WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO THE YOUNG RUMBLERS?

by Tom O, New Jersey

When I discovered www.tommyconwell.com, I was thrilled that there was finally a website 100% devoted to one of my all-time favorite bands- the Young Rumblers.

After recently hearing live bootlegs and unreleased material from the 1990’s, it renewed my interest in the band and fueled my desire to answer a nagging question I have had for at lease one decade, What the Hell Happened to the Young Rumblers? 

In the late 1980’s and early 1990’s, I attended the University of Scranton, but my home was in Mercer County, New Jersey.   I'd go to see the Rumblers everywhere- the cabarets in Philadelphia, down at the Jersey shore, and whenever they appeared in the Scranton area. 

I really became “hooked” on the Young Rumblers after the release of the independent “Walkin’ on the Water.” My three favorite songs were “Love's on Fire,” “Million Pretty Girls,” and “Do You Still Believe In Me.”  What made that album so great?  It captured the sound, emotion and energy of the band when you saw them live.  The songs were well written, fantastically performed, and the band didn’t seem to conform to any particular "sound" to try to please corporate bigwigs or whoever.

I probably listened to the “Rumble” album over a thousand times.  Yeah, it was a little watered down, maybe a little too produced in comparison to “Walkin’ on The Water” album, but the songs were great.  I saw the band tour for “Rumble” numerous times (Always a killer show!) and heard them do new stuff like "Play Your Music" and "My Mae Mae,” which I loved.   I figured that with those two new songs plus "Cruisin Slow" and "Rock With You" the next album might be their best! 

Then there was the LONG WAIT…..and I waited with a lot of anticipation.
As all of us Rumbler fans remember, Tommy was basically MIA between the Rumble tour and the release of “Guitar Trouble.”  I felt such a huge void and it seemed like forever! Hair metal was still pretty big then so the absence of the Young Rumblers was even more painful.

I remember that ‘I'm Seventeen’ was played on the radio before the “Guitar Trouble” album was released.  Most people either really liked or hated it! I thought it was OK - not particularly representative of the band but a decent song.   But one thing bugged me about it - it sounded like it was part of the chord progression to ‘Play Your Music,’ just played faster.  In other words, I had a feeling that "Play Your Music" was rewritten into "I'm Seventeen".   I should have known right then that something was wrong.

When I bought “Guitar Trouble” I RACED back to my college house and listened through it.   Disappointed is not a strong enough word!   First of all, I saw that Chris Day was no longer in the band.   Chris always seemed like a cool guy, and anyone who had seen TCATYR could tell you how integral his back up vocals were to the band's sound.  Second, "Play Your Music", "My Mae Mae", and "Cruisin Slow" were not on the album.   A number of the songs that were on the album sounded stiff and forced.  Specifically,  "Let Me Love You Too", "She's Got It All", and "Do Right".   I always thought the key to TCATYR was always their ability to blend roots rock & roll with enthusiastic pop melodies and vocals and, of course, Tommy's brilliant guitar work.   Yet, on “Guitar Trouble” there were few, if any, extended guitar solos and the songs that had any kind of a pop feel were uninspired and lacked the catchy harmonies.   Depressingly, "What Once Was" was the perfect closing track since I saw the album as the beginning of the end of a great band.

Who knows what Sony/Columbia or Tommy were thinking! As far as I'm concerned, the sophomore album should have included “Play Your Music,” “My Mae Mae,” “Cruisin Slow,” the original version of “Didn't Want To Sing The Blues,” “When You Finally Come Knockin,” “Rejoice,” and “Sweet Little Honey Pie.”  Add those songs to “I'm Seventeen,” “Guitar Trouble,” “Rock With You,” “Nice & Naughty,” and “Hard As A Rock,” and I think you have yourself a very good album. To me though, the biggest mystery is how did the material for “Guitar Trouble” get so screwed up.     

I saw the band live two or three times in support of “Guitar Trouble.”  At the last show I saw that Jim Hannum and Paul Slivka were gone, and Rob Miller was now on bass.  It was by far the least impressive TCATYR gig I'd ever been to.  I got a chance to speak with Tommy after that show.  To me, he looked a mess - really confused and depressed.   I asked him what happened to the band.  I was hoping for an honest answer, at least a "the band's going through a tough time right now" type response.  Something that would let me know that he understood where I was coming from.  Instead, I got the sales job- "Well this cat's from Baltimore and this guy's a really great player....blah blah blah"   For me, that was the end.

That was then and this is NOW……..


Over the Christmas holiday 2002, I listened to a lot of unreleased Young Rumbler recordings and demos, as well as a bunch of songs that were recorded for the “Neurotic Maximus” album. The rough recordings of "Play Your Music", "My Mae Mae", and "Cruisin Slow" are far superior to most if not all the songs on “Guitar Trouble.”   "Rock With You" has much more energy and features the outstanding back- up vocals more so than the version that made it on the album, and the original "Didn't Want To Sing The Blues" played with the full band blows away the album (harmonica) version.  The song "When You Finally Come Knocking" (incredibly catchy although somewhat of a rip-off of the Georgia Satellites) also was ignored. Finally, listening to live recordings of "Workout", "Route 66" and "Tonight's The Night" I couldn’t help but fondly remember Tommy’s remarkable guitar playing. You can tell that by the time Tommy got around to recording for "Neurotic Maximus" he completely lacked direction.   The songs vary from hard rock to light pop.  Strangely, some of the poppier stuff ("You've Given Up", "It's Just A Matter Of Time") is pretty good.  Fans of Matthew Sweet might dig it.       To conclude this long, rambling thing, you get a sense of how big a fan I was and still am of this band.  

I'd like to personally thank Tommy and all the Young Rumblers for some fantastic times, music and memories.    Keep rockin!