All For The Love Of Music: Roy Brown

Roy with CrashGirlPublished in The Message For The Week, May 6, 2009
If you have been part of the local music scene at any time over the last 30 years or so, either as a musician or a fan, chances are you have seen and heard Roy Brown on stage at some point in your rock–and–roll travels. Some of the local bands Brown has played in over the years include The Cheshire Turnpike Band, Vehicle, Kelly’s Heroes, 8084 and currently, CrashGirl, just to name a few.
Yes this vocalist, front man and bass player has certainly paid his dues... and then some. Originally from Melrose, MA, Roy moved to Langdon in his early teens and has rocked around the Southern New Hampshire and Vermont areas ever since. His earliest musical influences included the Beatles, Paul Revere & The Raiders, Badfinger and his favorite, Peter Wolf and the J. Geils Band. He also digs those old “one hit wonders.” “My parents owned a Zenith TV sales and service store and also a Hammond Organ store,” Brown said in a recent interview. “My mother plays the electric organ so I had that early musical influence from her as well.”
The Cheshire Turnpike BandSo how did Roy start his own long musical journey? “Believe it or not, it all started with simply singing in the shower,” Brown recalled. “My older sister’s friends used to hear me singing and would say how good I sounded. Then after I got out of the Air Force in 1980, I was rooming with some guys and laughing at them trying to play guitar. They said , ‘Ya, you think it’s so funny – why don’t you sing.’ So I sang my first song, The Eagles’ ‘Tequila Sunrise,’ from the end of a couch and The Cheshire Turnpike Band was born.” That first band consisted of Brown on vocals, Gary Mack, Craig Wilson, John Laware and Jim Peterson and their first gig was a sold–out dance at the Alstead Fire Station, playing everything from America to ZZ Top.
“We were in our early 20’s and we picked up this 17–year–old drummer from Drewsville named Jim Peterson and it all just took off,” Brown said. “Jim was a very special and talented guy and our following really grew fast in the area. We bought a 1972 Blue Bird School bus and gigged all over the place. We played three or four nights a week for two years. After that I was in a band called Rival and then Stryke 3, before I auditioned for a band out of Keene called Vehicle.
Roy with Vehicle"Vehicle had also just met saxophone player Lance Allen (of Westminster’s Allen Bros.) and after suggesting we add the horns and play some modern pop and new wave stuff, we became Vehicle and the Kingsbury Street Horns.” Brown would do two stints with Vehicle, from 1985–86 and then again from 1990–96, also playing with The Shades in between.
In 1985 Roy also formed a studio band with Bob Leitgeb called The Syndicate and after recording some original songs, drew some interest from Hollywood Records. “I wrote all the lyrics and Bob wrote the music. Hollywood was interested in one of our songs called “She Drives Me,” but we blew it by declining the offer. They are now one the biggest motion picture soundtrack label in the country.”
A few years after the first Vehicle stint, the band changed personnel, moved to Bellows Falls and picked up one of the area’s most talented guitarists in Bernie Moss, formerly of The Secrets. “All the while two other ex–Secrets members, the late great keyboard player Charlie Hawthorne and drummer Gary Spaulding, were playing in a band called 8084,” Brown added. A couple years later Vehicle would open a show for 8084 and the drummer Spaulding really liked Vehicle and would end up joining them.
8084 (photo by Joe Milliken)“At the time, Lance Allen was a caretaker for Joe Walsh of The Eagles, who owned a house in Saxtons River, and Joe was on our guest list one night while playing at Michael Dee’s Pub in Bellows Falls,” Brown stated. “Joe showed up and performed a few covers with us including “Hang On Sloopy,” “Johnny B. Goode” and his James Gang classic “Funk 49.” What a great night that was!”
Roy also starting moving out from the front man persona and took up the bass, playing in bands such as Fade To Blue, the Stage Potatoes and Kelly’s Heroes where Brown hooked up with Kelly Darling Snow, who now play together in Crashgirl. “In 2001 Gary Spaulding returned to 8084 and I was also asked to join the band on bass. They were working on a new CD which I helped finish called The Last Great Train on the GB Music label, for which I received an endorsement with Reverend Guitar Co. We opened for bands such as April Wine and I really learned a lot about the music business through that great experience,” Roy added.
8084 (photo by Milliken)When 8084 singer/songwriter Randy Smith moved to North Carolina in 2008, the band split and Brown hooked back up with Darling Snow in CrashGirl. “Rando moved down south but we still keep in touch, and there is an 8084 reunion in the works with CrashGirl as the opening act,” Brown said. “The tour will be in support of Randy’s new solo album that’s coming out on GB Music.”
Currently, CrashGirl continues to tour throughout the area, most recently doing a show at KJ’s in Springfield. “I’m currently rocking onstage with CrashGirl and having a great time,” Roy added. “There is nothing like playing live music and as long as I’m having fun, I’m going to keep doing it.
“I also want to take this opportunity to thank the ones who always let the show go on and helped make me look and sound my best through the years including Mike Kmiec with Danny Klein (J. Geils Band)and Lincoln Burnham, Brian Mitchell and Greg, Rob Bridge and John Frink, Andy Darling, Ed, Jay Riesonberg, and of course my dear friend, the late great Douglas Bashaw.”