Pat
Boyle ~ Guitar, Vocals
John
Fox ~ Drums, Vocals
Ed Glueck ~ Bass, Vocals
Lee
Gregory ~ Keyboards, Vocals
Denny
Porter ~ Guitar, Vocals
Mike
Richards ~ Bass
??
~ Keyboards
The Baboons were Denny Porter on guitar and vocals, Pat Boyle, guitar, Mike Richards on Bass, John Fox on drums, and Lee Gregory on keyboards. We played mostly originals at venues such as UP Station, Leslies, The Back 40, The Shipwreck, Astor Park, etc.
We were contestants on Ed McMahon's Star Search in 1986 or 87. One single was released called I Go Out With Vegetables, which KZOK smashed on the air. I guess they didn't quite get the humor. Other songs which received airplay locally were Rhythm Of The Times, Missionary Man, Give Me Something, & Strong Minds.The Blue Baboons started life as The Heroes in 1979, played around a bit and had several personnel changes, but the core of the band was Pat Boyle and John Fox.
In 1982, the lineup pretty much solidified with Denny Porter on guitar and lead vocals, Pat Boyle on guitar and vocals, Mike Richards on Bass, John Fox on drums and vocals, along with a keyboard player who's name I can't remember. For a period of time there was a bass player named Ed Glick, probably around 82-83. The name change to Blue Baboons came when Denny joined.
I joined in late 1985, or early 86. At that time, the Baboons were the top draw in Tacoma, playing a mostly original show with a pretty stunning light show (vari-lights, flash pots, and assorted goodies), along with makeup and costuming that set the band apart from most everyone else at the time. KNBQ Radio, which was Tacoma's FM rock station in those days, had a keen interest in the band and gave us a fair amount of airplay. I remember we recorded voice-overs for them occasionally, and produced a Halloween song for the station one year. We also wrote and recorded a song called All the Way for the Tacoma Stars soccer team and were guests of theirs one night at the Tacoma Dome.
Star Search - we had very high hopes about going on. We won on the first appearance, but crashed and burned on the second.
The band went into the studio after being on Star Search to record a single, and departed so radically musically from where we had been that it only served to further divide the band. We finished two songs with only four of us actually playing . Bass parts were sequenced, along with most of the drum parts and a great deal of the keyboards. It wasn't really the Baboons at all.
Denny left the band soon after that, which brought the whole thing to an end. He and Kenny McGowan, the producer of those last recordings, then formed Illustrated Man, an electronic pop duo.
The Blue Baboons had a good run. We caused a stir in the local clubs and media, and in fact the Tacoma News Tribune (TNT) had a full page article written by Dorian Smith announcing our breakup. A lot of folks thought we'd make the big time.
Various club owners and promoters have tried to get us to do a reunion. To this day, we can't seem to agree on how that could be done, although there have been a couple of impromptu jams with up to four of us on stage at once.
Today, John and Pat are members of Voodoo Ranch. Denny writes and records on his own. Mike has left the business all together. I'm working on a new project called Kincaid Avenue.
Lee Gregory, Puyallup, January 2007
Some of the Pacific Northwest music groups represented in members of this band include: The Heroes, Fantasy Force, Baby Knockors, The Jones Brothers, Spank, Voodoo Ranch, Eddie Gillan and the Cool, and many other Northwest bands.
10
February 2008
Credits: Lee Gregory, Ed Glueck