Ron Lauback

Ron Lauback
Guitarist Ron Lauback, circa 1966
Background information
Birth name	Ronald George Lauback
Born	(1942-09-11) September 11, 1942 (age 79)
Genres	Heavy metal, Instrumental, Hard rock
Occupation(s)	Songwriter, musician
Instruments	Lead guitar, Bass guitar
Years active	1958 - present
Labels
Associated acts	The Monterays

Ron Lauback is a guitarist/bassist/songwriter from Syracuse, New York. Ron is currently performing with and The Monterays and celebrated his fiftieth year in the music business in 2008.

Beginnings (1942-1958)[]

Ron was born on September 11, 1942 in Syracuse, New York to George and Helen Lauback. There is a long musical history in the Lauback family (with Ron's mother Helen Lauback being a music teacher in the East Syracuse School District in the 1940s), with young Ron being exposed to jazz, classical and pop music as a child. Ron's first musical instrument was a ukulele, which he started learning in his pre-teens.

It would take the influence of rock and roll in the mid 1950s to make young Ron take up the electric guitar. Early musical influences include Duane Eddy, The Everly Brothers and most importantly Chuck Berry.^[1]

By 1958 Ron had formed East Syracuse's first rock and roll band . The Sabres specialized in instrumental music and early rock artists like the afore-mentioned Chuck Berry, The Ventures and Dale Hawkins.^[1]

The Sabres years (1958-1964)[]

The Sabres's popularity in the Central New York region prompted them to record a single ("Seaweed" (written by Ron Lauback) b/w "The McCoy" a Ventures song) which received airplay on WNDR radio in 1962 ("Seaweed" was produced by Joe Raposo at ). The Sabres played all the regional teen dances and even backed up Bobby Vee at one time for DJ ^[1] The band changed its name to The Jazzmen in 1963, but split the following year. The British Invasion having rendered their Instrumental sound out of fashion.

During this time Ron also graduated from Syracuse University (1964) and took a job with Bristol Laboratories (now known as Bristol-Myers Squibb).

The Saint and the Sinners (1965-1968)| Airborne (1969-1970)[]

Ron next worked with (1965–1968) featuring lead singer (ex-The Monterays), keyboardist , (drums), (vocals/guitar). The Saint and the Sinners started out as a typical mid 60's garage/dance band before evolving into a soul/horn band, not unlike Wilmer & the Dukes (another regionally popular band). The Saint and the Sinners fought it out with both The Dukes and The Monterays on the local dance circuit.^[1]

The band could be seen regularly playing the hip clubs and dances of the era. These places include: Hewitt's, The Pin-O-Rama in Oswego, S.U. frat blasts, Carlsys, The Turn On in Downtown Syracuse, and other local high school dances. It was at this time that the Sinners made their first recordings "LIVE" (naturally) at St. Matthews School in East Syracuse.^[2]

The Saint and the Sinners spent summer 1967 as the "virtual" house band of in Sylvan Beach, New York. ""The popularity of the band was established when we played all summer at The Forest Hotel," Ron states. "People of that generation still remember us from performing there. Stop in and ask Captain John at his restaurant in Sylvan Beach as to who was one of the best bands to play at the Forest."^[2]

Soon after this engagement, the group underwent another split, with George Day leaving (he would later surface in The Monterays.) The Sinners soldiered on, acquiring saxophonist and organist (and former ) . Ron-"We completely changed our style. Soul music became the popular music of young adults, therefore, we changed with the times. Now since I played trumpet as a youth in high school, it was natural to play dual harmonies with Frank on many of these songs. This was due to the horn charts that were inherent in the music of that time period." With a change in style, came a change in venues, as The Sinners began expanding their base, performing at (where their second record was made), in Brewerton, , , and more S.U. (Syracuse University) frat parties. "We also played an O.C.C. (Onondaga Community College) commencement" According to Ron Lauback "I got up in line next to the chancellor of the college, and shook hands with the graduating students and wished them good luck."^[2]

The Saint and the Sinners continued until summer 1968, when left to re-join The Monterays ( would resurface with The Seven).

After The Saint and the Sinners folded Ron and George Day briefly worked with The Monterays before forming Airborne (1969). This group featured a female lead singer (Karen Franklin) and was even more soul based, but Ron inexplicably left music a year later to devote more time to his family and career.^[1] Airborne did record a number of demos that were remastered and given limited release on the label in 2000.

Retirement (1970-1979)[]

Even though Ron "retired" from live performances, he continued to hone his guitar skills, acquiring influences from then current Hard rock, Southern rock and Heavy metal acts like Deep Purple (guitarist Ritchie Blackmore being a seminal influence), Judas Priest, Styx, Blue Öyster Cult, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Rush. Ron began recording his own demos at home and studied the keyboard as well.

