Dynamic Distortions

The Dynamic Distortions were one of the most popular bands in and around Middleport, Ohio in the 1960’s. They had earned name recognition and made some money while doing it, but abruptly came to and end due to what keyboardist Eric Chambers states was a classic case of burnout. Although the band never recorded, they performed everywhere that was worth playing throughout Ohio and West Virginia.

An Interview With Eric Chambers

60s: How did the members of The Dynamic Distortions first get interested in music?

Eric Chambers (EC): I had taken piano lessons as a youngster and had an aunt and uncle who were musicians. Kim Neal had an older brother who played in a rock and roll band in the late fifties/sixties. John Lisle and Bill Francis were neighbors. Bill just liked being a drummer, and John had always been a singer in church and school musicals, etc. Artie Casci just seemed to be born with a bass guitar.

60s: Was The Dynamic Distortions your first band?

EC: No. Beginning about 1965 while in college, I began playing keyboard with a group from Gallipolis, Ohio called P.J. Ryle and The Royal Tones. Kim was playing with some pickup bar bands along a bar circuit along Route 7, i.e., Kings Arms, Merry-Go-Round, Wonder Bar, Hi-7, Flamingo, 7-35 Club, Green Gables, and Starlite. While at lunch in Denny’s restaurant at Rio Grande College, Kim brought up the idea of forming a band. He had played with three other guys and wanted to know if I wanted in. I was in, and we began playing under a different name each weekend. Our regular gig was in Parkersburg, West Virginia at a place called the Roaring ‘20s, and it was roaring; beer was the only drink of choice and served by the can or plastic pitcher. There was no glass! Every week we would change out name so the patrons thought they were getting a different band. The owner of the ‘20s was a huge guy named Humphrey who physically cleared the place at closing time…paid us cash…and asked what our name next week would be. Since I couldn’t work in two bands at the same time, I had to make a choice and went with the new band that finally settled on the name The Ravens.

In about 1966, Bill and John had the beginnings of a group called The Robins, which was a vanilla bubblegum-type band, which didn’t go anywhere and was together only a short time. In the spring of ‘66 Kim approached Bill about forming a new and more substantial group with more focus and musical presence. Kim and I left The Ravens but they stayed together for a number of years. Bill and John disbanded The Robins whose remaining members later joined us in concert as The Next-in-Line.

The four of us met one Sunday afternoon to try to locate a bass player. We finally found a 16-year-old high school junior named Artie Casci, who was playing with some guys called The Princetons. Artie was the only real musician in the group and was also the lead singer. We offered him a job and he left the group that evening.

60s: Where and when was The Dynamic Distortions formed?

EC: The group was formed one afternoon in April of 1966 in my front living room in Middleport, Ohio by a collective effort of five guys intent on making some real money in the music business. We rehearsed selected songs from each band’s repertoire as a musical foundation. We all loved (Paul Revere and) The Raiders’ music and that formed the core of our song list at that time. Our instrumentation included Bill, on Roger’s drums; Artie, on Vox bass/amp; Kim, on Rickenbacker/Vox amp; and myself on a Vox keyboard/amp. John was singing through 15” JBL speakers powered by a 100-watt Bogen PA amp. We used Shure mikes. Our sound was Raiders-like backed by an eclectic mix of Top 40 songs.

60s: What was the Middleport rock and roll scene like in the '60s?

EC: In the early to middle ‘60s there were not too many pure rock and roll bands. Most of the bands in our area were more country in flavor with some contemporary thrown in. The bands primarily played the bar scene and clubs. High school dances were more prone to the record hop type venue with a radio personality or private deejay. This ‘hop’ atmosphere would gear up in the spring, summer, and fall to as many as four dances per week from Maplewood Lake to the Middleport Pool. You could find a dance on Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings. High schools, etc. were afraid to risk their profits on live music as many of them had been ‘burned’ in the past. Some skating rinks had been more successful. We were a new form of entertainment and untested…untried.

We were in need of promotion and a satisfaction guaranteed profit-making reputation. For us it was found at the Racine Junior High Auditorium. We settled on making the Racine Junior High Auditorium our home base and foundation of our musical enterprise. The school district did not allow dances in the high school gym so everything after game dances were directed to the jr. high. These dances began about 45 minutes after the end of the ball game through football and basketball season. The dances lasted about an hour and a half or until 11:30pm. This made for an easy session and we were paid the same as for a three-hour dance. We made a contract that the first 100 paid admissions were ours and the remainder went to the sponsors. We would guarantee a 100+ attendance. That was never a problem after the first few dances. Once we began having 200-300+ gates, the sponsors vied for sponsorship of dances. We began having an hour and a half after game dance on Friday evening and left the equipment until the next evening and do an 8:00pm-11:00pm dance on Saturday night. Any open dates were usually filled with Racine Jr. High dances, which solidified our reputation for attracting crowds.

60s: Where did the band typically play?

EC: Aside from our home turf, we expanded our territory to clubs around Ohio University in Athens, the Belpre Skateland which was a regular date, some college parties, and lots of high school proms and parties. The Belpre Skateland was the showcase for bands seeking prom engagements which had a limited time frame of about one month--usually late April to mid-May. In 1968 we had seven proms out of the Belpre Skateland--some big ones, including Belpre High School and Warren Local High School. In some respects, The Belpre Skateland was the Fillmore of the mid-Ohio valley during '66-69.

