About the Band:
The Biography of the Eccentrix
The Band:
Scott Perrie-Acoustic
Guitar, Lead Vocals, Harmonica, Auxilary Percussion
David Lewanda-
Lead
Guitar, Backup Vocals, Saxophone
Beckett Madden-Woods-
Backup Vocals, Keyboards
Keith Zdrojowy-
Bass
Donald Amodio-
Drums
"This is a story all about how...."
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The Band:
The
Beginning
It all started out as a dream. Where does any good story start?
The setting: Farmington, Connecticut, early 1990's. Scott Perrie,
as a young lad, and talented child musician, decides that playing other
people's music is fine, but becomes interested in penning his own tunes.
With the aid of an electric keyboard, computer and MIDI connector, the
boy began to write rock tunes, recording different instrument tracks with
the aid of the computer. In late 1993, when in eighth grade, Dave
Lewanda, Scott's long time schoolmate becomes friendly with Scott, as they
are both interested in playing saxophone. Perrie introduces Lewanda
to his own music, and Lewanda becomes enthusiastic. Their first musical
collaboration was a rock/jazz band they tried to form during their freshman
year, named "DoubleSharp". Lewanda then digs out his uncle's old
acoustic guitar and tries to teach himself how to play. He is not
very successful in his attempt. However, in early 1995, Lewanda pens
his first lyrics and hands them over to Perrie to attempt to compose a
tune for the words. This first tune is titled "In A Cloud," and a
musical collaboration is born. Dave and Scott continue to collectively
author new tunes. As with any endeavor, there is a learning curve,
and many of these first tunes end up discarded in a trash can.
At the conclusion of his freshman year in high school, Lewanda requires
some head surgery for a skull defect acquired at birth. Due to the
sensitive nature of the surgery, Dave is not allowed to play saxophone
for a period, due to the pressure that blowing into a saxophone would require.
To fulfill his musical desires, Dave bargains with his parents to learn
guitar from a formal instructor, and continues his studies for a year.
With his new guitar talent, Lewanda delves into writing music as well as
lyrics. Jumping ahead to Christmas 1995, Scott receives his first
guitar from his parents as a gift. He proceeds to teach himself,
with some guide from Dave, to become proficient in rhythm guitar, and takes
the role of lead singer, due to his vocal talents. Lewanda fills
the role of the lead guitarist, using his formal training to learn how
to improvise on solos written into their tunes.
These two adolescents set out on the music scene as an acoustic guitar
duo, much in the same style of Dave Matthews and his friend Tim Reynolds,
or the locally popular band Guster. They later came up with the name "Acoustic
Eccentrics". They first performed on Mothers' Day Weekend, 1996 at
an open mike night at Susan's Coffeehouse in Granby, Connecticut.
This first debut was a three song set, including "Dancing Nancies", by
Dave Matthews, "The Listener", a tune by Scott, based on a poem by his
then long-time girlfriend Jessica Ferreira, and "Cats in the Cradle", by
Harry Chapin. The duo received praise from the audience, and felt
encouraged to continue playing together. After honing their craft
at Laurel Music Camp in June 1996, the duo proceeded to perform four more
open mic nights at Susan's Coffeehouse over the next year and a half.
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The
Eccentrix
While at Laurel Music Camp 1996, Dave and Scott meet Don Amodio, a percussionist
in the concert band that both Perrie and Lewanda participate in.
They discuss forming a band with the drummer, but the idea is stymied as
there is no apparent bass player to fill out the band. One year later,
at Laurel Music Camp 1997, Don introduces Keith Zdrojowy to the duo, and
the four promised to keep in touch, and upon return from various summer
activities, to begin to try to form a band. The idea again disappears
until late August, 1997, when Zdrojowy contacted Lewanda. On a fateful
overcast day in early October, the band has their first official rehearsal
in Keith's garage in East Hartford, CT. Perrie and Lewanda come prepared
with a veritable mix of cover tunes and originals. The first tune
the band learned, "Unanswered Questions" was written by Dave Lewanda.
Due to the drive time required to commute from Farmington to East Hartford,
and the fact that none of the band members owned their own car, they are
forced to wait another two weeks to rehearse again. Then, the band
hits another roadblock - college applications. Due to a scheduling
mishap for the first weekend of November, the band goes on a hiatus as
each member needed to take care of personal business. It would not
be until January 1998 that the band would rehearse again.
