In 1967, there was a battle of the bands at Central Jr. High School in Newark. There were bands from all over New Castle County, Delaware. I don’t recall who won the battle, probably because I was so in awe of all of the bands that it really didn’t matter to me. In attendance were: The Reverbs, led by Chaz Day on lead guitar and his younger brother Eddie on lead vocals, The Links, a trio from New Castle led by Gene Quaciari, a group called EGM (Electrically Germinated Mushrooms), The Exotics, the band I was in, and to our left,

my favorite local band:

“Bob Vance was in the first live band I ever heard and saw!   Though I don’t recall the occasion, it was downstairs at the New Century Club on Delaware Ave, down and across from the Fire Station in Newark.   Will NEVER forget how mesmerized I was.  Bob was the singer, and he also played harp.  I remember them playing “La Bamba,”  and I remember hanging around while they were loading out. I don’t know who else was even in the band, but it might have been Jimmy Spangler on drums.  From that moment on, Vance was a hero of mine, and it was ultra kewl for me when years later we were bandmates.” – Tommy Eppes

“The Nite Lites (before Thee Escaped) = Alan [Teel] lead & me [Tommy Eppes] rhythm,  Rick Schaen bass, and Leigh Hesseltine (his family owned the Dairy Queen on Chestnut Hill Rd) on drums. We were playing dances, firehalls, and the pool circuit, and did mostly popular AM radio hits, so lots of people liked us.   Leigh quit to join the Newark Yellowjackets football team, and when Steve Preston joined on drums, he brought ideas for playing hipper music with him.   Vance had been dating my big sister Betsy, so he was hanging around a lot on the sofa, eating and being cool, while we rehearsed in my folks’ living room.  As the months passed, we got better and better, and finally, he couldn’t stand it anymore, and he joined the band.  He immediately changed the name to Thee Escaped and we started wearing the prison shirts with our phone numbers printed on them as inmate #’s.  Armed with a “Real” singer and a fast advancing repertoire which now included some original material, we were a musical force to be reckoned with. Won battles, contests, did a TV dance show,  auditioned at the Trauma* (didn’t get the gig). We were invited to play at some rich Philly family’s pool party, where big-time producers were gonna give us a recording contract (yeah, right).  We lost to Mike & the Mardels at the DE State Battle of the Bands.  We wore t-shirts…..they had tuxedo’s…..that was a big lesson for me. The band splintered over personality clashes when we weren’t able to quickly get to the next level. A while after the dust settled, Alan & I formed Primeval Slime.

Bob was an upperclassman….one of the older “big guys” and one bad hombre!  Golden Gloves boxing champ who didn’t take crap from anybody.  A talented singer/songwriter/harp player with great spirit and boundless energy.  He taught me how to play “The Lonely Bull” on the piano one day when he was at the house visiting my sister.” – Tommy Eppes

Unfortunately, no recordings exist of the band. Their sound only lives in the memories of people who were lucky enough to have heard them. Mark Sisk, of NFS Despair, The NFS Boys, and Club Phred, remembers Thee Escaped well. “Arriving in Newark from North Wilmington, the fall of 1966, I was of the view that my parents had dragged me to the sticks. I was 14, and had been in rock bands for a couple of years. I had heard early of Thee Escaped and went to hear them first chance I could at Central Jr. High School. It was more than mildly interesting. It was stunning. Sure, we had all seen the Beatles on TV, and that was life-changing, but seeing excellent music live from two feet away was a whole other level of great. Tommy and Alan on the twin red Gibsons, Bob Vance in front, and a totally in sync Rick Schaen on bass and Steve Preston on drums. My memory is that they all sang well, and the harmonies, which always grab me first to this day, were otherworldly. Two songs I recall clearly from their set list were Tobacco Road,– an easy song to play but a hard song to play well– came alive in their hands. And the Byrds’ Feel A Whole Lot Better, which was to my ears every bit as good as the record. I became– and remain– an instant fanboy.  My girlfriend could see the bubble over my head as I stood there watching them:  “I gotta go practice”. Saw them every chance I could from then till they split and learned and stole as much as I could in that time. I found out that there were a lot of good bands in Newark, but nobody better than those guys.“ – Mark Sisk (12-23)

 

Left To Right: Rick Schaen (Foreground), Steve Preston, Bob Vance, Tommy Eppes, Alan Teel.

Thee Escaped were:
Bob Vance (18) – Lead Singer
Alan Teel (16) – Lead Guitar
Tommy Eppes (14) – Rhythm Guitar
Rick Schaen (17) – Bass
Steve Preston (18) – Drums

Their set list was a mixture of Buffalo Springfield, Beatles, Byrds, Kinks, Yardbirds, & Stones. Memorable were their versions of “For What It’s Worth”, “Feel A Whole Lot Better”, “My Back Pages”, and “Psychotic Reaction”.

