Anyone who comes across this page is invited to share any memories they have of the Tracterz by clicking on "comments" below. Here are a few of mine:
Four set nights at the Safari in Brookings
Dave Fee wearing his bondage pants on stage and talking about his 8 string bass that he had always wanted. It was green if I remember correctly.
Steve's white cowboy boots that a friend of mine always coveted.
Speaking of coveting, was there any guy watching that wasn't in love with Dallas?
Someone (Steve?) baaing in the background while Dave sang Goo-Goo Muck.
Gwain Roberts always going up to the stage and giving them a dime. I never really understood that one.
After most of the Brookings shows going back to Dog Ears, Gwain's book store, for late night parties. Sadly Gwain died a few years ago. Cancer, I think. The last I saw him he was giving me a peace sign from a cab he was driving in MInneapolis. That was early 90s I think.
Dallas seeing my R.E.M. button and asking "Rem? What the hell is Rem?" I've always hoped she was just kidding. It was about 1984 so it's possible she hadn't stumbled on to them yet. But still...
Their great stage presence. I've since seen scores of more successful bands that don't have a tenth the personality.
20 comments:
I miss Dog Ears...
Anyway, I don't think I ever saw the Tracterz, but I remember seeing another of Junior Fee's bands, the Red Ball Jets, a couple of times. The only songs I remember were "White Wedding" and a Romantics cover, probably "Talking in Your Sleep."
Were any other Red Ball Jets members in the Tracterz? Besides Fee on bass guitar, I only remember Bruce on guitar.
No one else from the RBJ was in the Tracters. I think the rest of the band was Dave and Mike Monahan. Burried even farther down in the basement is a tape of the last RBJ show that a friend of mine made. And ironically, if I do find my Tracterz poster it will be in a small tube wrapped around a Red Ball Jets poster.
Yeah, Dog Ears was great. When you sold books there Gwain would write your store credit in a little spiral notebook. Wouldn't want anything too high tech. I'm not even sure he had a cash register.
Ohhhhh, I'll never forget, some of my fondest memories. Sneaking into the back of the Saf to see the most gorgous woman sing "Walking In LA" and having the most wonderful drink, the Greek Rush.
Oh yes, everyone was in love with Dalyce (I learn from Brad that's the correcct spelling) and like a lot of fans I too had to sneak in the back door for a few years. The key was to head straight to the bathroom and wait there a minute or two so it would look like you were just on your way back to your table when you came out. Hard to explain why you were wearing a coat tho. The Saf has been cleaned up a bit (killing the charm if you ask me) and tho it has been several years since I've stopped in they were still selling the Greek Rush last I checked.
I also have an old Red Ball Jets poster but it is in the same poster tube as my Tracterz posters that I can't find! Hmm, maybe I should put together a RBJ page, too. That might be easier to do since I see Bruce once in a while when I am back in SD and he might have some stuff lying around.
Their night at Wayne State College opening up for Huey Lewis. That was pretty cool. Especially being back stage during the show for a bit.
And yes, I coveted Dalyce also. Well... I guess I was no where near marriage age at that time, so I guess it must have been something else.
Hey, I just stumbled across the Tracterz blog—I like it!
I actually have connections to the early days of the band by way of Steve McFarland and Dave Fee’s prior band called Fast Eddie. Fast Eddie was formed around 1978 in Brookings by the core of Dave Alexander Fee, Jr. (bass) and Bruce Pengra (lead guitar). (That followed Pengra/Fee bands from Junior High/High School in Brookings with names like The Atomic Fungus and Stiff Upper Lip.) I learned that Fast Eddie was going to need a new lead vocalist and asked my freshman room-mate Brian Teachout, whom I had known from High School in Sturgis, to audition. He became Fast Eddie’s lead vocalist in 1981. I saw Fast Eddie dozens of times, starting with the first time in the fall of 1979 at Horatio’s (remember that place? It was the spot later taken over by the Lucky Lady) and got to know those guys well since I hung with them regularly, especially once Brian joined the band.
In the summer of 1981 in Brookings, I lived with Steve McFarland, Brian Teachout, the Fast Eddie drummer, Dave Card, and one other guy in a rental house.
We had a blast that summer!
Fast Eddie broke up at the end of that summer when Brian had to begin his Air Force service(he was a ROTC guy) and Steve went on to co-found the Tracterz in 1982 with the core duo of Lynn and Dalyce (who were an item, at least for the first year or so of the band).
Dave Fee wasn’t in the early Tracterz line-up (He started The Red Ball Jets in Brookings with Bruce Pengra again), but joined later in ’84 or so.