60s: Did you play any local teen clubs?

EC: No. At this time there were no local teen clubs.

60s: How far was the band’s “touring” territory?

EC: We traveled in a Chevy florist van, but didn’t take engagements further than we could not return that night because we had to go to work or college.

60s: Did The Dynamic Distortions participate in any battle of the bands?

EC: Yes. There were a few. The bigger ones in Huntington, West Virginia or Parkersburg, West Virginia were usually ‘fixed’ in favor of one of the local groups, or favored a particular style of music, i.e., Motown. Usually, the bands were in an audition competition for proms. Once, Ames-Bern High School had us in competition with The Hitchhikers from Nelsonville for their prom date. What they didn’t tell us was that we would only get paid for the dance if we won the battle of the bands. We did win and got paid and also got the job of playing their prom. We didn’t feel a need to compete. We found it somewhat demeaning.

60s: What other local groups of the era do you especially recall?

EC: The best group in Athens/O.U. was Ross and The Scepters; in the Parkersburg area was Mike Morningstar; in the Belpre area were The Cobras IV from Beverly, Ohio. Both the lead and bass guitar players were also fraternity brothers with me. I was closer to Steve Miller (bass player). His brother Dave Miller (lead guitar) was somewhat younger. Both The Cobras IV and The Dynamic Distortions played regularly at the large venue at The Belpre Skateland, which held about 1500. The Cobras IV were considered the house band, but we both played on the same bill sometimes. Sometimes we and they were warm-up bands for the featured artists like The Napoleonic Wars, Sam The Sham and The Pharoahs, The Castaways and others.

The Moppets were from Dayton, Ohio. Their singer was Lamar McClellen. He and I were fraternity brothers in the Pi Sigma fraternity. It's been 40 years since I've heard from him.

60s: Did The Dynamic Distortions have a manager?

EC: No. We were a very democratic band and made our decisions collectively.

60s: How popular locally did The Dynamic Distortions become?

EC: We played everywhere that was worth playing. We had name recognition and made money. Never as much as we wanted, but enough to keep us trying.

60s: Why didn’t The Dynamic Distortions release any 45s?

EC: Three reasons: 1) We never had enough money; 2) We never had good original material; and 3) We never had the time with working and playing.

60s: Did The Dynamic Distortions write many original songs?

EC: No.

60s: Do any ‘60’s Dynamic Distortions live recording exist?

EC: Yes. Either Bill Francis or Kim Neal would have copies. (Note: The songs thought to exist are one half of a local Radio Athens broadcast, aired March 4, 1967, entitled Tomorrow's Stars. The program was sort of a talent contest that featured local acts. Among the songs performed by The Dynamic Distortions were 'Stepping Stone' and 'Little Black Egg.' However, as we were set to publish this interview, we were informed that a complete copy of the broadcast has been located. We hope to be able to feature it shortly).

60s: Did the band make any TV appearances? Do any home movie films exist?

EC: No TV appearances but we did do radio out of Athens. Bill Francis most likely has some home movies.

60s: What year and why did the band break up?

EC: In 1969. We were burned out. We were rehearsing ‘Come On Down To My Boat' and I just shut off the keyboard and said I was tired of playing. We were in a rut. Kim said he felt the same way. Everyone just packed up their equipment and went home. No arguments, no anger; we just outgrew the local rock and roll scene. Even the money didn’t matter anymore. John had left the group over a year earlier and got married. Kim and Bill settled down and got married within a year.

60s: Did you join or form any bands after The Dynamic Distortions?

EC: Yes. Artie joined The Ravens who were still playing bars and clubs. Later he went on to the seminary and became a priest. Due to some personal problems, I became somewhat of a recluse and retreated to my basement to paint. About a year and a half later, Artie came by and said I should get back to music again and get a life. I met a drummer, Jim Wildermuth, whom last I heard lived in Columbus, Ohio and played with a band called Whale. He had a friend who was a budding guitar player named Rick Miller. We set up in the basement. I switched to bass guitar and Wildermuth and myself laid down backbeats for Miller for over three months while he worked out his licks and riffs. You could see Rick grow musically from one rehearsal to the next. He was driven.

When we decided to come out of the basement we called ourselves Gordon Foxx. The success was great. There was more money and better venues to play and we did more college gigs. After about a year Jim and Rick wanted to add horns, etc… so I left them to their own devices. A few months later Jim Wildermuth came back and wanted to revive Gordon Foxx. Rick Miller went on to Ohio University to study Pharmacy and became a popular blues guitarist. Jim and I added a pedestrian guitar player, Billy Zuspan, and a lead singer, Van Johnson. We became the house band for the Red Carpet Inn in Pt. Pleasant, West Virginia.

60s: What about your careers today?

EC: Today, my keyboard is relegated to my upstairs where I occasionally play a few of the doo wop oldies. Kim is retired and he and his brother build hot rods. He told me once that he thought about playing again if we could be done by 10:00pm so he could get to bed early. Bill runs the family florist business and plays Christian music with his son, Billy Jr. Artie is still a priest and lives in Dayton. John passed away over a year ago.

60s: How do you best summarize your experiences with The Dynamic Distortions?

EC: “Something I loved doing at that moment in time, but would not care to repeat today.” It was a labor of love for the music and the crowds. There was adventure, excitement, and challenges. It was much like a love affair with all the passion, heartaches, and triumphs.

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