In the beginning, there was "For Sherry." After his longtime friend Sherry Miller invited him to the prom in 1986, CW wrote a song to present to her on prom night. Trouble was, CW had no band to record the song, and he envisioned the song to be a little more electric than he could pull off with just one acoustic guitar.
CW talked to a few of his friends from other bands about pulling together a quick session to record the song. Rhythm guitarist Greg Ryman of Skip Search agreed to help, and even wrote the opening guitar riff. Steve Nicholls and Paul Perilles of Rubicon signed on to take on bass and drums, respectively, and guitarist Darrell Cordova of The Jury stepped up to play lead guitar. Kurt Ripperger, also of Rubicon, said he'd take on the mixing console, and the Rubicon boys talked to the high school band director, Dave Liljedahl, and secured the band rehearsal room for the session. Liljedahl even agreed to play an organ part on the school's Yamaha DX-7 keyboard. CW himself would handle just the vocals -- he had only begun playing guitar a few months before and wasn't comfortable taking it on even for the session.
On Friday, April 25, 1986, the morning before the prom, six musicians and an engineer descended on Indianola High School. In the space of 90 minutes, they had recorded three takes of CW's song, "For Sherry," on CW's Sony 2-track open-reel tape recorder. The first take fell apart midway; the second was complete but was deemed too slow. The third take was a little faster, very tight, and considered the best -- besides, all the band members had to get to class. CW proposed calling their one-off band Sound System, and all the other members were comfortable with the name, so it stuck.
Flash forward a few months to
June 1986. After two years running track and cross country,
CW had decided to drop sports and concentrate on his music.
He talked with longtime friend Cliff Hall about it after
work one afternoon -- Cliff had been playing guitar for
years but had never really committed to being in a band.
Cliff agreed it sounded like fun, and suggested a few other
friends who might be interested in the project: a band
focusing mostly on 1950s and 1960s rock cover songs, with
an occasional original tune. In late June, the band got
together for the first time. Again CW took on lead vocals,
with Cliff Hall on lead guitar, Duane Smith on keyboards,
Eric McLuen on saxophone, Jeff Wren on bass, and Chad Wood
on drums. Duane and Eric left after a few rehearsals, and
CW took on rhythm guitar to fill in the void. The band
remained a four-piece for about five months, even playing a
live gig at the wedding reception for Chad Wood's sister in
October 1986.
After an extended break, CW and
Cliff retooled the band to focus more on original music,
with occasional 1960s and 1970s rock covers. Joining the
band was mutual friend Steve Hudspeth on guitar, keyboards,
and vocals; drummer Troy Gould; and bass guitarist Josh
Fisher. With this lineup, the band began focusing on
recording, and produced the album Busted in the
first two weeks of August 1987.
Bassist Josh Fisher left without notice in August, in the
middle of recording Busted. CW's and Cliff's
friend Byron Tinder agreed to take his place -- playing
bass lines on a keyboard -- long enough to complete the
album.
Busted was completed on August 17, just in time to
get copies to the band and their close friends before three
members (CW, Cliff, and Steve) left for their respective
colleges in three different cities. The hope was that they
might regroup for holiday and summer breaks, but there were
changes in store for the band nonetheless.
While at Iowa State University
in 1987, CW stumbled into childhood friend Justin Chastain.
Justin was at ISU on a music scholarship, playing trombone
with the University's marching band and concert band. CW
thought Justin was the perfect candidate for Sound System:
in addition to trombone, Justin also sang and played sax --
and even better: he was a classically-trained pianist and
organist. CW and Justin began jamming together on weekends,
and eventually moved in together as roommates. The
recordings they made together that year are collected in
the album Demos From Hell.
