Vern's Instrumental Extravaganza Debuts at the Showroom

KEENE — Todd Tousley, a Keene native, received a bachelor's degree in mathematics from Keene State College (KSC) in 1985 but never worked in the mathematics field. A local business owner, he has followed his bliss for the last three decades playing lead guitar and vocals in several local bands including Fat Tuesday, THC and The Kelly Project. Now he's launching a new musical project, Vern's Instrumental Extravaganza, which will take the stage at the Showroom on Friday, May 24. From 1990 – 2018 he owned Penuche's Ale House in Keene which he sold in 2018. "I still have a Penuche's in Nashua and one in Concord," Tousley said in a recent phone call with the Keene Sentinel. "I'm a self-taught musician and played in a local cover dance/rock band, Fat Tuesday, from 1991 to 2010. We played three to five times per month at bars from Brattleboro to Concord to Manchester to Nashua. We had a lot of fun and played over 500 paid gigs during that time," he adds. Things changed when COVID hit. He sold his Keene business and had extra time to actually study the guitar. "Guitar was always just a hobby, but I wanted to take it more seriously. In the past five years I've learned more about lead guitar than I did in 20 years prior," he says. The Keene Sentinel reached Todd Tousley, 61, of Swanzey, by phone recently to talk about his new project: Vern's Instrumental Extravaganza, his musical background and growing up in Keene. Victoria Chertok: Hi Todd! How did you come up with Vern's Instrumental Extravaganza? Todd Tousley: Vern's Instrumental Extravaganza was created because I wanted to showcase what I've learned recently. I felt that by continuing to do cover tunes at bars I could never really step outside the boundaries of cover songs and really let it rip, so I came up with the idea of doing a theater style/concert type of band where I could do whatever I wanted to. I do enjoy singing, but I decided to forego that and do an all-instrumental thing. It's kind of like Steve Vai/Joe Satriani meets Carlos Santana/Phish. We play rock, fusion, Latin, reggae and blues all kind of mixed together. No one around here does anything like that. V.C.: Who is joining you in Vern's? T.T.: I play lead guitar and Aaron Wallace, also plays lead guitar. He and I met at KSC while playing together in Fat Tuesday. Then Aaron got a PhD in Microbiology and moved to Leominster, MA. Frank Evans, of Winchendon, MA is our drummer. He plays all different styles. Jesse Alibozek, is our bass player from Marlboro, NH, and is a very talented multi-instrumentalist. V.C.: How did you come up with the name Vern's Instrumental Extravaganza? T.T.: We wanted a name that was somewhat silly, like Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. It's just a cool name. We wanted to explain what the band was in our name. I came across an old Ringling Brothers & Barnum & Bailey Circus poster and I thought it was cool, so I wanted it to sound like that. V.C.: Who were some of your early music influences? T.T.: The Beatles, Steely Dan and Yes; and Lynyrd Skynyrd where every song has a great lead guitar solo. I was a big Ritchie Blackmore fan from Deep Purple, David Gilmore from Pink Floyd and Van Halen. V.C.: Which instrument did you start with and when did you pick up the guitar? T.T.: I picked trumpet in 3rd grade and never fell in love with it, but I learned basic music. I went on a trip out West with my parents when I was 15 years old, and my mom had a beat-up, old guitar around the house which I brought on the trip. I knew I was going to be bored so I used this little instruction book and by the time I got back, I had a handle on the guitar. The first year playing guitar is really tough. It takes months and months to get comfortable. It's hard to learn any instrument; you have to have motivation. V.C.: Tell me more about your musical family? T.T.: My mother Doris had a beautiful voice and my dad, Charles, played piano and sang. When we went on long trips in the car — camping trips to Canada — for weeks we would all be singing "Row Row Row" and "John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt." V.C.: You said that the sound of this band is just as important as the music you are playing. Say more. T.T.: In most bands you plug everything in, and you send people a wall of sound; just getting the girls dancing and having fun is the goal. With our new approach, we are running stereo, where it sounds like it's coming from all around. We're focused on performance and sound more than covers and dancing. That's why we want to play theatres and not necessarily bars. V.C.: How did you pick the Showroom for your first official show? T.T.: We rented the Showroom because it comes with a bartender, an usher, a sound guy and a lighting guy all built into the price. We're excited to play there! It seats 200 and is a new place. V.C.: What can the audience expect at your show on Friday night? T.T.: We want to take people on a ride, on a journey. We're not a jam band like Phish or the Grateful Dead. We do things a little more structured but there is an element of jam. We will play it slightly differently every time. It's all about lead guitars and the melodic lead guitar. We are trying to sing with our guitars. V.C.: Any closing thoughts? T.T.: Keene was a great place to grow up. The music scene in Keene is vibrant with a lot of good players in the rock & roll arena and in all other areas, too. We miss a few of the local bars like Waxy O'Connor's and McCue's which had a lot of live music. I used to play in the area a lot but now there are not that many venues for live music. We are trying it in our hometown to see how it goes. SHOW DETAILS Vern's Instrumental Extravaganza plays on Friday, May 24th at The Showroom (behind the Colonial Theatre) in Keene. Doors open at 6:30 p.m., the show is at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $15 and can be purchased at The Showroom Box Office or at the door. There will be a cash bar. Keene based singer/songwriter Ian Galipeau opens the show. For more information, email Todd Tousley at ttous@msn.com