Bio
I'm Randy Wayne Fricke. My friends call me Ace because I am a big Ace Frehley (KISS) fan. I am from La Crosse, Wisconsin where I have been a part of the local music scene on & off for the past 30+ years. I am most notably known as the founding member of La Crosse’s first REAL rock band Diamond, and were known by their legion of fans (The Diamond Dogs) as “The Gem Of Rock”.
Performing to standing room only crowds at all the happening local establishments, Diamond was the first local La Crosse rock band to actually have an image and the first rock band to headline at the city's other 'gem' Riverside Park where today Riverfest is an annual event that we started in the summer of 1977 when we put on an UN-advertised concert drawing several hundred people until the cops came and pulled the plug. Many years later on July 4th, 2011 I once again hit the Budweiser main stage with my new (albeit short-lived) band Fastlane to an awesome crowd! (This time the proper permits were in place...)
The printout from the way back machines tells us that in early February of 1979 I ventured west to the rock & roll Mecca of Los Angeles, California, where I auditioned for the punk band The Angry Samoans. When I unleashed the fury they all stopped and said I was was good but they were punk and a shredmeister lead guitarist was not part of the job description.
I also auditioned for the reforming '60s band The Association but didn't get that gig. It's just as well because I think I would have become an ax murderer if I had to play "Windy" for the next 10 years.
It was shortly after that when I auditioned for Lip Service. I was the 49th guitar player they auditioned and when I walked in with my Peavey Roadmaster stack I was offered the gig before we finished the first song.
So I joined up with a band that was going out under the name Lip Service. We played such legendary clubs as Gazzarri’s on the Strip, the Whiskey-A-Go- Go, The Starwood, The Troubadour, Club 88, The Country Club and Madame Wong’s (East and West), all of the legendary venues where Sonny & Cher, The Mamas and the Papas, The Doors, Van Halen, The Eagles, Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young, The Knack, Oingo Boingo, Quiet Riot, and Motley Crue all got their start. These are the same stages where I developed & honed my guitar chops as one of the "up and coming" (well, breathing hard anyway...) guitar slingers in the early '80s.
I became disenchanted with the L.A. music scene after 3 years because I was "approached" by a Hollywood VIP (big name) who promised us a big record deal if I would "swallow the sword" if you get my meaning. Yes. The Hollywood casting couch is as real for the boys as it is for the girls. As it turned out, I didn't need a record that badly after all.
After I left Lip Service in late 1983 my disenchantment with the whole L.A. scene didn't dissipate. I wearied of auditioning for bands where the first question they asked was: "Do you have any sisters?" And: "Do you have a reliable coke connection?"
I simply wearied of the bright lights, the phoniness of celebrity, the sun and sand (well, OK, not the sun and sand so much) and of LA-LA-LAND and in May of 1988 returned to the La Crosse area with my (now deceased) wife Sherry and our two young children now all grown up and on their own. I joined local La Crosse favorites Radio Flyer for a short stint on bass and later on electric guitar but eventually left to form my own band Silent Scream in the early '90s with my younger brother Glen on bass, Todd Gregory (formerly of Diamond) on drums, and Pat Schroeder on guitar.
After Sherry's passing I put my music career on hold to raise my children. I continued writing and recorded the CD's here in but didn't actively gig until January of 2008 when I was contacted by a childhood friend Shawn Martin (Pipestone, The Wails, Hook Featuring Ray Sawyer) and spent up until March 2011 in the area playing with Shawn and his wife Shelby in a variety band we called STR8UP.
Thank you for your attention,
Randy
Performing to standing room only crowds at all the happening local establishments, Diamond was the first local La Crosse rock band to actually have an image and the first rock band to headline at the city's other 'gem' Riverside Park where today Riverfest is an annual event that we started in the summer of 1977 when we put on an UN-advertised concert drawing several hundred people until the cops came and pulled the plug. Many years later on July 4th, 2011 I once again hit the Budweiser main stage with my new (albeit short-lived) band Fastlane to an awesome crowd! (This time the proper permits were in place...)
The printout from the way back machines tells us that in early February of 1979 I ventured west to the rock & roll Mecca of Los Angeles, California, where I auditioned for the punk band The Angry Samoans. When I unleashed the fury they all stopped and said I was was good but they were punk and a shredmeister lead guitarist was not part of the job description.
I also auditioned for the reforming '60s band The Association but didn't get that gig. It's just as well because I think I would have become an ax murderer if I had to play "Windy" for the next 10 years.
It was shortly after that when I auditioned for Lip Service. I was the 49th guitar player they auditioned and when I walked in with my Peavey Roadmaster stack I was offered the gig before we finished the first song.
So I joined up with a band that was going out under the name Lip Service. We played such legendary clubs as Gazzarri’s on the Strip, the Whiskey-A-Go- Go, The Starwood, The Troubadour, Club 88, The Country Club and Madame Wong’s (East and West), all of the legendary venues where Sonny & Cher, The Mamas and the Papas, The Doors, Van Halen, The Eagles, Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young, The Knack, Oingo Boingo, Quiet Riot, and Motley Crue all got their start. These are the same stages where I developed & honed my guitar chops as one of the "up and coming" (well, breathing hard anyway...) guitar slingers in the early '80s.
I became disenchanted with the L.A. music scene after 3 years because I was "approached" by a Hollywood VIP (big name) who promised us a big record deal if I would "swallow the sword" if you get my meaning. Yes. The Hollywood casting couch is as real for the boys as it is for the girls. As it turned out, I didn't need a record that badly after all.
After I left Lip Service in late 1983 my disenchantment with the whole L.A. scene didn't dissipate. I wearied of auditioning for bands where the first question they asked was: "Do you have any sisters?" And: "Do you have a reliable coke connection?"
I simply wearied of the bright lights, the phoniness of celebrity, the sun and sand (well, OK, not the sun and sand so much) and of LA-LA-LAND and in May of 1988 returned to the La Crosse area with my (now deceased) wife Sherry and our two young children now all grown up and on their own. I joined local La Crosse favorites Radio Flyer for a short stint on bass and later on electric guitar but eventually left to form my own band Silent Scream in the early '90s with my younger brother Glen on bass, Todd Gregory (formerly of Diamond) on drums, and Pat Schroeder on guitar.
After Sherry's passing I put my music career on hold to raise my children. I continued writing and recorded the CD's here in but didn't actively gig until January of 2008 when I was contacted by a childhood friend Shawn Martin (Pipestone, The Wails, Hook Featuring Ray Sawyer) and spent up until March 2011 in the area playing with Shawn and his wife Shelby in a variety band we called STR8UP.
Thank you for your attention,
Randy