In the Summer of 1997 some future members of BOSS BINGHAM started making music together. Charlie Seaton (a former member of “Dirt”) and Cary Duncan had guitar experience, and Chris Hammond, seeing the need for bassist, jumped into the mix as well. I had received a drum set that Christmas - a cheap Sunlite kit - and I brought it over hoping we could bang out a few songs. We did just that, and soon Stephen Hinton joined, also playing guitar. At this point, Charlie usually put his guitar aside to concentrate on singing.

We played Weezer. And more Weezer. Occasionally we'd throw in a Fountains of Wayne cover or "Sucked Out" by Superdrag, but when we scouted for a song everyone was familiar with, we always ended up with Weezer. And why not? They were a band everyone liked, and they were probably the reason half of us picked up instruments in the first place

We also listened to a lot of punk. NOFX, Face to Face, Less than Jake...stuff like that. We slowly turned into a band that only played "Nerd Rock" to a band that played mostly punk. Soon we became renowned throughout Savannah for our interpretation of "Vigilante Sidekick" by Rancid. We decided we needed a name, and we came up with THE SENTINELS. Cary the D. left to join THE JEFFERSONS, and our ragtag bunch of freedom fighters had to make due with only 2 guitarist. Horrors. Anyway, Charlie, Chris and I wrote some original songs. If you remember "Imagine That," "R U Deer?", "The Girl of my Dreams," "Wasted," or “Harris D. Rabonni” you shouldn't. They were pretty forgettable. We played these songs (and others) at a few variety shows, a show at the Savannah theater (I think), and 2 shows in Jeremy Bain's basement opening for THE JEFFERSONS. We were alright...our best show was the first basement show. It was wicked awesome.

And then....rock bottom.

But not really. THE SENTINELS disbanded and we wandered around aimlessly for a while, wondering how life could go on. Chris, Stephen, Cary and me screwed around for a bit, playing weird stuff they had written while weed-eating at Claytons, the place that manufactures dreams. I think Chris and Stephen wanted to sound like HUM. Man, I couldn't play like HUM’s drummer; I still sucked. I ran away from that ensemble and soon found comfort in a new group, a ‘side band’ while I was still in THE SENTINELS, called "Richard Head."

RICHARD HEAD was my kind of band. It consisted of Chris Hammond, Cary Duncan, Phillip Weaver, and me.As you can and will see, the formula for most of these bands was THE SENTINELS minus one or two members. We played Foo Fighters and Weezer...stuff that I could usually keep up with. We even wrote 3 songs. There were two songs about driving by Chris called "Driving" and "Scarlet," and one by me called "Charlie Brown." They were dinky songs; basically "nerd rock" (I don't enjoy using that term, but it is accurate). We didn't perform these songs anywhere live, but I can still play all three of them to this day on guitar, bass, or drums. Needless to say, they weren't very complicated.

RICHARD HEAD was short lived. I didn't have to wait very long, however, to be picked up by a new band. (Drummers are a bit of a rarity in Savannah.) The next band, LINCOLN'S LOG, consisted of Stephen Hinton, Chris Hammond, and Josh Cromwell. Josh and I thought Superdrag was the shiznit, and we mass-produced their sounds every time we got together. We didn't play any originals...we couldn't write 'em. Usually we just messed around. We played some shows together, and it was during this time that two other bands came into existence

GRIFFIN and SPREAD EAGLE rose like a mighty Phoenix from the earth, producing two very different sounds. I played in GRIFFIN while I played with LINCOLN'S LOG. GRIFFIN was made up of Charlie Seaton, Cary Duncan, Chris Hammond, and Jacob Hamilton. We were a fairly talented group: Chris was an excellent bassist, Cary was a sweet lead guitar player, Charlie was an awesome rhythm guitarist, I was getting better at the drums, and Jacob could sing and play the keyboard. We were a cover band through and through, and during this time we worked on expanding our selections of songs to bands outside of the realm of Weezer and Superdrag (although they certainly made appearances from time to time). GRIFFIN was around for a short time, covering Ben Folds Five, STP, and Beatles songs.

LINCOLN'S LOG was still playing. GRIFFIN was still playing. SPREAD EAGLE found a drummer named Charlie Seaton. It all happened in the Summer of 99. Then college swept its mighty hand across our board of life, clearing away all hopes of a future for every band save SPREAD EAGLE. I was going to live in Florence. Stephen was going to live at Vanderbilt. Chris was moving to dirty K-Town. LINCOLN'S LOG and GRIFFIN were no more.

