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Lead guitar & vocals
I can remember when I was in 2nd or even 3rd grade going
to church with my parents. I always liked to sing the hymns. At St. John's grade school in Buckley, Prof. Winterstein was
the principal, the organist, and also the choir director. He was very stern, but he made us sing - and sing loud. I believe
that was when I really began to enjoy singing.
Then the
Beatles came along. I can still remember seeing them one Sunday night on the Ed Sullivan show & I knew that is what
I wanted to do. Fortunately, my parents bought me a Gibson single pick-up guitar and an Ampeg amp. I also got a chord book & sat in my bedroom, working day & night teaching myself the
chords along with a Beatle songbook. I knew all the songs by heart so I was able to sing & play the chords in rhythm.
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While I was in grade school, my best friends, Bert Schakel, Randy Haack, and
Everett Hethke were some of the 1st people I ever played with. Then somehow I was told about Jeff Bristle from Roberts and then Larry Bemont from Paxton and Randy Dilly from Boswell, Ind. I
got the opportunity to jam with these guys. Also my older sister was dating Tom Wyatt from Paxton who played in a local band.
While I was in high school, there were 2 local bands that really greatly influenced
me; Backstreet District and the Good Injun Bug Band. Denny Honeycutt was the
lead player for the Backstreet band and he was amazing. He truly was my idol. I would have done anything to play as well as
him. I considered it a great privilege to be asked to play and sing at his funeral several years ago. Another member of this
band was Pooh Hill from Loda. I believe he was only in grade school when he started playing with these guys (they were all
in high school). He was a really great bass player. It was some 15 years later that he and I would start the original Back
Paiges (1992). I never thought I would ever have the opportunity to be in a band with him.
The Bug
band had great singing and played top 40 stuff. Gary Grohler was the lead singer. Dave Perkinson, who along with me as one of the original Back Paiges, was a member of this band
with his brother Doug. They are all very talented and were a great influence. I never thought I would ever be playing
with any of these guys.
I joined
the Navy in 1971 and served until 1973. I then went to University of Illinois majoring in architecture and graduated in 1977.
After graduating, I played banjo for Fuzzy Delisle from Mahomet. He was the bass
player for the Appaloosa Band from Champaign. He started his own band, the Sangamon River Bandits, playing mostly his
own stuff. We played country, bluegrass, and blues. A truly talented person, he recorded his own songs and played
all of the instruments on the recording. Then we had a guy by the name of Bruce.
He was an incredible guitar player who mainly played blues. Then we also got a big guy by the name of Jeff. He could play
flattop, mandolin, and the fiddle. He was tremendous. This was the time of the flying Illini basketball team and Fuzzy wrote
an Illini song that got us all kinds of gigs. He even played for "half-time" at the Assembly Hall. These guys were very inspirational
and I will always remember them.
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Jim Mangis was another person who had a great influence on me. He was the leader of the Tennessee Borderline
band which I played with from about 1979 to 1983. He wrote a lot of his
own stuff and could sing well. In that same band was Terry McCartney, a truly talented guy with a great stage presence
and lots of energy.
The original Back Paiges was started in about 1992 and lasted until 1998. Our concept then was to play 'danceable'
top 40 hits - mainly from the 60's thru 80's era. I'm glad to say the current Back Paiges is still following this
tradition and that our current vocals are just as strong if not stronger than the original band. The original members
were: Pooh Hill, David Perkinson, Butch Kuester, and myself. We had some really good times and we all got to relive our childhood
desires to be in a band. Most of us, before we started, thought we would never have the opportunity again. We
all gave it all we had to get it going and we succeeded.
One of my last ventures (before recently re-starting Back Paiges) was performing, writing, producing,
and recording Christian music from 1999 to 2002. The 2 bands' names were John
316 and Kwench. One was adult contemporary and the other was alternative. Through this, I had the privilege of working with
Rick Nelson and his son Mike from Paxton. Rick was the drummer from Slipstream.
That was a successful local band that played regionally and had released a single. I believe this was back in the 70's. I
never thought I would ever play with anybody from that band. They were really good. He and his son are tremendous musicians
with a tremendous work ethic and very dedicated Christians who to this day are continuing their music ministry. I will always
remember them. Rick taught me that having a dedicated band member who is always reliable is more important than having lots
of talent with no dedication. You guys are the greatest.
Well, that's
about it. What a privilege it is to play music for all of our fans. It gives
all of us an opportunity to have some fun and forget about life's daily challenges. I hope you will come and hear us soon.
Tedd
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