Pete Woodman
A Sixties Icon
Meatloaf Soul
The Prodigal Son Returns
Pete Woodman
recalls the early days growing up in Freeland off old U.S. 10. He remembers
when he hung out with his friends from the Music Box days and high school
dances. Now they are in their sixties and seventies and those times have
sharpened into prism of memories, fondly embraced. It was an era in which Butch
White became a tentative rock & roller with the Playboys and perfected his
craft just months before Dick Wagner rode into town with Lanny Roenicke and
Woodman to become a rock and roll hero. He renamed the band the Bossmen and
they became our Beatles. But the real story started several years before when
12 year old Pete worked his craft, learning drum beats from an Estonian band
teacher that loved Pete’s spunk. Around that time Pete and his brothers Rock
and Michael caught the bug. They formed a band called the King Toppers and they
won a prize for best band at the Chesaning Showboat. Pete never looked back. It
was in his blood. To this day Pete claims he is the most famous drummer in
Freeland only because I’m the only drummer from Freeland!
Pete met
Lanny Roenicke in high school, trading off gigs with Saginaw High and Arthur
Hill bands. At this point Butch White was playing guitar and was the putative
leader. Pete has a vivid memory of Butch performing gravy train and nailing it;
At the time a piano player was making the rounds, he was loud and he was ripped
but he could play like Jerry Lee Lewis and could singer better than most. It
was warren Keith! Pete got to know him when he would sit-in occasionally in
Adrian just north of Pontiac. Warren was in a band called the Eldorados and he
told Pete about this guitar player who could play behind his back and could
sing great. It just so happened that Butch White was going quit the band so
Lanny and Pete drove to Drayton Plains and hired Dick Wagner on the spot! When
Gary Lewis and The Playboys hit it big with This Diamond Ring, Warren Keith
renamed the band, it was a cool name…the Bossmen!
From
1964-1966 The Bossmen were mid-Michigan’s Beatles. They just happened to be in
the right place at the right time of the music business when we could cut our
own records and distribute them at teen dances and at local radio stations.
Every one of the Bossmen 45’s were local hits. Pete says his favorite Bossmen
Songs were You & I and Bad Girl and he felt the harmonies were perfect! The
Bossmen performed all over the state and had a headlining show at the Grande
ballroom shortly after the Grande opened for business. A local event for the
new Montgomery Wards Record Department featured the Bossmen. They sang all the
Bossmen songs all the A & B sides. Mark Farner was a full member of the
group and performed a few R&B covers at that particular show. Pete
encouraged Mark to write songs and his first composition was Heartbreaker,
later covered by Mark when he was a member of Grand Funk Railroad! Pete annd Mark became close friends and Pete
got to know his brothers and sisters. To this day Pete was thrilled with the acclaim of being a
local celebrity. Pete says, “It was worth a million dollars, other bands would
play our songs and they’d ask Pete, “did I play it right.” And I would always
say, “Of course you played the right drum part.” It was kind of special!
After the
Bossmen, Dick and Pete tried to put something together but it didn’t work out
but when he hooked up with Bobby Rigg & the Chevelles that was pure magic.
Pete agreed, “That was the best move for Dick because the Chevelles were a
great band and everyone could sing!” Pete went on to talk about Wagner, “Dick
was an established songwriter and he helped his new band to improve their craft
and write better songs. When the Beatles came along with all those great songs,
Dick wanted to be a Beatle. The Bossmen were the vehicle for Dick to write
these songs. They are still great tunes with good arrangements!”
After that
Pete put together a band called the Bean Machine and it included his future
wife New Zealand born Susie Kane. At the time she was learning chords and
scales on the keyboard and in no time she was proficient enough to tour and
record with the band. The first song she performed onstage was Midnight Hour
and it was a total groove. It wasn’t too long after that Rudy Martinez
(Question Mark) asked Pete to play drums for his band. Pete agreed. The band
was still red hot with their big hit 96 Tears (along with I Need Somebody).
Pete rehearsed and I learned the songs essentially all the songs recorded for
the first album. Pete learned alot on
the tour, touring the midwest and the southern states. Susie Kane became the
tour manager and made sure there was gas money as well as the profit. Susie would
count all the money, all singles. Often she would count out three or four
thousand dollars! At that time merchandising was an afterthought, not a revenue
source. While in New York Pete recorded Cherry July (on the Cameo Parkway
Label) for one of the last great songs recorded by Question Mark & the
Mysterians!
After our time with the Mysterians, Susie and Pete moved back
to Freeland and we had lots of money.
Pete remembers, “So we decided to pack up our 1966 Chevrolet and it was
a big load. We had my drums in the back and Susie’s organ on the top. I still
wonder how we did it!” The move to California proved to be an epiphany. We met
Boyce and Hart, Michael Nesmith , David Crosby, Joey Bishop, Steve McQueen, and
Tiny Tim doing some cool vaudeville. Then we met a Detroit Band called the
Southbound Freeway. They recorded an album at Gold Star Studios but their
drummer left so Pete got the gig, though it was short lived it was a good band.
They had a minor hit with Psychedelic Used Car Lot. But Goldstar was a haven
for musicians and singers. Pete recalled that Buffalo Springfield, Sonny &
Cher and the Byrds all hung out there.
Pete met Meatloaf shortly after he arrived in Los Angeles.
Meatloaf was a big man, over 300 pounds. He had dirty blonde hair, he didn’t
look very clean and he didn’t wear shoes. He was walking with a few other guys
and one of them saw my drumsticks and he said, “You wanna play with us on these
songs we have?”Pete agreed and so he went into the studio and there was Rick
Bozzio and Meatloaf. They laid down several rough tracks and Susie played
keyboards. The band was christened Meatloaf Soul. The band was quite successful
in Michigan. Pete recalled getting gigs through Punch Andrews (Seger’s manager)
and played the Hideout Clubs, the Blue Light in Midland and Bay City and
Daniels Den. Pete recalls that at that point in the seventies, original live
music was at its height of popularity! To this day Pete recalls teaching
Meatloaf how to count in- 1,2,3 during a song! They even played the Grande
Ballroom with the Fugs!
“When I look back, says Pete, I want to be able to say I did
the best I could do. I had lots of fun and everything I did was positive. It
was good for my direction in life. I wanted to feel good about myself. Every
day is the best day ever is a phrase I used when I worked at Orchard St. Marys,
an all boys Prep School for kids from 9th grade to 12th
grade. I worked at the Field House on the Ice Arena. I would say to the kids
“You’re going to be great today! The best day ever!! And the kids would yell
back – “Best Day Ever!!”
Pete and his
band HIPS with Susie and Sarah Woodman will be performing @ Freeland’s
Tittabawasee Park in Freeland. Dick Fabian’s wife Gail will make a few remarks
about her late husband Dick Fabian. The concert starts @ 7pm. Come and witness
a local legend and dig the music!
Peace
Bo White
