Welcome to the TREAD page.

We're a group of guys who have been together since the mid 1980's. We play all sorts of music but our "specialty" is in 50's and 60's "classic" rock. The name, TREAD, was adopted mostly so we had a way to refer to our collective selves. It really beat "us" or "the band" or "Them" (which actually was already taken). The name comes from our first initials (T as in Tom, R, Rick (retired), E, Ernie, A is Anthony (Tony) and D for Duane and Darrel). We actually had someone named Zebadiah who wanted to join us, but he declined when informed he would have to change his name. We felt it would have been a small price to pay :^ )

We are located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and the majority of our jamming takes place in a basement or garage, hence the term "garage band". The point of what we do is our own entertainment. In other words, it's FUN. But since a lot of folks know we do this, we do get requests. Some of the requests have been: a graduation party, a wedding, a pig roast, an island "resort", a halloween party (where the local Minnetonka Police SWAT team actually showed up in force with guns drawn...must not have liked our version of 'Louie Louie'), a few stints at a local American Legion and an Alternative Lifestyles group. You will need to conjure up your own images on that one!


There have been many changes to TREAD over the years. Tony has retired and summers in Minnesota and winters in Arizona. Tom has, unfortunately, passed away.


From left to right: Duane (drums), Darrel (bass), Tony (keyboard, guitar, banjo),
Tom (keyboard, guitar, bass) and Ernie (guitar).



This is Tom. He is also in the band "You And Who's Army?"



A shot of Ernie and Tom



This here is Darrel, with Tony in the background



Duane ("Little Drummer Boy")



Tony. His vocals keep us from being an instrumental group!


How about yall coming up with some good captions to these cartoons? If you think of a good one or two, leave them in the comments/feedback section in the Dakota1 main page ("back" on your browser)

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