The Classics
THE CLASSICS, house band for American Legion Post 48, are available for clubs, parties and reunions within 50 miles of Nashua NH. We will custom make a set list to fit your classic rock function! We have 5 members who all sing with lots of vocal diversity and lots of harmonies, featuring drums, bass, keyboards, 2 guitars and harmonica. A typical set focuses on the 60s and 70s and has a mix that promises to get everyone dancing and singing along. Call 603 489 3690 or email classics@comcast.net for more info. Here is a BIO of the bands members.
CHUCK “BASS MAN” GILBERT (bass guitar, vocals) – Chuck, who co-founded the Classics in 2001, is the “Papa Smurf” of the band. Like other members of the Classics, Chuck’s musical roots go back to the earliest days of the British Invasion and roots rock ‘n’ roll before that. “My biggest influences are the Beatles, Beach Boys, Paul Revere & the Raiders and a multitude of British blues bands,” he says.
Chuck’s first band was the Caravans in Hudson, New Hampshire, in the mid-1960s. He later played with the Fugitives, which became the Gables.
Chuck went on to serve his community as a police officer. With the responsibilities of the job and family, he took a self-described sabbatical from active playing, although he continued to pluck his guitar along with the stereo. That all changed when Chuck and some of his fellow police officers formed Justice for a one-time-only gig to raise money for Special Olympics. The benefit was a huge success and the one-nighter turned into a 10-year musical relationship with Justice playing for grade school, junior high and high school students in New Hampshire, Maine and Massachusetts. The retirement of two officers in the band resulted in Justice playing its final gig at a Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.) graduation for kids in a local park.
Chuck began forming the Classics shortly before Justice’s last show. “I’m just thrilled to still be playing songs that are the soundtrack of my life,” he says. “Funny thing is, my equipment seems to be getting a little heavier these days.”
PAUL “STICKS” EASON (drums, percussion, vocals) – Paul got his first set of “drum sticks” at around seven or eight years old. “They consisted of a pair of wire hangars,” Paul explains. “Really! They had good rebound action when played against the edge of another surface.”
Annoying his family with his incessant tapping, his parents eventually bought him his first Remo practice pad and real sticks. “Wow! I played on it day and night,” he says.
At age 10, his parents took the bold step of enrolling him in drum lessons. That lasted about five weeks. “I can’t teach your son,” Paul recalls his drum teacher telling his parents. “He can play everything I throw at him, but he just does it his own way."
Paul sold his drum kit after graduating college, and stopped playing drums for almost 35 years. Still, he always kept a set of sticks in his car and used his car’s dashboard and steering wheel as “drums”. However, Paul didn’t stray far from music. Even though on a playing hiatus, he’s co-owned a music production company for more than 20 years. His company specializes in creating custom advertising jingles and markets that service nationwide.
In May 2008, a long-time friend and guitarist named Doug invited Paul to drum for him as he was writing and developing new material. “Creating tempos and fills were very new and challenging to me, along with shaking off the rust,” he says. With the fires relit, Paul replied to a Craig’s List posting for a classic-rock drummer in September 2009. That band was the Classics and “Sticks” has had that gig ever since.
PAUL “BLUES DOG” SYLVAIN (lead guitar, vocals) – “I might be getting old, but I’m not dead,” says Paul with a laugh, adding. “I‟m a Magna Cum Louder graduate of the Garage Band School of Rock ‘n’ Blues.”
Paul grew up listening to the Beatles, but it was the music of the early Yardbirds, Animals and other blues-based “British Invasion” bands that grabbed him. He didn’t know it then, but what he was hearing for the first time was the American-born and bred blues of Muddy Waters, Willie Dixon, T-Bone Walker and Robert Johnson.
“Many folks ‘discovered’ the blues decades later, thanks to people like Stevie Ray Vaughan and Eric Clapton,” Paul explains, “but I’ve had a very deep and personal relationship with the blues for more than 45 years.”
Over the years, Paul has played with many bands and musicians. While stationed in Berlin, Germany, he played with Joe Bennett, who scored a hit with “Black Slacks” in the ’50s. “My music truly reflects the long and sometimes crazy road I've traveled since leaving for the Air Force in 1967,” Paul says.
He joined the Classics after moving back from Texas in September 2010.
DAN “DANO” MATHIS (guitar, blues harp, vocals) – Dan’s musical journey began with a brief foray with the accordion. At eight, his music teacher observed, “He has more confidence than ability.” With that, the accordion ceased being Dan’s instrument of choice.
Fast forward to age 20 when Dan, on impulse, bought his first acoustic guitar. “I always knew I’d be a guitar player,” Dan explains, “so I bought that first one and kept it around waiting for fate.” That guitar sat untuned in his home for about five years, until making a new friend who tuned it up and taught him some basic chords. Soon, Dan was playing those Beatle songs he loved while growing up, and joined his guitar-teaching buddy in “A Gang”. In addition to Beatle songs, A Gang played tunes by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, the Byrds and some originals at parties and small clubs. His friend eventually moved away, but Dan continued to play and write music. To date, he has written more than 100 original songs. “My mom thinks they all should be on the radio,” he says with a smile.
In recent years Dan has added the harmonica and backing vocals to his resume, and his love of all things music remains strong. But, as he is quick to note, “I still cannot play the accordion!”
Dan currently splits his time with the Classics, an acoustic group called Chordwood, and the Effengees.
GEORGE “KEY MON” LEHNER (keyboards, vocals) – George began playing piano at the age seven, thanks to his parents’ need to justify an old upright piano they had in the front foyer of their home in Dorchester, Massachusetts. George has been involved with music in one-way or another ever since.
As he explains, “I joined the Classics after taking several years off in search of the ‘Holy Grail’.” While the Classics might be his newest musical venture, George has played with or performed in everything from madrigal singers and the musical “Li’l Abner” in high school to drum and bugle corps in the late-seventies and early-eighties.
His first band, however, was 411 in the mid-‘80s. The band played venues such as The Channel, The Beachcomber, Bundratty’s, the Old Forge, among others.
In the years since, George has been involved with countless band projects from as far south as Rockland, Mass., to as far north as Manchester, N.H., and just about everywhere in between.
“My influences cover a wide area of the musical spectrum, from Kansas and Spyro Gyra, to Aerosmith and Chick Corea,” George says. Then, displaying his trademark sense of humor, he adds, “I only hope I can add something – ANYTHING – to this extraordinary group of musicians known as the Classics. Could this finally be the Classic Rock Holy Grail?”
Big "D" writes:These guys ROCKED the house at the "Foxhole" in Hudson a few weeks ago! Go see 'em when you can. Real good mix of the "classics"...guess that's why their name ...
