Beau1

This interview took place through various email exchanges with Glam Bass Master, BEAU FISHER! If this interview sounds comfortable and
relaxed, as if BEAU & I are just kicking back at his kitchen table and chatting, that's because Beau is that kind of man. I have met him only twice
but both times Beau came up and spoke to me as if he & I were in on something that others were not. He is such a calm fellow that I would not be
surprised if he carried on the same way while on board a plane crash! (example: "Say Damien, I think that we're going down. Man, I wish I had
some water, these nuts they give you on these flights are always too salty"
Enough of my character assessments! Let's get to the interview!

DY- I'm looking at some of these photos of you and I see you started playing music very early!
Was the bass your first instrument?

BF- I started playing guitar in the early sixties but I was never very serious about it.
I taught myself some surf tunes, "Walk, Don't Run", that sort of thing.
It wasn't until The Beatles arrived in 1964 that it became an obsession.
I switched to bass when I became focused on the idea of being in a band. I was about fourteen.

DY- What got you into playing music as opposed to just
being a fan?

BF- Beatlemania, the British Invasion...

it's hard to explain to anyone who didn't live through those years what an impact that music had on the world and especially my world.
I had broken my collarbone playing Junior Varsity football and I knew I wasn't going to be a jock.
Playing music was a way of crafting an identity, of fitting in. And it was just so...cool.

Additionally, I was lucky to grow up in an area (Central Florida), that had an
active music scene.
I was influenced at least as much by local groups like The Intruders, Rodney and
The Mystics,

and Tommy Roe and the Roemans
(whose bass player, Berry Oakley, went on to fame with the Allman Brothers.)

DY- Can you recall some of the first records you bought as a young man?

BF - I'll tell you about the record that made me become a bass player- "She's Not There" by The
Zombies.

I can still remember hearing it for the first time on the car radio in the back seat of an old Chevy, the kind that had a big speaker mounted
into the rear window ledge. That bass line just went through me I still get excited when I hear it.

DY- What was your first band and what part did you play in that project?

BF - I joined a band in October 1966 called The Ravens.

They already had a record out, they had a fan club and a truckload of
equipment. They had roadies
I didn't even have an amp. I kept having to borrow amplifiers to do their
gigs. Boy was I scuffling
but it was probably the greatest time of my life. Suddenly I was part of
something that seemed huge.
We played teen dances all over the state. About two months into it we
opened up for Herman's Hermits
and The Hollies in front of seven thousand people.

What had started as a hobby was taking on a life of it's own.
We signed with record producer Phil Gernhard who'd put out those "Snoopy and the Red Baron"
records, and flew to New York to record.
Our single came out in the spring of 1968 and failed to chart. It was a nationwide stink bomb except
for one city- Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Turns out we were heroes there- the record went to number four.
We flew up there and played a concert, did a radio station interview, the whole bit.

DY- What was the time period of that band?

BF- 1966-1968

DY- What are some of the other bands you were in pre-WW?

BF- I played in a nightclub band for a while after The Ravens broke up and then drifted
into the folk scene.

DY- Do you recall the first time you played live before an audience & what band was it?

BF- I actually sat in with a couple of different groups before The Ravens but I was so green I couldn't
tell if they were any good. I prefer to think of a teen dance in Lakeland, Florida as my professional
debut, with The Ravens.

DY- Who are some of the other bands the Ravens did
gigs with?

BF- We played the Florida shows of a tour with Sonny and Cher and Neil
Diamond- that was fun.

Sonny Bono was a great guy- really down to earth.
Other groups we played with included

The Association, The Standells and Sam the Sham
and the Pharaohs.

DY- Do you have any early recordings or films of your pre-WW
projects?

BF- I have copies of both The Ravens 45s,
that's all.

DY- Okay Beau, let's get into the WW thing, Who was the first person in that project
that you met?

BF- Buddy Pendergrass- The Ravens and The Tropics shared the stage a few times. He was also the brother-in-law
of Ravens lead singer Mark Maconi.

DY- How did you get invited into the WW project & what time period
was that?

BF- It was 1970 but I'd been aware of The Tropics since the early sixties when I saw them on a local
teen dance TV show called Hi-Time. They had horn players then. The year they won the national
battle of the bands in Chicago, they also played my high school prom.
I had yet to perform in public. That was also around the time I first saw Buddy Richardson in a band.
The Ravens put me in the same arena as these groups as well as Ronn's band, The Rock and Roll Circus. However I got away from that scene and
began playing acoustic music in coffeehouses and folk clubs

I started learning to play the upright bass and sitting in with
folk singers.

