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CLICK THE PLAYER ABOVE TO HEAR - MICHAEL ALAN and "THE "SURE THING"
THREE EASY PIECES
HISTORY of STAN HOLLAND and THREE EASY PIECES "THREE EASY PIECES" were already together for a few years when Stan Holland. a Singer and tire salesman, approached us and wanted us to be his band. Since we had a few open weekends and Stan had a few jobs we thought that we could back him up and at the same tire increase our oppertunities to get work work. We learned a 2 sets/shows of what Stan wanted us to play and as we played out Stan started to think we now worked for him which was not the case. We set him straight and whenever he could book a job as Stan Holland and Three Easy Pieces" he would check with us and see if we were open..also we had to get our minimum pay with him because he was able to find jobs that didn't pay much but we weren't going to cut ourselves short just so Stan could some work . We didn't play alot with Stan but we helped each other out through some slow times and were able to keep on working. We went in the Recording Studio and did one of Stan's original songs. The songs on this page were recorded line at the "Side Door" in Gaithersberg, Md.
"THREE EASY PIECES"
Around 1970 I had just left "The New Breed" mainly because they were only working a few nights a week and I was looking for a band that worked full time so Barry Rick our booking agent turned me on to a group that was playing in Georgetown, Washington DC at "The Silver Dollar" called "Three Easy Pieces" John Clark was the leader and keyboards player..the drummers name was Kenny and he was a policeman in Alexandria, Virginia. I didn't know the guitar player. John asked me to come down and bring my guitar to audition after the job but when the guitarist saw me and my guitar he got piised off and left right then and there. John said get up on stage you got the gig. So without even playing a note I was in the band. They had a job lined up for a month in Laurel, Maryland at the Howard Johnsons" motel close to where I was living in Collage Pk, Md. The Kenny the drummer pulled me aside and apoligized to me and said he was leaving the band that night also so I was confused? What was happening here? Well John said he knew a drummer, Stuart Ross, and we can set up the next day at the gig and rehearse there to learn as many songs as we could in just one day. We did all right considering we were a new band but things really got strange in a hurry. We didn't know that John was a junkie and was shooting up heroine, We were playing a song by "The Doors" called "Don't You Love Her Madly" when John left the stage and told Stu and I to keep playing and he'll be right back.... well he got sick in the bathroom from the drugs he was doing so we had to stop and he went to the hospital. The next day Barry Rick called us and said John is moving to North Carolina to a rehab place and we can keep the job if we can find another Keyboard player. I was only in the band for a few days and I was the senior member already. Barry sent a guy over named Jimmy Nalley and The lounge let us rehearse there that whole week so now we had a hipper band playing better music and that was the start on a long 6-7 years of playing together. John left his Hammond B3 and PA system behind and we bought them for only a few hundred dollars. more stories yet to come.... to be continued.......
LIVE RECORDINGS
1 Delilah
2 Pieces of April
3 Will It Go Round
In Circles
4 Only You Know
and I Know
5 Delilah - Twist
and Shout
6 Playground In
My Mind
7
8
9
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