Bobby Chouinard

Just wondering how many Bobby Chouinard fans there are out there? I was a HUGE fan of his way back in the early 80s, when he was tearing up the music scene & MTV, as part of the Billy Squier band. I was lucky enough to catch him perform a couple of times when he played Philadelphia. A real heavy hitter, who absolutely pounded away on his Ludwig drum kit and Paiste cymbals, leaving us some memorable beats & fills to forever enjoy. No doubt I know where my love for BIG drums & LARGE-sized cymbals comes from, thanks' to Bobby of course.

His nephew Roger penned a wonderful tribute book to him a while back that is full of many great photos & commentaries from fellow musicians titled The Story of Bobby Chouinard: Drummer Extraordinaire. It is a great book, that any drummer who likes to read should have in their collection.

Good to see Bobby recognized here on DW. I knew and learned a lot from Bobby way back around 1970. Bobby was from Brockton Ma. Bobby played in a local band called Utopia, great local band with horns. He had a nice chrome set of Slingerland drums, so I copied him and bought the same kit. Still have it. He taught me to twirl my sticks and I always stood right in front of him watching him like a hawk while everyone else was out trying to get a girl to dance We became pretty close back then and Bobby was getting many calls to play other venues with different bands. He was kind enough and had enough confidence in me to recommend me to play a couple of shows that he could not play. I will be forever grateful.

Unfortunately I lost contact with him in the late 70's as I was on the road and Bobby I believe relocated to NY. I know he did an album with Alice Cooper. See more here http://bobbyc.net/ Bobby lived life fast and hard and we lost him way too early. RIP Bobby and thank you.

"He taught me to twirl my sticks and I always stood right in front of him watching him like a hawk while everyone else was out trying to get a girl to dance We became pretty close back then and Bobby was getting many calls to play other venues with different bands. He was kind enough and had enough confidence in me to recommend me to play a couple of shows that he could not play."

Very cool 2bsticks!

When Bobby had become popular as part of the whole Squier thing in the 80s, periodically, he would come down to the eastern Pennsylvania area, and sit in with some local musicians inside a Bucks County bar located in the township of Levittown. Obviously, I was not old enough to get inside, but I do recall the local news rag always making a big deal out of it in their paper each time they performed.