Adam Trask rocking the summer to a close

Green Bay band has started for some rock hits but was formed after being fired by ‘Little Eva’
By: 
Lee Pulaski
City Editor

The Adam Trask Band will be bringing some vintage rock ‘n’ roll to the area in late August as summer begins to wind down.

The band will be playing at East Side Beach in Oconto Falls from 6-9 p.m. Aug. 26. Folks will be able to bring a lawn chair to the beach or dock their boat and watch from the water. The concert is free, but food and refreshments will be available to purchase.

After playing in Oconto Falls, the Adam Trask Band will be coming to Shawano on Aug. 28 at The Lighthouse Sports Bar and Grill, W6440 Gumaer Road. The band will be performing from 4-8 p.m.

The band saw its beginnings back in 1981, according to its leader and guitarist Roger Ihde, but it vanished from the scene for a 25-year period. Ihde said the band members all went into other bands around 1985, but then they reunited in 2012.

“We got back together when the guy who had done sound for us passed away from an aneurysm, and we all got together to do a fundraiser to help his widow pay for the funeral,” Ihde said. “We had so much fun that we decided to re-form the band.”

Ihde noted that a lot of the original band members have gone into retirement, leaving him still leading the band. However, when they all came together over 40 years ago, a love of music bonded them and made them want to perform.

“We all came to be part of a backup band for this other person, and we had so much fun playing together that, when that situation didn’t work out, we started our own band,” Ihde said.

The reason the backup band didn’t work out, according to Ihde, was because a lady claimed to be Little Eva, an American singer known for the 1962 song “The Loco-Motion.” There was just one problem, though. The Green Bay woman trying to form the backup band was White, while the real Little Eva — born Eva Boyd in 1943 — was Black.

“I knew Little Eva was Black, and this woman wasn’t, but I thought, ‘Let’s just see what she has for chops,’” Ihde said. “We kept practicing and went and did the first show. She was absolutely atrocious, terrible. After the show, I went to her and said, ‘There’s a few problems with our show.’”

After Ihde told the faux Little Eva that she wasn’t really Little Eva, he and the other band members were fired on the spot, he recalled. That was the catalyst for the Adam Trask Band to be born.

“If you’re going to claim to be somebody, make sure you’re the correct ethnicity,” Ihde said. “I never heard from her again, and I never knew her real name.”

The name Adam Trask comes from a character’s name in the John Steinbeck novel “East of Eden.” James Dean played the son of Adam Trask in the first film adaptation of the book, according to Ihde, who noted that his brother came up with the name for it.

Ihde said Adam Trask started out as a lounge band but eventually started to become a full-on rock band.

While 1980s music is a source that the six-piece band taps into, Adam Trask performs a variety of classic rock, modern tunes and even some country crossover hits. Ihde noted that the band has opened for Huey Lewis and the News, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts and Ruby Star and the Grey Star Band. The band has previously been seen performing at major events in De Pere and taking the stage at the Shawano and Kewaunee county fairs.

“It’s funny, because ’80s music is becoming huge now, so basically we’re playing some of the same songs,” Ihde said. “We are throwing in some modern stuff, but we’re playing some ’70s, ’80s, ’90s, 2000s as far as rock goes, but we’re also playing some funk, like Bruno Mars’ ‘Uptown Funk.’ We just learned Lizzo’s ‘About Damn Time.’”

Being able to evolve with the times is vital for the band’s survival, he added. It helps to attract more people than playing one type of music.

“You’ve got to do a little bit of everything,” Ihde said. “You can’t just stick to one genre, in my opinion. If you want to be a rock band, you can still be a rock band, but we throw some other things in there, do some Carrie Underwood and stuff like that.”

One thing that makes Adam Trask unique, in Ihde’s view, is that the band has both male and female vocalists, which helps to expand its repertoire.

“A lot of bands just have a singer or it’s all guys,” he said. “Having a guy and a gal singer helps to do everything to Pat Benatar to Billy Idol and all that.”

If that’s not enough to attract music lovers, Adam Trask boasts some other honors. Ihde recalled that the band was the first band outside of Milwaukee to win the Battle of the Bands put on by radio station WAPL. Adam Trask also came in second place once in the Miller High Life Rock To Riches Song Writing Contest, he said.

“Music has always been very important to everybody in the band,” Ihde said. “Music moves us in a different way. Musicians are a different breed. I’ve been playing music since I was in high school.”


lpulaski@newmedia-wi.com