The Bootleggers Band Bios (under construction)     Lloyd back stage with Jerry Cantrell Lloyd Harris I started playing guitar in 1976, had a couple lessons from a high school friend who was the Guitar god of the school, Jeff Redmon. He set the bar at an early age of 13, as to what a great guitar player really was. My first band played exclusively in the basement. By 16 my new band played the local bars opening up for other bands. At 19 I experienced working in Recording Studios and for a few years that group played many gigs around the Twin Cities Rock Clubs. “Turquoise Band” I met Marv Coughlin in the late 80’s and recorded a cassette “Harris & Thorne”. We gigged for about 2 years and disbanded after some record label interest with “Virgin Records”. I met Bob Green in the late 80’s and later he joined my daughter Amanda and I in the early stages of her singing career. Bob was the guitar tech/roadie for the Amanda Harris Band. Soon Amanda was signed to Epic Records and the original band was replaced by seasoned studio musicians. I was able to continue in the new group that was formed around her. Later when she wouldn’t sell out to be a full blown pop or country artist, Epic dropped her and the band was no more. I continued to work and write songs and record with Amanda; meanwhile starting my own group with Bob Green for fun. Amanda’s songs we had written and recorded, grabbed Eric and Joe Rotter of 2 Ton Crutch and she became their new lead singer. They soon called their band GingerJake, which was a band name I had used in the mid 80’s with a female vocalist Peggi Danaher. We broke up after 2 gigs... anyway, back to the present time. Bob and I were able to find Marv to play drums for our new group. My son Matthew, who is a very gifted musician, filled in on bass until we could find someone permanent. We hired Jessie Gagnon, an old student of mine. He left the group after 2 years. We now have Owen Grossman, who fits perfectly with our band . We found Sean Merrins before we had a bass player, right after Marv joined Bob and I? Or maybe Sean joined before Marv? (editor’s note: memory is the second thing to go) Anyway, we all couldn’t settle on a name until Bob said “The Bootleggers”. We all said Hell Yeah, that’s it! It works for this little corner of the world anyway. Plus it relates to GingerJake, which was a type of bootlegged alcohol during prohibition. So that’s a brief rundown on the history and bio for me. Sincerely, Rock On! Lloyd Harris     Rick Timm My first experience with drums came at a very early age, probably four or five.  My father was the founding member and bass player of a local band in the early 70’s called the Paisley’s.  Whenever he brought me to a rehearsal, I would always hang around the drums when they played and would try to sneak up on the chair to play when they took a break.  I got my first set when I was 11 and had to get it on my own by trading a kid my bike and baseball glove.  Nothing fancy, I think it was a Royce set.  When I was in sixth grade I had a friend by the name of Mike Strozyk.  He was a very good drummer in the school band, he had taught me a lot of rudiments and different sticking methods such as double sticking, paradiddles - the stuff you’d learn by reading sheet music and playing in the school band.  Anyway, we both were good and we taught each other… the funny thing is, he is left handed and I’m right handed - so when we played on each others drum kits, it was backwards. About the same time my brother Brian had showed interest in playing the guitar.  We would learn songs together by playing a song on a cassette player with lots of stopping… rewinding… stopping… rewinding… to try to figure out what they were doing.  We were both self taught by this method, playing by ear as they say.  Brian went on to play with the band Fat Tuesday and still till this day plays the JC Superstar show at First Avenue after 12 years now. Rush was a major influence on my playing style.  I would listen to 2112 over and over and over trying to get Neil’s chops down.  Neil Peart was by far the most influential drummer in my life and have recently seen him twice in concert!  Other drummers who I liked to listen to were John Bonham, Keith moon, Alex Van Halen, Vinnie Colaiuta with Frank Zappa.  Anyone who did more then just keep the beat. In my early 20’s, I met Lloyd Harris.  We had some mutual friends.  My friend Mike Strozyk was going to go jam with Lloyd and he wanted me to go with to help him set up his massive kit.  Long story short, Mike didn’t work out and Lloyd asked me to join his band, Altered fury.  What a fun biker band that was!  We played at Standing Room Only in Anoka a lot, and that’s also where I met Bob Green.  Other Groups I have played with… The Kids, The City Knights (7yrs), Krystal Axe, Jamie Masters of Equinox, Indecision, just to name a few…  Now it’s time for the next chapter with The Bootleggers!!!  