Guitar - Vocals
I grew up in Long Beach, California, the youngest of four
kids. My dad was a jazz violinist, who played regularly in different
groups around So Cal; I'm sure he was my earliest influence. My sisters
and brother played instruments, too, and I listened to their 70's rock
and pop records when I was little, so there's some more influence there.
But my big break came when my mom decided to steer me away from my first
interest - drums - by enrolling me in guitar lessons. That was when I
was 9.
Shortly thereafter, we moved to Orange County just
before I started high school. The garages of the OC were soon stage and
studio to me and anyone else I could get to jam with!
As the
80's progressed, and my guitar chops improved, the possibilities of the
instrument - the different tones and combinations of notes and chords -
drew me to follow a more eclectic direction in music. Whereas my first
favorites I tried to play (or play like) were, say, Aerosmith and Cheap
Trick, I soon was listening to and learning jazz, blues, country, folk,
and straight up pop like INXS or Dire Straights. Remember it was the
80's! It was fun to play rock clubs with my metal band, keg parties with
my punk band, and sit-in on jam sessions with my older brother's friends
or my Dad's jazz cohorts.
My first professional gigs were with
my Dad's jazz/blues group, "The Bobby G Blues Band." Nothing like
learning by doing. Playing with my father's peers let me see and learn
ALOT of advanced playing technique, music theory, and showmanship. I was
fortunate the clubs let me in to play - I was under 21 - as long as I
stood outside during the breaks between sets!!
After attending
two years of college, studying music theory and composition, I
vacillated between cover gigs - making the money - and original projects
- honing the craft. I fell in with a pair of brothers who were legends
of the OC club circuit, Chris and Brian Cram. Originally, I was the
replacement for the guitarist in their group "Jon Wane". We added and
drummer, and soon realized that the name sounded too country/western, so
we changed it to the Cram Brother Band.
The Cram Brothers Band
played long nights, five nights a week, doing songs by Brian and Chris,
as well as a cover repertoire of ALOT of songs, maybe 200! We knew the
stuff well, were tight, but also were kings of ad lib and improv in
order to pull off songs we only knew a sketch of. This kept us working,
and forced me to really be able to play! I also began to sing background
and harmony vocals, only occasionally taking the lead on a cover.
So, the first drummer we had was none other than Jon Mattox.
Jon left us in 1993 to play full-time with a new upcoming group in LA,
the YOUNG DUBLINERS... We continued Jon's replacement, Shawn Nourse, for
the next five years, and released an independent CD titled
"SuperCaliberOfEcstacyAsAliceDosedUs" in 1995.
The Cram
Brothers quietly disbanded during '97, and I gigged with the popular
cover band "Beautiful Chaos", while recording on independent projects as
a session player. During the summer of '99, I reconnected with Jon
Mattox while attending some shows for his experimental side project,
"Uni." A few weeks later, I returned from a cross-country family trip,
pining for the chance to take a band out on the road. At home, I found a
message on my answering machine from Jon, saying, "call me Bob, I have a
business proposition for you..." When I returned his call, he told me
that the Young Dub's guitarist, Randy Wolford, had just announced his
plans to leave the group, and asked if I might be interested in
auditioning!
Well, I woodshedded like a mo-fo, auditioned, and
got the gig. In the seven years hence, I've been on four CD's and
COUNTLESS tours with the boys.
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