{"id":3642,"date":"2025-08-31T01:35:08","date_gmt":"2025-08-31T01:35:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/?p=3642"},"modified":"2025-10-01T14:05:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-01T14:05:09","slug":"ftv-sledgehammer-gigs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/?p=3642","title":{"rendered":"FTV: Sledgehammer Gigs"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Our business cards actually said \u2018Sledgehammer – we don\u2019t do polkas\u2019.\u00a0 Sledgehammer was my third working band and when Barry Seymour and I started jamming together in the fall of 1974, he had some very definite ideas of where he wanted us to go.\u00a0 At first, it was just the two of us doing an early version of The Black Keys\u2019 schtick:\u00a0 guitar, vocals, and drums.\u00a0 The guitar\/drums band concept had been done in Marquette by a group called Stan and Jeff six years earlier, but they eventually morphed into a four piece leading us to believe we too would need to expand our ranks.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Coming out of a large band with a horn section patterned after Chicago, Barry was interested in doing more guitar based music which put him very much into The Doobie Brothers and Bachman Turner Overdrive (BTO).\u00a0 Barry\u2019s vision for our as yet un-named endeavor was \u2018big guitars and vocal harmonies\u2019 so right off the bat, he started teaching me Doobie Brothers tunes as fast as he could figure them out.\u00a0 We had both been lead vocalists so we found it easy to split the singing duties.\u00a0 With Barry\u2019s keen ear and knack for arranging two part (and later three and four part) harmonies, we knew this was going to be a lot of fun.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The bass player from my last band called out of the blue and announced that the band he had been trying to put together since Knockdown folded wasn\u2019t happening.\u00a0 We invited him over to see if he might be the next piece of the puzzle.\u00a0 He was a good bass player, but I reminded Barry that over the two years I had played with the guy, he proved to be a bit of a \u2018scammer\u2019.\u00a0 He couldn\u2019t bum cigarettes from me as I didn\u2019t smoke (as he did from anyone else who did).\u00a0 Lee\u2019s habit of always borrowing money against the next gig\u2019s wages for this or that also wore thin.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Lee\u00a0 came to jam with us one day with a toothache.\u00a0 While making repeated visits to the bathroom upstairs, he decided to self medicate his pain from my father\u2019s liqueur cabinet.\u00a0 This became apparent when his playing deteriorated.\u00a0 Then he made things worse by backing into my dad\u2019s car while leaving in a drunken haze. \u00a0 My dad wouldn\u2019t let him remove his bass or amp\u00a0 from the house until the car was paid for.\u00a0 My detective father knew a scammer when he saw one and he was going to hang on to a little collateral.\u00a0 The day he delivered the money needed to fix the car, I let Lee know that Barry and I were \u2018going in a different direction\u2019. \u00a0 Lee departed with his equipment and a disappointed look on his face;\u00a0 apparently he did not realize dad let him settle his debt without getting a drunk driving ticket to boot.\u00a0 Now all we had to do is figure out what that direction would be. \u00a0 Bass players most definitely do NOT grow on trees.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Barry and I had hatched the plan for our new band at the Marquette Mountain Ski Lodge bar (then called The Back Door) the night his old band Sunstone played their last gig.\u00a0 Barry and I were there checking out a different band a couple of days after dismissing our first bass player.\u00a0 Lo and behold, who should walk in but my old Twig bass player Mike Kesti.\u00a0 Mike had gone to Michigan Tech to study electronics, joined a band, and then followed them to Toledo, Ohio.\u00a0 Mike felt things were not working out in Ohio so he had taken a job working the control board at Northern Michigan University\u2019s Public Television outlet (WNMU TV13).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Mike had arrived back in town the week we let Lee go and boy, were we happy to pitch him the idea of joining us.\u00a0 Mike was an electronics geek so we were thrilled when he not only jumped on our new band wagon, he also said, \u201cIf I had a workshop, I could build us a new PA.