A.C.T. II (All Coming Together - Again)

1972-74 A.C.T. (ALL COMING TOGETHER)
We started out like so many other local bands of eager, young musicians.
On January 1, 1972 the drinking age had changed to eighteen in Michigan which effectively ended the era of legendary local concert venues and teen clubs and changed the nature of the music scene forever in Michigan into a club/bar dance-venue scene. So like everyone else, A.C.T. (All Coming Together) consisting of 6 members Evan Eads, Jerry Gosen, Gregg Hammond, Shad Bovee, Jim Andrews and Larry Hammond played the bars and clubs never venturing too far from home. However, two things happened that changed the direction of the band and took us away from the local bar/nightclub scene.
First, we recorded and released a record in 1974, "Love, Peace and Freedom" (A-side) "I Got a Love" (B-side) which added "Recording Artist" to our public persona and we were "discovered" by a band promoter by the name of Bob Clements. In the weeks following the first meeting with Bob Clements the band would go on two tours covering over 4,700 miles, perform at some legendary music venues and receive an offer to replace an iconic American Rock & Roll band on a major concert tour! That story and more historical details are available on our website at www.actisback.com
Fast-forward to 2017. I got a Facebook message one day from a gentleman who was writing yet another book on the history of Michigan musicians. He was doing a feature on bands that had recorded on the Chivalry record label and asked me for more information on A.C.T. (All Coming Together) because that is the label under which our one-and-only record was made back in 1974.
Our former and legendary lead singer, Shad Bovee had passed away in 1998 from complications of severe diabetes. My brother, Gregg, had moved out of Michigan. That left four remaining of the 6 original members still in the area. Jim Andrews, at that time was not interested in participating so that left three of us, Evan Eads, Jerry Gosen and Larry Hammond. We got together here in Frankenmuth and soon realized we missed our musical fellowship and agreed to meet again to discuss the old band and play some music together again. Soon mutual friend Tom Childs joined us on guitar and Jeff Gray, who was a long-time friend of Evan's joined us on vocal and before long we had decided we wanted to move forard together. One thing we all had in common was the desire to pass on our musical legacy to friends and family who had often heard us tell stories of the old band days but had never heard us play music together. Leaving something behind for our children and grandchildren was a powerful force! So after much discussion we all decided to put together a recording environment here in Frankenmuth and record some of the songs we used to play together or wish we had played way back when and then possibly record some of the songs that we had composed ourselves in the 44 years since we played together as A.C.T. (All Coming Together). We began meeting and recording in 2018 and eventually had recorded twelve songs and made the decision to release them under the name A.C.T. II (All Coming Together - Again). In 2020 the COVID 19 pandemic changed everything. I had scheduled the final recording session with B.T.M. Brass (Bill Howard, Trumpet - Tim Burgess, saxophone and Matt Wick, trombone) on Friday, March 13th, 2020 just a few short hours before the COVID lockdowns began here in Michigan. We needed to record the brass tracks for "Saturday in the Park" which was otherwise finished. We wrapped up recording those tracks literally three hours before the COVID restrictions began. In addition to recording the brass music tracks and fearing we might not see each other again for quite some time, we recorded video of the trio playing their parts on "Saturday in the Park". We managed to assemble the members of A.C.T. II only one time during a break in the restrictions in August of 2020 to record video of the rest of us playing "Saturday in the Park" which turned out to be the one and only time we were all togeher since December of 2019 even to this day in April of 2021. "Saturday in the Park" became our first-ever release under the new name which included "with B.T.M. Brass". We've all been vaccinated at this point and are scheduling sessions again to begin recording our own original music. After more than a year apart, the clock is ticking! In late December of 2020 we began releasing the songs we had recorded before the pandemic and at this writing have just released the fifth of the 12 songs!