My musical focus diverted to artists like Fred Neill, Dave Van Ronk and Dylan.
One singer I worked with invited me to play on his demo project and the keyboard player on the
session was Buddy Pendergrass. The demo went nowhere but Buddy and I hit it off pretty well.

In October 1970 I went to a Halloween concert at the old Florida State Fairgrounds in
downtown Tampa. There were a half a dozen bands there but The Tropics came on and just
annihilated everyone.
Buddy Richardson had joined the group and the chemistry was explosive! It was the first time I
had
seen their new show or heard their original material. Plus they had about three times as much
equipment
as any of the other groups- a huge PA system and their own lights. Buddy R had a Marshall
stack and he was just blazing that night.

I made a point of finding Pendergrass after the show and telling him how great they
were and how
available I was. A few weeks later he called and offered me the bass spot in the
band.

DY- I'll mention some of the guys & you tell me the
first impression you had of them

DY- Bobby Shea-

BF- Humorist of the group. You could always count on Bobby to see the lighter side of a situation.
He's funny now. And a great drummer, with a relaxed yet powerful style. Very easy to play with,
from a bass player's perspective.

DY- Buddy Richardson-

BF- I could write a book about Buddy Richardson. The first time I saw him he was in The Outsiders
(not the "Time Won't Let Me" guys). They were playing a Rolling Stones version of some Bo Diddley
song and it seemed as if the whole room was moving in time to the rhythm of Buddy's guitar.
It was irresistible, even the other guys in the band couldn't take their eyes off him. I remember making a mental note,
someday I'm going to be in a band with this guy. I didn't even know his name.
Over the last thirty years we've probably played a thousand gigs together, literally, and I still feel the
same way. His playing gives me a jolt, but more importantly, we've been best friends the whole time.

DY- Ronn Goedert-

BF- Ronnie joined the band about a week after I did. We all knew he'd be a great front man, he had
that heroic, Roger Daltrey kind of presence. The interesting thing is, once he got in the band, he
completely transcended that image and created his own unique on stage persona.
It was fascinating watching him evolve over the next eighteen months, developing into the author
of all those lyrics. He had a depth of commitment that was really inspiring.

DY- Buddy Pendergrass-

BF- Buddy P got me in the band, and I looked to him for advice on my bass parts and my sound.
He has great skill as an arranger and was instrumental in helping me get my playing to the next level.
I've seen him the least of any of them over the last twenty-five years, but my admiration for his abilities
endures.

DY- Do you recall the first song you played/rehearsed with WW and what that day was like?

BF- One of the first things I remember was a jam tune called "Everyday I Have The Blues".
They already had this involved arrangement that segued into other tunes and featured each guy in a solo spot. So really the first day of rehearsal put me
on the spot, literally, as I had to make up a solo in front of them.

DY- Though I am sure all of the guy's in WW are great guy's was there any particular member that you clicked with first?

BF- I'd have to say Buddy R- because he's just that way, open, outgoing and fun to be around.
Lars (White Witch lighting tech Larry Smith) called Buddy "the spark plug" because of the way his playing would light a fire under the other guys. His
personality is like that whether he's holding a guitar or not, wouldn't you agree, Damien?

DY- YES!!! Do you recall your first live show with WW?

BF- My first gig with the band was (former Tropics lead singer) Mel Dryer's last gig. I think it was a Homecoming dance for one of the bigger high schools in
Tampa. All I remember is, I was totally freaked out. After almost a year of playing coffeehouses and acoustic gigs I was in no way prepared for the on-stage
volume and intensity of The Tropics. It was like parachuting into a hurricane. Buddy R just attacked the guitar, he played harder than anyone I'd ever
encountered. Pendergrass laid out these deep grooves on the Hammond organ, and Bobby Shea kept a solid underpinning. I just grabbed the bass and
hung on for dear life.
Bass players are supposed to create the groove, but there was no violating the groove these guys already had, so I just plowed right up through the middle
of it.
And loud! Good God! I had an amp the size of a refrigerator when I joined the band, and the day after the first gig I went out and bought a bigger one.

Well space friends, please move on to PART TWO of my interview with beau fisher as he reveals even more about the wonderful mysterious white witch!!