I was recently looking back on my time with the Boston-based rock band “Me and The Boys” (MATB) during the mid-to-late 1980s. It was quite a ride!
We first got together in 1985. Two of my college bandmates (Jack Calhoun on drums, Jeff Copeland on bass) and I were trying to get something together after our band “The DLQ” fizzled out after college when we connected up with Brian Washburn, a talented songwriter/singer/guitarist. The four of us formed the core of MATB until Jeff and I left in late 1989. Along the way, we had a few different sax players and guitarists until we connected up with Joe Feloni who was, at the time, an 18 year old guitar prodigy. The addition of Joe to the band brought us a harder edge and gave Brian the freedom to concentrate more of his effort on song writing and singing.
MATB came together at a time when there was an extremely vibrant local music scene in the Boston area. There were so many great clubs to play at: The Channel, The Rat, Bunratty’s, Johnny D’s, Edible Rex, etc. and we played at just about all of them. It was a great time for local music in Boston and I feel honored to have been able to participate in it.
I had a blast playing in MATB but it was challenging to balance the life of someone working in high tech with a new wife with the demands of playing in a rock band. Eventually, I had to decide between being in MATB and becoming a suburban dad – I wasn’t able to give both of those lives the attention that they required and I was feeling constantly under pressure as a result. Eventually, I chose the latter.
While we never made it to the point where we were a Tier 1 headliner either in Boston or at the national level, we were the opening act for several of them. Honestly, I hadn’t internalized how far we came until I looked at it recently in more detail. Here is what I discovered.
We opened for 3 acts that had tracks in the Billboard Top 100. Here are the details.
Face to Face
There have been a lot of great local Boston bands over the years (Boston, Aerosmith, The Cars, etc) but Face to Face is probably my favorite local band. Their first album, “Face to Face” was their most popular but not my favorite as it was more of a new wave/dance album. While I like this style, I feel that the band grew significantly from their first album to their last, “One Big Day”. “One Big Day” is my favorite F2F album and I still listen to it frequently.
Here is a link to the video for the song “As Forever As You”, the biggest hit off “One Big Day”.
“As Forever As You” by Face to Face
Face to Face’s line up included Laurie Sargent on lead vocals, Billy Beard on drums, Stu Kimball on guitar/keyboards, Angelo Petraglia on guitar/keyboards, and John Ryder on bass.
One of my favorite MATB shows was opening for F2F at their farewell show at The Channel on October 6, 1988. Brian’s wife, Donna, video recorded both our performance and Face to Face’s. You can find that recording posted on YouTube by John Ryder below.
Face to Face final show, October 1988, Part 1
Face to Face final show, October 1988, Part 2
Face to Face’s song “10-9-8” from their first album made it to #38 on the Billboard Hot 100 pop singles chart and #7 on the dance chart. Here’s a link to the music video on YouTube.
I count myself lucky to know some of the members of Face to Face personally including John Ryder and their former backup singer, the remarkable Patty Barkas (known lovingly as “Pipes”), who died recently of cancer – may she rest in peace.
John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band
One of the coolest gigs we ever played was as the only opening act for John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band (JCBBB). You may have heard of them as the real band behind the fictitious band “Eddie and The Cruisers” from the movie of the same name.
John Cafferty’s style was very similar to ours so their audience really enjoyed listening to us. At the time, MATB had a sax player, Gary, who was a great player, just like Michael Atunes from the Beaver Brown Band so our styles meshed well. The crowd was probably somewhere around 2,000 people and the vibe was electric. It was the best glimpse I ever had of what it would have been like if MATB had made it to the “big leagues”.
JCBBB had several hits:
Video link: “On the Dark Side”
Billboard rank: #1 on the Mainstream Rock chart in the US, #7 on Hot 100 chart in the US
Video link: “Tender Years”
Billboard rank: #10 on the Mainstream Rock chart in the US, #31 on the Hot 100 chart in the US
Video link: “C-I-T-Y”
Billboard rank: #9 on the Mainstream Rock chart in the US, #18 on the Hot 100 chart in the US
Here is a photo of us with John Cafferty (black jacket) and his lead guitarist (denim jacket). That’s me on the far left in the red shirt.
The Georgia Satellites
Last but not least, the band we opened for who had the highest ranked song on the Billboard charts was The Georgia Satellites. Their song, “Keep Your Hands To Yourself”, released in October 1986, made it all the way to #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, topped only by Bon Jovi’s “Living On a Prayer” at #1.
We opened for the Georgia Satellites at The Channel, MATB’s “home club” so to speak.
Here’s a link to the YouTube video for their big hit.
“Keep Your Hands to Yourself” by the Georgia Satellites
Good times with good friends – rock and roll!
Derek Speed 