During this layoff, Lewanda and Perrie continued to play their acoustic
duo. They perform their last coffeehouse open mike night at Susan's
Coffeehouse in November 1997, before Susan's closed to become a catering
service. Being persistent buggers, the two guys check out Crossroads
- The Student Union, an alternative entertainment center for Farmington
Valley teens. The Acoustic Eccentrics make a formal proposal to the
governing body of the establishment for an acoustic concert in early 1998.
While the first attempt for a performance was canceled due to inclement
New England winter weather, the duo finally performs March 20th, 1998,
with a band led by Tim Warren, also of Farmington High School opening the
show. This performance, included with a rousing rendition of Dave
Matthews' "Lie In Our Graves" the week before at Farmington High School's
Talent Show 1998, raises the profile of Dave and Scott as performers.
There is a feature article on the duo in The Voice, the Farmington
High School student newspaper, which serves as the first publicity for
the group.
While this is all happening, full band rehearsals pick up as the workload
during the second half of the senior year in high school decreases.
The band, officially titled "The Eccentrix" begins to grow as a cohesive
unit, learning more music and also perfecting their craft of playing together
as a band. Early in May, 1998, the band decides to perform for the
public. Keith finds a small, yet very attractive coffeehouse in Enfield,
Connecticut, called Common Grounds Bistro, which hosts a teen open
mic night one Sunday evening every month. The band prepares a set
for a complete show, full of covers and original tunes, in the chance that
there might not be any other acts there on a Sunday night. Luckily
enough, The Eccentrix are the only performers to show up. After playing
a full two-hour show, the band impresses the proprietor, and is asked back
for a second gig. This first gig is the first "paying" gig for any
of the band members, as they each take in six dollars from a donation basket
in the front of the restaurant. The band continues to rehearse, and
plays two more Sunday night gigs at Common Grounds. Looking
to expand their fan base, the band looks to other locales to perform.
The band plays another gig at Crossroads, as Dave and Scott are
invited back after their successful acoustic gig. Over the course
of the summer, the band plays a couple other open mic nights, at venues
such as Equator Coffee Bar, in Manchester, CT, and The Webster
Underground, in Hartford, CT.
Towards the middle of July, 1998, the band decides that they would like
to save their work for posterity, as well as produce a recording they can
sell and distribute in order to gain popularity. During the last
two weeks of July, the band goes into the studio, a cheap recording studio
in Simsbury, CT known as Windows Through Time, where, unknowingly,
the band ends up working with a recording engineer who has lost his mind.
Due to the lack of funds by the band and lack of ethics by the recording
engineer, the band's recording comes out not quite as good as expected.
Due to family vacations and all four members of the band entering college
in the fall, the recording is left in the hands of the engineer, who neglects
it. Needless to say, the recording is still in process, as the band
has taken the business from the engineer's hands and is presently looking
for a new studio that can handle the type of digital master tapes the recording
was originally recorded on.
Due to the fact that all four members of the band are attending four different
universities, the band goes on hiatus in the fall of 1998. The band
looks forward to extended breaks where all members return to Connecticut
to resume rehearsing. The band meets up again three times over Christmas
break. Over the break, they refine some old songs, learn some new
ones and discuss the plans for playing a number of gigs during the summer
of 1999. In January, 1999, the band invites long time friend and
former sound man Beckett Madden-Woods to join the group, adding a second
vocal part, as well as auxiliary percussion and hopefully keyboard skills.
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The Summer
of 1999 - the end for now
After
a fun-filled spring semester away at college, the band returs home to Connecticut
for what is creatively titled the Debut/Reunion/Farewell tour. With
the final production of the album, On Common Ground complete, and
with the addition of Beckett Madden-Woods on keyboard and vocals, the band
starts out looking for new venues and new fans. The tour starts on
May 22nd, in Lee, MA, as Dave and Scott play an acoustic show as the opening
act for Bambi's Apartment, the band from Boulder, CO that Scott is associated
with. The summer takes them all over Central Connecticut, including
such hot spots as Farmington, Simsbury, Enfield, Manchester and East Hartford.
Playing venues from private outdoor parties to small coffeehouses, the
Eccentrix gather a pretty steady following (mostly friends and family of
the band) who come out and support the band. The Eccentrix sell out
of their albums and actually get paid to perform. The tour comes
to a bittesweet end, because the guys don't know when all five will be
in the same locale to ressurrect the band. Each member returns to
college at the end of August, where they each pursue various different
musical and artistic diversions. Before they leave, however, the
band makes a home recording of eight hits from their summer performances.
