Together again After 30 years, they make music
Published 11:40 am Monday, July 11, 2011
Thirty-one years ago a few teenagers got together to jam and started a lifelong path in music.
During the weekend, Venus reunited for the first time —during another reunion, of the Warren Central High School class of 1981.
Venus was formed in 1980 when Linda Bishop was hanging out with Sam Kiger while he was jamming on the guitar.
“I started singing and he was like, ‘Oh my gosh,’” said Bishop. He got bass player Kimble Slaton, rhythm guitarist Gary Sumrall, drummer Scooter Whatley and keyboardist Becky Smartt together, and the band was born.
“Our first public gig was at The Biscuit Company. We weren’t old enough to actually go into clubs, so our parents had to come. It was cute,” said Bishop.
So it was more than a little symbolic that Venus reunited at The Biscuit Company at their 30-year high school reunion.
“It’s essentially the song list we had back in 1981,” said bass player Kimble Slaton of Vicksburg. “The Doobie Brothers, Heart, you know, that vein.”
“We were all rooted in music and our families are all rooted in music and that is how it happened. That was the start of it,” said Slaton.
All of the members have continued to play music. Bishop is lead singer for two bands in Dallas, Texas, Special Edition and Dream On. Gary Sumrall plays rhythm guitar for Van Gogh’s Ear in Memphis. Slaton plays pick-up bass for groups in the Vicksburg and Jackson areas as well as for the praise band at Bowmar Baptist Church.
Sam Kiger plays with bands Pearl and Yoda’s Bones in Austin, Texas. Scooter Whatley most recently played with the group The Neo Brutes in Jackson.
With only one three-hour practice the night before the reunion, group members were surprised at how well they played together after 30 years.
“We are connecting really well. The difference is we are all so much better now,” Kiger said. “Back then we just played them how we could. We didn’t play them the right way. Now we play them the way they should be.”
“When everybody went to college it kind of fizzled out,” said Bishop. The band has managed to keep in touch through Facebook and My-Space over the past few years. All of them, except for keyboardist Becky Smartt, were able to get together for the reunion.
“To me it makes it the best reunion ever because they are the best entertainers around,” said Dorothy Lee, who calls herself Venus’ biggest fan.
“It was like riding a bike. It came back very natural,” said Whatley. “They thought we had actually been practicing a good bit together!”