Biography
Gordy Gale...
...was born on June 17 at Saginaw General Hospital, in Saginaw, Michigan. Growing up in the small town
of Caro, Michigan, life was very uneventful, and unrewarding simply being known as Mark and Denny Gale's
little brother. Until one night in 1964, " I happened to see the Beau Brummels on TV's Shindig! Man,
that was like Richard Dreyfus seeing those mashed potatoes in Close Encounters of the Third Kind, I KNEW
I WAS A DRUMMER FROM THEN ON... I used to leave Sears and J.C.Penny's catalogs open, to the pages that
had drums on them, all over the house hoping that my parents would get the hint and buy me some drums.
But they didn't. Finally, I just came right out and told my mom that I wanted drums for Christmas. Well,
Christmas morning 1965, there was an envelope on the tree with my name on it. I opened it, and read "one
snare drum...back ordered". This meant, as my mother explained to me, that they were out of stock, and
it would be coming to me in the mail sometime later. Well two months later, which is 10 years in kid
time, on a rainy afternoon, a postman rang our front door bell, and hey, it was for me! I quickly opened
the package, to find...........a toy snare drum! Rats!!!!! Didn't my parents understand? The instructions
read, "hold over a radiator or candle to lower the pitch, and put in a cold place or the refridgerator
to raise the pitch or the drum. Man, hadn't they ever heard of a drum key???!!!! Well this drum was to
be it for another 6 months, and I quickly punched a hole through the top of it by playing it too hard,
until one afternoon, I realized that my dad was taking my brother Mark down to Detroit to buy him a "Real"
guitar, that I could weasel my way into the car and get some "Real" drums too!! There we were, Meyer's
Music in Detroit. My dad shocked the hell out of me by saying "Get anything you want Gordy." I almost
fainted. I hadn't done my homework, and actually didn't know what I should ask for. Mark chimed in, "Get
those Champagne Sparkle (color) Ludwig drums, that's what Ansley Dunbar (the Turtles) uses." But no,
I had to get the Ludwig Blue Sparkle ones. And I didn't even get a floor tom or a hi-hat as I didn't
know what those were. So I played on a bass drum, snare drum, a mounted tom, one cymbal, (Beverly brand
I think) and a cowbell and woodblock for years. Until one day, I took my drums to school for Show and
Tell in English Class. I played my drums to the 45 records of "My Green Tamborine" by the Lemon Pipers,
and "The Game Of Love" by Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders. After that day, things were different. All
of the school bullies wanted to be my friend, and I was suddenly cool, and not just somebody's little
brother. My first band, called the Avengers, which consisted of accordian, guitar and drums, played their1st
and only gig at a piano recital. The set list consisted of I Feel Good (James Brown), Sonny (Bobby Hebb),
and Michelle (Beatles). I remember that I had a sign painter do a mock up of a logo of the Avengers on
posterboard and I taped it to the front of my bass drum head. Little did I know that this muted bass
drum sound was to be the standard sound in the future. But back then this wasn't cool, as my brother
Mark was quick to point out. Well, after the short lived career of the Avengers, I just sat up in my
room and played to records every day...day and night. Beach Boys, the Doors, Beatles, Dave Clark Five,
BeeGees, the Hollies etc etc....One afternoon, Mark's band, the V.I.P.'s, was practicing downstairs,
and the drummer was having a hard time playing the cool drum licks in "Fire" by Jimi Hendrix. " I remember
the look on my brother's face, when I sat down a played the groove much better than his older and more
experienced drummer did. That was a life changing moment for me, as now even my brother had to admit
that I could play. Times had now changed from me getting our mother to force him to "jam" with me to
this moment of recognition. I don't think that the "you suck as a drummer little brother" attitude
ever really went away until in 1981 I played drums on NBC's Tonight Show with Johnny Carson...hahaha
after that, it never came up again."
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