Back 40 years ago
this month, 3 McCarty boys had a dream to create a band. Larry,
Kelly, and Jerry realized that there
was one main problem... None of them knew how to play an instrument,
and Jerry, who was going to be the singer... well, he couldn't sing! Jerry
used to tell the story of Christmastime at Parkman Elementary
School in Detroit, Michigan. The music teacher, Mrs. Collins,
would have the class sing Christmas carols around the school going
classroom to classroom. She
told Jerry just to stand in the back and move his lips!
That did not deter
any of them though. First things first... Think up cool stage names!
Kelly came up with Brad Savage, Jerry came up with Eric Swan, and
Larry came up with Lake Speed. Check that off the list!
The next thing was
to open up the JCPenney catalog and pick out our instruments with
Kelly's ... er... Brad's employee discount. They bought guitars,
drums, maracas, kazoos, harmonicas, tambourines, and even a cowbell
(I got the fever! And the only prescription is more cowbell!)
While waiting for those to come in, the boys went to Radio Shack at Lakeside
Mall to buy a PA, microphones, and column speakers (along with a
soldering iron... you never know when you'll need one). Check That
Off The List!
Next was
to come up with a name for the band. They were thinking seriously taking the
name Tilch (which was the weird street name in our subdivision
among other more normal names like Goldridge Lane, Buttercup
Circle, Shangri La, etc.) Jerry
came up with the idea to have something similar to Paul Revere and
the Raiders or Buddy Holly and the Crickets or Mac & The Lost
Cause??? He thought that the band name should be have Brad
Savage's name
in it (since he got the employee discount) and we toyed around
with some names. Jerry said "Why don't we just pick a name at
random out of the dictionary?" So he brought out the 1000+
page Merriam Webster dictionary. Larry feathered the pages, and
Jerry plopped his finger down... And we really didn't want to be
called Brad Savage & The Cocks, so we moved it down a couple
to Cockroaches! Check That One Off The List!
Within a week, the
boys were jamming in the basement with their brand new equipment, although
they had to compromise and only play the music loud when Mom was out of the house at Bingo (you
know the old saying... When the cats away, the cockroaches will play). The boys
were teaching themselves to play which was kind of fun but frustrating, because none of the songs they were
trying to cover actually sounded like the original records. But
that didn't deter the brothers, as they made an executive decision
to not play cover music, but they would actually write their own
songs. Brad & Eric co-wrote their first songs "Three Stooges
Rock & Roll", "Cockroach Party", "Swimming In The Secretarial
Pool", and "Bad Reputation". They knew they were onto something, so
they hired their younger brother to be their business manager
(after all, he WAS taking business classes in high school!). He
also changed his name from Steve McCarty to Paul Stevens. The first order
of business for Paul was to have us buy some cool band jackets!
Check, Check, Check, and Check!
Brad, Eric, and
Lake continued to collaborate and write music for each other, and, as their library
of original songs continued to grow, so did their playing
abilities. They got to the point that they wanted to cut a record
(vinyl will never die, right?) So Brad talked to his friend Bob
Dantzer who was in a band called 'The Boys' and asked him for
advice. He listened to what we had with just a guitar, drums, and
vocal, and he thought the songs were good, however, he made the suggestion that
we needed to add bass, lead guitar, and keyboard to the songs to complete
them. He had experience in recording, so he offered to add the
bass tracks, his keyboard player Carl would also help out with his
talents, and Steve his lead guitarist would add some cool licks to
the songs. It was also discussed that my beginning crude guitar ability could
work on the recording, but suggested that although Lake was a very good live
performer on drums, we should try to find a professional
drummer for the actual recordings (as that dictates the entire
pace of the songs). That was a gut-check time as we 3 started this
just less than a year prior, but Lake understood (like Pete Best
understood I'm sure) that if it was
best for the recordings, and best for the Cockroaches, that he would step aside, but
stayed with the project offering his advice and support. Luckily, Brad
did know a drummer who had played
for several local bands in the past... Lance DeVous, and he
eagerly accepted our
proposal to play on the recordings.
So Brad and Eric
rented late night recording time at a recording studio in East
Detroit called "The Disk". The entire band showed up, along with a
couple guests (Cassy Harlo from the band Baby Jane, and Mike Novak from
the band Jim
Gold & Gallery) that were not credited on the recordings, but added
their talents to the songs that were recorded over several nights. They decided to record those
first 4 songs that Brad and Eric wrote and they all were very happy with
the finished product. They got the master recordings and then
sought out a record distributor who pressed the records and Brad,
Eric, Lake, and Bob added some artwork in the way of a photo on
the dust sleeve from a few photo shoots prior.
