New Fossils Biography
The band New Fossils, like many other bands, did not start out
as it is now. In fact, it did not start out as a band…..
Mark Perry was the organizer due to his
inclination to get back into music. Mark graduated from Purdue University and
sold all of his gear and waved goodbye to that chapter in his life. Mark’s wife,
Anne, had recently gotten back into one of her old hobbies, drawing art, and
suggested maybe Mark should do the same because it felt good to get back to a
passionate hobby. Sooooooooo…….after watching some live acts perform at bars,
Mark decided to take up ROCKIN’ again.
The intention was to get together with
guys and jam in the basement, which would be the extent of it. The “playing
live” days were far in the past. With those intentions, Mark knew whom to call.
Greg Gallant was the first choice since Mark was working with Greg daily at the
job site out at the Ford plant. Greg would frequently have new packages arriving
at the office, and in these packages would be new musical “toys”. This was what
also gave Mark the itch to get back at it; the fun and enjoyment of buying
musical gadgets! The timing was perfect! Greg had just recently quit the
blues band that he was playing with in Windsor and was ready to try something
new.
That takes care of the keyboards, now to
find guitars, drummer, singer (s). Knowing that his brother in law Brian was a
“jack of all trades master of none” when it came to music, Mark knew that Brian
could fill any one of these vacancies depending on which others got filled. Then
Mark remembered that his good buddy Rick Bauer, (aka Carl Spackler), had
recently taken up guitar. Rick said, “heck yes”! Now to call Brian and let him
know that he will playing drums, singing, and playing bass!
The groundwork was laid…Mark, Greg,
Brian, and Rick all got together for the first time. The guys were blown away by
Greg! It was obvious that this guy had rocked HARD before. He set up the rack,
plugged in, and out came the sweet symphonies of rock! Mark jumped on the drums,
Brian picked up a guitar, Rick had his guitar, and they actually kicked out a
few jams; jams that are actual songs performed by New Fossils today. Since
nobody wanted to sing, Mark came out from behind the drums, (which he secretly
REALLY wanted to play), switched places with Brian and started singing. Mark’s
talent came as shock to the rest of the guys, his singing capabilities was
unexpected and certainly impressed them! It soon became clear that Mark is the
singer/guitarist, Greg Keyboards/vocals, Brian on drums, and Rick on guitar.
All that was missing was a bass player.
In a discussion with Todd Frey in the locker room after a hockey game Mark heard
that Chris Adis, a hockey teammate, plays the bass. Mark asked Chris if he was
interested in
jamming on a Sunday, Chris said yes, now they had a bass player. The minute Chris started jamming
with them; they realized that this was the making of a little something more than a
Sunday jam session. These guys clicked! Mark, Greg and Chris started talking
serious due to the vibes they got from each other from not only jamming but
similarities in music taste, personalities gelling, etc.
The serious talk deterred Brian and Rick
away, unfortunately. Brian had his first baby coming and had a busy work/social
life as it was and could not commit. Rick, had an out of town job going and
would be gone for weeks at a time. So Mark, Greg, and Chris discussed it and
decided to do some recruiting. Well, since Mark had recruited everyone so far,
he was off the hook. Greg’s obvious choice was his brother Tim. Chris decided to
ask Rob, who was a former jam mate, to come out and get a feel for the new guys and the music. The
minute Rob started playing “Time” by Pink Floyd the boys fell into a groove and
‘JAMMED THAT MUTHA’ like they had been playing it for years. THIS WAS IT!
Labor day bash 2005 was their first gig
and it was a huge success. By the end the audience were chanting "MORE MORE".
After 4 hours the show ended with a simple comment "well, that's all we know". Oh yeah, and what about a name. Well, the guys
decided on a temporary name for the Labor Day gig as the “Perry Project”,
tabling the arduous task of all agreeing on a permanent band name. After hundreds of band name suggestions and few names that were
supposedly decided upon, only later to be kicked aside like a bad decision from
a long night of drinking, the guys decided on “NEW FOSSILS”.
The band continued
for two years with this line up, including 2 back-up singers Shannon and Kelly.
The band continuously refined their song catalog, stage show and live sound
arrangement. The band quickly realized they needed help at gigs especially with
live sound, so they recruited Brian Moon to handle all the live sound
engineering. Not to mention the construction help of Mike Ignagni, Drew Perry
and others, for the ELABORATE laborday stage and production. The band has a
circle of friends supporting them in other ways as well, like costume design
amongst many other things by Anne Perry, myspace administrator Kelly Ignagni and
multiple people doing great photography for the band.
In
late 2007 the band had a transition with the lead guitar position. Tim Burnham
joined the group and brought a breathe of fresh air to the band, and also taking
on a more major role of filling in vocals and even lead vocals. As with every
band, there was just a sense of jamming feeling right, and the band all felt it
with Tim. Thus starting a new chapter in the New Fossils Legacy. In
2008 Greg & Timmy Gallant decided to step away from the band for personal reasons.
Although they will be missed greatly the band has continued on to keep the legacy
alive. Neil Johnston has taken over on the keyboards and Gordie Anderson
has taken over on the drums. New Fossils
continues to rock on better then ever!
