randy castillo memorial

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Born in Albuquerque, New Mexico, he began playing music in his high school marching band. His first band experience was playing trumpet in a band that his father was also a member of. He later joined an R&B band as a drummer before forming his first rock band Wumblies in the late-1970s.Castillo was an ardent admirer of the late drummer, Keith Moon of The Who, and the late John Bonham from Led Zeppelin. However, his favorite drummer was Charlie Watts of the Rolling Stones. “I dare anyone to play like Charlie Watts,” Castillo said during a 1984 interview.Castillo played his drum set in the garage, nonstop. “I’d just play ‘til my hands fell off. My parents would yell at me to stop because they couldn’t stand the noise any more! I was terrible! It must have been hard for them to listen to me as a beginning drummer," he said, still feeling highly sympathetic towards his parents. Randy was quick to note, “My parents really encouraged me.”12/18/50 - Randy CastilloRandolph Frank Castillo is born in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA on this Monday. His mother Margaret is Spanish, while his father Frank was born to Mexican and Native American parents. Randy is one of five children, having four sisters, Frances, Marilyn, Phyllis and Christine, who all play music.ChildhoodHis musical career begins when he plays drums in his elementary school marching band. He then plays trumpet for about four years, including performing in his father's band called Los Aguilas, which is Spanish for The Eagles. With his father on guitar, they perform Mariachi music at local weddings and parties, but he soon loses interest when he realises the kind of bands he likes don't have trumpet players. He decides he wants a drum kit instead, especially after seeing The Beatles rock on the Ed Sullivan Show in early February 1964. His father refuses to buy one for him, thinking he will also lose interest with it, as he did with the trumpet.At 14 years of age, Randy's youngest sister is born and on the same day his mother buys him his first drum set, with her last paycheck from working as a secretary for the Albuquerque Public Schools, following Randy's pleads over the last two years. The small Ludwig kit has one high hat and one symbol, and Randy plays it nonstop in their garage.Two weeks later he is asked to join a local rhythm and blues band called The Sheltons, one of the city's most popular bands, but he is kicked out after a few months when their old drummer Toby re-joins, who had quit before they asked Randy to play for them. This devastates Randy but inspires him to take lessons at Luchetti's Music with Nick Luchetti, at the time one of the best instructors in the city, if not the state, and owner of the shop where his drum kit was purchased. Randy later credits Luchetti with giving him the guidance to help him realise his rock dreams.A year later, Randy plays in his next band called Doc Rand and The Purple Blues with a black singer that can dance like James Brown. Wearing sparkly shirts and ties, they play a mixture of original tunes and covers, learning every track on James Brown? Live at the Apollo album. They soon beat The Sheltons in a battle of the bands competition at West Mesa High School, while James Brown and the Famous Flames is the first big concert that Randy sees.The Purple Blues record a 7" single called I Need A Woman, which soon reaches number one on local radio station KQUO's weekly Top 40 chart and holds the spot for five weeks, turning Randy into a local star.While attending West Mesa High School, Randy regularly plays until 1.30-2am with popular local band The Checkers, as his parents take turns sitting in the bars as chaperones and helping him to load his drum kit into their truck after the shows. This causes Randy to often fall asleep in class, but he really wants to be a musician more than anything in life.As a senior, Randy plays in a symphonic band at the now-defunct University of Albuquerque and is named in the All-State symphonic band. He is recruited to attend school on scholarship, but after a year of school he decides he has had enough of the class room.Randy plays in a band called The Tabbs when he is 18 years of age and they wear mustard coloured Nehru jackets on stage. On 18 June 1970 he sneaks into a Jimi Hendrix concert and hides under the stage to get a closer look, exactly three months before Hendrix dies. He then plays with The Mudd after leaving The Tabbs and he begins experimenting heavily with drugs, including mescaline, peyote and heroin. The band lead singer Tommy G dies of kidney failure, which Randy blames on Tommy addiction to heroin. This causes him to shy away from using the drug again.Rock Beginnings He joins his first rock band in the late '70s called The Wumblies (originally called Cottonmouth) and he moves to Espanola where they predominantly play covers of songs by Yes, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin