Bix

You might say I was destined to become a musician.

It's not just that my trumpet-playing father talked my mother into naming me after Bix Beiderbeck, one of the greatest jazz trumpet players of all time. It's probably that as a kid, I spent many nights watching my dad play his horn at clubs around town. And, probably, because I started playing music myself when I was still a kid.

I was given a Hep Cats drum set when I was three. A decade later, I was playing in the band and orchestra at West High School and testing my abilities as a member of the Rogues. But I played my first real gig at the age of 14. At the time, Mark was in a band called Spectre, Inc. His drum player got in a car accident, and he somehow heard I might be available to fill in for the night. I left my parents' house (right off University Avenue) at 4:00 p.m. and was brought home at 5:00 the next morning from our show at "Mothers" (also right off University Avenue). That's when I knew being a musician was for me!

After that, I started a band called The Changing Tides with my brother, Tom. In the later years of that band's existence I briefly worked with Jon and opened for touring acts including Tommy James and the Shondelles and the Loving Spoonful. After that, I played polka and country music to pay the bills before becoming part of the Pepper & Bill band, which later became the Action Band when Pepper took a hiatus.

Pepper & Bill Band about 1981. Left to right - Bill Zabit, Pepper Ripp, Mark Loder, and Bix Olstadt

I, myself, took a hiatus for a four-year period, but eventually hooked up with Pepper, Mark and Jon once again to become the Relics in 1996. Later, we added Bob and Peter (replaced by Abigail years later) to become the group known by the motto "You're never too old to rock 'n' roll."

Which means, of course, that I'll be playing until the grim reaper comes to get my ass!