MP3 In Your Sights - METAL: 80´s Metal

Debut release from upstate New York garage band legends Andy Taub, Larry Ross, Keith Lenn, and Doug Maresca. Sometimes music punches you in the face. You're gonna' get hit.

8 MP3 Songs
METAL: 80's Metal, ROCK: 80's Rock



Details:
OTHRS - The Official Band Biography

Iâm truthfully unsure if one can pinpoint the beginning of this band. Perhaps it has been more of an evolution than anything else. Hell, Iâm the bass player and I am still sketchy on some of the details. And I have been playing music with Larry and Doug for damned near close to a couple of decades. As for Andy? I replaced him in a band called Illusion in the late of summer, 1986. I had not met Andy at this point. In fact, it would be several years later when he and I worked together on a production of Annie at a local school. But I still donât remember him from that production. We figured that out a decade and a half afterwards. But I digress.

I had just changed my major in college and was taking a biology class at a local community college when my lab partner asked me if I played bass. Maybe the long hair was a giveaway that I was a musician? This turned into an audition for a band named Illusion, with Larry on guitar; Andy had left the band as the bass player, and while I thought the band was actually called Black Star when Andy was involved, Larry believes that Illusion was already the name in use. I passed the audition and started working with Larry, not letting on that I was really a guitar player and had been playing bass for about a week.

We played all of the requisite Ozzy Osbourne, Ronnie James Dio, Judas Priest, Posion, and Ratt songs that all hair bands played at the time. And there are no regrets to the way we dressed in leather and spandex because we loved the music and we loved the scene. We still do, but at this point weâve left the leather behind. After all, weâre pushing forty!

This is where the time and the memory catch up with age. Obviously the band broke up somehow. I canât recall how and why. It might have had something to do with a bunch of us going off to college. I ended up playing bass in a band called Threshold and going to school locally; Larry went back to school up in Boston and undoubtedly brought his guitars with him. Threshold was a great band and insanely talented, but things started going downhill after a few years. We had a bass player named Scott Semco and when Threshold was split apart through a conflict between the singer and me, Scott came with me to form a new band and recommended Doug as a replacement drummer. Another Threshold member, Tommy Duvo, rounded out the quartet and Red Thunder was born. Red Thunder was a fun band to play in and we actually played out quite a bit. We rented a rehearsal studio in Suffern, New York and used to practice at insane hours due to Dougâs commitment to the NYPD. Tommy didnât work out incredibly well, which is unfortunate because I care deeply for him and wish him the best that life can offer. Scott, Doug, and I went through a laundry list of singers and my best recollection is that the band broke up.

I must have called Larry at that point because the three of us, Larry, Doug, and I, formed a band called Surrender. We played out with two singers, Bobbie Townsend and then Michael Zweigbaum. We recorded a few songs that survived the years and made it to this cd â âFlip of a Coinâ and âHungry Lion.â The song âRed Thunderâ also survived from the Red Thunder band days. âIâll Waitâ and âLive or Dieâ made it from the days of Threshold. Only âDeceiverâ and âDragon Eyesâ are new compositions.

At some point around 1993, the band dissolved as I moved to Florida to âstart over.â I lost touch with everyone but after moving to Albany, New York and then to Carmel, New York, I slowly started to contact friends from the past. I had found that Doug and Larry were both married. I was stunned to see that they had done very little with their music and I was happy to be back within driving distance of my old band, and more importantly my old friends.

When by chance in 2004 we all lived just miles from one another, I wanted to get the band back together. It was not meant to be for any reason other than to get together, have fun, and play AC/DC and Judas Priest songs. The goal was never to play out or âmake itâ in the music business. The goal certainly wasnât to produce a cd. We needed a singer, and with the possibility existing that I could be playing rhythm guitar at times, a singer who played bass guitar was desirable. Larry and Andy were still very close so Andy seemed to be a natural fit. Itâs funny how life comes full circle. The four of us, if I can be so bold, started to sound really good in Dougâs garage. So I had an idea.

It was painfully obvious that each of the guys in the band wanted to do something more with the music we were playing and creating. The days of playing out every Friday and Saturday night were long gone. We have families and responsibilities and besides, weâre past the days of lugging amps and public address systems into clubs to make a few bucks. I gave Larry a call on his cell phone. Larry was at an Outback Steakhouse in Denver, Colorado when he received my call. I told him that it was time. Larry knew what I meant. We had been playing music for a long time with just a few crappy cassette recordings and a couple of scrapbooks to show for it. It was time to get back into the studio and record something that we can hang our names onto. If you are reading this now, itâs hopefully because you have this collection of music in your hands and more importantly in your cd player. The collection runs the gamut of two decades worth of our music, even if it is only eight songs. I know I speak for Andy, Larry, and Doug when I say that I hope you enjoy the music. And if for some reason you don't, pass the cd on to someone else who might enjoy it!