ROGER LAMBERT ...

Roger invented music at the start of time. And it was good. Being a vampire, he has survived for generations and is still around today to entertain you.

Started playing at 14 in a high school band with the name of Department of Sound (which I always hated) playing all over the state and on Channel 2 as a summer replacement show several times. Cattle Congress, fraternity parties, Knights of Columbus, you name it -- we played it. And then it was off to different colleges.

		Next were those formative years in bands like Middle Earth and Justice. I was away at college in Kirksville and starting to learn how to play solo as I had always just been a front man before this. Moving back to northeast Iowa, I had the opportunity to go on the road with two close friends in a six-piece road band named Home Brew. We traveled back and forth across the country playing hotels and clubs. I was with them for two years. The rest of the band had been out for seven years and were ready to come home. So home we came.
Department of Sound

Arriving back in northeast Iowa again (a great place to be), I realized there weren't many musicians up there. So I started working hard on being a better musician and started a band called Messenger. Played rock covers around northeast Iowa. A few years later there was a different version of that band called Prairie.

Next (how much time do you have) it must have been my wild years or something because I hooked up with a guy named Billy Boyce out of Dubuque. He and his friends all thought they were all bikers and real tough, which they were (but they mostly all worked at John Deere). You can't be poor and ride a nice Harley. We were a three-piece with Billy being lead vocals and guitar, me on bass and Mark Schmidt on drums. Mark didn't sing but Billy called him Mister Metronome. We (Billy Boyce Band) were very popular and busy playing 3 or 4 times a week. All up around northeast Iowa and Galena area and southern Wisconsin and several of those years we played the beer tent at the Great Jones County Fair. Quite the experience. Mark was getting tired of some of the usual shenanigans that happen in bands and talked me into starting a country band we called Heartland. We opened for Waylon Jennings, Patty Loveless, Moe Bandy, Ozark Mountain Daredevils, Suzy Boggus and Dan
Seals. It finally got to where I wanted to strangle the line dancers so it wasn't any fun anymore.

Back to the roots, back to the rock. Playing with two members of Home Brew, we started a band called The Big Spin. During this time I was also getting better at the solo job, which it seemed I always could do but I missed lots of harmony and lots of dancing. But with one member from Illinois, it was hard to keep this band together and so I did the solo thing on and off.

Next up, The Night Owls. A band led by brothers Mike and John Elliff with Tim Canfield on bass and Beth Tessier on vocals, by this time I was good enough to play lead guitar for them. We showcased strong harmonies, great musicians (probably not me, but them, yes), and a comfortable, warm, fuzzy feeling. We played for several years until Mike needed to stay home and help raise two fine sons. Hopefully some day he will have time to play again. Next, another band that had been around Cedar Rapids for twenty years that I had never heard of, The Truxx. Jim Thomas, Joe Hutchcroft and Ross Kendall. A fine band, fine young gentlemen and a real good time. They just didn't want to play very much, and I did. So when the opportunity to join Monkey Business came along, I jumped at it. Or should I say I swung out of a tree to assume a position in Monkeydom. And the rest is history.

Check out Ken's page >> ..... Check out Scotts' page >> ..... Check out Kevin's page >>