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Don Hales (bass player) and myself were in a band called the Dimensions (guitar, bass, drums & singer). We were pretty bad. Individually we were talented enough and capable of playing the music of the day. However, it just didn't have the chemistry of togetherness. It was like four guys playing individually with "0" continuity. Anyway, Don & I met Fred Bingham (drummer) and Dick Brown (keyboard/sax) from another band. We shared the same frustrations in our individual bands. So we said, hey let's jam and see what happens, see how it sounds. We jammed, it clicked, the chemistry was there. We were all on about the same level of talent and were eager to learn & improve musically. It was soon discovered that only Fred B. could barely sing lead vocals and I was strictly the do-op background singer. Fred & Dick knew of Butch Burden, who sang in the school choir and had an excellent voice. So he was recruited into the band as the lead singer. Ironically, Don & I were from the West side of town and the rest were from the East side. So we had a little rivalry thing going on. Started the band in 1965 and broke up in 1968. The idea of the band's name "Count & The Colony" was borrowed from Paul Revere & the Raiders and it sounded better than a lot of the band names of the day. Actually, we were in Detroit trying to find outfits to make us a little more unique and came across (1) revolutionary war type coat with sequins and some ascots at a costume place. Butch being the front man got the coat (thus the count) the rest of us wound up with the ascots (thus the colony) and picked the rest of the costumes to make the colony. Wow, what a long winded answer!!!!!! What were your musical influences? That's a good question. Obviously, the Beatles influenced all of us as far as getting started in music. However, we were never influenced enough by their music to play their tunes. Or for that matter, I don't think we played any British music. We did play a lot of Motown, some Paul Revere & the Raiders and any type of music that had a good beat with rhythm. What happened with the band? It broke up in 1968. Like many bands of the day, we became impatient for success, frustrated with too much travel, infighting, not making enough money, band management and on and on......Personally, I left school at 15 to travel in the band throughout Michigan and the states. I also promised my parents I would return to finish school if we didn't "hit it big" within a certain amount of time. It's impossible to travel the way we were and attend conventional high school. Where and what are you doing now? We all still live in the same town (Saginaw, Michigan). We're all still good friends and we still get together once in awhile for rock-n-roll reunions in the area. Dick Brown, keyboard/sax player passed away in 1995. I own LEW Consulting LLC, a facility management company. Don Hales is a builder (carpenter), Fred Bingham sells real estate and Butch Burden owns apartment houses and still plays in a local band called "Count N' Change". Care to share any memorable moments? Too many to mention. Here's a few...... 1. Winning the pro-am battle of the bands (1st place out of 114 bands) in Detroit at the State Fair in 1967. Opening for the Supremes and meeting them backstage at this same event. 2. Traveling around the country in a band at 15 with only a road manager and no parental supervision and the road manager was worse than us. 3. Playing at an event in Mexico and being treated like the Beatles. 4. Being able to take 6 months off from high school and have long hair. 5. Having a different girlfriend every night, partying every night. An exciting lifestyle with little responsibilities. You live for today when your 15 but I knew it couldn't last forever. 6. Work ethic experience...Being sick in bed in Chicago with a 103 degree temperature and we had to play on a tv show that day. I said, I think I'm too sick to play. The road manager (a tough little Mexican bastard) said, get your f_ _ _ _ _ _ ass out of bed we're taking you to a doctor and you will play. Went to a doctors house leaned over the dining room table and got (2) shots of anti-biotics and vitamin B. Under threat of getting my ass kicked, I played the tv show that night and sweat through all my clothes, sick as a dog!!! I swear, if I ever catch up with that road manager now and he's still alive, I think I'm big enough now to kick his ass. 7. Writing (3) songs that were released and Recording at United Sound Studios in Detroit (the same studio Motown used), Cleveland and Texas. 8. Seeing the Alamo in San Antonio. It didn't look like the same as it did on the Disney tv version. |
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March 16, 2004
