A Rememberance of TC Sweeney

A remembrance of T. C. Sweeney, by Rick Clogston

Thomas Christopher Sweeney, Jr. was born on July 30, 1955. His father was a Master Sergeant in the Army National Guard. By the age of 17, both of his parents had passed away, and both of his sisters were married and moved out of the area. He was on his own.

A pivotal moment in his life had already taken place. At the age of 14, he and the band he was in played for an audience of roughly 5000 people at the town of Ashland, NH’s bicentennial celebration. He never forgot it, and always hungered to get back in front of a big audience again.

Most people knew him as Tom. He had been introduced to me as Chris. But, he preferred being introduced on stage as T. C., so that is how I will refer to him here. Playing music was his world, to the exclusion of just about everything else. He never married, never had children, never owned a home, or did much of anything else that most people have done by the time they reach their mid-40’s. All he wanted to do was write and play music.

It would be easy to think that he had no friends, but once you got to know him it was easy to see that this was not the case at all. He had a lot of friends, most of who relied on him heavily. I cannot say that I was his best friend, because I know a lot of people who might also qualify for that honor. I can say, though, that he was mine. He supported and encouraged me for a lot of years. He was there when I needed him, and I tried to be all the same for him. We would pump each other up when it seemed that no one else in the world cared about our music or us.

A core group that came to be known as V8 did most of the recordings on this disc. In this band TC played bass, I was on guitar and lead vocals, and Jim “BoHammer” Kelly was the drummer. TC could play guitar, keyboards, sang fairly well, and could get around all right on drums, but with this group he was the bass player.

Unlike a lot of people with his level of talent, he shunned the spotlight. It wasn’t from lack of confidence, or stage fright, or any of that. He simply knew his limitations. He was not a front man, and yet he was a great field general. He usually had a wireless on his instrument so he could cruise around the room, checking the sound. He was always the first to arrive for a gig, and the last to leave. He spent the better part of thirty years in the ‘bar band wars’ and knew all the tricks.

What he most wanted to do was play original music. He wasn’t the best songwriter ever, but he was good, and he knew it. Again, he was fully aware of his limitations. He could have played and sang all the parts, but instead reached out and pulled in people he trusted. Kelly was always his drummer of choice, although producer Bryce Chicoinne laid down some drum tracks for these sessions that TC felt were worthy of inclusion. He asked me to come in on lead guitar and vocals, and I was given complete freedom to at least try anything I felt like trying.

He would get frustrated with any band that didn’t want to make the effort to play originals. He would leave, or get kicked out of, quite a few very good, very successful bands over the years because of his insistence that they record. By 1992, he had come to the conclusion that the only way it was ever going to get done would be if he did it himself. I remember that a lot of musicians that knew TC laughed about it, and thought he was crazy. Apparently, they didn’t know him as well as Kelly and I.

TC didn’t have a driver’s license or a car at the time, so he would ride from his home in Plymouth with either Kelly or myself to BCM Studios in Claremont, NH for the sessions. He usually went over about once a week on the average. He and Kelly would go and lay down drum tracks, and sometimes scratch vocals and guitar. Later, he and I would go and put down my parts. Sometimes he would work with a click track, and Bryce would later lay down drums, most of the time to be replaced by Kelly. In this fashion the songs got velcroed together.

We started with Rainbow’s End, with me putting down vocals and the solo alongside what had already been done with his previous band, Driver. The original idea was to do a couple songs, but they went so well that we just kept going. TC, Kelly and I hadn’t even been in the same room together until we landed a gig as V8 near the end of the sessions. With no rehearsal, not even a sound check, we played for a party as the opening act to a Grateful Dead tribute act. We played everything from the Ricochet sessions, and pulled whatever covers we could think of out of our hats, and it went over big. A band was born.

Unfortunately, it was about that time that Jim Kelly and his family decided to move to Ohio, where they live today. TC and I found a drummer and bass player and performed once as a four-piece version of V8, but that was all. A few years later TC moved out to Ohio and tried to put a band together with Kelly. I went out for a week in 1997 and we did a V8 reunion performance. Soon after, TC returned to NH.

In 1999, TC called me and asked if I’d like to play in a pick-up band with him and Lisa Egan, the co-writer and original vocalist on Rainbow’s End. We called ourselves The Flexibles. Due to circumstances beyond her control Lisa was unable to continue, but TC and I soldiered on with a succession of drummers. Al Boucher took the seat for a while. Finally, we met up with Bill Joyner, and the job was his.


He was as anxious as we were to do original material, and liked the concept we had for the group. How TC and I saw it was actually as two bands. The Flexibles was a bar band that played covers for money. The other band would play and record original music. We never really settled on a name for that side of the group, but the one time we played as an all-originals band we called ourselves SDG. By the end of 2001 it looked like we were finally in a position to do everything we wanted.


