A legendary area Nebraska band is about to leave its mark on South Dakota rock history.<\/p>\n
Local rockers Quazy will be inducted into the South Dakota Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in October after electrifying audiences in the area since 1974.<\/p>\n
The band formed in the Hartington, Nebraska, area when rhythm guitarist\/vocalist Chris Kathol and bassist Ken Noecker, who were also playing with a group called Rainbow Bridge, had a chance meeting with Craig Jensen, an accomplished lead guitarist who had recently returned from California, and drummer Harley Zumbrum who had recently returned from Texas.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019d been playing since \u201869 with a band called Rainbow Bridge, and then some of them guys went off to college,\u201d Kathol said. \u201cSo, we were looking for somebody, and that\u2019s when in \u201874 we found the other two members.\u201d<\/p>\n
Quazy has had only six members throughout its more than 50-year history \u2014 the four\u00a0 original members, while the fifth \u2014 guitarist Jay Gilbertson \u2014 joined in 2008 to replace Jensen who had just passed away. Current drummer Ricky Pearson joined in 1976 so then-drummer Zumbrum could pursue an acting career.\u00a0<\/p>\n
For a while, though, both drummers performed with a nod to the Allman Brothers\u2019 Band and its two-drum setup.<\/p>\n
Kathol and Gilbertson spoke with the Press & Dakotan about the band\u2019s storied career and the honor of being inducted into a rock hall of fame. They were also inducted into the Nebraska Hall of Fame in 2007.<\/p>\n
Kathol reminisced about what he called the \u201cballroom days.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe played all over,\u201d he said. \u201cHad the biggest show ever at the Skylon in Hartington with 1,500 people or right around there. I think we had the record for the Bow Valley Hall, and it was easy. We played all those ballrooms throughout (the five-state area).\u201d<\/p>\n
As Kathol described each of the band members and their talents, he eventually said, \u201cI play guitar and do vocals. I guess I\u2019m the frontman. And, I drive the Winnebago.\u201d<\/p>\n
Quazy became regionally famous for their covers of popular rock songs of the time. They did write original songs, too.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were a finalist in the South Dakota Songwriting Contest,\u201d Kathol said. \u201cWe had a number of original songs.\u201d<\/p>\n
At their height, they toured with big-league bands such as Head East, the Grass Roots and Steppenwolf. And, when not on tour, they were playing weekends and some weeknights throughout the upper Midwest.<\/p>\n
Nowadays, the band has settled into doing about 3-5 shows a year. The next is coming up Saturday, Sept. 12, at The Boat House to celebrate their induction into the South Dakota Hall.<\/p>\n
A common theme among local bands that go on to have more success is that one or more members often travel to a music hub in the United States and come back with refined skills and new ideas.<\/p>\n
That was what happened with Quazy.<\/p>\n
Both Jensen and Zumbrum had traveled to learn more. Kathol did, too, and it paid off.<\/p>\n
\u201cI took a year and went out to (Los Angeles) to just kind of check out music scene,\u201d Kathol said. \u201cThat\u2019s kind of when we came back with songs by Elvis Costello and the Pretenders and all those guys who were playing out there in \u201878.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was kind of the thing,\u201d Kathol continued. \u201cWhen we really took off was when I came back from L.A., and it had a whole different music scene, and then we started touring. Our agents were based out of Minneapolis, so we started touring with these Minneapolis bands, and they were light years ahead of where everybody here was. We were playing songs nobody ever heard before. Before that, we were just kind of a jamming cover band.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Jensen\u2019s story was somewhat similar, but he had grown up in San Jose, California, and was acquainted with guitarist Carlos Santana and his band, according to Kathol.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was buddies with the Santana boys and everything, and man (Craig) could play guitar,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was a culture shock for him when he and his family moved to South Dakota in the 70s.\u201d<\/p>\n
The music perhaps made the move less stressful on the young guitarist.<\/p>\n
When Jensen passed in 2008, Gilbertson joined the band \u2014 a group he grew up admiring.<\/p>\n
\u201cI saw Quazy at the end of the original group in \u201882,\u201d Gilbertson said. \u201cIt was at (Yankton\u2019s) City Hall, and I was 12 or 13, but they played a big show. I\u2019m not sure if this was at that show or not, but I remember Jerry Weber, Jeff Reynolds and those guys had kind of a little band. Then a few of these guys became a Quazy cover band \u2014 that was like Trace Mahoney, and those guys who started doing all the songs that Quazy would do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gilbertson also currently plays in two other bands \u2013 The Dispensers and Jett. He said he enjoys playing with a band he admired from a young age.<\/p>\n
The actual induction ceremonies will take place Oct. 24 at the District in Sioux Falls. The band will get to play a 20-minute set, which made both Kathol and Gilbertson laugh a little.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re going to get to play for 20 minutes to a half hour,\u201d Gilbertson said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe played for 2\u00bd hours at the Nebraska one,\u201d Kathol said. \u201cNot sure I can play only 20 minutes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTrue, we\u2019ll just be getting warmed up when we\u2019re done up there,\u201d Gilbertson joked.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Because of the length of that show, the band is having a full show starting at 7 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 12 at The Boat House in downtown Yankton.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A legendary area Nebraska band is about to leave its mark on South Dakota rock history. Local rockers…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":837236,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[1075,88,216],"class_list":["post-837235","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-community","tag-entertainment","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/837235","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=837235"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/837235\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/837236"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=837235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=837235"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=837235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}