\u201d\u00a0 Mike had not been to my folk\u2019s new house yet, so imagine his surprise to find our rehearsal space situated half a basement away from my dad\u2019s table saw and work bench!\u00a0 As soon as we began working with Mike, our new PA and stage monitors started to take shape.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I do not remember the connection between Barry and our second guitarist Lindsey but he was brought into the mix for a jam one day and never left.\u00a0 Lindsey was very much into Joe Walsh and Jethro Tull.\u00a0 Mike brought in his love for ZZ Top and Savoy Brown.\u00a0 Barry added\u00a0 Steely Dan to the Doobie Brothers and BTO songs we were already working on.\u00a0 For my part, I liked to recycle titles I had performed in The Twig and Knockdown.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Barry arrived at rehearsal one day and said, \u201cI got the perfect name for us.\u201d\u00a0 He started playing the riff from the title track from the BTO album <\/span>Not Fragile<\/span><\/i>.\u00a0 We all joined in and Barry sang \u2018<\/span>You ask if we play heavy music \/ Well, are thunderheads just another cloud? \/ We do, not fragile, straight at you<\/span><\/i>\u2019.\u00a0 \u2018You want to call the band \u2018Not Fragile?\u2019 Mike inquired?\u00a0 Barry smiled as he repeated, \u201c<\/span>You ask if we play heavy music?<\/span><\/i>\u201d and added \u201cNo, Sledgehammer! \u00a0 What is heavier than a Sledgehammer?\u201d\u00a0 To this day, I hear the riff for <\/span>Not Fragile<\/span><\/i> and I still want to call it <\/span>Sledgehammer.\u00a0 <\/span><\/i>There was no debate – Sledgehammer was a great choice given our play list (and strangely enough, we never did learn our title song – probably because Fred Turner\u2019s vocals would have been tough to match).<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0We had good chemistry from the start and now we had a name.\u00a0 Our first gig was actually a freebie school dance at St. Michael\u2019s gym (for which we gave Barry a little guff:\u00a0 \u201cGee Barry, couldn\u2019t you find us a paying gig?\u201d) but the truth be told, after three months of playing in the basement, it felt great to play a gig.\u00a0 It was also a good feeling to see how Sledgehammer was received by a live audience.\u00a0 We were playing music we all loved and one gig led to another.\u00a0 As for our business cards (Sledgehammer:\u00a0 We don\u2019t do polkas!), that statement was also inspired\u00a0 from the BTO lyrics that lead us to the name Sledgehammer (\u2018<\/span>You ask if we play heavy music, we do<\/span><\/i>\u2019).\u00a0 We wanted to let anyone hiring us know exactly what to expect so Mike put it there, front and center for all to see.\u00a0 Being in a band in the Upper Peninsula that played for the occasional wedding reception, we did have to fake our way through <\/span>Roll Out the Barrel<\/span><\/i> a couple of times, but we kept our hard rockin\u2019 side intact 99 percent of the time.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0As far as memorable gigs are concerned, we had our share.\u00a0 After playing our one freebie gig, our calendar started to fill up.\u00a0 We did a rare afternoon show in the commons area of the Hunt \/ Van Antwerp residents hall at Northern Michigan University.\u00a0 These gigs are always a bit strange because the crowd that gathers out of curiosity are not usually there to party or dance.\u00a0 It was meant to be a \u2018mixer\u2019 kind of thing, but a gig is a gig.\u00a0 It is quite possible that my future wife at least passed through while we were playing (as she was a resident of Hunt Hall), but we would not actually meet for another three years.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I have written previously about the three road trip gigs we took in our ten months together.\u00a0 The first was an epic trip to a one off gig in Coldwater, Michigan (replete with a blizzard on the return trip).\u00a0 The second was a two night stand at a hotel \/ restaurant catering to skiers in Wakefield.\u00a0 Both of those trips were fun but the two night stand we played in Iron River, Michigan was probably the best of the three.\u00a0 It was at a bar whose main purpose was to provide great music for an appreciative crowd so it was a lot of fun for us and for them.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0After playing at the NCO Club at KI Sawyer Air Force Base a lot with Knockdown, it was kind of strange to come back and play there one more time after more than a year away. \u00a0 The gig was so-so but the floor show was awesome – Barry and Mike both took a shine to a girl who was obviously there with her parents.