The Rel Yea’s on stage live at the Arcadia Theatre, in Kerrville, April 17, 1964The Rel-Yea’s came from San Antonio, Texas. Members included:
Jimmie Bolado – guitar Zeke Green – guitar Jim Bisset – bass, sax Mickey Drumm – drums (also Eddie Guererro – drums)
Jim Frizzell also was a member on guitar and keyboards before he joined the Chayns.
The Rel-Yea’s were young kids when they recorded their first two 45s on Wildcat Records in 1960.
Their second Wildcat single credits the band as “The Relyea’s From ‘The Ricci Ware Show’. Ricci Ware was a popular San Antonio DJ. Johnny Ware played sax with the group at times, I’m not sure if he was related to Ricci Ware. “Round Rock Boogie” includes someone named Ware as co-composer, but the Library of Congress registration only lists Zeke Green.
Beginning in 1963 the Rel-Yea’s released three singles on Kaye Records, which seems to have been their own label, located at 327 Shropshire Drive in San Antonio. The first of these is a fast instrumental by the band, “The Rugged Rock” b/w a version of “Good, Good Lovin'”.
“You Know How” is the second of their Kaye Records singles. Jim Bissett and Jimmie Bolado sang lead vocals.
I found a notice for the Rel-Yea’s playing at the Arcadia Theatre in Kerrville on April 17, 1964. Bruce Hathaway, DJ at KTSA in San Antonio is also on the notice. The Arcardia was the primary movie theater in Kerrville, but this is the only live band notice I’ve found so far. The former Rialto Theatre hosted a number of live events in 1967.
A full discography for the Rel-Yea’s is at Rockin’ Country Style, and you can see a few photos of the group at Mean Gene’s Bull Session blog. Jimmie Bolado’s Facebook page has a number of photos of the group, including many with famous country & pop stars of the day, including George Jones and Roy Orbison.
I’d like to know more about the group. The Rel-Yea’s continued into the mid and late ’60s but the recordings stopped around 1964.
The Casket held weekend teen dances from June to November, 1967. The Casket had been the Rialto Theatre, which was built in 1938 on Water Street in Kerrville, Texas. Around 1957 it stopped showing movies, and for the next ten years was used for infrequent events like bingo games.
On June 7, 1967, the Kerrville Mountain Sun gave an introduction to the club by Edith Jennings:
Several young people with the assistance of the Kerrville Jaycees are renovating the building for use as a dance hall. The exterior has been painted a shocking wild pinkish-purple, and inside the theatre, the old seats have been stacked in the rear or lined against the walls. The theatre renamed “The Casket” has an ideal location for teenage dances and the added effects of the somewhat sloping floor (not too steep for dancing) and the murals, contributed by artist Ben Gebhardt, make it a place where teenagers feel they can really have a “blast!”
Friday, two weeks ago, the kick-off dance was held, another on Tuesday when a nationally famous band performed with the “Chapter 16” group… admission $1.25 stag and $2.50 drag. Dance times are eight to midnight…
A June 25, 1967 profile of the club by Frank Stevenson headlined “Teenagers ‘Rock’ In Jaycee Project’ is worth quoting in detail:
As you arrive at the door, you pay your money and your hand is stamped, apparently by a stamp which makes no mark. Then, when you pass through the lobby into where the band is playing, an area which appears to be a theatre with the seats removed, the place on your hand where you were stamped does indeed bear a mark, a mark which glows slightly.
Many other things are glowing too, and they are glowing a great deal more than slightly. Your clothes glow if they are the right color, as well as specks of lint unnoticed before, and the strange designs on the wall. Radium watch dials go crazy, glowing ten times brighter than they have ever shown before. And meanwhile the rock ‘n’ roll band plays on and the teenagers all around you dance and appear to be generally enjoying themselves…
The Casket, so named as a result of the contest held to rename the Rialto building, is the final product in the Jaycees project which began in May with a dance held at the National Guard Armory in co-operation with San Antonio radio station KTSA [Jim Jones & the Chaunteys according to the Daily Times on April 30, 1967]…
… the average attendance at the Casket dances runs more than 300, and has been up to 410 at one of the dances.
Working through Devine attorney Brock Huffman, who runs an establishment similar to the Casket called the Shaft in Devine, and who acts as agent for the Kerrville Jaycees, is contracting bands, the Jaycees are able to provide music by rock ‘n’ roll bands such as the Playboys of Edinburg and the Chayns.
