The first real lead singer was our good friend Carl Bennett (after a string of wannabes and just whoever said they could sing, because guitar players in those days just wanted to solo and leave the singing to people who claimed to be lead singers).
He was also a fine musician, a good friend and a geniunely nice person.
Carl passed away in July 2016 after a struggle with cancer. We attended a “tribute” at a local club a few weeks before his death, where Carl attended but didn’t sing any songs.
He looked good, he was in good spirits and I’m sure he enjoyed seeing old friends who came out to sing and play for him. I can barely remember the guy with anything but a big smile on his face. He also had a wicked, dry wit and all his humor was self-deprecating, never at anyone else’s expense.
He was a real singer back when everyone who couldn’t play an instrument claimed to be a singer just to join a band. He was also a great guitarist and song writer who recorded dozens of songs in later years at Vengeance’s egstudios.
Carl was the singer from our living room and backyard party phase to our heyday at the height of Vengeance’s “keg party” days, when thousands of kids, who couldn’t get into bars after the recently passed drinking law, raising the limit from 18 to 21, needed somewhere to go to hang out, listen to music (and drink, get high and meet girls to, um, have fun with).
Bev Wendel
Thank you for this beautiful tribute to a very good friend. Carl was a talented guy and you described him perfectly. I know Patti and his sons will cherish this. Love you and miss you Carl! XO
Renee Henriquez
Carl was my brother. I remember some of those gigs. I want to thank you for posting all the nice things you said about him. After the benefit we had for him at Lenny’s I asked him if he had a good time, he said it was great. All thru his sickness he never complained about anything. He knew he didn’t have long on this earth but he was never down about it. He had started writing a journal but didn’t get to far. I was there with him as he took his last breath along with his sons Joe and Simon my husband Jack, and of course his girlfriend of 20 years Patti and her sister Kathy of which was a tremendous help in caring for Carl in his last days. Gone but never forgotten.
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Bobby Gibbs
Rock on bro! You rocked us with Death or Glory like no other.
vengeance incorporated
Are you the real Bobby “Deacon” Gibbs? Check this out:
http://vengeanceincorporated.com/studio-work/side-projects/deacon/
Kathie Russell
Thank you for the beautiful memories of Carl. He was a great friend to me, and was my neighbor in Mango. I actually witnessed the incident when the irate wife destroyed the tape (along with the smashing of all of their plates and carl’s guitars and anything else she could get her hands on). I’d often watch Marcus and Joseph when they were 5 and 3 and she locked them out of the house. Never was a fan of her. Carl was always an angel.
vengeanceincorporated
Thanks for your comments everyone. I feel very bad about one thing: Carl wanted me to digitize some of the original songs he recorded in my studio but I was never able to get them to him. I still have almost all my equipment but the ‘half-track” to which we mixed down all the 16 track masters is broken. It spent nearly a year in the shop only to come back still broken. I had a lot going on in my life at the time as a single dad raising 2 very young (3 and 7) year old daughters but I could have done more to try to run down another machine or get mine fixed, time just got away from me. I still feel very bad about that, that I didn’t do everything I could have to comply with his request.