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Band X was formed in
Manistee, Michigan in 1966. It was a collaboration
of good friends from high school, and the final
destination of its predecessors The Ramrods, then
The Magnatones in 1964, and The Fendermen (not of
"Mule Skinner Blues" fame) in 1965.
Manistee is a small town, and
there were not a lot of young musicians around, so
we were sort of drawn together by a common goal of
having a band. Jim and I went to high school
together, and I knew Bob from grade school. We were
fortunate to meet Dan, who was really an excellent
musician. Then we met Al, and all the pieces were
in place. For the first few years we played a lot
of school dances and teen dance places in our
hometown and surrounding areas. There were a lot of
great places (and great owners) that really gave
young bands a chance to get out and get some
exposure. That is one element that I feel badly
about for the kids today. There are not the
opportunities for them like we had. Some of the big
places were: The Platters, Cadillac; Paul's Place,
Manistee; Club Ponytail, Harbor Springs; The Tanz
Haus, Traverse City; The Teen Chalet, Gaylord;
Daniel's Den, Saginaw; The Factory, Holland;
several large roller rinks, like Johnny's, Custer;
Shelby Pavilion, Shelby; Muskegon and Grand Haven
roller rinks. We hooked up with a booking agent
from Grand Rapids, and started playing places
around here like The Place and Cannonsburg Ski
Lodge. We also got involved as opening act status
for several large shows at The Welsh Civic
Auditorium in GR and The Windjammer in Kalamazoo.
We played one show at the Welsh that headlined "The
Box Tops" which also featured two Grand Rapids
bands, "The Fredric" and an all-girl group, "The
Six Pack". We opened for "The Blues Magoos" and
"The Shadows of Knight" at The Windjammer. We later
used a couple of booking agents, one from Flint,
and one from Fort Wayne, Indiana. They kept us
quite busy in the southeastern part of Michigan,
and into a five-state swing, mostly playing college
gigs. We played bars occasionally, but the bulk of
that type of stuff came later. As for the money, we
never got rich off of it, that's for sure, but we
did alright for young guys trying to keep ourselves
in college and pay the bills. We ran it like a
business, had a "band fund" for expenses,
recording, advertising and stuff, and for a while,
we got paid by check from our manager's office.
We released one 45 rpm single in 1968. It was an
independent production on our own label, "S.M.F.".
It got some pretty good airplay in a few markets,
including Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, Flint and
Saginaw. Side A was "How Good The Rain", written by
our good friend Roger Harcourt, and side B was
"Come Back To Me", written by Dan Hansen. We
recorded a total of ten songs at Phil Roberts'
"Midwestern Sound" studio onWest Leonard Street in
Grand Rapids, and a couple more at a studio near
Flint. All were originals except our own rendition
of "Summertime", which we decided to record because
it was one of our more popular stage songs, and
because Dan sang it so well and played a great
cornet solo on it (I played it at his memorial
service). We were working toward release of an
album, and had a second single nearly ready for
release when a major split happened in the band,
and the project was sidetracked, never to be
completed. I found out in 1974 from a former
booking agent of ours in Flint that we had been
scouted by "Bell Records" and "U.S.A. Records" and
possibly one other, but our manager rejected them
and never told us about it. It seems he had his own
twisted agenda, and our goals and aspirations were
not necessarily his main objectives...still a very
sore subject for me.
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Personnel:
Dan Hansen - Lead Guitar, Cornet, Flute and
Vocals
Al Swanson - Guitar and Vocals
Jim Toczynski - Keyboards (mostly piano), Saxophone
and occasional Bass Guitar;
Bob Doleys - Drums and Percussion
Jay Fortier - Bass Guitar, Guitar, Vocals
also, at one time or another:
Roger Harcourt - Guitar
Edgar Struble - Organ, Trombone, Valve Trombone,
Vocals
Wayne Waddell - Guitar
Bo Jessop - Drums, Percussion, Vocals
Al Blick - Guitar, Vocals
Jack Purkiss - Guitar, Vocals
Joe King, - Drums
Denny Burr - Guitar, Vocals
Rod DeWitt - Organ, Vocals.
