as told by Thomas J. McGowan, Historian

We initially consisted of Thom, Janine, Jay and Bob, in that order, and then incorporated one named Henry on keyboards. The band disbanded (1977), although two members continued to play together with various other artists and endeavored on various other musical excursions, during the "very Lean" years. Some of our instruments were either in storage, or being played privately with the hopes that they would one day be awakened by the call of the Normalinsky. This in fact occurred one day in the spring of 2001, I believe. Shortly thereafter, we brought one named Patsy into the fold, a member of a former band that Jay and Janine were members of, and Jay let go his long standing relationship with his bass and began the acoustic endeavor. During the initial reunion, we were more a foursome with Janine torn between the electric and the acoustic. She chose the acoustic endeavor, realizing the potential for harmonies and more challenging music than was present in the other band.

Janine plays music professionally 10 hours a day, 7 days a week in another band. She is a most beautiful person in spirit, song, and character. She is a prolific song writer and guitar player. She sings like an angel, harmonizes like a Motown queen. She writes deep songs, filled with emotion and fire on the one hand, and then, tender and soft sounds on the other. She provides the constant acoustic rhythms of the band, while Thom and Jay dance around her strums and finger picking. She is the very fabric of the Bob Normal Band.

As for Thom, he started a buying frenzy of guitars: first a resonator which he outfitted with an additional pick up; then a classical, and more recently, an Ibanez semi hollow body electric........destined to put the band on a new avenue. Thom has also been heavily involved in trading up and down on various effect pedals. His songwriting has continued, but with less fecundity than previous years. He would prefer to just play and sing harmonies for the most part and let the women write and sing leads.

As for pedals, nobody can even come close the array of effects and equipment of Jay. He has an arsenal of equipment, meant to rival that of King Crimson. He is involved in another band, and plays actively with that group in public. He is a bit shy, preferring to hide in the back of the stage, but a more skilled and graceful player one will never find. He is adept at various genre, and those with which he is not, he quickly masters. He is the glue and the provider for the Normal experience, carefully documenting, recording, and preserving its history. He is also a cheese freak.

As for Bob, the drummer; he is not normal at all, and is not intended to be affiliated with the name of the band in any way, shape or form, except in that he and Jay named the band during a cross country excursion in the early 70's. Bob is an incredibly talented drummer....Keith Moon in nature, yet mellowed by the influence of Janine and Thomas' country approach. If he had his druthers, he would rock on every tune.....he can be tough to hold down...He is famous for the Normal gallop. He currently plays an electric pad set but was born and raised on acoustic drums. He tossed between the relaxation he gets from playing with the band, and his exhaustion at the days end. The two make for a wild man!

The other half of the bottom end, belongs to Patsy, a former Southern crooner who has traveled from here to Alaska with guitar in hand, and song in heart. Patsy comes from the most country influence of all of the band members. She would prefer that Jay and Thom dump the effects, but they think she really likes the effects. Patsy plays the bass and sings. She writes too, although she is the least prolific of the three song writers. But look out. Her tunes are worth the waiting: Cowgirl on the Highway rocks. Patsy's first tune, "If Love is Blind", came to the Normal band as a slow and moody tune. It is currently an upbeat aggressive tune that captures the ear within its first notes. Patsy is learning to accept the Normal way of things.

So, there you have it. The Bob Normal Band.

A Rambling History of the Bob Normal Band

By Jay Mitlas 8/14/2004

The true origin of the Bob Normal Band dates back to 1969-70. At that time I was jamming with some other kids from high school and got involved in some sort of "Battle of the Bands" in someone's basement. I had just started a new band, large and elaborate, more or less a Progressive band (1969 Guitar, Vocals, Bass, Keyboard, Piano, Violin, Drums, and Percussion) This band worked together for about 6 months and we booked our first job. We never actually played the job for the band broke up. The outcome of this breakup was the bass player and myself started to look around for new members. In 1969 I moved to a new school district (not far from the old one) and began the search for players. It was then that the above jam got together and a friend recommended Bob Wolf to play drums. We jammed about for a few hours, and then he sat on my father's car and dented the hood.

