Jesus Byron
From The Secret History of the Cedar Valley
History
At the time Jesus Byron was founded, Steve Engel was a fledgling guitar player with maybe six months of learning. Steve met guitarist Clair Clarke, who felt that this was the perfect time to get into a band. Clair had a few songs he wanted to do, including 'Stanglehold' the way he thought it should be done. Clair and Jeff Eastman (who was the singer for Fat Bertha and the Love Shakers) lived together, so the band borrowed Fat Bertha's drummer Aaron Curtis and bass player John Fetter and worked up a set. Soon they got Sherm to book them an opening spot at Steb's, where they played their first show.
The first show was in the fall of 1990, at one of those great all day musicfests at Steb's which would start at four in the afternoon and go all night long. It was also Tripmaster Monkey's debut show at Stebs. Harrie Carrie closed the night. Guitarist Steve Engel was so nervous that he kept forgetting to swallow his spit, and hence kept drooling on his guitar, but the whole thing was a blast.
For their last show... drummer Aaron Curtis wasn't around... so Steve Engel convinced Dave Berg to play the show for us. All was fine until Clair decided to end the show with 'Sweet Home Alabama'....Dave may have left the Cedar Valley that night.
Band Members
- Clair Clarke - Vocals, guitar
- Steve Engel - Guitar
- John Fetter - Bass
- Aaron Curtis - Drums
- Dave Berg - Drums for a show
Lore
- Steve Engel:
'We booked the first show before we had a name, so a deadline ensued to get ourselves on a poster. Of course, the solution was to get drunk and think about it...Clair was really rooting to call ourselves Stevie Ray Homo & the Brownstars...I guess Jesus Byron was more poster friendly."
