I Don’t Remember was formed by Ron and Dave. Ron was not in a band at that time; Dave was just out of Burntshoe along with Tim. Rick joined up at Dave’s request having been in a band called Liberty with Dave in the 60s. Dave felt he would be a worthwhile addition as a lead singer. This left the boys with a drummer to find. As fate would have it, Dave and Ron happen to be at the Boone Dairy Queen where they ran into Gary, an old bandmate of Ron’s. Some personal catching up was done and the band thing was mentioned. Gary indicated an interest in joining and the band was complete.     About that name... At the formation of the band a name was never talked about as the group was just getting started. Ron’s employer at the time was on the planning committee for Ogden Fun Days celebration and asked Ron if he knew of any bands that would be available to play a dance one of the nights of the event. Ron quickly volunteered this band. When asked for a name Ron simply replied, “I don’t remember”. Thus, that is the name used in all the advertising for Fun Days. At the time of the break up the name Nova was briefly considered, but was decided that the connection with the Chevy Nova would be a bit much. Consequently a name was never decided on.

help home words bands songs posters store leave contact

Date formed: Summer 1975

Date disbanded: Summer 1975

Rick Adams: Vocals

Dave Carlson: Guitar, vocals

Ron Carlson: 6 & 12-string guitars, vocals

Tim Fees: Bass, vocals

Gary Lofstedt: Drums

Dave was playing a Gibson Firebird V at this time. It’d been originally finished in blue. The previous owner had stripped the finish and stained it a dark brown. Also, the pickups were a little wacky. Dave was going to fix and/or replace them, but never did. It is not known what Dave was using for an amp at this time.     Ron had a walnut finished ES 335 and Rickenbacker 360 twelve string that was finished in mapleglo. For amplification he was using a Fender Dual Showman (blackface) with a Fender 2 x15 bottom loaded with Altec 418-8 H 15 in. speakers. For running the Rick in stereo he added a hot rodded Fender Bandmaster and a 1 x 15 cabinet along with the Showman for a brief time. The Bandmaster had been modified by Brian Wolf to have the same output as a Showman (it ran extremely hot). The cabinet was loaded with one of the old JBL D 130 Fs that were originally in Ron’s Showman bottom. This 1 x15 cabinet had been purchased from Dave Sternquist who had built it for use with his guitar.    Gary had Ludwig set finished in oyster pearl consisting of: double kick, snare, two shell mount toms, double floor toms, hi-hat and assorted cymbals.    Tim was playing a Fender Precision bass. It is not known what amp he was using at the time.     For P A the band used Ron’s Bandmaster along with whatever speaker cabinets could be found. Rick did most of the lead vocals, although Tim and Ron did some lead vocals too. Everyone except Gary did background vocals.

I Don’t Remember practiced at Rick’s home located in the country just a little south and east of Stratford. Usually they practiced in the basement with an occasional outdoor practice thrown in for good measure. Practice was usually held on weekends with mid-week practices every once in awhile.     The band did not attempt to work up as many of the hits of the day as they might have had this been 1967. By this time doing songs the band members liked was more common and I Don’t Remember was no exception. Among the songs worked up were: “Still Alive and Well”/Johnny Winter, “Dirty Love”/Zappa, “So You Want to be a Rock and Roll Star”/Byrds. “The Punk Meets the Godfather”, “Glow Girl”/Who; “Couldn’t I Just Tell You”/Todd Rundgren and others. A pretty good mix with no discernible style being predominant. As far as can be remembered no original tunes were performed.    I Don’t Remember is another of the bands here in Garage that had only one known performance. They played Ogden Fun Days the summer they were together. The gig went relatively well, but a few ragged edges were in evidence. In fact, these edges were the catalyst for the band break up.

At one of the practices following the Fun Days job the band was together at Rick’s house, but minus Rick. He was doing some farm work as that was his vocation. Gary brought up a comment a friend of his had made concerning the groups performance at the Fun Days job. The friend thought that Rick’s singing left much to be desired, although it was put in much stronger terms. Also Ron had jumped the gun, so to speak, on a break in the Who tune “The Punk Meets the Godfather”. Instead of waiting for Gary to bring it all back in, Ron had counted it out in his head and started back in with no one else really sure of the timing. Admittedly Rick’s performance had been a bit looser than it should have been as was Ron’s. But Rick was a best friend to Dave and a good friend to Ron which made it a very uncomfortable position for them to be in.    The talk got around to the opinion that Rick should be given an ultimatum: shape up or ship out. The problem was no one wanted to tell him. When Rick arrived it was pretty tense. Finally Ron felt compelled to tell Rick what had been discussed. A painful task for Ron to be sure. Rick said he couldn’t devote more time to the band then he already was and that was, more or less, that. Ron, Dave, and Tim were all willing to give Rick a chance to get his singing together, but Gary was not. Also the whole meeting left a bad taste in everyone’s mouth. And that was the end of the band.

This was Rick’s last known involvement in music. He is currently farming south of Stratford where he lives with his family. Dave did not play in any other groups after this either. He became a police officer and currently works and lives in Phoenix AZ. Ron went on to play in other bands–allen/carlson and Second Chance are two of the groups he was with. He plays only occasionally now for his own enjoyment. Ron lives in Boone and works in Urbandale. Tim was not involved in any more bands after this. He works as an EMT for a hospital in Waterloo. Gary played in other groups and is currently working at Mercy Medical Center in Des Moines.

HOME  WORDS  BANDS  SONGS  POSTERS  STORE  HELP  LEAVE/LINKS