Neal Ford and the Fanatics on August 18, 1967 – band name rendered as Neil Ford and the Sanatics!Serving as emcee for the dances is Bruce Hathaway, KTSA disc jockey, who gives out free albums during the dances, and occasionally passes out even bigger prizes, such as the free tickets to the Jefferson Airplane performance in San Antonio several weeks ago…
Jim DeSha and Joe Schmerber … head up the operation…
What [parents] will find is a large number of teenagers having the right kind of fun in a wholesome atmosphere. The only thing to watch out for are the occasional strobe light shows, which although harmless, make walking difficult during the shows.
Some legendary Texas bands played the Casket in those five months.
Three members of the Thirteenth Floor Elevators came from Kerrville, but the band didn’t play any live shows in Kerrville to my knowledge, until a partial reunion in 1977.
Below is a list of show advertisements I have found from the Daily Times and the Mountain Sun:
1967:
Friday, June 9 – Chayns
Friday, June 16 – The Other Side
Saturday, June 17 – Jim Jones & the Chaunteys
Friday, June 23 – Zakary Thaks and Back Row Majority
The Laughing Kings – possibly the Laughing Kind featuring Max Range, September 1, 1967Friday, September 1 – The Laughing Kings (The Laughing Kind?)
Saturday, September 9 – The Grim Reaper
Saturday, September 16 – The Outcasts
Saturday, September 23 – Translucent Umbrellas
Saturday, September 30 – The Chayns
Saturday, October 7 – The Absentees
Saturday, October 14 – The Extremes
Saturday, October 21 – Wink Kelso & the Kaleidoscopes
Saturday, October 28 – The Spiedels
The Proof – formerly the Outcasts – is this the San Antonio band with Galen Niles?Saturday, November 4 – The Proof (formerly The Outcasts)
Saturday, November 11 – The South Canadian Overflow
Saturday, November 18 – Madison Review
Last show at the Casket? The Union Jacks, from San AntonioAn article in the San Antonio Express and News on December 16, 1967 mentioned Billy Joe Royal would be playing the Casket as well as the Shaft in Devine, but I don’t believe the concert occurred.
The Casket was used for one further show, on August 1, 1969 with the Union Jacks (“Notre Dame Youth Dance … Music by ‘Untion Jacks’ from San Antonio”), a band I’m not familiar with.
Rialto Theatre, Kerrville, seats for sale, August 1967
The Casket name may have been appropriate for the club. Joe Herring wrote in a 2018 post on the Rialto, “We neighborhood children found a way to get inside the place and explore; it was dark and spooky in there.”
The Rialto Theatre was torn down in 1974 and the space is still empty as of 2020.
In July, 1969, Jim DeSha organized a live show at Louise Hays Park with two bands, the Green Fog and Blue Cherry, according to the Kerrville Daily Times on July 3, 1969.
Does anyone have photos of the Casket or the Rialto at that time, or of any bands that played Kerrville during the mid-late ’60s?
Morticians photo circa 1965, top row l-r: Bubba Rowell lead guitar, Donny Guess keyboards and Steve Smith bass guitar. Bottom row l-r: Royce Sisk drums and Donnie Humphreys vocals
Donny Guess sent in these photos of two bands from Levelland, Texas, just west of Lubbock. The Morticians would become the Shyles with different lineups over the years. I first encountered the Shyles name in a news clipping about a battle-of-the-bands in Brownfield, which featured a photo of the Charvonnes.
Donny writes:
The Shyles, a garage band from Levelland played venues in west Texas and eastern New Mexico from May 1965 to August 1968.
Their first gig was late May 1965 in Brownfield, TX, at a end of school year battle of the bands dance. At that time they didn’t have a name so the organizer for the youth center suggested the The Morticians, since the other band was the Undertakers. The youth director then suggested that both band members ride in the back of a pickup through town with a borrowed casket to promote the dance.
The Shyles, top row l-r: Brad Billingsley drums, Loyd Summers vocals, bottom row l-r: Gary Butner bass guitar, Bubba Rowell lead guitar, Donny Guess keyboards.
We did not record a record as the Shyles. One band member, who left the Shyles in late 1966 did record with another group, no details available though. As the Shyles we did make a trip to Norman Petty studios in Clovis to visit about cutting a record but were unable to raise the money to produce it.
We played mainly youth centers, ballrooms and National Guard armories.
Other members of the Shyles not in the photo include:
Ronnie Stoughton – guitar Jan Pharis – drums
Shyles reunion, June 2020: Steve Smith, Bubba Rowell and Donny Guess reunited in Garland, Texas.
Bob Galindo, brother of 13th Floor Elevators bassist Danny Galindo, wrote on a now-defunct San Antonio music history site, “Max Range was not the ‘Stepfather’ of Texas pyschedelia, he was ‘THE GODFATHER’. He was a very influential guy, in a subversive sort of way, if you know what I mean.”
