Litter
Local hard rock band known for their 45 “Action Woman”
History
The Litter
2 Tabs + 2 Victors + Tom Murray = The Litter
In late 1966, a recently formed rock band in Minnesota entered Dove Recording Studio in Bloomington, a suburb of Minneapolis and tracked three songs with songwriter and producer Warren Kendrick. One of the songs was written by Kendrick, “Action Woman’ which starts off with a sonic blast of a screeching fuzz tone guitar followed by ominous vocals, “Hey miss high and mighty. I’ve had all I can take. Walkin’ right on by me. That’s your last mistake.” In early 1967 “Action Woman” was released on a 45 on Kendrick’s Scotty label and a garage rock classic was born. Over the decades the song has been included on numerous garage rock compilations starting off with the legendary “Pebbles” series in 1978. Over a half decade since “Action Woman” was released the bands 45’s and albums continue to fascinate and entertain consumers of 1960’s rock music. From our vantage point in 2020 it is evident that the band influenced a number of “new wave” rock bands in the 1970’s and 80’s. The story of the Litter begins in Minnesota in the summer of 1966 when two local bands come to an end.
On July 23, 1966, the Victors (from the Minnetonka area) played their final job. In the band were Denny Waite (vocals) and Jim Kane (bass guitar and vocals).
On August 20, 1966, the TaBS (from the St. Paul area) played their final job. In the band were Bill Strandlof (lead guitar and vocals) and Dan Rinaldi (rhythm guitar and vocals). The spelling of TaBS reflects Timothy D. Kehr and Bill Strandloff. Timothy D. Kehr was the person who put the band together.
Late August, 1966: Denny Waite, Jim Kane, Bill Strandlof, and Dan Rinaldi crossed paths at the Teen Fair at the Minnesota State Fair. The group stopped in at the B-Sharp Music Store booth and watched as Tom Murray played a drum solo.
Tom Murray: “I graduated from high school in 1966 and that summer I went to the Minnesota State Fair. B-Sharp Music had a booth with a drum kit set up and some guy (owner Jim Lopes) bet me that I couldn’t do an hour drum solo. Anyone could sit down and play drums. B-Sharp was real supportive of local bands, so I sat down and played an hour solo. Jim Kane and Denny Waite came up to me, they were in a band together and then Dan Rinaldi and Bill Strandlof came over, they were in a band called The Tabs who were one of the first long hair groups. I remember I saw one of them and thought, ‘Boy, he looks like a girl’ but later on my hair grew long too, so these two band merged to form The Litter and they needed a drummer so they asked me to be their drummer. Jim Kane was the leader of the group. The two bands merged and he said “Let’s go rehearse” and we rehearsed and Dick Shapiro started booking us and off we went to the high schools and ballrooms. We played the Who and the Rolling Stones. “
The new band starts to rehearse in the basement of the Kane residence in Excelsior and Jim Kane is credited with coming up with the band name, The Litter, as in a litter of puppies as opposed to trash thrown on the road.
Jim Kane was the leader of the band and handled all the finances. Kane had a friend in England who would send him new British record albums through the mail. The Litter played numerous cover versions of songs they learned from the British albums. Some fans of The Litter heard the British cover songs for the first time, often before their albums were released in the United States. Some people even thought that the British cover songs were actually original Litter songs.
In the November, 1966, The Litter began recording an album at Dove Recording Studio in Bloomington with Warren Kendrick producing and supplying the group with two of his original songs to record: “Action Woman” and “Soul Searchin’.” Kendrick already knew Jim Kane and Denny Waite, as Kendrick had recorded the Victors.
The band recorded three songs, the two written by Warren Kendrick and “A Legal Matter” which was a cover of a song by The Who.
