Local Spotlight: Lincoln Bedrosian

While some dream of mastering the guitar or drums, Lincoln Bedrosian can play both instruments - at the same time.

Bedrosian performs under the name Inky Time, singing classic rock while playing an acoustic guitar and a foot pedal drum.

“I had seen guys on YouTube performing solo and using foot control drums so they were able to be their own rhythm section, and I thought ‘that’s really cool, I want to try that,” said Bedrosian. “It’s kind of like adding value to what you do. Instead of a just being a monkey banging on a guitar, you can be a monkey banging on a guitar and playing foot drums.”

Bedrosian said when he started playing guitar along with drums, it was challenging. It took some time to break down a song and master it, and “get all the limbs working in synch.”

“It’s like anything else. There’s a learning curve to it. The more that I do it, the more natural it becomes,” he said.

Bedrosian lives in Saco with is wife Kelly in a house that dates back to the 1890s. The couple moved to Saco from the Portland area in 2019, and fell in love with the city and the friendly, small-town vibe.

As a child growing up in Massachusetts, the radio was always on in Bedrosian’s home, and he’d listen to music from top 40 or classic rock stations from Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

His parents gave him his first guitar when he was six years old. The plastic, battery-powered electric guitar worked intermittently, but when it did, it was pretty amazing to the young boy.

 Bedrosian’s mother earned an acoustic guitar by collecting green stamps, which she passed along to Bedrosian’s sister after his father bought his mother a nicer guitar. His mother and sister learned guitar by taking classes through a local adult education program and a course on Boston radio station WGBH. Bedrosian’s interest in playing drifted for a bit, but when he was in junior high, he began listening to his favorite songs with the intention of learning how to play them.

“I was a big, big Beatles fan -still am. I would sit down with those records, and try to figure out how play the songs,” said Bedrosian, who still plays music mostly by ear.

He calls his one-man band Inky Time because Inky is the name his niece called him when she was small and when he performs it’s his time to play the songs he loves and share them with others.

“There’s only so much that you can really do with an acoustic guitar. You’re not going to play ‘Sweet Emotion’ on an acoustic guitar. If you are, it’s not going to sound anything like the original,” said Bedrosian.

He did, however, nail “Just Like Heaven,” by The Cure and debuted it at one of his performances at The Saco Scoop. It was a surprise for Saco Scoop owner Melissa Colley, who is a long-time Cure fan and was delighted to hear the song played in her shop.

Bedrosian is also in the band Lincoln Continental, which performs monthly at Feile Restaurant and Pub in Wells. He’s played in other bands over the years and has hosted open mic events.

Saco Bay News Publisher Liz Gotthelf can be reached at newsdesk@sacobaynews.com.