Acoustic Endorphins equals perfect harmony for father son duo
By Erin Hunsader
It’s been said exercise produces endorphins – chemicals produced by an individual’s nervous system that can act as a happiness booster. Ted and John Gloeckler said they get their boost from strumming and singing for local audiences.
The local band aptly named, Acoustic Endorphins, is a father-son duo who said they never set out to start a band, but just sort of happened.
“I don’t know when the original first gig was,” John Gloeckler, son, said. “We played at a couple friend’s graduation parties and a family reunion. We started playing bars after that. That was about eight years ago.”
John said growing up with music all around him, he couldn’t wait to be a part of it.
“For as long as I can remember, my dad and uncles played guitar in our basement after different family get-togethers…”Gloeckler said, “Eventually, I was kind of like, ‘How do I get to the basement?’”
John said he took up the drums and went off to college, but, he said, it was hard to play drums in a dorm room. He said he picked up guitar shortly after and taught himself a few riffs.
“I wanted to keep that going, so I asked dad a couple things and learned the songs they were playing and started playing with him and my uncles,” John said.
His father, Ted said he recalls he not only tried to introduce music to John when he was young but he, himself, was always in a band while his son was growing up.
“I was in a bunch of bands that nobody ever heard of,” Ted said. “We were Dow Jones and the Industrial, then we had a band called Snazzy Trousers, some goofy things like that.”
The musical duo said they never expected to be in a band together, but things lined up harmoniously for the makings of Acoustic Endorphins.
“Over the years, when you think about all of the bands you’re in that typically don’t work, because of some sort of life event or somebody’s looking ahead in a different direction or different tastes in music,” Ted said, “It’s great with us – we’re on the same page and heading in the same direction.”
John said it happened sort of organically. “It’s really easy to play with somebody you live with so we just developed our own set of songs and things we were doing and got asked to do it out,” he said.
With a catalog of more than 200 songs, the pair said they like to play whatever the venue calls for, they both agreed they like to play well-known songs to encourage audience participation.
“We want people to have that moment with us,” Ted said. “On a good night when we hit exactly what the audience wants to hear, they get a little endorphin rush. Those are the moments we live for and we hope that people who come see us get that occasionally. If nothing else, we hope they get a smile on their face and a break from the day to day cares and troubles.”
The two said they also play an eclectic mix of instruments.
“John focuses on the rhythm guitar generally and he’ll jump in with percussion occasionally…,” Ted said “That allows me to play a lot of bass, while that’s going on and then I’ll jump in and play some leads cause I have the ability to switch between them on my guitar. We also try to throw in mandolin on some songs, I will play that, or harmonica and we do have a cajon and hand percussion.”
A ukulele may even make an appearance occasionally, John said.
“I learned music on piano,” he said. “I know a little bit about each of them (instruments he plays). I do ukulele too.”
Besides bringing audiences together, Ted said the music does some of that for him too.
“I’m really lucky,” Ted said. “I have two sons who love music as much as I do. Having John ask me to be in an acoustic duo with him, I mean how many guys are lucky enough to have that much quality time with their kids.”
For more information on Acoustic Endorphins check out its Facebook page.
Erin Hunsader is the Editor of Green Bay City Pages. She can be reached at [email protected]