Billy Dyer - Ambrose
It seems that a lot of the bands are either from California, or over seas, but sometimes a heavy group from back in the day comes from your own hometown and the rest is history… Ambrose formed in the mid 70’s and released one hell of an LP towards in the end of the decade entitled ‘Bust Your Nose’ and a few singles. They would quickly gain popularity in their hometown by becoming local heroes and would go to the share the stage with bands such as Barefoot Jerry, and even jammed with Marshall Tucker. It was real pleasure working on this piece for Dyer and the legacy that is Ambrose. Dig it!
I was born in Detroit Michigan December 16, 1955. My mom is from Cookeville and my dad is from Gainesboro. My dad moved to Michigan for a few years to work. I only lived in Detroit for 2 years and came back to Cookeville. I started playing guitar when I was 5 years old. I loved music at an early age. When I was growing up everyone was trying to play the guitar like kids play video games today. Only a very few friends did keep playing guitar. My big influence first was Elvis and then the Beatles came along and I said that is what I want to do. Growing up in the 60s and 70s everything was more of a simple life. I could only get 3 channels on my TV, went to the movies, hang out with friends and listen to music on my stereo. I played my guitar every day and I would take my guitar to school with me and play and sing songs while riding the bus to school. While most of my friends were playing sports, I would be playing my guitar. I started my first band when I was 12 years old in junior high school. My band was called the Blue Angels and we did win 2 contests in the 4H battle of the bands. We played the Beatles, The Monkees and 1 original song. The local music scene in the late 60s and 70s in Cookeville, there were a lot of local bands that played rock and roll and they were really good bands. We were friends with the other bands and all the bands played their own style of music.
Most of the bands played clubs and college shows. In early 1974, I went on tour with the Drifters. I was a senior in high school. I was in a band called Gold Dust. Our band would play before the Drifters and we were also their backup band. We toured the southeast. I first met Tommy Smith and Nathan Smith in this band called Gold Dust. They were great players and loved music. Gold Dust played rock and roll and original material also. After I left this band Gold Dust, I jointed a band called J Gardner Styll. J Gardener Styll played mostly keyboard songs like Emerson Lake and Palmer, Uriah Heep and Edgar Winter. I met Pat Vick in High School. We had art class together. We would play our favorite rock and roll records in class and the teacher would tell us to turn down the music. We would and we would slowly cut the music back up. Pat and I had a lot of fun in the class. After J Gardener Styll broke up Ambrose band was formed December 1974. Pat Vick and I started Ambrose with Tommy Smith and Nathan Smith. They are not brothers. A lot of people thought they were because they had the same last name. A girl friend in the band came up with the name Ambrose and we said that’s a good name.
We liked heavy rock and roll music and southern rock music. Southern rock was really big at the time Ambrose started. We loved Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Who, Aerosmith, Allman Brothers Band and The Beatles. Ambrose band decided to write songs between heavy rock and roll and southern rock with double lead guitar. Ambrose practiced in my dad’s garage. My dad was a mechanic and he worked on cars in this huge garage and my dad would keep our band truck tuned up so we could tour with no problem. Our first show was December 31 1974, a New Years eve party, but I don’t recall the location. Ambrose had the magical sound that just us 4 people could make.
It’s hard to explain, but this was a special band and we were like brothers. When we first started playing we played cover material and we would work in original songs as we continued rocking. We all were into song writing, all 4 of us. Sometimes we would write songs separate and other times write some songs together. We had great chemistry on stage and we always wanted to entertain the fans when playing live. We did have our equipment stolen at a club in Cookeville one night after we left the equipment there. We had 2 Marshall cabinets, drum set and our mikes stolen. For some strange reason we took our Marshall amp heads homes that night. We had never done that before.
On the bright side we got our drums back. The drums where found but, the Marshall cabinets where never recovered. We had extra Marshall speaker cabinets and Marshall amps so this did not stop us from playing. Later we found out our stolen equipment had been taken to Michigan and was sold. We had our tires cut on our truck when we were playing in West Virginia because we had too many girl fans and this may have been from jealous boyfriends lol. Before we recorded the Bust Your Nose LP we played the songs live for a year or so and we had the songs super tight.
We could have played the song back ward if needed. We did play some warm up shows. The shows that stood out most to me was playing with Charlie Daniels and Hydra in Charlotte North Carolina and the tour with the Drifters. Charlie was a super nice guy and had a great band. The Drifters was a 6 week tour and we traveled all over the southeast with the Drifters. We played before the Drifters and we were also their back up band. We also played with Barefoot Jerry in Cookeville at the new Hooper Eblen Center. Ambrose is the first band to play the Hooper Eblen Center. We also played with Dave Loggins at the old Tech Gym at Tennessee Tech college. That was a fun show. On the road we got to jam with Marshall Tucker and Derek St. Homes that played with Ted Nugent in Atlanta. We went to Nashville to the Laurel Tree recording studio to record our first LP Bust Your Nose.
