Heaven's
Sundae
Wayne-Pomton
Plains, New Jersey
1967-1972
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Founded in summer 1967 via
newspaper ad placed by organ player and drummer who
are brothers. Band rehearsed in the basement for
about 3 months, then started playing high school
dances. Band became very popular on the high school
dance scene, we were way too young for bars. Won
many band battles. Band broke up and reunited a few
times until finally in 1972, the tastes were far
too diverse to continue.
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Personnel:
Jeff Guenther - Lead Guitar
David James - Organ
Ed Walker - Rhythm Guitar
Pete Bremy - Bass
Larry Boggess - Drums
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Influences:
Beatles,
Stones, Vanilla Fudge, Kinks, The Doors,
Bob Dylan
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Setlist
Sample:
Day Tripper, Ticket to Ride, You Keep Me
Hanging On (Fudge style), Light My Fire,
Victoria
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Equipment:
Gibson Les Paul Custom and Fender Twin
Reverb for lead guitar. Grestch Tennessean
and Standel Super Artist for rhythm
guitar. Farfisa Combo Compact (later
Hammond M3) and Leslie for organ. Hagstrom
II and combo Marshal stack and Standel
Super Artist for bass. Ludwig Hollywood
kit for drums.
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Rehearsal
Space:
Basement
of member's house on Hopper Ave., Pompton
Plains, NJ, later moved to basement in
Wayne.
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Band
Vehicles:
Uh, early
years, "Mom's and Dad's" cars.
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Fashion
Statement:
Wild
colors, psychedelic. Paisleys, sequens,
etc. very long hair.
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Best
Gig:
Battle of
the Bands at Wayne Hills High School,
circa 1969. We were the favorite band of
that school, and were favored to win. This
event drew the largest crowd to date at
the school for any dance or concert. When
it was our turn to go up, the announcer
just said, "And now...." The place went
nuts. He couldn't say anything for
minutes. The crowd cheered throughout our
entire set. Yes, we won.
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Gig
from
Hell!:
Those
things I tried to forget, but it was
probably the same gig! Our rhythm guitar
player's guitar was knocked of his amp,
bounced off the stage and down 3 feet to
fhe floor right before we went on. The
guitar (Gretsch Chet Atkins Tennessean)
was damaged to badly to play. He had to
borrow a guitar.
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Last
Gig:
You
expect me to remember? :-)
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Comments:
Heaven's Sundae
became known for playing the underground stuff.
Once a song became popular on commercial radio, it
was dropped from our play list. The band had a 30
year reunion weekend in 1997.
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Where
are they now?
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Jeff Guenther, Ed Walker
and Pete Bremy are still in New Jersey, and still
performing, but separately. Jeff and Pete still
work together on and off and are best friends.
David James is making music in California, and
Larry Boggess is teaching school and making music
in Pennsylvania.
Pete is webmaster for the official Tim Bogert
(Vanilla Fudge) web site. Check it out
here:
http://www.timbogert.com/
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Editors Note:
Pete sent us this letter
about his current musical adventures, and we really
wanted to share it with the rest of
you:
Dan and Keith,
What a super idea for a site! Congratulations! I'm
a little busy right now, but I will put together
some information for my first band too, Heaven's
Sundae from northern New Jersey, 1967 - 1972. I'm
writing you directly as you may appreciate my
story, coming from the same "roots" of Rock and
Roll that I do. We all had dreams back then. Mine
came true this year after 35 years.
I was 14 in 1967, when I
went to a local park to hear a yet unknown
psychedelic band called Vanilla Fudge. I had been
playing bass for about 6 months when I heard them.
I was totally blown away by Tim Bogert, and the
rest of the band. A week later their first album
was released, and You Keep Me Hanging On was a hit.
Heaven's Sundae soon covered many Vanilla Fudge
songs. I've been a consumate Fudge fan ever since.
I'd attended countless concerts during their life
as the Fudge, and followed Tim his whole
career.
Typically, I had to give up music as a career to
eat in 1974, then take care of my family. My
wonderful wife finally talked me into playing again
in 1995. So, I was back to being in a garage/bar
band again in my 40's. It's been fun though, as the
young kids dig all the good stuff from the
60's.
In 1997, I started
creating web sites, and when I learned there was no
site for Tim Bogert, I created one on my own. About
6 months later, he discovered it, loved it, and
made it official. We became friends over the phone.
He's in California, I'm still in Jersey. Two years
later, I met him finally after 30+ years when he
came to New York. I also then met Vince Martell,
original guitarist of the Fudge, because of Tim. He
lives right here about an hour from me. I got to
jam with him, and he liked my playing. He asked me
to be his bass player in his solo band. The Fudge
reunited in 1999, and have been touring on and off
ever since. This past January, Tim Bogert was
hospitalized with pneumonia one day before a gig at
The Stone Pony right here in Jersey,
coincidentally. Vince knew that I knew all of Tim's
material, and recommended me as a fill in, and Tim
himself "blessed" the idea. Tim has been sick all
year, and I, along with TM Stevens, have filled in
for Tim on and off all year. In August, I finished
off with a short tour of northern Europe (Sweden
and Denmark). I ran out of vacation time, so it's
back to the local stuff with Vince and my other bar
band.
Rock and Roll dreams come
true! I'll put something together for Heaven's
Sundae soon. Best of luck with your site! Thanks
for reading my letter.
Rock & Roll!
Pete Bremy
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Information contributed
by Pete Bremy Pete@RockersUSA.com
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