{"id":1210,"date":"2021-01-21T19:57:36","date_gmt":"2021-01-21T19:57:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jeffsmallwood.ca\/wp\/?page_id=1210"},"modified":"2021-01-28T03:30:23","modified_gmt":"2021-01-28T03:30:23","slug":"bssr","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/jeffsmallwood.ca\/wp\/bssr\/","title":{"rendered":"BSSR"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In 2017 While chatting with old friend and band mate Rejean Lachance (Rej E. Chance<\/em><\/strong>) from the ROCH VOISINE<\/em><\/strong> days, he told me he had put a trio together with Breen Lebeouf<\/em><\/strong> and Steph Gaudreau<\/em><\/strong>. They were called BSR<\/em><\/strong> (Breen.Steph,Rej<\/em><\/strong>). I loved the idea and wormed my way in and now we were a quartet called BSSR<\/em><\/strong> (Breen, Steph, Smallwood,Rej<\/em><\/strong>). I had known Breen <\/em><\/strong>from the OFFENBACH<\/em><\/strong> and BUZZ BAND<\/em><\/strong> days as well as having played on his solo album and I knew Rej<\/em><\/strong> from having played with him in the ROCH VOISINE<\/em><\/strong>, JOHNNY HALLIDAY<\/em><\/strong> and WILLIAM DESLAURIERS<\/em><\/strong> band. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Quick change<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

After our first gig we had a personnel change…Steph Gaudreau<\/em><\/strong> left and we needed a new drummer. Trouble is we had already had posters and merch printed…so luckily we found Bob St Laurent<\/em><\/strong>..and his named started with an ‘S’! Now BSSR<\/em><\/strong> was Breen Lebeouf<\/em><\/strong> on bass and vocals<\/em><\/strong>, Bob St laurent<\/em><\/strong> on drums and vocals<\/em><\/strong>, Jeff Smallwood <\/em><\/strong>on guitar<\/em><\/strong> and vocals<\/em><\/strong> and Rej E. Chance<\/em><\/strong> on guitar and vocals<\/em><\/strong>. It was a blast. Four guys who could sing lead and a repertoire of straight ahead two guitar-bass-and-drums rock and roll tunes. We played scattered gigs at festivals, car rallies, blues festivals and parties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This band…despite our collective age of over 200 years…acted like a bunch of teenagers…and still does. We rehearsed in a friend’s basement for a while and because there wasn’t enough room for all of us to crash there I slept on his sailboat down at the dock. Then we rehearsed in another friend’s barn for a couple of weeks and slept in his camper out back with the chickens and rooster waking us each morning. We never rented a truck we just drove our own stuff around in our own vehicles. Rej E. Chance<\/em><\/strong> owns an huge, old CHEVY SUBURBAN<\/em><\/strong> so we painted it up with the band’s logo, used it to get around to gigs in and christened it THE BAND MOBILE<\/em><\/strong>. When we needed to spruce up some tunes we moved all out gear into Bob St Laurent’s living room<\/em><\/strong> for a weekend and rehearsed there! This band of seasoned, older professionals has more fun and acts still like we’re on our first go around!<\/p>\n\n\n