EPILOGUE.
At age 13, my mom signed me up for private drum lessons at Mr. Smiths Drum Shop in Wheaton, Maryland. The Beatles had already taken over the world of Rock & Roll and every young boy who wasn't a star athlete wanted to play the guitar or drums. I chose the drums. I quickly discovered I had a natural talent for drumming and, at age 14, found myself in a band - The Knight Raiders. Three years later, the band split up - it was over.
After the Knight Raiders were no more, I half-heartedly started looking for other bands to join by answering ads. I showed up at one audition only to find there were no other members except for the guitar player, and he wasn't really that good, so...ugh! On another audition, I met some guys who practiced in a barn out in the country. Okay, now we're talking. They weren't too bad, either. But they were unorganized, had no gigs lined up and no one seemed to be in-charge. I think they just wanted to jam, which is cool, but not what I was looking for. They did have a few cute girls hanging around, one of which I later dated. So, it wasn't a total waste. I checked out a few other groups, but didn't want to join any. After that, I stopped looking and just jammed occasionally with friends. Nothing serious. Eventually, my drums were stuffed away in their cases never to see the light of day again until 30 years later. And that just happened.
After finishing Chapter IX, I decided to crack open the drum cases to have a look. To my amazement, they are in pretty good condition - the drum heads are still tight and white, and the silver pearl sparkle still sparkles. I can even see the remains of a set list that I had written on the floor tom drum head. The only two things missing are the bass drum front head and the cowbell. WHAT? NO COWBELL? As we all know, you can't have too much cow bell, now can you? And I loved playing the cowbell. That I will have to replace.
I also came across an old poster dated April 5 (1968) for the Knight Raiders featuring Stan Burley, vocalist. That's right, Stan Burley, one of the premier garage band soul singers in the area. Somehow, I forgot to mention him in the previous chapters. Greg W., our agent/manager, hooked us up with Stan after our original singer, Jim F. left the band for cop school. Stan was not a permanent replacement and sang with other bands. So what? I liked Stan. He was an excellent singer and cool to hang with. In fact, I have a reel-to-reel tape somewhere of the Knight Raiders with Stan singing during a practice session. I should dig it up and see what kind of shape it's in. Stan eventually left and was replaced by another singer, George Hackett, who may or may not have been Stan's cousin. Quick story about Stan - Once, while driving to a job, Stan asked me to "throw a little mud in the crack." What? I had no idea what that meant, but laughed anyway, as if I did. I now know what it means; do you? In addition to the poster, I also found two stencils I used to paint the band's name on the bass drum head. That's crazy! I have the stencils, but not the drum head! I took some pictures of the poster, stencils and the drums which I will post below.
FINAL WORD - In 2017, I had planned to make a YT video celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Knight Raiders demo acetate. I never did, however, and the moment passed. After that, I would occasionally search the Google machine to see if I could find anything on the Knight Raiders. Nothing ever came up...well, not until about a month ago. That's when I came across Mr. The Raven's September 2021 post which stated this thread. He was seeking information about my band, the Knight Raiders, and the acetate we recorded. I was stunned! I couldn't believe it! He even posted a picture of the acetate. How the hell did he get a copy of our very limited demo acetate? Once I recovered from my shock, I sighed up immediately and responded to his post. After some encouragement from a few members, I began documenting the story of the Knight Raiders on this forum. So, thank you Mr. The Raven for starting this whole thing off.
And thanks to all the other fine members (and guests) who have followed this thread, commented and/or liked my posts. It fills my heart with warmth and brings a big smile to my face knowing you are interested in reading about a little known garage band from the 60s that split up more than 50 years ago. Your comments and 'likes' inspired me to continue writing about my time with the band. Now, I have a written document of long forgotten memories telling the story of the Knight Raiders from beginning to end. So, again...thanks for all your support along the way.
Steve (aka, TJ Coro, aka Puro Padre)
