About Us
Dan Casavant
“What the people need is a way to make them smile” Tom Johnston/Doobie Bros.
Dad had always left the old Kalamazoo guitar hanging around the house, making it convenient for Dan and his sister to learn to play. Dan remembers playing on a plastic ukelele at age four and receiving his first electric guitar (a Decca with a whammy bar) and amp for Christmas of 1967. Each weekend, the family would take off with their travel trailer where he, his sister and father could be found leading a local sing along around the campfire. While at St.John’s Parochial School, Dan began performing for the church folk group during Sunday mass.
Dan joined his first band, Taurus, at age 15: a 9-piece brass ensemble, with a playlist that included Blood Sweat and Tears and the music of Chicago. During his college years, Dan started a three-piece acoustic trio with Joanne Pierpont and Dave Smaha, performing at coffee houses on campus, where they were noted for their harmonies.
After graduation, he began playing with the Sacred Heart Folk Group under jazz guitarist Clem Boulette, father of former Taurus bandmate Alan, and later with the St. Joseph choir in Waterville. Dan met Greg, current Fossil bassist, at Sacred Heart, where they forged their lifelong friendship and collaboration.
Dan, Greg and Jim briefly had a band known as French Quarter: at practice one evening, Casavant looked out a window and saw a girl he didn’t know and had never met…but he announced to the band that he wanted to quit the band and marry her. It wasn’t long before he did just that. Three children and five grandchildren later, the three friends reunited, adding Randy as the lead vocalist; and The Fossils were born.
Music is a celebration. Each culture has its own unique costume, cuisine, dance, and song. The Fossils perform the music of their lives – songs that were popular when they were kids.
Randy Gould
“The secret of life is enjoying the passage of time.” (James Taylor)
Randy Gould began playing music for appreciative audiences in 1974, first as a solo musician in coastal Maine, then as part of the duo Blue Sky, before branching into Monkeetung, Kid Glove, and Alabi, playing playing contemporary rock for audiences throughout New England. In 1982, Randy joined Three’s A Crowd playing folk rock in restaurants, bars, and private events until 1985 when he completed his degree in elementary education. The next several years were spent in the public school system as a middle school history teacher and then school administrator as he and his wife, Sherri, raised their family. In 2011,with an empty nest, Randy joined an established band in central Maine (Chaser) as the lead singer and rhythm guitarist, before three members of Chaser broke off to play as Old Hat in central Maine, where Greg sometimes sat in on bass.
It was when Glenn Frey of The Eagles passed in 2016 that Greg invited Randy to play a tribute set with him and two others at an open mic in Waterville. From the moment he heard Jim, Dan, and Greg add the harmonies in their first song together, Randy knew he had found his home in music with this band of brothers. As The Fossils approach their ten-year anniversary, the magic remains.
While music is his passion, Randy’s soul is also fed by his wife, his three children and their partners, and his three grandchildren, all of whom support him as he lives a life he loves.
Greg Goulette
Jim O’Neil
Jim O’Neil is… well, let’s just say an acquired taste. He has been informed of this.
Jim likes playing music more than watching TV. His wife Renee, whom he loves very much, seems to tolerate this adorable little obsession of his up to five nights a week. He owns a ton of sound equipment, hauls it to every gig in his big truck, sets it up and runs sound for each band he plays with.
Past bands include The Chiclets; Hooney (not a typo – thank you AI) and the Red Hots; Moo Goo & the Gai Pans; The Van Gogh Go’s; Montgomery Road Band; The Wetsuits; and a few others. Current bands include The Fossils; Biddo Honeys; Dock Squares; and Lisa, Jim, & Byon Band. Jim loves playing music with The Fossils and feels it’s a public service to recreate the music of the Woodstock attendees that comprise much of the Fossils audience. If you have questions, it’s perfectly ok to ask him while he’s in line getting a beer.
So… Jim’s band schedule is online at www.whereisjimbob.com
