Utah's Best: The 1960's Rock Groups of Brigham Young University Dave Donahoe was a member of three of the most popular Utah groups of the 1960s.  While at Brigham Young University, he crossed paths with Steve Thomas, and both would become important members of The Todes.  Though they scored a huge local hit with their classic ‘Good Things’, coincidental happenstances perhaps kept the group from reaching greater heights. Prior to The Todes, Donahoe had been rhythm guitarist for The Vectors and The Remnants, while Thomas had played lead guitar with The Plaidsmen. Todes (Danny Murphy, Steve Thomas, Dan Doty and Danny Davis) Dave Donahoe and Steve Thomas Recall The Todes, The Vectors, The Plaidsmen and The Remnants (July 2007) The Todes were based out of Provo, Utah. Formed in early winter of 1965, the band members were all students at Brigham Young University.  Steve Thomas (from Escondido, California), the lead guitar player and lead rock vocalist (who later was the lead singer on ‘Good Things’) organized the band with Bob Jetter. Bob came to Brigham Young University (BYU) having just left a tour with the guitar player and singer of the classic ‘Louie, Louie’ tune by The Kingsmen. After looking desperately for a bass player, Dan Doty (from Georgetown, Ohio) left rhythm guitar (which he had played in The Plaidsmen with Steve) and gave the band a punchy bass guitar and harmony vocals. Danny Murphy, a high school student and the only Provo native, gave the band the solid dance rhythm on drums. Danny Davis (from Denver, Colorado) was also lead singer adding vocal renditions of cover tunes from songs like ‘Unchained Melody’ to ‘I Got My Mojo Workin.’’ Steve's brother Al was the Tode’s regular, long-term drummer, but he was on active duty in the military and could only play occasionally and was not available at the time ‘Good Things’ was recorded. When Jetter left the band in early ’66, Mike Hart (from Redding, California) was added at keyboards.  By the beginning of 1966, The Todes were competing in the rock scene statewide in Utah with bands like The Holden Caulfield, The Barracudas and The Remnants (which included Dave Donahoe).  At the end of the school year (in May of 1966), Davis left the band, and David (Dave) Donahoe (from Richmond, Virginia), a solid rock lead vocalist, was added as lead singer.  Donahoe also sang harmonies and played rhythm guitar. Dave had joined the band not long before The Todes left Utah for a trip to Los Angeles, where The Todes recorded their hit ‘Good Things’. (Just a week before joining the band, Dave had recorded with The Remnants. His harmony vocals and rhythm guitar were on both 45rpm disc tunes.) ‘Good Things’ was recorded in Los Angeles in the early summer of 1966.  Steve wrote and sang lead on the song, and the entire band helped arrange it. By the time of the recording, Steve had already written over 30 songs (including ‘Heartbreaker’, ‘You! You!’ and ‘You’d Better Go’, which were being saved as possibilities for future album cuts and possibly for the “next” planned single). The group decided against recording one of his originals for the B-side of ‘Good Things’ because they didn’t want to “waste a tune”, nor want to confuse radio disc jockeys and program directors with two tunes. Instead, they chose to “put their money” on ‘Good Things’ and at one point even considered featuring it on both sides.  Eventually, it was concluded that a jam instrumental was a “quick and dirty answer” to a B-side (and it also helped work around the fact that available recording time was an issue). In addition, an instrumental would allow the The Todes room to show off - and to “rock out a bit” so that potential fans would know they could rock out and jam as well as any group. The band always incorporated at least one 8-bar blues jam in each set. Interestingly, Steve had initially thought of naming the song ‘69 Degrees Below Zero’ but then thought again that such a name could be interpreted as being “too sexual” and might turn some Utah listeners off. Instead he estimated the number of grooves that would be on the 45rpm and used that as the title. The result was ‘137 Grooves Below Zero.’ The jam began with a harmonica solo that Donahoe worked up in the men’s room while the rest of The Todes worked out the other parts of the song.  Donahoe had never played harmonica at gigs in The Todes (or with any other band), didn't own a harmonica, and had only casually ever played a harmonica. However, the band wanted to have variety in the instrumental with each member playing a lead on the record for the sake of history and partnership.  ‘137 Grooves’ was recorded in less than an hour and was not considered a real tune by the band.  As the group was packing up their equipment while listening to the tune, they were goofing around by kidding each other with back and forth banter as they listened to a replay of the song.  Somehow, the engineer was able to record all this banter, which explains the noise in the background of the music. That’s Steve’s and Dan’s voices really hamming it up. The Todes record received strong airplay and was a Top 5 or higher hit in Utah - not just in Provo. The single was played in Hollywood at the Hullabaloo Club on Sunset Blvd., on radio in other western states, and the band was really considered up and coming.  