Re-activity (1980-2000)[]

In 1980, old friend (and fellow ex-Sinner) persuaded Ron to perform again, along with vocalist this time in a folk based group called (Ron played bass for this group). Trinity recorded an albums' worth of material at (owned by and also home to much of the work done by for the releases) which still remains unreleased. Though Trinity was successful on the nightclub scene, Ron wanted to return to the rock music that was his first love, and tried to re-form The Saint and the Sinners which soon changed their name to East Side Story (later ). East Side specialized in classic oldies and seventies hard rock. This band lasted (with virtually the same line-up) for fifteen years before folding in 2000. Some of the members of East Side were Graham Daniels (1984–2000), (1984–2000), (1988–2000), (1991–1993; 1997–2000), (formerly of now with Redline (1994–1997), Dave Machan (1984–1987) and (1984–1989).

The Monterays era (2002-present)[]

In January 2002, invited Ron to take 's place in The Monterays. Ron moved from Bass to Lead Guitar with the departure of in 2005. The Monterays perform around 100 shows a year and are working on a new album.^[3]

Ron and his son were part of the pit band for 's production of "Grease" (performed February 9 and 10, 2007)^[4]

The Monterays were the lead in band for the 2007 () Pre-Awards Show (held on June 1, 2007)^[3][5]

Also, Ron and The Monterays were one of the featured performers at the Syracuse Nationals (July 21 and 22, 2007). The Monterays performed on the Stage at the New York State Fair^[6]

A re-recorded version of "Seaweed" by was used as the closing theme to , the auto racing program hosted by and broadcast on WTLA AM (April 2008-January 2009).

Ron is the network announcer for his son Ronnie Dark's radio program , broadcast Sunday nights 7-10pm on LOVE RADIO WVOA 87.7 FM (and on the internet at http://www.wvoaradio.com/listenonline.html)^[7][8]

The Monterays appeared with Gary Lewis & the Playboys and The Tokens at the on August 29, 2009.

The Monterays performed with The Tokens, The Teenagers, The Coasters and The Chiffons as part of the Old School Doo Wop Concert at the Landmark Theater, Syracuse, NY on May 9, 2014.^[3][9]

Influences and musical gear[]

Ron has had a wide variety of influences over the years. He enjoys the guitar playing of Hank Marvin of The Shadows, Bob Bogle of The Ventures, Ritchie Blackmore (Deep Purple), Gary Moore, Dann Huff (Giant), Danny Gatton, Cub Koda (Brownsville Station) and loves heavy rock music (Lillian Axe, Giant, Alice in Chains and Stone Temple Pilots for instance).

His guitar style has changed somewhat over the years as well. In the 1960s he played Fender Jazzmaster, Gibson ES-335 and Rickenbacker thru Fender and Ampeg Amps. During the hard rock/metal craze of the 1980s Ron wielded Charvel's and Ibanez guitars with Peavey Amplification. From 2005-2010 Ron's main axe was a custom-wired Fender Stratocaster (designed by legendary Syracuse musician, the late ). He uses a combination of Peavey and Fender amps. Ron is a fan of pedalboards, and has used them widely throughout the nineties and the 2000s. He currently favors Paul Reed Smith and the newly designed Charvel guitars for live performances. Ron uses a specially modified 212 amplifier and a Morley Wah Pedal.

Ron Lauback has influenced many Syracuse-based artists over the years. has stated in interviews that Ron and The Sabres influenced him to form his first band The Dimensions as well as the helping and start The Monterays. Other Syracuse talent that Ron has influenced include (ex-Wishpool currently guitarist/songwriter for Broken Down Hero and solo artist), Brian Williams and Dan Wagner (), Steven Alexander () and (ex-).

Ron and his son record music together under the name RLB. They have recorded seven albums together since 1992 and composed music for the 1999 motion picture .^[1] Their music has been featured on both and Soundcheck, which is broadcast on TK99 (99.5fm).

Non-musical accomplishments[]

Ron Lauback has also made numerous contributions to the field of medicine as well. His work has been published in several academic journals and periodicals.

• Muhammad, Naseem; Tsai, Peter S.; Lauback, Ronald G. (1982). "High-Pressure Liquid Chromatography Assay for Dane Salt Potassium (-)-N-(1-Methoxycarbonylpropene-2yl)-p-hydroxyphenylglycine". Journal of Liquid Chromatography. 5 (7): 1349–1355. doi:10.1080/01483918208067593.
• Lauback, Ronald (1984). "Specific High-Performance Liquid Chromatographic Determination of Ampicillin in Bulks, Injectables, Capsules, and Oral Suspensions by Reverse-Phase Ion-Pair Chromatography". Journal of Liquid Chromatography. 7 (6): 1243–1265. doi:10.1080/01483918408074041.

Ron Lauback retired in July 2014 from , based out of Syracuse, New York. He was Vice President of Science from 2007-2014.^[10]

References[]