I DON'T CARE - The Band

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PHOTO GALLERY
New photos of the band were recently scanned!
See GALLERY #1

The Band 1975: Doug Thomas-lead vocals, Gary Boggess-keyboards, Peter Knapp-trumpet/vocals, Frank Pellino-guitar/keyboard/vocals, Paul McDonald-sax, Jose' Ortiz-percussion/vocals and Tim Graziano-bass.

Hear I Don't Care's music on: MySPACE

Email: midiandsfx@aol.com


Why the name, I Don't Care?
We were in a transition, changing band members, and had just played a gig as "Willis The Zipper." We were standing on the sidewalk with our 1st manager, Jack Gerchok. Jack stated that we needed to change the band's name and start a fresh image. A few of the guys threw in their two bits... then tossing it to me... it was late, and I said wearily; "ehh, i don't care, call it what you want." Not realizing that I had just named the band and our 1st original jazz piece, "Call It What." Jack blurts out: "that's it!" And I Don't Care became the name of the band! Future 'cleaned up' versions of "how we got our name" were hindged to our "attitudes" about our NOT caring about pleasing club owners who wanted us to play ONLY cover and dance songs. We had also adopted an explanation that our name was derived from society's post Vietnam War apathy... i.e.: passive socio-political attitudes and related escapism.

Get one thing straight! The band's name wasn't intent on negative connotations. Our message was clear... we didn't care about Cleveland's status quo, the bar owners and bar scenes... and we set out to CHANGE it. We cared about music, OUR MUSIC, and we had integrity as musicians. We were dead set to buck the stigma the Cleveland  club owners imposed on bands; to play and function like human juke boxes. Yes, our song list included a dance set and a set of popular songs.  But, we were excellent musicians... and one of the only bands that also played the advanced musics of: Billy Cobham, Zappa, Emerson Lake & Palmer, Yes, King Crimson, Les McAnn, DeoDato, Herbie Handcock, Jethro Tull, Weather Report and other progressive rock, fusion and jazz music. The band used to "whip it out" and improvise live... expanding our audience's musical scope well beyond what the other Cleveland bands dared to at the time. We discovered that our audience was smarter and more accepting of new music, (and our music) than the booking agents and clubs owners were willing to give them credit for. We helped influence many Cleveland area & N.E. Ohio musicians to pursue similar paths.

I (Gary Boggess) was of the very first keyboardists in the Cleveland-N.E. Ohio region to use a Moog synthesizer live; playing "Lucky Man," "Tarkus" and "America" by ELP & "The Nice." I remember the time a club owner, (aka: moron), asked our manager; "what the hell is that thing he's playing? Tell him to put it away!" Well, I didn't put it away, and I expanded my keyboard setup to include: a Hammond A-100 organ w/leslie, a Clavinet, a Minimoog, a Mellotron, a Melody Grande Piano w/pickups, and a Fender Rhodes electric piano.

The I Don't Care "attitude" was penned on the back cover of the album:
"I Don't Care! A thought, an attitude. I don't care about the past, I am now. How, why, and what others have had to do in order to be recognized shows me only one purpose. To learn from their assets and mistakes. I have no intention of short changing myself to appeal to an audience who is interested in a facade. I am here to present myself as me... no bullshit... no hype! Power is my essence. Power of emotion, power of direction, power of musicianship, and the power of other's respect. All one needs to do is listen and the music says it all."

Some Band History...
I Don't Care, landed an album with Buddha Records (now on United Artists) in 1976. The band played throughout Ohio and western PA, and were among the mainstay bands in Cleveland night clubs and on the Agora circuit.

During these years I Don't Care shared the stage, opening for national acts; Bruce Springsteen, Gentle Giant, King Crimson, Dr. Hook, Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Larry Coryell, The Glass Harp, The James Gang, Spirit and Frank Zappa. The IDC band unraveled in 1976.

From Left to Right
The Band: Frank Pellino-guitar/keyboard/vocals, Jose' Ortiz-percussion/vocals, Gary Boggess-keyboards, Peter Knapp-trumpet/vocals, Roger Hatfield-sax and Tim Graziano-bass.