On the same site, Margaret Moser posted, “Max Range gets no credit as one of THE visionaries of South Texas music”.
I have not found much detail on how Max Range influenced the Elevators and the psychedelic scene in Texas, but one thing is certain, Range fronted three bands that included five future members of the Elevators.
Max Range’s full name was George Max Range, born in Beeville, TX, an hour’s drive from Corpus Christi (also birthplace of John Ike Walton, who moved to Kerrville in 1950). Max went to school in Beeville, and became an Eagle Scout.
Max moved to Kerrville in the early ’60s, perhaps with his family to finish school, or as an apprentice printer for the local newspaper the Daily Times.
Traditions, Kerrville Daily Times, July 23, 1963 In Kerrville he would join a group called the Traditions. The Kerrville Daily Times featured a photo of the Traditions on July 23, 1963 with the accompanying text:
The Arcadia Theatre of Kerrvile will present a Summer Stage Show during the intermission of two big twist hits, “Don’t Knock the Twist” and “Twist Around the Clock” July 24 and 25 at 8 p.m. The music of “The Traditions” will be presented.
“The Traditions” is a group of young local musicians that produce an activated tempo-type sound. Five members comprise the band.
Max Range, 19, from Beeville is the vocalist. Max has had four years experience in the musical field and has performed in two bands before organizing the Traditions.
Bobby Hunter, 19, from Freeport, plays the lead guitar. He has had four years of training…
Bobby Sanchez, 16, from Kerrville, is the rhythamatic drummer with a set of “talking” drums. He has put three years into the mastery of the drums and has won several awards in the Tivy High School Band.
Randy Jackson, 18, from San Juan … plays the bass guitar and has had two years of experience.
Stacy Sutherland, 17, from Kerrville provides the basic rhythm … which enables The Traditions to give that special sound quality necessary for a top grade band.
All of these band members from various parts of Texas are now combined into one soundsation group…
Marvin Taylor, “The Traditions” manager and the assistant manager of the Arcadia …
I’d like to know more about Max Range’s two earlier bands from his four years experience in music, but have not turned up any info other than a group with Stacy called the Signatures, mentioned in Ben Graham’s A Gathering of Promises.
Although the Daily Times article states Max organized the Traditions, it seems the group formed in 1961 or 1962, well before Max joined. An early photo shows Stacy Sutherland, Bob Schmerbeck, Eddie Flores, Bobby Sanchez and Randy Jackson.
In April 1964, the Kerrville Daily Times runs an ad for the Grove restaurant “now under new management, Grady and Shirley Sharp” with “Live Band – Max Range and “The Traditions” featuring Joe Burkett III and His “Backwoods Fiddle”.
On August 23, 1964, the Kerrville Daily Times makes the first mention of Max Range appearing with the Penetrators (as the Penetrations):
Jamey Ryan of San Antonio, Miss KTSA, is schedule to appear at the Arcardia Theatre on Thursday, Aug. 27 in connection with the Gigantic Hootenanny Stage Show. Headlining the show will be Denny Ezba and the Goldens; Bruce Hathaway of KTSA as master of cermonies; Max Range, local vocalist; and the Penetrations, a local group from Kerrville.
Range is band leader of The Traditions but will be appearing with The Penetrators.
April 6, 1965 Notices in the Kerrville Daily Times on September 20, October 2 and November 6, 1964; and on January 14 and 28, 1965 all include Max Range as vocalist of the Penetrators.
On, April 5, 1965 and earlier dates, the Kerrville Daily Times ran a 1″ x 1″ classified display ad “for Sale, Ideal for musical group. Premier P-14 PA System … Max Range, Daily Times.”
Penetrators, Kerrville Daily Times, June 6, 1965
A Daily Times article from June 6, 1965 writes:
The Penetrators … have released their first record which is available to the public. The record, “Praying Till Then” and “Kurl” is on the Trater Record label. “Praying Till Then”, a slow ballad, was composed by Max Range, vocalist for the group. The flip side “Kurl”, was composed by all members of the ensemble, who are, Danny Klein, Bob Morrison, Ron Leatherman, Pat Morrison and Max Range.
The single was released as by Max and the Penetraters on Trater Records 650528. As far as I know, this is the only recording Max Range ever made.
In the spring of 1965, Kerrville musicians Stacy Sutherland and drummer John Ike Walton met violinist Benny Thurmond at Dirty Martin’s hamburgers in Austin. After a trip to Mexico together, they stopped at the Gulf Coast town of Port Aransas on the way home. There they met Ralph Plumlee and talked their way into a residency at the Dunes club. They brought Max Range into the group, which they named the Lingsmen.The Lingsmen at Bonnie and Dougs, Aransas Pass, September 1965
I’ve read that Tommy Hall was a member of the Lingsmen, but that seems to be incorrect, although the band would see Tommy and Clementine Hall in Port Aransas that summer.
