Dave Zelzer - Bagshot Row

This interview is not only dedicated to the band Bagshot Row, but to the late Larry Bennett and Michael Pockat. May they rest at ease and hopefully get a kick out of this!

When and where were you born?

Born in 1952 in Green Bay, WI, but grew up in a lovely little town about 35 miles to the west called Nichols.

What was growing up like for you?

Growing up in Nichols was nice, but of course, I didn’t appreciate it as much as I should/could have, but when you’re a kid, you’re kind of clueless. Nichols only had a population of about 200, but the coolest thing was that all of us kids were within 3-5 years of each other in age and there wasn’t a ‘clique’ of jerks, or bullies. We all hung around together, playing sports, riding bikes, helping farmer buddies with chores...

Dave with his younger brother Rob. (May he rest in peace)

When did you first become interested in music and what was it about the drums that initially fascinated you? Was this the first instrument you learned to play?

I come from a musical family... My mother was a piano teacher and music was always around the house. (My youngest brother ended up on the road for awhile playing bass, and my other two brothers were both good players of the trombone and trumpet. My brother Chris, the trumpet player, still performs in Montana with the Great Falls Symphony... He was a meteorologist by trade... And my sister is a full time piano teacher and keyboard performer). I started taking piano lessons when I was around 5-6, then in grade school (Nichols had a little school part of the larger school district) 6th grade, I think the high school band director, who would become an important part of my life, showed up with his trumpet and tried to get us interested in learning to play an instrument. Initially, I wanted to play trumpet, due to the band director (Al Butcher) playing his ass off for us, he had been a jazz musician on the road prior to his teaching career and he COULD play... Well, it turned out the HS band had more than enough trumpet players, but lacked percussionists... So, I became a drummer. Have never regretted that.

Great Falls Symphony.

What was your local music scene like? Where would you go to see bands perform and who were among some of the first groups you saw live?

As you might expect, a little town like Nichols really didn’t have much of a music scene. The occasional band would perform at the Dancehall (yes, that’s what it was called!), but to hear real bands you had to go to Green Bay. Once in a while, we’d have live bands at the high school, but that was a rarity. Although, the legendary band “Soup” played for a dance one time... There was a high school in Green Bay, Premontre (private school) bringing in bands to raise money... I saw “The Ides of March” before and after they added brass, “The Byrds”, “Cryan’ Shames”, “New Colony Six”, “Crow”, “Soup”, “Grease”(a band fronted by Jim Krueger the composer of Dave Mason’s ‘We Just Disagree’ long before he joined Mason), “Pat Macurdy and the Essentials”(Pat went on to form Timbuck 3 with his then wife and wrote the hit “The Future’s so Bright...” Pat was from Green Bay) and a pile more that I can’t come up with right now...

When did it dawn on you that music was something you wanted to pursue? Did you participate in any bands prior to Bagshot Row?

I’m not sure there was a time I WASN’T driven to play music. It became very serious in high school. After 3, or 4 failed attempts, I formed a band in high school in 1968 where I ended up playing keys, grabbing the chord structure from records and singing harmony. I had a buddy from Nichols who played drums and he drummed for the band. We played a lot for about 18 months, or so high school dances, “Y” dances, we snuck into a few taverns and played, but not so many of those. We looked our age! I came up with the name, too... ‘The Whitman Portrait’... Very late 60s, don’t you think? Running the band, booking and all of that convinced me I never wanted to be in charge again! Two of the guys have passed away, but I’ve spoken to the surviving members over the years. One ended up a band director and my bass player from back then, still plays...

How did you initially meet your bandmates Larry Bennett and Michael Pockat?

Mike was a year younger than me and we met in the music department at UW-Stevens Point. We became close friends almost immediately. Mike was a good guitarist and excellent singer and we started talking about getting a band together soon after meeting in 1971... Chicago and BS&T were hot back then, so we thought putting together a brass band was the ticket. We had lots of folks to choose from. If they were interested in the department. It was during this time we met Bob, too. So the 3 of us started looking for some brass instrumentalists and we hooked up with a trumpet player, a keyboard player, sax and trombone. The trombonist was an awesome musician and wrote many of the arrangements we played.

