Rock and Roll with The Boomers!

Phil Henzig - Lead Guitarist & Lead Vocals

Jim Schrimpf - Bass Guitar & Vocals

Pat Henzig - Rhythm Guitar & Vocals

Tom Waddell - Drums & Vocals

	How do you sum up a lifetime of listening to, teaching and playing music? My life changed when I was13 years old. That’s when I saw the movie “Hard Days Night” and heard for the first time the unique sound of the Beatles, driven by the Rickenbacker guitar and the Vox amplifier – still my equipment of choice! They had a cool sound, cool hair and the cutest chicks. I was going to play guitar! My first band, the Sons of the Night, played all over Milwaukee. I ended up getting arrested for playing in a club while still under age. But even a “serious talk” from the D.A. didn’t deter my musical ambitions. My friend Jim Schrimpf and I got together and wowed an assembly while still in middle school with our raucous rock and roll! Bending the strings just came naturally for me, and by the time I was in high school I was giving guitar lessons to as many as 50 students per week. After high school I played and sang in the country-rock band Whiskey Flats, which was pretty big back in the day. We played large venues like Summerfest but also just about every little club in southeastern Wisconsin. We recorded lots of original material so that’s where I cut my teeth on songwriting and multi-tracking. During the 80s I toured the United States extensively for nearly five years as part of a duo, playing everywhere from Alabama to American Samoa. It was exciting but exhausting! I took a break from music until just last year when Jim Schrimpf again talked me into giving it yet another go by forming our current band, The Boomers, along with my brother Pat (rhythm) and good friend Tom Waddell (drums). Named for our generation, our “Boomers” band wants today’s young people to hear what we grew up listening to and to revive the great 60s-80s rock & roll for those who’ve missed it.
	It’s been a long and rewarding musical journey! After taking accordion lessons at my parents’ urging it became obvious I’d never land a gig in rock and roll. So at the tender age of 13 I tossed the accordion in favor of a bass guitar. Around this time my cousin Bob had just started a rock band and needed a bassist so the two of us, along with Donny and Gary, began our quest to learn the songs of the day. The first song I learned on bass was the classic “Mr. Tambourine Man.” My first band performance was for a year-end assembly for my freshman class at Pio Nono (now Saint Thomas Moore). Joining me on stage was my cousin Bob and a friend from grade school, Phil Henzig. It was one of the most thrilling moments of my young life and I knew then that playing in a band was the thing for me. The next four years I honed my talent in countless garage bands and played at numerous youth center dances. As I entered college my friend Phil Henzig once again contacted me and asked if I would be interested in filling in at bass while their lead singer was learning how to play bass. I was happy to help, but before I knew it, the lead singer was out, I was in, and the drummer took over as lead singer. Thus the band “The Coalition” was formed. For the next two years we traveled the entire state playing everywhere and anywhere. After The Coalition broke up I was playing in a band called the Shy Kind with my friend Dennis Shaske when I saw an ad in the newspaper looking for a guitar and bass player to form a new kind of band doing 50’s rock and roll. Believe it or not, there was no band in the Milwaukee market playing 50’s and early 60’s music. So Dennis and I got together with Paul Barry and Triva Jones, hired Kenny our drummer, and Barry’s Truckers was born. Barry’s Truckers blazed the path for the 50’s revival in the Milwaukee Metro area and, I must say, being single in a popular band in the early 70’s was the best of times!  I left the band when I graduated college and took a job in New York City. Soon I found myself in a band with two graduates of Boston’s Berkley School of Music. They were exceptionally talented and used that talent to bring a little bit of rock and roll heaven to the military installations surrounding Washington, D.C. Then came marriage to my lovely wife Kathy and fatherhood of three fantastic boys, which left no time for a band. But as any musician knows, you can take the man out of the music but you can’t take the music out of the man! Twenty years later I talked Phil Henzig into starting a band once again – our current band, which we named after our generation, the Boomers. And it’s just as fun now as it was in the beginning! If you still love the music you remember growing up, please come see us!
	My interest in playing guitar started when my father bought a Gibson ES120 electric guitar and bought a couple of albums, Caribbean Guitar by Chet Atkins and The Lonesome Sounds of Hank Williams. My brother Phil bought albums by the Beatles and other bands that were part of the British invasion. Eventually, my father lost interest in playing so he gave his guitar and amp to Phil, and that was the start of our guitar playing family; our three brothers – Paul, Greg and Michael – also play, making a grand total of five of seven siblings who are lifelong musicians.   I started taking guitar lessons in 1964 when I was 9. In the 1970s I learned some finger picking and picked up some songs by Cat Stevens. By the time I was a teenager I started writing some songs and then, when I got together with friends, I picked up the bass guitar and played it often during our jams. Today I still love both rock and roll and country music, and as part of The Boomers I’m still able to play a little of both. Each of us contributes new songs to our playlist, works hard at practice and makes it our goal to make each show more energetic and enjoyable for our audiences. Though our music is always fun, we take entertaining seriously; we know that for a lot of folks who come to see us, it’s not often they have an evening out. So we’re going to make sure they have a great time! What’s really cool is that our audiences are familiar with most if not all our songs – and in some cases are surprised and pleased there’s still a band out there playing them live, just like they remembered them. I’ve been happily married to my wonderful wife Cindy for over 30 years. I’m grateful to her for supporting this “second love” of mine – this great music! Cindy and I have a very talented son Brett, who also plays guitar and writes his own songs. The tradition continues!
	Thomas Gerald Waddell comes from great musical stock. His mother, Virginia Waddell, was a concert pianist and opera singer who had him playing piano since he was four years old. Tom’s dad, Gerald, played accordion in a wedding band called “The Waddell Harmonizers” featuring his father’s brother, Clifford, who played saxophone. Tom went to junior high at John Marshall in Milwaukee and, because his mother had a string bass in her music room, started playing that too. He became first chair string bass in the school orchestra. Tom later transferred to Boy’s Tech to take up the plumbing trade, like his father and uncle. That school had a marching band instead of an orchestra so Tom took up the drums. Tom says a memorable moment came as part of a “family performance” during a wedding at the Eagles Ballroom in front of 2,000 guests – Tom on drums, his dad on accordion, his uncle on sax and mom playing bass fiddle. Over the years Tom has been in numerous bands, including the Rockin’ Robins (when Tom was just 18), the Suds Monopoly, North Country and the Booze Brothers. He also played on and off for 20 years with the band White Lightning Express, featuring Larry Peterson, whom Tom thinks is the best fiddle player ever, and Dan McDonald on bass, fiddle and guitar.   But Tom’s true love is teaching music, which he began at age 20 on piano at LoDuca Brothers on 23rd and North Ave. He also taught bass, piano and drums at Meinke School of Music at 35th & Villard until it closed. Now Tom continues lessons for all ages at the studio in his home. As a teacher of music theory, Tom helps students not only play but read and write music, as well.   Today, as drummer for the Boomers, Tom enjoys banging out some classic rock and roll but he mostly appreciates the camaraderie between all the guys in the band.   When not playing music, Tom is either working as a plumber, serving as an umpire for the Milwaukee County Parks or riding his Harley.