I’d also read that Stacy, John Ike and Benny left Max to go form the Elevators, but it seems that Max was the first to leave the group. Tony Joe White filled in for some shows, and the Lingsmen may have recorded a demo with Tony, now lost.
Perhaps the last show of the Lingsmen with Sutherland, Walton, & Thurman at the Maison Rouge in Corpus Christi, November 16, 1965 Corpus Christi Times Nov. 1, 1965
Judging by local news ads, the group continued at least until mid-November, 1965. About that time Stacy, John Ike and Benny left Port Aransas, supposedly because of attention from local police. In Austin, they would form the 13th Floor Elevators with Tommy Hall and Roky Erickson, playing their first show on December 8, 1965.
June 16, 1966, Max and the Laughing Kind at the Dunes Annex and also at the Carousel on 10th St.Max Range however returned to Port Aransas, recruiting members of a San Antonio group called the Loose Ends circa January, 1966:
Dan Galindo – bass Bob Galindo – guitar Bill King – guitar Buddy Toscano – drums
This group may have performed as the Lingsmen initially, but by June had become Max and the Laughing Kind.
“Two of the Laughing Kind hitting the chords at the Dunes.(guit and bass)” – Max and the Laughing Kind profile in the Corpus Christi Caller Times, July 24, 1966
An article in the Corpus Christi Caller Times on July 24, 1966 lists the other members as:
Keith Miller – lead guitar Bill King – guitar Bill Smith – bass Tom McTaggart – drums
Hundreds Flock to Port Aransas Danceland Every Weekend
The popularity of the Dunes Danceland at Port Aransas appears to be climbing in its second season, and owner Ralph Plumlee says he has plans for a bigger place in the future.
On a Saturday night now it starts about 8 p.m. – a line of headlights heading down the Padre Island beach toward Horace Caldwell Pier, begins to turn into a laughing, dancing crowd of young peoople at the Dunes.
Plumlee, a retired Dallas business man, and head of White Marlin Enterprises in Port Aransas, said that the average Saturday night attendance ranges from 700 to 1,000. The July 4 weekend drew a crowd estimated at 2,700 on one night…
Max and The Laughing Kind provide the warmth and the music. The long haired band leader wears sunglasses for the evening performance.
… the five-piece band is composed of Max Range, from the Beeville area, who is leader and singer; Bill King, guitar; Tom McTaggart, drums; Keith Miller, lead guitar; and Bill Smith, bass.
The Danceland’s popularity has spread out of the immediate area. College students from Kingsville and even as far as San Antonio and Houston make the Saturday night dances.
Max and the Laughing Kind profile in the Corpus Christi Caller Times, July 24, 1966
Miller, Smith and McTaggart had been in a San Antonio group the Mysterions with Roy Cox. When the summer was over, they went back to San Antonio and continued to use the Laughing Kind name with Bobby Trevino on keyboards and Tommy Smith on vocals. Dan Galindo would soon join the 13th Floor Elevators in time to record much of Easter Everywhere.
1967: Max Range’s Lingsmen with a new lineup, back at the Dunes
The following year, the Corpus Christi Times announced “Max and the Lingsmen” for the grand opening of the new Dunes Danceland, on Friday, May 12, 1967; “main dance floor enlarged and redecorated.”
The lineup at this time was listed on the now-defunct Mike’s Band Archive site:
Max Range – vocals Chris Holzhaus – lead guitar Bill King – guitar Ronnie Huth – vox organ Mike Marechal – bass Sam Allen – drums
That is the last document of Max Range’s music career that I have found until 1970, when an International Artist list of bands includes Ice with Max Range, Stacy Sutherland, David Browne, Michael Marschell and Ron Viviano (reproduced in Paul Drummond’s 13th Floor Elevators: A Visual History). Ice reportedly went into a studio twice, but no recordings have survived.
According to an online obituary, “Max was a printer for the Houston Chronicle for many years. George Max Range of Copperas Cove died at 59, on July 10, 2003, after a long illness.”
Ronnie Leatherman is best known for playing bass on The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators. Before that time, he had at least two other bands, the Penetrators and the Beau-Mondes, formed while he was at Tivy High School in Kerrville, Texas, a town about 65 miles northwest of San Antonio.
Kerrville Mountain Sun, September 18, 1963
The Penetrators started as “The Counts”. On September 18, 1963, the Kerrville Mountain Sun reported:
“The Counts,” a small band group at Tivy, performed on the radio September 10. The group is composed of Pat Morrison, guitar; Ronnie Leatherman, bass; Danny Klein, guitar; and Bobby Morrison, drums. They played “Bulldog” and one of their own songs, “The Swing.”
