Luigi and John Deyeager
Practice in the basement
Gee I think this is in "E"
Fever
| Fever was
originally founded in 1973. The first Fever group consisted of three
neighborhood guys from Gates, NY, (Randy Wolf - drums, Mark Malvaso - rhythm
guitar, and Charlie Tripani - lead guitar). The guys all had been playing
together off and on for several years in various basement bands since the
young age of 13. Mark worked at Golden West Steaks with a bunch of guys
from Churchville, NY. Those guys were friends with John Deyeager (a lead
singer and bass player) also of Churchville at that time. The connection
was made and Fever was formed. The guys decided on the name Fever because
of the old classic song fever and obvious play on the word fever. It seemed
to fit the Rock & Roll Oldies Era that the group would specialize in. The
guys quickly put together a set of 40 oldie classics and began playing out.
The song list grew over the years as Fever played at many local clubs,
private parties, and sock hops. Over that time, Fever had generated a large
number of loyal followers. Mark and Charlie left Fever around 1976. Mark
was off to college and Charlie wanted to go off on a cross country road trip
to explore the US. John & Randy, not wanting to disappoint the many Fever
followers and to continue the group’s success, began to look for new
members. At that time, John and Randy and their respect girlfriends knocked on Lou Ricigliano's (aka Sweet Lou) door and said something like this; "well, you won't come to our place to audition, so here we are". At that point Lou was in one of his guitar / band retirement phases. He had a few of those up to that time in his life. He really wasn't interested in getting back in the biz. This all began when Randy, who worked alongside Lou's neighbor Ted, mentioned he had a band and needed a lead guitarist. Ted piped up and said, "hey my neighbor plays guitar, I heard him". So the seed was planted at that point. After playing the intro and guitar sections to Johnny B. Goode, and enjoying a round of coffee and conversation, Lou had passed the audition with flying colors and was in the group. Practice began out in the Chili and Gates areas of Rochester NY. This was a bitch since Lou’s family was living in Victor, NY, about 50 miles away. Fever at this point was a three person band with John on bass and lead vocals, Randy on drums, and Lou on lead guitar. They needed a fourth to round out the group. One day Lou showed up a bit late for practice. That drive from Victor to Chili was tough at times. He was working for an Engineering Company in downtown Rochester and had to drive home to eat dinner (his wife Linda was a great cook), and then grab his guitar (what he found out later would be called a lawsuit Ibanez, because Gibson sued Ibanez because of the headstock). When he arrived, he trampled down the steps to find the band just finishing a song and sees this girl run up to a tall gangly looking dude he never saw before and start licking his face. You can't even imagine what things went through Lou’s mind then (evil grin). Playing an orange Gretsch guitar, Fever welcomed Neil Ross! Neil became the fourth Fever member adding his huge knowledge of unique chords and rhythm and harmonies to the band. Unbelievably, no one can quite remember how Danny Liposhak came along. But I believe since Lou knew him at Edison Tech, he invited him to our last rehearsal before our first big gig. He performed for that gig and never missed a beat, or should we say a note on his sax. Danny added so much to the band rounding out their unique sound. He was a quite person, but when he donned that sax, it was all pure sound. His joking around brought crowds to their knees. So now there were five and Fever performed at bars such the Ugly Mug in Chili, Dudley DoRite's in Rochester, and bars out in Fairport, and in the Geneva, Bristol, and Conesus areas. Performing out in Farmington, Lou saved Johnny's life by catching him before he fell three floors down to the concrete parking lot. Lou guesses that he didn't want to play the rest of the evening without Johnny. Everyone in the band got along very well and I think over time we just drifted apart and the band broke up as most bands do. As I remember, Neil was first to leave as he became a police officer and had to go out of town to train. We couldn't find anyone to replace him with the same charisma and so we drifted apart. Lou went on to perform in what was to become Rochester's top group in 1979, VEGAS. Lou now lives in Virginia performing with many bands, John in Nashville, Neil in Buffalo, and Randy and Danny in Rochester. The original Rhythm guitarist, Mark, lives in Rochester and will be joining Fever October 10th for the Fever 30 year reunion at Randy’s Annual Pumpkin Fest. All Fever members are looking forward to the 33 year reunion; we hope that you can join us too. Click on any link below to hear a live set from 1975 recorded at The Golden Spike.
Fever Live at The Golden Spike Set 1 Fever Live at The Golden Spike Set 2 Fever Live at The Golden Spike Set 3 Fevive at The Golden Spike Set 4
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Luigi and John Deyeager |
Practice in the basement |
Gee I think this is in "E" |
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Danny, Randy, Lou, Neil, John |
Neil, Danny, Randy, Lou, John |
