Last year Bobby Corley of the State of Mind sent me a copy of their cool single for the Tener label. I sent him a couple emails to thank him and ask for more information on the band, but haven’t heard back yet. Bobby has a blog Diary of a Drummer with many good photos, but he hasn’t updated it in a couple years.

The members of the State of Mind were Tom Devor (vocals), Glenn Coleman (lead guitar), Mike Darby (rhythm guitar), John Dumas (bass) and Bob Corley (drums). Their original drummer was Leo Gates, replaced by Corley in 1967 when Gates went to college. Gary Redwine also played bass with the group, though I’m not sure if he came before or after John Dumas.

The band was from Winter Park, by Orlando, often appearing on bills at the Orlando Youth Center and The Place, but other than that I don’t know much about them.

Their first release was probably this very fine version of “My Back Pages” on the Bee Jay Demo Volume II compilation from 1967 (Tener TC 1014).

Their single came out in late ’67 or ’68. “City Life” is really unusual, with static noise layered over the music throughout the song, giving it an apocalyptic feel. It was written by Mike Darby, Tom Devor and Glenn Coleman. The flip “Time Will Tell” is also good, written by Devor and Darby.

Glenn Coleman and Tom Devor and later Mark Darby, played with a later group called the Orange Wedge with Clark Staton and a bassist, Buzz (?) and Tim Gordon. This was not the Michigan group called Orange Wedge who recorded “From the Tomb to the Womb” or the Baltimore group with two LPs in the ’70s.

Thomas Devor had another group, Angelo Toad in the 1970s, and as of July 2026 lives in Alabama, still singing.

Thank you to Jeff Lemlich for the transfer of “My Back Pages”.