Danny
Hoefer ~ Guitar
Pat
Clausing ~ Keyboards, Vocals
Dale
Cooley ~ Bass
Brian
Smith ~ Bass
Anthony
"Tiny Tony" Smith ~ Vocals
Terry
Teschner ~ Drums
Roman
Williams ~ Vocals
Manager
Joe Jones
Tiny
Tony Smith
The Soul Deacons was a band that morphed out of The Nomads. Roman Williams was the black singer in The Nomads, but also sang with The Soul Deacons. At some point, several of the members of the early incarnation of The Soul Deacons went with other groups, and Roman brought in several members of The Nomads to fill the slots in The Soul Deacons. Danny Hoefer was one (guitar), I was another (keyboards and vocals), Terry Teschner was another (drums), Dale Cooley was another (bass). But Dale only played a couple gigs, as he had gotten married and was doing other things. There was a really cool bass player for a while by the name of Brian Smith, but he got drafted. At that point I became the bass player by way of doing left hand bass on the keyboards.The Soul Deacons was REALLY a pivotal group for me personally. Working at The Target Ballroom in 1967 was a thrill for me, and it was. That was a pivotal gig for me ... the highest pressure gig in my life up to that time. But the Soul Deacons had a manager who was a heavy weight guy: Joe Jones. Joe use to play football for The Husky's (that my be where you may have heard that name). But later (after college football), Joe became the manager of KYAC Radio. That was the most powerful black radio station of it's time (the mid-sixties). Quincy Jones brother built the radio tower for the station, by the way.
Both Joe and Roman were connected with SEBO Productions, which later became Paramount NW. Dave Lewis' brother (Ulisis Lewis) was part of SEBO Productions. It was through SEBO Productions that the Soul Deacons got booked on gigs with Marth & The Vandellas, and Wilson Pickett. Those were PIVOTAL gigs for me as well!
For my entire senior year in high school I worked 90% of the weekends on gigs with The Soul Deacons. It didn't matter where we played: the room was always packed, because Joe Jones had the DJ's plug the band all day long on the radio. One time we worked at The Genessee Community club. Who goes there? I got there early to set up equipment, and the room was full before I even got there!
Roman Williams was a terrific front man as well as singer. But at one point he was hospitalized and then had to stay in bed for several weeks. He got his close friend Tiny Tony to front and sing with the Soul Deacons during the time he was recuperating. That's when I really got to know Tiny Tony (the former singer with The Statics). I might add that after I finally graduated from High School, I moved in (lived) with Roman Williams (on Madison St.), and Tiny Tony's mother was our landlord. We rented the house Tiny Tony grew up in.
We must have player the Chamber of Commerce gig twenty-five or thirty times with The Soul Deacons. At that time The Chamber of Commerce was located at Third and Columbia Street (in downtown Seattle). There was a huge cabaret on the fourth floor of that building. On Fridays and Saturdays we would regularly play for several hundred people in that room. The audiences were predominantly black. I couldn't have paid for the education I got from working that room. It's not for sale.
And speaking of that: there was a black musical / cultural phenomena that took place in the Central Area of Seattle. I don't know exactly when it started, but I benefited from it. Ray Charles, Quincy Jones, and Jimmy Hendrix had left Seattle by the time I was emerged in it, but they benefited from it as well. I saw the tail end of it in the sixties.
I could write for an hour just on that one topic (the Seattle Central Area black cultural / musical phenomena ... as I call it). It had a major impact on many musicians who came out of Seattle. I was blessed to have been touched by it.
Patrick Lee Hues, September 2007
