Dear John - Sleepy Truckers

Dear John formed in 1983 with Scott Reed (guitar/vocals), Mike Haefele (guitar/vocals), Andrew Coss (bass/vocals), Aaron Brown (drums/vocals) & Dana Fiorucci (keyboards/vocals). In 1984, Randy Grohs (keyboards/vocals) joined, taking Dana's place. Dear John played in several clubs around Wichita, including the Beer Mill, Gin Mill, Candies / Rock Island. They also toured in their converted 1964 International Harvester school bus (which always seemed to break down...) through Kansas, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri and Nebraska. Among its more memorable gigs were playing on a river boat on Lake Ozark during a Hells Angels Convention (350 bikers on the boat out of over 2000 who had converged on the Ozarks from around the world), and opening for John K/Steppenwolf the very next week at Cardies in Lake Charles Louisiana. Dear John had a few original songs, but mostly played songs from Rush, Journey, Kansas, Genesis, Yes, Pink Floyd, Duran Duran, U2 and others. After taking a break, the band reformed with Aaron/Andrew/Randy, plus Doug Bugner on Guitar and Jeff Reep singing vocals. This second version of Dear John played at The Flicker.

Sleepy Truckers formed in 1994 when former "Dear John" members Andrew Coss (bass/vocals), and Randy Grohs (keyboard/vocals) joined forces with members of "Pretty Ugly", Vinnie Mourning (guitar/vocals) and T-Roy Dean (drums). Later, WSU Jazz Drummer Cori Walters joined the band. Truckers have played many clubs across Wichita and opened for many bands, including Pat Travers, Kansas, Styx and Journey. Over the past 15 years, Andrew and Vinnie have remained constant throughout several version of the band. The band has always played a wide variety of music from bands like Chaka Khan, David Bowie, INXS, The Beatles, The Bee Gees, Billy Squire, Earth Wind & Fire, Stevie Wonder, The Who, Jethro Tull, Talking Heads, Kool and the Gang and Steely Dan. Randy moved to Boise Idaho in 1996, but has returned to Wichita each summer over the past several years to reunite for a weekend with the gang.

They can be found online here:
www.myspace.com/sleepytruckers