We weren’t that good, but we weren’t that bad either. Young guys learning their craft. I came up with a terrible name for the band which was adopted, “Loch Ness”, which seemed to confuse tavern owners and our booking agent. Of course that bunch of agents would book us all over creation, sometimes claiming we were a country band! Well, it wasn’t easy booking a 7 piece band back then, don’t think that’s changed and after a summer of playing around and barely making ends meet, the band dissolved, and Mike, Bob and I thought to continue as a 3 piece, but ran into Larry who was a fine guitarist and ok singer.

Can you tell me about those early jams and where you guys would rehearse? What carved out the band’s particular tone and approach to music? What led to the decision to start a band in the first place and what inspired the name ‘Bagshot Row’? What commonalities did you share with the other guys?

We started off rehearsing in a garage of course!! And the first few rehearsals were somewhat uncomfortable, because Mike and Larry were engaged in guitar wars, the both of them eventually coming to an understanding where both would play leads depending on the tune. Larry covering the majority and Mike lead singing and playing rhythm... Things settled down after that. We liked rocking hard. What young guy doesn’t loved gigging out and enjoyed beer and weed!! We loved ‘The Rolling Stones’ and covered a bunch of their tunes, ‘Mott the Hoople’, early ‘Aerosmith’. We played most of the band’s first album, some ‘Spirit’... Stuff like that. Larry had called an earlier band he ran “Bagshot Row” and we liked it. In ‘72, I was 20, Mike 19, Larry 20 and Bob, I think around 25, or so I was told you in an earlier message, he was a ‘Nam vet.

What was the over goal and vision for the band at the time? When and where was the first show you guys played and what was that experience like for you? Did you guys already have original material under your belt at this point, or were you doing covers and things of that nature? What was the band’s process in terms of writing/approaching music? How did the deal with Pirate Brand/Guda Records come about in ‘73?

Rock hard, play as best as we could, have fun and gig as much as we could... Kind of got in the way of college, sometimes... I honestly don’t remember how or where that first gig was, but I’m sure I was nervous. Had a problem with stage fright when I was younger, but that went away as the years progressed. We were basically a cover band, although both Bob and Larry had some tunes from their past. We chose tunes with a ‘Stones’ vibe, or lots of energy, danceable of course and not too many slow tunes... Guda records was the name WE came up with... We played 5-6 gigs without getting paid, all the money going into the recording fund and we bought studio time including the pressing of the 45s... So, in effect, it was kind of like vanity publishing, I guess. We always regretted adding that ‘Pirate Brand’ bullshit on the label, don’t remember why we thought that was a good idea. As for ‘Guda’, it’s a cheese, we’re in Wisconsin and we used to greet each other with Spock’s hand gesture and we’d say “Guda”... It was an inside joke. Not well thought out as far as branding goes...

Bagshot Row’s tune ‘Turtle Wax Blues’ was featured on the 11th vol. of the Brown Acid Series released by Riding Easy Record.

Can you tell me about writing as well as recording the tunes ‘Big Fat Mama’ and ‘Turtle Wax Blues’? for the band’s first and only single?

‘Big Fat Momma’ was a tune Bob had written, just kind of a blues jam, I guess and had played it a bunch with his band when he was younger. It was always a favorite tune for us and those who knew the band. Needless to say, wanting ‘a big fat mama who always brings me luck’ was not the original lyrics!!! Next time you listen to the tune, insert ‘always wants to fuck’ in its place and you’ll understand the full import, simplicity and beautiful nature of the song!!! LOL As for Turtle Wax, we really liked the Stones’ ‘Live With Me’ and wanted to come up with a song having that kind of vibe. Didn’t really turn out that way, but it wasn’t a bad tune in the end. Interestingly, we NEVER performed that song live. Wrote and learned it, recorded it and that was it. Odd, when I think back on it. The recording session itself, was exciting, as none of us had ever done anything like that before. We killed a couple of cases of beer and a ton of some very fine hashish in the studio. Our engineer truly liked us!!! Ahhhh... to be young again.

