Petra pics identification

Talk about Petra albums, songs, and concerts.
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Thief
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Petra pics identification

Post by Thief » Mon Aug 01, 2016 7:55 pm

Hey, guys. I know some of you have probably been over some of this pics countless times, but I'd just like dates and confirmations...

Thanks in advance to all for the help
Attachments
Petra 1977 o 1978 resized.jpg
Jim Benton or who? 1977 or 1978?
Petra 1977 o 1978 resized.jpg (73.9 KiB) Viewed 5385 times
Petra 2000 o 2001 resized.jpg
2000 or 2001? Mike Brandenstein? How long was he in the band?
Petra 2000 o 2001 resized.jpg (64.68 KiB) Viewed 5385 times
Petra 1994 o 1995.jpg
Date? 1994 or 1995? Cooper in, but no Lichens?
Petra 1994 o 1995.jpg (94.28 KiB) Viewed 5387 times
Petra 1970s.jpg
Another toughie? Date? Who?
Petra 1970s.jpg (24.4 KiB) Viewed 5387 times
Petra 1970s 2.jpg
Tough one, but who?
Petra 1970s 2.jpg (14.78 KiB) Viewed 5387 times
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Re: Petra pics identification

Post by p-freak » Fri Aug 05, 2016 4:34 am

All left to right

First one: Chris Bechler took over when Bill Glover left, apparently Jim Benton took over after that, so if it's Jim Benton I'd say 1977-1978. I have only one reference picture of Chris Bechler and it even looks like this could be him, before today I'd never even heard of Jim Benton.
John DeGroff - Bass
?? - Drums
Greg X. Volz - Vocals
Bob Hartman - Guitar
Greg Hough - Guitar

Second one: touring band 2001, Mike did only a few shows between Lonnie Chapin and Greg Bailey
Bryce Bell - Keyboard
Kevin Brandow - Guitar
Mike Brandenstein - Bass
Louie Weaver - Drums
John Schlitt - Vocals

Third one: John Lawry left in the middle of the Wake-Up Call tour, he finished 1993 and Jim Cooper (his keyboard tech) started 1994, David Lichens only joined when Bob left in 1995, so this lineup is 1994 all year

Fourth one: original Petra first half 70s
John DeGroff - Bass
Greg Hough - Guitar, vocals
Bob Hartman - Guitar, vocals (back)
Bill Glover - Drums (front)

Fifth one: original Petra first half 70s - very early I think
Bob Hartman - Guitar
Bill Glover - Drums
John DeGroff - Bass
Greg Hough - Guitar, vocals
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Re: Petra pics identification

Post by p-freak » Fri Aug 05, 2016 4:44 am

Matthews & Petra.jpg
Matthews & Petra.jpg (97.04 KiB) Viewed 5309 times
Randy Matthews with Petra (Hartman, DeGroff, Bechler, Hough) in 1976

Here another you probably didn't know:
neversaydiepromo.jpg
neversaydiepromo.jpg (87.46 KiB) Viewed 5309 times
It's not Weaver as the text says, but Jeff Boggs, who played drums with Petra before Louie joined, so this is 1981.
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Re: Petra pics identification

Post by Thief » Fri Aug 05, 2016 8:02 am

p-freak wrote:All left to right

First one: Chris Bechler took over when Bill Glover left, apparently Jim Benton took over after that, so if it's Jim Benton I'd say 1977-1978. I have only one reference picture of Chris Bechler and it even looks like this could be him, before today I'd never even heard of Jim Benton.
John DeGroff - Bass
?? - Drums
Greg X. Volz - Vocals
Bob Hartman - Guitar
Greg Hough - Guitar
John DeGroff identified him as Jim Benton on Facebook saying "He was in the band for only a year." I have two pictures of Bechler, and although the glasses make it a bit harder, it doesn't look like him. The other Bechler pic I have was posted here a while ago.
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Petra 1977 o 1978b.jpg
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Re: Petra pics identification

Post by Thief » Fri Aug 05, 2016 8:14 am

Thanks for the replies, p-freak. I'm trying to find old Petra pics and track band members through their history. Drummers and bassists have been the trickiest so far, particularly during that late 70s period.

So far I have...

John DeGroff (1972-1978?)
Tommy Bolles (Spring of 1978 to Spring of 1979)
???
Mark Kelly (1981-1987)
Ronny Cates (1988-1996)
Lonnie Chapin (1996-2000)
Mike Brandenstein (2001)
Greg Bailey (2001-present)


Bill Glover (1972-1977?)
Chris Bechler (1977?)
Jim Benton (1977?-1978?)
Mike Martin (1978?)
Jym Dingler (1979?)
Jeff Boggs (1980? first time i hear of him!)
Louie Weaver (1981-2003)
Justin Johnson (2003)
Paul Simmons (2003-2010?)
Cristian Borneo (2013-present)


Thanks again!
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Re: Petra pics identification

Post by Thief » Fri Aug 05, 2016 8:41 am

And since we're at it...

Piano/Keyboard/Organ
Rob Frazier (1978?-1979)
Steve Schneider (1979)
???
John Slick (1981?-1983)
John Lawry (1983-1994)
Jim Cooper (1994-1997?)
Kevin Brandow (1997?-1999)
Trent Thomason (2000)
Bryce Bell (2001-2003)
John Lawry (2013-present)
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Re: Petra pics identification

Post by p-freak » Fri Aug 05, 2016 1:05 pm

Ah yes, I have that picture with Bechler somewhere as well.

