BAMBOO HARIS

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The History of Bamboo Haris… Haris…Haris

          In the summer of 1992, Anthony Tussing, of DeGraff Ohio was DJ’ing at a local bar when Jeff Roby, a resident of the same small mid-western town, approached him with an offer.   Tony, (Anthony) used to play this Chris Isaac song called “Wicked Game” while he was DJ’ing states Jeff.   “People didn’t realize it, but he was playing an instrumental B-side to the single and singing it himself!”   Jeff asked Anthony if he would be interested in singing in a band that he was playing with at that time.   “I remember I went to the three practices and the drummer never showed up……I ended up playing the drums” remembers Tony.  In the meantime, Jeff had been talking with his brother-in-law about the possibility of putting a band together.    Jeff told Anthony that his brother –in-law, Jim Notestine,, use to play in a band in Texas with his neighbor drummer, Dave Williams.   Since things weren’t going so well with the other band, they decided to have a go at it and Bamboo Haris was born.

          The line up included Anthony on bass and vocals, Jim on guitar and vocals, Jeff on Guitar and Dave on drums.   This line up spent most of their time practicing, however, they did play one show at Indian Lake.   “Just terrible” says Jim.  “We were really green and didn’t know what we were doing.”   B.H.  (Bamboo Haris) spent most of the next year trying out bass players to no avail.  Frustrated with this, Dave Williams left the group, and Tony Taylor entered to play the drums.

          Tony knew Jeff through Honda, and instantly made an impact on the bands sound.  Tony had been playing a wide variety of music at this time and was ready for some rock and roll.

          Soon, Mark Barhorst joined the band.  Mark and Jeff were introduced by their music instructor at the time, Brent Holt.  Mark was the missing link the band had needed.  Anthony was able to concentrate on singing and Mark was much more accomplished on the bass.  The classic Bamboo Haris line up was formed.

          This line up played for the next two years and built the initial B.H. fan base.   With the increased exposure the band began to play more often and these time constraints took a toll on Mark.  He left the band in the summer of 1994 and was replaced by John Morrow.

          Anthony: “John brought a whole new energy to the band.  He was always bouncing around!  He had a great attitude as well, plus a little more experience than did Mark.”

          This band’s popularity continued to grow, especially with the help of Mark Murhead and Rumours Nite Club in Urbana, Ohio.  Rumors became B. H.’s home away from home.  The “Bamboo Haris Weekend” saw some of the bar’s best nights.  It was also where Bamboo Haris would play the next 3 New Years Eves.

          After the 1^st New Years show the band took off.  With the addition of new sound and light equipment B. H. began to play all over and again the increased time demands took it’s toll.  This time Jim Notestine announced that he was leaving the band to spend more time with his family in the summer of 1995.  This left B. H.’s future in jeopardy.  Jim sang quite a few songs and was also the band’s lead guitarist.  Enter Brent Holt.

          Brent had been playing acoustic shows the last few couple of years in “Coffee House” type settings.  He also gave music lessons in Troy.  It’s there that Jeff and Mark had met and taken lessons from Brent.  Brent also opened several shows for B. H. and even ran sound from time to time.  He was always around anyways so he was the obvious choice to fill Jim’s shoes….and fill them he did, for the next 3 years!

          After the next New Years Eve show John left to live with his brother in Atlanta.  He was replaced with bassist Jeff Badiner.  Anthony: “We were lucky, one of our fans was dating Jeff at the time and she was aware that John was leaving.  She introduced us to him and he was able to practice with us a month or so until John left.”  Jeff Badiner was able to play a set at the New Years Eve show that year and it made for an easy transition for the band.

          This line up of Anthony Tussing on vocals, Jeff Roby on guitar, Brent Holt on guitar and vocals, Jeff Badiner on bass and Tony Taylor on drums made up the most successful line up on the band’s history.  This line up continued through the summer of 1998 ending at the Bamboo Bash at American Thunder outside Urbana.  Anthony states: “It was weird.  We just never got back together.  I got involved with school  and the others had their own businesses.  Jeff Badiner began to play with the Hard Knox and that was that.”  Or so it may seem….

          Fast forward to 2001.  Jim Notestine made the call and the classic line up of Anthony, Jim, Jeff Roby, Tony, and Mark Barhorst returned.  This line up played a few parties and it was like the Bamboo of old!  Mark Barhorst: “People just don’t realize how much work goes into getting a show together.  When you don’t play for awhile you have ot get reacquainted, learn new songs and relearn old songs.”

          Now it was time for Jeff Roby to leave.  His job transferred him to Alabama (By his choice).  “He was the Gene to my Paul, the only other constant in the band besides me…I was sad to see him go.”

          Fast forward one more time to April 2002.  Anthony makes the calls to Tony, Jim and Jeff Badiner about getting the band back together for real.  Anthony: “I was finally out of school, had a new job and really missed playing out.  Jeff was winding down with his band and everyone was just farther along in their lives where we could play again.”  Anthony set a date in late May and the new Bamboo began!  Anthony: “We started looking at equipment, places to practice, etc.  Finally in July we had all that sorted out and had some new stuff to play through and we started to think about new songs plus old songs we wanted to play.  We wanted to get Brent back to replace Roby but he just wasn’t interested.  Jeff Roby had suggested Adam Stahler from DeGraff, who was a friend of his son’s.  Adam didn’t have any experience and he was stuck on 2^nd shift which made it difficult for him to practice and it ruled out and Friday night gigs.”

          The band practiced for the next couple of months as a power trio, with Anthony filling in some on guitar.  Finally 2 of B. H.’s fans talked them into playing a Halloween party at Indian Lake.  This was the first gig of Bamboo reunited.  Adam joined the band in mid November and Bamboo Haris booked it’s first official return gig, New Years Eve at the Tammy Lynn Inn in DeGraff Ohio!

            B. H. played with this line up for about a year and a half.  Sadly after the New Years Eve show it was Jim's second time to leave the band.  Again Jim found finding time to commit to the band, work, and family hard.  "Family's got to come first," Jim states.  "After some of the losses this year (Deaths in the family) I just had to re-evaluate."

            Tony Taylor was the next to leave.  "I just though with Jim leaving and all maybe it was a good time to get out." says Tony.  Anthony says, "Tony wants to play, he loves it, but again being in a band takes up a lot of time and Tony doesn't have that.  He didn't want to realize six months from now that he couldn't do it, so he thought it was best to leave while the band was in a transitional period."

            Now it was time to fill two spots in the band.  Guitarist Jason Farrow had met Anthony way back in September.  His wife worked with Anthony and had asked if there were any bands looking for a new guitarist.  Thankfully in January Anthony remembered Jason and set up an audition with the band.  Jeff Badiner states, "He got the gig that night.  We had looked at three or four others but they didn't have the skills or the attitude we were looking for."

            The next spot to be filled was the drums.  The band had looked for over a month but everybody was either not available anymore or just not up to the bands standards.  The band finally found a potential drummer after a couple of tryouts but things didn't work out.  Anthony explains;  "We found a guy and put four months of practice in with him , we even played a private party that went really well, but just as we were getting ready to play our first gig he sorta disappeared."