Bremy has listened to every vinyl,
8-track, cassette and CD the band has ever produced. As a teenager, he played
bass guitar in a local cover band in northern New Jersey called Heaven's Sundae,
known for its Vanilla Fudge covers. And in January 2002, at the historic Stone
Pony venue in Asbury Park, N.J., the now-49-year-old fan strapped on his bass
guitar and filled in for Vanilla Fudge's bassist Tim Bogert,
who became ill prior to the band's short tour. "It was like a little kid's dream come true," Bremy says.
It was a dream a long time in the making. As an 11-year-old inspired by The Beatles' "I Want to Hold Your Hand," Bremy asked his parents for a drum set. He would transport the set in a red wagon down a suburban street in Wayne, N.J., to jam with his friends.
Bremy eventually switched to bass guitar. In 1967, he and some friends started Heaven's Sundae. At the time, Vanilla Fudge was gaining popularity. It performed a version of The Supremes' hit single "You Keep Me Hanging On" on the Ed Sullivan Show. Vanilla Fudge also headlined shows and toured with famous performers such as the Steve Miller Band, Jimi Hendrix and Cream.
Bremy's band Heaven's Sundae broke up in 1971. He started playing drums for a band called Holy Smoke and attended William Paterson University. A friend offered Bremy a job in the printing industry. Money was tight, so he accepted. For 25 years, he worked in the industry--and played his bass guitar only once.
Then in 1997, a next-door neighbor asked Bremy to help him prepare for a classic rock gig. Bremy, understandably feeling out of practice, was reluctant to help at first. But with the convincing of his wife, Jean, he agreed. The gig inspired him, and soon Bremy was playing the bass guitar once again, this time at local pubs. His longtime friend Jeff Guenther invited him to play bass with a band called LTM (now called Retrofitz).
In 1998, Bremy began to learn more about Vanilla Fudge online. (Bremy's web site, www.rockersusa.com, offers page after page of Vanilla Fudge-related history, photographs and memorabilia.) He put his programming skills to use and created a web site about Vanilla Fudge's bassist, Tim Bogert. After Bogert discovered the site, he and Bremy became friends. Through the internet, Bremy also became friends with Vanilla Fudge's guitarist, Vince Martell.
In 2000, Martell asked Bremy to join his band, Vince Martell's Endless High, as bassist. The hard rock band performs one or two shows a week in New York, at clubs such as Le Bar Bat, located in midtown Manhattan.
Vanilla Fudge scheduled a short reunion tour in 2002. During that tour, Martell recommended Bremy to fill in for the ill Bogert.
How often do people get to play with their favorite band? Bremy was ecstatic. "'You Keep Me Hanging On' was one of their biggest hits," he says. "The first time I played it with them, after having listened to it a thousand times...I literally had to look away. My eyes welled up with tears."
Bremy's eyes might well up some more. In early July, he was asked to join Vanilla Fudge again, and expected to begin touring with the group last month. Scheduled tour stops include Washington, Illinois, Iowa, Denmark and Sweden.
On a wall in his office at Cowdin Printing, Bremy keeps a picture of him performing with Vanilla Fudge. He says playing bass helps him think creatively in business. "Unlike business, there are very few rules in music," Bremy says. "The artistic aspects of music keep me thinking on my feet."
Peter Bremy (far left), general manager of West Caldwell, N.J.-based manufacturer Cowdin Printing Company, poses with (from left) Bill Pascali, Vince Martell and Carmine Appice, members of the popular 1960s psychedelic rock band Vanilla Fudge. In January 2002, Bremy filled in for Tim Bogert, Vanilla Fudge's bassist who became sick prior to the start of the band's reunion tour. In early July, Bremy was asked to join Vanilla Fudge again, and he toured with the group last month.
