No Bass No Party

 

An outstanding account of the music business, A riveting story of determination and focus, Musical teenage dream come true, Against all odds musical ups and downs, Defying logic following your heart, Climbing the musical ladder of success, Fearless journey on the road to stardom, (You won’t read about the heads of chickens being bitten off or mounds of drugs being snorted from the naked bodies of sweaty groupies. No, what you will read about on these pages is the deep and intense journey into the very heart of rock and roll and what it takes to come out the other side. Gary Shea took that ride and has survived to tell his thrilling tale and there is no need for embellishment nor hyperbole—the truth is more unbelievable than fiction.

My Review...

Right in my era. That meant I recognized bands, names of people, events, and the general times. Also, not just in my era but also in my location in the US, so many things were familiar.

This memoir starts from the ground up. Shea was lucky to be raised in a very musical family. Not just first generation, but even his grandfather had a big band.  He tells us how he got interested in his first guitar and learned to play. How he and his friends began to form a band.

There’s more to this than learning about Shea and his upbring, even his times with the bands. What it is, is very easy to read. Flowing, almost like a story rather than a non-fiction memoir. You can’t help but get interested, and it became a quick read for me. I didn’t put it down very often.

I think everyone can enjoy this book for its backstage view of the life of a musician. An excellent read. Not one to miss. 

read an excerpt...

I reunited with my friends, Jon Hyde and Michael Monarch. They were on top of the world. Their new band Detective was being backed by Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page on Swan Song Records. Jon said my frustration in finding musicians was the same reason they had gone to London to find bandmates. I went with Jon one day as he bought two brand new Gibson J- 200 acoustic guitars. A six string, and the other a twelve string, with his record advance money. They were gearing up for gigs with KISS and would play Madison Square Garden. I saw my friends from Angel play at The Santa Monica Civic Center. Little did I know that in three years’ time, New England would get encores at Madison Square Garden and sell out The Santa Monica Civic Center. After the concert, Angel drove off in two limousines to begin their first North American tour. They should have leased a tour bus, as both limos overheated in the hot desert of Arizona.

Larry Dalton's wife, Anne, suggested I look up her friend Cheryl Leitch, who worked for BMI. Her roommate, Jan Turling, worked for Songwriter Magazine. They shared a three-bedroom bungalow off Sunset near Ralph’s Supermarket in Hollywood. A third roommate, Michael, was on the road working for Little Feat. Cheryl said I could stay there with them. Through her I met the guys in Legs Diamond who were doing well. There was an old funky Volvo parked in the backyard. One day Cheryl asked me if I would help her friend move his car out to the street to jump the battery. I said sure. It was Jackson Brown. I started playing with another friend of theirs named Peter Jacob who was a guitarist. We played together with a drummer named Jack White, working on some songs Peter had written.

 

An opportunity came along for us to audition for Al Stewart before The Year of The Cat was released. I knew of him from living in London, but he had not yet broken in The States. He was looking for a local band that was tight to back him up on his next tour. I learned the music of his previous album and the music from the unreleased Year Of The Cat. It went well. Al’s manager, J.P., knew my former booking agent friend Ken Griffin from Connecticut. He gave me a big bear hug and told me I had the gig and that Al liked my bass playing. The tour would pay $1000 a week, which was big money in those days. I was pinching myself that this would transpire.

 about Gary Shea...

Gary is the bassist and co-founder of New England and Alcatrazz, two bands that burned very brightly during the late ‘70s and early ‘80s. Along the way, Shea walked amongst giants including Steve Vai, Paul Stanley, Todd Rundgren, Yngwie Malmsteen and a slew of others. He guides us through the machinations, madness and magic of the music world, beginning with his early fascination for bass players and rock and running all the way through to standing on big stages in big arenas in front of big crowds. For every step forward, the industry took two bites of his soul but owing to perseverance, passion and no little amount of pigheadedness, he endured and now reveals all his secrets.

 

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/22472630.Gary_Shea

 

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/No-Bass-Party-Gary-Shea-ebook/dp/B0F1L8D5WZ/ref=sr_1_1

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