\u00a0 I guess Mike won this round as he ended up marrying her not too long after Sledgehammer called it a day.\u00a0 Unfortunately, it didn\u2019t last and once the breakup was complete, Mike packed his motorcycle and headed to northern California where he has been ever since.\u00a0 Barry also landed in California after serving in the Navy, eventually settling in the Los Angeles area.\u00a0 Counting the late Gene Betts (who ended up in San Francisco after The Twig), that made three of my former bandmates residents of the Golden State.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The only gig we played at the National Guard Armory in Marquette was a wedding reception.\u00a0 Things were going along fine until the dreaded polka request arrived so we dug out our one and only (and as I recall, we ended up playing it twice that night).\u00a0 What I really liked about the Armory set up was the stage.\u00a0 They had a low stage with a three foot high drum riser in the back.\u00a0 Almost all of the gigs I have played put me on the floor looking at the backside of the guys in front of me.\u00a0 In this case, it was a lot of fun to actually be able to see over them and watch the action out on the floor.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0All told, we played about 30 band jobs in 1974-75.\u00a0 Some of the most interesting ones actually came near the end of the band.\u00a0 With graduation behind me, I made it known that if a job came calling, I wouldn\u2019t be able to play past the end of June.\u00a0 I also planned an after graduation trip to Oregon to visit my old buddies Mitch and Jack which took care of the last week of May and the first week of June.\u00a0 When I got back to town, Barry told me we had two or three more gigs to finish but Lindsay had headed for Florida as soon as he got out of school.\u00a0 This meant the last few jobs we did as a trio.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Playing as a trio was different and interesting but I still feel bad that I chewed Barry out for lowering our fee for jobs that had been booked well in advance.\u00a0 \u201cWell,\u201d he said, \u201cthey did hire a four piece and we only brought three.\u201d\u00a0 Years down the line when we reconnected (after Barry had been in California for many years,) I told him, \u201cYou were right, I was wrong.\u201d\u00a0 He took it in stride and we had a little fun ribbing each other about it on one of my West Coast Bureau inspection trips to Los Angeles.\u00a0 We had lunch at the King\u2019s Head in Santa Monica and regaled Elizabeth and Todd with stories of our musical exploits.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I don\u2019t think Barry took the disagreement about the last couple of gigs personally.\u00a0 I hadn\u2019t even been in Ontonagon more than a couple of months in the fall of 1975 when he called me out of the blue.\u00a0 \u201cHow would you like to play at a fraternity party next Saturday night?\u201d\u00a0 He explained there was an older bass player named Gordon Coleman who booked jobs like this all the time.\u00a0 Gordon was the only permanent member of The Gordon Coleman Trio and he would simply recruit available musicians for each job.\u00a0 I said, \u201cSure, do we get a set list or rehearse ahead of time?\u201d\u00a0 Barry laughed and said, \u201cNope, it is all off the cuff and everybody pitches in with songs they know.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The staging area for this frat house gig was on the wide landing between the first and second floor of a massive old home in the ritzy neighborhood just above the lower harbor.\u00a0 The \u2018trio\u2019 that night included Gordon, Barry, a keyboard player, and myself.\u00a0 We plaued cheek to jowl in a space no larger than 15 by 20 feet.\u00a0 I was in one corner of this landing and the keyboard occupied the space to my right.\u00a0 Barry and Gordon were in front of us.\u00a0 Barry and I were essentially performing to the stairs that went up to the second floor while Gordon and the keyboard guy were looking down the stairs toward the first floor.\u00a0 We could hear the party going on and occasionally someone would trot past us on the stairs going up or down.\u00a0 I never saw more than two or three people pass by so I have no idea how many were actually there.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0As weird as the set up was, we had a great time.\u00a0 Barry and I, having just spent the last year playing in Sledgehammer, suggested at least half the songs we played.