The Glam Band to headline Parkfest
After delivering country acts for the past few years, organizers of the annual Medford Parkfest Celebration are rocking things up with a tribute to old-school 1980s hair bands.
Organizers with the Medford Area Chamber of Commerce announced that The Glam Band will be the headline performer at this year’s concert to be held, Thursday, August 15.
The 1980s were a time when excess ruled. Times were fun and the music was a party. From sing-along anthems to timeless ballads showing their “soft side,” Sunset Strip rockers provided the soundtrack for our life.
The Glam Band is made up of six guys bringing listeners back to their favorite decade (whether you like to admit it or not). Donning an over-the-top stage show, makeup and costumes that will either make you smile or cringe, their goal to transport attendees back to the decade of decadence. The one that was nothin’ but a good time!
The band members are Dennis Lee Roth on vocals, Randall Schenker on guitar, Will E. Stradlyn on guitar, Matty Savage on bass, Dee Flatt on keyboard and Skitch Rockett on drums.
As with all great 80s bands, the overthe- top personalities of the band members and their interaction on stage and with the fans was half the draw or better. The Glam Band is no different with the following performer profiles from the band’s website.
Dennis Lee Roth — Dennis Lee Roth was discovered by Skitch Rockett while DLR was singing on the beaches of Los Angeles, California. Rockett was in the City of Angels to speak on the dangers of drugs as part of Nancy Reagan’s “Just Say NO To Drugs” campaign. Dennis was working out to keep his sculpted buns in perfect shape to match his chiseled chin. You see, bleach-blonde DLR has a five and a half octave vocal range, and when Rockett saw this for himself, he knew this was the front man for The Glam Band. Dennis’ singing influences See PARKFEST on page 20 include his cousin, Diamond David Lee Roth, who taught him to kick like a Rock Star, and Bozo the Clown.
Will E. Stradlyn —While living in Indiana, Will E. Stradlyn heard that Northeastern Wisconsin was going to be the next booming Mecca of hard rock and heavy metal. Will immediately packed up his neon pink 1985 iROC/Z Camaro and headed to the Dairy State. In Wisconsin Stradlyn found work with a variety of show bands before settling into a Captain and Tennille cover band. Because of the band’s strenuous touring and party schedule, Will developed a near lethal addiction to Mountain Dew and black market muscle milk. Granted, this concoction helped in developing his triceps and keeping him awake during gigs, but it also nearly took his life. Realizing his problem, he checked himself into the same rehab facility that many of the current and past members of the Notorious Glam Band had used! Stradlyn’s first post-rehab venture was a hard rocking band called “Schenker/Stradlyn Overdrive”. Soon after, he joined a Black “Savage” tribute band that was fronted by none other than The Glam Band’s Matty Savage (who sang all the songs in the voice of Neil Diamond). Both of these bands soon broke up over money and riser height disagreements. The “Bandless” Stradlyn nearly fell back into his old destructive habits. This is when fate stepped in and he received a phone call asking him to fill a vacant spot with his friends in The Glam Band. Will accepted the offer, joined the Band in early 2019, and has not looked back since.
Matt Savage — Born at the foot of Stonehenge and voted most likely in the Glam Band to actually be mistaken for a girl while in stage makeup, Savage spent his teenage years as a roadie/go-fer for all the bands on the Sunset Strip. One day he swiped a spare bass from one of them (Nikki is still looking for it) and began to fake his way through gigs with his first band’s “Sorry”, “Kwitcherbitchen”and “Nirvana” (who had to inexplicably change their name in the early 90’s). He hit rock bottom, literally, when he decided to go cliff diving in Acapulco after a week long bender. The Glam Band saw his story on the news and said, “We need to get that guy”. The rest is history.
Dee Flatt — Hailing from Stockholm Sweden, Dee first broke into the business by tuning Keytars for the band Europe in the mid 80s. From there he toured internationally with bands Salty Cat, Gotthard?, and the Impotent Sea Turtles. Flatt’s career stalled in the mid 90s when his addiction to makeup and women’s clothing resulted in his removal from the International Keyboardist Society, as well as banishment from most public performance venues throughout Europe and the United States. Dee was left alone, forced to play fake gigs in front of a mirror in his basement. However, his luck changed when the blow-up doll The Glam Band had been employing to play keyboard deflated (true story!), “thrusting” him back into the 80s music scene. Dee Flatt happily joined the band in the fall of 2013 and hasn’t looked back since!
Randi Schenker — An illegitimate child from the parents of the Shenker brothers (Michael and Rudolph of Scorpions and MSG group fame), Randi was forbidden access to the electric guitar at a young age and instead forced to endure years of grueling ballet and flute recitals. Despite having no decipherable literacy skills at age 14, Randi escaped his cellar as a stowaway on a ship to the U.S., where he acquired an insatiable addiction to Listerine and the guitar. Weeks later Randi was booted from TV series Sex Rehab with Dr. Drew for donning nothing but a White Lion T-Shirt while on set. During one of his 9 stays at Betty Ford, Randi developed and sold the patent for Fundies, the underwear built for two. The royalty checks went towards a new guitar, a tattoo of an elephant head and ears on his lower pelvis, more Listerine, and tickets to a Celine Dion concert where he met and was recruited by JJ Deville and Skitch Rockett. The rest as they say, is history.
Skitch Rockett — Parts unknown (seriously). He showed up on a doorstep one morning wearing the sleaziest makeup known to man. Bandmates couldn’t tell if he was a circus clown or a lousy New York Dolls imposter. Not sure about much of his background other than the fact that he received some type of schooling from a washed up band director, and slowly found his way on the club scene. Along the way he played with pretty much every group in the state, staying just long enough to earn enough cash for a pizza and case of beer.
Skitch is known as the “laid back” guy in the band. He rarely says much and doesn’t have an opinion on anything; just go with the flow. It doesn’t take much to rile him up and I think that shows in his playing. . . slow, methodical, and come to think of it . . . pretty boring. He takes the title of best looking member in the band at over 6’6”, wears a size 13, despises malted beverages and actively maintains a MySpace page.
