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Members
Chris Solberg / Lead Guitar
Chris is a long time professional musician in the San Francisco Bay Area. He cut his musical teeth in the 60’s playing, pretty much, daily with a wide range of bands and musicians. Music and musicianship became, and are, his passion.
Chris and The RaveUps co-founding member and drummer John Cuniberti played together for a number of years in the early 70’s with Berkeley rockers The Rockets that included a young Eddie Mahoney (Eddie Money). Chris went on and spent years touring & composing as a member of The Shakers, the first American reggae band to sign with a major recording label (David Geffen’s Asylum records), and the Eddie Money (CBS) band playing guitar, bass & B-3 organ. He spent a number of years in the late 70’s and early 80’s playing guitar & keyboards, as well as composing 15 songs, as member of Santana. He can be seen and heard on Santana albums from that era (“Inner Secrets”, “Marathon”, “Zebop”, “Shango”, “Blues for Salvador” and many Greatest Hits packages.
As a session player Chris provided tracks for such artists as Chris Isaak (first two albums and Isaak’s hit “Wicked Game”, Greg Kihn (first Berserkeley album “Chartbusters”), A Man called E (two albums for Polygram), George Lynch (solo effort “Sacred Groove”), Gary Brooker (the voice and piano man from Procol Harum) and many more. Over the span of a 35-year career Chris has earned over 15 gold, platinum and double platinum records for his musical efforts.
For the last 16 years Chris has been a private guitar & bass instructor in Berkeley California doing his best to help his students become aware of and utilize their creative spirit.
Dave Seabury / Vocals&Harmonica
Dave has been involved in the Bay Area music scene since the mid 1970’s playing guitar, bass, drums, and harmonica with such bands as Little Roger and the Goosebumps, Jonathan Richman, and Berkeley’s infamous Psychotic Pineapple. Dave is also currently performing as a vocalist-dancer-percussionist with Dick Bright’s S.R.O., a high-energy, 20-piece Soul-Funk-Rock-Hip Hop extravaganza and also fronts his own band, The Feztones.
Dave is also an award-winning sculptor who has put on a number of one-man shows of his “Eco Abstracts” including a wall sculpture for “House and Gardens” Curb Appeal Television show.
Dave’s photographs of the rock group Mad River (c. 1967) can be seen in “Nuggets from the Golden State” compact disc on Ace records Ltd., London, and a photograph of Jerry Garcia (c. 1967) in the book titled “Deadheads” by Linda Kelly.
Dave’s day job is Waste Reduction Coordinator, overseeing all salvage, recycling and waste management operations for the Presidio Trust in San Francisco.
Kit Newkirk / Bass Guitar
Kit cut his bass fingers in the 60’s playing many of The Yardbirds' songs and the like at the same El Cerrito school dances and parties as the rest of these local guys. On some of those gigs he played bass in the original Arm and Hammer band with his buddy Chris Solberg on guitar, apparently setting the stage for The RaveUps some 36 years later.
With his rock-blues roots Kit went on to play with some of the San Francisco Bay Area's favorites including Dixie Peach, Gideon and Power, Frank Biner & The Nightshift, (Roy) Rogers & Bergen, and The Hoodoo Rhythm Devils. After a long stint as founding bass player with Johnny Gunn (No Control) in The Johnny Gunn Band, he had most recently been making the rounds on the local Bay Area blues circuit, but yearned for the highlights of the early years.
When Chris called to ask him to play bass, he blurted "Yes!" in a knee-jerk reaction, surprising even himself. Kit says, "What could be more perfect than playing with old friends and acquaintances, all consummate professionals, and all the while having a chance to recreate the sound, feel and look of a style of music I haven’t played since I was a kid?" What a ride this is gonna be...
Bob Lewis / Rhythm Guitar
Bob Lewis started playing guitar after catching poison oak at a summer camp in the early 60's. Because he couldn't swim, hike, or do any other activities, he picked up his camp leaders guitar and learned a bunch of folk tunes by ear. From Peter, Paul, & Mary, he quickly jumped to Surf music, and then to the British Invasion craze. The Rolling Stones were a big influence, but the most influential guitarist back then was Jeff Beck of the Yardbirds. Bob learned all of Jeff's solos note for note. It was at this point that Bob met a very young musician by the name of Chris Solberg who saw Bob playing a famous Yardbirds song "Mister Your A Better Man Than I" at a show with his band The Treez.
Bob and Chris went on to play together in a group called The Blues Flight back in the 60's. While Chris went on to much success in music, Bob got a "real" job, but never quit playing. He played in numerous bands over the years opening for many bands including Norton Buffalo, New Riders, and Phil Everly of The Everly Brothers.
Fast forward many years, Bob and Chris reconnected at a 60’s Bay Area Garage Band Reunion in 2005. Their friendship was reignited. Over a dinner one night Chris mentioned he was looking for a rhythm guitarist for The RaveUps and would Bob be interested. The opportunity was one Bob couldn’t refuse.
The Yardbirds originally brought Bob & Chris together and now brought them together again performing the music they love in The RaveUps. So after all these years they are back to the beginning.
Long live The Yardbirds!
Donn Spindt / Drums
The newest and youngest member of The RaveUps, Donn Spindt has been playing drums since first inspired by Ringo Starr in 1963. Donn still says "he's the greatest rock drummer of all time". Early on Donn joined up with The Rubinoo's, providing sparkling harmonies and a steady beat in one of the bands that helped to forge Beserkley Records in the 70's. His drumming can also be heard with work he did with the Aqua Velvets in the late 80's.s.
About a year ago Donn was invited to sit in on a couple of tunes when The RaveUps played British Invasion Night 4 at The Great American Music Hall in San Francisco. A student and fan of British Rock since the 60's Donn’s percussion work brought a dynamic to The RaveUps that only the two drummer system or early renditions of studio double tracking could do. Now, as drummer for The RaveUps, Donn's musical skills and dedication to keeping the bar high has brought the band up another few notches. As an East Bay musical alum, dedicated and focused, Donn is another fine addition to The RaveUps.
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