Keeping the Beat After a 30-Year Break

Mike Lambert and his fellow Boomrs (the Band) play classic rock and blues in the Dallas/Fort Worth area.

I was born in Kankakee, Illinois, 60 miles south of Chicago. My parents loved the Lawrence Welk show with Myron Floren, who played accordian. At 9 years old they made me take accordian lessons. I hated it. I would sit in the basement and arrange cardboard boxes and pots and pans and hit them with wooden cooking spoons. They finally took the hint and switched me to drum lessons. My influences were Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich, with a little Sandy Nelson thrown in.

My first gig was with a country western band called the Crossties when I was 16 years old. We practiced at a dry-cleaning establishment owned by a bandmember’s parents. It must have been 150 degrees in that back room, but we didn’t care.

Back around that same time, I replaced the drummer for the back-up band that played for Tony Bellus. He was a one-hit wonder that recorded “Robbing the Cradle.” He appeared on American Bandstand once, but after that he just played local clubs.

Next I formed my own pop rock cover band, “Actions Unlimited,” and played sock hops in school gyms. I did that until I was hired by a band playing 6 nights a week in a night club. I was 19.

While playing at this club, we were noticed by a man from Danville, Illinois. He owned a club there and he was responsible for discovering Dick and Jerry Van Dyke. He wanted to feature us at his club but the US Air Force got to me first.

While in boot camp stationed at Lackland AFB (San Antonio, Texas), I joined a few musicians and we clicked. We opened for the Sir Douglas Quintet a few times. During a 3-year stint in San Angelo, Texas, I joined the Air Force Drum & Bugle corps to keep my chops up.  A high point there was the time I played a drum solo for the then Texas Governor, John Connolly. The Air Force sent me to Peshawar Pakistan where I formed a trio, “The 34th Parallel.” We played all the clubs on base and also, by invitation, for the president of Afganistan and the Pakistan Air Force.

After the Air Force, I came home and joined the Musician’s Union in Kankakee, Illinois. They found me gigs with orchestras, dixieland band, polka bands, country bands, all of which added to my expertise.

I finally settled in with a 4-piece pop cover band. We played every weekend and sometimes had 6-night-a-week gigs at club/restaurants.

I moved from Kankakee, Illinois to Texas in 1978 and the only drumming I did was with my son-in-law’s band when his drummer couldn’t make it. That is until 2009. And here I am, back at it again, with the best band I have ever been in: BOOMRS. 

Mike Lambert
Weatherford, Texas