can make money doing this !”
[ WM ] I did not realize that you lead worship for Greg Laurie . How long were you with him ?
[ Randy ] Well , being on tour , I was not available that much , but for about seven years … if I was in town , I would often substitute . It was sort of a casual basis in those days . It was never paid , never organized . It was all very much on a friendship basis .
[ WM ] I was a huge fan of SCB back in the day . What were some of the high points and even low points in that season ?
[ Randy ] We could tour across the country and maybe play for a few hundred people . You know , we ’ d be in Cahokia , Illinois and playing for 150 people and then we would come back to our world in California , the center of the Jesus Movement . We would play Calvary Costa Mesa or Disneyland and there ’ d just be these huge crowds . So , the high point of it was playing in California , close to home or going up the West Coast to play for big crowds in Sacramento or Portland and that was always fun .
Now the low points … as we traveled all over the country , I can remember we had a bus . We thought it was a good idea to not get a modern bus , but get a 1953 GMC and the idea was , “ These things last forever !” But Bryan was driving the bus and he blew the engine on it ! We wound up somewhere way outside of El Paso just sitting on the side of the road . You have to understand , there were no cell phones … we didn ’ t have a generator . I ’ m jealous of people who tour now where they could be watching a movie , they could be emailing or doing all sorts of stuff on their phones . We had nothing ! We thought it was a big deal when the Walkman came out and as long as your batteries lasted , you could listen to a cassette tape . ( laughing ) We had no air conditioning , we were out in the desert , there was no food … we were just broken down , just absolutely stranded . That happened a lot . I think Bryan would agree with me that we broke down in all the wrong places !
[ WM ] What was it like working with Bryan Duncan ?
[ Randy ] Bryan is totally predictable and totally unpredictable . He ’ s a preacher ’ s kid , a world-class singer , and a brilliant lyricist . He ’ s the kind of guy who is always bouncing off the walls . He ’ s a little bit crazy and never boring . ( laughing )
I ’ m still in touch with Bryan . In 2012 , we were concerned about our bass player who was in illhealth and he ’ s with the Lord now . We wanted to do a project to help with his medical bills and we did a record called , “ The Waiting Is Over .”
I ’ m very proud of that record because we got the band back together and Kevin couldn ’ t play , so his sons replaced him . One of his sons played guitar and one played bass . It was great fun to have Kevin ’ s sons on the record and we did some live dates with them as well . The last thing that Kevin ever said to me was , “ Randy , if you ever get the band back together , I want you to let my sons play .” That was his last request , so we did it .
I think Bryan impressed me all over again where he did some background vocals unlike anything I ’ d ever heard him do before . He ’ s older than I am , but he could still sing like he did in the old
56 March 2024 Subscribe for Free ...