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The Things to Come
Wheaton, Illinois
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The Things to Come released a 45 in 1966 on the Dunwich label (Dunwich 124), "I'm Not Talkin'" backed with "Till the End".
One of the members wrote to say:
The Things to Come were from Wheaton, Illinois, in the greater Chicago area, which has given the world Wes Craven and John and Jim Belushi.
The real names of the guys are as follows: Ken Ashley's real name was Kennith Utterback, George Heatherton was Richard Cureton and Keith St. Micheal was Thomas Keith Mirabile.
It was thought by the label (Bill Trout and Dunwich) that having English sounding names would be a advantage.
The only one who had the advantage was the drummer Cliff Harrison who survived the name changes.
The Things to Come cut three records at Sound Studios in Chicago, "I'm Not Talking" and "Till the End," which were released on Dunwich Records, and the unreleased "Don't Stay That Way."
The group broke up shortly after.
Ken Ashley is rumored to have gone on to play for Pacific Gas and Electric.
Rich Cureton was last seen moving to California in the eighties.
Cliff Harrison vanished into the mist.
Tom Mirabile aka Keith St. Michael is a lawyer and college professor in Wheaton, Illinois I know this quite well, as I was there, Tom Mirabile in the Things to Come 1966
I asked Tom to fill in a little more of the story, and he wrote:
It seems like so long ago.
We really were not keen on cutting a cover on "I'm Not Talking" as it was exceptionally well done by the Yardbirds on one of their albums.
Dunwich's A&R, Bill Trout, had just had great sucess with The Shadows of Knight with a cover for "Gloria" by Van Morrison.
Bill liked to search English albums for songs that didn't get A play and cover them.
Thought that he could have a repeat of the sucess he had with "Gloria."
Our group thought that the tempo of our rendition of "I'm Not Talking" was too fast and that it wasn't a single release.
Oh well, "I'm Not Talking" was released to tepid airplay.
Our B side actually was a better representation of the band.
"Till the End" was written by the lead guitarist Ken Ashley (Ken Utterback).
Out of the same session at Sound Studios, the song that wasn't released probably was our strongest "Don't (Stay That Way)," also written by Ken Ashley.
The Viet Nam War was in full swing in 1966, the draft was looming and I was 18 years old.
My parents were not too keen on the idea of me living the life of a musician.
What ever amount of money made by the band seemed to always go right out the window for equipment, costs and the like (old story).
I made a decision to go to college and give up the band.
Over the years most of my equipment was sold off to pay college expenses.
My last possession, a twelve string electric Mosrite paid for a few courses in Law school.
Some thiry years later, my wife Pam gave me a new Stratocaster—my original guitar—for Christmas.
My children find it hard to believe that I was once a long haired sixties band type.
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