The above photo was taken in the Spring of 1976. The band's album titled,"Ask Anyone," was released on the Buddha Kama Sutra label and the band toured that for about six months from New York City to Chicago.

The band's last concert was opening for Frank Zappa at the Public Auditorium in Cleveland, Ohio.

Gary Boggess (1974)

From Left to Right
Frank Pellino - guitar/keyboards/vocals & Gary Boggess - keyboards (1973)

I Don't Care really cares a lot about individuality
by Anastasia Pantsios
Rock Beat -The Plain Dealer
6/28/1974

The Youngstown-Warren area, 11/2 hours south of here, has produced some of the most interesting rock bands to play in Cleveland. Most of them tend to have a more strongly individualistic style than the ranks of commercial dance bands that rise out of the Cleveland scene.

One of the most ambitious and advanced of these Youngstown bands is I Don't Care, probably the least commercial band playing regularly at commercial clubs to audiences accustomed to commercial music.

I first encountered I Don't Care on a snowy night last winter. They were playing at the Karma Club on the near West Side, and trumpeter and group spokesman Pete Knapp sat down at our table and regaled us with his colorful opinions of many local music biz "personalities".

"They all want to give us our big break, make us stars. Nobody can make us star."

As they launched into Billy Cobham's "For All the Women in my Life" that night, Knapp announced sardonically, "This song's gonna make us star."

This band isn't likely to become a rock 'n' roll star in the traditional style oriented sense, because they are not concerned with external style. But in terms of musical ability and the uniqueness of what they are creating, they are likely to go about as far as any band from this area. Knapp told me, "We like to think we're doing something not everyone else is doing. That's the only ego thing involved with this band."

The band can, and does, do commercial material, but only when necessary, and only as a tool. Knapp said, "We can do what audiences want to hear, but we use it to lead them to where we are, to get them to listen to our stuff."

That stuff, for the most part, is extended jazz-style developments which include displays of the musical prowess of the group's members, and features beautiful five-part vocals.

"Nobody in our band likes the New York Dolls. We like Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, Weather Report and the Mahavishnu Orchestra." That gives one a pretty fair idea of what one will hear from I Don't Care.

The selection of material on which the group cut its teeth is very broad.  They claim that "Smoke on the Water" by Deep Purple and "Shake That Fat" by Jo Jo Gunne are part of their repertoire.

More typically, however, their numbers range from Brian Auger's "Compared To What", possibly the most popular number for local bands with any jazz leanings, to King Crimson's "21st Century Schizoid Man" to the Beatles' "Every Little Thing" and Jethro Tull numbers and a number by Knapp's old band, the Shadows, a local exponent of the heavy commercial horn sound several years ago. Numbers like "Every Little Thing" are not played as simple three-minute dance tunes, but arranged and expanded to make room for the group's own creativity.

Every member of the band is an excellent instrumentalist. Outstanding is Gary Boggess, one of the most broadly imaginative Moog players I've heard. According to Knapp, Boggess was rated one of the to five Moog players in the world by Dr. Moog himself, the inventor of the instrument.

When Boggess bought his synthesizer, he went to the factory to learn to use it. There he met Keith Emerson, of Emerson Lake and Palmer who gave him some instruction. Jose Ortiz, who played an extraordinary solo is an expressive percussionist. The other members, Tim Graziano on bass guitar, Paul McDonald on flutes and saxophones, Frank Pellino on keyboards and guitar ("He plays everything extremely well," says Knapp) and the most recent addition, singer Frank Bayzie, are all top notch.

I Don't Care grew out of another band called Willis the Zipper that played around the Youngstown area about a year ago. This band included some of the same members (Knapp, Boggess and McDonald) and did some of the same material (Jethro Tull, King Crimson). "We just jammed" said Knapp.

The members of W.T.Z. now in I Don't Care decided that they wanted to put together a serious, polished band that would actually get somewhere, and I Don't Care evolved.

