The Tikis & The Fabulons
Portland, Oregon
1961 ~ 1966

Members

John Chassaing ~ Drums
Dale Caloma ~ Vocals
John DuVal ~ Guitar
Ron Ferrante ~ Guitar
Peter Garner ~ Guitar
John Goldman ~ Saxophone
Bill Higginbotham ~ Drums
Terry McKinley ~ Guitar
Dennis McKey ~ Bass
Mike Muessig ~ Drums
Theo Patterson ~ Vocals
Mike Roholt ~ Bass
Dan Shillings ~ Organ
Ollie Smith ~ Vocals
Larry Tate ~ Sexophone, Keyboards
Jim Wilson ~ Drums
Gary Welk ~ Bass

Terry McKinley
 

In Memory of

Bill Higginbotham

The Tikis were offered a contract in the late fall of '64 by Jerry Dennon. Our First release was on his Panorama label later in '65 and did fairly well on the local charts. The songs were a remake of the Skip and Flip hit "Cherry Pie" backed by an original "Take a Look".  Take a Look was the "A" side but somehow Cherry Pie found it's way onto the Billboard charts about 5 years later.... or something like that.

In '66 we recorded again, this time in both Portland and Seattle and out our second single was leased out to Tower records in L.A. The song were "Since You've been Gone" which was a remake of a song by Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders that we gave the complete Motown work over to. Recording of this tune took about 20 hours over a few nights 'cause we were experimenting with multiple overdubs which was still a novelty in Portland at that time. The other song was an original called "Don't Ask Me" written by our manager and producer Donny Anderson.  Also in the Motown vein, this song had massive overdubs and featured Jim Valley playing electric 12 string. Jim was in the studio that day waiting for the call from the Raiders for confirmation that he was to join the band.

Sadly , even though this was a great record and earned us respect from the Seattle bands, Tower deemed it to be too R&B for their label.

John DuVal, April 2002

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Last Update:  7 September 2008
Credits:  Don Rogers, John DuVal, David Higginbotham, Gary Welk, John Chassaing, Rojer Blaine, Terry McKinley