But, just as it seemed they’d hit the “big time,” Paul Revere and The Raiders released a song titled …‘Good Thing.’  Shortly thereafter The Todes’ record label went bankrupt and informed the group that they no longer had rights to their music.  Obviously, the band’s recording momentum had completely been stopped. (Steve likes to say: “If I only had known back then what I know now, we would have handled that whole thing way differently! But the fact was, we just kind of gave up!”) They did continue to play and evolve and became very popular in Utah. In the ‘70’s, after Dave Donahoe left the band, Steve, Dan and Al became a “power trio with dynamics and variety” and recorded an audition tape at Hollywood Sound Recorders.  Pre-Todes (David Donahoe) During the three years prior to The Todes, Donahoe had been in two other bands at BYU and each of those bands cut one 45rpm record as well.  Including The Todes, each one of his three bands had been the most popular band in central Utah during the time he was a member.   Donahoe was a member of The Vectors for two years. He hooked up with Skip Florence and George Spilsbury from Denver, and Ralph Geddes from West Covina in the Los Angeles area. (After The Vectors, Ralph also played a short stint on drums, keyboards, and guitar in The Todes, but this was after Dave’s time in that band.) Skip and George had a high school band in Denver, and they admired The Astronauts, who were the most popular Denver band at that time.  Ralph had played lead guitar on a surf album in California in high school, but he played drums in The Vectors.  ‘Shortnin’ Bread’ was recorded on the BYU campus in 1964 or 1965 in a recording studio that had never seen a rock and roll band before.  Skip sang the song, and it was chosen because it was a public domain song that Skip and George had heard The Astronauts perform. The Vectors wanted to capitalize on their popularity built from live appearances, but had not yet written an original song at that time.  The flip side was another quickly made-up instrumental written by Skip, called ‘Downhill.’  This was on the Timp label (Mt. Timpanogus is a large mountain by the BYU campus, hence Timp records). A Provo guitar storeowner and dance promoter, Jim Avery (also the group’s first manager), paid to have copies printed and sold locally.  There was a limited quantity of these discs made since a record company was not involved.  It’s doubtful even 1,000 discs were made (and most likely it was less).  The Vectors and the promoter paid for the session, printed the 45s on their own label, and distributed it primarily at dances and maybe in a Provo record store.  The Vectors were the biggest name band in Central Utah for two years, but were (never associated with) a real record company. Ed Barner, an experienced entertainment manager from Los Angeles, came to BYU to finish a degree after working in radio and entertainment management with some big name entertainers, and he recognized the Vectors’ talent, popularity and potential (he became their second manager and just a few years later went on to manage PGA golfers, including Billy Casper, Johnny Miller and Lanny Wadkins). He promoted the band and their dances, and in the summers of 1964 and 1965 arranged bookings on the Sunset Strip in teen clubs.  He also persuaded the club owner at the famous Red Velvet Club to allow The Vectors to play a short set using Ray Peterson’s band’s equipment.  The cast of the TV show Shindig was there socializing after a show and Barner wanted the Shindig producer to hear The Vectors.  He liked the band and said he would put The Vectors on TV, but (informed them) they needed to have a record on the charts first. The Vectors’ drummer, Ralph Geddes (after a short stint in The Todes) went on to major in music and have a career as a full time keyboard player, writer, and arranger (Gatlin Bros. and others) and, as of this writing, still performs nightly at the Carolina Opry production in Myrtle Beach.  Donahoe still plays in a (weekend) working rock and roll band in Richmond.  Only after searching the Internet in 2007 did it become known to these former Utah-based ‘Vectors’ that there was one or more other bands named The Vectors during the ‘60s in the eastern U.S. who also were popular and made recordings.  This coincidence may have occurred because Head Skis had a model at the time named the Vector, and musicians who were skiers may have become aware of the name ‘Vector’ (as did the Utah ‘Vectors’) as a result of their interest in snow skiing. Also note the name of the Instrumental “Downhill” – another skiing term. After the Vectors disbanded and prior to joining The Todes, Donahoe was recruited into The Remnants for one school year. The Remnants name resulted from the fact that key members had been in other bands during the previous school year that ended in June 1965.  A Provo dance promoter, band manager and radio personality, Ed Barner, who had managed and promoted The Vectors, assisted in assembling this group from “left over” members of prior groups: Jerry Solberg from The Plaidsmen, Dave Donahoe from The Vectors, and Jerry York and the bass player from a different band; hence, The Remnants.   