CNY Bands That Rock ~ Hear Young Boys With Dave Porter Of The 805 Band

This week in CNY Bands That Rock we find out how Dave Porter of the 805 Band came up with their name.

Did you follow the 805 Band back in the day? They were on MTV, opening for Toto and Kansas, recording albums for R.C.A. and their stage show included smokey pyrotechnics. They were THE 80's rock scene.

We welcome Dave Porter back for CNY Bands That Rock. This week we hear 'Young Boys' and 'Footsteps' from the 805 days and the Beatles cover tune ‘Norwegian Wood.' Dave also tells us how the 805 Band got their name.

Here's what Dave has been up to recently:

Currently, I'm playing about 4 times a month through the winter....which is fine with me cuz winter sucks. I sang a song on a jazz record for Bob Holz...Stanly Clark and Randy Brecker were also on the album....it was nominated for a Sammy Award (not a Grammy, unfortunately). Booking Spring / Summer right now, playing Buffalo to Lake George and all points in between Alex Bay, Saratoga, Syracuse, still nothing Utica / Rome 😞
Every Tuesday I play in the house band and run sound for Limp Lizard Liverpool's Open Mic Night. Always looking for new guest artists (contact me here).

 

Dave tells how the 805 Band got its name and of course, it has to do with chasing Catholic girls. LOL...

Early 70's. I had inherited a band named "Raw Meat"...I was lead guitar and when the leader / singer left, I became the guy. The band's poster had a bloody zombie climbing out of a manhole. It was a Tuesday and we were playing the Catholic high school in Cortland on Friday. The Priest from the school calls me and says "I'm not having a band named 'Raw Meat' playing at my school, change your name." Not wanting to lose the money or the chance to chase Catholic schoolgirls, I said "ok your holiness, I'll think of something and call you back," he said "I've got the xerox machine running to make flyers....change it now." I looked around my apartment, panicking, there was a record album on my desk by a band called 'Moby Grape' and iI  I flipped it over. 4th song on side 1 was titled "8:05."  I said "how about 805" he said "fine" (click.) When I told the other guys, they thought it was an ok name so we used it from that point on. That band broke up when I went with Dave Hanlon and Rick Cue to play in 'Dove'...which didn't last long, then we put together a band called 'Harpy' which had some regional success, and when 2 of the guys in that band moved on, Jim Lucas and I formed a more progressive band and re-used the name '805.'

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Bonus Video: