Freeks - Henniker Kind Band

Beauty

2007-06-05T23:36:00.000-04:00

This is the cover on back of my Ibanez guitar that i used to play in Freeks. My good friend Bill Lett free-handed this scrimshaw work using only an old Grateful Dead poster that my brother had as a guide. Look at the detail in this piece! He is an amazing artist! He gave this to me for my birthday one year and i often left the guitar backwards on stage so people could check it out... but they hardly ever even noticed it.

The old band room

2007-06-05T23:27:00.000-04:00

This was the best band room ever! If you are reading this page, you probably came over here more than once...I miss these days! From L to R is David f., Josh K., David c., Danny F. and Jason M. The photo was taken by our good friend Nic Hasey.

new posts coming soon...

2006-08-07T18:29:00.000-04:00

in the meantime, don't forget to check out the archives above the links... We love hearing your feedback too, so please leave a comment.

FREEKS AT NEC

2006-05-18T16:37:00.000-04:00

Slaughter Room

2006-05-15T12:32:00.000-04:00

2006-04-09T14:02:00.000-04:00

Chicken Valve

2006-04-09T13:28:00.000-04:00

Dann and I have been cleaning out the old band-room in Henniker @ FMI headquarters and coming across all kinds of old stuff. There, soaked and festering in black-mold, I found this old scrap of notebook and managed to salvage it pretty well.

I was sketching one day and wrote this limerick just for fun. I literally opened a book and took the first word I saw; grabbed another one, and a word....and so on. Eventually, once it had legs, I came up with this silly thing.

Well, as the story goes, that was it. For months or even a year, until one day when I was leaving the band-room, I left a note for whoever cared, that I'd be back shortly, or whatever-. I ended the note with another limerick about TWISTY GERBER. I honestly don't know where the Barbapoppa reference came from since I didn't know what it was at the time and since learning, am sure I've never watched it. I think I had heard the word. anyway, that verse was;

"combination barbapoppa, puddle snake-Sue, Twisty took out little FREEKS and Broke it for a loop. Terry broke it up with blinding winds and bended howls- Twisty dropped down to his knees and succumbed to Terry's scowl (was gone within the hour)."

FREEKS was a name Milan gave the gear-shifter in Danny's pick-up truck. He had a dream that Big-Z would go out late at night and have conversations with the shifter. "Oh FREEKS, I just don't know what to do about my boys!....They paah-ty all night long and ya' need a fa-kin' bull-do-zah' to wake 'em up in the mowan'in'!!!"

TERRY was the bands Mascot, who was androgenous, (hence TERRY) and was all powerfull through the forces of telepathy.

So that's the second verse.

3.

"Quick plum smidgen slid off safely to the side, and slipped a tiny microchip into the monkey's eye.
the tiny-chip bled hell-fire into the monkey's brain. The beast watched on in silence as the monkey went insane."

I'm not really sure where that one came from. I think we wrote that and the choruses on the spot. I believe Josh Kerin had come to rehearsal with that song as something he had written. We added my lyrics to it because I had just come with them as well.

(Help me guys if I'm forgetting something okay. I know you're out there.)

Mostly, I just wanted to post this picture. And I have a lot more where that came from.....

circa 1987

2006-04-01T03:48:00.000-05:00

I had just bought my drum-set 1 or 2 days before... Check out the height on those cymbals! And Dave's Les Paul! That thing played better than any guitar I've ever played! Danny's rockin' those acid-wash jeans and tank!

Group Shot

2006-03-15T20:34:00.000-05:00

I haven't come across a good copy of this image yet, so I'm posting what I've got. You know I'll fix it when I get it...
Please leave comments and let me know if there's anything you'd like me to post here. Thanks for looking everyone!!!
We hope to get together sometime this Spring or Summer, so keep your eyes & ears peeled for a little sumpin'...

Grit-break...

2006-03-15T20:29:00.000-05:00

Wif' & Skitch on a grit-break while recording "Life On The Farm" @ West Sound Studios in the glamourous south-end of Londonderry, NH. There actually wasn't a single hint of a farm, but the songs were written and inspired during our times at Skitchs' barn and up at LHF.

Evil Terry's Ransom...

2006-03-15T20:23:00.000-05:00

Our mascot was abducted and strapped to a telephone pole in downtown Contoocook, NH. I actually passed right as a cop was showing up to investigate the naked-androgenous figure in chains. He didn't look half as amused as I was. Jimmy Fraser is still in question as to Terry's final disappearence. I recieved a broken leg, then later the mask; both by mail. Nothing else ever became of it....

