Being in a band, playing live before audiences, is much like an addiction to many musicians. It feeds a need. The trick is knowing when it may be time to kick the habit.

 

Life handed Henry Gerber (bass player for local classic-rock cover band Loose Gravel) a pretty direct message. He injured his rotator cuff on his day job, which required surgery. He’s been out of commission for about a year, although he attempted to come back in September, “It just really didn’t work well. I was surprised.” Deciding it just wasn’t fair to his band mates, he decided to pull the plug after 12 years.

 

Before picking up the bass, Henry played drums (“no one else could afford a kit”) in one of his first bands and found himself once playing a Richard Nixon rally. He eventually moved to bass for the same reason as his musical hero, Paul McCartney. “Nobody wanted to play bass, so I picked that up and stuck with it.” McCartney’s playing stood out to young Henry who, like so many of his generation, first saw The Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show.

 

 

Henry’s first “real” band, Medusa, lasted about 2 years. Several groups later he found himself in Axeworthy for about 5 years, touring the East Coast in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s. “They had been playing the Richmond clubs, but needed someone who would wear spandex and play LOUD! That was me….” Henry calls that his first claim to fame, adding they came close to being signed by Capitol Records, who opted for Iron Maiden instead.

 

Looking back, Henry admits there were times when playing the same songs week after week became a bit of a grind. “But, I’d look out from stage, see a couple who may have had a fight, connecting the way you only can on a dance floor and I knew it was right.” He promises he’ll be back on the stage someday. That musical Jones never really goes away.

 

Henry joined the band for a couple of numbers Friday night at Lakeside Tavern, as a way to say good bye to his fans (and the stage). He was joined by several former band mates including Buzzy Lawler.

 

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