and Jethro Tull at as many gigs as possible, including high school proms. He first experiences life on the road with The Wumblies as they tour around America, playing four 45 min sets a night in clubs. Randy becomes an instant drumming icon in all cities toured. The band moves to Denver, Colorado where they fall apart in 1980; a year after his father Frank passes away at age 51.Realising he has to move to Los Angeles if he wants to make it big, he makes the transition in 1981 with Albuquerque-bred guitarist Tim Pierce and they rent a run-down room together in Hollywood at the Montecito on Franklin Ave. Having endured enough of the local hookers and transvestites, they move out and Randy lives in his pickup truck. On the recommendation of another former Albuquerque musician, singer/songwriter Michael Goodroe, he joins pop band The Motels, whom Goodroe plays bass for, when their drummer falls sick with a heart condition just as they are about to go on tour. Randy embarks on his first major arena tour with The Motels in support of The Cars.[edit] Rock years In 1980, Randy recorded an LP with a band called The Offenders. The band also featured Randy Rand of Autograph and Glenn Sherba of Badfinger.He moved to Los Angeles in 1981 and joined a struggling band on the rise called The Motels, just in time to tour with group supporting The Cars. In 1984, Randy was hired to play drums for Lita Ford and was featured on her Dancin' On The Edge album. Lita introduced Randy to her Boyfriend Nikki Sixx and Nikki’s bandmate Tommy Lee. Shortly after the “Dancin’ on the Edge” tour, Tommy called Randy from a party he was at with Ozzy Osbourne and told him Ozzy was looking for a new drummer. Randy was hired by Ozzy a couple months later and ended up staying with the Ozzy Osbourne band for ten years, recording five albums with Ozzy during that time. These were The Ultimate Sin (1986), No Rest for the Wicked (1988), an ep entitled Just Say Ozzy (1990), No More Tears (1991), and a double-disc live album, Live And Loud. After recording Ozzy's live album in 1993, he recorded a 5-song ep with Marilyn Manson guitarist John Lowery titled Red Square Black. In 1999, after Tommy Lee had left Mötley Crüe, Sharon Osbourne called Randy and told him about the job opening. Mötley Crüe gave him the job without an audition. He'd previously briefly played with Vince Neil as a touring drummer for the Vince Neil Band.He also played with Ronnie James Dio on a cover of Alice Cooper's "Welcome To My Nightmare" on the Alice Cooper tribute album Humanary Stew and performed all drumming duties on a star-studded Def Leppard tribute album titled Leppardmania. The album featured John Corabi (Angora, The Scream, Mötley Crüe), Paul Shortino (Rough Cutt,Quiet Riot) , Kevin Dubrow (Quiet Riot), Joe Leste (Bang Tango), and Jani Lane (Warrant, solo artist), among others. Guitar and bass duties were handled by Jerry Dixon and Erik Turner of Warrant, and Tracii Guns of the L.A. Guns and the original Guns in Guns N' Roses.[edit] Final years A couple of weeks before Mötley Crüe was set to go out and tour for “New Tattoo” Randy became ill while performing with his side project “Azul” at the Cat Club in Hollywood. Right after the show Randy took a cab to nearby Cedars Sinai Hospital where he collapsed as he was being admitted. The doctors discovered a duodenal ulcer that had ruptured his stomach and performed emergency surgery that saved Randy’s life. While taking time off from Mötley Crüe to recover from his surgery, Randy discovered a small lump on his jaw and a month later, after it had grown larger, he sought treatment and was diagnosed with Squamous cell Carcinoma, a common form of skin cancer that is not usually fatal if it is discovered early but can spread rapidly if left untreated. The cancer went into remission in mid-2001, and he was rumored to be rejoining Osbourne's solo band for that summer Ozzfest tour (along with Geezer Butler on bass), though these rumors were later revealed to be untrue. The sources of these rumors may have come as a result of his then-bassist and drummer, Robert Trujillo and Mike Bordin, respectively, playing on former Alice In Chains guitarist Jerry Cantrell's Degradation Trip album. Though both were rumored to be leaving Osbourne's camp to play as part of Cantrell's live outfit, they both returned to Osbourne's solo group after recording. Another rumor had Bordin leaving to re-form Faith No More with the classic line-up that played on The Real Thing and Angel Dust, and Trujillo becoming a full-time member of Black Label Society, both of which also proved to be untrue. Trujillo eventually joined Metallica.Unfortunately, within a few months the cancer returned, Randy Castillo succumbed to cancer on March 26, 2002. He was 51 years old.During the final weeks of his life, Castillo had been working with ex-Ozzy Osbourne and Alice in Chains bassist Mike Inez on a new band and was in the process of hiring a singer.