From Utter Trash:
In the early seventies, before terms like “punk rock” and “alternative” were even used, Cleveland was home to a small but influential scene of groundbreaking rock bands. Craig Bell was an important part of two of these bands: Mirrors and Rocket From the Tombs. Born in Almyra, New York on February 22, 1952, Craig moved to Lakewood in 1961. And it was as a kid in Lakewood that Craig first realized he wanted to be a rock & roll musician. Craig says, “I went to see Ferry Cross the Mersey over at the Beachcliff Theater with my friend Dave Davis. I think we sat through it like 5 times. That to me was when I said to myself I’d really like to be in a rock n roll band. To me was the catalyst.”
Eventually Craig hooked up with fellow Lakewood High School alumni Michael Weldon (drums) and Jamie Klimek (guitar and vocals) and non-Lakewoodite Jim Crook (keyboards, guitar) in 1971 to form Mirrors. The band needed a bass player, and despite not knowing how to play Craig accepted the job. Craig says, “Jamie told me, ‘here’s the E string, the A string, the D and the G. You figure out the rest for yourself.’ I actually took little pieces of tape and stuck ‘em on the fret board under each string and wrote down what that note was. That’s how I learned where the notes were, and how to play. That and just playing along with Jamie and Mike.” Although other accounts say Mirrors didn’t start until 1973, Craig is certain it was 1971. “I went into the army in 1972 and had already been playing with the band before that,” he explains. “I didn’t get out of the army until 1974, so I wouldn’t even have been there in 1973.”
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