Bios

Bill got his first guitar at age 6. It was a Fred Meyer special which set his parents back $20 - which was a lot back in those days. He immediately began fantasizing about playing rock 'n' roll but soon discovered playing is harder than it looks; not to mention he had an image problem, a crew cut. Yes, his dear old Dad didn't think much of those long haired hippie types. But by age 10Bill had seen enough free guitar lesson shows on OPB to play a few songs on the old Fred Meyer special. He bought an electric guitar, learned a few bar chords and the next thing you know... instant noise. He felt like he was "almost there". (30 years of other exciting stuff cut out here for brevity) Age 40, Bill experiences mid-life, goes on buying spree at Guitar Center, alarms his significant other with the enormous declining bank balances, but, Bill studies under Erick Hailstone for about a year, then auditions to get into Portland State's Applied Jazz Music program. After 2 tries, he gets in! At age 43 he finishes the 100 level PSU classes with Jerry Hahn and gets invited to join ZeeRocks. He does his first gig with ZeeRocks in May of 2003, still sporting that buzz cut and thankful there's at least still something to buzz. Ironically, his 73 year old father, the one who was critical of the long haired hippie types, was seen on the dance floor at the gig, dancing up a storm to Rolling Stones, Beatles, and Van Morrison tunes. Touche' Bill, touche'!

Russ (AKA Wood) was an acoustic blues guitarist that (fortunately for his audience) mostly went unheard. Experimenting with the band he learned it was much easier to play an instrument with 4 strings and quickly took up the bass guitar. Happy to leave the chore of keeping track of those 2 extra strings to other guitarists, Wood now hangs out in the rhythm section with space aliens from the 9th dimension and coverts with a long list of barely employed musicians. Wood plays an Ibanez 400 bass with precision neck and active EQ but his pride is invested in a custom Mark Knowlton fretless bass lovingly referred to as Gil Hodges. Wood is known by his river rat friends as an acoustic guitar player and frequently entertains on beaches all over the northwest singing and playing old Eagles and John Prine songs.

Norm was apparently left on Earth by space aliens some years ago. As a result of this momentous and unusual arrival on the planet Earth Normie takes drumming to new limits.
Norm's number one project is the Hip Waiters and they are at clubs in the Portland, Oregon area (click on the hyperlink for details). Norm plays for another project with Marty McCray called The Dung Beatles and they really rock. You can find out about the Dung Beatles on the Hip Waiters link. You have to see these guys cover the Beatles, they're really fab!
Back on topic, Norm is the driving beat in any band he plays in. His enthusiasm and love of music adds great dimension to anything he does and everyone he plays with. Norm is a blast and it's his constant gigging that tightens the Z's sound and gives us the firmness we need. I have met his parents however and he really is not an alien. Hi parents were at a Dung Beatles concert and I think I danced with his mother. Don't tell Norm!