one more time

They started in an era of bell-bottom pants, long hair and Vietnam. And they are still at it, but now with gray and thinning hair, eye glasses and Iraq. If longevity is the barometer by which great bands are measured, then famous musicians like the Rolling Stones, Kinks and Grateful Dead set the standard. But longevity in the music business without fame and fortune is just as impressive. For 40 years, the members of local band One More Time have been rocking private parties, wedding receptions, outdoor concerts, nightclubs, bars and even Pfeiffer Hall in Naperville. The band’s three members — Rob Steininger of Aurora, Tom Schlueter of Aurora and Bobby Carroll of Streamwood — had their roots in the garage-band era that sprouted when the Beatles first came ashore in 1964. “It started for me when I saw the Beatles get off the plane in New York,” said Steininger, 53, who plays lead guitar for the band. “Also, my father was musically oriented and always singing, and my older siblings had the radio on all of the time. “They made me chase this dream.”To start that chase, Steininger bought his first guitar, a Sears Silvertone, in 1966 and started playing the British Invasion rock music that was becoming a staple on America’s radio stations and had many teenagers forming bands.

Come together In the summer of 1967, just before entering Naperville High School (later Naperville Central) as freshmen, Steininger met Schlueter, who played bass guitar. They started to play music with some other friends and the seed was planted for what would eventually become One More Time. In the early years, personnel changed a bit for the band. But once Carroll, a drummer, joined the group in 1976, the core of One More Time was set. “I had played the drums in bands since I was in junior high, and these guys had seen me play,” Carroll said. “But the first time they asked me, I was only 18 and couldn’t play in bars and stuff, so I didn’t think I was ready.” Not long after that, Carroll learned that a drummer he had recommended in his place hadn’t worked out, so he was convinced to join Steininger and Schlueter. The next 10 years were a high point for the band, with three practice sessions a week and several shows featuring a female vocalist who made Fleetwood Mac songs a staple of the band’s repertoire. “There was one week in December 1982 between Christmas and New Year that we played four times,” Schlueter, also 53, recalls. Though not carrying a schedule quite that heavy these days, the band now appears at local venues like Pub 222 in St. Charles, the Venice Tavern in Batavia, the Avalanche in Warrenville and various Naperville clubs and bars. The band appears Saturday at Miss Kitty’s Saloon in Naperville.

Today’s challenges “It’s hard to get people our age to come out to bars and to stay out late at night,” Steininger admits of the 50-plus crowd that has followed the band since its days of playing at parties at Oak Grove Farm in Naperville. “I love to play live music, but I am not totally fond of the bar scene.” Still, the band has plenty of younger followers and flourishes in the nightclub/bar atmosphere — at least most of the time. “Some nights you come out and everything comes off great,” said Steininger, in explaining live performances in athletic terms. “Other nights, something just doesn’t feel right and even though it still sounds pretty good to the audience, you know you are not doing so great for whatever reason.” Schlueter, who feels the band is tighter than ever and is always striving to improve, says One More Time has stayed together partly because of its “democratic process” in choosing songs, which illustrates how important it is to set aside egos. “Everyone has to agree to play a song, and that we all like it, and it feels right, so from that standpoint we are super democratic,” he said. “If one person doesn’t want to do it, it’s not going to get done.” Choosing songs can be a difficult process for the band. “I can’t even think of how many songs we’ve tried that don’t make it,” Steininger said. “We are a three-piece band and some of the songs are hard to pull off, or at least we can’t do them justice.” Schlueter said the vocals are a key. “We have to be able to sing it, and they have to be in a range that Bobby or Rob can sing it, and they have to be a certain genre that we like.”Currently, songs by the Beatles, John Hiatt, Dire Straits and the Police turn up regularly in the band’s shows.

