The Band

    A few years before the turn of the millenium, the earth shifted. Pete Petcher bought a house! I  then purchased a botttom line Drum set to see if all his years of banging on my desk in school had made me a drummer....Not so much...but I did not pay too much for the drumset. He continued to beat away as his partner in Crime Brian Vire  would later tell him that someone new at work plays guitar, not any Guitar...AN EVH WOLFGANG! I had to meet this guy being the ultimate Eddie Van Halen fan. I got introduced to Mr. Al A. or Double AA as we called him. Al and I ended up getting together and he brought over a bass and told Brian to pick it up and he showed Brian a crash course in Bass playing. Brian did quite good based on memory! We stated to do some easy covers as a trio with Al and I singing. I just knew work had to have one more piece...a whiteshirt would be the final four! I asked the Engineer basketball beer drinking friend if he ever sang...His reply..."In the shower!"...My comeback..."Bring your cap over Wednesday night to my place!" Ladies and Gentlemen this is how the iconic band HANGOVER began!  There would be some Killer parties on Pool Street throughout the next 5 years. We wrote great songs, watched the sun rise many times and were good friends. We added a Guitar player, John met at a party. He was given the monicker as the Left Handed Assassin and "when sober" was quite good! Nothing lasts forever and HANGOVER would soon fade off in the sunset but what was starting in its place was ready to try the club circuit. With respect to our Brother Brian, we would change the name because it was now a different band. First...we decided on HARD TAIL as a name...but after a few weeks....we decided, "We should be remembered...a catchy name that people will like and remember.... we should be...CONTAGIOUS!
     Al decided to go back to Bass as he was a natural bass player for years in previous bands. Dave would be the sole Guitar player, petcher on drums and JC singing. We learned new songs from HANGOVER and decided we would learn 35 songs for a full night of songs. We started beating the streets and our first gig would be at the one and only CLYDE's Pub in So. Portland. Good 'ole Susan giving us our first cherry popping gig!  We had a good little run and then Al was offered a good job that required him to be on call on nights to include weekends. We said goodbye to our longtime colleague and the search for a bass player brought us to our current player--Mark #7 Daniels. Mark came in with a vast amount of knowledge and a desire to play some music. The band had another start and was grooving back into the scene again. Like most behind the music episodes.....things do not always appear as seen. We had a person in the band with a serious problem and it was costing the band gigs, a bad reputation and inner turmoil. I do not consider myself a quitter....but i was close. One bad night at The legendary Barnhouse in Windham Maine would be the end of the discussed problem and it looked like to be the end of the band as well.  We had about 19 hours before our next gig without a guitar player. I pulled up my resources, hit the phones at 7 am the next morning (14 hours from showtime).  With less than 10 hours before our gig, I had a buddy, a brother who stepped up, sat in and helped us get through the night and with very satisfied. It was at this time.....the band started to grow and I felt, even without a full time guitar player, we were going to be alright!  A BIG UP to 2 of our favorite brothers of a ll time who helped filling for us as we searched for our guitar player....Mr Bub Knowles and Mr Shawn Griffin!!  These 2 guys rock people!!!  2 of the best right here!!!  Thank you guys for the help and support!!  Those 2 were our life line for this era of the band!
    John sends me an e-mail one day forwarded from an old classmate...a blast from the past and someone who...PLAYS GUITAR! I asked John if this could be Magic (VH) and he said....time will tell. It was said that this classmate, Mr. Pete Jensen,  is quite the player. John refers to him as Quarterback as Pete was quite the player in the day so we hear. We all got together and talked and played some and I personally knew the puzzle was created! Just his vision and knowledge of what we wanted was a perfect fit. Could this be the final piece to this puzzle?   We found out right away....IT IS!!
     
          So many speed bumps, a couple of collapsed roads and even a few teeth gone...This machine has been running without incident for a couple of years now. We are a band, we agree to disagree on some things, we agree to do what the people want to hear and we are like brothers....a band of brothers.  I can honestly tell you this....Our behind the music had better ratings 4 years ago...now...WE JUST WANNA ROCK!

       We want to thank everyone who has ever played with us (too many to name!) and everyone who continues to come see us and support us in our fun filled nights!  You people are very much in our hearts all the time! We talk about you all the time at practice and gigs!  Thank you so much from all of of us!!  YOU GUYS ROCK!!!

Only the shadow knows how much longer we all have, both in life and in the band, when the fun ends we will walk away.......
                                                                         The days look too good to discuss that now!

            THANK YOU ALL AGAIN FOR THE FUN!
            WITH ALL OUR LOVE!!!!!
                    CONTAGIOUS!!!!