In the mid 1960’s the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana became a center for innovative jazz and avant-garde electronic and computer music. Starting in 1967, the Red Herring Coffeehouse just off the main quad on W Oregon became a center for folk artists. And of course there was a thriving band scene at the Illini Brown Jug and other student beer joints. For those not familiar with that area’s geography, the school is located in eastern-central Illinois, roughly equidistant from Chicago, St. Louis and Indianapolis.
Roger Francisco began recording out of a home studio to the east of campus in Urbana, Illinois circa 1964. Rofran (a combination of the first syllables of his first and last names) was the name he gave to his studio, one of his labels, and also the name of his production and publishing companies. It’s an open question as to how prominent the studio was in that area, as many bands recorded at other studios: Dean Carter, the One Eyed Jacks and the Bacardis for example.
I’ve only heard a few of these records. The Cliques has had the most exposure, showing up on Back From the Grave vol. 7. I’ve heard one side of the Keepers, which is good harmony pop, and the first Prodigies 45, “Kysmyph (KIS-MIF)” a bluesy instrumental with sax and some odd organ sounds, backed with “Don’t Look Back”, which starts out with a hip bossa groove but the vocals are square, mimicking the complex harmonies on brazilian groups from the time.
Mike Markesich filled me in on some Rofran releases:
The Sound Studio Production (Rofran 1010) was a label printing goof – the real group is the Prodigies, university guys from Champaign IL. I have the 45 crediting the Prodigies. They have a second 45 on Rofran 1013 “I Want To Do It” / “What I’d Say”, both released in ’66.
Quarternotes “My Baby Left Me” crude thumpin’ garage rocker with a kinda ‘rural’ vocal vibe.
There are other Rofran releases on different-named labels. One that comes to mind is the Ravins “Andy” on the Syndicate label (#1028). Very cool, moody organ swinger with a crisp guitar break. Flipside is “I Had a Feeling”, which is more aligned to a pop sounding jangle ballad. This was their only recording. One of the songwriters on the 45 made a solo Rofran record.
The Cliques “So Hard” / “Ballad Of A Destitute Man” on Custom 1020 (Jan ’67) is a Rofran release. Ditto the Keepers “Why Have You Changed” / “Tiny Teardrops” on Custom 1021 (Jan ’67).
The studio, indeed, started in the basement of Roger’s home in Urbana, and at some point he leased a much larger space in a building on Race Street for the studio.
At the time I enrolled at the University of Illinois, the band with Roger Francisco, Gordy Wilson and Bill Steffen was looking for a sax player and I got the job. I played with them on a nightly gig at The Beacon (a bar/roadhouse located just south of Rantoul Air Base) for about 2 years. Roger played guitar and electric bass, Gordy played some sort of electronic keyboard (my memory is that it was an early Farfisa, but I could be totally wrong about that), Bill was the drummer, I played tenor sax and electric bass, and we all sang.
I don’t remember whether the band went under the name of The Prodigies at that time or not, but it was under that name that we recorded “Don’t Look Back” and “KYSMYPH.” At some point the name of the band was changed to Sound Studio One, but I’m almost positive that didn’t happen until later.
As The Prodigies (a name that always made me cringe) we also released a Christmas recording of “Rudolph, the Red-nosed Reindeer” backed with “Sleigh Ride.”
As Sound Studio One we recorded “Never Tell” backed with a very strange “Never Marry a Woman Who is Taller Than You” that richly deserves (and should maintain) its status as unknown by virtually everyone.
The Prodigies/Sound Studio One was also used as the band behind various singers who recorded at rofran. One of those was Al Ierardi, who I believe had some success with “Drifter” backed with “Dureen.”
I was also doing some writing and arranging for other groups in the area and remember recording horn parts at rofran for at least one song by Feather Train.
At Rofran we were also writing and recording music and voice-overs for some ad agencies in the area. “Oh Boy, Tom Boy” was a commercial jingle written for a short-lived drive-in restaurant a-la McDonald’s.
At some point after leaving Sound Studio One I worked for a time with The Nickel Bag. The band at that time consisted of T.T. Coleman singing lead vocal, Bob Crownover on guitar, Rick Raines on organ, Pat Hammond on bass, John Phillips on drums, Rick Bendel and Ron Meng on trumpets, and Ron Dewar and me on tenor saxes). The group was very popular and quite busy in the Illinois-Indiana-Wisconsin area, but we never released a commercial recording.
I haven’t been in touch with Roger or Bill for quite a long time, but I get back to Champaign-Urbana a couple of times a year to do a jazz gig, and Gordon showed up at one of then a couple of years ago.