Lots of practice But like any masters of a craft, One More Time operates on the premise that practice makes perfect. The band rehearses two hours every Sunday night in an industrial park in Naperville, and have followed that routine for decades. “We enjoy rehearsing as much as playing out on a job,” Schlueter said. “When people see us play live, we’re almost exactly like that in practice.” That kind of dedication paid off with a charity fundraising gig last year with the Ides of March at Pfeiffer Hall in Naperville. “It was a short show, but it was memorable,” Schlueter said. The shows feature an array of popular rock songs, but also include original songs written by band members. “Miami Beach,” a song about the desire to head south for good, was written by Schlueter during the terrible winters of 1978 and 1979. He says it has been played at nearly every show since. And because “Miami Beach” is a high-energy dance tune, the band is usually quick to follow it up with another fast-paced rocker like “I Saw Her Standing There” by the Beatles, Schlueter said. Writing original music is tough for a band whose members have full-times jobs and other obligations. Schlueter is a public information officer for the Kane County Health Department; Steininger is a carpenter; and Carroll, 51, a former Motorola executive who now operates his own painting business. “Writing original tunes is very difficult for us,” Steininger said. “We just don’t work at it full time, but we have been prolific when we have the time and the recording equipment.” Band members are proud of their longevity and want to keep going for a while. “We’ve been so lucky that people still want to come out and see us play,” Carroll said, joking that he thinks “some people just want to see how gray we are getting.” Schlueter also jokes that the main challenge right now is “not falling and breaking a hip.” - Daily Herald By Dave Heun

They've rehearsed in churches, garages, basements and -- in one band's case -- a blood-splattered cockfighting ring. Longevity in the music business is tough enough if you make it big nationally. But to stick to the art and business of music after years of playing in small bars, at weddings and wherever else you can find someone to pay for your talent, that takes persistence -- and love.

... they continue to rock on because it's part of who they are, even when the youth-dominated musical scene is separated by a generation or two.

The long-ago habitat of One More Time now is suburban tract housing. But in the mid-1970s, Oak Grove, on Washington Street in Naperville where it crosses the river, was a farm with a ballroom. Some friends of the musical trio -- Tom Schlueter, Rob Steininger and Bob Carroll -- rented the field and used to throw parties in the ballroom. One More Time was booked to play there many nights. Yes, it's this band that rehearsed in the blood-splattered cockfighting ring in 1974. The ring was on a farm on 75th Street, and the guys don't think it was noteworthy, just unusual.

Like so many others of this generation, the Beatles influenced these guys. It's not that they want to be like the Beatles; instead, the British quartet inspired them to check out rock 'n' roll. Schlueter and Steininger have known each other 32 years, since the eighth grade. Carroll, the drummer, joined the band 23 years ago. One night Carroll, whose sister was dating a friend of the band, sat in with them. "I thought, 'I can't keep up with them,'" Carroll said. "Then Tom and I ran into one each other at a bar, and he said the drummer didn't work out. I was 18. They were 25."

The peak success period for the band came between 1977 and 1983. Rehearsals were three days a week. Now they rehearse only on Sundays, when all their family members know not to plan anything too important. The band realized the fame and fortune of their idols was not to be theirs. All their parents encouraged their music, but their advice was to have something to fall back on, such as learning a trade or going to college. Steininger is a carpenter and, according to Carroll and Schlueter, a fine craftsman. Schlueter is a journalist. Carroll was a corporate trainer for Motorola but now is a stay-at-home dad.

The guys still get help running their sound and light boards from Napervillian Ron Shoger, who does the same at the World Music Theater in Tinley Park. "He loves to do what he does as much as we love to do what we do," Carroll said. One More Time has been around for such a long time that whenever they perform, which is a few times a month, someone from the Oak Grove days shows up to see them. The key to One More Time is that, with the exception of John Ehrhart, a band member from the early days who lives in Oregon,the band has stayed in the area. "These guys are like my brothers -- my big brothers," Carroll said."Sticking together was a natural thing," Steininger said. "We found we could tolerate each other -- that and we never let egos get in the way." "I have never felt this psyched about music before," Schlueter said. "Every time we play we know we can be much better. That's probably why we stick together." - Naperville SUN by Kevin Woodward