Blue Verse

It’s really not a band without other members, but if you were going to name the first member of the band, it would definitely be Tommy Stuckey.

Giving up the piano in 8th grade, Tommy switched to taking up the guitar back in 1988. His first guitar was a sweet a@@ white Kramer with pink humbuckers.

Tommy’s long time St. Aloysius friend, Blase Dragna, had mastered the clarinet beyond anyone’s wildest dreams. Seeking new challenges beyond what the Catholic High School marching band offered, Blase bought his first set of drums in 9th grade. The drums were bright yellow, and the tom-toms closely resembled elbow pasta giving rise to the nickname “The Macaroni Drums.”

In between learning how to play their respective instruments, this duo spent much time together in 1990 pushing the other to better their craft. Though never a member of Blue Verse, Blase played a key role in its ultimate evolution.

Did you know that Blase and Tommy were both in Ms. Flint’s 1st Grade Class at St. Aloysius?

By sophomore year at Catholic High, the duo of Tommy & Blase were on the lookout for prospective bandmates. That year, they re-connected with fellow St. Aloysius Class of 1989 Graduates, Brian Harrell (bass) and Nathan Koenig (rhythm guitar/lead vocals). The quartet named themselves Creamy Brie and seemed destined for greatness.

Just as Autumn brings about change to a leaf’s color, this band similarly went through a colorful change. Citing stylistic and creative differences, Tommy & Blase ended their musical relationship with Nathan & Brian. It was back to 2-man practices and the drawing board again for Tommy & Blase.

Tommy & Blase were having no luck building their band. They clearly were desperate. They went with good friend Seth Schmeeckle to play the bass to add their 3rd member in the fall of 1991, their junior year.

Had he ever played a bass? No. A musical instrument of any kind? No. Could he read music? Nope. But he had several years of enrichment Music class from Mr. D at St. Aloysius. That has to count for something, right? Plus, Tommy agreed to teach Seth to play the bass figuring it had two less strings than the guitar Tommy was mastering. So sure, Tommy could teach him.

Eerie Fact: Tommy, Blase, and Seth were all in Mrs. Flint’s 1st grade class at St. Aloysius.

Junior year at CHS is a growth period for the band. Not long after Seth joined, piano prodigy Drew DeLaune – trained by the great Jody “Mr. D” Doucet – approached the trio suggesting he play keyboard in the band. It was a no brainer to add the virtuoso to the band, and the boys were happy to have him tickling the ivories at their practices.

But then, Drew pulled off arguably the greatest “bait and switch” in history. After a couple of practices, Drew showed up with a guitar in hand and declared himself the rhythm guitarist. His rationale: he had years of music training and at least had recently started taking formal guitar lessons which put him light years ahead of Seth on bass.

And away they went: a lead guitarist, a drummer, a bassist, and rhythm guitarist/keyboardist. Now, they needed a singer….

Fun Fact:  Drew was NOT in Ms. Flint’s 1^st Grade class.  He was next door in Ms. Yarbrough’s class.

Cramped in Aimee Stuckey’s former bedroom in the Stuckey abode, the foursome practiced songs meticulously – without a lead singer – much of the boys’ senior year. Eventually, John Faulk decided to “give it a go” in a very unofficial tryout. It was fun to have any kind of singer at a practice, but Faulk did not fit the bill.

Sometime later that year, the boys essentially anointed good friend Josh Zelden as lead singer and the band was complete!! Unfortunately, the 10 days of that experiment left all involved with the realization that Zelden lacked the skill set needed. It was a bittersweet end to this temporary fivesome. And the quest to find a singer continued…

So the quartet as it stands at this time consists of: (1) an aspiring guitarist (Tommy), (2) a clarinetist teaching himself the drums on a set of yellow macaroni shaped drums (Blase), (3) a bassist with no musical background whatsoever taking lessons from the aspiring guitarist (Seth), and (4) a rhythm guitarist who has never played guitar but only the piano (Drew).

In need of a singer to round out this conglomeration of madness, what would these four students locked away in their honors studies in between practice sessions do when the captain of the football team and/or homecoming king approached them to be the lead singer of their band?

