Although both Jack and I had recorded before, the Villagers may have been the most significant of the Orpheus precursors. (Click here to listen to a clip from a live version of Bruce's song Just A Little Bit, courtesy of the Iris Music Group).
The Villagers became one of the area's premier folk acts, playing such venues as the Loft, the Odyssey, the Unicorn and the Pesky Sarpint, and were twice voted "Best Folk Duo" by the readers of Broadside magazine. The Carousel was one of the best-known folk venues on the Cape - a family restaurant by day, and a "music Mecca" by night. I have one of these in my collection as well.īy the summer of 1965 they had matured into a real "class act," and had a regular stint at the Carousel in Hyannis. Later they began to incorporate some of Bruce's original songs, and continued to record demos. In fact, the two of them stopped by my place in Worcester in the late fall of 1964 and gave me a tape they'd just recorded at WTAG I still have it. In short order they became the "house band" at a small coffee house in Yarmouth, MA (on Cape Cod) called the Villager, from which they took their name.ĭuring the fall and winter of 1964-1965, the pair began to make some demo recordings. Originally a cover group, the two quickly became a "folk phenomenon." Their voices blended perfectly, and their finger-style guitars complemented one another. Very soon thereafter, Jack teamed up with another Worcester folkie, a fellow named Bruce Arnold, to form a duo that became known as the Villagers. This reconstituted trio continued to perform through June of 1964, when both Dave and Bruce graduated and everyone went their separate ways. When I left the group to go on to the Blue Echoes, I was replaced by another WPI student named Bruce Larsen. I was an "official" member only from October of 1962 through March of 1963, although I did get drafted into the Minute Men album project in April and recorded on the College Boys' single (along with co-writing and co-producing it) the following November. My tenure in the trio was relatively short. This trio, variously known as the Wanderers, the Minute Men and the College Boys, can properly be called the first precursor of Orpheus, of which both Jack and I would ultimately become founding members. One of my mates in that group was a Worcester native named Jack McKennes. (Snake): Those of you that have read my musical History may remember that I mentioned that, while attending WPI in 19, I had played in and recorded with a folk trio. L-R: Bruce Arnold, Jack McKennes, Harry Sandler, Eric "the Snake" Gulliksen
So, even if you've read it before, there may be new content that you will miss if you just jump to the end of the page). Although we're trying to present the narrative in chronological order, sometimes we have to go back and insert something that we'd previously forgotten. (We're putting this together in bits and pieces as we remember things. Ths page comprises some of their reminiscences from "back in the day." Stephen and Snake were both members of the soft-rock group Orpheus, which was active on the national scene from 1968 through 1972.
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