Our Story
“Jimmy got fired a lot.” - Al Darago
The Story Of “The Point Boys”
It all began in the summer of 1986. A mutual friend introduced Al Darago & Jimmy Hammonds, two musicians living in Fells Point. The two instantly clicked and decided to get a band together. At that time, Al sang and played keyboards, while Jimmy played percussion. To round out the band, Charlie Bezilla was brought in to play guitar and sing backup. The three knew ten to twelve songs between them, but that didn’t stop their enthusiasm. “Triple xXx” came into existence.
An ad was placed in the “Maryland Musician” paper, looking for a bass player. Mic Ayres answered the ad and jammed with the guys a few times. As Mic joined the band, Charlie decided to leave. This caused a shift in personnel: Al moved to guitar, while Mic sang and played bass. This lineup started playing shows at the 8x10 in Baltimore. As they played those shows, the guys booked gigs in Fells Point. The problem was that this was different from the small open mic shows they’d been doing: they needed enough songs to carry a whole night…with thirty days to do it. Al reached out to his childhood friend, Mark Rybczynski, to join the band. With the addition of Mark on keyboards and vocals, Al went back to bass and Mic went to guitar. This is when “Triple xXx” became “The Point Boys”.
Their first show was at The Omega Inn, a country & western bar, on a cold Thursday night in October/November 1987. After the gig, they were asked and agreed to play every Thursday night. Within a week, this was changed to every Friday & Saturday night…in effect, The Point Boys became the new house band. In the first eighteen months of their existence, they played 168 shows at places all over: The Omega Inn…E.J. Buggs…The Spectrum Lounge…Jan’s Bar…The Old Mill…Lorenzo’s…Harold's…
Things slowed down a little during 1989-1990. Al had begun another band, “Dead Of Winter”, whose cassette was sold at Record And Tape Traders. During a chance meeting, Al approaches a high school friend, Doug Ulrich, to make a music video for his new band. While he was at Doug’s house, he finds that Doug plays bass and brings him in as the new bassist and vocalist of a reformed Point Boys’ lineup. For the next ten years or so, there were numerous personnel changes: guys were fired…guys came in…guys left…guys came back.
In the early 2000’s, Mark had left the band. With that, The Point Boys had re-invented themselves as “No Reply”, adding Mallory Anthony as keyboardist and vocalist. After a few gigs, Mic left the band as well. Al and Doug reached out to a mutual friend, Jeff Witte, to take over on guitar and vocals. That lineup ended up only playing a couple of gigs and went on hiatus. Sadly, Mallory succumbed to cancer during that time.
In 2015, it was time for Jimmy to book a gig. When he secured the Gray Manor Inn in Dundalk, The Point Boys (as you know them) came back together.now with Jeff on rythm guitar.
From 2015-2021 The Point Boys played shows with a few different line ups...New members including Jeff, Dave, Larry, Chuck.
Now here it is 2022 (35 years after the birth of The Point Boys) and "HERE WE GO AGAIN"
We have had a handfull of shows in 2022 including
MAY - PAPAS SMOKEHOUSE
SEPT. - PHILLIPS INN
OCT. - PAPAS SMOKEHOUSE HALLOWEEN PARTY (CHECK UPCOMING SHOWS)
NOV. THE 35TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE POINT BOYS AT PHILLIPS INN (CHECK UPCOMING SHOWS
NOW BOOKING FOR 2023
“Here it is almost 30 years later, and it is still going. Just when it begins to die... somehow we breathe life back into it. The Point Boys are more than just friends & fellow musicians…they are family.” – Jimmy Hammonds