John Sleezer

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I started off playing accordian at age 6. By the time I was 11, I came in 2nd at the Illinois State Fair. I was taught to play polkas and waltzes back then, but I wanted to play rock and roll like I heard on the radio, so I learned Beatles songs on my accordian and then I found out that the accordian wasn't cool anymore, so I wanted to play drums, so I started beating on tupperware bowls with pencils.
I was sent to Tennessee to military school. I joined the drum and bugle corp. and the basketball team. I became captain of the team and later voted as MVP.
After returning to Illinois, I realized that I was never going to be tall enough or good enough to be in the NBA, so I quit school to play drums in a rock and roll band.
Not being content with drums, I wanted to play guitar, so I traded my accordian for a $12 Teisco Guitar and taught myself how to play it.
In 1969, I played my first gig at the Boulder Hill Civic Center. I was paid $10.
I started the band "Oz." back in the 70's, Later, changed the name to "Hard Attack." After touring with Hard Attack, we made a couple of 45 records. My drummer Ken Kramer installed gutters with his brother, fell off the roof and broke his hand and my bass player Tom Fletcher (R.I.P) died and the band dissolved.
I traded my Flying V (Bad Mistake) for an old TEAC 4-track that used to belong to Jimmy Sohns from the Shadows of Knight, where I learned to play and sing all the parts myself.
After a gig In 1987, I arrived home to an unpleasant situation, where I punched the picture window. I almost cut off my arm and was told I may never play again. After much determination, prayer, and therapy, I survived.
In the 1980's, I wrote a song and did a PSA for WPWR Television about drinking and driving called "I'd like to see you again," a song about a friend who liked to party too much and died from drinking and driving.
I also worked at a recording studio in Wheaton, IL, where I would duplicate on reel-to-reel Billy Graham's weekly sermons for 320+ radio stations around the world.
I also did different commercials for television and worked as a stage hand for shows such as: "Annie," "Grease," "Summer Song," "Chorus Line," "The Little Whorehouse in Texas," "Cats," "Sha Na Na," "Loretta Lynn," and many more.
I owned my own studio, where I produced and engineered myself and other artists, only to lose it to a fire, in which insurance only paid for smoke damage, not equipment loss, so I retired.
In 2000, I decided to start the John Sleezer Band again.
In 2001, I finished rough mixes of the I Remember CD. John Lessick, the bass player, moved to Ohio. My drummer Jeff Wild retired. Mike Neff replaced Jeff on drums. Mike played with Off Broadway, The Hounds, Black Oak Arkansas, and also roomed with drummer great Tommy Aldrich. Mike died in August 2006.(R.I.P.)
Now, I am currently looking for musicians to start a new band.
Please check out www.myspace.com/johnsleezer to visit the band's MySpace Page.