Superboy

superboy
volume 3 number 1

here's an interesting mash up.
on march 3, 1985 The Bears were born when rob fetters and I met to write songs. superboy was our first effort. by april we had enlisted "bad bob" nyswonger as co-writer and bassist. we chose session giant larrie londin as our drummer. the bears were founded on the idea of a writing co-op with each member contributing songs, and writing together. we quickly had a nice pile of songs to demo. the four of us met in cincinnati with our friend/engineer gary platt and recorded five? songs. as the idea of the band expanded into a touring band larrie realized he could not make that kind of commitment. larrie loved the bears but at nearly 300 pounds he wasn't physically able to stand the stresses he would need to endure for the kind of back-breaking touring we had in mind. and boy, did we ever tour!

chris arduser was the logical choice for the drum throne, and a great songwriter as well. with chris we basically had The Raisins plus adrian. the raisins had long been my favorite "unknown" band. I loved their songs and energy. we were old friends by then. after all, chris and bob began playing together when chris was 11 years old and rob and bob had played together all their lives to that point. they still do.

now to the mash up:
what you first hear on this version is a "home demo" of the three bears rehearsing our brand new shiny superboy in my bedroom. this turns into the "studio demo" with larrie on drums, and amazingly just as larrie hits his drum fill leading to the last chorus, the real bears arrive in a "live tape" version of the song. what was amazing was the song transitioned perfectly with chris playing the same exact fill. even the tempo and key of the song matched perfectly.

guitar and vocal: rob fetters
bass: bob nyswonger
guitar and vocal: adrian
drums on "demo 1" : larrie londin
drums on "live version": chris arduser
"bedroom demo" recorded at adrian's home in Urbana, Ill. on April 9, 1985
"demo 1" recorded at Fifth Floor Studio in Cincinnati, OH. on June 2, 1985
engineer: gary platt
"live version" recorded to cassette at Jake's in Bloomington, In. on April 11, 1988
live engineer: rich denhart