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Once upon
a time (the mid 1960's to be precise) there were a couple of
young boys growing up in the suburbs of Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania. Terry (Rigatti) and Gary (Fisher) actually
attended grade school together and both developed a strong
interest in popular music at an early age. They began
playing guitar and bass respectively in junior high.
According to Terry, "I've known Gary since we
were kids and we both started playing in bands when we were
(13) or (14) years old, but not together. I had always
thought that it
would be a blast to play in a band with Gary
because we bad such similar musical tastes
and we were friends."
So, in 1968 they formed 'Charlie's
Grandmother,' a rather unique group that played
everything from the cutting edge rock of the
period (such as Steve Miller and Procol Harum covers), to
roots rock (Chuck Berry/ Little Richard) to their own
original music.
The venues were the local teen dances, frat
parties, and a few clubs. The band fizzled after a year and
Terry and Gary moved on to a new music venture called
'Tenderfoot'
later named ('Birddog') and began getting
into the newly emerging country rock scene in
a big way. Gary explains. "We were beginning
to write songs and explore new music which was always a
source of excitement for us!" The band went through several
personnel changes but Gary and Terry remained
constants.
"We had heard of a band called 'Pinto Beans'
that was making a name for themselves
locally and we decided to check them out
because they were supposed to be good and
(supposedly) heading in the same musical
direction that we were," says Terry.,. "Pinto
Beans turned out to be quite good and we were
especially impressed by one of their
guitar players, John (Vosel)" relates Gary...
"within a few months we had hooked up with John and formed a
new group called 'Butch'."
The Butch band became fairly well known for
their country-rock-rock n'roll original and cover material.
They played extensively throughout Pennsylvania, Ohio, West
Virginia, New York, and even did concerts and clubs as far
off as Nashville, Tennessee. At one
point they became the backup band for The
Crystals ("Da-Doo Run Run," "He's a
Rebel" etc.) As John recalls, "We rented a
house together and rehearsed, wrote, recorded, and worked
our butt's off playing gigs and traveling thousands of miles
for five years. However, we never found our niche with the
local Pittsburgh audiences. We were
popular with musicians but this was before
the whole country rock scene had really
exploded."(circa early 1970's) Frustrated,
Butch eventually disbanded. Terry, (and later
John) headed to California to seek fame
and/or fortune, Gary continued his college
education and went into a semi-professional
playing mode. They bid each other farewell
and (thought) they had seen the last of one
another. |
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Terry set up home in Malibu (where he resided
for nearly 25 years).. .and found-work as
a songwriter for a number of publishing
companies including Bruce Johnston's (of the Beach Boys). He
also worked with Curt Boettcher (late producer of The
Association and
writer of their 1965 hit "Along Comes Mary")
and with Chad Stuart of (Chad and Jeremy
Fame). Meanwhile, John become the guitar
player for Tim Hardin ("If! were a
Carpenter") and did a stint with John Sebastian (of The
Lovin' Spoonful). He also did
gigs with Chubby Checker and played such
famed venues as The Whiskey a go go and
The Troubadour. John's guitar work was
featured in numerous recording sessions and
TV commercials and he even worked with
(legendary Fleetwood-Mac producer) Paul
Sabu. Gary continued to play in some very
good area bands such as Billy and the Kids,
Chris Denem, Rockola, and Bandolera. Gary was always a
prolific writer and was able to
secure several publishing contracts and had a minor European
hit with his song "Broken
Down Love" which was recorded in
Nashville.
.
In 1991, John disillusioned with the LA music
scene, decided to return to the Pittsburgh
area. Gary had all but retired from live
performing by this time... but in the summer of
1999, a chance meeting with a vocalist he had
known previously, prompted Gary to"
accept a few gigs as a fill in bass player.
As luck (or fate?) would have it, the guitarist in the band
turned out to be John! It was a welcome reunion and it
wasn't long before Gary
and John were forming their own band with
drummer Sil (Rossini) whom John had been
working with. Sil's (musical) background was
quite varied including the local rock
outfits "After Dark" and "RJK," The West
Hills Symphony Orchestra, and backing up such notable
national acts as The Box Tops ("The Letter"), The Jive Five
("My True
Story"), The Marcells ("Blue Moon"), Bobby
Lewis, and The Flamigoes amongst others.
After adding a second guitarist and
rehearsing for several months, they were just about to hit
the club stages when, to their disappointment, their fourth
member was forced to leave.
The Replacement? Terry, who had just happened
to be available and on his way back
from sunny California. Talk about perfect
timing.
So there you have it, the story of how the
Vintage Buzz came to be and the morals of the
story... 1.) Goodbye doesn't necessarily mean
forever and 2.) Even after a 25 year break,
you CAN play music happily ever after!
*Specifics
about the Vintage Buzz:
The Vintage Buzz is not the traditional
oldies' band in the sense that they are not a doo-wop
based group; they do not play 'disco' or 'classic rock'!
So, what exactly is the Vintage Buzz? They
are a rock n'foll band in the truest, purest sense: A
self-contained 4 piece outfit that consists of Gary (Bass,
lead and background vocals), Terry (rhythm guitar, lead and
background vocals), John (lead guitar, background vocals),
and Sil (drums, percussion, lead and background
vocals)...and
playing some of the coolest rock n'roll and
pop covers from the 50's and 60's including:
British Invasion, Surf and hot rod songs,
Motown soul, Rockabilly, Blues, Killer Instrumental^,
classic ballads, and just about any kind of roots rock
n'roll you can imagine! It is a classic 2 guitars, bass, and
drums setup with a lot of vocals from all (4) members.
Additional "atmosphere" is added by the use of the Roland
GR33 guitar
synthesizer and harmonica (Terry) and slide,
and pedal steel guitars, and occasional
keyboards (John). |
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* Since its inception in October 2002, The
Vintage Buzz has played numerous club and
concert gigs throughout the Eastern U.S. with
such notable artists as: The Grassroots, Paul Revere and the
Raiders, The Vogues, The Delvikings, The Skyliners, The
Jaggerz, Johnny Angel and The Halos, and many others. They
have recorded and released their 1st
CD (on Magic Spindle Records) (a collection
of 50's and 60's cover favorites) entitled :
"Jive From The Hive" and have had
considerable airplay on a number of cuts from the CD. They
are currently playing gigs and even working on some new
original material for
a future release.
*Quotes
from "the Buzz"
Terry: "This not your parent's oldies band... we kick
ass period!"
Gary: "We like lo sing but the music's gotta kick.
...we truly love this stuff!"'
John: "We take pride in this, it's our life's work!"
Sil: "Just turn us loose and we'll rock the joint"!
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