For many people, a life of music begins predictably. The recorder could have been the inspirational instrument in elementary school that sets someone on a musical journey. Many start with piano lessons or in high school band. From those likely beginnings, a path is paved. Chuck Loos, on the other hand, took a different track. While in college at Gonzaga University, Loos lived in a house with a drum set in the basement. After sneaking down there to bang on his roommate’s drums, he knew he needed a set of his own.
“He basically gave me his old drum set, which was a generous gift and really got me started in drumming. I did trade him for my mattress and ended up sleeping on an air pad for the remainder of the year,” Loos says. “Approximately three months after having my own drum set, I was playing my first live show at our cafeteria on campus.”
This unlikely exchange of items led to decades of shows and fortuitous experiences, like meeting his wife and being inducted into the South Dakota Rock And Roll Hall of Fame.
The Black Hills of South Dakota aren’t known as a hotbed for music, but after college, Loos found himself back where he grew up, working as a teacher. He knew he wanted to play music and found his way into a group called The Counter Players. The band played a fun mix of bluegrass and Irish music, not the rock and roll Loos envisioned himself playing — but it was music. And the band offered another bonus: the singer, Chris Boernke. She and Loos hit it off and toured with the group around South Dakota for a few years. They eventually married.
While Loos has an affinity for a broad spectrum of music, he was still eager to play rock and roll in the style of Phish and the Grateful Dead. The chance arose when Loos connected with Tom Whillock and became the drummer for Toadstool Jamboree. This launched him into eight years with the group, playing original music and covers.
“We were sort of the big fish in the small market. We were pretty successful. We got as many gigs as we wanted and were paid pretty decent,” Loos recalls. “I still haven’t made the money here that I could make 25 years ago in the Black Hills of South Dakota.”
Loos was a part of Toadstool Jamboree until he and Boernke had a daughter, Isabel, and decided to take their growing family west. They made their home in rural Whatcom County, where Boernke could garden and Loos could bang away on his drums without disturbing too many neighbors. They added their son Xander to the family, and Loos went looking for opportunities to drum.
Finding a musical path in Whatcom County
He found a nearby prospect when he joined BandZandt, made up of people located in or close to Van Zandt. Described as “east county famous,” Loos performed with this band for years. They practiced consistently on Wednesday nights and had a regular schedule, performing to enthusiastic, dancing crowds.
While in BandZandt, Loos pursued other side gigs, looking for ways to play a diverse array of music. He joined Glacier locals Jimmy Brite and RJ Rex for a Phish tribute show, which then evolved into the band Trabin. That group mostly played at the Mt. Baker Ski area and in Glacier, often performing at Grahams and Chair 9. They will still occasionally get together for gigs.
Loos never had formal musical training and wanted to expand his abilities beyond his drum kit. To grow from a drummer to a well-rounded percussionist, he sought new occasions to learn. He learned West African rhythm at the Van Zandt Hall and took the time to master other instruments. As he learned new percussion instruments and styles, he added pieces to his stage kit.
Loos can now be found playing live regularly with local bands. He is a part of The Sleepy Alligators, a Grateful Dead tribute band, which Boernke is also in, and Hopnotic, an instrumental jazzy funk band. Both bands perform around Whatcom County, often at local breweries. Both bands are tremendously satisfying, says Loos.
Loos is grateful to have had the opportunity to raise his family and play music in Whatcom County. He has worked at Infusions Solutions since the company’s inception 14 years ago. When not drumming, he created the word game Chuck-A-Nuts, which is a spoonerism-based game that Loos creates a puzzle for each day, designed for people to solve in two minutes or less.
He was enjoying living in the world he and Boernke had created when life threw him some more excitement.
Induction into the South Dakota Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
He got word that he and his bandmates from Toadstool Jamboree were to be inducted into the South Dakota Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He and his family flew back to South Dakota, where Loos was treated like the rock star that he is. He appeared on a local TV station and signed t-shirts and vinyl albums at a celebration concert for inductees, which brought the band back together for a night. The whole experience, and knowing their music had made an impact, meant a lot.
“You need family members like Chris to support it. You need talented bandmates. You need promoters and venue owners,” Loos says. “You need an audience to come…you need a whole slew of people to support that kind of endeavor, and we are all in it together. When I reflect on it, I just have a ton of gratitude.”
While being inducted into a hall of fame sometimes means a career is over, that’s not the case for rock and roll. Loos will continue to do what he loves, playing drums for those around Whatcom County — and any neighbors within earshot.
