Al The Drummer

I moved away from Nashville in 1995 and from that point on, I only saw Alan a couple of times a year. Whenever I saw him, we would stay up late partying and talking and he would fill me in on his latest musical adventures, often playing me videos of recent shows.

This morning, I've been combing through Alan's MySpace page, where he went by Al The Drummer. It turns out that I had no idea just how active he was in the Nashville music scene during the last years of his life. Using the info in Alan's blog postings on MySpace, I have determined that between September of 2006 and December 2008, Alan performed on Nashville-area stages at least 45 times.

The following is a partial list of the artists and bands that Alan played with during this time. These names are presented the way Alan himself billed the bands in his posts, so there are duplicates here because of band name changes, etc., but still ...

• Tim Jones and the Orphan's Friends
• Reigning Hounds
• Whiskey Biscuit
• Tim Jones, Ann Tilley and Carole Edwards
• David Lee Slate
• Ann Tilley and Carole Edwards
• The Carole Edwards Band
• Tim Jones, Carole Edwards and Friends
• The Ann Tilley Band
• Carole Edwards and Ann Tilley
• Tim Jones and Ann Tilley
• The Usual Suspects (Carole Edwards, Dean Goodsell, Dave Jones, Tim Jones and Ann Tilley)
• Taproot
• Moonrocks
• Root Soup (formerly Taproot)
• Moontraxx (formerly Moonrocks)
• Juana Rock
• Dave Jones, Tim Jones and Dean Goodsell
• The Jay Patten Band

Whiskey Biscuit: Gimme Some Lovin'

This is one of my all time favorite Whiskey Biscuit videos, of Alan singing "Gimme Some Lovin'" at the 17th Annual Tye Dye Festival in Adams, TN in September of 2006.



Unfortunately LoriLea had the flu that year, so the background vocals aren't what they could have been! But I thought Alan did a stellar job on the lead vocals, as we played this song to open up the 1.5 hour set.

Al Spike

Apparently, Alan adopted the stage name, Al Spike, during his tenure with Whiskey Biscuit. Whiskey Biscuit was a very popular Nashville-area cover band several years ago. Here's his bio page from the old Whiskey Biscuit website.

Betcha Thought We Couldn't Do It (Video)

Trying To Keep Up With The Joneses (video)

The Pencils

The Pencils (circa 1994): Michael McCrickard, Brad Markum, Alan Wiseman and Larry Duke

I was a late bloomer, insofar as writing and performing music goes. I was about 26 when I bought my first real keyboard and started writing and recording songs. Alan, however, had been playing music his whole life and was already writing songs in elementary school. James McBride and Alan collaborated on a song in third grade, "I Love Amelia (and Everybody Knows It)". Alan and James both owned cheap plastic guitars that they had received for Christmas and Alan came up with a riff on his. James wrote some words to go with the riff (about the object of their mutual affection, a dreamy blonde girl in their class). James played the song for his sister Louanne, who stated flatly, "You two didn't write that song, you couldn't have." She was firm in her belief that they had just appropriated something they heard on the radio. Sometimes disbelief is the best compliment of all.

In any case, when I began writing songs in my late 20s, Alan was one of the first people I ever jammed with. Our jam sessions paved the way for The Pencils, a garage band that managed to play a few parties in the late 80s, early 90s. Mostly we practiced and jammed and partied. And partied and partied. Our finest moment came when a friend of mine agreed to let us play in a huge warehouse that he was essentially squatting in. I hesitated, warning him that we could be kind of loud. "Aww, don't worry," he said. "It's a warehouse. Nobody's gonna hear you."

He wasn't around when we came in that evening with carloads of musical gear, PAs and microphones and video equipment. I'll never forget the look on my friend's face when he showed up around 11:00 pm and we were in full tilt boogie, playing louder than we ever had before. "What are you trying to do?" he screamed. "Get me kicked out of here?"

