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John Tenney: Guitar, Keyboards, Vocals Mike Olivella: Drums, Vocals Bruce Boldon: Bass, Vocals Jeff Terraglio: Lead Guitar This was actually the 3rd version of XLR8. Jim Barnes and I had used the name for 2 bands in New York. Jim gave me permission to use it in Florida after I met Bruce Boldon at work, and my neighbor kiddie corner across the street Mike Olivella. Mike was a drummer but more importantly, he was a great "promo artist". Mike was able to talk us in to more venues than anyone I'd ever played with before. I made the Tommy and Paul connection, however. In the year of 1987 WHTQ-FM, 96.5 in Orlando had changed their format from country to rock and hired Tommy Griffiths and Paul Castronova to be the "Q Morning Crew" for Q-96. I listened to them every morning because I enjoyed their "Shock Radio" humor. I got lucky on a call in question (when is Celsius equal to Farenheit? -40 degrees!) and Paul invited me to come in and be part of their friday morning "Studio Audience." I brought in all my tapes, hoping to be discovered. I was put off by the dynamic duo, saying (correctly) that they had no control over the playlist. They did, however, ask me to do a jingle for them that would put forth the tremendous moral virtues of their show. Two weeks later I returned with the Tommy and Paul song, which was an instant hit. They played it three times while I was there and twice more on my drive back to work. I was invited to come back in every Tuesday and asked to form the "Tommy and Paul" band. XLR8 volunteered and immediately made local news by crashing the city party, Light Up Orlando. We were featured on all the local channels for bringing Tommy and Paul in to the party as reps of Q-96, who had not paid to be at the event, when local rivals WDIZ had. Well they sicked the cops on us and the news crews followed. We played to 200,000 people from the porch of Mike's Law Office on the corner of Orange and Pine (used to be the location of the firm of Rumberger-Kirk.) Here is some of the XLR8 music and the stories behind them. We'll start off with a new release by Jeff Terraglio and then go in to the historical data. |
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Surfin' in Gaillilee Written by Jeff Terraglio Copyright 2001 by Nindy's Closet Recorded at Terraglio Home Studio, Statesville, NC |
Right Click to Download NEW RELEASE I stay in touch with Jeff and this is his latest instrumental. Jeff says: "I had just gotten laid off from a job that I had for 8 years. I was clueless as to what I was going to do. I have a family, wife, two new cars, the works. I started to read from the Bible and I saw how Peter needed to keep his eyes on Jesus to stay afloat. I was going to have to do this to keep my family alive. I prayed and God showed me that I was to go to school get my degree and keep my family afloat. I remembered a story about the a two seat bike Jesus steers the bike and we just pedal. This is when I wrote this song. I hit record on my home studio and just played. Hoping to not break a string or have to remember what I was playing I just pedaled! God showed me what notes to play. I gradated with honors in the top 5% of my class landed a great job with a christian family owned Accounting Firm and continued to just Pedal! Amen. JT Ed. Note: I am the original JT! This is a standing joke of ours. Credits: This was done alone in his home studio in Statesville. |
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Tommy and Paul jingle Written by John Tenney Copyright 1987 by Circussongs, ASCAP Recorded at Circussound, Orlando, FL |
Right Click to Download This was my first Radio Jingle. Tommy and Paul played it for a year and a half until they got fired for calling Shirley Jones in her hotel room at 6 am. Credits: This was done alone in my home studio in Orlando. |
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I Wanna Be Abused Written by John Tenney and Bruce Boldon Copyright 1987 by Circussongs, ASCAP Recorded at Circussound, Orlando, FL |
Right Click to Download This was actually the third jingle. The second one was a project by Bruce and myself where we sampled a South African girl's voice saying "I wake up with Tommy and Paul" but it didn't go over too well. This one was inspired by the Call Somebody's Mom skit that Paul did every friday morning. Paul would call a guest's mother and pretend that something horrible had happened or some other shock theme. It was always abusive, and always hysterical. They loved this song. Credits: Bruce Boldon: Bass Guitar, Lead Vocal Jay Pruiett: Trombone John Tenney: Keyboards, Guitar, Drum Machine |
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Dick With A Glove Written by Robert Palmer and Tommy Griffiths Copyright 1987 by Tommy Griffiths, ASCAP Recorded at Circussound, Orlando, FL |