Roger Francisco wrote to me:
I still have file copies of most of the singles we released on RoFran (which I backed and promoted) and the Custom label (for which I was just studio for hire and processed the pressings for). I remember our ongoing special was a few hours of studio time and a hundred 45 RPM pressings for $100.
As we moved into the 70’s, I got involved with the annual Red Herring Coffee House folk festivals, location recording and producing their LPs, and ultimately got involved co-managing and publishing The Ship, running sound for their live gigs and mixing their Elektra album in LA, and also recording the early efforts of Dan Fogelburg.
I sold the studio operation to Al Ierardi (the Drifter single) around 1974-75 and ultimately became chief engineer at Creative Audio, home to Columbia artist Champaign. I eventually transitioned into commercials and industrial sound track production, and ultimately to Human Kinetics where I put together a corporate recording studio and produce all their DVD and web streaming soundtracks.
The Spoils of War consisted of James Cuomo, Roger Francisco, Frank Garvey, Al Ierardi, Anne Whitefish-Williams and James Stroud. They made a seven-inch, 33 1/3 rpm EP (sometimes listed as You’re Invited to Hear the Spoils of War) in 1969, running over seventeen minutes with five songs: “What Happend Now”, “Now Is Made in America”, “Henry T. Joseph”, “Void of Mystery” and “The Greyness Moves in Quietly”.
In 1999 the Shadoks label released recordings made in 1968 without Anne, and a second CD, The Spoils of War II unearthed further live and studio material from James Cuomo’s archives.
Rofran produced another lengthy seven-inch, 33 1/3 rpm, five song EP in 1970 for James Cuomo, known as Cuomo’s Record and featuring Al Ierardi, Charlie Braugham, Bob Witmer, Cal Drake, Larry Dwyer and Steve Larner. Side A: Suzan Never Smiles”, “Remembering”, “Ring, Magic Telephone, Ring”, and “Victoria Falls”; Side B: “Crimson Uniform”.
Rofran productions and discography (incomplete, any help would be appreciated):
Early 45s on Rofran, Custom and Syndicate seem to follow a 10xx numbering system:
Rofran 1001 – The Intruders “Deception” / “Intrudin'”
Rofran 1002 – The Rogues “Gone To Stay” / “Wait Till the Summer”
Rofran 1003 – Lee Rust “Scramble” / “Do You Ever Kinda Wonder?”
Rofran 1004 – Lee Rust “Mystery House” / “Come on Back”
Rofran 1005 – Lee Rust “Try, Try to Leave” (W.L. Rust) / “I’m Spoken For”
Rofran 1006 – Lee Rust “She’s Gone Tonight” / “World Made of Romance”
1007 – ?
1008 – ?
1009 – ?
Rofran 1010 – Sound Studio One “Kysmyph (KIS-MIF)” (Instrumental by Wilson-Smith-Steffen) / “Don’t Look Back” (H.A. Smith) (1966)
Rofran 1010 – The Prodigies “Kysmyph (KIS-MIF)” (Instrumental by Wilson-Smith-Steffen) / “Don’t Look Back” (H.A. Smith)
1011 – ?
Rofran 1012 – The Impalas “Kristina” / “Lost Beat” (both by R. Dilling)
Rofran 1013 – The Prodigies “I Want To Do It” / “What’d I Say” (1966)
Rofran 1014 – The Quaternotes “My Baby Left Me” / “You And I (Are In Love)”
1015 – ?
1016 – ?
1017 – ?
Rofran 1018 – The Lindsey Triplets “Tomorrow’s Another Day” (C.F. & R.E. Francisco) / “Terry”
Rofran 1019 – Al Ieradi – “Drifter” / “Dureen”
Custom 1020 – The Cliques “So Hard” (J.D. Vance, J.S. Walbillig) / “Ballad of a Destitute Man” (Jan. ’67, produced by Tim Abel)
Custom 1021 – The Keepers “Why Have You Changed” (S. J. Beresford) / “Tiny Teardrops” (Jan. ’67)
Star Record and Recording P-1022 – Count Demon and His Four Members – “(I Got To) Work With It” / “C-C Rider” (836R-1022, U4KM-9165/6)
1023 – ?
Custom 1024 – The Dearly Beloved “Cindy” (M. Gallivan) one-sided record
1025 – ?
Psychedelic 1026 – Puppet, Dingbat & Odie – “Transcontinental Balloon Ride” / “Julie” (836R-1026, U4KM-3650/1)
1027 – ?
Syndicate 1028 – The Ravins “Andy” / “I Had a Feeling”
1029 – ?
Shades 836R-1030 – The Shades of Blue “Not the Way Love Should Be” / “You Must Believe Me”
1031 – ?
1032 – ?
1033 – ?
1034 – ?