We miss you Terry.

Concord City Auditorium

2006-03-15T20:21:00.000-05:00

TURNER'S PARTY

2006-01-24T23:40:00.000-05:00

Jessica & Becca Turner invited us to play a party at their house which turned into a complete-rager, with state and local police, pepper spray: everything. The music was great though and just before the show, a stranger (to us) showed up and started picking banjo with Dave Carroll. It was instant chemistry and I had my camera. Steve Cybolski has had a huge influence on the band and us as individuals since almost the moment this photo was snapped in 1994. Thanks Steve. Thanks Becca and Jessica too. Those are great memories that still have life.

I JUST LOVE THIS SERIES....

2006-01-15T13:45:00.000-05:00

It really doesn't have anything to do with FREEKS other than it's all our friends, but these photos are from the annual race up at Eilenberger's house in Henniker. This was around 1994 or 95. Our friend Wes Eaton got so amped watching everyone pound around in their beaters, that he ran out to the street and got his own car...the same one he needed to drive to work the next day....and decided to try it too. It didn't work. Someone put a rock through the windshield about five minutes later.

Jason Michie 12/28/98

2006-01-14T14:50:00.000-05:00

Here's a great shot of Michie rockin-out at the Christmas/Reunion party. Great crowd!!!

My Beginnings on drums...

2006-01-12T09:17:00.001-05:00

This is just something I came across the other day. I dig my wind-breaker and hair-do, (Thanks Faye). Those are my buddies Josh Ford on the left of the drum and Tom Douglas, right behind me with the 'Maple Street' shirt on. Matt Hoeveler is to my left. This photo is friccin' ancient. I thik its 1980 or 81.

Wild Bill

2006-01-08T11:18:00.000-05:00

We couldn't possibly put together a FREEKS blog without some sort of aknowledgment for 'WILD BILL'. He's supported us more than anyone else out there and he is forever an honorary-member of our band. Thanks Bill!!!

PS-This isn't the best shot, so when I find a better one, I will post it right here.

Josh Kerin & Dave Carroll

2006-01-08T10:33:00.000-05:00

This was during the recording of 'Party On The Moon' at Nevin Brown's studio in Bow, NH. Spongee was keepin' it pretty cool...This is totally Dave's personality!!! He's a real joker.

Five-acre Field

2006-01-08T10:07:00.000-05:00

Sometime in the spring of 1994, Freeks moved their homebase from the Foster's space on Old Concord Road to an old farmhouse in Henniker. Drummer Jason Michie was living at the old farm at the time and welcomed us in to start playing in a spare room on the first floor. The old farm was isolated enough that we could rehearse all night and not bother anybody. But eventually, people began to go up to the farm to listen to the band, drink beers and chase women. It was very fun, but we rarely got much work done. We'd often find ourselves performing for the partyers and not surprisingly, music can still be heard through the walls at Liberty Hill Farm.

Moon Boot Lover

2006-01-08T09:58:00.000-05:00

I just had to put this old picture up. It's Moon Boot Lover opening for us @ New England College in early 1995. It was really cold and windy this day. Our lights, which were onstage with us got blown right off, backwards. We debuted one of our 'most-loved' songs this day as well. "SLEEPY TRUCKER" was written by Josh Kerin and we had just finished writing our parts. I distinctly remember sitting on-stage with the wind blowing and the field in front of us filling up with people. They all looked really cold, but loving the scene. Dave C. announced the new song and I can still hear in my head, the crowd...
After we finished this show around 7 or 8 pm, we packed all our equipment and went to our friend's house in Washington, New Hampshire and played there until around 5 am. Many people came with us to that party and we had such a good time playing all night long.

NOTE: The Organ player and Drummer (not pictured) Front the band Soullive now. The Evans Brothers.

GROUP SHOT

2006-01-07T21:28:00.000-05:00

Here's another shot from our one and only photo-shoot. (L to R: Dave Foster/vox-dr, Josh Kerin/bass, Dave Carroll/vox-gtr, Dann Foster/gtr, Jason Michie/dr.) Nic Hasey took these pictures for us. Thanks Nic.

Dann, Evil Terry & Dave C.

2006-01-07T21:22:00.000-05:00

Here's a shot in the bandroom on Old Concord Road somewhere around 1994. The beauty of being young musicians is the ability to spend days on end together playing in this fashion. It might also be to the benefit of said musicians to stay away from substances in this time together. Or maybe not.

