The very first time I went to Spence's house (we were 17), he played guitar for me. He had mastered a few songs, including "Love Song" by Tesla. It seemed pretty cool to me, but I had no idea how Spence's love of music permeates his life. He loves both listening to it and playing it. He can read music and he can also play by ear. Hopefully he passed on some of his talented genes to our kids, because they're getting nothing from me. Spence and his high school friends had a little band for a while. Spence, Doug Chlarson, Troy Adair, and Ben Heap...I don't think I'm leaving anyone out. They played "She Shook Me All Night Long" by ACDC and "Stand Up" by DefLeppard at an assembly. Spence took his guitar to college in Indiana and then somehow came up with one on his mission in South Africa. After we were married, we moved to Utah for Spence to go to BYU. He hooked up with his good friend Doug again and a couple of other guys and had a band. They practiced in a storage unit and played gigs around Provo. This may have had something to do with Spence's poor performance at BYU, but contrary to what he posted on Facebook, he didn't get kicked out. They even recorded a demo CD which is still fun to listen to. After BYU, Spence had to get serious about school at NAU, so he never had a band...and surprise, did great in school. We moved home to St. Johns about six years ago. With an extra room, Spence was able to dedicate it to his weight set and guitars and amps. None of us mind his practicing as much anymore with a bigger house...it was just that 500 sq foot box we lived in at NAU. :) Spence's little brother Trey shares his love of music and guitars, so when they built a nice, finished tack room down in the barn, they had an idea. Why not make it their "jam" space. There was extra room and the acoustics were amazingly not bad. So most of the guitar stuff went down to the barn...yay! When Tyler Platt came home for the summer, they recruited him to sing (even though Trey is a great singer) and their friend BJ Greer decided to take up playing the bass. They found a guy named Artie Isaacs from Springerville to play the drums, and they've been "The Bends" ever since...about 3 months :) They all enjoy it...for the most part...and it has been a nice stress reliever after work once or twice a week. BJ's daughter, Kennedy, dubbed them the Old Man Band...a name which they don't enjoy because, hey, they're not old men; they're just older than they used to be!
Rocking the house at Molly Butler's in Greer.
Spence says all those years of playing in his bedroom have finally paid off because they got a free steak dinner and $100 split 5 ways out of the deal! :) ha ha
2 comments:
I thought I was reading about Boyd for a minute. I told him if he would sell all the stuff in our spare bedroom (there isn't room for ANYTHING else in there with all his JUNK:) ), we could buy a new car!! We'll be there to listen to them tomorrow and I'm sure it will make Boyd jealous since his band fell apart about 6 years ago when we moved to SJ (I didn't realize we moved back when you did).
Molly Butler's...they've hit the big time! lol I remember once driving all the way there for prom dinner.
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