The Apollos came from Pleasant Hills, a suburb south of Pittsburgh. The top side of their only 45 is “I Know Your Mind” a doo-wop influenced ballad. The flip is an instrumental, “Room 4”, marred by the guitarist being out of tune.
Top side was written by Speck-Snyder, flip by Snyder-Naogle. Produced by Jim Hudson for Bobby Records and Dominator Music.
Phil Haines sent in the photos of the band seen here and added these comments:
The Apollos graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School, Jefferson Hills, PA in 1964, except Eddie Zebert, 1963.
The Apollos had four singers: lead singer Paul Speck, Lanny Orner, Eddie Zebert and George McCormick. The singers didn’t play any instruments.
Instrumentalists in the original group: lead guitar Al Naugle, rhythm guitar Dave Ferguson, and drums Dave Bruggeman. This was the makeup of the group 1964 – 1966.
George asked me, at home in Pleasant Hills, to borrow my bass amp for the record. They piled into a car and went into town (Pittsburgh) for the recording. When George brought the amp back, he said something about it didn’t work with the studio equipment, so they plugged directly into the board. My guess is that the rhythm guitarist Dave Ferguson (?), who played low notes on a 6-string, sounded better in the board than through a bass amp, if indeed this was the personnel on the record.
There was a line “I Know Your Mind” in the Bobby Marchan song, “There Is Something On Your Mind.” Don’t know if they borrowed it consciously from the record or not. I always took the record as being ahead of its time, the first of introspective songs to come later in the sixties. They were a great band. The first to come out of “the drugstore,” local hangout “Sun Drug.”
They also put on a heck of a show. They acted out “Big Boy Pete,” by the Olympics. They also performed Eugene Fox’s “Sinner’s Dream.” They may have also, in this earlier period, acted “Along Came Jones,” by the Coasters. When I played bass for them in 1967, we sang the song, but no acting. They had a huge following in Pittsburgh.
JIM TOLD ME HE SANG LEAD ON THIS SIDE I KNOW YOUR MIND BEFORE HE PASSED ABOUT 10 YEARS AGO
D & J RECORDS
212.EAST MAIN ST
CARNEGIE PA . 15106
412-279-8888 .
I THINK YOUE SITE IS THE BEST EVER KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK .
Some dead guy out there is a liar…..Why would anybody want to claim he sang lead on this ? Paul Speck, a first class jerk, who I had the pleasure to punch out right before we went on stage at Conneaut lake in 65 when we cut it, sang lead, and penned this drivel…..Most of us ( except ol’ Paul) KNEW this was a loser when we cut it…..Wish you could hear the original take before our idiot mgr. one Jim “blow it up my nose if it’s white powder” Hudson made us slow it down and double voice tracked Paul…..I still have a dub of that around here somewhere……
About room 4 , the flipper, that was made up in about 3 minutes time ( sounds like it too) cause we didnt have anything for a “b” side Why Al Naugle ( NOT Naogle – Hudson again )was out of tune on that escapes me….That was not like him…..Good story about the title though….It was dedicated to the room we stayed in, and tore up, AND part of the band got arrested for at the Conneaut lake hotel (Pa).
I swear this is all fact, as I was a part of the band, 64 to 66…..We hailed from Pleasant Hills (south hills, pgh). The only thing I can say in our defense was, we gave a hell of a good live show ! sign me: “too embarassed to give my name, ha ha”
Dear “too embarassed to give my name, ha ha”
I think I know who you are because I am that notorious “first class jerk” Paul Speck. ( a promotion from “second class jerk”) Lead singer and songwriter for The Apollos.
Sadly, you have apparently soured into a cranky old man who mis-remembers his youth. Let me refresh your memory; the deceased Jim Hudson, who got us into our gray sharkskin suits with the velvet collars, was trying to get us to join the “Steel City Caravan” which was a bus full of doo-wop and R&B bands which he had booked into a bunch of small towns in PA and western NY (Easton, Rochester, etc.) including the headliners, The Marcels “Blue Moon”. We were just fill in bands. Hudson said we needed to cut a 45 to use for promotional play on the local radio stations before the concerts. We sat in the Eat-n-Park on Route 51 and I wrote “I Know Your Mind” on a napkin. We went into a local studio and recorded it. We didn’t have a “B” side so Naugle just improvised “Room 4” ( I don’t know why he didn’t tune his guitar) and it is the most pitiful excuse for an instrumental in recorded history.
It was fun. Nobody had any illusions about the band, we were crappy but the doo-wop garage bands of the day were all pretty bad. So what? We were rock stars to the rural folk for which we performed and the crowds in the church basements we played. We got girls to like us. I remember it fondly. I tell my own kids and grandkids about it. That’s how I found this site. It’s Father’s Day and I am visiting and they googled Apollos and here we are. Weird.