Listed as the Penetrations, March 25, 1964
The earliest notice I can find for the Penetrators is from March 25, 1964, where the Kerrvile Mountain Sun lists the group name as the “Penetrations”. Members were the same as the Counts:
Danny Klein – lead guitar Pat Morrison – rhythm guitar Ronnie Leatherman – bass Bobby Morrison – drums
This quartet would be the heart of the band through several changes in lineup.
Penetrators, Kerrville Daily Times, July 14, 1964
On July 12, 1964 the same lineup played a show at the Jaycee Center with the Reverbs, which included Bobby Schmidtke, Frank Lola and Pat Young.
Penetrators, Kerrville Daily Times, October 2, 1964Penetrators, Kerrville Daily Times, November 6, 1964
A notice in the Kerrville Daily Times from August 23, 1964 is the first time Max Range is connected to the band: “Range is band leader of The Traditions but will be appearing with The Penetrators, local combo.”
On September 20, 1964, the Daily Times column Hill Top Village Views includes Max Range as a member, and also includes Bobby Solomon whose name I do not see in any other listing. The October 2 Daily Times includes a photo of the band with Max Range.
A notice from November 6 in the Daily Times for a Jaycee Youth Center dance the next day lists yet another short-lived member, Carlton White on rhythm guitar. Carlton’s name would also appear in notices from January 14 and 28, 1965. Carlton White had been in a folk group with Stacy Sutherland, the Travelers Four.
The Penetrators from left: Bob Morrison, Ron Leatherman, Max Range, Danny Klein, and Pat Morrison
On February 25, 1965, the Daily Times reused the photo from October, but noted:
Kerrville’s Penetrators made their first TV appearance Saturday afternoon on the Ricci Ware show … on Channel 5 … The boys have written several songs and played one composed by Max Range, “I’ll Keep Praying Til Then” on the TV show. Left to right are Bob Morrison, drummer, and student at Tivy High School; Ron Leatherman, bass player and Tivy student; Max Range, vocalist and harmonica player who is employed at the Daily Times; Danny Klein, Tivy senior and lead guitarist; and Pat Morrison, rhythm guitar and student at Schreiner Institute.
Penetrators, Kerrville Daily Times, June 6, 1965
A Daily Times article from June 6, 1965 writes:
The Penetrators … have released their first record which is available to the public. The record, “Praying Till Then” and “Kurl” is on the Trater Record label. “Praying Till Then”, a slow ballad, was composed by Max Range, vocalist for the group. The flip side “Kurl”, was composed by all members of the ensemble, who are, Danny Klein, Bob Morrison, Ron Leatherman, Pat Morrison and Max Range.
This is the last mention of the Penetrators I can find. The single was released as by Max and the Penetraters on Trater Records 650528.
By the summer of 1965, Max Range left to Port Aransas with the Lingsmen, a group featuring two other Kerrville musicians, Stacy Sutherland and John Ike Walton.The Beau-Mondes, Kerrville Mountain Sun, November 24, 1965
An article in the Kerrville Mountain Sun from November 24, 1965 on the Beau-Mondes shows the original Penetrators quartet has been expanded into a septet and renamed, featuring:
Mark Atterbury – vocals Danny Klein – lead guitar Pat Morrison – rhythm guitar and manager Bill Stacy – rhythm guitar Bob Schmerbeck – piano Ronnie Leatherman – bass guitar Bobby Morrison – drums
The Beaumondes, Kerrville Daily Times, December 29, 1965
The last mention I can find of the Beau-Mondes was from December 29, 1965, and mentions a single that I do not believe was ever released:
The Beaumondes … have recently cut a record. The name of the record is “Won’t You Cry for Me?” It will be released January 11. The lead singer, Mark Atterbury, wrote the song and sings it with the other boys providing the background The members are Mark, Pat Morrison, Bobby Morrison, and Ronnie Leatherman.
From an interview on It’s Psychedelic Baby by Justin Jackley, Ronnie Leatherman mentioned a trio with two friends who passed away the same year. He also said the Lingsmen asked him to come to Port Aransas for a few weeks to play with them and help Bennie Thurman learn how to play the bass, and that Stacy wanted Ronnie in the 13th Floor Elevators.
Thank you to Matthew B. for his continued help to access news sites.
The Thingies were a peripatetic band, settling and playing shows in a number of locations, and occasionally recording. A full story of the band is on the Cicadelic site. I wanted to include a brief post on the Thingies because of their single on Casino Records.
In late 1962, Larry Miller formed the TR4 while he was stationed with the Air Force in Topeka, Kansas.
