JULY 27 & 29: GARY WOLCOTT is Getting Wild!
Gary Wolcott is the drummer for the classic rock band Brooklyn Street. He founded the band in 2012. Gary grew up in a house full of music. His mom was — and still is — a great singer and focused on show tunes. He didn’t know other music existed until he walked by a barbershop whose door was open and heard the opening strains of The Everly Brothers Wake Up Little Susie. He’s been in love with rock ever since.
Gary wanted to be a drummer in 5th grade but thought the noise would make his dad mad so he played French Horn instead. But in 1964 along came The Beatles, The Dave Clark Five, The Rolling Stones, The Kinks and other great bands and Gary, who after hearing the power rhythm of Wake Up Little Susie had become a radio rock junkie — which later ended up to be a career — decided to pick up drums.
Even if it did make his dad mad — which it did.
Ringo, the Stones drummer Charlie Watts and Wishbone Ash’s Steve Upton are his biggest influences. Though when it comes to pure pocket rock drumming you can’t beat John Bonham who also was an influence.
He played in bands in the Portland area in his teens but bagged the drumming bug for a career in radio and later radio and television. For the last 25-plus years he’s also been a film critic and posts a weekly column in a Tri-Cities, Washington area newspaper and on Portland radio.
But that teen desire to rock never left and in his 40s, Gary bought an old Ludwig kit and got serious about music. Bands came and went before he formed Brooklyn Street in 2014. The original band disbanded in early 2015 and Gary — as he says with tongue-in-cheek — has “repaved” Brooklyn Street
Gary playing lots of stuff: https://www.youtube.com/
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