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My Musical History by Dan Southard
It all started when I was a wee lad, watching my grandpa playing guitar
with grandma accompanying on organ, and us kids generally having a great
time with great music.
I remember it like it was yesterday. Of course, I remember yesterday
like it was 30 years ago, with vague uncertainty, but that’s another story.
Next I was in church, still very young, watching my dad on bass and mom singing alto in the “Joyful Noise”, probably the only praise & worship band in the Tampa bay area at that time. I sat in awe, wondering how the whole band thing worked.
Then as a teenager, I watched several of my best friends pick up instruments, encouraged by the success of punk rock, a style accessible to us energetic-but-inexperienced wannabe musicians. Being less bold than my friends, and also left-handed, it took a few years of sporadic practice and encouragement before I mustered the courage to join the band Cockpit (home of three friends) as rhythm guitarist.
After eight months of “revolving” bassists, I was offered the job of bassist until we could procure a permanent one. I found myself playing my dad’s old Kalamazoo bass upside-down, all the while staring longingly at the lefty Stratocaster I had just bought new. I never played that guitar again, trading it in for a Telecaster, which was soon traded in on a Precision bass, and I became the permanent bassist of the band, now (and still) called Clear Frontier.
After a few years, the hearts of the members of Clear Frontier changed, and one by one we gave our lives to Christ. The band broke up for a year or so as we each explored other things, and when we reformed, it was as an outreach band.
Left with no band, I promptly sold most of my gear because I though God had a different direction for me. I was attending a Church of Christ at the time, and it seemed unlikely that my musical talents would be needed, to say the least (something I’m not very good at!). Anyway, God is said to move in mysterious ways, and within a month I was a member of the band Sensory Detail, made up of church members who believed music was good for ministry, not the “mainstream” opinion of that church. I was found out by their Air Force-bound bassist, who noticed my one remaining instrument (the Precision) in my room while attending to our home bible study. This was the only study he visited, that “coincidence” showing me God’s personal involvement in my life.
In the last ten years, I’ve been involved with several bay area bands, including Alter’d Ego, Crosseyed and Turning Point (now called Clean Slate). I still play with Clear Frontier and spend most of my time in Simple Faith. I’ve also held down bass duties at Northwest Community, Cypress Creek Community, Seminole Heights Baptist and Journey Churches. I currently play Musicman basses, as well as a BSX electric upright, and an old Guild Starfire, through Mesa/Boogie, SWR, Musicman and/or Gallien-Krueger amplifiers.
I’m married to Rebecca, who sends many people to this web site, and
has sang wonderfully in all the church P&W teams I’ve been on, and
some I haven’t. Her strength, wisdom, love and support are much more than
I ever expected. We have four really cool children, three boys (Thomas,
William and Stephen), and finally, a girl (Rachel)! God has been very good
to us, and I hope we’ve been a blessing to those of you that have heard
and/or seen us play.