Copies of this recording, either on disk, tape or electronically transmitted
can be requested by emailing Dave.
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The Guys:
Scott Perrie
Scott Perrie started his music by singing in the elementary school choir
in the little town of Unionville, Connecticut. When fifth grade rolled
around, he decided that he wanted to learn the alto saxophone as well.
His parents bought him a student model Yamaha alto saxophone, which he
carried with him through all his saxophone accomplishments. On top
of playing in both jazz and concert bands through middle school, by audition
he made the Connecticut Northern Region Concert Band both his seventh and
eighth grade years. During middle school he studied saxophone privately
with Robert Adams.
Towards the end of eighth grade and the beginning of ninth grade, Scott
started composing using a newly acquired keyboard and MIDI translator he
got in the early summer of 1994 in conjunction with his computer.
He wrote lyrics of his own and sang along with the full band arrangements
being played through his keyboard. Some of these first tunes were
entitled "Purple Dancers" and "An Answer". Scott showed off his composition
talent to a few friends, one of which took a great liking to it all.
And so the seeds of The Eccentrix were sown
Scott continued to stretch his instrumental ability throughout high
school. He got the opportunity to play the four major members of
the saxophone family. He also taught himself how to play guitar,
with the help of Dave and Bruce Boehm, a folk guitarist and family friend,
when he acquired his first guitar during the Christmas of 1995. During
this time he also taught himself harmonica. Scott continued with
saxophone, switching to study with Tibias Yeugar in late 1997. He
also continued to hone his voice by singing in school groups, including
Concert Choir, Chamber Singers and Madrigal Singers. He made the
Connecticut All-State Concert Band his sophomore year, then the All-State
Choir his junior and senior years.
Composing wasn't always the easiest for Scott. His main inspirations
come from a 3 year girlfriend during high school, stressful periods in
his life, and his a desire to express his own personal morals. As
his musical experience grew, so did his composistions. Besides his
tunes written for The Eccentrix, Scott also has scribed a tune dedicated
to the 1997-1998 Farmington High School Jazz Combo entitled "C the Funk".
Scott heads the Eccentrix with his lead vocals, accompanying the band with
rhythm guitar, occasional adding harmonica to the mix. Currently,
Scott studies Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of
Colorado at Boulder, and continuing playing saxophone by studying privately
with Joel Bowers. He recently joined a local Boulder band, Bambi's
Apartment. Perrie pprovides saxophone, harmonica, and piano for the
band, and will be included on their soon-to-be-released album. He
has clearly stated that while enjoys playing with Bambi's Apartment, he
sees it only as a long-term guest situation and looks forward to getting
back to playing with The Eccentrix.
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David Lewanda
Dave began his musical career at an early age. In third and fourth
grade, he played violin in the Union Elementary School string program,
learning by the Suzuki method. In fifth grade, Dave had the option
of joining the band and learning a wind instrument. He found the
saxophone to be very appealing, and when his parents made him choose either
violin or sax, he decided on the later. Dave was one of the first
three students to play tenor sax in the Union School Band. He struggled
early on in his career, not being truly motivated. In eight grade,
after failing to make the jazz band, he decided to take his instrument
more seriously. This decision allowed the friendship between Dave
and Scott to prosper. Scott, already achieving success on the saxophone,
recommended the teachings of Mr. Robert Adams. Dave studied with
Adams for a year and a half, improving as a sax player throughout.
He left Adams to study with different teachers, and ended up studying with
Dave Porrier in Burlington, Connecticut.
In ninth grade, after a minor bike accident, it was discovered that Dave
had a birth defect in his left temporal area of his skull, as no bone had
grown, leaving a hole the size of a half dollar. After many doctor
appointments during his freshman year, Dave had surgery to repair the defect
in June, 1995. It was during this fateful year that Lewanda began
to write original compositions. At first, he would just pen lyrics,
then turn them over to Perrie to write the music. The first of these
collaborations was a song named, "In A Cloud". Tunes produced during
this period included the likes of Wishing and One-Eyed Jack. After
the surgery, Dave was not allowed to play saxophone, due to the pressure
applied and in increase in blood pressure when blowing through the horn.
