Your YouChoose Band

It's kind of important the band that plays at your event is actually good.  Thus, we are providing all of the gritty details right here for you.  You'll get to see some video and pictures on this page and then use the scroll down menu to find out additional information about each band member.

There's a history to your YouChoose band.  It's roots lie in Parish Drive, the house band of the United Methodist Church of Wayne, NJ.  Parish Drive performs a mix of Contemporary Christian (meaning God Rock) and Secular (meaning U2) music every other Sunday.   Once upon a time, not so long ago, Parish Drive coordinator (meaning he keeps the band in check for free) Dave Philp had an idea: What if the band did a fundraiser?  Cool.  Then he thought further:  What if the fundraiser connected more than one church?  Cooler.  Then he took it another step: What if the fundraiser raised money for a big North Jersey food bank, CUMAC, and what if the band only played songs requested and paid for in advance by the audience?  As Joe Lyn Turner sang in Stone Cold (1982), "Ice cold."  Dave had one final twist up his three-quarter Van Halen concert t-shirt sleeve: What if the band only played requests, and what if every person who made a request had the option of singing and/or playing along with the band?  Dave realized he was on to something.  Then he collapsed in a heap, not to be seen or heard from for a full six hours.

The idea was executed on April 2, 2011 and featured a larger version of the original Parish Drive, this new version now dubbed The Amped Up Parish Drive Big Band.  The group featured two drum sets (one acoustic and one electric) and two drummers, Kenny Goodwin, who has large arms he calls "guns" that are registered with both the NRA and the state of New Jersey, and the aforementioned Dave Philp, whose ego had grown to such proportions that he'd dubbed himself Chief Organizer Guy.  The Amped Up Parish Drive Big Band also featured four guitarists: John Reynolds, Bob DeMaio, Paul Fixlin and Jeff Campbell, two bass players, Little Stephen Stetler and Jim Goodwin, and the first keyboardist on record to purposely grow two new limbs out of his shoulders for a gig, Michael Sherman.  Everyone sang, some leads, some backups, and vocalists Scott Roberts and Paul Stetler rounded out the outfit.  A small handful of ladies joined in for a small handful of songs.  In fact, here's one of those songs right now, "Edge Of Seventeen."

It is this core group, now called your YouChoose Band, that will entertain your organization at the next YouChoose "Decade" Night.  The goal of the band is to play songs as closely to the original recordings as possible while making it easy for "Song Requestors" to join in for any song they choose to request.  If you'd like to see more video, visit the CUMAC '80s Night Channel on YouTube by clicking HERE.  Watch and see if you can tell who the Song Requestors were and who the band members were.  That'd be a fun game, right?  Contact or call Chief Organizer Guy Dave Philp today at 917-204-1929 and let him know you're interested.  You'll have a nice chat.  And maybe, just maybe, you'll feel inspired enough to want a YouChoose Decade Night of your very own.  Click above to find out more about each member of your YouChoose Band.