Is that your Mom?

Do you remember your first big arena show?

My first big show was Peter Frampton , I went with my best friend Jon Barrett, who lived right down the street from me, followed soon thereafter by an AC/DC concert and then the Rolling Stones in 1981.  With the Stones, my parents rented a large commercial bus, decked out with a bathroom, and allowed us to invite all of our friends to the show in The Astrodome in Houston, TX.  Can you imagine all of the fun that we had? 

Jon Barrett taking video of the Titans, 1992

Once again, my parents were mega supportive in keeping our music aspirations alive when we were growing up.  I remember seeing the rock band Van Halen live with my whole family including my mother!  Somehow we had managed to get front row seats and were even spotted by longtime bassist Michael Anthony who mouthed “Is that your mom?” as he was shredding bass parts on stage.  My parents would endure many, many hours of our practice sessions. We would be either in our room practicing individually or as a band set up in the dining room while my parents sat in the adjacent living room watching TV.  Now before getting the wrong idea, these same parents of ours also made sure that we were all in church every week and for my brother Ken and I, in Catholic  school.  When you are a kid, church altar service with your brothers can be like being on the world’s stage, all those people watching seemingly every move or misstep that one might make.  I’m sure my parents really enjoyed seeing all three of us at once (Ken, Gary, Danny) at mass doing our best to serve the Church.  

Meanwhile, like many kids of the time, we were fascinated with Jimi Hendrix , Ozzy Osbourne,  ZZ Top , Led Zeppelin and just about anything else deemed “rock and roll” and heard on local Austin  radio station KLBJ FM  at the time.  And how about that crazy punk rock scene exploding in Austin? -unexplainable and RAW.

Now kids that play music ultimately realize, whether truth, fiction, or just good marketing that in order to sound better, to get to the "next level" in performance capability, what is needed is newer and more expensive gear. We were no different.  My parents were supportive but they were not rich in the sense that they could go out and buy every piece of musical gear that we desired.

What developed in each of us then was a certain work ethic.  At an early age we sought work - cutting grass at first and then working for large grocery and fast food chains.  Making money seemed to be a good thing - a very good thing!  Something about work and turning 18 -one thing led to another and the next thing I know, I had enlisted in the US Army, my own musical dreams on hold for the time being.

Rerun

During these early years, my brothers and I did one more high school talent show and I think a kid name Greg Jones sat in with us on the drums.  Where were you Marc?  Another kid, Hardy Lipscomb joined in on the lead vocals.  Our entry: Rerun by the Judy's.

My hats off to all of the other cool musicians that I met during high school.   In particular I remember Chris Kercho and his love for Dire Straits and the guitar styling of the Knopfler brothers.  You passed away way too early my friend and to this day, you are in my prayers.  There's Eric Bilingsley and his Gretsch Country Gentleman guitar.  There's Roger and his brother; we always looked up to Roger and considered his skill on the guitar  to be a cut above all the rest.  I got to run sound for Roger's band a decade or so later - I think they were playing in San Antonio at Tycoon Flats.  And there are others too - I hope to get some collaborative help here,  from Marc, Ken, and Daniel, and fill in some more names.

Back in the day, Greg Jones (the drummer) and I were sitting in high school class one day, I'm sure dreaming of making it big with the band, and we came up with a new name for the band - "The Titans".

We enjoyed seeing the band's "name in lights" so to speak.

Full Force

Sometime during my ninth or tenth grade of high school, my brothers and I entered ourselves into the school talent show under the band name of "Full Force."  I don't think we knew very much about micing our amps or the drums nor did we own any type of effect pedal for say distorting our electric guitar sound.  This would be our first big show. 

A few weeks earlier, during the audition, I had the unfortunate experience of freezing up while trying to sing "Beer Drinkers and Hell Raisers" by ZZ Top.   Alas, I had a new lifelong nemesis, stage fright, anxiety, and fear of anything public!  None-the-less the band was still allowed to enter the contest.  And so instead of doing a piece with lyrics we did an instrumental piece that we had written ourselves.  We played it with our amps and guitars turned up as loud as we could go but with zero effect pedals on the guitars.  

I remember being totally blown away by the other band, led by a kid named Sanji, and the totally FAT, distortion pedaled guitar sound, during the opening riff of their rendition of Smoke on The Water by Deep Purple.   My brothers and I just looked at each other and committed then and there that we needed to find out how to replicate that sound for ourselves. 

Interestingly, instead of my brother Marc on the drums, a neighborhood friend of ours and fellow classmate, Andy Grube sat in on the kit.  Speaking of Andy, he could play, practically beat by beat, note by note, the drum-centric piece "YYZ" by Rush.  In fact, in the following year, Andy Grube entered the talent show by-himself, as a solo drummer, and performed "YYZ" to perfection.

Ken Geraci and what's that, a distortion pedal on the floor? 1981

Early Gear

My first significant amplified gear was a Music Man 412 head and speaker cabinet combination.  I purchased it from Strait Music when Strait was still downtown Austin and just a few months before the big Memorial Day flood of 1981. 

As far as I can remember Strait had always been cool to my family.  Several times my mother would accompany us into the store and I'm sure, co-sign for equipment that we couldn't afford straight out.  We liked and bought gear from Ray Hennig's Heart of Texas Music too.  

A few days after I bought the Music Man rig Strait called with a remarkable request.  Chuck Berry was coming to town to play a gig with Joe Ely.  They were scheduled to play at the Paramount, March 14, 1981.  The way it was explained, at the time, Chuck Berry only played through Music Man amps and typically, rented the gear in whatever city he was booked to perform in.  Mr. Berry's people contacted Strait Music only to find Strait had sold the last one to me.  Would I be willing to lend my equipment to Mr. Berry for his Austin, TX gig on the 14th of March? 

Now I was a huge fan of Mr. Chuck Berry.  My brothers and I covered "Johnny Be Good" at the time and I could both play it on guitar and at the time, sing it too.  Sure, it would be an honor!  

Next thing I recall, I was in contact with Mr. Michael Dunham of Fantasy Productions.  He typed a letter on Paramount letterhead guaranteeing the safe return of my new gear and provided my entire family and I with tickets to the show!  

Agreement signed by rock-n-roll music legend Chuck Berry, 1981

So that my new gear wouldn't get mixed up with other gear on the set, I chalked "G E R A C I" all over the cabinet and head prior to delivering it. 

Sure enough, when we got to the show, there was my new Music Man gear, emblazoned with "G E R A C I" and on stage with Mr. Chuck Berry himself.  It was out of this world!  Afterwards, my entire family and I were escorted backstage and we got to meet Mr. Berry.  Although exhausted from the show, Mr. Berry thanked me and autographed the Paramount guarantee letter from Michael Dunham.  Not bad getting to assist one's all time favorite musician during his gig!

Throwing Picks from the Garage

Early on we were just four brothers having fun playing music in the garage.  If we were playing too loud - a Williamson County patrol car would show up and ask us to ramp it down.  Otherwise, we would play Stones and Beatles cover tunes for all of the kids, friends and neighbors that would be lured over by the sound of electric instruments and drums. 

Once, some younger kids and their parents came over to watch us play.  They so got into what we were doing that for a moment, we felt like famous stars and threw out guitar picks for the kids to take as souvenirs.  

By then, Ken was old enough to go downtown Austin and check out the live music scene. He would go to places like Raul's ( Raul's (night club)) and come back with 45 records from bands like the Skunks and Ty Gavin (the Next) that he would see live.  He envisioned that we too would play downtown someday and this lit a fire in us all for music and stardom.

(L to R) Greg Jones, Ken Geraci, Gary Geraci 1981