Tom “Zippy” Caplan was a local guitar player who had played with various local bands going back to 1960 with The Uniques, followed by The Continentals, The Escapades, Froggy and his Friends, The Weekends, and the Accents. While playing with The Accents at Mr. Lucky’s, Caplan was approached by two local songwriters, Larry Loofburrow and Ted Dooley who were impressed with his guitar playing and they hire Caplan to write guitar parts for their songs. Their first recordings were done at a studio in New York. More songs were recorded back in Minneapolis at AudioTek with Caplan playing guitar and bass guitar. Marv Dahlgren from Dahlgren’s Drum Shop played drums on the songs.
Caplan left The Accents as their popularity waned and the new progressive – psychedelic music was beginning to come in. About a month after leaving the band, Caplan heard back from the songwriting duo who were now planning to go to California to re-record some of their demo’s and record new demo songs. They are also trying to get a recording contract for the two of them performing as a duo. Caplan was offered room and board and $25,000 a year, contingent on the duo getting a record contract. He accepted the terms and wound up in a house in Long Beach with Loofburrow and Dooley.
The duo auditioned for Tower Records and the company liked their material and wanted to sign them to a contract, however Loofburrow and Dooley asked for numerous revisions to the contract and eventually Tower dropped the offer.
In January, 1967, “Action Woman” backed with “A Legal Matter” was released on a 45 on Kendrick’s Scotty label. This is considered the first “hard rock” 45 to be recorded and released by a Minnesota band. The A-side got played on local radio stations and in some regional markets and the popularity of the band increased. The band played at ballrooms, armories, and clubs in Minnesota and also in others states in the upper Midwest. At Proache’s Popular Ballroom in Ellsworth, Wisconsin, the band opened a show for The Yardbirds.
Tom Murray: “My mom was driving me downtown and then “Acton Woman” came on the radio and I thought – I know that song – and then I said, ‘Mom that’s me’ She always supported me. She got excited too and went ‘wow.’ We turned it up and blasted it out as we drove down the road.”
In early 1967, Caplan borrowed Loofburrow and Dooley’s car and headed to Hollywood to check out some of the newer psychedelic bands playing at clubs on the Sunset Strip including Iron Butterfly and liked the new sounds. Caplan heard about The Litter from his girlfriend in Minnesota and took a close n interest in what she said. At this point in time he realized that Loofburrow and Dooley were not going to get a recording contract and he was tired of sitting around the house in Long Beach and decided to return to Minnesota.
Caplan had known Jim Kane from earlier days and got in touch with him back in the Twin Cities. Kane knew that Bill Strandlof was not happy with the musical direction of the band and that he may leave the band at anytime and is thinking that Caplan just might be a good fit for the group if Strandlof left.
Tom Caplan: “I was going around town and people knew that I was looking for a band to get into. I was talking to a few different groups. I got together with Jim Kane because he wanted me to come out and hear The Litter. I went out to the Prom and saw them and they just blew me away. We were talking during a break and he (Jim Kane) said, ‘Why don’t you come to some more jobs. You can ride with me. We’re having some problems and I think Strandlof might be leaving. I know you’ve been in L.A. and if this happens, you might think about joining the group. Once I heard that, I was more interested in the Litter than any other group. They were completely psychedelic with real long hair, wild clothes, really crazy, great music… The Yardbirds and other groups like that. Part of the crowd didn’t understand it. It was so different.”
Tom Murray: “We were the oddballs out of the city. We didn’t conform to the commerciality of the town. I drove by a place where they (the Tabs) were playing. I saw Dan sitting outside smoking a cigarette and I went ‘Boy, look at that guy’ and six months down the road I looked like him too. We all had long hair. It was a new scene. The hair situation was a big deal back then. We were one of the first bands that had long hair except for the Tabs. The Tabs were kind of before their time. We brought guns on the road to protect ourselves and baseball bats. It was pretty heavy. People tried to drive us off the road and guys would wait outside for us to come out. We had many, many police escorts out of town.”
At a job in Rochester, Minnesota, Bill Strandlof reached the breaking point of his frustrations.