On New Year’s Eve, 2001-02, The Flexibles played what we all agreed was one of our best performances at the Bridgewater Inn, in Bridgewater, NH. We were scheduled to play there again the following Saturday night, the 4th. The B. I. had been our home base from the beginning, and was our favorite place to play. Come Saturday, I showed up with half of the equipment about 4:00, and Bill arrived with his drums shortly thereafter. By 6:30 we had set up all our gear and had dinner, and still no TC. The plan was that, since I was coming from work, he would go to my house and pick up what wouldn’t fit in my car, and meet us there. He was always the first to arrive.

As he didn’t have a phone, we decided that I would go home and get the rest of the gear, and Bill would go to TC’s house and see if he’d slept in. My wife and I loaded the car and I was just about to leave when the phone rang. It was Bill on his cell phone. He had knocked on the door of TC’s apartment and got no answer. He went upstairs and got the landlord to let him in with an extra key. TC was lying on the floor, dead from a heart attack. He was 46 years old.

TC’s sisters and their families handled the funeral arrangements, but the place was packed with all his friends. The family very graciously allowed me to have his papers and recordings, and said I could put this little package together. It’s been such a difficult task for me that it’s been over four years in the making, but finally, here it is.

If you knew TC, I have no doubt that you still miss him. If you didn’t, then I hope you enjoy this exposure to a simply lovely guy. He was an inspiration to me. I have never known anybody in my life that was so totally dedicated to his vision. Even he would agree, a little too dedicated. I remember him telling me once that the reason he never married was that it would be unfair to any woman to make her go through it with him. He had a dream, and he followed it, and he never wavered.

He was the night porter at the Ashland, NH Burger King. Night janitor, basically. He drove a ten-year-old Dodge minivan that barely ran. He lived alone in a small, one-room apartment in the basement of a house on a back road. All his spare money went to buy musical equipment. He had a set-up that you could have used to play the Fleet Center in Boston. He lived on coca-cola, Tylenol PM, and whatever food passed in front of him. It would be easy to look at all that and declare him a failure. A loser.

But the TC Sweeney I knew was no loser. He was one of the best, most versatile musicians I’ve ever known. He was talented and humble at the same time, and how often do you find that particular combination? And whatever talent he lacked, he made up for with hard work and determination. He was generous, both artistically and personally. He freely gave of his time, energy, and possessions to whoever needed them.

I should warn you that he was not satisfied with these recordings as you hear them now. He wanted the drums to sound like they did on the early Heart albums, for one thing. I have to admit, a lot of it’s pretty rough. As time went by, he was determined not to let these recordings ever see the light of day, intending to re-do them. Unfortunately, that is no longer an option. What you’ve got is all there is. I hope you enjoy it. It is a life’s work, and a labor of love.

Rick Clogston, Warren, NH, April 15, 2006

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Postscript: Easter Sunday, 4/8/07

It's been almost a year since writing what you see above. The original intention for this, and everything I've posted here, was for it to be part of an enhanced CD that included the Ricochet Project sessions. Unfortunately, there were problems with putting the files on the CD, so I've put all that stuff here.

If you don't have the CD, and you want a copy, get hold of me and I can probably arrange it. It includes a lot of files that worked just fine in that format, including copies of every photo of TC I could get my hands on. And, the music's damn good, if you ask me.

If you're one of his many friends, please leave a comment. Especially if I got something wrong! I'm hoping this will become a place where the people who miss TC Sweeney can get together. So, have fun, and remember a good friend with me.

Rick

Liner Notes

The Ricochet Project

T. C. Sweeney

Produced by T. C. Sweeney and Bryce Chicoine

Engineered by Bryce Chicoine

Recorded at BCM Studios, Claremont, NH between 6/1/92 and 9/21/92

c. 1992, Off The Wall Productions

Dedicated to the memory of Robin McKenna

Notes by Rick Clogston, March 2006

1 - Clandestine Caty - T. C. Sweeney – c. 1992

T. C. Sweeney - rhythm guitar and bass

Rick Clogston - lead guitar and vocals

Bryce Chicoine - drums

This is sung by a character we invented in the studio who we named "Sludge," loosely based on British punk-rocker Ian Dury. When it was time to put down the vocals for Clandestine Caty, the rhythm tracks were all done. TC handed me the lyric sheet and informed me that this song should have “a back-alley feel.” Then he left the room, and the tape started rolling. As the headphones filled with the intro, I tried to figure out what the flying heck he meant.

