I Don't Care

The Band 1975: Doug Thomas-lead vocals, Gary Boggess-keyboards, Peter Knapp-trumpet/vocals, Frank Pellino-guitar/keyboard/vocals, Paul McDonald-sax, Jose' Ortiz-percussion/vocals and Tim Graziano-bass.Why the name; I Don't Care? We were in a transition, changing band members, and had just played a gig as "Willis The Zipper." We were standing on the sidewalk with our 1st manager, Jack Gerchok. Jack stated that we needed to change the band's name and start a fresh image. A few of the guys threw in their two bits... then tossing it to me... it was late, and I said wearily; "ehh, i don't care, call it what you want." Not realizing that I had just named the band and our 1st original jazz piece, "Call It What." Jack blurts out: "that's it!" And I Don't Care became the name of the band! Future 'cleaned up' versions of "how we got our name" were hindged to our "attitudes" about our NOT caring about pleasing club owners, who wanted us to play ONLY cover and dance songs. We had also adopted an explanation that our name was derived from society's post Vietnam War weariness of issues... i.e.: passive socio-political attitudes and related escapisms.Get one thing straight! The band's name wasn't based on negative intents. Our message was clear... we didn't care about Cleveland's status quo bar owners and bar scenes... and we set out to CHANGE it. We cared about music, OUR MUSIC, and we had integrity as musicians. We were dead set to buck the stigma the Cleveland club owners imposed on bands; to play and function like human juke boxes. Yes, our song list included a dance set and a set of popular songs. But, we were excellent musicians... and one of the only bands that also played the advanced musics of: Billy Cobham, Zappa, Emerson Lake & Palmer, King Crimson, Les McAnn, DeoDato, Herbie Handcock and other progressive rock, fusion and jazz music. The band used to "whip it out" and improvise live... magnifying ours, and our audience's, musical scope well beyond what the other Cleveland bands dared to at the time. We discovered that our audience was smarter and more accepting of new music, (our music) than the booking agents and clubs owners were willing to give them credit for. We helped influence many Cleveland area & N.E. Ohio musicians to pursue similar paths.I (Gary Boggess) was of the very first keyboardists in the Cleveland-N.E. Ohio region to use a Moog synthesizer live; playing "Lucky Man," "Tarkus" and "America" by ELP & "The Nice." I remember the time a club owner, (aka: moron), asked our manager; "what the hell is that thing he's playing? Tell him to put it away!" Well, I didn't put it away, and I expanded my keyboard setup to include: a Hammond A-100 organ w/leslie, a Clavinet, a Minimoog, a Mellotron, a Melody Grande Piano w/pickups, and a Fender Rhodes electric piano.The I Don't Care "attitude" was penned on the back cover of the album: "I Don't Care! A thought, an attitude. I don't care about the past, I am now. How, why, and what others have had to do in order to be recognized shows me only one purpose. To learn from their assets and mistakes. I have no intention of short changing myself to appeal to an audience who is interested in a facade. I am here to present myself as me... no bullshit... no hype! Power is my essence. Power of emotion, power of direction, power of musicianship, and the power of other's respect. All one needs to do is listen and the music says it all."Some Band History... I Don't Care, landed an album with Buddha Records (now on United Artists) in 1976. The band played throughout Ohio and western PA, and were among the mainstay bands in Cleveland night clubs and on the Agora circuit.During these years I Don't Care shared the stage, opening for national acts; Bruce Springsteen, Gentle Giant, King Crimson, Dr. Hook, Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Larry Coryell, The Glass Harp, The James Gang, Spirit and Frank Zappa. The IDC band unraveled in 1976.The band's last concert was opening for Frank Zappa at the Public Auditorium in Cleveland, Ohio.Cleveland Plain Dealer article:I Don't Care really cares a lot about individuality by Anastasia Pantsios Rock Beat -The Plain Dealer 6/28/1974The Youngstown-Warren area, 11/2 hours south of here, has produced some of the most interesting rock bands to play in Cleveland. Most of them tend to have a more strongly individualistic style than the ranks of commercial dance bands that rise out of the Cleveland scene.One of the most ambitious and advanced of these Youngstown bands is I Don't Care, probably the least commercial band playing regularly at commercial clubs to audiences accustomed to commercial music.I first encountered I Don't Care on a snowy night last winter. They were playing at the Karma Club on the near West Side, and trumpeter and group spokesman Pete Knapp sat down at our table and regaled us with his colorful opinions of many local music biz "personalities"."They all want to give us our big break, make us stars. Nobody can make us star."As they launched into Billy Cobham's "For All the Women in my Life" that night, Knapp announced sardonically, "This song's gonna make us star."This band isn't likely to become a rock 'n' roll star in the traditional style oriented sense, because they are not concerned with external style. But in terms of musical ability and the uniqueness of what they are creating, they are likely to go about as far as any band from this area. Knapp told me, "We like to think we're doing something not everyone else is doing. That's the only ego thing involved with this band."The band can, and does, do commercial material, but only when necessary, and only as a tool. Knapp said, "We can do what audiences want to hear, but we use it to lead them to where we are, to get them to listen to our stuff."That stuff, for the most part, is extended jazz-style developments which include displays of the musical prowess of the group's members, and features beautiful five-part vocals."Nobody in our band likes the New York Dolls. We like Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, Weather report and the Mahavishnu Orchestra." That gives one a pretty fair idea of what one will hear from I Don't Care.The selection of material on which the group cut its teeth is very broad. They claim that "Smoke on the Water" by Deep Purple and "Shake That Fat" by Jo Jo Gunne are part of their repertoire.More typically, however, their numbers range from Brian Auger's "Compared To What", possibly the most popular number for local bands with any jazz leanings, to King Crimson's "21st Century Schizoid Man" to the Beatles' "Every Little Thing" and Jethro Tull numbers and a number by Knapp's old band, the Shadows, a local exponent of the heavy commercial horn sound several years ago. Numbers like "Every Little Thing" are not played as simple three-minute dance tunes, but arranged and expanded to make room for the group's own creativity.Every member of the band is an excellent instrumentalist. Outstanding is Gary Boggess, one of the most broadly imaginative Moog players I've heard. According to Knapp, Boggess was rated one of the to five Moog players in the world by Dr. Moog himself, the inventor of the instrument.When Boggess bought his synthesizer, he went to the factory to learn to use it. There he met Keith Emerson, of Emerson Lake and Palmer who gave him some instruction. Jose Ortiz, who played an extraordinary solo is an expressive percussionist. The other members, Tim Graziano on bass guitar, Paul McDonald on flutes and saxophones, Frank Pellino on keyboards and guitar ("He plays everything extremely well," says Knapp) and the most recent addition, singer Frank Bayzie, are all top notch.I Don't Care grew out of another band called Willis the Zipper that played around the Youngstown area about a year ago. This band included some of the same members (Knapp, Boggess and McDonald) and did some of the same material (Jethro Tull, King Crimson). "We just jammed" said Knapp.The members of W.T.Z. now in I Don't Care decided that they wanted to put together a serious, polished band that would actually get somewhere, and I Don't Care evolved.Recently, the group completed the recording of a demo album at Agency Recording under the direction of producer Jim Quinn, formerly of Damnation. It contained entirely their own material with the exception of an original arrangement of Jimi Hendrix's "Fire". The tape has already brought them offers of a recording contract, which is hardly surprising considering the calibre of their work.Meanwhile, I Don't Care can be heard on an irregular basis at a number of Cleveland's rock clubs, playing more or less commercial music depending on their mood and their audience.