Gear Daddies

The Gear Daddies came out of Austin, Minnesota, in 1984, and they sounded like a bar band that had read a few good novels: Martin Zellar on guitar, harmonica and vocals, Randy Broughten on electric and steel guitar, Nick Ciola on bass and Billy Dankert on drums and vocals. Zellar wrote most of the songs, though Dankert chipped in a few keepers, including the crowd favorite "Time Heals", and between 1986 and 1992 they became a pillar of the Twin Cities scene.

Their records mix heartland twang, rock and roll kick and a sly sense of humor. One of their best-known tunes, "Zamboni", started life as a hidden track on Billy's Live Bait and ended up a hockey-arena intermission staple across North America, later landing in D2: The Mighty Ducks, Mystery, Alaska and Malcolm in the Middle. In 1991 Zellar and Broughten played "Stupid Boy" on Late Night with David Letterman, and Zellar later admitted he'd been too nervous to remember any of it. "Dream Vacation" is prime Gear Daddies, wry and jangly and a little wistful, and their "Little Red Corvette" shows off the rowdier side.

Zellar went on to Martin Zellar and the Hardways, taking Ciola along, but all four still get back together several times a year to play around the Midwest, and a whole crop of upper Midwest bands, from Johnny Clueless to Six Mile Grove, grew up in their shadow.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.