Dave Uosikkinen

Our first rehearsal

Our first rehearsal was in Manayunk Pa. In a second story loft sandwiched between a bar and some railroad tracks. Rob Hyman, Eric Bazilian, John Kuzma, Bobby Woods, made a date to make some music. Up until we showed up Rob and Eric have been getting together with different musicians trying out stuff and for whatever reason it wasn't working out. Either the guys weren't showing up, or when they did it just wasn't what they were looking for, or it just wasn't right. Meanwhile, Bobby Woods, John Kuzma and I played in a band that played cover songs and some originals. John wrote some of his own songs and was a good enough front guy that we could play Elvis Costello and even Bruce Springsteen songs. We played lot of upbeat music that got people dancing. We also played James Brown. The three us had continuity as a rhythm section and we anchored whomever we played with like a 3 lane highway. I have to credit Bobby Woods, he was a great bass player, and he probably still is. He laid it down and he made me an honest drummer. John, Bobby and I weren't really doing anything but playing bars to make some money so we could eat and just survive. I think the three of us looked at the opportunity to play with Rob and Eric as a step up. It was.

What's in a name anyway.. The Hooters.

Eric and I were headed to Ricky's for a bite to eat. Ricky's was a little sandwich shop down the block from where we practiced. Eric was the first to let me know what the name of the band was going to be. We were standing in the parking lot. He said we are going to be THE HOOTERS. The truth is, I was pretty horrified and I didn't like it but I didn't say anything, like what the hell is a Hooter? I thought the name sucked. It really didn't seem like a cool band name to me at the time. Little did I know it was pretty good. It looked good in print, you didn't forget it, whether you hated or loved it. I remember thinking, what's in the name anyway? Probably a good thing I wasn't making the choice. The name seemed to be a topic of discussion for a long time when we were starting out doing interviews. John Senior an engineer and friend of the Rob and Eric recorded some demos for us. I'm thinking it was late 1979. John would call
the melodica a Hooter, John say something like , hey play that Hooter thing, referring the melodica. Basically that's how the band got its name. It was the nickname for an instrument. This is a few years before there were the Hooters restaurants or Steve Martin referred to a woman's breast as Hooters. So yeah, what's in a name?

There was a valiant attempt to get the major labels interested in us by playing in New York City but they were all taking a pass. One of those gigs we played was at the infamous Bottom Line on 4th St. on the lower east side. The Bottom Line was a big time gig for The Hooters. We weren't indie enough or punk enough for CBGB's so The Bottom Line was one of our gigs to make some sort of buzz in NYC. Bruce Springsteen played there early in his career, and that was good enough for us. At that time bands from Philly had to go showcase for labels in NYC. Label A&R people rarely if ever came to Philly. It wasn't cool to come to Philly. Getting some kind of press in NY was crucial. I say that like it was life or death but that't what it was to a band like ours. There was an unspoken truth about our existence that was if we didn't make something happen we wouldn't be doing this very long. I for one loved the band and felt the urgency. The gig at The Bottom Line was memorable for one reason only, John Kuzma left me with a memory that will be with me til' the time I die. I want you to know one thing about Kuzma. He is one cool cat. He smoked his cigarette between his ring finger and pinky, made it look like an art. He could be a real gentle guy and a real bad ass. The Bottom Line wasn't a big place. It looked to me like it held maybe 300 people at best. It was a rectangular shaped club with a stage that stood about 4 feet high. Tables were butted up against the stage. So when you bought a seat you were right up close and personal. It wasn't a full house but there were people seating in the seats at the front of the stage. John had this statuesque way about moving on stage. That night he decided he'd walk out on to the tables while playing his guitar solo. Bad move. He was doing a real rock star routine, the right arm up in the air like Pete Townshend while playing with his left hand on the neck of the guitar simultaneously taking puffs of his smoke with his right. So John walks out on the table cool as can be and WAMMO. The table flips from underneath him. He went flying. All I saw from my vantage point were feet. I could see his head stock of his guitar. It was one of those smash BAM BOOM moments but we never stopped playing. I kid you not. John gets up slowing as if he meant to do it. Cool as John can be. His cigarette in his hand as if it never left and it may not have.. Not a lick of embarrassment just vintage Kuzma. As if he was saying, "yea I meant to do that" It was one the funniest things I ever saw happen on stage and he made it look cool. That was John Kuzma.

This is about as low key of an advertisement for drum lessons as it gets. I'll be in the Philadelphia area for the next few months. If you are interested in drum lessons email me at dave@daveuosikkinen.com.

Nice going catching the misspelling at the end of the video. The double ss in Uosikkinen. Thank you! Dave

Happy New Year! Yep it's early. I'm such a bad blogger these days that I wouldn't get to it until February if i didn't do it today. I have to step it up.
I've spending a lot of time in Philadelphia Pa. Forgot how winter can get a little cold.
I've been eating the great food. Diggin the Eagles and playing with some Philly guys. I also created a new video for daveudrums.com. Let me know what you think and of course feel free to send me any songs you'd like cut.
I'm going to eat a pizza and try not to fall on my ass on my way- May you and your families have a beautiful holiday. Go Eags- Dave