The Thingies
 From Topeka To Miami To Austin!

For many years now the legend of The Thingies has been cloaked in obscurity. Record collectors would find a release on Casino Records called "It's a Long Way Down" and figure the band was from Kansas. They were. Then up pops a single release on the Sonobeat label of Austin, Texas and sure enough it's by a band called The Thingies. People who lived in Miami in the summer of love recall a fantastic group with a far out light show called The Thingies. How many Thingies were there? The answer is one. The Thingies were a band that knew how to get around. If they hadn't been plagued by bad management in Austin, they would have ended up in San Francisco as another great group on par with The Jefferson Airplane. Unfortunately fate would prove otherwise as the following story will make evident to all those willing to probe into the deep recesses of the 60's.

Larry Miller's father was in the Air Force and because of this the family moved around the country every couple of years. By the time Larry was in high school he was living in Abilene, Texas in the late 50's and early 60's. At this time he would sing along to records for hours and dream of being a musician. After high school Larry went into basic training in Chicago. It was there that Larry met a guy who was in Bobby Vee's band and this influenced him greatly in the music scene. He was Larry's roommate in 1962 and his name was John Rotham. After Larry's stint in Chicago he moved to Topeka, Kansas, cause he was in the Air Force and was stationed there from late 62 to June 67. While in Topeka Larry formed his first real rock and roll group called TR4. The band was a surf band and its name stood for a cool surf car, the Triumph. The band members were: Don Ferguson on lead guitar, Dave Daws on organ, Joe Rodriguez on drums, and Larry Miller on bass and vocals.

In mid-1963, The TR4 released a single "Peter Rabbit" b/w "Surfin' TR". Peter Rabbit was written a few years prior to its release by Larry when he was in high school. Later when he was in basic training he would sing the song in the barracks to his roommates(who advised him that it was a cool song worth recording). The band paid for and produced the single, pressing 500 copies. It was such a popular song that it made the Top 10 on the local radio charts. During TR4's stint they played at all the popular clubs in Topeka, like The Hilltop(a strip club), The Tiki Bar, and The Low 20 Club. The band also did many live three hour shows on the radio from The Meadow Lakes Ballroom. TR4 blasting cool surf sounds in Topeka, Ks.

By mid-1964 the band began to change. The Beatles and the British Invasion had swept through the States and TR4 became known as The Coachmen by the end of the year. They came up with the name because they traveled in a big Buick Hearse from 1948. It was quite unique in that there were really cool coach lights on the sides! This was also when Phil Weaver joined the band. He had previously been in a trio that played Beatle tunes. He now became The Coachmen's lead singer. Joe, didn't want to travel, which was necessary because the band started to get many gigs as their popularity grew. So the band auditioned drummers and got Gordon Marcellus. He had never played in a band and bought Joe's drums because he was done with the music business. Gordon picked up on the drums and learned well. No records were ever released by The Coachmen.
Between TR4 and The Thingies were The Coachmen!

One day in the late summer of 1965 The Coachmen were on their way to Kansas City. Why? To buy some mod outfits and Beatle boots from Flagg Brothers(couldn't find these things in Topeka). While driving there the group thought up a new name- The Horrible Evil Thingies! How did they think up that name? Contrary to popular myth it wasn't due to The Bluethings! The band had recently viewed The Beatles new color film "Help!". In the movie there was a scene where Ringo and Paul are in the bathroom and the hand-dryer starts sucking up everything in the room, like Ringo's shirt sleeves, etc. George enters and says "It's a Horrible Evil Thingie!" The Thingies were Larry Miller on bass, Gordon Marcellus on drums, John Dalton on lead guitar, Phil Weaver on lead vocals, and Ernie Swisher on organ. The Horrible Evil Thingies(some business cards have it with that name), eventually was shortened to Thingies because it was too hard to handle all the words.

The first Thingies single was "It's a Long Way Down" b/w "Merry Go Round Of Life". It was recorded in early 1966. "It's a Long Way Down" was an anti-drug song, predating that most famous of anti-drug songs, "Kicks". The basic premise of the song was , when you've been up, it's a long way to come down! No one in the band was doing drugs at the time and it was written to make the charts rather than to preach a message. This time 1,000 copies were pressed and released on the Casino label(a custom record label that the band paid in order to get their records pressed). The single received more air play than the TR4 single and it made the charts on KEWI in Topeka. Both songs became part of the groups live repertoire of songs(which included a healthy dose of Rolling Stones, Yardbirds, and Kinks-interestingly enough no Beatles songs, yet!) The Thingies became so popular around the area that they headlined and played large venues, such as Topeka Auditorium and drew 3,500 people. Other bands present were The Mods, The Jerms, and The Morning Dew. The Thingies Poster!

