So it all starts with punk rock. But didn't most of the bands in the '80s?
 Actually, it starts just a little before that with a '50s cover band called the Flashbacks (or some such name) that had these two guys named Tim Johnson and Charlie Chesterman in it. The band played at some high schools and the sort, but didn't do much. So they both discovered this new British music phenomenon and started developing an interest in it.
This led to a band that had about as many names as people in it (three) when Tim met this drummer Eric at a party. The Crayons (Tim's name for it if I remember correctly) practiced about three or four times in Tim's basement before it was decided that Eric was just not up to the task. So they went back to doing whatever until Eric hooked back up with a high school friend of his about the same time that the high school friend met Charlie (now AKA Chuckie Suicice). And so the first Iowa punk band was born. White Lunch. It had Aaron Johnson on guitar and songs, Charlie on guitar and occasional singing, Tim on guitar and occasional singing and Eric on drums. Eric got fired for not being able to play a couple of nights before they were due to play on a local TV show. They got a drummer who could actually do silly things like keep time and after that White Lunch lasted about as long as Aaron's attention span, and Tim and Charlie were back to trying to get their own band going again. This led to The Law.
The Law were the biggest thing in central Iowa for a couple of years. They sold out the one club that would let them play every time they played (which was often). The were responsible for the formation of dozens of other bands. There was a great little scene in central Iowa that was a lot like the great little scenes nationwide that sprang up as a reaction to the punks.
 The Law were:
Charlie Chesterman: Vocals and guitar and most of the songs
Tim Johnson: Guitar and shouts and some songs as well
Kevin Hensley: Organ (a very, very cool Farfisa), saxophone,
vocals and a song or two as well
Mac Stanfield: Bass (and later Scruffy the Cat )
Tad Hutchinson: Drums (and later Young Fresh Fellows)
Oh...and pretty much anyone who jumped up on stage. Law shows always had folks up on stage to sing along at some point or another.
So at some point the Law decided to go somewhere where they could get a bigger audience. So they packed up and moved to Boston. Within about a year or so they moved back. Played around for a while. Tad and Kevin went off to college and the band split up. Tim started his own band (he had become less and less interested in Charlie's poppier style) and Charlie and Mac took off back to Boston.
Which led to Scruffy the Cat. Eventually.
(This brief prehistory bio brought to you by the good people at Kriel Co.)
 Scruffy's first appearance on record was the tune "The Oldest Fire in the World" on the Throbbing Lobster's Let's Breed compilation, which was released in 1984. After signing with Relativity, the band released two EPs and two full-length LPs.
The six-song High Octane Revival, which was produced by Dave Minehan of the Neighborhoods, came out in 1986. 1987 saw the release of the Chris Butler-produced Tiny Days and the EP Boom Boom Boom Bingo. Scruffy's swan-song, the 16-track Moons of Jupiter, was produced by the legendary Jim Dickinson and released in 1989. The band's lineup was pretty steady over the years.
It included:
Charlie Chesterman, vocals and guitar
Stephen Fredette, guitar
Mac Paul Stanfield, bass
Randall Lee Gibson IV, drums
Stona Fitch, multi-instrumentalist
 
All of the band members were credited with writing songs, which makes Scruffy's consistent tunefulness that much more impressive. Fitch, I should point out, left the band sometime around 1987.
Like most bands, Scruffy did their share of touring. They of course had a rather loyal following in Boston, and the group was pretty popular in the mid-west. Despite generating a good deal of national interest (there was even an article in Time), Scruffy never really got their due, and sometime during the early 1990s the band called it a day.
 After Scruffy the Cat broke up Charlie Chesterman began playing with a new band called The Harmony Rockets. The Harmony Rockets era appears to be from about 1990 to 1993. They released an ep for the song "Skelton Man," which included two songs written by bass player Mike County. In addition to an appearance on a 1991 Sonny Bono tribute CD, there was also an unreleased tape of four finished songs, one of which, titled "Thunderlizard," appears on a compilation from Pete Weiss's Zippah Records. Some of the Harmony Rockets songs have been re-recorded by Charlie and the Legendary Motorbikes for his later releases.
