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"Back To The FIllmore" actually began life as "One Foot In The Grave" based in Staten Island, N.Y. back c.1993. The band had its origins in the wedding business!
Richie played with "Steppin Out", Timmy played with "Alexis", and Jimmy with "RSVP"; all Wedding Bands throughout the late 70's and 80's. All 3 bands played for an office called "Faze 4 Orchestras".
When Richie and Jimmy (who grew up on the same block in Brooklyn), heard Timmy play with Alexis at a showcase, they looked at each other and said, "This guy has a great sound, and he can actually PLAY!" This was a breath of fresh air coming from a player in a wedding band! They usually suck or they play jazz....bah.
We live for ROCK, and laid plans to play with this guy asap.
Eventually we all tired of weddings and DJ's took over in the early 90's. Bands simply priced themselves out of work, and after the market crash of 1988 people were not spending the money on weddings they did through the 80's. Richie decided, it's time to do some 'basement jams'. Now was the time to get all the good ROCK players together and have some jams just for fun. We finally got a chance to play the music we wanted to play rather than the required stuff you HAD to play at weddings. Up till now, the only songs we would rehearse were the brides wedding songs...ugh. So it was time to do CACTUS, HUMBLE PIE, LED ZEPPELIN, CREAM, JEFF BECK, BECK BOGERT APPICE, DEEP PURPLE, CREAM. HENDRIX, GRAND FUNK, JOHNNY WINTER, ALLMAN BROTHERS, QUEEN, ROBIN TROWER, and any other stuff our little hearts desired!
We had a ball down the basement. The band consisted of Richie on drums, Jimmy on Bass, Timmy on guitar, John Misiti on second guitar, and Al Rispoli on kyboards. Richie was the main lead singer, and Al and Jimmy did one song each. So after years of jamming down the basement, it occured to me that we had enough songs to play somewhere, so I booked a date on Staten Island where we started playing out for a few years before we met John. We did some instrmentals to take the burden off Richie, but he could not carry the band for the entire night. So one night while playing at The Rustic Inn on Hylan Blvd Staten Island, some guy comes up to us and asks if his friend can sit in with the band and do a few songs. We said "why not" and up comes Johnny V. aka 3J's. He proceeds to do "Theme From an Imaginary Western" and some Zeppelin songs. Hmmmmmmmmmmm not too bad. The next day we all called each other to discuss John. Seems we were all on the same page, so we called him and asked him to join.
It's been all downhill since ... LOL. Not really, but that is the origins of the band.
Al Rispoli and John Misiti have since left the band to pursue other musical outlets, and the band is down to a 4 piece, Richie, Jimmy, Timmy and John. The band recorded its first CD "First Takes" down Richies basement "ElectricMeliLand" in 1999-2000 and was a riot to make. With phones ringing and dogs barking, we decided that the next one should be done in a studio. And so it began that "Back To The Fillmore" started recording its second CD in Prosho studios in May 2006, and it continues to be overdubbed and mixed to this day (December 2006)! It's turning into Sgt. Peppers! it's almost done and the title we are thinking about is "Bash Yer Brains In", beacuse it's all the HEAVY stuff we do. Another title might be "Seemed Like a Good Idea at The Time".
While looking for a name for the band it occured to me that we did all Fillmore East music (with the exception of Queen), and "Back To The Fillmore" had a nice ring to it, so we became the worlds only Fillmore East tribute band by default! I think we need to dress more hippie myself, and Tim wants us to wear Giant foam Cowboy hats when we do ZZ Top, but I dunno..LOL. Well that's about it.
-Richie
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, Bill