The group existed from 1966 to 1968 when Alan and Tommy left to form Primeval Slime**.

Bob Vance– Moved to Colorado, where he started a skydiving school.  He and 2 of his buddies were killed when their chutes got tangled during an exhibition dive at a local festival. He was 36.

Alan Teel (1951-2013)– Alan was an avid and talented guitarist who wrote and composed many songs spanning various genres from rock and roll to children’s classics. In his leisure time, he greatly enjoyed traveling to the Virgin Islands, visiting the Delaware beaches, and golfing. Above all else, Alan was a devoted son, husband, father, and Pop Pop who adored spending time with his family and friends. Alan passed away on Friday, March 8, 2013, after a brief illness, while surrounded by his family and loved ones. He was 62. For years after his death, his wife and daughter raised thousands of dollars in Alan’s name for the Stop The Clot organization. The events featured performances by Alan’s musician friends, such as Club Phred, Magical Mystery, Randy Becker, & Believe You Me.

Rick Schaen– Ace mechanic and race car driver died from emphysema at age 61. Mr. Rodger Dean Schaen– known fondly as “Rick,” age 61, of Newark, DE, passed away at his home on Sunday, January 30, 2011, after a long illness. He fought a courageous battle and was a very brave, kind, and gentle man. In his youth, Mr. Schaen was a musician in a rock and roll band and an avid drag racer.” –Tommy (12-23)

Steve Preston– He continued to play for numerous moderately successful bands and eventually moved to California.  Alive and well, age 75

Tommy Wayne Eppes (A.K.A Tommy Wayne) – “I think I was 19 [1971] when I found a used Fender 400 pedal steel for sale. 2 reasons I started playing it.   The first is that I loved the sound and was intrigued that one could play dreamy, sustaining, haunting parts, then jump to staccato “chicken pickin” lines for up-tempo tunes.  Also I was hearing Jerry w CSN  & New Riders and Rusty Young w Poco. I remember hearing Lloyd Green (thank you, Jim Wheeler) on a solo LP and likening his harmonic chimes to liquid silver drops slowly falling into a pond of liquid silver! His melodies were sublime, and his technical prowess unequaled.

The more practical reason was that there were a lot of good guitar players in Delaware and being a rhythm player by nature I didn’t stand out in the crowd.   The pedal steel gave me something to offer that was unique.” – Tommy Wayne Eppes (12-23)

After Primeval Slime disbanded, Tommy joined Snakegrinder & The Shredded Fieldmice (See Legends Of Newark Rock article) on pedal steel & guitar. After Snakegrinder broke up, he spent about a year in 1979 with Mike Fisher’s band Roscoe. He also played pedal steel on both sides of The Voltag’s single “Electric Jungle”/”Son Of Sam” (also 1979). He remains in high demand whenever he’s in Delaware, being snapped up for gigs by groups like Sin City Band, Club Phred, & Believe You Me as soon as he gets to town.

These days Tommy hails from Las Vegas, where his career has blossomed. From 2013 to 2019, he played guitar in Terry Bradshaw’s country band. On October 12, 2025, Tommy will be inducted into the Delaware Rock and Roll Society’s Hall of Fame. See their site for more information on him: https://www.delawarerockandrollsociety.com/

Tommy with Roscoe (1979)

Special Thanks to: Tommy Wayne Eppes, Steve Roberts, Mark Sisk, & Monika Bullette for their contributions to this article.

Footnotes:

*The Trauma Club was located at 2121 Arch Street, Philadelphia, PA. Throughout the late sixties, major groups such as Electric Flag, The Mothers, Moby Grape, The Youngbloods, The Chambers Brothers, Strawberry Alarm Clock, and Small Faces, among others, appeared there.

**Primeval Slime was actively playing the Delaware Coffeehouses throughout its existence. When they called it quits, the members mostly morphed into new bands such as Snakegrinder & The Shredded Field Mice (See the “Legends Of Newark Rock” article).

Primeval Slime (1968-1970) Members at various times were:

Alan Teel – Lead Guitar
Tommy Eppes – Second Guitar & Pedal Steel Guitar
Tom Brothers – Bass
Ted Gula – Drums
Bob Emery
Joe Peterson
Bruce Hutchings
Eddie Day – Lead Vocals
Chic Chuchini (sp)
Charlotte Hash
John Thompson
Bill Soukup – Tenor Saxophone
Joey Kalmbacher – Hammond Organ
Randy Becker – Keyboards
Bob McCracken