Sex, Drums & Rock ‘N Roll: Life As A Backup Drummer

By Gerry Benoit

"Sex, Drums & Rock 'N Roll" will take you on the journey of a kid watching the band and wishing to play in it one day. Finally, as life has it, he gets to be part of the show. Follow decades of madness behind the scenes of band life. This book will take you on stage for performances to remember and through the most shocking parts of life on the road. Dangerous roads will make you glad you came to see the show but didn't ride with us. All I can say is, crazy things happen around musicians. After living it for decades, I can tell you, it is more than true. Come for the multi-decade, crazy ride with a band, as seen from the eyes behind the drums.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Apr 13, 2023
• ISBN: 9781667890630

Book preview

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Sex, Drums & Rock ‘N Roll

© 2023 by Gerry Benoit

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

ISBN (Print Edition): 978-1-66789-062-3

ISBN (eBook Edition): 978-1-66789-063-0

Dedicated to

Dottie: the mother of crazy musicians

CW: my brother, ‘Mr. Entertainment’

PAT: my sister, the ‘voice’ of my life

Acknowledgments

To the best life-ride because of music. A brother, CW, with energy and foresight that put the band together that ‘played no song until it was time’.

My sister Pat was the protector and singer in life. She sang her own tune and knew where she was going, right from an early age. She was always right on the mark.

Dottie, our mother, was all in with whatever we would have in mind. They were rock ‘n’ roll parents for sure.

To all the crowds that ever attended the events we played. They were the conduit for all the energy and music that flowed from our fingertips. Thanks for spending time and money to come and enjoy being entertained by us.

All the material in this book is my original work and some of the names may have been changed to protect the innocent. Any content that by any chance would be in question is understood to be the conception of the author which no one else would hold rights to.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means without prior authorization in writing, except in the case of brief quotations, reviews, and articles. For any other permission contact the author.

Any events slightly or loosely related to anything in this book hold no claim to this project.

Thanks to all the audiences, and followers of the band, ‘PAX’. You were always the fuel behind the engine of the show.

Steve Ferreira has once again upped the ante. He came up with a new computer to let me do this book. He is the crazy call at midnight for computer lessons, thanks buddy. Rick Maynard, a lifelong friend helped this book more than I can tell you, thanks sir. Hope this can happen again.

Preface

SEX, DRUMS & ROCK ‘N’ ROLL… Life as a Backup Drummer. will take you on the journey of a kid watching and wishing to play in the band. Finally, as life has it, he gets to be part of the show. As mentioned in my first book FULL SPEED AHEAD…Screw the Swimmers, you will be witness to the madness behind the scenes performing for decades in a working band. This book will take you on stage for performances to remember. You will be shocked at what happens on the way to gigs. That almost says it all. On-stage antics and off-stage incidents make the music hustle the most interesting industry in the world. Whether it was playing to an audience of five or five thousand, we always had the same energy in the show. You never knew who could be in the audience that could change your world. CW’s constant ball busting for perfection was expected if you were to play in his band. Welcome to the clubs with us selling stuff, or just the toxic brotherly relationship. Dangerous roads will make you glad you just came to see the show but didn’t ride with us. It always leant a story for the breakfast restaurant later for sure. Come for a ride with the band to see the run for the money. You’ll always be wondering what could go on at a private party or wedding after reading this book. All I can say is, crazy things happen around musicians. After living it for decades, I can tell you, it is more than true. It’s a ride of, Sex, Drums & Rock ‘N’ Roll …Life as a Backup Drummer. Come for the multi decade crazy ride with a band, as seen from the eyes behind the drums.

Table of Contents

PAJAMAS

WATCHING AND DREAMING

PRE – ‘PAX’

SISTER IN THE ACT

DIVE BARS

FUN TIMES

MAXIMIZING

SELLING SCHEMES

ON THE WAY

DANGEROUS ROADS

TRAPPED

AFTERNOON TRIPS

BAND BUSTING

TAKING OVER

ROCKING IT

GIGS YOU CAN’T FORGET

PROBLEMS

SOMETIMES THINGS JUST HAPPEN

FRIENDS

THROUGH MUSIC

MORE DRINKS

OH, NOT ANOTHER ROUND

PARTY SURPRISE

I DO & DON’T

THE CLASH

THE OLD MEETS THE NEW

Chapter One

PAJAMAS

WATCHING AND DREAMING

The dog just almost bit my face off! Moochie was the dog’s name, and he was just like a junkyard dog. To this day with the incredible memory, of almost everything, I just can’t remember what kind of dog it was. I was always told to stay the hell away from him is all that really clicks in my mind. Every time I would get near to the end of his chain length he would snarl and snap at me. For some reason that day I thought because he was lying really calm and half asleep, I could go pet him. That was a bad move on my part. How would I put all that together in my head though, I was only five years old. The next thing I knew, he was putting a major attack on my face. My brother and I were in the garage rigging up a curtain for his performance about an hour away. He used to have a guitar and put on performances for the family, relatives and neighbors. I just dreamed it was me doing it. I was hoping that someday he was going to teach me the antics and to become a guitar player too. Yeah, dream on kid! I watched him for hours figuring out chords and lyrics to different songs. I would try to join in, only to get a ‘beat it’ snapped at me.

