Specter, a local band from the Turner area, had their first big gig after winning a contest hosted by the band Rocktopus. The contest was posted on the Rocktopus website and right away Specter started working on songs to send in. The contest was to cover a Rocktopus song the best you could. They recorded a number of songs such as The Single, Bad Math, Twenty-Five, Huge and Horrible, and finally The Great Escape. They sent in their tape and waited for a reply.

Two days later, Jeff Beam, one of the guitarists and vocalists for Specter, received a call from Spencer Albee who is the lead singer of Rocktopus. Yes, it was a good call. Spencer informed him that they would be performing at their next gig on November, 3 at “The Skinny” in Portland. The band was ecstatic! They had a quick practice so they would know the song inside and out the day before the gie.

They arrived at “The Skinny” a few hours before the show so they could get acquanted with the members of Rocktopus. Jeff Beam had already met Spencer Albee. The members of Specter listened in amazment as Rocktopus had their sound check. They also met the two opening bands, Planeside and Damone.

About halfway into Rocktopus’s set the other contest winners were called up onto the stage to perform. Two people, one with an acoustic guitar and one with a cow bell, performed “Too Much T.V.” Then one of the other contest winners took the stage and performed “Huge and Horrible.” Then Rocktopus continued to rock with more of their own songs.

Four more songs by Rocktopus and Spencer aproached the microphone. “IS Specter in the house?” He asked with sweat dripping down his nose. About half of the crowd was from Turner, Leeds and Greene area so they went wild when their named was mentiond. “All of our faces went blank.” says guitarist Conor Page “We were so nervous but really, really excited. None of us wanted to go on stage first. I told Jeff to go first, he told me to, I told Chris to! But we sucked it up and I think Wil was the first on stage.”

They played Rocktopus’s “Twenty-Five” along with the members of Rocktopus singing along on the stage with them. At one point in the song, while Jeff was playing the solo. Spencer actually lifted him on his shoulders while the crowd went wild!

“All and all we think it was a pretty fine job and we hope to do it again.” say the members of Specter.


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