Josh and Jason circa 1995

2006-01-07T21:13:00.000-05:00

I believe this was before Life On The Farm was released. We were just building up to it. In this photo, the band was playing a Spring-Fling for New England College in Henniker, New Hampshire. Moon Boot Lover opened. Josh and Jason look like children here!!!
The location is Malick's Farm off of Bull Run. It's basically a dead-end. The nitros-oxide tanks made an appearance that night, so all you could hear between toons was balloons. It was crazy, people were falling on their faces all around. The music was insane this night. Both bands were at their peak. Moon Boot Lover had the Evans Brothers at the time, who now both front the band Soul Live.
Henniker at its' best!!!

1995 NEWSLETTER

2006-01-07T16:30:00.000-05:00

This is a scan of one of our 1995 Newsletters with artwork by Scott Horner.

12/26/98 Christmas Party

2006-01-02T03:13:00.000-05:00

There's about twenty layers to this photo that I could talk about, but I'm just going to pick a couple. Max Dowling and Melissa Thompson are great friends of mine who at the time, didn't even know each other. Now they have a wonderful child together and they live right down the street from me. The other day as I was looking through photos and trying to pick which ones I wanted to post on this site; I noticed Max and Melissa in this photo relatively close to each other. The story was passed along to them and they are both excited to see the photo, so here it is!!! The other reason I'm posting it is because this was our 2nd Annual Holiday party at the Contoocook Legion Hall Post #81 in Contoocook, New Hampshire. Thought the venue and band has changed, we are still throwing the same party with the same results for the ninth year now!!!! I guess this is my chance to say, THANK YOU!!! From all of us! It means so much to us that the hours of rehearsals every week and the miles driven only to lift equipment in and out of bars and small clubs, has paid-off in a way that we all benefit. We love our music and it is satifying, but it's more work than most can imagine for very little pay. We do it because we love it though and that's not ever going to change.

PARTY ON THE MOON DOWNLOAD

2006-01-02T02:29:00.000-05:00

I've made our first album available for download at www.yousendit.com. It's a very safe way of transferring large files, the only problem is its only available for 72 hours. So if you miss it, just send me an email and I will re-post it for you. Enjoy.

Here's the link:

http://s53.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=0WEUF0REHQ95S0WVQ0OEZRHMQL

FREEKS with EVIL TERRY.

2006-01-02T02:16:00.000-05:00

Around 1989, Milan McAlevey, Dan Murphy and Myself started a band called THE BROTHELCREEPERS. Dann Foster and Dave Carroll later joined and we played for 5 years all over New England. When FREEKS happened and took off, no-one could believe how much attention we got. To this day, I still credit part of our success to the 'CREEPERS because of the following that band had developed. EVIL TERRY was a mascot to the 'CREEPERS and I sometimes wonder if 'IT' had anything to do with it as well.

PS-I'm not in the mood to clean-up photos right now, so you get what you get.

Freeks onstage @ THE STONE CHURCH in Newmarket, New Hampshire.

2006-01-02T02:13:00.000-05:00

This was one of several shows we played @ STONE CHURCH. We shared the bill with Yep! or Jabbering Trout usually. Choosy Moms once or twice I think too.

Dann Foster and Josh Kerin in the Slaughter Barn.

2006-01-02T01:45:00.001-05:00

FREEKS homebase was a 150 year old farmhouse on top of a small mountain in Henniker, New Hampshire. The 1849 barn had a big room in the entrance where they used to hang and slaughter the cattle. Seemed like a good place for a party. This was a very festive night on the old farm. This photo was shot by Angel Rodriquez around 1996. It's hard to believe 10 years have passed.

Dave Carroll and Dave Foster Circa 1989

2006-01-02T01:42:00.000-05:00

A really old photo of Dave and myself, partying in the summer of '89 on my roof in Hopkinton, New Hampshire.

Dave Foster onstage @ Keene State College

2006-01-02T00:48:00.000-05:00

Recording "PARTY ON THE MOON"

2006-01-02T00:34:00.000-05:00

Dann Foster & Jason Michie jam in preparation for recording of FREEKS first album, "Party On The Moon". It was recorded in Bow, New Hampshire in Nevin Brown's basement studio. This shot was taken around June of 1994.

Freeks Last Gig

2006-01-01T18:17:00.000-05:00

This is us arriving up at Plymouth State College for a Spring-fling gig that never happened. Percy Hill, Moon Boot Lover and Groove Child were in the houses directly around us. After we arrived, some shit went down with the person who owned the frat house we were playing at. He pulled the plug and that was it. We dis-banded about a week later at rehearsal on May 8th, 1996.

