43
Blue Ash’s Frank Secich shares stories from a life of rock ’n’ roll
By GUY D’ASTOLFO
Frank Secich has spent his life crafting infectious power pop tunes, first with the band Blue Ash, then with Stiv Bators, and now the Deadbeat Poets.
The Sharon, Pa., native’s songs have that “ear candy” quality: You hear one, feel happy, then instantly want another.
The same quality runs through Secich’s memoir, “Circumstantial Evidence.” The newly published book is a series of short vignettes, each a delicious memory. It’s like a greatest-hits compilation culled from story-telling sessions with a rock ’n’ roll original.
“Circumstantial Evidence,” released by High Voltage Publishing of Australia, has 76 breezy chapters, most no more than a page long, plus a section of color photos.
For Youngstown area folks who remember Blue Ash’s flirtation with the big time in the 1970s, it’s a peek behind the scenes.
For those who came late to the party, the book also provides a history lesson by linking the people and places that once comprised the booming Youngstown rock scene.
In many chapters, Secich explains a song’s backstory and then provides the lyrics, which can elicit a “now it all makes sense!” revelation for the reader.
Blue Ash, and then Stiv Bators, frequently toured North America and Europe, and Secich shares many fun stories of run-ins with rock royalty.
One thing “Circumstantial Evidence” doesn’t do is wallow in stereotypical rock excesses. Secich and his bandmates were as buoyant in real life as their music, and never got dragged into that world.
Blue Ash (like the Deadbeat Poets) were way bigger in Europe than they were in their own hometown. They still are. The band will reunite and tour Spain, France and England in the spring, and then return to the continent later in 2016 for shows in Germany and the Scandinavian countries.
Before that, Secich, along with Blue Ash original Jim Kendzor and Pete Drivere of Deadbeat Poets, will do a book signing and acoustic concert this Saturday, from 6 to 11 p.m., at Get Hip Recordings, 1800 Preble Ave., on Pittsburgh’s North Side. Admission to the all-ages event is $10.
In his book, Secich starts from the moment he was smitten with the Beatles, and takes the reader through the years, up to the present.
Every milestone is chronicled – including the day the band picked its moniker. Desperate to agree on a name while on a road trip to Cincinnati, they decided to use the next exit sign on I-71 for guidance. Yes, it was Blue Ash, Ohio.
There are also chapters during which the band rubbed elbows with the likes of Chuck Berry, Mick Jagger and Yoko Ono.
Secich will do a book tour in the New York-New Jersey area in January.
How did Blue Ash manage to attract – and keep – such a strong following in Europe? It mainly has to do with the reverence for American musicians that exists overseas.
“They treated us like gods over there,” said Secich in an interview this week. “Especially in Spain. Radio 3 in Spain plays us a lot, so a lot of people know about us. Radio over there is not so commercialized or preprogrammed like it is here. The stations might be government owned, and they play what they want.”
Secich recalls playing Monday night gigs in Europe that drew 500 people. He noted that his book is being translated into Spanish.
“The club scene is still big there,” he said. “It’s like it was 40 years ago here. Live music is still tops.”
While Secich always knew he had a book in his mind, he never had to time to write it until this year, when he was laid up with back problems. Though painful, the ordeal had a silver lining, in that it gave him time to write.
“I had cauda equina syndrome, which is a severe back injury that can cause paralysis,” said Secich. “I was in my backyard and had a very severe pain in my back. I wound up at the emergency room three days later, and went home with muscle relaxers. Then it happened again and I was rushed to the hospital.”
Secich’s doctor at UPMC Farrell was sharp enough to recognize the problem as cauda equina, which is caused by a severely ruptured disc in the lumbar.
“It’s so rare that most doctors don’t even look for it,” said Secich. “They rushed me to Pittsburgh and said I was 48 hours away from paralysis.”
Secich has been bouncing back strong, thanks to a regimen of physical therapy.
Shortly after he began to recuperate, his old friend George Matzkov of Australia, owner of High Voltage Publishing, emailed him. Matzkov had long been after Secich to write his memoirs, and reminded him that now he finally has time.
The rest is rock’n’roll history.