Jamie Moyer
N/S Stickist & Bassist
San Diego, Ca.

The Journey

Part II- The New England Years

After getting acclimated to Hartford and settling into my new career as an accountant, I searched for a band and found just what I was looking for … The Proof based in Springfield, Massachusetts. The Proof, led by long-time partners and great guys, Greg Trelease and Paul Racicot, played mostly covers.The Proof played a diverse selection of rock, blues and soul, and introduced me to the great music of Motown. Every gig was like the then very hip Letterman show.I had as much fun listening to Greg and Paul’s banter as I did playing music. We played small clubs frequently for small crowds, which was a real disappointment for me. The band was so very good and I was used to performing with some of the top drawing acts in Central PA.Of course it was the hey-day for live music (before the dawn of home video, raised drinking ages and more stringent DUI laws) and we would frequently draw crowds between 500 and a thousand or more. I was a member of The Proof from 1986 to 1989, but still had a desire to climb up the charts.In 1987 I auditioned for Holding Pattern (a renowned progressive rock band that has since become big in Europe, Asia and South America). Holding Pattern is led by one of the world’s finest guitarist and composers, Tony Spada.In addition to his endeavors, he played shows in both Steve Howe and Rick Wakeman’s solo bands, as well as toured with his close friend Steve Morse.

I was asked to join Holding Pattern (HP) and spent the next few years pushing hard to come up with a major label contract. The band performed some amazing shows throughout Southern New England, but had a difficult time catching the public’s attention. Many of the regions musicians would come to hear the band, mostly with jaws wide open.It was the big hair period of rock and while we looked the part, we were absolutely progressive and the music went over the heads of the general public. HP was called the best band to emerge from New England in the past 15 years, appeared on a few compilation albums and generated major label interest.However, music had veered far from progressive rock and was headed for the dreaded grunge era.

To make things worse, tragedy struck the band during July 1988. We had attended the wedding of our keyboardist, Steve Kozikowski, and decided to drive to legendary Toad’s Place in New Haven to hear one of our favorite bands. On the way home from the show, three of the band’s members and our manager were involved in a horrific auto accident. Everyone walked away from the demolished vehicle with minimal injuries, except for me. I sustained a shattered pelvis and severe nerve damage to my arms and hands.After major surgery and several weeks in the hospital (thank God that I happened next to Yale New Haven Medical Center where I received the best medical treatment possible!), I was released and spent the next six months out of work while recovering.The accident came three weeks after separating from my wife, so it would be an understatement to say that it was the darkest periods of my life.

HP had scheduled the filming and production of three professional videos at Toad’s Place in New Haven to support the Radio Safe album for the week after the crash.What an irony considering that Toad’s Place is the club that we were returning from when the crash happened. Obviously, I was not able to perform (or even walk). Against my wishes and far before I was ready, we filmed the videos for Behind the Veil, Was It You and Fear For Ransom just a few months later during October. It was a three-camera production complete with truck outside the venue – see the video clips for samples.It looks like I was doing my best Freddy Mercury impression since my weight had tumbled to 155 lbs.While you would never know it based on my movement, I walked into the video on crutches and left on crutches. It was one of the toughest decisions that I have ever made, but I left HP at the end of 1989 and headed west to Southern California in January 1990.