Musical History of Steve Couch

BOOMERANG 1978 - 1981

Steve Couch - Lead Vocals and guitar
Kenny Ahern - Lead Guitar and vocals
Bill Kerti - Bass Guitar
Tom Gumino - Keyboards and vocals
Piero Rand - Drums, Percussion, and Vocals

Boomerang first gig at Bell South Union Picnic

Steve at Clydes

Steve performs at McGowans

Boomerang was started right after Gallery broke up. Tom Gumino and I had been talking about starting a new group while in Gallery. Some of the work ethics from some of band members in Gallery were not what we wanted. Tom had played in a band previously with Kenny Ahern and had kept in contact with him. I had met Kenny briefly a year or so earlier during a jam session. I had seen Kenny play back in late 60's when he was in a group called, ECHO. I always thought they were one of the best bands in town at that time.
I started working with Kenny and after communicating our musical philosophy to each other, we began putting together some material. Eddie Arce came by and played with us, but after a couple of practices, we knew Eddie would not accept the discipline we needed. Kenny suggested we call bassist, Bill (Wildman) Kerti, the Bass player from Kenny's old band "ECHO." I had never met Bill, but I had heard him play and knew he was a tight precise player who delivered a professional sound. Bill fit right in, and all of a sudden it was I that was playing catch-up.Kenny and Bill knew alot of material from playing together over the years. Our song list grew very quickly.
We then began looking for a drummer. I suggested we try Piero Rand, a drummer I had met a couple of years earlier when we had played together in an original project down in the Grove. Ironically, Tom Gumino, who actually got us together, did not join the group until months later due to other commitments he had.

steve at Haulover 1978

steve singing at haulover Beach 1978

Piero Rand - on Drums at Clydes 1979

the Wildman himself- Bill Kerti

Kenny lays down a Bagpipe sole on "Wild Things"

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Clockwise From Top Left: Steve Couch, Kenny Ahern, Bill Kerti, Piero Rand

With the nucleus complete, we began practicing 4-5 times a week, building our song list. When we had about 60 songs, we did our first gig at the Southern Bell Union Picnic on Haulover beach in the summer of1978. Within the next couple of weeks we went down and auditioned at McGowan�s Beach bar on Hollywood Beach. We got the gig immediately and owner wanted us to start ASAP. We played Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights and Sunday afternoons. The club owner, Eddie, liked us so much; we ended up staying in there for about 5 months. We loved this place! It was always jammed packed with some real partying people so it was always a lot of fun. Sundays afternoon were also very interesting because we got a totally different �Beach� crowd. It was like the 60�s and we were the �Beach Boys�. Hot chicks in bathing suits; everyone partying and dancing; totally cool.. The bar was located on the Hollywood Beach boardwalk and the entire back wall was Glass sliding doors. On Sunday afternoons they would open those doors completely, so was filled the beach with music. What a blast we had at that club.
With a steady gig, we continued to learn more material. We practiced Mondays and Tuesdays, were off on Wednesday, and played the rest of the week. Before we left McGowan�s we had over 200 songs in our repertoire. We could play 6-7 nights in a row and not repeat a song. Bartenders loved it; they never got sick of the same songs.

Fearing we would burn ourselves out, We left McGowan�s and began hitting other venues in town so we could add to our exposure. It was at this time that Tom Gumino joined the band on the Keyboards. We took a few weeks off to work him into the band. We also added more songs that featured keyboard parts. Tom was a great fit because he took the time to work with Kenny to get the parts down precisely. He also added backing vocals that helped us nail down some 3 part harmonies.
We started taking one and two weeks gigs at various clubs all over town. We did have an extended stay, 4- months, at Clyde�s in Hialeah. That was another fun place. Considering I grew up in Hialeah, we always had plenty of local fans that we had known for a while come by see us.In Boomerang, we prided ourselves on being able to pull off some the hardest and most complex �Classic rock� cover material than any other band in town even attempted. We did tunes like, �The Real Me� by The Who, �Hocus Pocus� by Focus, �Highway Star� by Deep Purple, �Carry On wayward Son� by Kansas, not to mentioned , 20 plus Led Zeppelin songs, to name a few. We covered a wide-variety of Classic Rock, which obviously was not �classic� in those days.We were together for nearly three years. Towards the end we began to be drawn in different directions. I was wanting to be more dedicated to original music and our ideas seem to be too different to work out. Our final gig was at 27 Birds in Coconut Grove.