DESCRIPTION:
Midnite at the Olympics - Song Six

This is our cover of Cantaloop, which is Us3's cover of Herbie Hancock's Cantaloupe Island.

Thunder Wamper was a band I started in 1993, in response to a call from Ken Starratt of The Yams. He needed somebody to go on after The Yams and open for Neal Pattman at the Georgia Theatre in Sept 1993. We had less than two weeks to put a band together and work up a set worthy of opening for Neal Pattman. My first call to get this underway was to my favorite saxman in the world, John James, who came up with the name for the band by combining two old slave slang terms for the King Snake, Thunder Snake and Swamp Wamper..

The Strange Attractors originally turned down the gig offered by Ken, being already committed to the Star Bar at Little Five Points in Atlanta that night. Thus, Thunder Wamper was born. By early 1994, three of our members were original Strange Attractors members. Thunder Wamper's run was for almost exactly one year, then we all scattered to different corners of the country.

Two years after disbanding, the universe decided for us to headline an outdoor Budweiser-fueled stage in Athens during the '96 Olympics. The guy in charge of music was a fan of ours and said the headlining spot on Aug 1, at midnight, was ours if we wanted it. It was a drunken show but fueled with total abandon, not having played one note together in two years, before the downbeat of the first song that night. It was simply a show that was meant to be. About a half year later, Joe Ionno passed away due to injuries sustained in an auto accident in Maine, which makes these recordings that much more precious. Any song I post here is dedicated to Joe.

-Perrish
Founder, Thunder Wamper

Band Lineup:

Tony Oscar - Percussion
Richard Jones - Percussion
Dwayne Holloway - Percussion
Sean Sinback - Bass
Joe Ionno - Keyboards
Mike Bolin - Alto Sax
John James - Tenor Sax
Perrish - Trumpet, Vocals
(aka Perry D'Andrea)

Certainly a horn section I was proud to play in.