Tom Rudenko:
CLASS OF 1976
Ventura Senior High SchoolClass of 1976
Ventura, CA
California State University Northridge - BusinessClass of 1997
Northridge, CA
Ventura CollegeClass of 1995
Ventura, CA
Tom's Story
Well, didn't graduate! Should have in 1976, but dropped out and started working - - mechanic, oilfields, carpenter, misc labor type jobs. Played music (keyboards, writing and signing). First band was Lotus with buddies Mike Fulton, James Baron and Dan Buley - all Ventura cohorts. Sadly Dan passed away tragically years later.
Next group was Full Sail, with Dan, Dave Henderson and Jay Vasquez. Those were great times! We played many parties, weddings and dances around Ventura, Ojai, Santa Barbara. We even won the 1979 Ventura County Battle of the Bands! That was a thrill! We also threw huge parties down on the beach - Bangor Lane where I lived...those were really crazy and fun!
I kept going with the music - after Full Sail, started another group with Dan called The Surge, with a spunky girl lead singer named TJ. We started to play clubs like Mr. Luckys and the Ponderosa Inn in Camarillo.
The Surge went on for about a year, and then I joined the group Prowler, who was fairly established on the local club scene. Prowler included Giel Silver, Raywood Hendrick, Bob Griffin and Jerry "Killer" Miller on drums. Started to play all the time - no more day gigs! We played constantly between Mr. Luckys, the Ponderosa Inn and Maxies up in Oak View. We also ventured out on the road, touring around the western states playing in hotels and clubs - - some of the funnest times of my life! Too much fun! I played with Prowler for about 3+ years.
Well, we're up to about 1983-4, and I began to get itchy for the 'big time', so I ended up joining an original group called Roxbury Drive. We began to write and rehearse our own music, and we started to play showcases in LA at places like the Troubadour and Whiskey. We started to draw a crowd, and people were following us down from Ventura County - we became hot! We started to headline shows, and groups like Warrant were opening up for us. Groups like Guns & Roses, Poison and Motley Crue would come to our shows. We played a lot at the Roxy, Whiskey and Country Club...very exciting! However, even though many record companies were checking us out (we played Journey type music), we could not get a deal. It was a great struggle that went on for several y...Expand for more
ears. I worked at misc jobs during the day to eat and pay the bills, and rehearsed until well past midnight, night after night.
Finally, Roxbury Drive broke up (around 1986), and a few offers came my way. I ended up joining a group called Angel, who had released about 7 records back in the 70s and 80s. They were attempting a comeback - these were really great guys, but there was no real business momentum behind the group, so after about 6 months, I joined another group called Only Child.
Only Child took off quickly - in 1988 we recorded a record (titled Only Child) and were signed to Rhino Records. We made a video (for very cheap!), and it was quickly added to MTV. This was super exciting! Several songs got put onto TV shows and movies, including "The Accused" with Jodie Foster - she won the Ocsar for best actress inn that movie. So, things finally seemed like they were going to happen! However, the record didn't sell, and slowly we became frustrated. I'll always be very proud of that record (even though it didn't make any $$). You can get Only Child on iTunes.
So, in 1990 I quit Only Child and joined another group called Harlow. Killer female singer and a smoking group of musicians. We got signed to Warner Brothers, made a video. Unfortunately, similarly to Only Child, the record was really good but didn't sell. Was doing a lot of side recording gigs throughout these years. One gig stands out - recorded with Bob Dylan (and Gene Simmons from "Kiss" was playing bass! strange combination). Harlow's guitarist now plays with KISS (Tommy Thayer).
After Harlow didn't happen, I finally lost the passion I had started with years back. I spent a few drifting years doing some auditions with no real luck, and finally decided to go back to school and get a real job. I got married and moved back to Ventura in 1993. I got my degree (quite late in life!), became a CPA, worked for Deloitte, Sony and my current gig as Director of Internal Audit for Activision Blizzard (we make videogames - Guitar Hero and World of Warcraft).
If you've made it this far in this story(!), perhaps we know each other from way back? Please feel free to send me a message - I'll check back from time to time. Cheers!
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