Drift

Lisbon, 1971-74

Drift were a hard rock band start by high school students from Lisbon, a town about 8 miles southeast of Salem. The band started in the summer of 1971 with Ron Arter (lead guitar), Dave Coleman (guitar), Mark Gray (drums), from Lisbon HS, and Bill Henceroth (bass) from United HS.

The band started playing local teen dances for a few months, until they were seen by Randy Strader. Randy was from Salem and had been in the Renegades during most of the 1960s. He was 10+ years older and joined the band on lead vocals and guitar, replacing Coleman. They won a Batlle of the Bands in Columbiana which boosted their popularity.

The band recorded two songs at Peppermint, the original "Plastic People" that has Christian influenced lyrics behind a raw guitar based Ohio hard rock sound, the other side is a cover of "Get Out Of My Life Woman" - not only does the article say the band wrote the song, but record also! The record wasn't released until late May and uses the Amcam label name with no mention of a Pyramid label. Brian Adams with the 'fifth Drift', he didn't play an instrument but ran lighting and sound.

In August of 1972 Mark Gray was killed in a terrible car accident that claimed three other family members, six total. The band brought in Lee Campanelli from Lisbon to replace him. The band recorded another 45, with two original songs "Ridin' High" and "Jam-It", also recorded at Peppermint and released on Amcan.

The band continued to play until early-mid 1974. Randy Strader started another band, Big Blue, and repressed the "Ridin' High" 45 credited to Big Blue. Bill Henceroth has played in several bands including Icarus.

Discography:
Platsic People / Get Out Of My Life Woman. - Amcan 1-72, June 1972
Ridin' High / Jam-It - Amcan no #, (SO-12842/3 is the pressing plant master number)