To fulfill his musical ambitions, he bargained with his parents to formally
study guitar. Dave studied at the Workshop School of Music in Avon,
Connecticut, under the tutelage of Paul Howard. He continued to study
for a full year. It was during this time that Dave dappled in writing
tunes. The first tune he completed put a poem he had written for
his freshman English class, titled "Life". Other tunes produced during
this humble beginning included "Long Roads" and "Luckiest Man Alive".
After Perrie received his guitar for Christmas in 1995, the two started
to play together, as Perrie taught himself the guitar, along with guidance
from Lewanda. First learning tunes such as Bush's "Glycerine", the
duo formed a familiarity with each other that allowed for their duet to
succeed by practice and determination. They then began to learn original
tunes that each other had written. While practicing mostly in Dave's
basement, the duo put together tunes such as "Luckiest Man Alive" and "The
Listener". As both continued to play, their skill level increased
and allowed for more difficult tunes to be learned and written. The
duo enjoyed the acoustic environment that only two guitars and voice provided,
but had always longed for a full band, including drums and bass.
Besides playing in the band, Dave furthered his musical interests by participating
in the Farmington High School
Music Department. During his freshman and sophomore years, he
sang in the Concert Choir and played tenor saxophone in the Concert Band.
During the final two years at Farmington High, Dave decided to concentrate
on his instrumental skills, and participated in the Symphonic Band, Wind
Ensemble and Jazz Band. During his senior year, Lewanda made it into
the Northern Regional Concert Band.
During that fateful year of guitar study, Dave saved his pennies and bought
himself a used GTX-33 guitar and practice amp, in anticipation of forming
a full-fledged band. Finally, with the inclusion of Amodio, Zdrojowy
and now Madden-Woods, the dream has come to fruition.
Besides adding his guitar and saxophone talents to the band, Dave also
serves as band manager and booking agent. If anyone is looking to
book the band for a date, please contact him by
email.
Presently, Dave is attending Lehigh University as a Computer Engineering
major. At school Dave performs on tenor saxophone as a part of the
Lehigh University Jazz Band and Wind Ensemble. Outside of music,
Dave is interested in computers and sports.
Dave's turn-ons include: a great smile, a sense of humor, nice eyes, keeping
fit, some intelligence and a deep love of music.
Dave's turn-offs include: smoking, lack of respect for oneself and others,
and lack of sense of enjoyment.
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Beckett Madden - Woods
From his humble beginnings in a thatched-roof shack in rural Ireland, Beckett
has come a long way. "A true American Dream" one might
say. Well, er..., he'll never really consider
himself American actually, so scratch that. Dreading the thought of having
to be a potato farmer, he
decided to break with his family legacy and
ran away from home. As luck would have it, he found a ticket for a boat
to New York, so he seized the
chance and scrounged together his meagre life
savings to buy a bus fare to the ferry terminal. Learning clarinet, piano,
and South-Central African
percussion techniques from gifted black musicians
on the menacing streets of Harlem, Beckett soon became a legend in local
clubs. Seeking more
excitement out of life, Beckett stole a tenor
saxophone and recorded two hit albums on a since defunct label. Searching
for a ticket out of the ghetto,
he made several guest appearences with major
New York choirs and gained the attention of many in the upper circles of
professional music. He
currently is pursuing a degree in electrical
engineering at a prominent ivy league institution and is considering a
candidacy as the president of a small
foreign nation. He is delighted to be joining
The Eccentrix and hopes you find time to learn a little more about him
by visiting his web
page.
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Keith Zdrojowy
The story of Keith Zdrojowy starts at an early age, when in third grade
he first started to play the violin. He still keeps his violin to
this day, playing it from time to time. In the fourth grade he tried
his luck with the flute, and then the clarinet. In fourth grade he
met someone that would end up being a close friend, Don Amodio. Keith,
just like any other boy, had dreams of one day being in a band. In
5th grade he was given an acoustic guitar for Christmas. He never
did have much luck with it, he found it hard to play and got frustrated
with it after awhile. In high school Keith tried too learn the trombone,
but he wasn’t to successful.
At this time, Keith was still playing the violin, but he wasn’t about to
join a band based on his violin skills. He soon met a friend named
Lee. Lee was an inspiration you might say, because he was a bass
player. When Keith heard Lee play his bass, he was inspired to learn
how. In Keith’s freshman year he started to learn how to play an
upright bass under the instruction of his long time orchestra teacher,
Mr. Kirchmyer. He learned the basics of the bass, but wasn’t able
to stay with it over the summer. It wasn’t until his junior year
that Keith went out and actually bought a bass guitar. With his birthday
money, Keith went out and bought a Samick bass, and a micro
bass amp. He again went to Mr. Kirchmyer for instruction. After
only playing for two months he joined the East Hartford High School Jazz
band. In this jazz band, good friend Don was the drummer.