After Charlie broke up the Harmony Rockets (the very week their one and only 45 was to be released), he decided to record songs that he had written during the Rockets days and then retire from music altogether. His interest in motorcycles and vintage scooters had by then eclipsed his interest in playing in bands, and going 75mph seemed more fun then standing around tuning a guitar. So, with the help of Pete Weiss, Charlie entered Zippah studios and recorded six songs for posterity. These songs were in turn passed by Weiss to Slow River Records, who jumped at the chance to release them. Chesterman then suggested he return to the studio and record several more songs to make an albums worth of material. Slow River agreed.
With the prospects of a new release in his future, Chesterman decided a studio band was needed to flush out the raw sound of the recordings. Once again Pete Weiss helped by suggesting guitarist Andy Pastore, a good friend of drummer John Clarke, and, Wiess himself, to play on the sessions. Charlie called other friends to supply talent as needed and the result was the 1994 Slow River CD "From The Book Of Flames"
Charlie now found himself in the familiar but unwanted position of playing live shows. A try at playing solo seemed too difficult-Chesterman had always been the singer in a band, not a soloist-and the odd show featuring a 'pick up' band of friends left him feeling too unhappy with the way the songs sounded. During this time, Slow River promised to release another disc and Charlie felt the need to find a real group that could record. Andy Pastore knew of the legendary bass player Jim Faris and suggested to Chesterman that with John Clarke, he and Faris could help out. Chesterman dubbed the new group 'The Legendary Motorbikes'.
Armed with a great band and twenty some new songs, Charlie went to Zippah Studio in the spring of 1996 and began work on what was to be his first full studio album since Scruffy The Cat's 'Moons Of Jupiter'. Again, with the help of many talented friends and musicians, Pete Weiss producing, and, now, the Legendary Motorbikes, Charlie created a fine mix of styles and sounds that was unlike any he had made before. The CD "Studebakersfield" was released later that year and met with high praise.
The age of the Legendary Motorbikes!
Charlie Chesterman, vocals and guitar
Andy "The King" Pastore, guitar and backing vocal
"Kentucky" Jim Faris, electric and upright bass
John Clarke, drums, "Book of Flames" thru "Dynamite Music Machine"
Gary "Jet" Gendron, drums from then till 2003
John Clarke returns
Once Studebakersfield is released, the band starts playing Boston and New York as
often as possable. To their suprise, the music begins to draw attention of club goers, and club owners too. The word on the street is that The Motorbikes are a band to watch and each time they play, more people come to see them. Shows in Washington D.C. and Philly as well as other hot spots in New England are set up. The label, which has become part of Rykodisc, is interested in yet another recording. Everything is looking up....
Not quite.....
The Motorbikes go back to Zippah with Pete Weiss yet again at the ready and commit to tape the most raw and exciting songs of their short and noizy history. Recording on a 16 track tape machine but sometimes only bothering to use 1 or 2 tracks, Charlie & company
mash thru covers and originals alike in a mad live recording session that lasts most of one weekend. "Dynamite Music Machine" is fuled by coffee, beer, birthday cake, and the dream of putting together a classic rock & roll album. By the time things are all recorded
everybody is sick and tired and in no mood to think about ever playing again.
But they do-for a time.
Rykodisc tries to make a big deal in releasing "Dynamite.." in the autum of 1997 but the hoopla falls on deaf ears. The band, meanwhile, is starting to feel the strain of the dredded 'musician with a dayjob' and things begin to flounder. Charlie is stuck without the possability of taking any time to tour and the others just dont feel like it . The label begins to backpedal on supporting the CD. By the time 1998 rolls around drummer John Clarke decides to quit music altogether and leaves the group. The Legendary Motorbikes are now without an engine, low on gas, and with a slow leek in the rear tire......Great.
 Thankfully, we found Gary "Jett" Gendron to bail us out for a few great years on drums. For reasons no one really understands, Gary is out of the band and off doing other things.
Chaz and the Motorbike play as a trio for about a year until the return of John Clarke.
Now what? |
