Small world story:
The singer in my 90s hair metal band dragged me to watch a cover gig in Walnut Creek CA near where we lived because a friend of his was playing guitar and singing.
He explained that all 4 guys had played in different projects but never all 4 together. It's a pick-up band... My hopes are not high.
We get there early and they start loading in.
The drummer looks familiar which is when my singer decided to tell me that, oh yeah, Leonard Haze is the drummer!
They setup and do a brief sound check.
Then they sit down at a table and come up with the set list for their first set!
They proceeded to tear up the small club (I mean, maybe 100 people could fit, max).
They took a break and did the same for 2 more sets.
One of the best cover gigs I've ever seen.
And Leonard was a beast! His sticks were like small tree trunks! RIP.
Over the years I've grown to really admire his drumming - it always fits the song!
my best friend's brother moved to the bay area when we were freshmen in hs. he'd send us cassette tapes of the local rock and metal bands to check out. we were lucky enough to hear motley crue, crue, quiet riot, etc., long before anybody else in smalltown indiana did. the 1 band that stood out to me though was y&t. dave meniketti is a les paul beast! and, yes, leonard is a monster drummer, too. nobody hits the drums harder than him. i'd pick squeeze as the y&t song for this thread. it's some of dave's early work and i think it includes one of the many signature guitar tricks/sounds of his my friend and me used to calll 'the helicopter." that's what it sounds like. if not, the song mean streak does for sure.
i see your small world story and raise you one. a local radio station known for their tasty tv commercials rolled a spot that included a shredding chunk of a song my friend and me never heard before. we never found out who it was. until after graduating high school my friend moved to the bay area to room with his brother, a drummer in a local metal band at the time. my friend ended up the bass player in that band and they established quite the following even opening for y&t. they befriended the band and would tell me crazy stories over the phone. cut to i graduate college and my friend flies me out to see him. he picks me up at the airport, we get back to his place he checks his voice messages (remember answering machines?) and a voice goes, and i quote (i'll never forget it),. "hello? hello? hello? where the $#ck are ya? tax man got you down? it's leonard, call me!" i didn't think much of it but i asked him who leonard was? he said it's leonard hayes, he's nuts and he always asks me about the tax man (my friend owed some back taxes at the time). he told me leonard calls him every day, lives around the corner and i'll meet him later that night. well, leonard disappeared for my visit for reasons unknown, according to his roommate or whoever was there. i found out later it was joey alves.
aside: i can't help but notice i keep catching my friend reacting, moving to the beat, etc. to more than a couple beatles songs on my visit. he never listened to the beatles. tried as i might, tried as i may, i could not get him to give them a chance. he looked up to his brother and if his brother liked a band he did , too. if his brother disliked a band, he did too. i ask him about it? what gives? when he became a beatle fan? he said, "oh, joey's always talking about them. they're his biggest influence. it's his favorite band. and said he knows this from hanging out over there and binge-rocking beatles albums. i'm like, "why i oughtta!"
bonus: circa 1991-92. while there we went to see a y&t show. sans hayes, on sabatical. they played a dinner club-like venue up north a ways. concord i think? an italian place. we called the evening the evening, manicotti with meniketti.
true story. AND, on the way home from that show we saw the marquee for some outdoor/amphitheater up there said, tonight: zztop, so we pulled in, got tix and saw them on the spot, too. TWO great shows that day.
agreed. hayes rocks.