We took our stage equipment in to record with. I do remember the engineer saying if you can play the songs, we can record them and we said we got the song down and we are ready to record. The engineer, Paul Richmond, had worked with Led Zeppelin and Issac Hayes. He did a great job recording Bust Your Nose. Don Cusic helped produce Bust Your Nose. We have stayed connected to this day. Don Cusic is an American author, song writer and record producer who is known as a historian of US popular music. He is the author of 28 books most of them related to country music. We recorded the Bust Your Nose LP in about 2 weeks. This was the first studio we had recorded in. The songs on the LP are:
Bust Your Nose. I wrote this song about playing rock and roll music. I got this title from a musician who would come and see us play. He would always yell “bust my nose with some loud rock and roll music”.
Angel in Disguise: was written by Billy Dyer, Pat Vick and Nathan Smith. This song is about a girl that followed our band.
Getting Right: is written by Tommy Smith. This song was about living the lifestyle of being in a rock and roll band.
Rock and Roll Lady: was written by Pat Vick. This song is about a rock lady that loved rock and roll.
Breakout: was written by Tommy Smith. This song is about playing live and rock and roll.
Please Miss Squeeze: was written by Pat Vick. This song was written as a play on words such as Please Please Me by the Beatles.
Bluesy Day: was written by Billy Dyer. The song is about playing in a rock and roll band and about the ups and downs of playing in a traveling band.
Annabella: was written by Nathan Smith. This song is written about a passed girlfriend. We spent a lot of time on this song over dubbing the guitars and vocals in the studio. This song was our Freebird song.
A friend who would come and see us play would always yell turn those Marshall amps up loud and he would say bust my nose with some rock and roll. That is how I can up with the song Bust Your Nose. The manager of our band, Dan Ealey, came up with the idea about the LP cover with the hand with brass knuckles and blood saying in red, Bust Your Nose. We have a couple of our friends work up the artwork for the cover. The songs Badge 77 and I Love To Rock was written after the Bust Your Nose LP was recorded. Badge 77 was written by our manager Dan Ealey about a policemen he was friends with and I wrote I Love To Rock. The song I Love To Rock is about being on the road playing our music and having a blast. The record label was our private record label called ARC Records. Our next move, after the Bust Your Nose record was released, was to go on tour to promote the LP.
We would stay on tour months at a time selling our record and playing live. Ambrose played with Dave Loggins and Barefoot Jerry to promote the LP. Ambrose was the first band to play at the Hooper Eblen Center in Cookeville Tennessee with Barefoot Jerry to promote our LP. We jammed with Marshal Tucker in Spartanburg South Carolina at a club called the Midnight Sun. Barefoot Jerry was from Nashville and they were real nice guys to play warm up for. I did meet Paul McCartney and his wife Linda. Super nice people and it was great meeting Paul McCartney because I was a huge Beatles fan and the Beatles was the reason I got into playing rock and roll music. I got to meet Wings also and Jimmy McCulloch the lead guitar player for Wings did show me the opening riff to Band On The Run on my Gibson Les Paul. Ambrose was a great band and we were like brothers.
After a six week tour on the road, our bass player decided to leave the band. He got married and had a baby on the way. What stands out most with Ambrose was the magic we had when the four of us would come together and play our music. We got to travel a lot playing our music and that was what we lived and breathed. Capricorn Records came to see us play in Macon Georgia and was really interested in signing our band, but a few months later they closed. All the members of Ambrose is still alive and we all stay connected to this day. All 4 members of Ambrose are still playing music in their own bands and we are still friends. When I listen to Bust Your Nose, I say we had a great band and we could rock with the best of any rock and roll bands.
Our LP Bust your nose is still to this day a big seller around the world. The Bust Your Nose LP sells from $180 to $250 today from Canada, Russia, England, Japan and all around the world. I am proud of this LP and Ambrose put a lot of hard work into this LP. You can google Ambrose, Bust Your Nose and see the LP selling around the world. It was a pleasure meeting you outside of Chattanooga recently at one of the concert shows I was playing at. I was sitting in with some of my friend’s band until their other guitar player came back. This band I played with are friends I have known my whole life and I wanted to help them out by playing some live outdoor shows with them. I had a blast. I hope all the Ambrose fans enjoy this interview and keep our music alive for years to come. Ambrose members are Tommy Smith, Nathan Smith, Pat Vick and Billy Dyer.