The TR4 were:
Don Ferguson – lead guitar Dave Daws – organ Larry Miller – bass and vocals Joe Rodriguez – drums
The TR4 released a single in 1963, “Peter Rabbit” backed with a stomping instrumental, “Surfin’ TR” on Exclusive Records.
In 1964 the band added Phil Weaver as lead vocalist and changed their name to the Coachmen. Gordon Marcellus replaced Joe Rodriguez on drums.
By 1965 the lineup changed again along with the band name to the Thingies:
Fabulous Thingies at the Emporia Civic Auditorium, Nov 11, 1966
Phil Weaver – lead vocals John Dalton – lead guitar Ernie Swisher – organ Larry Miller – bass Gordon Marcellus – drums
They released “It’s a Long Way Down” / “Merry Go Round Of Life” on Casino in early 1966. The group played often in Omaha, Nebraska, where the band first learned about psychedelics. The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band played at The Tiki Club in Topeka, and they helped the Thingies get a light show together according to Larry Miller.
In December, 1966, the Thingies recorded two original at Fairyland Studios in Columbia, MO, “English Eyes” / “No Matter What The World May Say” that were not released at the time, but “English Eyes” appeared on the CD “The Thingies Have Arrived” on Collectables. That CD also features one vocal and two instrumental takes of another original, “I’m Going Ahead”.
The Thingies spent the summer of 1967 in Miami, playing regularly at a huge teen club called The World.
Georgetown Megaphone Sept. 29, 1967
They went to Waco, where Phil Weaver had family, then moved to Austin, Texas in September. One of their earliest shows in Austin was at a Love-In at Zilker Hillside Theater on September 24.
In an article headlined Capital Cops Tops With Hippie Love-In, reporter Mary Callaway gets a little carried away, but still presents a great window onto the Thingies stage show:
Freak-out music dramas presented by the Thingies, a national psychedelic band.
Dressed in a collage of costumes from full monk garbe to Daniel Boone, the Thingies presented a trip experience in which an amber light caught on the jags and peaks of a lump of raspberry jello one into a dream of all worldly objects and abstract concepts merging into one single sound which becomes dust, spirals, and creates a new being. Then the drums and guitars pick up the poet’s rhythm and “Gloria” crashes in in full orchestra.
In “Suzi Creamcheez, What’s Got Into You” the female member of the band expresses a trip experience in which for twenty minutes, with wailing guitars, computer sounds, and aggressive band members, throw her absurd world into supersonic gear, and pathetically enough she screams frantically throughout the drama.
The Austin Daily Texan writer Merry Clark had a more sober account, and named the other bands on the bill:
The Jackels from Dallas began the afternoon playing a new sound for the group formerly known as the Chessmen. They were followed by the Austin Conqueroo …. then a newer Austin band composed mostly of University architecture students, Shiva’s Head Band … A group of men from Bergstrom Air Force Base called the Afro-Caravan [with] Robert King, the leader of the group.
The evening program began and ended with a light show, “Mothers of Invention” sound, and freak out of the Thingies band from Miami.
Austin Love-In with the Jackals, the Conqueroo, Shiva’s Headband, Afro-Caravan, and the Thingies, Austin Daily Texan, Sept. 26, 1967 Over the next six months, the Thingies would play many live shows at the Matchbox, the Vulcan Gas Company, the Pleasure Dome and other venues. Their manager (Night Productions) owned the 11th Street Folk Club, and the group recorded some live shows but the tapes have apparently been lost.
The band signed with Sonobeat, who recorded them at the Swinger’s Club during the club’s off hours, and did overdubs at KAZZ-FM studios. The single featured Gordon Marcellus and Larry Miller’s original “Mass Confusion” backed with Phil Weaver and Bob Cole’s “Rainy Sunday Morning”. Recorded in December, 1967, Sonobeat didn’t release it until the spring of 1968, by which time the Thingies had split up.
Unreleased songs from the Sonobeat sessions include “I Died”, “Mrs. Baker”, “Richard’s Song”, all without finished vocal tracks. You can hear “Mrs. Baker” on the Sonobeat page for the Thingies.
Gordon Marcellus passed away in 2004, Phil Weaver passed in 2014, and Larry Miller passed away at 74 in 2017.
Thingies at the Match Box, Austin Daily Texan, Nov 29, 1967
An additional source was Mojo Mills’ interview with Larry Miller in Shindig.
Night Productions: the Thingies management in Austin
The Thingies, partial gig list:
September 3, 1966 – at the Skyline Club, Manhattan, Kansas
November 12, 1966 – The Fabulous Thingies at the Emporia Civic Auditorium
June 30, 1967 – Atchison, KS Memorial Auditorium
September 24, 1967 – Zilker Hillside Theater, Austin, TX, Love-In with the Jackals, the Conqueroo, Shiva’s Headband and the Afro-Caravan.