Right Click to Download Tommy had re-written some lyrics to Robert Palmer's "Addicted to Love" in honor of Michael Jackson. Admittedly, he stole the idea from one of the Bonker's comedians but hey, we all did that once or twice! This band features the debut of our new guitar player Jeff Terraglio. Jeff could really "shred" to put it in his own words. You'll see more from him later! This started out as a fun project but ended up as a battle of personalities, as Paul Castronova and our drummer Mike butted heads during the production. In the end, Mike refused to have any part of a song that called Michael Jackson (or anyone) a Dick. So the Dick part was left blank. Tommy and Paul filled it in live with their various voices which actually worked out pretty good. It signed the beginning of the end of the Tommy and Paul band, however, as Mike started thinking, "We don't need these guys." Warning: This sentiment precedes every band break up! Credits: Paul Castronova: Lead Vocals Bruce Boldon: Bass Guitar Jeff Terraglio: Guitar John Tenney: Keyboards, BG Vocals Mike Olivella: Drums |
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What I Like About You Written by the Romantics Mony Mony Written by Tommy James and the Shondelles |
Here are a couple of cover tunes we did as a party demo tape. They sounded much better
live, really. Credits: Drums and Vocals: Mike Olivella BG Vocals: Mike Olivella, John Tenney and Bruce Boldon Guitar: John Tenney and Jeff Terraglio Bass: Bruce Boldon |
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What are the Words to
La Bamba? Written by Mike Olivella and John Tenney Copyright 1987 by Circussongs, ASCAP |
Right Click to Download We stole this idea from a stand up comedian at Bonkers. I cannot remember his name. I was constantly asking Mike to tell me the words to La Bamba. We saw this comedian sing the title one night and looked at each other and laughed. The next day Mike wrote all the words. This was XLR8's "15 Minutes of Fame." This song was passed around from station to station throught the radio world. It also spelled the end of the Tommy and Paul relationship as we pumped it to other stations, with some success. We got featured on national TV on New Years Eve from the Orlando Big Orange Bash, when 1987 became 1988. Lots of publicity, but absolutely No Money! Credits: Lead Vocal and Drums: Mike Olivella BG Vocals: John Tenney and Bruce Boldon Guitar: Jeff Terraglio Lead Guitar: John Tenney Bass: Bruce Boldon |
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Lookin' Back Written by John Mayall Recorded at Circussound, Orlando, FL |
Right Click to Download We needed something for the back of the La Bamba single and I suggested this song. This is an old John Mayall tune that a friend sent to me because he thought it fit my voice. Mike wanted to sing during recording and we ended up trading off lyrics. It was starting to get tough in XLR8 as we were being torn apart by prospects of success. We ended up going with Layers to avoid copyright stuff, which we ran in to anyway as Warner Brothers refused to give us permission to remake La Bamba. We found out later that we didn't need it! Credits: Bruce Boldon: Bass Guitar Jeff Terraglio: Lead Guitar John Tenney: Guitar, Keyboards, Lead Vocals Mike Olivella: Drums, Vocals |
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Layers of Life Written by John Tenney Copyright 1987 by Circussongs, ASCAP |
Right Click to Download This ended up being the flip side to La Bamba. It was a fortunate decision because it was discovered by Tony George and Bobby Lord who pursued a recording contract with Nang Records for us. Unfortunately they wanted me to sign away my life with an agent's contract. I sent it to my dad, who was a Supreme Court Judge at the time. He strongly advised me not to sign it or anything like it. This song was written about my friend Andrea Kinsinger, who is also a musician and entertainer. I have lost track of her! It is comprised of several keyboard tracks, Yamaha RX-5 drum machine, and Howard Hesse joins me on the background vocals. I recorded it in my home in Orlando using my Fostex 8-track and mixed it on to a cassette. Those were the days! |
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Give It Up Written by Mike Olivella and John Tenney Copyright 1988 by Circussongs, ASCAP |
Right Click to Download This was our last collaboration. Mike brought in a guy named Tom who was a great singer but had less than perfect stage presence. Wouldn't have been so bad but he hired him without asking us first! You can hear Tom and Bruce doing great harmonies in the background of this catchy little ditty that Mike came up with. I tried everything to make it work. We were working with Tony George and Bobby Lord, two local record agents who wanted some material as they really liked Layers and thought we had potential. They didn't hear a single in this song as they were starting to realize the limitations of the current personnel. Bruce and I left for Mr. Stiff shortly after this. Credits: Mike Olivella: Drums, Vocals Bruce Boldon: Bass Guitar, BG Vocals Thomas Doyle(?): BG Vocals Jeff Terraglio: Lead Guitar John Tenney: Guitar, Keyboards, BG Vocals |