I saw quite a few early Tracterz gigs, mostly at the Safari in Brookings, and rode in the van with them to Wayne, Nebraska in the spring of ’83 when they opened for Huey Lewis and the News at Wayne State College. I was helping haul equipment and drink their beer, and I even introduced them to the crowd at this show! I billed them as “just back from their tour of Greek bars…” as a reference to the Safari.
I have their one vinyl appearance on the four-band maxi-single –their version of Steve’s song “I Like College” --which I can turn into an MP3 file if needed.
I think I have those early posters somewhere, too, but alas, I don’t have any live tapes of them (but I have several of Fast Eddie). I haven’t talked to Steve in 25 years but would love to catch up with him if I ever track him down. Just thought I’d drop a line; keep up the good work!
I never saw Fast Eddie but saw the Red Ball Jets quite a few times. I have a poster from their final show that I have thought about putting up here since I'm guessing quite a few Tracterz fans would remember them as well. I remember getting to know Bruce when he owned Sound Station 7 down below the Ram Pub in Brookings. I saw him a few months ago when I was back in town and tho he sold Sound Station a few years back he's doing well, working at Eros Data Center I think he said.
I'd love the mp3s from the Tracterz EP if you ever rip them and I'd gladly put them up for others to download too. I'm guessing they'd have a much cleaner sound than the 3rd generation recordings I've posted.
Horatio's was just a bit before my time (maybe only a year or two) but I did spend WAY too many nights drinking watery beer at the Lucky Lady. If you haven't been to Brookings in the last 20 years the place is now a Napa Auto Parts store. Oh the indignity of it all!
Thanks for sharing the memories, Al.
Holey buckets! I cain't believe it! Wotta blast from the past. All the memories are flooding back into my pointy lil' memory. All of them warm and very very fuzzy, of course. Thanks for creating this page, dearest!
My pleasure. I'm always glad to know there are others out there who had just as much fun as I did.
Thanks for posting your comment Scott. The whole reason I started this thing was because I Googled the band and found almost nothing. I figured I wouldn't be the only one who went looking for them on occasion.
I recently found out that the Saf now has new owners and it's been changed into an Irish pub, tho when I stopped in there was neither anything particularly Irish nor particularly pub-like about it.
hey its dave (dave fee III)
I never knew that there were so many dedicated tracterz, rbj, and fast eddie fans. Old friends try to contact us!
Hi Dave, thanks for stopping by! We all had quite a bit of fun back in the day thanks to you guys.
Feel free to share any info about what you're up to musically these days if you like. I last saw you when you were at 7th St. Entry with Big and Scary.
I found this site out of sheer luck.I appreciate the comments and would love to tell you some stories but I have to wait till the parties involved are deceased. thank you, lynn guitar player, the tracterz
Don't know if anyone reads this post any more found it on 12-30-2011. But I remember the Tracterz at the Safari Lounge in 1983 and 1984. They introduced me music from U2. Saw U2's 360 Concert in Denver, CO this past May. Waited 28 yrs to see them in concert, thanks to the Tracterz. I recently met Barry Fey the first US promoter to bring U2 to Red Rocks in CO. I think David Fee was in my home room in Brookings Middle School. Does any one remember Darrel M. the sound guy? He was my neighbor growing up in Brookings back in the early 70's. Now at 50+ these memories are still out there. Peace Out.
I get a notice whenever someone posts here so _I_ still read it! Thanks for leaving your thoughts. I too generally saw the band at the Safari tho I sometimes drove to a couple other places to see them as well. I think I had come across U2 on my own but the Tracterz certainly introduced me to some other bands like XTC that I might have missed. I think I saw U2 on the Joshua Tree tour whatever year that was. When I saw the Pretenders a few years back I could't help but think of the Tracterz several times during the show. I was younger than Dave but his sister Sarah was in my class at BHS and his sister Virginia was my editor when I worked on the school paper.
Many good memories in Bow Valley Nebraska Would love to see them again.
Their night at Wayne State College opening up for Huey Lewis. That was pretty cool. Especially being back stage during the show for a bit. And yes, I coveted Dalyce also. Well... I guess I was no where near marriage age at that time, so I guess it must have been something else.
Coolest band I ever saw. My Lady Lounge, Clarinda Iowa! early 80's
When I was in high school, I first saw them in Lane, SD at the Lane Ballroom, probably around '83 or '84? Their show just blew me away. Little did I know I would go on later to play drums with Steve McFarland in a band called Special Ed, later changed to The Penetrators, while I lived in Sioux Falls. Good memories!
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