September 29 and September 30, 1967 – the IL Club, Austin, TX
October 3, 1967 – New Orleans Club, Austin October 20 and October 21, 1967 – The IL Club, Austin (“After Hours 1 a.m. – 4 a.m.”) October 31, 1967 – New Orleans Club, Austin (“Halloween Ball … wear mask”)
November 29, 1967 – The Match Box, Austin
December 15 and December 16, 1967 – The Pleasure Dome, Austin
December 29 and December 30, 1967 – Hilltop Club, Atchison, KS “The Thingies out of Austin … Just back from the Bahama Islands” ?!
Notorious even in distant Fort Stockton, TX, reported in the Pioneer, Nov. 30, 1967
The Bourbons are something of a mystery group. I have never seen a photo of the band and don’t know most of the names of the group.
Lee Poundstone is the Lee credited with writing the songs on their only single.
Ricky Jones left a comment below saying he played keyboards with the group.
I’ve found two notices for one of the Bourbons rare live shows, at Teen Town on 3524 S. New Braunfels in San Antonio on October 21, 1966. Their single on Royal Family 45-267 dates to March, 1967 according to Teen Beat Mayhem. I suppose the 267 release number must fit into Bob Tanner’s TNT pressing plant list, as TNT Music published the songs.
At The Casket in Kerrville – same band?Both sides are classic Texas garage, “A Dark Corner” having a guitar line something like the Elevators’ “Roller Coaster” but with more menace to it.
“Of Old Approximately (A Time for a Change)” has a great sound, from the wailing harp to the buzzsaw guitar.
I found another notice for the Bourbons playing at The Casket in Kerrville, an hour’s drive north west of San Antonio in July, 1967. It’s possible this is not the same group.
If anyone has a photo of the group or knows something about the Bourbons, or the other groups on these listings: the Gothics, the Aggressors, the Catalinas, the Spidels, Mods and the Sound, please contact me.
Ricky Jones told me “the Aggressors morphed into Band Ayd after Terrell O’Neill (of the former Cave Dwellers) joined the band as lead singer.” I am hoping Ricky will provide more info and some photos of the band.
Lee Poundstone has a credit for playing bass on Rosalie Sorrels LP on Sire, Travelin’ Lady, though I don’t know if this is the same person.
The Steps Beyond came from Rosebud, Texas, a small town east of Temple. The group cut one signle on Mark VII D-1021 in late 1967 or early 1968. Their version of “Don’t Let the Sun Catch You Crying” has a relaxed moodiness to it. The flip is an original song, “Go on Your Way, Girl”, by Holtman, Surovik, Holtman, published by Ramsgate Music.
One member of the Steps Beyond was James Holtman, and the other Holtman on the credits may have been his younger brother Tommy Holtman.
Surovik turns out to be Bruce William Surovik who drummed for Kenny & the Kasuals among others, and who passed away in November, 2006.
An April 11, 1968, a Rosebud News page profiling local teens notes James Michael Holtman “now plays second, or rhythm guitar, in the Steps Beyond, who, by the way, recorded a record a few months ago.”
However, almost a year before, in May of ’67, the Rosebud News wrote “Ray Welch, Alan Pelzel, Steve Slovacek and Fred Borden (The Steps Beyond) made the long trip to Lake Texoma last Saturday to play at a dance”.
To make things confusing, a clipping from April 4, 1968 includes Alan Pelzel and Fred Borden among a list of teens who went to hear the Steps Beyond at the Catacomb Teen Club in Cameron. So were Pelzel and Borden out of the band by the time the group recorded their single?
As Mikael points out in his comment below, it seems the Rosebud News made a mistake, and that Welch, Pelzel, Slovacek and Borden were actually in the Gestures, not the Steps Beyond. The only mention of the Gestures comes from a Waco paper, and I don’t believe they recorded.
The Steps Beyond first news notice, a Hootenanny in March, 1967, with C.J. and the Jewels, Roy Robinson and the Availables, and the Wullables Ltd
The earliest mention of the Steps Beyond I can find is from March of ’67, when they play a “Hootenanny” at the Rosebud school gym with Roy Robinson and the Availables, C.J. and the Jewels and the Wullables, Ltd.
I can find several ads for other Steps Beyond appearances, including June 24, 1967 at the Westphalia Hall, at a Christmas Dance on December 23, 1967 on Main St., and on March 1 and 8, 1968 at the D. Brown Library.
If you have any photos or info on the Steps Beyond other local Texas bands of the ’60s, please comment below or contact me.
