Our story begins with Al Yepa wanting to be a rock star in high school. In 1981 Al Yepa met Dave Graham at Jemez Valley High, who had a band named The Vandals, and needed a bass player to complete the line up. Al showed interest with Dave's band and Dave asked the question that changed Al's musical life forever, "Can you play bass?" Al replied, "no" "Do you want to learn?" Needless to say what the answer was.
I n 1983 Al quit high school and was recruited to play bass with the band called Stilrock, an all Native American Indian line up. This band was based out of Laguna Pueblo, NM. This is where Al met drummer Buck Concho, for the first time. After a year of intense practicing and playing a few shows, and because it didn't prove to be what was promised by band management; Al left the band in 1984 to finish high school.
In the winter of 1985 Al learned to play the guitar and the art of playing lead. He pursued his own band, with drummer Joe Loretto, his next door neighbor, and Al's brother Jim-who was forced to play bass, because no one played bass in and around their home of Jemez Pueblo, NM. Thus, Ratchet was formed. At the end of the school year, Ratchet took first place in the talent show.
Throughout the year and into 1986 Ratchet found a vocalist to front the band, Ed Green. In 1987 the name Trouble Maker was used after the inspiration came from Mrs. Yepa, Jim and Al's mother. One day the brothers were eating breakfast with a nasty hangover. She asked, "What happened last night?" The boys replied, "Ummm, our vocalist went to jail for drunk driving." Mrs. Yepa said, "You guys are nothing but Trouble Makers!" So, Trouble Maker was used as the new band name.
The year 1988 came and the line up for Trouble Maker had changed leaving Jim and Al with no drummer or vocalist. During the summer of that year Al called Buck and asked if he was jamming with anyone. Once again Buck and Al joined forces, with Jim to complete the line up, Trouble Maker was thrashing again. This line up stayed solid for many years, until 1993, when the band moved from central NM to Phoenix AZ. There, they went their separate ways to join other bands.
After years of hiatus, Al came in contact again with Buck in the fall of 2003, to reform under the name Trouble Maker. Jim remained in Phoenix AZ, calling it home. He is also known as "Chief". Buck had moved back to the Laguna rez in NM and Al moved to Albuquerque, MM.
Within the next few years, with temporary bass players, Trouble Maker remained bass-less, with bass players seeming to be the hardest to find and keep. Buck and Al discovered, thanks to the internet, that forced them to change the long time band name of Trouble Maker to Goo Nee Nees. It seems that a San Francisco Bay area band has the name and has copywritten it. Let this be a lesson for all, COPYRIGHT! But, the good news is, Trouble Maker can still be used in a different language. Since Buck and Al are both Laguna Pueblo Indians of NM, they have converted the name Trouble Maker to the Keresan word, Goo-nee-nee.
So there you have it. The future for the band? The Goo-nee-nees want to create new songs and record. They also want to play more shows for their fans who want to go deaf with them. Fame and fortune may not be their first and foremost goal, but if it comes, hey!
..