Recently, the group completed the recording of a demo album at Agency Recording under the direction of producer Jim Quinn, formerly of Damnation. It contained entirely their own material with the exception of an original arrangement of Jimi Hendrix's "Fire". The tape has already brought them offers of a recording contract, which is hardly surprising considering the calibre of their work.

Meanwhile, I Don't Care can be heard on an irregular basis at a number of Cleveland's rock clubs, playing more or less commercial music depending on their mood and their audience.

******
IDC really cares text

This review of I Don't Care's album, "Ask Anyone," was in the Rolling Stone magazine in October 1976

Other "I Don't Care" Webpages...

I Don't Care's MySPACE

RollingStone.com: Recordings: I Don't Care, Ask Anyone

Music I Care About Homepage (M.I.C.A.H.)

Last Vestige Music Shop - RARE 60's-90's as seen in GOLDMINE

www.GetMusic.com - IDC Album Details

Mantis Music - Progressive LPs
Search Progressive, "I"

Indie-Music.com - Jim Quinn
A Recent Interview "I Don't Care's" agent...


Gary Boggess' IDC & BMS Webpages...

Due to a recent jolt of inspiration... (that being the death of Bob Moog)
we dug out this 1973 practice room recording:

 Download Soundfile: Tarkus-America-IDC.mp3
(Click to play or Right click and SAVE TARGET AS to a folder)   

See Bob Moog tribute at: Boggess' Tribute to Bob Moog

This recording features Boggess' arrangement & performance of an excerpt of ELP's "TARKUS" and a version of "AMERICA", by Keith Emerson's former group, The Nice, an adaptation from Leonard Bernstein's score for the musical, "West Side Story."

This recording features:
Jose Ortiz - percussion
Tim Graziano - bass
Gary Boggess - Hammond A-100, Fender Rhodes & Minimoog
(no overdubs here... this was as we played it at gigs, live!)

There couldn't have been a better rhythm section than Tim and Jose! Boggess had the Fender Rhodes, Hammond & Minimoog set up in a "U" formation for access. Boggess explains: "This was so cool!  Having each hand on a keyboard, with my long hair, leaning back...  my foot up on the volume pedal with my custom momentary Leslie switch mounted near my instep on the pedal for easy on/off control. What a ride it was at the gigs!!! ELP's musical format was like riding an orchestral Harley Davidson with King Kong's testosterone for gas. I grew up playing the Hammond Organ... so this music was 'SO IT' for me!"

"We used to play this "Tarkus/America" arrangement around the N.E. Ohio in the early years of IDC I remember playing it at Old McDonald's, The Apartment and a few other rock clubs. (This is around the time the band Brain Child was still together.) We also played it at the Agora's in Cleveland and in Columbus. Once, when playing a concert at the Agora in Columbus... a Hammond key fractured half way through 10+ minute piece, deeply cutting my right hand. I lost a fair amount of blood that night... it was rather dramatic.  I remember our roadies Freak & Mole putting a bucket under the Hammond to capture my losses! I managed to get through the piece... but I was feeling the pain. There I was, in front of about 600 people, with spot lights, and bleeding all over the bloody Hammond keyboard! (What does one do with such a public spectacle?) At the end of Jose's drum solo... we hit our ending cadences and I was rushed to the hospital for (9) painful stitches from which I still have significant scaring.  I used to break keys fairly often playing Emerson's trademark palm key-slides...  they're rather difficult to do too carefully. The Hammond keys on my A-100 may have been brittle,  I don't know... but I used to carry an army surplus ammo box full of extra keys with the tools I'd require to replace them! I've still got several small scars on my hands from such key breaks... but none as bad as that particular night."

This performance was originally recorded on a piece of crap cassette recorder on a cheap tape (in Mono) at a rehearsal, held at a rented building on Tod Ave., Warren, Ohio. Naturally, it's distorted as hell and had major tape hiss. But, we just bought software here at the studio to do some re-mastering of some older stuff. It sounds just like the original cassette but cleaner... less hiss and reasonably clarified.

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