Conneaut Lake was mostly a drunken revel after some girls followed us to our room (Room 4) after the show. I don’t remember much until the cops found us on the beach the next morning.
I do not doubt that you were there because your details are close to accurate. We did put on a hell of a good live show despite our lack of talent. The double voice-over and echo effect made the song comparable to doo-wop groups of the time. Hudson is dead, Lanny Orner is dead, the drummer is dead so you must be Zebert or McCormick or Timmy Snyder. Since you mentioned Naugle I assume you are not him. In any case, you never could, or would, “punch me out” as you claim. That did not happen and you know it. If you want to impress the inmates at the rest home with that story, knock yourself out.
I do thank you for bringing back lots of great memories about our “15 minutes of fame”. I still have one pristine copy of “I Know Your Mind” and my mother had about 100 copies when she died. She was our best customer.
Hey, remember when we did the “Make It or Break It ” radio show and we lied to the DJ and told him that everybody wanted to break the Beatles “I Wanna Hold Your Hand”?
Have a good life and cheer up, Dude!
Best Regards,
Not embarrassed to say, Paul Speck
Hi Paul,
I am Ed Zebert’s daughter. He just passed away this past weekend and the family was talking about this song and his time with the Apollos. You mentioned above that your mom had about 100 copies of that single. Just wondering if you still have them and if I could buy a couple? It would mean a lot to my mom. She thought she had a copy but has been unable to find it. Thanks!
This has been fun to read, I’m Lance Orner’s daughter. He did have great memories of this time in his life and I would imagine the shows would have been fun
Jim,
Charlotte and I were talking about you and wondering how you two are doing. I found several real to real tapes that our group made in the mid 60s. All the tapes were made on a recorder set in the middle of a hall with one mic. Soon I’ll be building a page with select recordings but if you want to here the unedited selection, send me you mailing address and I’ll ship you a copy of the CD.
Keep up the good work and remember you are retired. !!!
Larry & Charlotte
The Apollos got together again Summer 1967. Silverman, “Stein,” a friend of Paul’s from college, played drums. My friend George McCormack got me an audition… at Al Naugle’s house- brought my friends w/ me. George Harrison got into the Beatles by playing “Raunchy.”- my first song was “You Lost & I Won”- I have the record- it’s in A… the Apollos did an even better job than the Ideals, on a really great song. We also played “Along Came Jones” in F… Joe Negri gave Al guitar lessons, and Al showed me what Joe taught him- the opening chords were a sequence of 4 diminished 7th chords starting on F#… it gives movement while staying in the same key. Al was a great guitarist, Paul a superb singer, and the Apollos were a first-class group. The song- “I Know Your Mind,” has a beautiful tone, and Paul, and the whole group, understood what a song was all about and how to put it out there. Not bad for some kids just out of high school. All of us had been big record collectors, musicians, and played in groups for a long time even before 1967.
I played bass for them for that one summer, 1967, and it was my pleasure and honor to be part of the group. I have their record. Paul, good to see you still kicking. I mostly play church music now- Taize service- maybe getting ready for the next place. I am taking a small box of records w/ me, and hoping they can play 78’s up there. Just in case, taking my copy of Eugene Fox w/ me.
I have a copy of the 45 shown on this site (“I Know Your Mind” and “Room 4”). It was given to me by someone who said he was part of the band. That was in either fall of 1965 or spring of 1966 at a fraternity house at Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana (can’t recall the name of the fraternity). I got the impression the band was at Indiana University; perhaps just a member of the band was. I was a senior in high school at the time and invited to the fraternity for a week-end with the intent, I presume, that I would ask to join once on campus. Any thoughts on who the band member was who gave me the record? I played it today having recently brought it back from my mother’s home in Evansville, Indiana. First time in nearly 50 years. It’s now in my iTunes. I enjoyed listening to it again.
George McCormack attended college in Bloomington, Indiana. He was big on his frat, but I don’t remember which one it was.
Thanks and thanks to the internet for making these connections possible!
Al Naugle is my dad. He lives in Orlando, Florida (semi retired) dad of three, six grand kids and wife of almost 50 years. He is a Baptist Deacon and still plays his guitar for hobby.
A friend of my mom’s showed him this website and I are trying to get him to comment here. His 45 is framed on the wall of his home office. Thanks for the memories, everyone! (I remember you, George, and I’ve heard stories about the rest of you)
I actually enjoy “Room 4”. The guitar tuning adds a slightly sinister quality to it.
THE APOLLOS, I wish them well. I knew Dave Ferguson, George McCormick, Al Naugle well, and was a class mate of Paul Speck, as well as the late Lance Orner at TJHS over 50 years ago. Al and George attempted to improve may electronic skills in “ham radio” in that by-gone era. Was it CQ – K3RDW and K3LBR from K3VUB . Now I am just an old semi-retired guy living near Music City – Nashville.
Dave McCormick