Hey everyone! Climbadonkey is back! OK, now I probably got two different reactions from that. If your response was, “Hell yeah!” then you’re a true Ocean City local and have much to look forward to this season. If your response was, “What in the hell is a Climbadonkey?” then you were probably born after 1980 and have quite the history lesson ahead of you.
    A combination band of funk, country and soul hailing from the suburbs of Baltimore, Climbadonkey was one of Ocean City’s premier acts in the 1970s. Now that the original lineup is back, even down to their manager, the band is eager to perform in Ocean City once again.
    “Ocean City was our second home,” said Bobby Hird, singer, songwriter and guitarist of Climbadonkey. “In the seventies, everyone wanted to go to the beach and play. Money wasn’t a priority; we just wanted to play at the beach.”
    The band as we know it now formed in the mid-seventies, and was technically a combination of two different bands. Hird, singer, songwriter and keyboardist Kyf Brewer, singer and guitarist Doug Robinson and singer and bassist Lee Townsend had formed a band in high school called Steamboat Willie (named after the famous black and white Disney short). The four friends attended Climbadonkey’s first show, played by singer, songwriter and keyboardist Fred Tepper, drummer John Tracey and a man named Dave Woodworth, who was soon leaving to work in California. Everyone met after the show and quickly connected. With the absence of Woodworth, the two bands decided to join together. The name Climbadonkey stayed.
    “A guy who was a friend of the band had a dream,” said Hird, explaining the origin of the band’s name. “He was at a children’s zoo and there was a burro there who would give children rides. The name of the ride was Climbadonkey.”
    After the lineup change and several performances in the Baltimore area, the band with the absurd name and origin to its name came to Ocean City to fulfill the dreams of playing at the beach. While performing an audition at The Pirate’s Den, they met local Michael Flemming, known around town as “Wino” (even though he apparently didn’t drink much of the substance in the first place). After the set, Wino, who had never heard of the band before, spoke to its members and noted that the venue was more set up for an acoustic band, and this place wasn’t right for them.
    Wino immediately used his connections to get the band a gig at a bar called the Irish House, which is now where The Purple Moose sits. The band packed up and went straight to the Irish House. By word of mouth alone, the venue was filled by a crowd eager to hear this new band.
    “This was in the era of disco, and we were the total anti-disco band. The surfers loved us,” said Hird.
    After that performance, the band became well-established in town and played in Ocean City whenever they had the chance.
    All living in the same house, the band became closer as time went on and encouraged each other to perform at their best abilities.
    “It was a friendly songwriting competition. We were all rooting for each other,” said Hird.
    Eventually, the band gained some serious speed, opening for acts such as Crack the Sky (whose first three albums charted on the Billboard 200 list and opened for bands such as Supertramp, Rush and ZZ Top themselves, despite never earning much popularity outside of the Baltimore area), Robert Palmer and Leslie West of Mountain.
    Then, the members of Climbadonkey got the chance every musician dreams of: the opportunity to sign a record deal. Allan Blazek, who is credited as one of the sound engineers for The Eagles’ “Hotel California” came to Ocean City to scope the band out. According to Hird, Blazek was impressed that every waitress in the building knew every word to each song that was performed. The band then went back home to record three songs with Blazek at Sheffield Recording Studios and was then invited to Los Angeles to make a record deal concrete. There, band members lived the rock star life, with Hird vividly remembering riding in a car around Beverly Hills with rock legends Pete Townsend, Joe Walsh and Nigel Olsson (Elton John’s drummer, who Hird said called his band Elevation Burro as a joke).
    Being that they had a sound inspired by bands such as The Beatles, The Eagles and Little Feat, which was ideal for the music being made in southern California at the time, they trusted their manager at the time to get a deal done. However, a deal was never made.
    “I have about six record contracts that we never signed,” said Hird, who explained they never saw a contract that the band felt entirely comfortable with.
    As time went on and no record deal was being made, band members started leaving in the late seventies to pursue other projects. Tepper was the first to leave, followed by Robinson. The four remaining members then formed The Ravyns (this was years before the NFL team was established, so no copyright infringement here), who had a hit in 1982 called “Raised on the Radio,” which was featured on the soundtrack of the film Fast Times at Ridgemont High.
    Throughout the years, the original members of Climbadonkey worked on various music projects (Hird joined and is still a member of Crack the Sky, who he opened for years ago, as an example) and other careers such as construction and computer technology. Everyone has still kept music a part of their lives and is active in the industry.
    Despite members relocating to different areas of the country, the friendship has lived on and everyone still keeps in touch, to which Hird says is, “pretty remarkable.”
Members continued on with their lives with no thoughts of reforming until a few years ago, when Townsend took it upon himself to digitally remix some studio tapes they had recorded in the seventies.
    “Our tracks literally came out of a dumpster,” said Hird.
    Townsend took these old, worn-out tracks and salvaged what was still readable.
With the help of friend Rick Bukowski, who has a studio in Pittsburgh, Townsend would periodically send members digital remastered versions of their old songs.
    “Every couple of days, we would get a mix and were floored. He [Bukowski] just did a great job mixing it,” said Hird.
    Eventually, these remixed tracks turned into what would become the band’s first full album. When members finally held the disc in their hands, they decided to get back together on stage. After playing a small gig that was meant more to dust off the cobwebs a short while ago, the band played a release party for their self-titled album last weekend.
    “It was our second time on stage in a really long time,” said Hird. “Everyone has their own things going on, and to remain respectful and friendly is a big deal.”
    According to Hird, Climbadonkey’s hour and a half set, which included songs off their 14-track album, live classics, improvised jams and a cover of Little Feat’s “Dixie Chicken,” was a hit and the band can’t wait to play more shows.
    “It’s amazing that we’re all still on this planet and this thing has come full circle,” said Hird. “It’s a miracle how it came around.”
    Right now, band members are organizing their schedules in hopes of making a return to Ocean City this season to both delight old fans and also get some newer listeners.
    “This music is timeless, so we’re looking forward to getting a bunch of new fans, too,” said Hird.
    No dates in Ocean City are official as of yet, but the band is actively trying to find a venue to debut their new album in town. So keep your ears wide open for when an announcement becomes official!
    Climbadonkey’s self-titled album is available for purchase on iTunes, www.cdbaby.com and on the band’s website, http://climbadonkey.com.
    While this reemergence is meant to be nostalgic, Hird says the band’s reunion could lead to brand new material being recorded.
    “As far as anything brand new, we haven’t touched that as of yet,” Hird said. “But the door is open for everyone.”