Band History, page 2
By the fall of 1975, the band was playing more frequently around New Hampshire. Rick Millon had left the band to devote more attention to his masonry and construction business and Brian had left for the University of New Mexico. Veteran bassist Chris Pimentel of Newmarket, recently of Flavored Air, joined the group and the band began making some of its first professional recordings. The band was included in the lineup of several New Hampshire Folk Festivals, as well as guest appearances at bluegrass festivals in Vermont. They also participated in many fiddle and banjo contests, getting tracks on two records made for the Craftsbury Common banjo contests in 1974 and 1975. Lunch at the Dump also began to expand their playing orbit, gigging in Maine and Massachusetts as well as making two trips to the Philadelphia Folk Festival.By 1976, the six-piece band membership had shifted into half the band living in the Warner area and the other half based in Newmarket. The seacoast section began picking up small gigs as Snack at the Dump. In the fall of 1976, guitarist and mandolinist Stan Chew had moved into the seacoast area after playing with a bluegrass band in New Mexico and started jamming with the Newmarket contingent. By early 1977, the band had become a four-piece outfit centered in Newmarket and also began featuring string-swing and jazz standards, in addition to traditional bluegrass and newgrass. In the summer of 1977, the band was invited to be the stage band for the off Broadway bluegrass musical, The Robber Bridegroom at the American Stage Festival in Milford, New Hampshire. Temporarily joined by a pianist and music director, the band learned thirty-two pieces for the musical over a two week period in June. The experience was a wonderful education and they reprised the part the following summer (1978) in a production of The Robber Bridegroom put up by the University of New Hampshire theater department in Durham. continued...