Custom 1035 – The Camaros “I Need You No More” / “Just For The Love Of A Man” (836R-1034)
Psychedelic Sounds 1035 – Howie Thayer and his Psycho-Electric Happening “Movin’, Groovin’ Fairy Tale” / “If Death Don’t Get You (Then the Government Will)” – 1968 -“A Custom Product of Rofran Enteprises”
1036 – ?
1037 – ?
1038 – ?
1039 – ?
1040 – ?
1041 – ?
Folksound 836R-1042 – K. Sandra Wyman (Spud Baldwin, guitar) “Until It’s Time For You To Go” / “Where Does It Lead” (W4KM-5157) with picture sleeve
1043 – ?
Psychedelic Sounds 1044 – Howie Thayer and his Psycho-Electric Happening – “Bazap!” / “Side 2”
Soul 1045 – Soul Brothers – “Twinkle Twinkle” / Miss Delores” (W4KM-5880, 836R-1045)
1046 – ?
Custom 836R-1047 – Linda Fanakos “Candyland Town” / “Let’s Make It Clear” (both by Linda Fanakos). Yellow label with RCA custom press X4KM-2636/2637, which indicates this was mastered in the second half of 1969. (label reads -“A Custom Product of Rofran Enteprises”)
Soul Sounds 1048 – Leroy Knox and the Gaypoppers – “The Mistakes I Made” / “Here I Am” (X4KM-3311)
Rofran 836R-2005 – Sound Studio One – “Never Tell” (Roger Francisco, H.A. Smith) / Never Marry (A Woman Who Is Taller Than You) prod. by Howie Smith, W4KM-4773, 1968
Other Rofran productions:
Rofran XALS-2605 – The Spoils of War “What Happend Now”, “Now Is Made in America”, “Henry T. Joseph”, “Void of Mystery”, and “The Greyness Moves in Quietly”
Depot Records (RoFran 0608) – James Cuomo (Cuomo’s Record) – “Suzan Never Smiles”, “Remembering”, “Ring”, “Magic Telephone”, Ring”, “Victoria Falls”, and “Crimson Uniform” 1970
Century 44090 – Mad John Fever “Breath & Thunder” / “One World Lost To Another” (1971?)
Century 35921 – Marvin Lee & the Midwesterners “I’ve Made My Mind Up (To Leave Today)” / “Until My Dream Come True”
Marvin Lee & the Midwesterners – album featuring Sandy Kay, Wil Wilson, Don Markham and Cousin Hi
Notes:
The names on the Prodigies 45 are Howard A. Smith, Frederick W. Steffen III, and James Gordon Wilson. BMI listings show Wilson and Smith wrote a song I haven’t heard, “Oh Boy Tom Boy” with Roger Francisco.
The Keepers is not related to the New York group who cut “She Understands” on the Bravura label, nor do I believe it’s the same group that recorded “Now She’s Gone” for the Mystic label of Hazen, North Dakota.
From a reader:
The “Lindsey Triplets” are identical triplets and were a very popular singing group at the time. They traveled the tri-state area performing at various venues. They also traveled on various U.S.O. tours to entertain the troops and made a few guest appearances on then popular variety shows on national television. For a short time they also were ‘fashion’ models (not Playboy Bunnies) for Playboy.
The group went by two different stage names “The Lindsey Triplets” and “The ABC Triplets (Their first names were Anita, Becky and Cathy). The song ‘Terry’ was sung by Becky with accompaniment from her sisters. While they looked alike their voices were distinctive and each triplet sang their own solos when performing.
They actually did a number of demo tapes of their songs. The group was very talented but did reach the notoriety they deserved due to poor management and not being adequately promoted.
The Lindsey Triplets had one commercial release, “Jiminy Jum Jum” / “Fallin’ in Love” on Top Rank 2010.
Thank you to Adam Lore for the loan of the Sound Studio One 45, to Mike Markesich for much information, to Myskatonic, Bob of Dead Wax, Jeff LaSee, Tim Adams, Ryan Luellwitz, Laurent Bigot, and Downstate Sounds for help with the discography.
The Reddlemen
The Reddlemen of Angleton were one of three garage acts on the Custom label out of Tyler. They cut this one great 45, the amazing “I’m Gonna Get in that Girl’s Mind”, with the Byrds-influenced “I Can’t Go On This Way” on the flip.
Les Roberts of the Brym-Stonz Ltd. remembers the Reddlemen and their guitarist and songwriter, Michael Cotton:
You asked about the Reddlemen, they were great musicians. The lineup was Pat Harris vocals, Jim Howell Rhythm guitar and electric piano, Charles Smith bass, Gary Cotton drums, and Mike Cotton lead guitar. [Later,] Rick Hutchinson replaced Mike in the Reddlemen.