Tom Caplan: “I started going to jobs with Jim and I was hearing more and more about problems with Strandlof. I got the feeling from Bill, that he was mad at the group for some reason. He was upset with things, so it wasn’t one sided. I was at a job and all hell broke loose. It was at an armory job in Rochester. The Stillroven were there and Bill went crazy and got real mad… about what, I don’t remember. I was standing there talking to Phil Berdahl from The Stillroven, I had known Phil for a long time and all of a sudden this amp comes whizzing by, just missing our heads by inches. We were standing right by the stage. And Bill just freaked out on the stage and said, ‘That’s it. I quit.’ And Jim Kane said ‘Your’re fired.’ Then Jim turned to me right on the spot and said, ‘When can you start?’ and I said ‘Right now’ and we immediately went into rehearsal and I learned their songs. “
Tom Caplan took over on lead guitar. The new lineup for The Litter was:
Denny Waite: Lead vocals, organ, harp.
Dan Rinaldi: Rhythm guitar and vocals.
Tom Caplan: Lead guitar.
Jim Kane: Bass guitar.
Tom Murray: Drums.
After Caplan had been playing in the band for several months, the band went back to Dove Recording Studio to record more songs.
On May 7, 1967, the Litter played a concert called “Psychedelic Soundburst” at Aldrich Arena in St. Paul. On the bill with the Litter were nine other local bands from the Twin Cities.
Summer, 1967: Warren Kendrick released the first album for The Litter called “Distortions” with a pressing of 2,000 copies. Kendrick came up with the album name based on the heavy use of the “fuzz tone” guitar sound on the songs. The album was released with no name for the record label. The label stated: Warick Productions.
The Litter – “Distortions”
Side One:
Song 1. “Action Woman” (Warren Kendrick)
Song 2. “Watcha Gonna Do About It” (Small Faces)
Song 3. “Codine” (Buffy Saint Marie)
Song 4. “Somebody Help Me” (Spencer Davis Group)
Song 5. “Substitute” (The Who) and “The Mummy” (Caplan – Bomberg)
Side Two:
Song 1. “I’m So Glad” (Cream)
Song 2. “A Legal Matter” (Yardbirds)
Song 3. “Rack My Mind” (Yardbirds)
Song 4. “Soul Searchin’” (Warren Kendrick)
Song 5. “I’m A Man” (Spencer Davis Group)
“The Mummy” started off as a break song used between sets when Caplan was in the Accents (and prior to that band, the Escapades). He had heard the song in the soundtrack for the Boris Karloff movie “The Mummy” from 1932 and worked with local keyboard player Bernie Bomberg to figure out how to play the song in 1963. Jim Kane played the Hammond organ on the recording and Denny Waite played the organ part at live performances.
“Hey Joe” was recorded but was not included on the album.
A second 45 was released by The Litter with “Somebody Help Me” on the A-side and “I’m A Man” on the B-side. This 45 was on Kendrick’s Warick label. Kendrick used three record label names for the local bands he records: Scotty, Warick, and Hexagon… later adding another label called Peace.
All of the songs on the album were recorded on a four-track machine at Dove with the instruments recorded live and the vocals over-dubbed. Bill Strandlof was not credited on the album for the three songs he played lead guitar on: “Action Woman”; “A Legal Matter”; and “Soul Searchin’”.
With their first album out, the band gained in popularity and started playing in Chicago on a regular basis including at a newly opened club in the uptown area called the Electric Theater which changed names to the Kinetic Playground in August, 1968.
Tom Caplan: “It was huge. They had a gigantic ballroom floor, strobe lights, all kinds of lights and a concession stand. It was a wild place. It was great. We played a lot of concerts there, with the Animals, the Byrds, and many others. “
The Litter were often the headliner band when local Chicago bands played at the venue. The Litter also played at various clubs in the “Old Town” area on the north side of Chicago that featured clubs, restaurants, and clothing stores that sold psychedelic inspired styles. Another venue they played was the Chicago Amphitheater. The band got to know members of popular bands in Chicago including Shadows of Knight and the Buckinghams.
The band hired Scott Doneen to be their manager. Scott was from Chicago.
