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Back in 1990, Bob Smith decided that he would form a band after years of being “out of the business”. He was told by just about everyone he knew at the time that he must be going crazy, leaving a steady job with a steady paycheck for the uncertainties of the world of music and bands again!
After a couple of formative years working the local New Jersey (USA) club circuit, Bob began learning first hand that politics were deeply routed in the area’s blues scene at that time. “I never was much good at kissing butt,” Bob says and he quickly found himself on the outside looking in again.
Just at that time, when everything was looking bleak, Bob did a blues show in Southern New Jersey. Most of the bands at the show were being booked by a Pennsylvania man who was heavily involved in blues and putting strong, willing bands “out on the road”. His name was Maury Saslaff, (Hooter).
A very controversial agent to say the least, but Bob and Hooter hit it off and The Bob Smith Band was propelled out on the road. From Maine to Florida, from Virginia To Indiana, for ten years Bob and the band hit the highway non stop. Bob says, “I was away more than I was home at times, but it was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The many people I've met, the places I've gone, the things I’ve seen and done... It was a great time for the band and anyone that was there along with me will ever forget all the fun we had.”
Hooter was the last of a dying breed, a regional bands booking agent, but when he left the business and moved to Norway a couple of years back, with him slowly went many of the road gigs.
“Times change and steadily working the road these days is mainly for signed national acts, but we were there, we did it. We drove and played through all the “road dues” that there are and in the end achieved a higher level of musical awareness, experience and a certain amount of glory!
That’s right, glory! The response and feeling both the band and your audience get when they hold you in their minds at a higher level. Knowing they came to hear a professional band that’s come a long way to play for them. Connecting with you and appreciating everything you are doing both on stage and off. It’s a feeling bands seldom ever get playing only in there immediate area.
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