John Cameron is a musician, meteorologist, and United States Navy veteran. He has been involved with the Texoma music scene for over 30 years. During that time he has encountered some of the greatest musicians to come out of the area. Some of his musical influences include Child Gambino, The Police, and Kendrick Lamar.
Through my years as a drummer I’ve had brushes with music greatness. My parents bought me my first drum kit in the summer of 1986 (I was 14) 
and almost immediately I found myself surrounded by high impact musicians in Lawton. The man who had the biggest influence on my development as a drummer and lover of music was Matthew Gaskins, the guitar player and singer in my first legitimate band, Rosemary Wisdom. Once we disbanded Matt went on to Denton to create one of the most amazing bands I’ve ever heard, 53 Large Men. This would have been in the mid ‘90s. Matt is now a music instructor at a private academy in McKinney. Before I met Matt, I was all about Led Zeppelin, Rush and hard rockin’ stuff. Matt opened my eyes to XTC, Steely Dan, the Police, Sugarcubes, etc. Suddenly my musical world expanded. (Rosemary Wisdom played our local 724 A.D., by the way)
In my neighborhood in Lawton as a Jr High/High School student, I would walk past one particular house and hear these HUGE John Bonham style drum beats. I soon discovered that was the home of Steven Drozd. Back then he was a reclusive music genius, today he’s known as the innovative musical mind of the Flaming Lips. Steve was originally hired to play drums for Flaming Lips in the early ‘90s. By the late ‘90s his musical contributions garnered widespread critical acclaim.
When did you come to Wichita Falls?
My wife and I moved to Wichita Falls in 1997. I can’t remember how I connected to the music scene but I remember Chris Burney inviting me to his rehearsal space to check out Bowling For Soup. Jaret and Chris were very cool to me. When I played drums for a classic rock band “Time Machine”, I remember opening for Bowling For Soup at least twice at Chelsea Street. It was located where Red Robin is now. This would have been around ‘98-99. Nolan Cannedy of Miyagi became the singer for Time Machine just about the time I decided to leave the band. That had nothing to do with Nolan. Love that guy.
Some other items of interest include In 1999 I won a drum solo contest hosted by Tarpley Music. That led to guitar player Mike McAdoo inviting me to Johnny Divine’s studio to record a demo/album for a thirteen year old Luke Robinson. Mark Murphey was part of that session, too. I also auditioned to play drums for Bigloo. I made the mistake of telling them I didn’t have a lot of blues experience. Cool cats, though. I was also in a band with Dan Dickens, who was the morning weather guy from KFDX. So, two guys from rival TV stations were in the same band. If that wasn’t awkward enough, we played the KFDX Christmas party at least once. This would have been around ‘03-04’. Dan is one of the sweetest people you’ll be in the same room
with. Such a gentle soul.
What are some of the recent projects you’ve worked on?
Back in 2012 Ken Nelson of Killdevil and Kelly Jackson (now with Hellen Bach) asked me to be part of a New Orleans style horn band called Bayou Funk Debris (BFD). These guys were big time players who really kept me sharp. The daily challenge was keeping up with their level of musicianship. Unfortunately a horn band is often a big band, so getting several musicians on a regular rehearsal schedule was problematic.
Now I’m in a band called Romeo Whiskey. This is actually the second band I’m in with the name Romeo Whiskey. Back in the late ‘90s I teamed up with Roland Zachary, Elvis Propest, Matt Norris and Danny Craig. Unfortunately the band didn’t last long enough to develop name recognition, so we felt it would be safe to recycle the name.
-Kaeli Fowler