The next single was recorded at Fairyland. The owner of Fairyland studios was also in a band. The Thingies met his band at the Meadowbrook Ballroom. The band invited The Thingies down to Columbia, Missouri to play some shows there and The Thingies returned the favor by getting the band to play more gigs in Topeka. While The Thingies were in Columbia they recorded at Fairyland Studios over a period of one day and night. The two recorded songs were put together mainly in the studio(this was in December of 1966). "English Eyes" written by Larry's wife, was to be the a-side. The b-side was an original penned by Larry, "No Matter What The World May Say". This incredible song is replete with raga and folk-rock influences with some otherworldly keyboard sounds. When Larry was played this song in November of 1997(hearing it for the first time in three decades) he couldn't remember it, but after being sent the whole tape really dug it and now has the song as part of his current band's repertoire. Since the songs were so fleeting they were never played as part of their show. Both songs were never released because the group couldn't pay for the master tape and it remained unreleased till now, when the bill was paid(so to speak).

When the psychedelic era exploded, The Thingies changed their style and live show. Their great influence was the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band( W.C.P.A.E.B.). The Thingies saw them perform in Topeka at The Tiki Club. It was when the bands first album just came out and the band played most of it for the 200 people at the club. W.C.P.A.E.B. had liquid lights, smoke machines, and strobe lights. They were the only group at the club that night and they blew the Thingies collective minds. Larry to this day still says they were just incredible. Before the W.C.P.A.E.B. show, The Thingies were all stage lights and no light show. All that changed after W.C.P.A.E.B. Now the group incorporated strobe lights, smoke bombs, and a wild light show. They also donned wild psychedelic clothes. As a tribute to the great W.C.P.A.E.B. The Thingies would regularly perform "Help I'm A Rock" in the W.C.P.A.E.B. style.

    Giggin'

By the spring of 1967, The Thingies were ready for a change of scenery and wanted to branch out and see the rest of the country. The band left Topeka in June of 1967 and headed for Miami. They drove down there in a school bus that was painted black with a silver top and windows tinted blue They immediately made a great impact on the Miami scene(even though they were only there for two months). No one in Miami had ever seen anything like The Thingies with their wild light show and heavy psychedelic sounds. The band was hired the first week they were in Miami because they were so different from the Miami bands. They blew a lot of minds! The Thingies became the house band at The World, a teen club that had two to three thousand people every night. They played with NRBQ, The Collection, and The Seven Of Us at various different shows. The Thingies left Miami because the police tried to bust the band. The band left a day before the supposed bust and had plans to head out to California but before that reality was to happen, they made a stop in the Lone Star State!

It was September of 1967 when The Thingies drove their bus into Texas. Their first stop was in Waco because that was Phil's hometown. They were there for two weeks rehearsing and residing at a local motel. They got along with the owners so well that they let the band stay there for free. The group polished their psychedelic show to the max and made it really tight. From Waco they drove a hundred miles south to Austin. Austin in 1967 had a wonderful reputation as the coolest city in Texas and bands there were gaining some national recognition(especially The 13^th Floor Elevators). On the first day that The Thingies arrived in Austin they went into a club called The Matchbox. The owners were so impressed with the group that they signed them immediately. The band was also signed to a contract with Sonobeat Records because one of the owners of the club also was co-owner of the record label. Besides performing at The Matchbox, The Thingies played at the most famous Austin venue of the time, The Vulcan Gas Company frequently. At various shows Johnny Winter, The Elevators, Conqueroo, and Shivas Headband  would also perform with The Thingies. .The Thingies make the scene up on the roof at The Sunshine Record store, Austin, 1967

In November of 1967, Larry sat down and wrote a song called "Mass Confusion" in The Matchbox one afternoon. The lyrics told a tale about a guy who sits in his chair and always talks about being confused. Subtle drug references were also in the lyric like "talking about love sadly dying"(i.e. LSD). Armed with this song and another one called "Rainy Sunday Morning" The Thingies were ready to record their first single for Sonobeat. It took one evening to record both sides of the single. The single was recorded at a hotel! The owners of Sonobeat brought in the equipment and the band recorded. The group was inhibited by the Sonobeat producers(who were radio people). The band couldn't play with their amps the way they wanted to. The producers tapped off the pre-amps to kill all the bands' effects To this very day Larry feels that the single did not truly reflect the sound that The Thingies really represented. The band also started to record an album for Sonobeat that was never released. However about a half hour of instrumentals were actually recorded , but the tape has vanished. When "Mass Confusion"b/w "Rainy Sunday Morning" was released it was the first single in the U.S. that was ever released in stereo! No one knows how many copies were pressed and how many were sold because no one in the band received any royalties. The group broke up just as the single was released.

The band was in Austin from Sept., 1967 to January of 1968 and then the group broke up permanently because their manager got into trouble with the IRS. He had opened a club called The Pleasure Dome(and The Thingies did the grand opening). One day The Thingies had to guard all their equipment because the IRS was taking out all the fixtures in the club! In order to get out of their contract the band decided to split up and then re-form down the road, but it was never to be. The band never re-formed again. Only recently after thirty years have the members re-established contact with each other. Larry is a computer programmer today. He now plays in a neo-swing band called " The Bob White Orchestra". He has played, recorded, and toured with his "Larry Joe Miller and The Rockabilly Rockets" since 1980. Phil is a social worker. Gordon owns a health food store. John is a truck driver. Ernie owns a vitamin manufacturing company in Arkansas. Bob Cole is a computer programmer in Houston.