Youth across the nation were inspired by the rise of The Beatles in the 1960s to start their own garage bands — and youth in Lebanon County were no exception.
Kevin Schrum — a brother of a band member of The Crows, a cousin-in-law of a band member of The Cavaliers, and a distant relative of Elvis Presley — spoke with LebTown about the scrappy but spirited musical ventures.
Schrum grew up on 12th and Lehman streets. He attended Catholic school for six years and public school for six years, then studied journalism at Shippensburg University.
In the fall of 2019, Schrum retired as the administrator of Lebanon County’s Mental Health/Intellectual Disabilities/Early Intervention program after serving the county for 37 years.
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The 70-year-old lifelong Lebanon resident — and husband, father of two, and grandfather of four — reflected on the county’s music scene in the 1960s.
“When The Beatles came — you can’t imagine it today — but it was revolutionary,” Schrum said of the British Invasion. “The parents hated it. They had hair down to here, and hair over their ears. And parents lost their minds. And everybody wanted to look that way, and a lot of parents said, ‘You will not look that way.'”
As the ’60s rolled on, Schrum said young local men inspired by The Beatles grew out their hair, with some wearing theirs at shoulder length. Schrum himself wore his hair long, though not quite at his shoulders.
The Beatles’ style influence was not limited to hairstyles — their collarless jackets and heeled boots with pointed toes made appearances in local garages rocking with cover songs and, in some rare cases, original music.
“Most bands, I guess, couldn’t afford that kind of apparel,” Schrum said. “So, it was pretty much whatever fashion trends were ‘in’ in the ’60s, you know, paisley shirts or polkadot shirts or Hawaiian-looking shirts. It wasn’t much different than the guys that weren’t in the garage bands.”
Most local garage bands were made up of male vocalists who doubled as lead guitarists, rhythm guitarists, bassists, and drummers, with some garage bands also having keyboardists and even saxophonists.
These bands practiced in garages, basements, and pretty much anywhere their parents tolerated, Schrum said, for their public performances at school assemblies, church festivals, the mall, and other modest venues.
“I always say the world was a much smaller place back then; we didn’t venture outside of the Lebanon community here very often,” Schrum said. “It was a smaller world, sometimes, I think it was a better world, but that (local garage band performances) was entertainment to us.”
Another way that Lebanon County youth enjoyed popular music in the 1960s was by dancing at sock hops, which were often held on weekends at local playgrounds. These sock hops were often DJ-ed by WLBR radio hosts Henry Homan and Al Bruce.
Schrum said that his greatest memories were of The Centurys — a 1960s Lebanon County garage band composed of Billy Beard, vocals and lead guitar; Bob Koch, lead vocals and organ; Larry McKinney, guitar; John Iacovone, bass; and Bernie Orner, drums — because of their popularity at the time.
“Again, growing up at 12th and Lehman, what is now St. Benedict’s was St. Cyril’s and Methodius back then, right, a stone’s throw from my home,” Schrum said. “They would have very popular festivals, and I can remember them having a stage and having local bands on there — one of them being, of course, The Centurys. We were all mesmerized by them.”
He added that The Centurys were an exception to the cover song rule and wrote some of their own music, which might have attributed to their success and longevity.
Other local garage bands included Liberty, The Cavaliers, The Newluvs, The New Endells, The Tidal Waves, and Thee Illusion.
As for most garage bands, their success was measured by metrics other than money, fame, and accolades, and their time together was often short-lived.
“I think most of them realized that they weren’t going to be the next Beatles and had lives and maybe their parents got tired of them practicing in the garages or basements and maybe it was hard for all four or five of them to get together at the same time with school and sports and all that, you know, they had lives,” Schrum said.
He said that members didn’t have huge ambitions for their garage bands, it was just something to do and lots of fun … and yes, may have even helped them score a few dates!
While Schrum’s relatives were in local garage bands, Schrum himself said that his musical ability never amounted to anything more than lip-synching to The Beatles and pretending he was a member of the band — keeping in mind that he was not even a teenager at the time of the British Invasion.
In a follow-up email to LebTown, Schrum said, “I’m thinking that when the madness surrounding The Beatles and the British Invasion died down a bit in the mid-’60s, soul music became quite popular in America. The basic garage band model of a quartet with two guitars, a bass guitar, and drums didn’t quite work with soul music. I think that may partially explain the disappearance of garage bands.”
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