Brad and Eric sent
out records locally and nationally. They got write-ups in local
newspapers, along with national publications like Goldmine
magazine. They even heard back from the brother of Larry Fine of
the 3 Stooges who bought records to sell through their Three
Stooges Fan Club. The records were
already out and selling locally, and the Cockroaches had done some promo work for
them prior. They got their
first live gig in the late summer of 1982 as a special appearance, playing to a packed house
at the Wooden Nickel Saloon in East Detroit. They played a 10 song
set of the 40-50 that they had written. It was received amazingly
well by the crowd which was a boost to the boys that their idea
from a year ago was a good one. It was a great night to be a Cockroach!
One cool highlight
that happened about that time was when Brad and Eric got interviewed on a local
TV talk show with host 'Rockin' Rob'. The pair got to talk
in-depth what the band meant to them, how they got started, and
the process they went through to make a record. The band mates are
still friends with Rob
to this day.
Brad Savage &
The Cockroaches never toured heavily together as several of them
were still in different bands at the time and had other
obligations, but they did make a point to stay in touch and play together
when asked or needed (usually a holiday concert at a smaller bar, an anniversary
show for the band, or other
appearances over the years. Brad comments "What was cool was
when someone says 'Let's play', all
the others dropped what they were doing and made time for getting
together and performing as the Cockroaches!"
A few Cockroaches were having dinner
at Andiamo Restaurant, when this broke out
The McCarty boys kept on writing, but that tailed off when Larry (Lake) moved
down to Tennessee, and Jerry (Eric) got married and his day job took
him to sunny California, where he stayed very active in the
entertainment field. That was until about 2000 when Jerry wrote a
screen play that was going to be a musical version of the Archie
comic book. He knew who to call... Jerry sent a copy along with
words to songs he had written, and asked Brad and Bob if they
could put together a sound track album while he continued to tweaked the screen play.
Brad and Bob dove into
the project and
over the next several weeks, wrote an entire album's worth of
music which in some cases were totally different than anything
written prior, but went along with the screen play that Jerry was
writing beautifully. Jerry flew into Detroit to listen to what
they had. He thought it was
great, so they recorded all the songs and put the album together. Unfortunately, Disney who
Jerry pitched the screen play to with the music said it was great,
but there were 2 things wrong with it. #1, it was about high
school, and #2, it's a musical. They weren't interested in
anything that had to do with high school musicals..... AND WHAT
HAPPENED A FEW YEARS LATER... DISNEY CAME OUT WITH HIGH SCHOOL
MUSICAL! Rat Bastards!
Anyway, the story
goes on until Jerry is diagnosed with meta-static bone cancer in
2015. He went through chemo, radiation, and all types of
experimental procedures, but was not given a lot of hope. Not to
let cancer keep him down and feeling sorry for himself, Jerry kept
really active, and also wanted to do some things that he loved to
do in the past. One thing Jerry really loved was being a
Cockroach. So in the summer of
2016, 35 years after starting this whole thing,
Jerry turned back into Eric Swan and brought out his leather
pants, and the band got together again for a 35th Anniversary
Show in front of another packed house in Mt. Clemens, Michigan.
The Cockroaches totally rocked the house that night. It was
bittersweet as we could all see the pain he was in, but it didn't
stop his performance as he gave it everything he had. He even
wrote 3 new songs for the event (Back in the 80's, She's Not
Right, and On The Lips) which were awesome. Jerry even flew back to Michigan
several weeks later to
record the song 'Back in the 80's' to help raise money
to find a cure for cancer.
The best part of
the whole night was getting up on stage with the band, and all who
had a part of it over the past 35 years got a chance to sing with
Jerry. Brad Savage, Lake Speed, Bob Dantzer, Carl Rollin, Lance
DeVous, Adam Allen, Paul Stevens, Eddie Stein, and
Todd Rambo, all who played important roles in the band over the
years, were playing and singing with Jerry to the song "Saturday
Matinee" together one last time.
All the Cockroaches come on stage for
the song Saturday Matinee
Jerry passed away
on December 17, 2018. He left behind his wife Kathlene, and kids
Dana and Evan. He is greatly missed by anyone and everyone who
knew him. Over the years together, Brad, Eric, Lake and Bob
penned and performed 158 original songs for the Cockroaches,
including his final song he co-wrote with Bob called 'Liquid
Vacation'. After a total of about 37 years from when it began for
him, it turned out Jerry's voice
actually was his trademark. Take that, Mrs.
Collins!
The last Cockroach song that Jerry
co-wrote was Liquid Vacation
ED NOTE: This article might
be timely as it is now 40 years since the Cockroaches first
got together. Brad and Eric made sure to get the band together for
an anniversary concert every 5 years to perform their songs for
old and new friends and fans alike. Question... Will the tradition continue this year?
Check???