Answer: Who knows? That never happened.

Instead, on a fateful afternoon that senior year, Tommy was home showing long time St. Aloysius buddy, Wame Waggenspack, that he could play “Love is on the Way” by Saigon Kick. (What a ballad, right? Tommy was poised to impress some ladies.) Unexpectedly, Wame – who admittedly had begun to shine in the CHS choir – belted out the song.

It was the “eureka” moment if you will. Right under their noses was arguably the best rock singer in all of Baton Rouge. Word spread from one band member to the next at school – because there was no texting available in these dark ages and guys didn’t call guys to “chat” – and within a few days, Wame was anointed the 5th member of this Island of Misfits.

So there it is…the boys were ready to focus on learning a number of songs and searching out the first gig. But there was still another unexpected development…

Good fortune was bestowed upon Blase Dragna in the form of a full scholarship offer to Louisiana Tech. Unfortunately for the band otherwise heading to LSU, this meant that the recently formed fivesome was once again a foursome – and now short a drummer with only a few months left in their senior year.

But Blase’s three years in the CHS Marching Band blowing on that clarinet also put him close to some high class drummers. Wanting his friends to succeed in his absence, Blase suggested that we seek out the highly regarded Jeff Cook. Jeff was a master at the snare and the trips according to Blase and would fit right in with the gang (how couldn’t he since he was no bigger than the rail thin Seth and the minuscule Drew?)

The remaining foursome knew little of Jeff. Seth knew of Jeff’s younger brother, Tim Cook. Tim was (and remains) best friends with Seth’s younger brother, Jess Schmeeckle and frequented the house. Tim seemed like a great guy from a good family, so that was a plus. Also, Jeff had a really cool silver Camaro that everybody on campus knew about. Plus, Jeff was headed to LSU.

So what more do you need? (Other than a means by which to make a meaningful invitation.) Today, the boys probably would have gotten his cell number and fired him a text – you know, like dating – that way the rejection wouldn’t hurt as much if Jeff said “no.” But how were they going to get this invitation accomplished in the dark ages? Phone him? That seemed impersonal. Hang outside of his locker? That seemed creepy.

And then fate stepped in. After a romantic tour through the Walden neighborhood taking in the sights, Tommy and his then girlfriend were on the main thoroughfare leading out. And like a bat out of hell coming from the opposite direction, a silver Camaro came barreling down the road, turning in front of Tommy’s path and wheeling into a driveway.  So Tommy did what every normal person would do: stalk the Camaro.

Pulling up behind the Camaro, Tommy got out and approached Jeff with his nerves rattling. Much like asking a girl to prom, Tommy explained the situation of the band and asked Jeff, “So, do you want to go with me?” No, wait, he said “Do you want to be in a band?” And Jeff – processing the information as fast as any engineer would – said “sure,” and retreated to his house with Tommy exclaiming “Great! I’ll let you know when our next practice is. Oh, can I have your phone number?”

So, there you have it. The fivesome of Blue Verse.

Not long after starting at LSU, Wame actually quit the band citing to the anticipated challenges of college and his need to study more. Stunned, but not wanting to give up, the band offered the lead singing spot to McVoy Hall co-resident and crooner, Vaughn Meiners, Jr. He and Seth had teamed up earlier in life on a 2nd Grade recreational soccer team (the Hawks), and this gave occasion for them to re-connect considering Drew, Tommy, Seth, and Vaughn were all on the same floor in the dorm.

A couple of weeks yielded the unfortunate realization that Vaughn’s voice was too elegant as it was defined by a strong vibrato that was not meshing with the hard rock sound the boys were pursuing. This led to a parting of ways.

Vaughn went on to become a Family Medicine doctor in Baton Rouge. It speaks to Vaughn’s confidence to have “given it a go,” and the band sincerely appreciated his effort for those couple of weeks.

In the interim, Wame was apparently amidst an epiphany – it’s just school, and he likely could manage both school and the band. So the boys invited their prodigal son back. Wame appreciated the second chance and remains forever indebted to Drew, Jeff, Tommy, and Seth for same.