...so back in Dec. '98 I got a call from a guy named Phil Bennett, who said he was a musician in the area trying to put together a rock cover band. I guess he got my name from a mutual musician friend of ours, Rick Poland (thank you Rick). Phil was still somewhat new to the area and had been having a little trouble finding players that fit his vision. We met the next month, Jan. '99, for sort of an audition. I had been in a country band for years, but rock music is what I love...so this was a great opportunity. It turned out Phil and I have the same taste in music, so that helped....but one thing that was really odd is that we have the same guitar. To explain, we both have custom Fender Stratocaster "plus" guitars. Special order, and somewhat rare. We had both ordered them new in '93....his is blue, mine is red. I had a pretty good feeling after that coincidence.
The audition went well and I got the job....I knew a lot of the tunes on Phil's song list, and could play along with him and his bass player at the time, Bud Adams. We brought in a good friend of mine, Zack Liggett and we got to work. Several months went by, but we were having trouble with our progress. Bud hadn't done this type of thing before, as in worked in a cover band, and he wasn't doing too well. After a while longer, he bailed out....with a little encouragement from me.... ;-)
We had booked our first gig in Florence and time was short. Phil decided to call another mutual friend, JD Berlingeri, and he got us out of the garage (our hero!!). In a matter of weeks we had a set list and were ready to go. Our first gig went well, and we learned a lot. Soon after that, and a couple more jobs at the coast, (ask me about the "O Club"sometime) we were ready to audition here in Roseburg.
The audition was funny to me because we had to audition for the local band Phamous Phaces.....a band I had been watching for years (remember the Lariat?). We were at the LaHacienda, and the Phaces guys liked what we did. So much so that they borrowed tunes from our set list....I took that as a big compliment!
Our first home gig went pretty well, and we played there all the time after that.....you can go see clips on "my video's" and youtube. Phil and I played together off and on for another year or two. I was dealing with some heavy anxiety issues though, and I had to drink a lot to get on stage. I couldn't take letting people down so I quit playing music for several years. I did go back with my old cowboy band though for a short time....it was a lot of fun, but not as much fun as playing rock music! Plus I still had bad anxiety so I had to quit again....not very gracefully either I'm sorry to say.
Anyway....years went by and I kept in touch with Phil. One day I ran into him while picking up my daughter from school. We talked about how much fun we used to have, and how he hasn't had that much fun in any other project since. I agreed. It was a month or so after that he called. We talked and decided to revive the Captain Bent project. Many people remembered us, and loved our song list. Some of our musician friends even referred to what we did as "the Captain Bent thing"....I like that!
We chose to go the same route again....Hit songs, most all of them danceable of course, and some classic rock thrown in with '90's alternative. Music that appeals to everyone. We found a great bass player (Dave Williams) and a fantastic drummer (Michael Aponte), and they sound awesome together! I think we sound better than ever, and we are looking forward to hitting the music scene ready to rock it. Please keep an eye out for next gig. Currently we are scheduled to play at the Jersey March 28th.
So, wish us luck, and watch for the Captain Bent page coming to myspace soon. Also watch the News Review Currents section for an article and to find out where we are playing. Thanks for reading about us, and we hope to see you out!
Instruments: Guitar
blessed 
blissful 
