History of the Beach Boogie Band
In April of 2019, the Beach Boogie Band started with just two members, Steve Scarborough and Les Thornton. After a couple of meetings, we decided to give it a try using track assist with Les on Sax and Steve on guitar and vocals. They met at the Jacksonville Beach Moose Lodge and would try to find the right mix of tracks and instrumentation to make a sound that would make people want to get up and dance. It didn't take long until the short comings of using tracks became apparent. They had a hard time finding tracks the were able to eliminate the sax and guitar parts. Also, they didn't have any control of the length of the song, especially if they needed to lengthen the dong out if needed,
And Now There are three
The search then began. Les knew of a keyboardist that he had played with and thought he might be interested in Joining us, Thus entered the third member, Bill Snow. Bill ill came to a rehearsal and just seemed to fit right in with what Steve and Les had envisioned. Bill brings a delightful combination of soft jazz, blues, country and oldies rock & roll to the table. Now things are really starting to look up for the band (which by the way still didn't have a name.)
They Have Grown to Four
The search for a drummer, bass player and lead guitar player was on in full force. Through a mutual friend, Steve learned about a bass player who she thought would be interested on what the new band was trying to do. She gave Steve the contact information and he gave Ed May a call. He came out to the next rehearsal with Steve Les and Bill. They jammed on a few songs and things rapidly started to come together. Now that Ed liked the direction the band was headed and joined the group. Ed's talents on bass as well as lead guitar was a great asset to the new band. They were still short two members to fill out the sound.
And a Drummer Makes Five
They auditioned several drummers with varying results. After about four or five drummers trying out, Dennis Williams came to a rehearsal and tried out. It was another one of those magical moments where the right person showed up at the right time. Dennis's unique experience as a drummer allowed the band to create it's own spin on the music they were playing. Dennis also brought along his wife Ali, who adds vocal harmonies to the mix. That leaves just one piece missing from the group.
They Need a Name
The were able to do quite a few songs without a lead guitar because Les and Bill could cover the breaks. They also had a gig coming up so it was decided that after several failed attempts to ad a lead guitar they would continue on and book gigs with what they have. To do that they needed an identity. they knew that the target audience they wanted to attract were people who wanted to dance. Being up in age they accepted the fact that most people would not be coming to actually watch them. So it became all about the dance. Their music fit great in the Carolina Shagg and Beach Bop genera's. So the name that seemed to fit was the Beach Boogie Band. With that out of t he way they decided to go get the gigs.
The Lead Guitar Miracle Appears
They had one more rehearsal before they would have to take a short break because the 4th of July was the following week and people would be out of town for the Holiday. Ed had placed an ad in an online service in the middle of May. The ad had been in for over a month and the people that did respond just weren't a good fit. the ad seem to have gone cold with no responses for over two weeks. On Tuesday July 25th, Ed sent Steve a copy of an email of responding to that ad. Steve call him and he said he immediatly got a good feeling about it. The response was from a very talented guitarist named Byron Bullock. He agreed to come to the rehearsal the next day. It didn't thak but a couple of songs and the rest of the band knew that he was the one. Byron is the purfect fit for the Beach Boogie Band.
The rest of the history of the Beach Boogie Band is yet to be written. The future looks bright for this band.
