Boris Of Bass Music Page
From Minnesota to Arizona
Way Back
I've always been interested in playing music, even though I was never all that good at it. In my grade school days, I played trombone in the concert band, and with friends. A few of us formed a Ragtime band but I think we only had all four of us playing at the same time once or twice.

During high school, braces made it tough to play trombone, and frankly, it just wasn't cool. Staying within my bass-clef sensibilities, I picked up a bass guitar, an amp, and a few instruction books.

On and off through high school, and for a while after I got out of the navy, I would play my bass with guitarist friends. The person I jammed with most often was Pat Shields, a friend originally from high school. We were really into Aerosmith, Led Zeppelin, ZZ Top, and any group that had long, epic guitar solos. Neither of us sang and while the bass parts were often relatively easy, the guitar parts were very difficult. We would play mostly instrumental song fragments.


This photo shows up often with Pat because I don't have any others from back then.

Pat moved away, and I lost contact with the others. I eventually sold my big bass amp (das amp, das heavy, as Pat and I called it). I kept the bass itself around for some reason. It was roughly 1985 when I stopped playing.

The Return
Late in 2009, Steph and I were in a small group with Dave and Suzi Gerhke. Dave played guitar and had a "house" bass in his jam area. We played somewhat briefly. I had my hands on a bass less than 10 times since the mid-80s. Even though I couldn't even tell what note I was playing at first, it was fun, and I had some songs to learn for the next time.


Still no photos of anyone actually playing an instrument

Eventually, we ended up playing a few times during our small group, and some services for his brother-in-law's church. This led to me also playing with Rick Ryan (not that one) at a small church he was trying to get going.


The first time I played "in public" in 2010. It was an open stage thing my friend organized for his birthday, which also happened to be my birthday.

My First Rock Band
Early in 2010, I thought I needed to play with a full rock group to go to the next level with my skills. I had never even played with a drummer. I answered a few ads in Craigslist, and after having quite a few auditions where I was in way over my head, I ended up finding Matt Youngblood and Rob Hecker.

Matt and Rob had been playing music, guitar and drums respectively, much longer than I had been, and were quite good. They were new to playing in a band which is why they were willing to put up with someone as green I was. This started a pattern where all the other band members were better musicians than I was. I saw this as a good thing. I could learn from them and it forced me to improve just to keep up.

Jesus Palomino (an expression by Slim Pickens) or J-Pal for short, had regular rehearsals weekly, and we built up a pretty large collection of songs. The only gig we had during my stay was a house party in Rob's basement. That went well other than my life and death struggle trying to get my guitar strap untwisted, the whole sad effort captured on video. I stayed in J-Pal until 2012 when my wife and I moved out of the state. Matt and his family moved west also a few years later, and he's very active in music with Addie Tonic in Denver.


J-Pal had no band photos either. This is a much more recent photo of Matt.

The Band That Never Was and Health Centers
Once in Arizona, I wanted to stay connected and play music with others. After a few try-outs that didn't go too well, I was contacted by someone in a start-up band that already had a name, but was very early in its life. No Denyal (not pronounced No Den-Yall as it may appear) was the idea of John D (as he wasn't nicknamed). He had a few originals started and very good guitars and gear. He had recently purchased a mixer, expensive recording software, and a drum kit that was not top-end, but very nice, especially considering John didn't play drums.


My first band that had band photos, even though we didn't have a vocalist yet.

There were issues from the start. The drummer and guitarist / vocalist left the band and it was just John and I. After a few try-outs, we somehow ended up with Jacob Chamess. Despite being much younger than either us, he was really good, kick-ass I dare say. The three of us had a few songs we could play all the way through, but we struggled to find a vocalist. The elusive combination we tried to find was being a competent vocalist and not having a personal life that was a complete mess. I think at least one had open bench warrants. One of Shawns (three with the same name) was quite good and knew how to use the recording equipment (unlike any of us). Unfortunately, he was scared off by John, who was having a tough time with things by that point.

We never did find a vocalist, and eventually, due to problems outside of the band, the whole effort collapsed. I did stay in contact with Jacob, and thoroughly enjoyed watching his new band, Nova Minus, play for a few years.

Towards the end of No Denyal, I could see that the ship was sinking and I started reaching out to others. For a while, I played with Mike Dolle, who plays a 12-string quite beautifully. We would play at a nursing home in Apache Junction as part of a church service. This went on for a while until my commitment to the next band (and my pesky day job) made it difficult to continue.

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