Terry
Bailey ~ Bass
Billy
Barner ~ Drums, Vocals
Chuck
Doten ~ Drums
Mark
Eubanks ~ Saxophone, Keyboards, Vocals
Phil
Hanson ~ Drums
Bob
Koch ~ Guitar
Rob
Lowery ~ Vocals
Glenn
McCarty ~ Guitar, Vocals
Chuck
Naubert ~ Bass, Vocals
Walt
Rattenbury ~ Saxophone
Ron
Rosenbloom ~ Guitar
Ron
Rustad ~ Baritone Saxophone, Vocals
Bill
Slyter ~ Drums
Jim
Sandstedt ~ Bass
Rick
Thompson ~ Guitar, Vocals
Stewart
Turner ~ Guitar
Guest Musicians
Sam
Carlson ~ Bass
(Substitute
bass player for one gig in 1967)
Brian
Naubert ~ ?
The
Galaxies 1964
Stuart
Turner, Mark Eubanks, Phil Hanson, Bob Koch, Rob Lowery, Chuck Naubert
Photo:
Jini Dellaccio
Listen
to the Galaxies on
Big
Beat Records
Popular Tacoma '60s band Galaxies say dust off dancing shoes RICK NELSON; THE NEWS TRIBUNE Published: February 29th, 2008 01:00 AM | Updated: February 29th, 2008 07:29 AM
The stars have realigned for the Galaxies, one of Tacoma’s most popular bands back in the ’60s. The group plans a 21-and-older reunion dance concert from 7 p.m. to midnight Saturday at the Temple Theatre.
Performing from ’62 to ’67, first as the Galaxies and then as Rock Collection, the band packed high school gyms, teen dances and clubs by playing the hits of an exciting five-year span in popular music.
“Mostly we were a cover band, a dance band,” said Galaxies bassist Chuck Naubert. “The kids loved to dance to us because we were pretty much a Top-40 cover band playing what they were listening to on Pat O’Day’s KJR. We played what they were listening to at all the drive-ins back in the day – the Frisko Freeze, Busch’s and the Hilltop Drive-In.”
The Galaxies were a Stadium High School band, and Saturday’s show was kick-started when the group played at the school’s reunion in 2006.
“We’ve been working on this about a year and a half since the Stadium thing,” Naubert said. “We’ve played at The Spar twice, and now this is going to be our big show. They’ve just loved it at the Spar, and it’s so fun for us to get that response. We’re doing this for the pure joy of playing this music that we did as kids.”
Still, 40 years between gigs is a long time. Naubert was asked why people are responding to the reunited Galaxies. It can’t just be the well-played ’60s hits and the chance to slow dance.
“For a lot of the people, it’s like we were their band,” he said. “People hearing us now are excited because the rebirth of the Galaxies is kind of like the rebirth of that era. It takes them back to when they were young and had a lot of energy. It was a time of excitement and looking forward to life.”
But the Galaxies didn’t know what was ahead when the group began playing at Stadium.
“We started doing all the dances there,” Naubert said, “and it spread real fast to doing the city dances in the whole area. We were doing the Armory, Crescent Ballroom, Fellowship Hall and battles of the bands at other high schools.
“We would play battles of the bands at Wilson against Ron Gardner & The Solitudes. They were from Wilson. Each high school had its own band, which was pretty cool. Eventually, we were regulars at the Red Carpet, and that was a huge venue back then.”
But the late ’60s was a turbulent time, and the band’s members weren’t immune. Eventually, they all went their separate ways.
“The main thing that took its toll was Vietnam,” Naubert said, “that and guys just moving on.”
Move on they did. Lead singer Rob Lowery joined Surprise Package, a national recording act better known in these parts as the Viceroys, before starting a career in antiques. Guitarist Bob Koch plays in the band Coin Operated. Saxophonist Mark Eubanks recently retired as principal bassoonist with the Oregon Symphony. Drummer Phil Hanson is a timpanist with the Pacific Northwest Ballet. Multi-instrumentalist Ron Rustad is a tugboat engineer and plays traditional jazz.
And Naubert, who also plays cello? Even though he eventually got a degree in music education, he’s a commercial pilot. His son Brian, who grew up listening to the Galaxies, will be among the guest musicians performing with the band Saturday, as will Ron Rosenbloom, who played in another late-’60s Tacoma band, Scot-Free.
Terry
Bailey (25 April 1947 - 20 April 2002)
Terry
lost his battle with cancer just five days short of his 55th Birthday
Bob Koch d: May 2010
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Last
Update: 2 May 2017
Credits:
Darryl
Riffero, Sam Carlson, Fuzz Acid &
Flowers,
Terry
Bailey,
Jeff Miller, Walt
Rattenbury, Rob Lowery, Bob Koch, Chris Sandstedt, Chuck Naubert,
Donn
Mee, Bill Dean, Glenn McCarty