I got my first guitar for Christmas 1964. It was a twelve dollar mail order western style acoustic. It took me almost six months to play my first chord. It was an open C chord. After that I knew that playing guitar was possible and I had to know more. My friend Steve Burkhardt had a Supro electric guitar and a Fender Champ Amp. He had been playing rhythm guitar with a local instrumental group called The Ramrods. After he left that group he wanted to move up to lead guitar so he helped me learn some more chords. My father soon added an electric pickup to my guitar and made me home made amplifier out of a typewriter case. Steve and I decided to start a band together and incorporated Mike Adams on snare drum and his neighbor Rick Smith on guitar playing the low strings of his Silvertone to simulate a bass. No one remembers how we settled on the name and we would have surely thought of something else if we knew how many other bands worldwide would have the same name. But at least in mid 60s Delaware there was only one band called:
Originally, our material included such instrumentals as “Out Of Limits” “Sleep Walk” and “Honky Tonk”. After we got brave enough to sing, our songs mostly consisted of Beatles, Kinks, Raiders, and Stones. Rick took the lead vocal on many of them. By the beginning of school year 65-66 we were actually pulling it all together.
In the Spring of ’65 we had the opportunity to rehearse in our Ogeltown Jr.High auditorium (this was recorded by a friend and is the earliest recording of the band).
In the Fall we were accepted for a battle of the bands in the same auditorium. Unfortunately for me, I got pneumonia and was too weak to play the battle. But fortunately for the band I was replaced by the very popular Mike Fox of local group Mike & The Mardels, and we won the battle without me.
Equipment was continually upgraded. On Christmas 1965 I had received my first real electric guitar. It was a four pickup Teisco Del Ray solid body. Steve soon retired his Supro for a powder blue Fender Mustang guitar. I saved every bit of money I made to buy a new Fender Deluxe Reverb Amp. Rick was hoping for a real bass and Mike a new drum set. When these didn’t materialize for them the band suffered. Mike sadly left the group the following year and Gary Wortz joined on bass. Rick, who had proven himself to be fearless in front of a large crowd moved up to lead singer / blues harp front man. Our search for a new drummer ended with Bob Barbas who had a marvelous Ludwig Blue Swirl set and played it well. Shortly afterwards we added Steve’s friend Randy Becker on organ, a welcome addition. This 1966 lineup was the beginning of the working band. Bob’s father, Bob Sr., became our manager. My father assisted as technical manager caring for equipment and electrical matters. We were only 14-15 years old and having our fathers involved made a huge difference. We soon added two Go-Go-Girls, Kathy Barbas and Linda DeTiadora, to help rally the crowd into dancing. Linda left after a while and was replaced by Mary “Footie”. The girls were as big an attraction as we were and danced on pedestals on either side of the band. They always danced tastefully and wore flashy dresses with fringe that flared as they danced just like on Hullabaloo and Shindig.
Our numbers grew and grew as did our equipment. Rick’s cousin, John Netta, joined on alto saxophone. This really helped with the R&B and Soul music that was immensely popular at dances. John also played accordion opening the door for polkas at weddings. Gary left and was replaced by Mark Alcorn of Elkton on his mighty Fender Precision bass. Mark was older, 18, and level headed. He soon became our elected leader. Mark suggested that a friend, Gary Tremble, who had an unbelievably rich voice, should also join us. A real crooner, Gary could sing Elvis, soul, and ballads that would bring tears to your eyes. Rick Smith had a stronger rock voice, though, and remained a key member. So our numbers became eight: Two lead singers, Lead Guitar, Rhythm Guitar, Organ, Sax, Bass, and Drums. It was around this time that I got my dream guitar, a 1966 Rickenbacker 360-12, which I still use today.
One of the most memorable gigs for all of us was a weekly Friday and Saturday night teen dance that we played at Betterton Beach, MD in the summer of ’67. For us there was no sign of the “Summer of Love” just long dance sets in the summer heat.
We practiced two nights a week and played nearly every Friday and Saturday night somewhere and sometimes Sunday too. Our practices were spent busily keeping up with the Top 40 learning four or five new songs a week and performing them on the weekend.
In 1967, The News Journal, Wilmington, Delaware’s largest newspaper did a full page feature story on the band. It was titled ‘Exotics’ Dress ‘Straight’. The article opened with:
“Compared with the numerous small, streamlined rock’n’ roll combos, The Exotics is a big band, with a big, versatile sound”. It continues with a brief history and a little bit of info on each of the seven members.
[News Journal Photo above left to right: Rick Smith, Bob Barbas (Almost Hidden), Randy Becker, Mark Alcorn, Steve Burkhardt, John Netta, Craig Smith (Hangnail Phillips). Gary Tremble (Not Shown)]
Mr. Barbas bought us a white van to move equipment with our logo on the sides. It was a traveling billboard for us. He also saw to it that we had the best PA equipment we could afford. But having mangers to decide what we wore, and what we played began to cause dissension in the ranks. Some of us did not like wearing matching suits, and shiny shirts. Steve was first to leave this lineup in 1967 replaced by Teddy Thomas of Brookside, who was later replaced by Danny Barker of Elkton for a time. I left too to pursue a band of my own late in the year.
The band continued on without Steve Burkhardt and I into 1968. But when Mark Alcorn left to join the service and go to Viet Nam the others felt that they could no longer go on without him and they disbanded.