HOLIDAY BASH @ DANIELS' IN HENNIKER TONIGHT

2005-12-23T11:29:00.000-05:00

Members of FREEKS wiil be on hand tonight in Henniker for THE BAND JUNE's 3 Annual Holiday Bash. There was a pre-show jam last night @ Daniels' to get the locals primed for the show. Check out THE BAND JUNE's blog for some details of the jam. http://thebandjune.blogspot.com/.

Spungee

2005-12-21T23:30:00.000-05:00

Josh Kerin was spotted drinking beer while playing a party for our great friends Jessica and Becca Turner at their house in Henniker, N.H. in 1996. In the background is Josh Heino, Jason Michie, Abe Maznek, Kevin "too-loose" Lebreque, Satan and some other friends who were there to enjoy the festivities. The state and local Police later showed-up to join in the fun and Jon Eaton got a face-full of pepper-spray and hauled-off.

Monkey Man!!!

2005-12-21T12:06:00.000-05:00

Our good friend and sometimes singer, Steve Dutton made a brief appearance for the ladies. He likes to sing really good songs well, so we had him join us whenever possible. Danny looks like a little kid in this photo.

Nadia & Jeff

2005-12-21T10:35:00.000-05:00

Jason Michie is in the foreground (right) on drums, with Dave Carroll, Josh Kerin and Dann Foster (R to L) in front of him. I am just out of the shot at the bottom left on drums as well. Our Many dear friends can be seen in the crowd including two who are no longer with us. They are both in the brightest light too with DiVinci faces. This is easily the most special or prized photo in my collection of FREEKS memories. Pete Demers took this whole series of photographs for us. THANKS PETE!!!

2005-12-21T10:24:00.001-05:00

Dann Foster (foreground) on guitar, Josh Kerin on bass and Dave Carrolll, guitar and vocals.

2005-12-21T02:04:00.000-05:00

Dave Carroll was pretty much the spark behind the band Freeks for lyrics and catchy songs. Even to this day he is a very strong solo-artist with lyrics and music that make you wonder why everybody doesn't know about him. He released a solo album a few years ago that should be in any music lovers collection. It's called "Flying with the cows again" by Dave Carroll. If you ever see it, buy it.

The Sticker for you computer

2005-12-21T01:19:00.000-05:00

Original FREEKS sticker. Drawn by Dave Foster c.1993

Bands That I Have Played In:

- KING KARP AND THE BOTTOM-FEEDERS (VELCRO SAFARI) with Jim Carroll, Brian Hart, Phil Clarner, Dee Clark, Jim Guilmette, Dann Foster and Dave Carroll. 1986-1989

- THE BROTHELCREEPERS (PUMPKIN & THE PEANUT FAMILY), with Milan McAlevey, Dan Murphy, Kwabana Owusu, Dann Foster and Dave Carroll. 1989-1994

- BEECHWOOD with Jerry Richardson, Steve Dutton, Andy Young, Ron Noyes, Jason Michie and Dann Foster. 1992(?)-PRESENT

- FREEKS with Dave Carroll, Josh Kerin, Jason Michie, Andy Young, Pete Gustovson and Dann Foster. 1994-1996

- PUCKERBRUSH with Sarah Smith, Joe Cobb, Sean Parcells, Bubbles, Mark Frahley and Steve Cybolski. 1996-2000

- OVERBILT with Dave Carroll, Dann Foster and Mark Frahley. 2003-2004

- JUNE BABIES (THE BAND JUNE) with Mechelle Zydenbos, Patrick Williams,
Ben Foote, Michael Freeman. 2003-PRESENT

- HONEYWORKS with Mike Luv, Jon Lang and Patrick Williams. 2004

MUSICIANS:

Phil Clarner
Jim Guilmette
Dee Clark
Dann Foster
Dave Carroll
Jim Carroll
Brian Carroll
Brian Hart
"Bubbles"
Milan McAlevey
Dan Murphy
Kwabana Owusu
Jerry Richardson
Steve Dutton
Andy Young
Ron Noyes
Jason Michie
Josh Kerin
Steve Cybolski
Pete Gustovson
Sarah Smith
Joe Cobb
Sean Parcells
Mark Frahley
Mechelle Zydenbos
Patrick Williams
Ben Foote
Michael Freeman
Mike Luv
John Lang
Dave Foster

8 BANDS
31 MUSICIANS
20 YEARS