The Trashmen
This Minneapolis rock & roll band evolved from a group called
Jim Thaxter & The Travelers, recording one single under that
name (Sally Jo b/w Cyclone).
Unfairly depicted as a novelty act, The Trashmen were in
actuality a top-notch rock & roll combo, enormously popular on
the teen-club circuit, playing primarily surf music to a
landlocked Minnesota audience.
Drummer/lead vocalist Steve Wahrer combined two songs by The
Rivingtons (The Bird's The Word and Pa Pa Ooh Mow Mow),
added freakish vocal effects and a pounding rhythm to the mix,
and, by early 1964, the group was in the Top Ten nationwide with Surfin'
Bird.
Though the group continued to release great follow-up singles
and an excellent album (also called Surfin' Bird), their
moment in the sun had come and gone. They had disbanded by early
1968.
They re-formed in the mid-80s and continued to play locally
until Wahrer's death from cancer in 1989. The band have played
since, with Tony Andreason's brother, Mark, on drums (and at
times, Bob Reed's son, Robin).
The Trashmen are revered by 60s collectors as one of the great
American teen band combos of all time, their lone hit exemplifying
wild, unabashed rock & roll at its most demented.
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