The Lewiston/Auburn (Maine) scene rocked in the ‘60s and now—thanks to Nick Knowlton and others—it’s rocking again in 2010. Knowlton’s group, Terry & The Telstars, was extremely popular in their ‘60s heyday, and are today best known by collectors for their two excellent songs on the Arf Arf CD compilation, New England Teen Scene Unreleased. In August, Terry & The Telstars, along with The Innkeepers, The Moon Dawgs, The Travelers, The Rockin’ Recons and The Royal Knights, performed at the Pal Hop Reunion, and by all accounts were a smashing success. Knowlton graciously provided 60sgaragebands.com information on the back story of Terry & The Telstars.
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| Terry & The Telstars |
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An Interview With Nick Knowlton
60sgaragebands.com (60s): How did you first get interested in music?
Nick Knowlton (NK): I started out as a choir boy and was told by many, my choir teacher and the entire adult choir, that I had a gift. I was only 10-1/2 at the time.
60s: Was Terry & The Telstars your first band?
NK: The first appearance of The Beatles on Ed Sullivan, launched many young musicians and singers in 1964. I was asked to be the frontman or the tambourine player for Terry & The Telstars by audition and that was the beginning of my birth in music. We were together just about four years until the struggles of college or music began to weigh in on the possibilities of do we or do we not. I went on to other bands and never looked back.
I joined (Terry McCarthy’s) Telstars in 1964. The group consisted of Terry McCarthy, lead guitar/background vocals; Danny Caron, drums; Peter Nadeau, keyboards/background vocals; Paul Roy, bass/background vocals; and Nick Knowlton, vocals/tambourine/cowbell.
60s: How would you describe the band's sound? What bands influenced you?
NK: Clean rock and roll (like) The Beatles.
60s: What was the Lewiston rock and roll scene like in the '60s?
NK: The Pal Hop at the City Hall above the police station was the beginning of L/A’s (Lewiston/Auburn) music scene. High schools, colleges, and eventually the clubs scene was so exciting. Girls, cars, music…Wow!
60s: Where did the band typically play?
NK: We really played everywhere: High schools, colleges, bars, private parties, etc.
60s: How far was the band's "touring" territory?
NK: In the early stages, Southern Central Maine but eventually we went to Canada and New Hampshire at a variety of venues (and played fairs, etc.).
60s: Did Terry & The Telstars participate in any battle of the bands?
NK: We were fortunate to be among the shining bands. We won the Sunn battle of the Bands (1968?) and took second place to The Innkeepers in the Vox Battle of the Bands in 1969. And I believe we won Search for Stardom sometime in the mix. Bands like The Travelers, The Impressions, The Arguments…(there was) so many to remember…Wow!
60s: How did you hook up with Ed Boucher? How active was he in promoting the band?
NK: Ed was in The Royal Knights. They were regarded at that time to be the Lewiston Beatles. They were the founders of the Pal Hop. Ed was quick to become a promoter of the scene and had many bands under his wing as a booking agent. We were fortunate to be the cream of the crop in some ways. EAB Recording Studio was a driving force throughout New England in that time.
60s: Terry & The Telstars recorded two songs ('Reasons' and 'Stop & Think') that were included on Arf Arf's New England Teen Scene Unrelased CD compilation. Why weren't they released at the time?
NK: I'm not really sure. We may have been in the midst of change. Control of futures in the business started to become very challenging amongst bands and management at that time.
60s: Where did Terry & The Telstars record?
NK: We first recorded at Ace Recording in Boston as the second place band in the Vox Battle. Later as time went on we recorded at EAB Recordind Studios in Lewiston, Maine. That was Ed Boucher’s studio. He was also our manager at the time.
60s: Did Terry & The Telstars write many original songs?
NK: Other than for 'Reasons' and 'Stop & Think,' both written by Dennis Williams, Terry wrote 'Stoned Lonely' (released with 'Vegatable Binge' as White Fluff) which we recorded and released on EAB Records in 1968-ish. We were really into covers and having fun at that time.
60s: Are there any other Terry & The Telstars recordings? Are there any vintage live recordings, or other unreleased tracks?
NK: I'm not really sure if there are any at all.
60s: Did the band make any local TV appearances?
NK: Not that I remember.
60s: Some fantatsic 8mm footage was used in the Echoes In Time documentary.
NK: I was able to salvage a bunch of 8MM from Danny Caron’s archives. It included lots of useless travel scenary that looks terrible but what I could salvage is priceless. My children, Nicholas, 30, and my Daughter, Krista, 32 were all giggles and yet what a keepsake.
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| White Fluff |
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60s: Why did the band change names to White Fluff? How much longer after the name change did you disband?
NK: White Fluff came about for two reasons. In August of 68 we were in a major accident/rollover on our way to a gig in Canada. Rumors were some of us had died…not true. Then, after recuperating and repairing lots of equipment, it was time to get a cool name. Well...so it seemed. It wasn’t long after that we started to go our own ways (1968 or 1969) and on to dfferent bands, etc.
White Fluff was the same members exactly. As Terry and The Telstars matured over time, we had kicked around a name change but I remember we were popular as Terry and The Telstars and that could have been a problem. In August of 1969, we were on our way to St. Stephens, New Brunswick, Canada to play
and just 20 minutes from Bangor, Maine (an hour north of home, Lewiston, Maine) we blew a tire on our van and rolled over three times. What a mess…equipment all over the highway. Wow! Ed Boucher, our manager, and I were hospitalized and released. Everyone else was bruised but fine. The van was totaled and the equipment was in real bad shape.
Radio stations back home had rumored a possible fatality and the fans went nuts. Cards, letters and flowers were overwhelming at that time. That’s when we started discussing the name change to White Fluff. We did and all was well; however, the future still caused us to last just a short amount of time. College, jobs and other musical directions were the paths of that time. What a time it was.
60s: What was the impetus for the Terry & The Telstars reunion?
NK: We always remained friends. It was just what bands started to do. The Pal Hop Reunion (August 14, 2010) was a monster success and what a history it will tell.
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| Terry & The Telstars, 2010 |
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