That’s all I got for now… Till next time kids, peace out, and don’t let your meat, loaf!!! Bob Green (a.k.a. Sideshow Bob) knows all the chords. Owen Grossman I started playing guitar and flute when I was about 10 years old. My earliest influence was Ian Anderson of “Jethro Tull”. I used to jam along on flute with their first album when I was 14 years old. I played guitar, flute, sax and a little bass in the high school jazz band but I wasn’t in a serious band until 1973. That fall I met three other guys and we put together a lounge/top 40 copy band called “Lee, Daniel and Frederick”. If the band turned out halfway decent we had a chance to become the house band for a new bar opening in Pine City called the Copper Tree. Our audition was the New Year's Eve gig at the Pine City Country Club. We got the house gig and started playing at the Copper Tree in the Spring of 1974. We borrowed money against most of our first three months pay to buy a PA and some lighting equipment. Not long after the house gig at the Copper Tree we added a second guitar player and changed the band’s name to “Snaps”.  Snaps started playing a lot of the same kind of music that The Bootleggers play today.  Once we got our act together as a five piece rock band we successfully auditioned for Marsh Productions. For the next year or so Marsh had us playing all over the five state area. After Snaps broke up I played bass for a bit with a few friends in a bluegrass band. Then in 1980 I joined up with a guy from work who was starting a country rock band called “Shiloh”. I played with Shiloh for about half a year until the band’s schedule started competing too much with family life. For the next twenty years or so I didn’t do anything too serious musically. I got together with friends and jammed a little and I played in a community jazz band for a few years. During that same twenty years I got to know Marv Coughlin through work. He and I talked about getting together sometime to jam but nothing ever came of it (if you know Marv, then you already know that he’s all talk). Then in May of this year (2004) Marv told me that the Bootleggers bass player was leaving the band and they’d be looking for a new bass player. Well, I bought myself a five string bass and an amplifier and started learning songs from the Bootleggers set list... and the rest is history. Sean with Ozzy and   "Roadhouse Recipe" Sean Merrins For me it all started when I was little, around ages 3-5. I sang to the radio. My parents made such a big deal about it. It was the first positive reaction I remember. Right then I knew I wanted to be a singer. So around 1985 I found some local friends who could play and had a P. A. system. We called our band “Mid Evil”. A few years later we changed the name to “Kidd Wicked” and started playing parties and then small clubs. After a while we split up. Half the band stayed together and we formed “Hellrazor”. We recorded a demo, started working with agencies and playing all over Minnesota and the Midwest. At the time my best friend Tony, who was also a lead singer, was studying opera and started to surpass me. I could not have that so I called a school (not mentioned). At $50 per 1/2 hour I couldn’t afford it for too long, maybe 6-8 months, long enough to understand the basics (maybe). Meanwhile, my friend’s range kept growing so I asked him to coach me, and he did. He taught me everything I know. It changed my whole approach. Drugs and alcohol started to destroy Hellrazor, and since the band is only as strong as its weakest link, I left the band and decided to take time away. I started playing in several garage bands, but doing it only for me. That’s when me and some other guys formed a band called “Shag Nasty”. All of us being best friends, we were together for quite a while; about three years. We only played a few shows in the Twin Cities, but we made a huge impact. But again, the partying came back into play and I knew that although things were great now, it would not last. About that time a friend said he knew this smokin’ guitar player and we had to meet. At the time I just smiled and nodded and kind of blew it off. Maybe it was fate but about four months later I moved to this little town and it turned out to be right down the street from the smokin’ guitar player (I didn’t even know his name yet). My friend kept saying I had to meet this guy, and now being almost neighbors, I said, “yeah, maybe I do”. So he set it up with his roommate, Bob Green, who was already in the band. Bob called me, asked me some questions, and set up a tryout. I showed up and it was just me and Lloyd Harris, the smokin’ guitar player down the street. It must have gone well because I came back. It was then that I met Bob and Marv Coughlin. I could feel the magic in the room. I continued to do both bands for a while, but like I had thought, “Shag Nasty” ended. Somewhere along the way we picked up Jesse Gagnon as a bass player and formed “The Bootleggers”. It was great! A while later, things didn’t work out with Jesse, and we replaced him with Owen Grossman (The New Guy!). He fit in like an old pair of shoes, and pretty much the rest will be written on the wall.                 Copyright © 2004, 2005,2006,2007,2008 by The Bootleggers Band. All Rights Reserved. last updated: 11/11/08