It wasn’t long again before we were in pajamas to watch this new English band coming to America to make a big splash. It was a Sunday night in February, and the band was The Beatles. They were to be the guest band that evening on the Ed Sullivan Show. It was a heck of a spectacle to see the screaming audience every time Ed mentioned the guest band of the evening before going to commercial break. My mother and father couldn’t believe how the screaming kids were acting. When the band came on it was like something snapped at our house. It was evident that these four-long haired guys in the gray suits were about to really crash into American culture as fast as a hornet bite. The very next morning, the news on every channel was following The Beatles’ every movement. Crowds mobbed every venue they played in that summer across the country. I can say this, by now my brother CW was working on every song they put out. He already had the chords with the correct inversions and all the lyrics too. There was something about that band that just got to CW.

Drive-in nights would be great, the family piled into the car to go to Ponta Del Gada in Tiverton, Rhode Island. Other times we would go to Dartmouth, Westport or Somerset drive-ins. It didn’t matter which one we went to it was always fun with pajamas on. We’d pile into the back seat of the car to go see an event. Yeah, each movie, no matter which one, was always special to a young kid. Staying awake to see it all was a minor miracle though. Intermission was awesome to see what kind of treats the old man would bring back to the car. Sometimes if you were lucky, you’d get to witness the snack bar yourself if he’d take you. The smell of the popcorn and all the candies made it special. On the walk back to the car, going over all the humps and listening to the echo of all the speakers hanging on the windows of the cars was a cool thing too, a sound always to remember. One hot July night we went to Westport Drive-in to see a movie that changed my life. It was ‘A Hard Day’s Night’ starring the one and only music group that was about to change the world. The Beatles, what the heck is that my father asked. I will say this, at the end of that movie there was no mistaking that those guys were great. My brother was totally hooked on their music. I loved it, and my sister Pat totally loved it also. I think it gripped our whole family. I know it was one of the first flicks I ever stayed awake to see the whole damn thing. The second one that night didn’t hold a candle to The Beatles flick. It was always interesting to get woken up once we hit the driveway back home to crawl into bed for the night.

Saturdays at Hall’s Music store in Fall River brought us together with people that became famous. They went on to produce albums and singles that made it into the mainstream top forty lists. It was a group of brothers from New Bedford, Massachusetts. Sitting playing drums to their songs with them at the store on a Saturday afternoon before they became famous was quite fun. Later I started hinting for my brother CW to just get me drums so we could be the next big thing. He did find me the ultimate drum set to be given to me on my birthday at Christmas. The drums were Ludwig, a beautiful red sparkle four-piece drum kit. The snare drum was Supersensitive Supraphonic Ludwig too. The incredible thing about the set is that they were produced in the month of December in nineteen fifty-seven, yeah, the month of my birthday and the year I was born. How he found them to this day I have no idea. The Zildjian cymbals were of the older variety when they were made the best. All the cymbal stands were Ludwig as well, it was all too much to believe. They went everywhere we did and made us a fortune. I still have them all today.

My brother was incredibly talented with any instrument, no matter what it was. He started teaching me how to play the drums almost the very next day. The lessons were brutal, because he was a perfectionist, and he would not let me vary from the scheme of what he had in mind. The rules were just what he said, or the sticks would come out of your hands and no more instruction. He was serious too, because I started trying some crazy rolls and beats that weren’t part of the plan. The light came on in the hallway downstairs where I was set up. The next thing I knew the sticks were yanked from my hands and CW told me to go out and go sledding or make a snowman, because the drum lessons were over. Wow, just like that? Yup, he was not joking. Small apologies had me back on track the next day, and I would not be screwing up again. My whole life was backing CW playing drums, and he’d still scream shit at me! That’s just because whoever wrote the damn song and made it famous doesn’t need it improved by you is basically what I would hear. Other times it was something on the theme of stop building a house back there. That’s the line I would get when I wound up having too much fun and started overplaying. Life lessons learned for decades to come. Thanks CW.

Chapter Two

PRE – ‘PAX’

SISTER IN THE ACT

My sister Pat was incredible. She was my savior with CW in mind. The after-school antics that would almost get me killed that my brother would do to me, she was my only defense. Yeah, she had a way of putting the fear of God into him. He would be trying out the latest Three Stooges act on me, be it with a hammer, wood saw, or who knows. Thank goodness Pat would be there in