Cobb >> When Howard Dockens and Dan Callison first performed together, neither expected the strong musical chemistry.
It was a night about ten months back. Callison and his wife ventured to Ty’s Blues Cafe on Soda Bay Road for a night of music and barbecue. Dockens was slated to perform but his plans hit a snag when his keyboard player never showed. He sent out a request to the crowd: if there was a keyboardist in the house, Dockens sure could use one.
Fortunately for Dockens, Callison was more than willing to join him on stage. After only a few songs, they both knew they had something special on their hands. They played together for three and a half hours that night and started their band, Electric Toys, immediately after.
Callison is a retired electrical engineer from the San Francisco Bay Area, where he played the keyboard in various rock and club bands as a side job. Nine years ago he moved to Kelseyville and decided to set music aside. “When I moved up here I wasn’t really interested in playing,” Callison said. “All of a sudden I heard Howard and it just kind of fell together. We both see eye to eye and we’re pros at what we do.”
Dockens, on the other hand, has barely stopped playing in the 20-plus years he’s been strumming the guitar and crooning. His interest in music started when he acted as a DJ of sorts for a number of parties thrown by his parents, who were members of the Air Force stationed in Japan at the time. Of six siblings, he was the only one allowed to stay up late and pick the tunes for their gatherings.
“I was really intrigued on what was coming off the records all the time,” Dockens explained. “I got nosy on how it was done.”
Dockens then studied music in school and went to work as a musicians for Universal Studios in Florida. But he had to cut his contract short when his parents fell ill. He uprooted his life and moved across the country to Clearlake in order to take care of them.
Dockens was already familiar with the Lake County music scene, having been part of a local band called Plaid Planet in the 1990s. Jumping back in wasn’t a difficult transition and today, Dockens continues to work as a full-time musician here in Lake County.
Callison’s story reads a little differently. His father, a choir director at the local church, taught Callison to play the piano when he was 12-years-old. He’s been behind the keys ever since, but never professionally, opting instead to obtain an engineering degree during his college years.
His decision to keep up with the instrument has been about strategy as much as passion. As an electrical engineer, playing the keyboard — an instrument Callison equates to a large computer — fit perfectly with his experience. And though purchasing the item wasn’t inexpensive, it paid off in the long run.
“A keyboard player with the right kind of equipment is tough to find,” Callison explained. “I found they were in demand. I got invited to be in a lot of different groups that way.”
Dockens and Callison are keeping busy with Electric Toys. They play a number of venues around the lake ranging from bars and restaurants to wineries and casinos. They’re busy every week, which Callison said is quite the feat in the wintertime.
Placing a label on their sound isn’t easy, since they cover songs from today’s Top 40 all the way back to tunes from the 1930s. Electric Toys play a bit of everything.
Both Callison and Dockens thoroughly enjoy stepping up in front of their audience every show. “It’s a serious venture but it’s not a serious venture,” Callison said. “Both Howard and I feel if you’re not enjoying what you do, don’t bother.”
Though narrowing down a favorite number was difficult, one song instantly came to both musician’s minds: Uptown Funk by Bruno Mars. It never fails to bring the crowd to its feet. “It’s hard to pin down but if there’s a favorite out there, that has to be it,” Callison said.
Electric Toys perform at the Village Pub in Cobb tonight beginning at 8 p.m. They consider themselves a “premier dance band” so be ready to spend much of the night on your feet. “When you hear us, people are just stunned at the noise two guys can make,” Callison said.
Jennifer Gruenke can be reached at 900-2019.