\u00a0 Keyboard guy tossed in a few of his favorites like <\/span>Nights in White Satin<\/span><\/i>, a song I liked a lot but had never played in a band before.\u00a0 I had learned <\/span>Nights<\/span><\/i> noodling around on my electronic keyboard (and later got to play it on the Hammond B-3 we used in my pre-Sledgehammer band, Knockdown).\u00a0 Keyboard guy was tickled how well we put it together on the spot.\u00a0 Gordon tossed in a few of his favorite songs but he seemed perfectly happy to let the three of us drive the song list.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A week before Christmas break, Barry called me about doing another Gordon Coleman Trio gig, this one on New Year\u2019s Eve.\u00a0 This was a more traditional setting (in other words, not in a stairwell) and was held at the Marquette Golf and Country Club.\u00a0 Barry and I again provided a lot of the songs played but we had a different keyboard player this time.\u00a0 Being NYE, we also got the standard $100 per man fee the Musician\u2019s Union dictated for that one night of the year when everyone and their brother wants live music at their establishment.\u00a0 At the end of the night, I told Gordon, \u201cYou have my number and it is no problem for me to scoot back to Marquette for any Friday or Saturday night.\u201d\u00a0 He seemed happy to hear this, thanked me for being there, but he\u00a0 never called me again.\u00a0 Barry ended up reforming his old band so my playing days in the Marquette area came to an end.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The one \u2018rock star\u2019 moment we had in Sledgehammer came at Lakeview Arena.\u00a0 We were doing a teen dance and with their very large Altec-Lansing Voice of Theater PA speakers on hand, Mike decided to use our equally large home-made PA cabinets in our backline of amps.\u00a0 We drove right into the arena in the afternoon to unload and set up.\u00a0 When we did a quick sound check, we found Lakeview\u2019s PA speakers were shot and sounded like a bunch of angry bees were trapped inside.\u00a0 Mike swapped them out with our PA speakers so we still had a \u2018wall of amps\u2019 on stage.\u00a0 Our PA handled that large area just fine and although the Altec-Lansing Voice of Theater speakers looked impressive when stacked with our regular amps, they were just for show (we didn\u2019t even plug them in).\u00a0 I wish we had taken a picture because it sure looked like we had hit the big time.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In April of 1975, we were booked for two nights at the Four Season\u2019s Lanes and Lounge.\u00a0 Mike arranged to have a friend of his record the first night on cassette tape which he copied for the rest of us.\u00a0 Fearing the tapes would degrade over time, I transferred my copy to CD and labeled it \u201cSledgehammer Live at the Four Seasons\u201d.\u00a0 From time to time I will spin a few tracks for old time sake and it takes me right back to that night.\u00a0 I wish I had thought of this for The Twig and Knockdown, but I will have to be content to just replay those days in my head.<\/span><\/p>\n

Top Piece Video:\u00a0 This is the BTO line up I saw at NMU with Blair Thornton stepping in at second guitar – this version of Not Fragile\u00a0<\/em>is a little fast, but it was recorded live at Cobo Hall in 1974 – probably adrenaline kicking in!\u00a0 \u00a0Sledgehammer did perform the song and the ‘You ask do we play heavy music’ was the kicker that got us to name our band after something heavy – Sledgehammer!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Our business cards actually said \u2018Sledgehammer – we don\u2019t do polkas\u2019.\u00a0 Sledgehammer was my third working band and when Barry Seymour and I started jamming together in the fall of 1974, he had some very definite ideas of where he wanted us to go.\u00a0 At first, it was just the two of us doing an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,8,7,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3642","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bands-musicians","category-from-the-vaults","category-local-music-news","category-woas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3642","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3642"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3642\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3645,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3642\/revisions\/3645"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}