You guys recorded that at Full Compass Sound Studio, correct? What was the first order of business once the single was released? Did you guys do a tour, or play a string of shows to support the record? Did it manage to get any airtime on the local radio(s)?

Yes, I don’t think it’s a recording studio anymore, but a supplier of professional sound equipment and stuff... Mike's name was left off the credits of Turtle Wax. He should have been on there, never figured out how that happened... We got some airplay on the local Stevens Point rock station, but we kind of fucked up and both tunes were kind of on the longish side, so that airplay kind of disappeared. We basically sold the record at gigs, but other than that, life went on the way it was before recording...

What eventually happened to the group after ‘74?

The breakup of the band came kind of unexpectedly, no big fights or stuff like that, Bob decided he wanted to do other things and in June of ‘74 it was all over. I took it pretty hard and basically stayed drunk til August, when I took a job in a factory... Ugh.

Did you continue to play music?

Oh yes... Messed around jamming with people for a couple of years, then finally got a day job in Green Bay in 1978 and first started drumming for a local big band. I’m a shitty jazz drummer, but that’s a story for another time, then joined a variety type band doing road work, joined my cousin’s band, then after that, played in a real good power pop band in the early 80s, returned to the variety type band from earlier no longer on the road and played a shit ton of weddings and regular rock gigs. That was a really good band with 3 part harmonies and lots of different styles to play during the night. The power pop band morphed into a trio I worked with off and on mostly on for over 20 years. I recorded at some home studios and stuff and basically worked my day job, radio and gigged weekends and some Wednesdays…

Dave Michaels and the Flamin' Hearts.

What do you think of folks still finding your music to this day after all these years?

It’s pretty amazing to me. I never can figure out where and how anyone finds the record, or me! Wish Mikey and Larry were around to enjoy the interest.

What do you think about the legacy of Bagshot Row and what you guys left behind?

I don’t know what to think about it. It was a tremendously important part of my life, but like all the other bands I played in, a passing thing... I mean, you travel to the gig, schlepp the stuff into the tavern, set up, play, tear down, travel, get some sleep and head out the next late afternoon. I always, as does every musician I know, tried to play as perfectly as possible and approach each gig as if it could be my last. I was never a chops monster, but have great meter and I can sing. It kept me working in bands. My playing days have ended, but the final tune I played a couple of New Year’s Eves ago (BTW New Year’s Eve gigs are the fucking worst...) was Hotel California and the band nailed it, especially the fine guitar solo, so that was a good way for it to end. I miss it to an extent, but that insatiable drive to play left me after that fire I told you about and not playing out is no longer the issue it was for so many years... As for the other 3 guys in the band, I have nothing but fond memories of our times together, the music, the crazy stupid stuff, the parties and all the laughs. Wish they were all still here and we could play some tunes together one more time...

Is there anything else you would like to further share with the readers?

Support local music... It’s always been tough out there and it’s still tough. We all play for free, you know... We get paid for the travel, hauling equipment, set up, tear down etc. But the 3-4 hours on stage... That’s for fun for us! There’s very few musicians who do it just for the money... Larry passed away about 18 months ago after a battle with cancer, Mike Pockat-- singer and guitarist passed around 12 years ago from cancer, but I believe Bob Staska, bass player, singer and composer of Big Fat Momma, I'm told, is still around, living in Arizona, but I haven't seen him in probably 20 years... He stumbled upon the band I was playing with at a Northwoods bar in Crandon, WI, didn't recognize me till I called him by a nick name only those of us in Bagshot would know and he figured out it was me. I'm surprised he's survived, he's a Nam vet who had been Agent Oranged and has struggled with health... The gentleman playing the keys on Big Fat Momma, has also passed. He was a buddy of ours in the music department at UW-Stevens Point, not a regular member of the band... Can you guess which word in Big Fat Momma we changed for the record??? For some reason, they left Mike Pockat's name off the credits, he had more to do with the writing than I did. Great singer and lovely guy, was a life long friend til he passed...

Dakota Brown