Family History Photos
Mark Stevens Guitar
|
Greg Milton Guitar
|
Jimmy Young Drums
|
Jerry Whitfield Bass
|
Carl Chaney Vocals
|
One of the things that used to happen in Amarillo, Texas, was that local musicians wanting to jam would go to Thompson Park on the weekends. There was a covered picnic area with an electric outlet and a cement floor. Bands would move the picnic tables and set up the drums and amps and jam. Thompson Park was also the weekend cruising area for local teens, so it was a party waiting to happen. One day, I was cruising the park and there was a group of guys out there jamming and they didn't have a singer, so I jumped out and introduced myself. We started jamming and decided to form a band. The guys were Richard Sutton (guitar), Dale Young (bass), and Jimmy Young (drums). That didn't last long, it began a long association between myself and Jimmy Young.
One of the things that used to happen in Amarillo, Texas, was that local musicians wanting to jam would go to Thompson Park on the weekends. There was a covered picnic area with an electric outlet and a cement floor. Bands would move the picnic tables and set up the drums and amps and jam. Thompson Park was also the weekend cruising area for local teens, so it was a party waiting to happen. One day, I was cruising the park and there was a group of guys out there jamming and they didn't have a singer, so I jumped out and introduced myself. We started jamming and decided to form a band. The guys were Richard Sutton (guitar), Dale Young (bass), and Jimmy Young (drums).
We teamed up with Greg Milton (guitar), Mark Stevens (guitar) and Jerry Whitfield (bass). And we became Stryker. We were together for several months and had a few gigs under our belt when Mark and Jerry left the band. We auditioned, but never found a bass player and Greg didn't think we needed another guitar player, so we decided that I should take up the bass and also let Jimmy and Greg do more lead vocals. All of us were getting frustrated with the lack of places to play in the area. |
 |
| After Badd Azz broke up in early 1982, I started jamming around where I could and met some really good musicians. Things started to get stable with the lineup of Greg Milton and Mark Stevens on guitars, Jerry Whitfield on Bass, Jimmy Young on drums and myself on vocals. We worked up a pretty good set list consisting of tunes from bands such as Point Blank, ZZ Top, Molly Hatchet and 38 Special. Heck, we even worked up an Iron Maiden tune, "Run to the Hills". We played clubs in small Texas panhandle towns such as Pampa, Borger and Dalhart. We played a few little clubs around Amarillo as well, but there really werent enough places to play to keep us busy. Mark really wasn't into the band and soon dropped out and moved to Dallas. Jerry had to quit the band for personal reasons and we really didn't know another bass player, so I took up the base guitar. I had played rhythm guitar in several earlier bands and knew the basics of bass, so it was back to the drawing board. |  |
| We split up the vocal duties between myself, Greg and Jimmy and spent a few weeks in rehersal. We were getting more and more frustrated by the lack of places for a rock band to play, so we decided to blow town. Greg had kept in touch with Mark and he said that he would put us up for a little while until we got on our feet. We practiced when we could and even drove to Gainesville Florida to play a Fourth of July party for one of Gregs friends. After about a year, it was over. Greg moved back to Amarillo and Jimmy and I began looking to build another band. |