He was impressed with Keith’s ability to play the bass after such a short
period. That year Keith went to Laurel Music Camp where Don introduced
him to Dave and Scott. And the rest, as they, is history.
Keith is currently a student at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Connecticut.
He is deeply attached to a special girl there, and has been now for over
three months. Now some people maybe wondering on how to pronounce
Keith’s last name, Zdrojowy. Well, it’s Polish of course and
is pronounced: Stri-o-vi.
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Don Amodio
Don Amodio comes from a very musical family.
When the young Don made it to fourth grade decided to play the drums at
his elementary school in East Hartford, CT. His first instructor was Richard
Pryor of O'Connell Elementary School when he was 9 years of age.
Richard Pryor taught Don all of the basics of drumming starting out on
the little tiny rubber pad that his parents had bought for him. All
of the other kids that lugged bigger instruments looked at him and all
of the other drummers, jealous that all they had to take to school for
lessons and band rehersal was a small pad and two sticks. Little
did Don know that later on in his career he would have to lug around the
biggest instrument that man ever created. This was also the year
that Don had met and became good friends with the future bassist of The
Eccentrix, Keith Zdrojowy. Keith was taking violin lessons at the
time and was perorming in the orchestra. The two would not be able
to play in the same ensemble until much later when they arrived in High
School.
When Don went into the sixth grade he had progressed in his drumming skills
and began to take his instrument a bit more seriously. This was also
the year that Santa had left a Pearl Drum set under the Christmas tree
for his enjoyment. This is the set that Don still plays on with many
new additions. Having gotten a drum set Don showed interest to his
parents in private lessons. They saw he really wanted them and his
father arranged for him to begin lessons at Ricardos Music store in East
Hartford under Tim (sorry but his last name eludes). Don studied
there for a year and progressed well enough to make his first performance
at his drum set at the elementary school playing "Tequila" with trumpet
player Ricky Fritch and sax player Mellisa Martin. All was going
well until Don's family decided to move to Florida during the summer of
'92. He had no where to continue private lessons in Orlando, but
still managed to join the concert band at Southwest Middle School.
Exactly one year later Don's family returned to East Hartford, due to the
fact that the rest of the family lived up here, including his grandparents.
He joined the concert band at East Hartford Middle School in 8th grade
and was honored to be requested by his conductor to play in the High School
jazz band that year as they needed another drummer with a set. Don
accepted this honor and joined the East Hartford Jazz Band under the direction
of Kathy Neri. He was not used to this type of playing and working
with older kids, but Neri helped him through the year and encouraged him
to audition for the jazz band when he arrived at the High School a year
later. Since Don had enjoyed the experience, he decided to audition
for the group as a freshman in the high school the following year.
Don continued playing in the Jazz band for his four years of high school
and also performed in the pit of "On Broadway" the East Hartford Broadway
review of 1994. He also began private lessons with Richard "Gus"
Guastamachio of East Hartford and was given the honor of performing with
Gus at the Starlight Theatre before shows in a jazz trio consisting
of a set, bass, and vibes. The summer
after Freshman year Don went to Laurel Music Camp
in Winsted, CT using a scholarship he had
received a year before. He returned to the camp for three more years
and during the second year met future band mates Scott Perrie and Dave
Lewanda. The three seemed to hit it off right from the start.
Scott and Dave even proposed to Don that he join there band that they were
in the hopes of making. Don didn't have the oppurtunity to do this
until the following year, when Keith, who had recently began playing bass,
jumped at the chance to form a full-fledged band. Don saw this as
something with a lot of potential and agreed to join the band. The
Eccentrix were born.
A year and a half later Don is still with the band. Outside of the
band, he is at the University of Connecticut studying pre-medicine.
Don also plays in the percussion section of the UConn Husky Marching Band.
When asked for his feelings about the band, he remains happy to be a part
of such a dynamic group and hopes to perform again soon.
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The Eccentrix - July
1999
Back to The Eccentrix Home Page
Last updated 05/16/00.
All material Copyright 1999, LewPerr Music Co.
For information, email The
Eccentrix