Mike was this incredible guitarist. He played a strat and used banjo strings to stretch and bend for his solos long before light gauge strings and unwound G strings came about.
Mike went out to California in the mid-sixties and was roommates with his cousin Keith Allison who played with Paul Revere and the Raiders on a show called Where the Action Is! Mike played guitar on the opening theme to the show. He auditioned for the Beau Brummels also. Tragically he was killed in Vietnam.
An old auction for their 7″ master tape reel mentions two unreleased songs by the band. I’ve never heard these and don’t know the titles.
For more on the Custom label, see entries for The Brym-Stonz Ltd. and Billy McKnight.
Reddlemen business card from the collection of Andrew Brown.
The Brym-Stonz Ltd. of Angleton “You’ll Be Mine”
An underrated 45, the Brym-Stonz Ltd cut the excellent “You’ll Be Mine” on the Custom label sometime in late 1967 or ’68.
Although I thought it was recorded at Robin Hood Brians’ studio in Tyler, TX, like other Custom 45s by Billy McKnight and the Reddlemen, Les Roberts states that it was recorded in Custom owner Curtis Kirk’s garage.
“You’ll Be Mine” is fine, moody garage, with a prominent bass line and some unusual chording on guitar and organ. It was written by Dwayne Sanders, while the psychedelic ballad on the flip, “Times Gone By” was written by Leslie Roberts.
Members on the single were:
Leslie Roberts – lead guitar and vocals
Mike Riggle – rhythm guitar / 12-string Rickenbacker, vocals
Henry Munson – Vox Continental organ
Dwayne Sanders – Hagstrom bass
Don Prilop – drums
Earlier members included Ronnie Rogers and Pat Howard.
Curtis Kirk ran the Custom label and seems to have put his name on every song he ever released, but I doubt he contributed to lyrics like “Colored contrasts call me back from illusions of love/ the variations of oceans of lavender skies!”
I recently heard from Les Roberts, lead guitarist and one of the singers for the band:
The Brym-Stonz were a band from Angleton, south of Houston. We were in high school and like most bands met through wanting to play music. We played lots of school functions and after game dances.
The band members were Henry Munson (Vox Continental organ), Don Prilop (drums), Dwayne Sanders (Hagstrom bass), the late Mike Riggle (rhythm/12 string Rickenbacker) who sang the lead vocal on “You’ll Be Mine”, and Leslie Roberts (lead guitar and vocal on “Times Gone By”). The [1968] picture of the band is from after Dwayne Sanders had left.
We recorded these songs in December 1967 at Curtis Kirk’s studio converted garage in Tyler. We actualy recorded 4 songs in Tyler but only put the two songs on record. Curtis Kirk always put his name as a co-writer on songs he recorded. Probably to garner writers royalties in case the song did well.
I used to make the dances at the Brazoria County Fairgrounds auditorium each weekend. I got to see lots of local and regional bands such as BJ Thomas and the Triumphs, Roy Head and the Traits, Freddy Koenig and the Jades, Fever Tree, and others.
We formed another band in ’72 called Moonchild and over the years people left. I still play in a band called Dog Town Blues but everyone else has stopped playing.
Les Roberts
Billy McKnight & The Plus 4
Out of Tyler, Texas come Billy McKnight & The Plus 4 on the Custom label. “You’re Doin’ Me Wrong” is a fine Yardbirds-influenced punker, the drumming is especially fluid. An odd feature is the way the song fades out twice, each time coming back with a shrill keyboard note.
“Time Wasted” is almost country in its sound. I don’t know who else was in the band; Larry Graham did the arranging.
Both songs were written by McKnight and Curtis Kirk, who ran Custom and also owned Tyler Publishing. It seems he was the type of publisher who had his name added onto every song released on his label. Kirk had been a country singer in the ’50s (info on his first session here), most notably cutting “I Can’t Take It With Me”.
“Unlike Robin [Hood Brians], who began in the living room and moved to the back yard, Curtis started in his garage and stayed there!” – from a feature on Tyler studios in Billboard’s Sept. 8, 1973 issue.
This was the first garage 45 released on Kirk’s own Custom Records, which usually released country or gospel 45s. After the Billy McKnight 45, Custom released a killer by the Reddlemen , “I’m Gonna Get in that Girl’s Mind” and a very good one by the Brym-Stonz Ltd.
Billy released a 45 on International Artists the following year as Billy Wade McKnight, “Trouble’s Comin’ On” / “I Need Your Lovin'”, both McKnight originals. These are lighter pop sides, verging on country music, and were produced by Curtis Kirk and Steve Wright, and arranged by Larry Graham.
In 1970 he cut another single as Billy Wade McKnight on Congress, “Stacey” / “Mary Anne”, produced by Tommy Cogbill, but I haven’t heard this yet.