I think there should sort of be a distinction between who was 'in' the band and who actually played with them for a while. It's probably kind of hard to get good criteria for that, and it could generate a lot of discussion.

Bryce Bell, for example, was initially hired as a temporary tour musician, to compensate for Kevin's departure. Kevin's first last show with Petra was in December 1999. Bryce was hired for the first half of 2000, but only in June 2000 he officially became a permanent member. And then when Pete left, Kevin came back, initially to just help out, but then it sort of became official again and he even was included in official pictures again. But the record label promoted John, Louie and Bob as Petra. So who's officially in the band?

I have three more names for you:
- Bob Rickman, who played drums for a while after Glover left. Not sure if it was before Bechler/Denton or after.
(There are two known s/t albums signed by Hartman, Hough, DeGroff and Rickman)
- Al Hornung, not sure what he did, he is the fifth autograph on one of those Rickman signed albums
- Rob Watts, who played keyboards during the NOTW tour after Slick left and before Lawry was able to join (he had some obligations to fulfil with Joe English band before he could join Petra)

Are we friends on fb? I think we are, but I don't think I ever connected you to your petrazone ID. Send me a fb pm and perhaps we can work out some more details.
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Re: Petra pics identification

Post by Thief » Fri Aug 05, 2016 6:19 pm

p-freak wrote:Ah yes, I have that picture with Bechler somewhere as well.

I think there should sort of be a distinction between who was 'in' the band and who actually played with them for a while. It's probably kind of hard to get good criteria for that, and it could generate a lot of discussion.

Bryce Bell, for example, was initially hired as a temporary tour musician, to compensate for Kevin's departure. Kevin's first last show with Petra was in December 1999. Bryce was hired for the first half of 2000, but only in June 2000 he officially became a permanent member. And then when Pete left, Kevin came back, initially to just help out, but then it sort of became official again and he even was included in official pictures again. But the record label promoted John, Louie and Bob as Petra. So who's officially in the band?

I have three more names for you:
- Bob Rickman, who played drums for a while after Glover left. Not sure if it was before Bechler/Denton or after.
(There are two known s/t albums signed by Hartman, Hough, DeGroff and Rickman)
- Al Hornung, not sure what he did, he is the fifth autograph on one of those Rickman signed albums
- Rob Watts, who played keyboards during the NOTW tour after Slick left and before Lawry was able to join (he had some obligations to fulfil with Joe English band before he could join Petra)

Are we friends on fb? I think we are, but I don't think I ever connected you to your petrazone ID. Send me a fb pm and perhaps we can work out some more details.
Thanks for the info! Greg Hough gave me Rickman's name and contact a while ago. I forgot about him.


As for how "official" these members are, I agree with you in that we will probably never reach a perfect criteria for that. I mean, what would make a band member official? appearing in promotional pictures? recording an album? a certain amount of live performances? some specific clause in a contract? band leaders/managers choice and criteria?

I suppose that in the early days, or perhaps in periods of "membership struggle" (late 70s and late 90s/early 2000s), musicians were hired and approached differently than in more stable periods. For example, I read someone, I think it was John DeGroff, who wrote on Facebook about this late 70's drummers and said "I wouldn't call him temporary. I mean, he played with us for a year". But anyway, it's a tough question.
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Re: Petra pics identification

Post by Thief » Fri Aug 05, 2016 8:35 pm

Just for the sake of completion, this is what I have on guitarists...

Bob Hartman (1972-1995, 2001-present)
Greg Hough (1972-1978?)
Rob Frazier (1978?-1979)
David Lichens (1995-1996?)
Pete Orta (1996-2000)
Kevin Brandow (1996-1999, 2001)
Quinton Gibson (2001-2003)
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Re: Petra pics identification

Post by Thief » Sat Aug 06, 2016 6:15 pm

p-freak wrote:
I have three more names for you:
- Bob Rickman, who played drums for a while after Glover left. Not sure if it was before Bechler/Denton or after.
(There are two known s/t albums signed by Hartman, Hough, DeGroff and Rickman)
- Al Hornung, not sure what he did, he is the fifth autograph on one of those Rickman signed albums
- Rob Watts, who played keyboards during the NOTW tour after Slick left and before Lawry was able to join (he had some obligations to fulfil with Joe English band before he could join Petra)
I checked in my old e-mails and Rickman did say that he replaced Glover AFTER the first album. I've never been clear as to when Glover left, since he is credited as an "Additional Musician" in Come and Join Us, rather than as a band member like Hough and DeGroff.

And speaking of Come and Join Us credits, I was re-checking them and noticed that an Allen C. Hornung is credited as percussionist, along with a whole bunch of people. So maybe he took on drums at one point also?

EDIT: But if Rickman also signed, that means he probably played drums. Not sure then what Hornung did.
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Re: Petra pics identification

Post by Thief » Thu Sep 15, 2016 6:23 pm

I've been chatting/emailing with John DeGroff for a while now and he clarified some dates.

For those curious enough, the first picture I posted with the five members in front of the "stone" door/gate: Winter of 1978, somewhere in Arizona. The second guy from the left is drummer Jim Benton, who joined the band sometime late 1977 or early 1978. Stayed with the band until that year.

As for the last two live pictures I posted on that same post... first one it was very early 1974 or 1975. They used it as a promotional poster to promoters. The second live one was at a local high school in Fort Wayne, Indiana in May 1976.
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