I decided on what kind of person I might expect to find in a back alley, and sang the lyric on the sheet from that perspective. What you hear is that first take. When the track finished, I went into the control room and found TC and Bryce (Chicoine, the producer and owner of BCM) practically rolling on the floor with laughter. It turned out that what TC wanted was a kind of Jon Bon Jovi-style vocal, but he loved what I did, so we kept it. In fact, Sludge would soon take on a life of his own.

For the outro, Bryce set up a contact mic on the floor and we knocked over a pile of already-damaged old drum gear. At the very end, it’s TC yelling, “Kill him! Kill him!”

2 - Rainbow's End - T. C. Sweeney, Lisa Egan and Jim Kelley – c. 1992

T. C. Sweeney - bass

Rick Clogston - lead guitar and vocals

Lisa Egan - keyboards

Jim Kelley - drums

TC wrote the music for this in 1973. About 15 years later he let Lisa and Jim write lyrics for it. Although he liked the result, he later felt he could improve on them. Lisa prefers the song with the lyrics as she and Jim wrote them, but this is TC's revision. Lisa’s original demo appears later on.

The solo is me on a Gibson ES-330 guitar and Fender fretless Jazz bass, in a call-and-response pattern. We discussed what the solo should be for some time, and experimented with several options that took it way over the top. Trouble was, the arrangement was already so dense that it changed the character of the song, so it was decided we’d try something that stayed very deep within the pocket.

3 - Lost In Her Love - T. C. Sweeney – c. 1992

T. C. Sweeney - bass

Rick Clogston - lead guitar and vocals

Bryce Chicoine – drums

This is a love song that TC placed in 1863 Boston. It actually got a little airplay on WPNH Radio, Plymouth NH, on their Homegrown Music show. TC wanted me to double the bass line on guitar, but I was laying down the rhythm guitar track at the same time as I sang the vocal. This was intended to be a scratch track, which would later be overdubbed, but TC liked it, so here it is.

4 - Wild And Free - T. C. Sweeney – c. 1992

T. C. Sweeney - bass

Rick Clogston - lead guitar and vocals

Bryce Chicoine – drums

When it was time to do the solo, Bryce asked me what I wanted for a sound. At that time, I was listening to a lot of Living Colour, so I told him I wanted it to sound like Vernon Reid, drunk. He nodded, and went to work. He plugged my Ibanez Roadstar through a wah pedal, a pro-co Rat distortion pedal, and from there into a pair of old Fender Vibrolux amps. What you hear is the first take. Wild and free, indeed.

5 - Dark Dawn Rising - T. C. Sweeney, Tom McNamara – c.1992

T. C. Sweeney - lead guitar and bass

Rick Clogston - vocals

Jim Kelley – drums

This was meant to be the first part of a trilogy of songs. The sight of the burning oil fields in Kuwait after the first gulf war inspired this song. TC credited himself with writing the whole song, but Tom McNamara assures me that the lyrics are from a poem that he wrote, and TC put it to music. He had the music for the other two songs in his head, but as far as I know never wrote them down. Once, he played the music for the second song for me, at which time he, Tom McNamara, and I hammered out most of the lyrics in an afternoon. These lyrics are probably in his personal papers, but I'm afraid I've forgotten the music.

6 - You're No Good - T. C. Sweeney and Jim Kelley – c. 1992

T. C. Sweeney - guitar, bass and background vocals

Rick Clogston - vocals

Jim Kelley - drums and background vocals

TC was so happy with the performance by "Sludge" on Clandestine Caty that he asked that the same character do this song. The whole thing at the beginning was added later. In the intro, there is supposed to be a response to Sludge’s lines, but TC didn’t want to mess with it.

7 - Promise Of A New Day - T. C. Sweeney – c. 1992

T. C. Sweeney - lead guitar, keyboards and bass

Rick Clogston - vocals

Jim Kelley – drums

This is one of my favorite songs that TC wrote. We felt it needed the descant background vocal, which was taken directly from TC’s lyrics. I love the smokin’ solo that TC lays down.

8 - Rainbow's End Reprise - T. C. Sweeney, Lisa Egan and Jim Kelley – c. 1992

T. C. Sweeney - bass

Rick Clogston - guitars, congas and vocals

TC wanted to try an unplugged version of this song. Once again, the scratch tracks passed final muster.

9 – Better Than Fine (Hey, Honey Mama) – T. C. Sweeney – c. 1992

T. C. Sweeney - guitars, bass

Rick Clogston – vocals

Jim Kelley – drums

I originally sang this under protest. I didn’t think it was TC’s best work, and I didn’t care for the lyric in particular. I agreed to lay down one take, which he later intended to have somebody else replace. After TC passed away, I thought it only right to include it, because it was what he would have wanted. Now, after hearing it again all these years later, I think it’s actually pretty good. Sorry, TC. I was wrong.