Not much came out of that jam but I hooked up with a new bass player and then brought Bob along to play drums. We quickly put together another band with my old keyboard player (Stu Miller) that did not last too long and broke off into a 3 piece jam band without vocals. Our first gig was at a Jr. High dance that we crashed and played. We eventually added "Big Dave" on vocals. We played Who, Zeppelin, Savoy Brown, ect., and made sure it was loud (keep in mind that this was 11^th grade). This band was followed up by a 3 piece Pink Floyd type outfit, using a new bass player and a lot of custom made wiring/switch devices to create lots of effects. We had a hidden "Tape Recorder Technician/ Rental Truck guy" to run our coordinated sound effects. That was a one gig band, and after that Bob and I bounced around between playing Little Theater stuff and putting bands together.

The summer after graduation found Bob and myself in a 23 window VW van, driving toward California. After a change in routes, originally going to CA via Canada and Alaska, we came down out of Canada into Minnesota and eventually ended up at Bob's uncle's house in Laguna. One of the more memorable stops was at Gooseberry Falls State Park in Minnesota. The following September we returned to Gooseberry Falls, and after close to a week of rain, we went home via Indianapolis, Indiana. It was then that we passed a Holiday Inn with a sign that read "Bob Normalawski in the Lounge". Suddenly, the name Bob Normal entered my mind and we decided that would be the name of our next band.

College time comes around and I am without a band. I am introduced to Janine McKee by a mutual friend and she explains that she is playing acoustic guitars with a guy named Thom and they are looking for a bass player. I said I could play bass and then went out and bought a bass before we got together. Our first get together went well, I was really impressed by Thom and Janine who played stuff like James Taylor, Elton John and the Moody Blues. After a few more practices, I introduce the idea of a drummer, and Bob became a member. We worked quickly and within 3 months booked our first gig at Temple University, Ambler Campus. At this time a guy came up and introduced himself as a keyboard player. I took his number but never called. After about 6 months, we decided to add a keyboard and Janine's friend Ray (also a drummer) recommended a guy named Henry from his recently broken up band. We called him and he comes over and he is the same guy that came up to us at the gig. From there we had a good 4 year run, eventually disbanding around 1977.

I eventually ended up in a new band with Henry and Janine's friend Ray. This band went until 1982. In 1982 I reconnected with Janine who was in a new band and they were looking for drums and guitar. This band became Metro and among the members was drummer Allan Tepper. This band played in various configurations (this is a whole big story by itself) until 1993.

Around 1984, the Normals (minus Henry) got together with a bit of an experimental setup. Bob played electronic drums and many songs were synced up to an Atari computer running midi sequencer software and controlling a few synths. We worked on material for about one year but things fell apart before we could get out the door. After this Bob and Thom retired from playing.

From 1994 until 1998, not a lot was going on band wise, and when Allan had twins, we stopped playing altogether for about 18 months. In 2000, Allan, Janine, and myself started the process of putting a new band together. Around this time, Thom, Bob and myself also started the process of putting the Bob Normal Band back in action. Both bands progressed over 2000-01, resulting in Janine taking up permanent residence in the Bob Normal Band. We added in Patsy from the Allan/Jay/Janine late eighties band and decided to go without keyboards. Patsy took over my role as bass player and I went into guitar land, eventually adding in a Roland guitar synth setup.

The Allan band became Losing Gravity and we have been gigging for close to 2 years now. Bob Normal enjoys a more limited schedule but we are approaching our second year of gigs. In the summer of 2004, Allan joined the Normals in order to expand our percussion/drum side.

As of this writing we are preparing for an Oct 1^st gig, with mostly new material.

This should enlighten all who this type of stuff matters, and will be followed up by a nice flow chart of all my bands and members, ect.

Our Motto: "Share the Peek Freens"