Gus Kodros, Remembered
The First of Two Pieces Noting October's Gus Kodros Tribute Show
If there’re two drummers who could speak to the style and spirit played by Gus Kodros, they are Andy Dykeman and Eric Harnetiaux. The former played with Judge Nothing, a group often summoned by name when The Bishops of Alton, IL, are discussed. Harnetiaux, meanwhile, took Kodros’ seat when the latter went on to play with Small Ball Paul, The Bishops continuing on with the foundation laid down by Kodros, Fritz Beer, Tim Bramstedt and Ben Herzon.
Judge Nothing, as noted, were something of a sibling band to The Bishops, the two groups sharing stages and gigs and laughs over many years. The connections between Dykeman and Kodros were more than just their instruments of choice.
“Gus and I went to school together although I didn’t really get to know him until high school when we were both playing in punk rock bands,” Dykeman says. “My mom and his mom went to high school together. All of the Alton punk bands would play at pizza joints and church youth groups and the bands would hang out all night.”
As they began to connect more regularly, Dykeman says that their paths were starting to cross too often to not be friends.
He says that “I think Gus was playing in The Plague at that time. In college, Gus played with Darin Gray (Dazzling Killmen, Tweedy) in a kinda-goth experimental band. He often wore a skull mask and played standing up. He also played with Fritz Noble (Strangulated Beatoffs). Later, Gus joined The Bishops and then Small Ball Paul, so we spent a lot sharing a stage.”
Dykeman says that “we often hung out at these shows. He was such a humble, quiet and very kind person. His drumming wasn’t flashy but very steady and dependable. I never saw him ‘mess up.’ It seemed like drumming was a natural and perfect fit for him.”
In time, Kodros even did a gig with Dykeman’s crew, as “Gus was asked by Doug and Flea of Judge Nothing to play a show since I wasn’t up for it. I saw him before the show and he seemed embarrassed and said, ‘I really wanna do this but I understand if you don’t want me to.’ Not only was I excited for him to play the show but I was flattered that he wanted to do it. I heard he did an amazing job, probably better than me.”
Harnetiaux’s experience with Kodros is interesting and intertwined in a different way, as he joined a group that was well-established and much-loved within regional rock circles. It’d be a while later, though, that they began to connect more.
“I first got to know Gus at the initial Bishops reunion in 2011,” Harnetiaux says. “He was a quiet, sweet guy. He was also, however, a hard hitter, and that’s the best compliment I can give a drummer. If someone says the drummer is playing too loud, I call that ‘playing with conviction.’”
In time, as the group played occasional reunions, the pair would trade off sets, with each drummer tackling the material on which they drummed originally.
“Once, at a practice, Gus punched a hole through a snare,” Harnetiaux recalls. “While I ran to Guitar Exchange to replace the head, he found one of Tim’s kid’s toy drums and continued with that. I got back and heard him cutting through the din with thunderous cracks on a Muppet Show snare drum.”
Kodros’ quiet, considerate nature provides the basis for another Harnetiaux memory, which we’ll let him run with….
When we practiced at my house I sprang for pizza. Of course, I got Meat Lovers upon Meat Lovers, not realizing Gus was a vegetarian.
“Oh Gus, I’m sorry man, I didn’t know”.
“No problem. Don’t worry about it.” He had brought his own thermos with some kind of blended, nutritional drink. He quietly sipped on that in the corner. When the break was over, he returned to the garage and continued thrashing the kit like an animal. The two sides of Gus.
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Gus Kodros will be remembered by his musical and familial kin with a memorial concert on Saturday, October 21st at The Lodge at The Lovejoy (401 Piasa St., Alton, IL, 62002). Doors at the cash-only venue open at 5 pm and bands begin at 6:00, the lineup includes a number of bands with Alton and St. Louis pedigrees: The Bishops (opening and closing the show) along with the proto-punk Avon Ladies, Matt Taul (Stubblefield), Doug Raffety (Judge Nothing), Todd Keith (Autumn Clock), Chuck Lindo (The Nukes, American Professionals), Flea (Judge Nothing), Gigi Darr, Dead Planet, and Bob Monroe (Breakmouth Annie). A Facebook event page with all the details can be found here.
A press release for the show notes the underlying reasons for the event, as “In August 2019, Gus Kodros - drummer for pioneering St. Louis rock bands The Bishops and Sony recording artists Small Ball Paul - took his own life. His friends and loved ones had little indication that he was on the brink of something catastrophic. Everyone was devastated, and the urgency of understanding why this happened was immense. Gus made us realize the importance of mental health outlets for people in distress and we all wished we had been informed enough to help Gus find these outlets. This Tribute to Gus and Benefit for the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline (988lifeline.org/) is a great way to bring attention and funding to the important but often overlooked organizations that help people in mental distress.”
A commemorative t-shirt and a silent art auction will help raise funds for 988lifeline on the evening of the show.
We’ll follow this post with another in this space, featuring thoughts and memories from members of both The Bishops and Small Ball Paul.