Born in Chicago, Marty Miller spent most of his adult life in Milwaukee where he picked up the guitar in 1972. He worked for almost 10 years at the legendary Dirty Jack's Record Rack, and in 1974 began playing in various Milwaukee bands, formed The Red Ball Jets, and was a member of the infamous Short Wave which boasted an expatriate Englishman, Robert Fisher, whose claim to fame was that he played in the band that became Mott The Hoople.
Marty got married in 1977, sold his instruments in 1983 (one guitar was used to pay rent!). He received his BS in Computer Science in 1986, and was divorced in 1988.
In 1994, Marty bought a new guitar and amp and started woodshedding. Later in 1995, hooked up with his old buddy Robert Fisher AKA "Fish" who suggested that he check out a blues jam at Pa's Place in West Allis. Marty had such a good time, and the jam hosts were so friendly that he kept showing up (much to their dismay). Mr. Ned Fletcher, and Mr. Gary Lee "Big" Johnson, the aforementioned hosts eventually asked Marty to join the then fledgling "Big Johnson & The Swing".
The rest is, history.
Pate "Evil Ways" Raunch
Pate "Red House" Raunch was born in Milwaukee,
Wisconsin in 1964, and started playing guitar in 1991
when he walked into a music store and asked to buy a
guitar that he could "pound nails with". Pate helped
to form the Down and Out Blues Band in 1992 along with
Ned Fletcher. In addition to playing blues Pate is
interested in jazz guitar. Pate believes that no
blues musician should ever quit playing. A true blues
musician plays until he dies according to Pate, and
that’s just what Pate plans to do!
Ned was raised in the Chicago suburbs and moved to
Milwaukee in 1988 to work in the real estate business.
At the time he was a guitar player.
In 1992 Ned
started jamming with some friends including Pate "Red
House" Raunch and eventually the "Down and Out Blues
Band" was formed. The Down and Out Blues Band
performed around Milwaukee from 1993 to 1995,
including an appearance at Sherman Park Blues Fest.
In August 1995 the Down and Out Blues Band took over
the hosting duties for the Wednesday Night Blues Jam
at Pa's Place in West Allis.
When Gary Johnson joined
the band shortly thereafter the name was changed to
"Big Johnson and the Swing" and then to "Big Johnson
and the Thrusters". Ned also met Jim Richards and
Marty Miller at the jam. Ned and Gary started writing
songs together in November 1996.
Sporting a three
guitar lineup (Ned, Pate and Marty), a legion of
bass players came and went. So, in 1997 Ned switched
over from guitar to bass. The band started recording
their first CD in 1997 with Ned playing bass.
Hopefully he has gotten a little better since then!
Look for the next CD to find out!
Jim was born in Kenosha, Wisconsin 1956 - The Mailman's kid - his dad
*was* the mailman. His mom and sister all joke that Jim and his sister are the
mailman's kids.
Jim became interested in the drums at the age of 12 when the neighbor boys
(twins) played drums in the high school marching band, and let him bang on
the drums. Later another friend let Jim play his drumset - he really liked
that. So, at the age of 13 in the summer of '69 a different friend bought a
guitar and Jim bought drums, (can you imagine the noise they must have made?)
Major influences: Grand Funk Railroad, Steppenwolf, Led Zepplin, The Doors,
Jimi Hendrix, Cream, The Who, Rolling Stones and others in that style of
music from the late '60s and early '70s.
In the middle 70s, Jim took a class at a recording studio, and was the sound
tech for a band. He left Kenosha and moved to Milwaukee to run the band's
PA and moved in with the lead singer of the band who just happened to be Gary
Lee "Big" Johnson. Jim lived on the east side with Gary for the next 10 years,
playing as much as possible - mostly in
garage bands.
Seeing The Blues Brothers on Saturday Night Live was a crucial factor in
shifting Jim's interests from hard rock to blues.
From 1978 to 1984 Jim
put drumming aside to work fulltime and go to school partime nites. So in 1989,
met the woman that he would marry, graduated from MATC in 1990 in Commercial
Art and again in 1994 in Printing and Publishing. Jim now works as a production
artist for the Hal Leonard Corporation (the largest
music book publishing company in the world). In 1993, he dusted off the
drums and started looking for a blues band to play with.
In 1994 Jim played a number of times at the Wednesday night jams at Pa's Place
in West Allis, where he met the soon to be "Thrusters".
And, in March of 1997 the drummer of Big Johnson and the Swing (Danny
Aldi) retired, and Gary asked Jim to join the band.
Gary Lee "Big" Johnson
Gary Lee "Big" Johnson was born in Appleton, Wisconsin
in 1954, and was raised in Milwaukee. Gary has
experience in singing with various bands through the
years and in acting in numerous theatrical
productions. One of his earlier bands included Jim
Richards on drums, and Jim and Gary have been good
friends for many years, including being roommates for
several years! Gary got his nickname "Big Johnson"
when an earlier band was going to be called "Little
Johnson and the Nads". While members of the band were
willing to be identified as "Nads", Gary was
uncomfortable being called "Little Johnson". In
addition to singing Gary also plays the harmonica.