When ISU broke for Christmas, CW called Steve and Cliff to
arrange a jam at Cliff's basement. Justin was unable to
make it because of weather conditions, but after Steve and
Cliff heard the demos he had made with CW, they agreed that
Justin should join them. Cliff told the others that he
wouldn't be coming back for summers after all, and would
only be available for occasional recording sessions, not
for live gigs. Steve's brother Phil stepped in to take
Cliff's lead guitar duties. CW had spent most of the fall
learning bass guitar, and took on that instrument as well.
The band's jam session on December 28, 1987, was recorded
and edited to become the album In Rehearsal I: Hall
Memorial Auditorium.
Another decision that evening was to concentrate the band's
energies on recording, pretty much abandoning live
performances. The band began to have a more eclectic sound,
as most members now played two or more instruments. CW had
introduced some new songs at their December jam, and now
Steve and Justin were beginning to write songs to
contribute as well. As they began recording their new album
Home Turf, released in April 1988, the band began
to develop a truly unique voice.
Sound System did play a live gig at the July 4th
celebration in Pleasantville. Their rehearsals for the
show, and their full performance, were released on In
Rehearsal II: Rehearsal and Recital. Troy left for
college at the end of the summer, and told the group that
the July 4th performance would be his last with Sound
System.
Regrouping in the fall with new
drummer Ray Yenzer, Sound System began writing and
arranging the songs for another new album, to be called
A Safe Place. They made many recordings in the
band rehearsal room at Simpson College, and a few more at a
rented rehearsal space in Indianola.
Phil Hudspeth was now fully in charge of lead guitar, with
some occasional help from little brother Aaron Hudspeth.
The band continued rehearsing and recording through the
spring of 1989, when access to the rehearsal room was
unexpectedly withdrawn.
The band retooled in a rented
rehearsal space in Indianola, adding lead singer Laura
Galpin. Unfortunately, a seven-piece band is difficult to
maintain, and tensions began to flare between CW, Ray, and
new singer Laura. A change in direction turned the band
away from recording and back to live performance -- and to
a focus on alternative rock covers. The band changed its
name to Velvet Picasso, and played two live performances in
the summer of 1989 (a private party and another July 4th in
Pleasantville), before CW -- disillusioned with the changes
and feeling creatively stifled -- announced he was leaving
his own band.
In the following months, CW
recorded his solo debut, I-80 Westbound, and
Velvet Picasso continueed playing a few live gigs before
disbanding in November 1989 (Steve would revive Velvet
Picasso later with a new lineup). CW, Aaron, and Phil
continued to write and record side projects together.
In December, as the lease on the rehearsal space was about
to expire, Steve and CW patched their few differences and
called some of the others back for a final jam. Joining
them were Phil, Aaron, and Justin. The recorded results of
the jam were edited to produce In Rehearsal VII: Let It
End.
CW compiled two more sets of demos to hand out to the
members that evening: Return of Demos From Hell
and Best of Demos From Hell. After that, the group
went their separate ways, each continuing in musical
endeavours for many years.
Over the years, CW has
maintained friendships with the Hudspeth brothers, Justin
Chastain, and Cliff Hall. Several times, he's dusted off
the old arrangements and tried once more to give A Safe
Place its due on the technology available to him.
When CW and Steve (and originally Ray) purchased what
became Trifecta Recording Studio in 1992, the future looked
bright for A Safe Place. Finally, they'd have the
equipment they needed to really treat the arrangements
right. Unfortunately, the pressures of running a business
meant there was never any time to record their own
material. And so the project languished another 10 years.
When the studio was closed in 2002, CW and Steve split up
what equipment they didn't sell. CW has continued working
on A Safe Place, laying down guitars, bass, drums,
and vocals. Over time, he plans to record Steve's guitar
and vocals, Justin's keyboards and vocals, and Phil and
Aaron's guitars. With luck, maybe even Cliff Hall and Greg
Ryman will be able to contribute -- albeit remotely -- from
their homes in Colorado and Virginia. The target date of
2006 is probably a bit optomistic, but you can't reach
goals without setting them first. And one thing about Sound
System is that they've never been known to give up easily!
Contact Sound System about their
music!
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