Richard Carothers'

First Bands - Jr. High

The Elements

My first band, The Elements, started in jr. high school shortly after I got a new '65 Gibson Invader amp with multiple inputs that my next door neighbor, Eddie and I could both plug into plus a microphone. Eddie was the first kid I ever met. He had a Western Auto Truetone guitar that he played bass on. My friend Robert from school became the rhythm guitarist and also got a Gibson Invader amp. Clay was the first drummer.

The second drummer, Craig, was the son of the guitar instructor at Evans Music who taught me to play. Outside of parties, our first "gig" was at Eddie's church/school, St. Vincent's playing for a bunch of kids.

Robert and I custom-ordered '65 white Fender Jaguars based on the "Beach Boys In Concert" album cover through Craig's dad, Sonny Land. He also played sax and led a big band and had us play his breaks at a gig….where he brought out the Jaguars just as we were about to go on stage…..freak out.

We had no idea who this guy was who sat in and sang

After The Elements broke up, Craig put together the next 2 groups….Insights and The Frequent Sounds. With those 3 bands breaking up, after junior high in '67, got frustrated and that's when I stopped playing and "retired". I sold off everything except the Gibson Invader amp. Many years later, I bought Robert's Fender Jaguar. Started picking the guitar back up in college inspired by Ten Years After albums. In '78, Craig introduced me to the bassist Mike Del Monico. That became Maze and Libido (with Kathy) until '81. Then (after a 35 year gap), Mike played bass in my current band Airwaves from '16 until he left in '22.