At the Katacomb Teen Club on 1st and Houston in Cameron, TX
The Fugitives are a San Antonio band that recorded two singles. Their first, I believe, is “Louie Go Home” backed with an original by Fugitives guitarist David Fisher, “You Know She’s a Woman”, recorded at Alamo Audio and released in the spring of 1967 on Alamo Audio 45-108. “Louie Go Home” made #28 in KTSA’s Top 30 of May 6, 1967.
An article on teens working summer jobs profiled David Fisher as a guitar & banjo teacher at Platter Palace. I don’t know who else was in the group.
The Fugitives had a second single, also from 1967, “Till The End Of The Day” / “Ferry Cross The Mersey” that I haven’t heard yet. Produced by Fisher – Alexander for release on Roun Soun Records 69/70-FK, with the address 5506 Keystone, San Antonio. There was a Roun Soun label out of Houston, but that seems like a different company.
I found an ad for the Fugitives at a “Teen’s Day Dance” at the McCreless Shopping City on May 27, 1967 with the Spidels and Laughing Kind, and also a June ’67 “rock and roll show and dance” at Turner Hall in Yoakum, about 100 miles to the east of San Antonio, with DJ Ricci Ware and a few other bands: the Laughing Kind, the Configurations, the Mad Mods and the Burbons (Bourbons).
Anyone have a photo of the group, or good scans of the Roun Soun single?
More info on the Fugitives or other local bands would be appreciated.
“Louie Go Home” reaches #28 in KTSA’s Top 30, May 6, 1967
The Fredericksburg Standard of July 7, 1965 published a photo and profile of the Crossfires, a band that would go on to become the Fountain of Youth.
The Crossfires won seventh place among 78 groups at a battle of the bands at the Surfers A Go Go club in Dallas. They were all students at St. Mary’s School in Fredericksburg.
Gary Itri – bass guitar Gary Jenschke – lead guitar Jimmy Panza – drummer and vocalist Kenneth Molberg – rhythm guitar
Two bands from Dallas won the top prizes: the Green Men, (I believe that would be Johnny and the Green Men) won first place and the Soul Rockers second. The Briks from Denton came in third.
The article notes that the Crossfires were the youngest group in the contest, and placed ahead of the LaVelles. The Crossfires started in March 1964 as the Fugitives, and had guidance from KNAF DJ Johnny Almon.
Although the article states that the Soul Rockers “have cut several best selling records”, I am unaware of any by that group name.
The Crossfires cut a version of Robb London and the Rogue‘s “Who’ll Be the One” / “Making Love Is Fun” on Tower 278 in 1966. I’ve seen a copy with a stamp from the Itri Record Shop in Fredericksburg!
The band relocated to California and with a name change to the Fountain of Youth, had four singles on Colgems. Billboard ran a full-page ad titled “Fountain of Youth has been discovered in Texas” to promote their first Colgems single, “Livin’ Too Fast”.
I’m a big fan of the B-side of their second Colgems single, “Don’t Blame Me (for Trying)” from June of 1968, by a somewhat obscure song writer, Ken Walker. “Day Don’t Come”, the B-side of “Sunshine on a Cold Morning” is also a standout.
Ken Molberg had left the group by the time of their last single. “Witness People” is the only recorded song that the band wrote themselves, by Itri, Panza and Jenschke. It’s one of their best, with a heavier sound than the earlier singles.
The group had a Kickstarter campaign to remaster & reissue their singles on CDR and vinyl, which has some additional info about the group.
Gary Itri passed away in January, 2014.
If anyone has photos or info on any of these groups please contact me. This photo from the Fredericksburg Standard is not bad by microfilm standards, but better quality photos must be out there.
This site is a work in progress on 1960s garage rock bands. All entries can be updated, corrected and expanded. If you have information on a band featured here, please let me know and I will update the site and credit you accordingly.
I am dedicated to making this site a center for research about '60s music scenes. Please consider donating archival materials such as photos, records, news clippings, scrapbooks or other material from the '60s. Please contact me at rchrisbishop@gmail.com if you can loan or donate original materials
Beginning in 1963 the Rel-Yea’s released three singles on Kaye Records, which seems to have been their own label, located at 327 Shropshire Drive in San Antonio. The first of these is a fast instrumental by the band, “The Rugged Rock” b/w a version of “Good, Good Lovin'”.
I found a notice for the Rel-Yea’s playing at the Arcadia Theatre in Kerrville on April 17, 1964. Bruce Hathaway, DJ at KTSA in San Antonio is also on the notice. The Arcardia was the primary movie theater in Kerrville, but this is the only live band notice I’ve found so far. The former Rialto Theatre hosted a number of live events in 1967.
