The Players

Bob Jahn – Guitar, Keyboards, Vocals

Bob’s musical interests started at 5 years old when he would sing while his mother played the organ. At age 12, and idolizing The Monkees, he was introduced to his first 3 guitar chords by a family friend. That was when the bug grabbed him and he knew what he wanted to do with those chords.
Playing in his first rock band at 17, he worked the next years few with a number of local rock and country groups. Teaming up with bass player Fred Stevens in the early 80’s, their group played the club/party scene in the area for a number of years. From there he moved into the Sacramento “glam-rock” club scene and also recorded songs for a local movie. Next he joined a popular 50’s and 60’s group in the late 80’s where he stayed for a number of years. Bob was taking a year off from playing music, while still volunteering as a primary mixer for the Sacramento Jazz Jubilee, when he was asked by drummer Jim Curry if he was interested in playing tunes with him and Gene. He jumped at the chance, and with Fred back in the picture here we are today.

Fred Stevens – Bass Guitar, Vocals

Fred grew up near the beaches of Southern California and attended the birth of “Surf Music”, still dear to his heart, in a garage down the street from his house. He knew from the first reverb saturated notes where his true destiny lay. Fred moved to Berkeley in the late ‘60’s, playing many Bay Area venues (including the Fillmore West) with the legendary band “Notes from the Underground”. The early 80’s found him in the flatlands of Yolo County, teaming up with future Spec’s guitarist Bob Jahn to rock the town with “Pacific Rock and Electric Company”. The intervening years could  not dampen his musical spirit despite several attempts to grow up and work at a range of day jobs, so when former bandmate Jim Curry called on him in 1999 to fill the bass guitar slot in the then well established RetroSpecs, he came a-runnin’. Today, he is excited at the progress he has made as a vocalist with the talented group, and still loves playing for enthusiastic dancers & listeners who enjoy the special blend of classic rock & roll tunes offered up by the band.

Gene Averill – Lead Guitar, Vocals

Gene says his guitar is like a fine woman, it responds to his every touch. What else can we say about Gene? His musical prowess as a lead guitarist and vocalist goes back some 30-plus years to junior high school. He started developing his first calluses playing favorite surf tunes by The Ventures and Dick Dale, along with rock & roll by the likes of Credence Clearwater Revival and the Beatles. He later compounded these calluses into blisters-on-top-of-blisters with hot licks from The Cars, ZZ Top and many others. Gene has played and sung cover tunes with numerous bands at various clubs and colleges throughout California.  Gene has performed many styles of music, including jazz from the 30’s and 40’s, traditional mariachi, oldies, and country-western. Now he’s back to his “retro-roots” of classic rock which he enjoys the most. Good fortune brought him together with three other accomplished musicians in RetroSpecs, and now the sky’s the limit.

Jim Curry – Drums, Vocals

Jim was just six years old when the “devil’s radio” infected his attitude about music. Those days, AM radio played everything from Frank Sinatra to Hank Williams. He committed hundreds of the "gems" to memory knowing someday he’d get to partake in the performance of this exciting stuff and maybe even in front of people. Eighteen years later at a chance meeting of himself and two brothers, a musical confab was born. Jim’s lot was cast with all things percussive, along with the freedom of expression that comes with doing “original” music. Figuring that drummers were a dime-a-dozen, he incorporated four years of grade school choir training with his drumming. The next two decades found him involved with dozens of area players doing some rock-n-roll, a lot of country western, then coming around again to an “originals” band which opened for several headliners at the Palms Playhouse in Davis. But he had to be patient for the time when his favorite tunes, those “gems” would again find an enthusiastic audience. That time seems to be now and as luck would have it, he found RetroSpecs.