Giant Tracks: Betcha Thought We Couldn't Do It

 

In 1995, Alan's friend John Hagewood joined a collection of internet geeks belonging to a "list-group" all about the English progressive rock band "Gentle Giant". (Do they even HAVE "list-groups" anymore?) Several members of this group soon realized that MANY Gentle Giant fans were also musicians and, at some point, member Rob Rosen suggested that a "tribute CD" be produced by the members of the group. Alan and John quickly warmed on the idea and began planning out their respective tracks, while John was elected to be the "Supervising Producer" since he lived in Nashville and had access to mastering and duplication facilities. The CD was released in 1997, and since it was produced entirely through the internet (a novelty at the time) the resulting CD was featured in the January 1998 issue of "Keyboard Magazine".

The track on this QuickTime file is Alan's contribution to the CD, "Betcha Thought We Couldn't Do It".

A "CD Release Party" was held at Alan's house, and a very large time was had by all. See bottom of post for photos of this momentous occasion!

Here is a link to the Giant Tracks Web Site containing Alan's comments on his track.

Here is Alan's track "Betcha Thought We Couldn't Do It":



here is a direct link to the mp3 for non-shockwave environments

photos from the Giant Tracks CD Release Party


John Hagewood, Alan, David Barnard


Mark Luplow becomes the very first Giant Tracks customer


Alan and John admiring the inventory....1000 CDs!

Letter From Alan, 1995

In January of 1995, I moved from Nashville, TN to Baltimore, MD and the first letter that I received in Baltimore was from Alan. Enclosed with the letter was a newspaper clipping with Alan's photo of the S&M Communion Bread bakery in Nashville. He had submitted it to the Nashville Scene and they featured it on their contents page one week. (I may still have it somewhere, but if you do, please send it to me!)

The Adrian referred to here is the former James McBride (he changed his name as an adult), the same James who introduced me to Alan.

Alan signs the letter "R.P." which stood for Rubber Pencil, his nickname in our band, The Pencils. (I was Charcoal Pencil, Larry was No. 2 Pencil, and Brad Markum was Hard Tip Pencil.)

In re-reading it, I was struck with the 2nd paragraph, where he says, "Maybe we can find a way to send compositions thru the 'Net. You know, a sort of virtual studio." That sort of thing had never entered my mind back then, even though I was heavily into computers and music. Then in 2002, I did my first CD with musicians from all over the country, without meeting any of them face to face, without so much as a phone call between any of us. It was all done through email and FTP sites where we shared Acid Pro files. It's like Alan had seen it coming -- seven years before it happened.

Trying To Keep Up With The Joneses (lyrics)

In Alan's own handwriting (with a little of mine at the bottom), here are the lyrics to his most enduring tune. You can hear the song here accompanied by an unofficial video of the song.

here is a direct link to the mp3 for non-shockwave environments

Halloween 1972

Alan the Trickster

I first met Alan when I was ten years old in 1971. That was the year that the Nashville Metro Schools were desegrated and I got bussed to a new school across town. One of my first new friends at my new school was James McBride, who lived in the same neighborhood as Alan. He introduced me to Alan not long after the school year began and the three of us became fast friends. One of our most memorable adventures together was on Halloween of the next year.

I had always been big on treats at Halloween and I didn't have much experience with the tricking part. James and I went over to Alan's house as it was getting dark and, once inside, I immediately noticed Alan putting rolls of toilet paper in his treat bag. He started hustling us out of his house and I could hear his mother calling from the other room, "Alan don't forget your jacket. Alan, look both ways when you cross the street. Alan, don't stay out too late ..." Alan was literally going, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, blah, blah, blah," as we walked out the door. He stopped in the middle of his front yard and handed us each a roll of toilet paper. "Alright, let's get started!" he said as he cast his roll up into the branches of the nearest tree.

I was absolutely shocked. Roll your own house? Hmmm, well, if Alan thought it was alright... By the time we left his yard, we had rolled every tree in it. We were all laughing so hard, I was sure we were going to get caught. But his parents didn't catch on and we bolted down the street, three partners in crime.