Livermore's own FOAMRIDERS performing FREE downtown Livermore at Blacksmith Square
Originally, Rob and Greg were part a large group of guys (mostly from Livermore, CA) who got together on St. Patrick’s Day 2014, at a ‘jam session’ organized by a mutual friend. Then, a couple of weeks later, Richard and Doug joined in on what had now become a weekly ‘Jam Night’. The guys generally showed up each week with a few songs (covers and/or originals) that they’d like to jam to. The song list built up rather quickly, and within 3 months, they had booked their first gig.
They spent the rest of 2014 and the first part of 2015 playing 2-3 live gigs per month, trying to hone their performance and set list. Then, in May of 2015, the guys got their first opportunity to play to a much larger crowd, at the Livermore Valley Wine Festival. It was a huge step to go from playing for small groups of winery customers to playing on a large, public stage. The performance went off without a hitch, and, subsequently, they were asked to play at the season’s first Thirsty Thursday event at the Livermore Farmer’s Market. Another great opportunity, in front of a new, large group of people, and another fantastic performance by the guys.
Since then, the band has played at many venues in and around Livermore, and the East Bay, as well as providing music at multiple weddings.
In 2016, the band again played at the Livermore Wine Country Festival, and opened the Thirsty Thursday season, as the very first band to play on the new Rotary Bandstand at Livermore’s Carnegie Park. They also provided the evening entertainment for the 2016 Livermore edition of the Relay for Life, benefitting cancer-fighting, at Livermore High School.
In 2017, the Foam Riders again be played the Livermore Relay for Life, to benefit cancer research, as well as appearing at McGrail Vineyards and some private parties.
In 2018, the Foam Riders played numerous times at Inc 82 Brewing, and Retro Junkie, as well as many dates at local wineries and private parties. We also returned to the Livermore Wine Country Festival, and had multiple dates at Thirsty Thursday, in Livermore. We also added our wonderful backup singer, Lynn Buskard, to the band.
2019 began with the Foam Riders becoming the first rock band to play Maverick’s Country Bar in Pleasanton. By the end of the year, we had played more gigs than in any previous year. The future looked incredibly bright.
2020 started out looking like it was going to be the best year in the band’s history, but, we all know what happened in March. Fortunately, we were able to perform some live streams, during the lockdown, and resume playing, as soon as the stay-at-home orders were lifted, in June. Then, we played nearly every weekend from August through to the second lockdown, in November. Many at new venues to the band. Though it was not the year we had hoped for, back in February, it still turned out to be a pretty good year for the band. In addition to the aforementioned issues, we also had some personnel changes in 2020. Our bass player, and one of the founding members of the band, left, and was replaced by the incredible Kevin Beers. Also, our drummer, Jonathan Wilson, went on sabbatical, due to the pandemic. He was replaced (albeit, temporarily) by Joe Lee. A guy with so much energy that we call him “Animal.” He brought a new energy, and a quest to add new songs to the set list. In fact, our 2021 dates have at least 35% different songs than just a year prior, many due to Joe’s willingness to try anything we throw at him.
Event Links
Website: https://go.evvnt.com/3758057-0
