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by Jamie Carter
The official fireworks display at the Village of Dupo’s 4th of July Celebration took place after dark in the Village Park. But reunited local band ‘Allies’ created some fireworks of their own earlier in the day. The celebration was moved to July 5th due to rain most of the day on the 4th. The weather cooperated on Sunday and provided a wonderfully comfortable and cool day for the picnic. Once ‘Allies’ took the stage at 2:30 things began to heat up.
Not to be confused with a Christian rock band of the same name, ‘Allies’ was a local band that played dances and clubs at places like the Razor’s Edge, the Dupo Quarterback Club and others in the 1980’s. Founding members Duane Ramelot (guitar/vocals) and Bryan Horschmann (bass/keyboards/vocals) met when they were four years old. They attended the old Hough Grade School together and began to play music together around twelve years of age. In their teens as students at Dupo High School they added St. Louisan Dan Machold (drums/vocals) and became ‘Allies’. It’s been over twenty years since the members all resided in the area. Horschmann now resides in the Shreveport, La area. Ramelot is in Abilene, Tx. Machold still resides in St Louis.
With all the band members so far apart, how did this reunion come together? Horschmann replied, “This past Christmas I was back in town and Dan and I had a jam session. We had a real good time and after I returned to Shreveport I thought that we should have a reunion.” So Bryan contacted Duane and Dan and they agreed. The band had gotten together a few times in the past, but the last such occasion was over fifteen years ago. Now that they had agreed to do it, when would it happen and where would it be? Bryan used the internet to connect with people here in Dupo via email and chat rooms to see just what he could find out. “At first I was going to try to get us into the Firemen’s Picnic. But as I was doing that the July 4th picnic came along. The Village Park committee approved it and here we are.”
As ‘Allies’ performed they never seemed like a band who hadn’t performed together in over fifteen years, in addition they had virtually no rehearsal time together prior to performing. This is a real testament to the musicianship of each member. So how did they revive the music and put it together so well? Duane said, “I think we all keep it at our fingertips all of the time. We are all still active musically so it’s really never far from us. I play jazz and some other stuff back in Texas. As far as rehearsal goes I started reacquainting myself with the material a few weeks ago, playing about an hour a night.”
‘Allies’ set was filled with rock classics of the 70’s and 80’s, especially popular tunes of artists ZZ Top and Rush who are both favorites of the St Louis Metro area. The band played them with precision and energy. The band engaged the crowd by going into the crowd. Outdoor venues can often make this difficult but they were at ease and in their element. With so many friends and family looking on they didn’t really have to win the crowd over. But they performed and played hard doing all they could to entertain the crowd.
So how was it coming home again? Duane said, “It’s just great! We’ve loved seeing the old faces from the past. It takes a few minutes to figure out who some people are but once you do the memories come flooding back and it’s just like yesterday. It’s neat coming home and seeing all the development too. The park is just great!” While all of the band members are still involved in music, if you wish to hear more from Duane Ramelot go to www.duaneramelot.com.
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