When their record was pressed, Jerry York, or his financial benefactor, had "Jerry & The Remnants" put on the label instead of just “The Remnants.” ‘I've Wasted My Time’ (was the A-side) and ‘If I Love You Girl’ (or possibly ‘If I Loved You Girl’) a slow song (was the flip side).  This record was recorded in Los Angeles at Goldstar Studios, where many famous artists recorded hits. The Todes’ and The Remnants’ recordings in two different Los Angeles studios were made only a week or so apart in the summer of 1966.  At that time, The Remnants were going dormant because several members had graduated from college and had to move on to other things.  If The Remnants’ record became a hit, the group would have considered getting back together to tour.  However, Donahoe had already committed to join the Todes for the upcoming college year, and he recorded ‘Good Things’ with them about a week later in another Los Angeles studio. Pre-Todes (Steve Thomas) In 1964, Steve Thomas started playing lead guitar for a group called The Plaidsmen. They played Chuck Berry-style rock, because no one in Provo played horns (Thomas was used to R&B, being from the San Diego area). Jerry Solberg was The Plaidsmen’s piano player. Dan Doty played rhythm guitar, and Dan’s cousin, Tim Guymon, played bass guitar. The Plaidsmen would love to say that they “competed” with The Vectors, but that was probably in their own minds; The Vectors were by far the best liked group that played in the BYU area. In 1965, as Thomas was late returning to BYU, Solberg had started a new band, The Remnants. According to Thomas, Solberg had “found a lead singer (named) Jerry York, with a pretty boy voice. While he had vibrato, and could sing a melody, he didn’t have much endurance in his voice, and all I could sing was ‘Gloria’ by Them. Solberg decided to keep the Remnants without me.”   Thomas was left to form a band on his own. It took several months but he eventually scraped together a few musicians and made a start. Dan Doty, from the Plaidsmen, switched from guitar rhythm to bass because he “found the pocket” and gave the music some punch. Then, as fate would have it Bob Jetter, who started at BYU even later than Steve, coincidentally moved into Steve’s student apartment. Jetter had been the keyboard player on tour with a branch of The Kingsmen (the group who recorded and made famous the original national hit ‘Louie, Louie’) and somehow ended up at BYU. Jetter, Thomas, Doty and Murphy made that band rock, while Davis added melody and voice. And that was the beginning of The Todes.   The Vectors (December 1963-June 1965) Skip Florence – lead guitar and lead vocals George Spilsbury - bass guitar and harmony vocals David Donahoe - rhythm guitar and lead vocals Ralph Geddes - drums The Plaidsmen (November 1964-June 1965) Tim Guymon – bass guitar and lead vocals Steve Thomas – lead guitar and harmony vocals (only when permitted) Dan Doty - rhythm guitar and vocals Jerry Solberg – Wurlizer Piano and Vox organ and some vocals Bruce Knowles – drums The Remnants (September 1965-June 1966) Jerry Solberg - keyboards and harmony vocals David Donahoe - rhythm guitar and lead vocals  Jerry York - lead guitar and lead vocals  Frank ? - bass and harmony vocals Buzz Minson - drums          The Todes (November 1965-1969) Steve Thomas – lead guitar and lead vocals and choreography (November 1965 until now) Dan Doty  - bass and harmony vocals and choreography (November 1965 until 1999) Bob Jetter – keyboards (an “organo”) and harmony vocals and choreography direction (November 1965 until Spring 1966) Danny Davis – lead vocals and choreography (November 1965 until summer of 1966) Danny Murphy – drums (November 1965 until summer 1967) Mike Hart – keyboards (Spring 1966 until summer 1967) Dave Donahoe – rhythm guitar and lead vocals (June 1966 until August 1967) Ralph Geddes – keyboards, drums and guitar (after summer of 1967, approximately) Al Thomas - drums and vocals (intermittently)   St. Thomas Axis (Summer of 1969, evolved into St. Thomas Axis) Steve Thomas – lead guitar and lead vocals (summer of 1969 until now) Dan Doty  - bass and harmony vocals and choreography (summer of 1969 until 1999) Clair Call – keyboards and vocals (summer of 1969 until fall of 1971) Dale Bunkers - drums (summer of 1969 until fall of 1971) Al Thomas - drums and vocals (intermittently and permanently from fall of 1971 until now) The Remnants (L-R): Dave Donahoe, Frank ?, Buzz Minson, Jerry Solberg and Jerry York The Remnants (L-R): Dave Donahoe, Buzz Minson, Jerry Solberg and Jerry York Todes - "Good Things" Todes - "Heartbreaker" (Unreleased) Todes - "You'd Better Go" (Unreleased) Todes (Danny Davis, Mike Hart, Steve Thomas and Dan Doty) Todes (Mike Hart, Danny Davis, Steve Thomas, Danny Murphy and Dan Doty) Plaidsmen (Dan Doty, Bruce Knowles and Jerry Solberg) Plaidsmen (Jerry Solberg and Steve Thomas) Plaidsmen (Tim Guymon, Dan Doty, Bruce Knowles, Jerry Solberg and Steve Thomas) Plaidsmen, Top (Dan Doty, Bruce Knowles and Tim Guymon); Bottom (Jerry Solberg and Steve Thomas)