While Charlie kept the beat alive in SPREAD EAGLE, the band that consisted of Blake Dycus, Will Green, and Chad Arnold, a new band formed. This band was 12 ANGRY MEN

12 ANGRY MEN delivered jock rock to the masses. And they were dang good too boys. Lots of Aerosmith, lots of Guns and Roses, and lots and lots of solos. This quintuplet consisted of A.J. Fowler, Cary Duncan, Sammy Sparks, Stephen Green, and Jacob Hamilton. They also wrote a few original songs, their most famous ones being "Teenage Wasteland" and "Electric Doggy Land."

Meanwhile, at Vanderbilt Stephen found himself longing for the tender smooches of his girlfriend, and I found myself with a roommate who wanted to move back home. By the time Spring of 2000 rolled around I was commuting to The University of North Alabama and Stephen was taking a break from Vanderbilt while taking classes in Selmer, TN. We were living in Savannah...boys without a band.

...And Charlie Seaton was aching to pick up a guitar again. I would occasionally go over to Seaton's house to play impromptu jam sessions, and we'd make up stupid songs while alternating between singing. We'd play with just a guitar and some drums, and we sounded ok. In fact, we were getting better. At least I knew I was. (Not trying to sound cocky there.) Soon Stephen joined us, and we, being pretty sharp fellows, discovered we were missing a bass player. Chris was all up in 'da Knoxville scene; what were we to do? Who could save us from our lowly state?

Dan Carter, that's who.

Dan had never picked up any instrument except for the Saxophone. But our desperate trio figured that his musical experience and ability were above average, so we asked him to play bass for us. He accepted, and a new band was born. This band would later blossom into a beautiful butterfly, but in its early, caterpillar like stage, it was known as FLAMING PIE.

FLAMING PIE played during the late Spring and all throughout the Summer. We played a party at Dan's House, we played a Variety Show at the High School, and we played a River Park Show opening up for 12 ANGRY MEN. Basically every performance ended with a spastic breakdown of “Helter Skelter” by the Beatles. During this time I got to sing a bit, as did Charlie, but neither one of us could hit high notes. Not that it really mattered at that point, because we were all excited about the songs Charlie was writing. They surprised everyone in the band, basically because of their maturity. They weren't generic and they couldn't easily be classified. They were simple, not overstated with solos. I liked 'em.

When that summer ended, so did 12 ANGRY MEN. Most of the boys left for college, and the band fizzled. FLAMING PIE didn't break up, but we didn't exactly jam frequently either. Dan had left for Knoxville, Stephen journeyed back to Vandy, and Charlie and I roomed at Freed-Hardeman University. During this time Charlie wrote more songs. Jacob, who had left to attend The University of Memphis, also wrote a few songs, although we didn't discover this until later. When we reconverged in the Winter of 2000, FLAMING PIE was ready to record a CD full of original material. Jacob wasn't involved with a band anymore, he had original material written, and he like our sound (and we liked his), so we eagerly asked him to join. He did, and FLAMING PIE became KALEIDOSCOPE.

We recorded our CD around New Years on rented equipment. I now lived in a new house, but we hadn't sold our old one, so we recorded there. Snow and ice covered the ground, but we all braved the elements to record in an empty house for 3 days. When the product was finished we were pleased (although we did have to mix it hurriedly). It was our first CD in about 4 years of playing music. Not too shabby.

We continued playing throughout the Spring of 2001 while performing at some Freed-Hardeman events, some out of town shows in Memphis, Nashville, and Knoxville, as well as some Savannah shows. We continued writing songs that rocked. We also continued to practice. During this time we discovered "KALEIDOSCOPE" was a widely used band name, so we changed it.

We rock to this day as BOSS BINGHAM. We're influenced by the same bands, but we blast a sound that's uniquely our own with driving guitars and drums; emotional screams from our front man. It's a rock band formula, and it works for us.   

Ah yes, it was a long journey to get to this point, but we made it. The story of a band is a tiresome adventure, but I hope I haven't bored you. In fact, I hope I've instilled in you some appreciation of what we've been through...what we've felt. If I haven't, I don't really care. This has taken too long to type up. I'm going now. See-ya!

Rob Franks, the guy in the rear