Mr. Chubb - Newport RI

Gone but not forgotten...

Brother Martin
With us forever

In 2001, tragedy struck when we lost our beloved drummer and friend to cancer. We will never forget the great times we had with him and the band often reminisces about all the things that made Marty.... well Marty, a one of a kind. Marty was the kind of guy who would sit you down in front of his stereo (vintage hi-fi record player with knobs the size of skoal cans of course) and play you his latest discovery. It would always be something off the wall too like a Bach concerto performed entirely on ukulele. Or he would drag you into his office so he can show you the vintage 1950s clothes dryer he just bought that played La Cucuracha when the buzzer went off.

Marty was the real deal and we always remember him. Personally, I think he spends his time in the afterlife doing bong hits with buddha and playing pinball with Hendrix. That's just my opinion, but I know he's always looking down on us...and probably saying"hey..uh...don't touch my gear, man."

Back in the Saddle Again

Matty "Noodles"

Chubb eventually hired Matt "Noodles" Niebles (He hates when I call him that) to take over as drummer. Matt was a great fit for the Chubb with a free style which lended itself perfectly to our music. He loved to "break it down" with the percussion and opened up a new door for extended jams (and beer breaks for the rest of us).

Matt played in several local bands before joining us, and was quite an accomplished drummer with roots in jazz and reggae. If you brought a reggae tune to the table when we picked songs, you could always count on Matt's vote. He also sang backup vocals on many tunes and was great at finding the "in-between harmony".

Matt left the band to pursue other musical ambitions. He played a ton of gigs with us and we really enjoyed playing with him and we hope he and his family are doing well. One final thing about Noodles: Being the only vegetarian in the band, he always got screwed on the catered gigs and would end up with a plate full of carrots and cheese squares. I kinda felt bad about that..well not really. We love you Noodles..wherever you are.

The Missing Link - And I Ain't Talkin Bout Bigfoot

At some point Chubb decided we needed an even bigger sound and thought keys would be the next logical step. We had tried out some keyboard players before, but with no luck. One guy we tried could only solo in one key and had to electronically transpose every song. Eeek! This kind of stuff had made us shy away from keys for a long time.

Then one day, along came Mark Grimm. I think Joey had asked him down for a jam because they had worked together before or faced off in some court somewhere. I'm pretty sure that at the time, we had no intention of adding more musicians, but after we had that jam together, our outlook changed completely. It took only one sweeping hammond lick and we were sold.

Mark had worked with a bunch of local bands, including Cold Sweat, who had a similar set to ours. We liked playing with Mark so much, we immediately asked him to join us on an upcoming gig. We may have practiced once, before playing that gig, then we threw him into the fire blind. In return he kicked our collective asses. Marks sound has really honed the Chubb sound you hear today and most of his contributions were born live on stage or in a "it kinda goes like this" session moments before going on stage. He truly is a key part of our sound (no pun intended) and when you hear the band calling out "MG", be prepared to hear him make those keys beg for mercy.

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