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History - Past to Present:
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Played trumpet and baritone since the 4th grade, transitioned to bass guitar as a junior in high school. By necessity, started singing shortly thereafter when vocalists were hard to come across. Worked on stage presence with 3 years of DJ work at radio station KMNR in Rolla, MO. Worked in various versions of Rock, Country, Jazz, Big Band, Oldies, Blues and fusions of many of these genre's.
Met the bass player that had the most influence over playing, Charlie Hayward of the Charlie Daniels Band. Dropped him a business card before the CDB started a show that read, “Charlie, learned to play bass by listening to the licks you laid down on the albums. Thanks for the music!, Wes .....” At the end of the show, he made his way through about 30 people to come over to talk. Was (and still am) extremely honored."
Fairly well equipped with music gear, a couple of music store managers joked as to when the plan was to go into competition by opening a store. Between 6 guitars, 3 bass rigs, 4 PA and 4 lighting systems, they may have a point.
Perform all tech work on guitars and favor the sound of a P-Bass built by hand in 2004. Threw some Seymore Duncans on a body built out of some walnut that dad chopped down in 1960. The wood was so hard that the router (with a new blade) put out more smoke than chips. The sustain is forever, especially considering it's a bolt-on and the tone is full, yet very clean. Hope one day to design and build a double neck 5-string that will be light enough to play all night. Imagine a fretless and a regular fretted bass handy, especially within the span of the same song. This project is currently on hold due to an antique car restoration project of another 1936 Ford pick-up.
Perform most of the behind-the-scenes stuff for The Excelerators. This includes most of the booking, promotions, publishing, equipment maintenance and logistics. In addition, the sound & light systems are run from stage.
Current and past projects beside The Excelerators include:
The St. Mary's Catholic Church Choir in Edwardsville, IL.
The Sacred Heart Church Guitar Choir in Florissant, MO.
Cimarron - Classic Southern Rock
Hot-Rox - Current Top 40 Rock (back in the early 90's)
The Foster Brothers - Blues, Classics, Originals, and Jazz
Tantrum - Current Top 40 Rock (back in the late 80's)
Big River Band - Country & Southern Rock
Missouri Southern - 50's & 60's
University of Missouri-Rolla Jazz Ensemble
McCluer High School
- Jazz Ensemble
- Symphonic Wind Ensemble
- Pep Band
- Concert Band
- Marching Band
Perform free lance work when The Excelerators are off. If you need last minute help, get in touch. Also do a fair amount of lead vocal work too.
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