The Trips were meant to be. Andrew moved from Miami to Memphis in 2006. Sitting at a table in a microbrewery, he saw someone who looked strangely familiar standing at the next table.

“Randy?” he asked.

“Andy?” Randy answered.

In a really small world story, two friends who grew up together in South Florida—attending the same elementary, middle, and high schools—and who had seen each other only one time in more than thirty years at a high school reunion, had run into each other at a Memphis bar.

Turned out that in the intervening years, Andrew had learned some guitar and Randy some drums and that they both still loved the 1960s garage rock, especially from the British Invasion, they grew up listening to as kids. One night out, Andrew said, “We should start a band.” “Why not?” Randy replied.

Billing themselves as the “the fun-only mid-life crisis band,” they placed ads in search of other players with a passion for sixties garage rock nuggets.

The result is: Andrew (lead vocals/rhythm guitar), Jason (lead guitar/backing vocals), Pat (bass/backing vocals), Randy (drums).

Everyone except Jason—lead guitarist whiz-kid (relatively speaking since he’s in his thirties)—is in his fifties. Still missing are the elusive keyboard player and high-harmony backing vocalist so essential to recreating sixties rock classics. (See separate ad page for these positions if you’re interested.)

The first song The Trips played together was Kicks by Paul Revere and the Raiders. Early sixties classics from the Yardbirds, Stones and Animals followed. It became clear from the beginning that The Trips were destined to be a sixties tribute band with a heavy tilt toward the British Invasion era. As they progressed, the upward song timeline was extended to include early seventies classics fitting the genre.