On a Sunday afternoon in a spacious storage crammed with devices and sound gear, the band launches into “Jumpin’ Jack Flash.” They haven’t been collectively in just a few months, however they’re in sync and, because the music says, “It’s all proper now.”
This band is the College of Tennessee Well being Science Heart’s reply to The Rolling Stones, with a twist. It’s made up of college members from the Faculty of Dentistry, plus just a few colleagues.
The Dentones got here collectively in the summertime of 2016 in response to an invite to play at a dental fraternity charity fundraiser. They’ve stayed collectively as a result of they’re having a blast.
“It’s nice,” says James Ragain, DDS, dean of the Faculty of Dentistry, who performs electrical bass guitar and sings. He’s the man within the black Beatles wig. “We’ve got this Dentones persona, which is completely completely different than our day jobs. You get to go up there and act just a little bit, gown up and simply sort of let your self go.”
Along with Dean Ragain, the roster consists of: Tim Lanier, UTHSC director of regional growth, lead singer and electrical guitar; Mark Anderson, DDS, chair of the Division of Diagnostic Sciences and Oral Medication, lead guitar; Vernon Pennington, DDS, assistant professor and group chief within the Division of Common Dentistry, keyboards; Kyle Fagala, DDS, part-time college and an orthodontist in non-public follow, drummer; Ron Staples, DDS, assistant professor within the Division of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgical procedure, trumpet; and Darryl Jones, DDS, an assistant professor within the Division of Common Dentistry, saxophone.
Dean Ragain, Lanier, Dr. Anderson and Dr. Pennington are unique members of the band. At instances college students have sat in on the drums—till commencement, that’s. Adam Gaines, design supervisor for the UTHSC Workplace of Communications and Advertising and marketing, additionally subs in on drums when wanted.
Three a long time separate the members. The oldest are of their late 60s. The youngest is in his late 30s. However, after they’re jamming, the variations disappear.
“It’s an fascinating generational factor,” the dean says. “All of us really feel actually pumped and revel in it. And it places us in like a special place. You recognize, we are able to step out of our consolation zones from our day jobs and do one thing that all of us have a robust ardour for.”
Rock and rollers, The Dentones cowl songs from the Beatles, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Led Zeppelin, The Yardbirds—’60s and ’70s hits— a few of which the scholars they play for may not even acknowledge. However, no worries, it takes only some minutes to interrupt the ice earlier than the viewers is on their toes.
On this Sunday, they cycled by way of the Rolling Stones to Van Morrison’s “Gloria” and on to the Beatles’ “A Onerous Day’s Night time”, with a little bit of Johnny Rivers’ “Secret Agent Man” in between. The beat was robust, the sound loud, and the enjoyment palpable.
This band shouldn’t be with out a music pedigree. Dr. Anderson is an achieved blues guitarist. Dr. Staples and Dr. Jones are members of the Memphis Wind Symphony, the place the sound is a special sort of basic music.
Dr. Jones is proud that music, his first ardour, supplied him with scholarships that financed his training.
“It’s a special style of music and permits me to have enjoyable with it,” he says.
“They invited us to play with the band (The Dentones), and it’s been a barrel of monkeys ever since,” Dr. Staples says.
Dean Ragain performed in rock-and-roll bands in highschool and through his army service. All have been concerned in music a method or one other all through their lives, although for many, actual life and dentistry pushed it to the again burner.
“There are fairly just a few dentists who do play devices or have performed devices up to now,” he says. “What occurs is, they spend a lot time at school, they usually get busy doing their follow, they usually sort of go away it behind. However I do know a number of college members right here who play in orchestras. We might most likely put a mega-band collectively if we wished to.”
The unique members of this band had talked individually occasionally about enjoying collectively, but it surely wasn’t till that scholar fundraiser that the group coalesced.
They met for the primary time within the music room at Dr. Ragain’s home. Every proposed some songs, they usually set to work.
That first scholar fundraiser held at Younger Avenue Deli in Memphis was an enormous success.
“They mentioned, ‘You may come again anytime,’” Dr. Ragain says proudly. And so they have performed the scholar occasion a number of instances since.
They did just a few gigs a 12 months, together with the annual Slagle Dental assembly, till the pandemic put a halt to practices and performing.
“We didn’t get collectively for 15 months,” Dr. Ragain says. “After we first felt protected to come back again, we performed our first music and had been able to go; all of the previous songs got here proper again.”
Nonetheless, discovering time to follow isn’t simple with busy work schedules.
“We choose our music checklist, after which we independently, on our personal time, work out our elements in order that once we come collectively it’s principally stopping, beginning, timing, determining harmonies and issues like that. So, we attempt to maximize what time we do should follow. After which, as we get nearer to a gig, then we attempt to get extra practices in.”
Final 12 months, they’d 4 or 5 appearances on the books, together with the NightinGala for the Faculty of Nursing final spring and the UTHSC Worker Appreciation Day and Golden Graduate Homecoming at The Peabody within the fall.
At the same time as their bookings enhance, The Dentones usually are not centered on making it large. They march to a special drummer.
“Plain and easy, it’s simply quite a lot of enjoyable to be part of The Dentones,” Lanier says. “Whether or not we’re rehearsing or performing, we’ve got a good time.”
This story was initially revealed within the Fall 2022 subject of Our Tennessee journal
