In 2020 Covid was upon us and we had to socially distance ourselves. Rob had a restaurant (The Deers Head Inn) that closed for the pandemic and given the fact there was NOTHING to do, but too much internal energy, a group of friends all known by Rob decided to use the restaurant as an area to play some music together. They met every Wednesday night for 3 hours trying to figure out what songs they could learn together with no further plans beyond that. In the beginning the band had Buddy Nirenberg (keyboards), Rob DeMuro (bass and keyboards), Doug Spilling (guitar and banjo), Dean Fleming (drums), and Renee Cumm (vocals). The original group continued to get together and found they had similar taste in music and a great joy in just playing together. As the world emerged from Covid a year later the group realized they could give it a try at playing in front of other people and did a few live gigs at The Deers Head with a wee bit of trepidation This went over well and people started to ask what the name of the band was. There was no thought of having a real name but change happens and RC and the Ponders was born. Just after this Buddy left to do his own thing and Ash White came aboard with additional vocals. After another year or two the band started to experiment with writing original music and they discovered a greater joy in this as if it was possible. With money from gigs they recorded eight original songs out of GlassNotes studio in Essex NY which have subsequently been released online in 2026. With Renee getting married and a subsequent name change they were no longer RC and the Ponders and became the PondeRz. During 2025 after recording, Doug Spilling left the band and was replaced (as if Doug could ever be replaced!) by the great Scotty MacDougal. In 2026 Ashley Rodriguez (White) decided to move on to a duet with the talented Mark Henry Morris. At this time Rob, Dean, Scotty and Renee continue to write new music, play as many gigs as possible and most importantly enjoy playing music together.
For general questions and booking info please feel free to email us at rdemuro@mac.com or text to 518-593-3721