10 - Rainbow’s End – Original Demo – T. C. Sweeney, Lisa Egan, and Jim Kelley - c. 1992

T. C. Sweeney - bass

Lisa Egan – vocals, keyboards

Jim Kelley – drums

This is the original version that TC, Lisa, and Jim recorded, with the Egan/Kelley lyrics. The only change from the other version is the vocal, which I did with TC’s revised lyrics. TC used a rough-mix cassette of this to convince me to do these sessions with him.

Thoughts on BoHammer

While putting this package together, I learned of the passing of Jim “BoHammer” Kelly, the drummer on the Ricochet Project. He died in November 2005. He’s probably the only person who had played in more bands with TC than I had. I have no idea how long the two knew each other, but there was a mutual respect and admiration between them. As a drummer, Jim’s style fit neatly between those of Led Zeppelin’s John Bonham and The Who’s Keith Moon. He was a heavy-handed wild man with a heart of gold, and he will be missed.

Rick Clogston, Jim "BoHammer" Kelly, and TC Sweeney

Link to Pan

Hi. Some of you found this blog because of a link that was placed on "The Ricochet Project" CD. If so, it also has a link to my personal blog. But, if you came here through other means, then you might not know about my blog, "Peter Pan's Lemonade Stand."

http://panstand.blogspot.com/

From here, you can read about my CD, "Rough Edges," along with some other writings of mine. Hope you enjoy it.

TC's Obit

T. C. Sweeney passed away on January 4, 2002. This was the obituary that I sent out to The Flexibles’ email list the next week.

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Hello.

This is Rick Clogston, guitarist/singer of The Flexibles, with some sad news. T. C. Sweeney, the group's bassist, has passed away. He was 46 years old. It is reported that he died of a massive coronary, and he had been ill for several weeks before his passing.

T. C. was a veteran of many bands in New Hampshire over the last thirty years. He was a songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who was comfortable in a variety of styles.

His funeral will be held at Mayhew's Funeral Home on Langdon St. in Plymouth, NH, on Friday, Jan. 11, at 2 pm. Afterwards, his friends are invited to the Bridgewater Inn on Route 3A in Bridgewater for snacks and beverages.

As for the band, it's future is currently undecided.

The Secret Life of the Flexibles

This is an email I sent out to advertise the only performance in which TC’s last band, The Flexibles, played the band’s originals. The original concept that he and I had for the band was that it would be, in fact, two bands; one, a cover band whose purpose was to make the money necessary to buy equipment; the other, an all-originals band.

Bill and TC decided they wanted to use a name that I had wanted to use for just such a band for a long time; SDG. The name comes from J. S. Bach, who used to inscribe the beginning of each new work with the initials JJ, standing for Jesu Juva, Latin for “Jesus, help me.” At the end, he would write SDG; Soli Deo Gloria, Latin for “To God alone be the glory.”

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----- Original Message ----- From: Rick Clogston Sent: Monday, May 07, 2001 6:03 AM Subject: The secret life of The Flexibles

Hello.

If you know The Flexibles (and if you're receiving this email, you do) then you know us as a classic rock cover band. But, many of you have been asking if we write our own material. Well, . . . some of you have been asking. Awright, NONE of you have been asking, but we do anyway.

Here's where we come to today's installment of The Flexibles Mystery Theater, entitled "The Secret Life of The Flexibles." Bassist T. C. Sweeney has been writing songs for, oh, a couple of decades and tried to coax other bands into taking his originals into the studio. Finally, out of frustration and between bands, he convinced guitarist/singer Rick Clogston into helping him out.
Along with drummer Jim "BoHammer" Kelly they went into BCM Studios in Claremont, NH and recorded "The Ricochet Project," an oft-ignored and rarely-sought-after semi-demo of original Sweeney-isms.

Rick had been writing for quite a while himself, mostly with the band Tribute. When Sweeney and Clogston reunited last year to form The Flexibles, it was with the understanding that one day, when no one expected it, they would continue with the original-music project they had planned to do so many, uh, uh, weeks and months ago. (Hey, c'mon, we're not THAT old!)

Well, that day will be May 18. The place will be Drifters, an all-ages non-alcohol club located at 17 Factory St. in Nashua, NH. You can get directions and any other information you need by calling them at 603-226-2556. Oh, by the way, we won't be The Flexibles that night. This band-within-a-band (which still includes super-drummer Bill Joyner) will be appearing under the name SDG. (Anyone able to correctly discern what the initials stand for will win a donut.)

And, if you can't make the Drifters gig, or you prefer us as a cover band, you owe it to yourself to come to Jeremiah's in Lakeport, across the street from Dan Fitzgerald Dodge on the weekend of May 25 and 26. Jeremiah's is a very nice club with great atmosphere. Heck, I might even go there if we weren't playing. Hope to see you then.