![]() ![]() At the same time, the Denver group likely had no knowledge of the Champaign group.PLEASE DO NOT PUBLISH THIS WEBSITE OR LINK In Jack’s defense, I don’t think anyone could have predicted that another band would pick up on the name and claim it for their own. The fact that Tom was one of the Colorado "Lothars" means that he had seen Frank's bass drum head, and, probably innocently enough, took it with him to school, probably not even knowing that that same fall semester, we were forming Lothar on campus in Champaign, as part of an all-fraternity Phi Gam band.ĭavis adds, “ We probably should have tried to register the name, but we were just dumb college kids with dreams of stardom.” I don't remember exactly how I knew him, but suffice it to say that we chatted for a few minutes, and then moved on. Tom was also a drummer and I had met him briefly when I was still a senior at LT and played in a band called the Invictas. As I lived in Western Springs at the time, I attended, as did a lot of Chicago area students from Phi Gam.Īs I wandered around the "rush party" that night I ran into a perspective rushee from my high school (LTHS) named Tom Flye. As it turned out, Frank's band was hired to play a Phi Gam fraternity rush event one night that summer. He also had decided to paint his bass drum head with the name Lothar and the Hand People. That summer ('65) the drummer, Frank Eiter, who was also a Fine and Applied Arts major in industrial design, went back home to Geneva, Illinois, and played in a local band of friends. If we had five people, I don't remember the missing name, but we may have had only four, which would have made the name even funnier. I was playing guitar then, Frank Eiter was on drums, Bill Schneider (a Sigma Chi) was playing bass, and Duff Schweniger was singing. As it turned out, we used "The Vice-Grimmick Five" for the exchange, and I think we only knew about four or five songs. I came up with Lothar, the sidekick of Mandrake the Magician in the Sunday funnies. ![]() Geist had the habit of calling a lot of things hand-so and so, and that's where that part of the name came from. Memory fails me a little here, but the two names we came up with were The Vice-Grimmick Five and Lothar and the Hand People. ![]() ![]() A couple of guys and I had put together a small band specifically to play for an Alpha Chi sorority exchange. In the spring of 1965, at the apartments at Orchard Downs (where the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity was living due to a fire at the chapter house), Bill Geist and I were tossing around potential names for rock'n'roll bands. Their most popular song being “Space Hymn” which was the title track off of their second and final LP. The group would also jam with Jimi Hendrix and share the stage with the Grateful Dead and the Byrds.īetween 19, the group recorded three singles and two albums for Capitol Records. The group eventually became known for their use of a theremin and were considered pioneers for their blending of electronics and synthesizers with rock music. It was around then that the band’s sound began to change from a blues-based rock to a more experimental psychedelic rock. In the summer of 1966 the band relocated to New York. Conly would play keyboards in addition to rhythm guitar. Wright, who in turn was replaced by Paul Conly. The group, which formed around October 1965, consisted of John Emelin (lead singer), Kim King (lead guitar), Tom Flye (drummer), Rusty Ford (bass) and Richard Willis (rhythm guitar). The better known of the two Lothars got their start in Denver, Colorado where several members attended the University of Denver. ![]()
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