Even though most of our music doesn’t sound Beatle-ish, I would have to say that Dave (Schmuck) and I were influenced by the Beatles due to the fact we basically disbanded the “Goldenaires” soon after that night Ed Sullivan aired the mop tops for the American public. The Goldenaires” music was Peyton Place (Listen To The Rhythm Of The Falling Rain… Shake It Up Baby… Baby What’d I Say? ... even a couple of Beach Boys). Anyway, after that night we noted we definitely had the wrong number (accordion?).

I went on to join a group called the “Prophets” – Larry, Hap, Jim, and another drummer. I was scheduled to play keyboards and ended up learning rhythm guitar and vocals. A while latter my brother (Russ) joined the group playing drums and Jim (lead singer) and the other drummer dropped out. With this switch we decided to change our name. we wavered between the name “Blitzkrieg” and Larry’s cat’s name, “Krieggs”. We settled for “Kreeg” (1966). It has no particular meaning.

We played pretty heavy-duty stuff: Rolling Stones, Them, Yardbirds, Kinks, Leaves, Animals, etc., along with some soft Jerry and the Pacemakers, Beau Brummels and others. Larry loved the stones- could play every riff they played. I became very intrigued with the Yardbirds. I was amazed at what Beck and Page could do with the guitar. So Larry and I would figure out these parts and go for it. Larry taught me a lot, but we definitely ended up with totally different styles.

I was the only one that wrote anything, but everyone contributed and actually made the songs what they were. Our first single, “Impressin”, was pretty 13th Floor Elevators (Psychotic Reaction). We played one Battle of the Bands. What a nightmare! Larry and I immediately broke strings, Hap was out of tune, Russ couldn’t here anything we were doing and could only play what he remembered to be and lucky for us he was right-on as we stayed with him for three growling tunes that time-wise seemed to last for hours. We vowed never again. A couple of our best jobs ended up being at a Belen High School Homecoming and the Newman Center (we could do no wrong that night!). We played songs we had never done before… perfectly! I remember some of the grabbers that night were a Breau Brummels Tune, “Sad Little Girl”, and the unforgettable “Eagle Never Hunts The Fly” by the Music Machine. Fraternity parties were always fun. They liked us to raise hell and play loud- we did.

We always felt held back on some of the tunes we wanted to play. We had no keyboards. Ted joined us and opened a whole new list of tunes to play. With a new repertoire, we were ready to launch a new single. We Vanilla-fudged an old Yardbird tune, “For Your Love”, and backed it with a song I wrote called “When I’m With Her”. We had a lot of fun with the harmony vocals on that recording.

Larry felt he had to relocate to California for personal reasons. We struggled on for a time but even with positive encouragement from the rest of the group, I felt the sound we were developing had been lost due to Larry’s departure. Uncle Sam was interested in a couple years of my time- I had just graduated from college. The writing was on the wall. It was time to call it quits.

I kept writing while I was in the service and when I got out of the service, I moved to Taos, New Mexico. I put Various Musicians together who played here and there around northern New Mexico and recorded a few original songs. Albatross put together 4 or 5 songs with the help of some ol’ friends before it’s end. Hope you enjoy them!

On behalf of all the members of the Band, wherever they may be, I would like to thank John Wagner and Dick Stewart for their encouragement, time, expertise, talent and patience with us in promoting our wares . Their help was greatly appreciated!

-Bob Sturtcman