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Influences:
Beatles, Beach
Boys, The Association, Procol Harum, Moody Blues,
Doors, Steppenwolf, Chicago, Blood Sweat and Tears,
Buckinghams, Cryan Shames, Turtles, Grass Roots,
Kinks, The Who, Zombies, Faces, Joe Cocker, Rolling
Stones, (early on...Monkees, Paul Revere and The
Raiders, Dave Clark Five, Herman's Hermits,
Ventures, etc., on and on, ad infinitum). Later,
when things got a little heavier, we did some Jimi
Hendrix, Eric Clapton/Cream, Led Zeppelin,
etc.
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Setlist
Sample:
Medleys from Abbey Road and The White Album,
Classic 50's and 60's medleys, plus covers of all
the above mentioned groups.
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Equipment:
Fender Stratocaster, Mustang, and Jazz
Bass
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Rehearsal
Space:
None
listed
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Band
Vehicles:
Various
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Fashion
Statement:
See
photos
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Best
Gig:
Appearance
on"Upbeat", a TV dance show syndicated out of
Cleveland, Ohio,
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Gig from
Hell!:
"Pharaohs For A
Night". Our manager told us we were going to play
with "Sam the Sham & The Pharoahs" (of "Wooly
Bully" and "Little Red Ridin' Hood" fame). We
thought it would be an opening act thing like we
had done a few times before. We went to the place
to set up in the afternoon. It was in an Armory or
something like that, and I think it was in Lapeer,
by Flint. We set up our stuff and did a sound
check, and we were about to leave to go get
something to eat when Sam strolled in (in his
turban) with one other guy (a guitar player) and
asked if we were "his band" (?). We said no, not
that we were aware of. He said he had been told
there would be a backup band provided for him. This
did not look good. I called the dipshit manager,
and he said "I told you that you were going to play
with him". I said "yes, but you didn't say we were
going to play WITH HIM!!!!". Anyway, since there
was no other band lined up, it was us. We had to
stay and rehearse with him, and did not get out to
eat, as we had to change and open the show. Then we
had to back him up as well. He was a real jerk, and
was not happy with us (we sort of had attitudes by
this time), and we were really goofing off and
mimicking his quirky moves and laughing our asses
off. Our set by ourselves blew him off the stage.
To cap off a perfect night, our guitars ( Fender
Stratocaster, Mustang, and Jazz Bass) accidentally
got left there that night. The back of the stage
had a curtain that came to the floor, and there was
about two feet of space to the wall from the
curtain. The guitars were all in flat, rectangular
cases, and were stacked up by the curtain. In the
shuffle of moving the equipment out, they got
bumped behind the curtain and no one saw them. The
next night when we were setting up in Lansing, it
was "hey Dave, where's the guitars?". "I don't
know, Steve has them". "Steve, where's the
guitars?". "I don't know, Dave has them". Oh-oh!
We're in trouble! Luckily, we were able to rent
some from Marshall Music (they weren't in the best
of shape, and made for a long, tough night). The
next day, which was a Sunday, we had to go back to
Lapeer and get someone to open up the place for us.
Fortunately, they were there. Dave and Steve had
been worried beyond belief that they were going to
have to replace them. Of course, we hadn't made it
very easy for them, either. All in all, it had been
a tough weekend.
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Last
Gig:
None
listed
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Comments:
Beginning in 1987, the five
original members reunited several times for special
occasions. We became the ultimate reunion band, playing
20th, 25th, and 30th class reunions for both of the Manistee
high schools. Talk about a huge deja vu! Same gymnasiums and
cafeterias, many of the same people we had played for so
many years before. It was really special, and we are blessed
that we were able to do them. It was great fun, and with a
few sparse rehearsals we had most of our arrangements,
harmonies, and even endings! This continued until Dan's
passing in 2000. We have played two more since then, the
most recent being in October of 2001, with Roger Harcourt
(who had also been a member at one time) on guitar. We are
scheduled to do another one this October, Lord
willing.
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Band X in 1968
Band X 1987 Reunion
