Bits & Pieces History

In South Louisiana there are two small towns, Lutcher and Gramercy.  In 1963, there were two bands in the Lutcher-Gramercy area -- The Sabers and The Mojos.  The Sabers were a well-established band in the area and The Mojos were just forming.

The Mojos’ members were Corey Lemoine, drums and vocals; Jared “Butsy” Martin, sax; Farrell “Popcorn” Cunningham, guitar; and Elwyn Bocz, guitar.  As time went on, The Mojos began playing along with The Sabers in the Lutcher-Gramercy area.  The Sabers lost their drummer who was also their singer and they lost their sax player.  When this happened, Corey and Jared went from The Mojos to The Sabers.  The Mojos disbanded and Elwyn formed a new band called The Playboys.  Elwyn was the only original Mojos member to now be a member of The Playboys.  Farrell temporarily stopped playing, but eventually joined The Sabers as their keyboard player.

As time progressed, Farrell left The Sabers and Elwyn joined as their keyboard player.  During this time, The Sabers would carry their equipment to their jobs in automobiles.  It was decided that they needed a better method of carrying their equipment, so Elwyn’s dad built the band a trailer.  While the trailer was being built, the band decided that they needed to change the name to something a little more with the times.  They were going to have the band’s name painted on the trailer so they figured that this was a good time to change the name.  After a lot of discussion, Elwyn came up with the name Bits and Pieces with the rationale being that the band was now "bits and pieces" of two local bands, The Sabers and The Mojos/Playboys.

One other original member of The Playboys also became a member of The Sabers before the name was changed to Bits and Pieces.  This was Danny St.Pierre who played trumpet.  Bits and Pieces played through 1971.  During this time, they continually lost players to the military due to the Vietnam War.  The band struggled on  replacing band members until it was felt that the band could no longer continue.  The band disbanded in 1971.

In 1986, Barry Weber contacted members of the original Bits and Pieces, those individuals who were in the band when the name changed from The Sabers to Bits and Pieces, and asked them if they would consider getting back together for a one time band reunion.  Those members were Larry Ayme, drums; Camille Schexnayder, guitar; Lowell Schexnayder, Camille’s brother, bass; Corey Lemoine, vocals; Sigur Martin, trumpet; Jared Martin, Sigur’s brother, sax; Danny St.Pierre, trumpet; and Elwyn Bocz, keyboards.  Everyone agreed.

The band rehearsed for several months and played the reunion performance.  After the performance a meeting took place to see if anyone was interested in continuing to play music.  Everyone agreed to continue except Lowell.  The band replaced Lowell with Randy Louque.  Randy played for awhile and left the band when Lowell decided to come back..  The band was once again the original Bits and Pieces.  Bits and Pieces have existed since that time until the present.  The only original member of Bits and Pieces still playing today is Elwyn.

Additional members of Bits and Pieces over the years other than those mentioned thus far are as follows:

David Carubba -  trombone

Fred LeBlanc - trombone

Audron “Poochie” Bourgeois - trumpet

Jason Eiermann - trumpet

Heath Templet - trumpet & guitar

Walter Williams - drums

Jimmy Weber - drums

Joe Martin - drums

Todd Richard - drums

Todd Keller - guitar

Dicky Harris - guitar & vocals

Keith Guidroz - guitar

Dwight Roussel - vocals

Joe Landry - vocals

Mike Dupepe - vocals

Brian Richard - vocals

Ruckle Gautreaux - vocals

Carl Dornier - vocals

Leroy St. Pierre - vocals

Quinn  Rainwater - vocals

Current Members Include:

Lenny Lemoine Jr. - lead vocals/keyboards

Susie Louque -  lead vocals

Elwyn Bocz – keyboards/vocals

Lenny Lemoine Sr. - guitar/vocals

Bud Blank -  bass guitar/vocals

David Brown - drums

Carey “Mojo” Poirrier - trumpet/vocals

Cody Anderson - trumpet/vocals

Jared “Boo” Bercegeay - tenor sax/vocals

Pat Billingsley - baritone sax