Band That Never Was

Why a ‘Band That Never Was’
...what does the name mean?

The roots of the Band That Never Was can be traced all the way back to 1978, when the same four members formed their first band, Slickwitt. Their idea at that time was to honor their love of the classic guitar bands like The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Kinks, and The Yardbirds by playing a lineup of material featuring those types of bands.

Also mixed in were the first songs written by John Eberle, Randy Hipsher and Jim Kasper a unique song writing team steeped in the same influences, during the same exact time, under almost the same controls and environment. All three were school mates in Mansfield, Ohio. And from that single source a lifelong band was developed.

Hipsher and Eberle formed a duo in high school that performed at local coffee shops and parties. They played folk and lighter guitar and pop songs where they could inject their love of vocals. Both were already adept guitar players. Kasper, not involved directly, used to borrow Hipsher’s guitar to try and learn the music they all loved. The connection and the desire was there. Eventually all three would come together.

After high school, the band members all ended up in Columbus Ohio. Hipsher and Eberle had continued playing in bands together and in time Kasper had picked up a set of drums and an old guitar to learn to add to the mix as a drummer, who could also play enough guitar to facilitate writing songs. By the late ‘70s, both Eberle and Hipsher had started to write songs and along with Kasper, they all found themselves writing and jamming together. Eberle would introduce Terry Withers, a coworker, to the group of musical friends as the second guitarist.

A dream was born, Slickwitt the first band was soon formed.

And the dream would never die, although Slickwitt would, just like later band attempts in the ‘80s. Everyone would come to a point where it just didn’t work but they never really quit playing, they only quit trying to keep playing live. They found themselves still more or less together every time, as the desire to make music was like a drug that could never be kicked. It wouldn’t be long before the need for another ‘band’ would come calling, even if just for fun and an outlet to keep writing and playing. To keep the dream alive.

By about 1995, Kasper, Eberle, and Hipsher, armed with the confidence they learned and the growth they accomplished as musicians and song writers for 20 years, decided that they may never be a working band again. However, they still wanted to continue to play and write. Terry Withers again rejoined the jam sessions, and the original old band was back together. They decided to invest a bit more in some equipment and continue to jam, build their own studio and expand an old practice area.

They already had a classic Otari 1/2 inch, 8-track analog tape deck that they were able to transfer the analog to a computer system and digitally multi-track from that point on for the final production, mixing and mastering. By 1998, the complete system was in place at Deadcat. It was time to learn it all and go back to doing what they always wanted to do.

At the same time the entire music ‘scene’ was being blown up! No one music ‘fashion’ seemed to be dominating. Alternative became the term for the wide sweeping styles that dotted the musical landscape.

Adding to the ‘times’ was the surge in newer technologies. With the computer further revolutionizing the music world; you could do digital recording, mixing and producing in small home studios and turn it out into the world. Everyone would be able to download, search and read about independent music on the internet at sites that are replacing magazines and TV and even radio as the main outlet for sourcing entertainment.

Now the four felt totally free. No concern for fashion or posing. No contracts, agents, club owners...the bottom line and the sole direction would be to write great songs that are fun and intelligent enough to be rewarding for all age groups. They thought they could produce music that returns the baby-boom generation to their early rock’n’roll, garage-rocking roots, while giving them and their offspring new songs with fresh content based on a mature world view, grown relationships and optimism. A mature way to have a good time.

But a problem persisted, as every time they got together, jammed and decided to turn a jam into a song they would think about how they could produce ‘seriously’ as a nontraditional band. Every time they considered if it was a wrong way to approach their art, they’d frame it with the thought that it almost seems like they ‘are’ a band, as they were very productive, but only in their studio, only to they and their friend’s ears. So, to the outside world that couldn’t see them in their world, the Deadcat basement studio, they were just a band that never really ‘was.’

Well, with the name Band That Never Was, they have decided now is the time to come out. Now is the time they fulfill a part of ther dream.

The Band That Never Was hopes, with their first self-produced release Life’s Little Lessons, you get a chance to hear what they hear and dream what they dream. We leave it up to you to be a judge if they are a band or not.

The songs are real enough.

Deadcat Records
Columbus, Ohio

Hosted by:
Miller-Technologies
Mansfield, Ohio