their second song but I do remember sitting, as a band, in the auditorium seats and slowly slinking down in our seats.  There was an unspoken feeling of crushing defeat at that point. Perhaps second place would be just fine for our first outing.

There were only three bands competing in the Battle of the Bands.  Out of the three, only two would get to play to a larger audience of soldiers on, I believe, a July 4th celebration.  Can you guess which band, out of the three, didn’t make the cut? Yep, LEAF did not make the cut. It was a blow to our ego but also a wake up call that we needed to commit more time and effort to the band and practice.  The two bands we faced in that Battle of the Bands were, what I would call, local-professionals.  They were playing at local bars on a regular basis.  We needed to get to that level.

High School graduation came and LEAF broke up as we all headed off to college in different directions.

The story continues in my next posting.

For previous chapters in this story see :

Dennis, geometry, music and guitar

My First Band – LEAF