Knight Raiders - Edgewood Studios acetate

[The Raven]

1 of 2:

For a few months now I've been in pretty much constant contact with a former record label owner/music promoter from the mid-Atlantic who's helping me out with an article series I'm writing about the mid-Atlanitc garage/teenbeat scene.

This old school music impresario is very interested in identifying some mysterious acetates in his record collection. Most have been easy to track down (and most of the acetates have not been garage, though he had a few rare soul/pre-Beatle rock discs), but this one is totally unknown to me and the acetate's owner also can't remember anything about the band or disc.

Anyone here ever heard of a band (possibly from the DC/DelMarVa area) called Knight Raiders? (note the 'K' spelling)

 

[The Raven]

On the other side it looks like *maybe* this crew covered The X-Cellents' kickass frat rocker "Hang It Up"

Edgewood Studios is highly regarded among most heads around here as the studio that employed garage punk god/producer extrordinaire Tom Guernsey of The Hangmen and Omegas.

The studio also cut The Henchmen's great fuzz punk acetate 'Get Off My Back', and tonsa famous records including Ramsey Lewis' hit version of 'In with the In-Crowd' (not sure if that's the right title, but ya'll probly know what tune i'm talking about)

 

[Dave Baldwin]

On the other side it looks like *maybe* this crew covered The X-Cellents' kickass frat rocker "Hang It Up"

Edgewood Studios is highly regarded among most heads around here as the studio that employed garage punk god/producer extrordinaire Tom Guernsey of The Hangmen and Omegas.

The studio also cut The Henchmen's great fuzz punk acetate 'Get Off My Back', and tonsa famous records including Ramsey Lewis' hit version of 'In with the In-Crowd' (not sure if that's the right title, but ya'll probly know what tune i'm talking about)

I believe that some of the 'locally-sourced' soul 45s on the legendary Shrine label were also cut there. A very nice-sounding studio for its size.

 

[MopTopMike]

Checked copyright, one match for the title, was registered in 1967

 

[The Raven]

Thanks Mike, i'll be passing on this info to the label owner guy asap and doin some info searches of my own on this name too

 

[The Raven]

Also, thanks for (indirectly) reminding me that i really NEED to get a Library Of Congress membership

 

[The Raven]

So the guy who owns this acetate has since relocated to texas from the east coast. He's looking to possibly get a digital rip made of the disc and maybe a few other pieces from his collection.

Other than Greisman/Cicadelic Records, would anyone here have a recommendation for a good recording engineer or studio in Texas that specializes in digitizing old recordings done in obsolete analogue formats? (preferably in or near the Dallas/Ft. Worth/Denton area)

 

[The Raven]

I already sent the guy to Michael Greisman but he has not heard back from him

The label owner in question released a record that Greisman reissued - The Apollos' "Target Love" b/w "It's A Monster" on Montgomery - so i though it might be a perfect match if these guys could get together, but the Montgomery guy has not yet heard from anyone involved with Cicadelic Records or Greisman despite messaging him about 2 or 3 weeks ago.

Lone star punk/garage fiends seem to grow on trees, so i figured a good Texas studio/engineer with an archival focus wouldn't be even vaguely hard to find. Even if you don't have a direct tip for a name or a studio, could anyone here even just point us in the right direction?

 

[greenfuzz]

Alec Palao has done work with several Texas labels. He‘s in the Bay Area, of course, but it couldn’t be in better hands. I understand the acetate owner is looking for a local Texas studio but after learning Alec’s qualifications maybe he’d consider an exception.

 

[The Raven]

Yeh, credentials are just one of several major parts of the equation. It's a one of a kind acetate so the idea of mailing it to anyone (other than someone interested in buying it) is totally impossible

Alec is great, but unless he's willing to come to Texas to rip a copy of an acetate that almost no one has ever heard, i don't think he can help

If this label owner guy is gona end up in the SF Bay Area sometime soon that might work, but i doubt that'll be the case. But i'll ask him about that anyway

 

[chas_kit]

ARSC directory from 2019 at https://www.arsc-audio.org/audiopreservation.html

If you can't find someone local through that, let me know and I will post on the board.

 

[The Raven]

Thanks Chris, gona check this out tonight

 

[TJ Coro]

Hello Raven,

Are you still looking for information about the Knight Raiders and their demo acetate? I was a member of that band.

Steve

 

[greenfuzz]

Welcome, Steve. We’d all love to learn more about the Knight Raiders.

 

[TJ Coro]

Thanks for the welcome. I looked for the new member intro forum but could not find it. I’d be happy to share a bit about myself if I can find the proper place to do so.

Thanks again! Hoping I can provide some useful information to The Raven about the Knight Raiders. - Steve (aka, TJ)

 

[TJ Coro]

The Knight Raiders formed in 1966 in Maryland and stayed together a few years. It was the 60’s and some of us tuned in and others tuned out. Thus the eventual split. We did make a demo acetate in 1967 with two original songs - Hang it up (I don’t want to hear it) and Love Without Words. Both written by Jeff Phillips, lead guitar. The other original members were Jim Fetrow, lead singer, Gary Phillips, organ, Butch Marstiller, bass guitar, and Steve Seifert (me) on drums.

During our time together, we went from rock to soul music and changed the name to Simon Soul and the Knight Raiders. After playing a college in Lynchburg, Virginia, a few of us went out and partied like…well, like it was the 60s. When the manager (Jeff’s mom) found out, she disbanded the band.

I remember the day we went to Edgewood Recording Studio to cut the demo. It was so exciting. I will never forget it. We felt like we were on our way. Oh, well…

Anyway, if anyone is interested in more info on the Knight Raiders or would like to hear the songs, let me know. I’d be happy to share. -Steve

 

[13th Floor Garage]

Steve, Thanks for sharing your memories. Not only would I be enthusiastic about hearing your demos, but also reading more about your band experiences.

 

[vinyl01]

Steve, I would like to hear your demos also. thanks.

 

[greenfuzz]

Yes...please post your demos.

 

[TJ Coro]

Great! Happy to hear so much interest. Now, a little help, please. I have the recordings stored in my iTunes library and probably on my PC somewhere. Any ideas how I can post them here? -Steve