On November 22, 1967 the Litter played at The Palace in Chicago with Little Boy Blues.
Tom Murray: “We went to Chicago after the first album came out. Warren was mainly interested in records so we got a manager and he brought us to Chicago to see what we were like and Chicago was real psychedelic. There was soul music then and psychedelic music and for the first time I saw black lighting and homemade strobe lights and we got into it.”
The group added to their stage show by using flash-pots and a fog generator and Dan Rinaldi started smashing his guitar on stage at the end of shows. Dan sang lead vocals on “Talk Talk” a national hit for the Music Machine in late 1966/early 1967. Dan’s intensity on the vocals made this one of the highlights of each show, along with the band wrecking their equipment at the end of their closing song “I’m A Man” which created a “buzz” regionally as no other Midwest rock bands were wrecking their musical gear during this frame.
Tom Murray: ”I saw them (The Who), during their first or second album (August 20, 1967 at the Minneapolis Convention Center). I had a second row seat at the Convention Center and Keith pushed over his drums so I started trashing mine. I would trash New City Opera House (a Minneapolis club) and people would come out to see us just to see how much stuff we could wreck. “
In early 1968, the band traveled to Los Angeles to play two jobs (January 12 and 13) at the Cheetah with Iron Butterfly, Genesis, and The Union Gap. While in Los Angeles the band also auditioned for major record companies.
Tom Caplan: “We wanted to get on a big label. We had a lot of record companies come out and see us in California. Elektra was there, Atlantic, all the big companies. We played during the day for them. At that time the group was having a lot of problems, as far as personality conflicts, as far as direction, as far as the kinds of songs that were being written. Tom and I didn’t want to stay out there. We didn’t like the way things were going. Again, we made a giant error. One of the record companies, I think it was Elektra, wanted to get a house out there and put us up and have us write a complete new album, all originals. It was a crazy, crazy decision. I just felt that things were falling apart. I felt that even if we stayed out there it was just going to be one conflict after another. We should have stuck that out and seen what would have happened. “
Kendrick released another 45 with “Action Woman” on the Warick label. This time around the B-side was “Watcha Gonna Do About It.” The record came out in early 1968.
On March 10, 1968, the Litter opened up for The Who at the Civic Opera House in Aurora, Illinois.
On May 5, 1968, The Litter opened up a show for Cream at the New City Opera House in Minneapolis. Cream was late to arrive and The Litter played an extended set for an hour and a half.
In 1968, The Litter began recording their second album at Warren Kendrick’s studio, Audio City, on East Lake Street in Minneapolis and at AudioTek in Minneapolis. In addition, the band traveled to Amarillo, Texas to record three songs with record producer Ray Ruff: “Mindbreaker;””(Under the Screaming Double) Eagle;” and “Blues #1.” Ruff also had the band record the instrumental tracks for a song called “Angelica” for J. Frank Wilson who had a national hit in 1964 with “Last Kiss.” The song “Angelica” was a slow ballad written by the highly successful songwriting team of Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, and was completed but never released. The song was originally on Capitol Records by Barry Mann in July, 1966 but was not a hit.
Tom Caplan, Larry Loofburrow, and Ted Dooley go to Los Angeles to record demo songs at Gold Star for The Litter written by Loofburrow. A total of eighteen songs were recorded. Also playing on the demo songs were three members of Minnesota bands: Roy Hensley (bass guitar player with the Castaways); David Rivkin (lead guitar player with the Chancellors); and Bruce Pedalty (keyboard player with the Accents).
In addition to playing heavily in Chicago, The Litter played at the Peppermint Lounge in New York, three Cheetah clubs (Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles), various venues throughout the Midwest, the upper Northeast area, and also Canada. The band played on the same bill with numerous national and international acts including: The Who; Brian Auger and Trinity; Canned Heat; Iron Butterfly; Genesis; Eric Burdon and War; Blue Cheer; The Stooges; The Amboy Dukes; Joe Cocker; Grand Funk Railroad; Led Zeppelin; Cream; Three Dog Night, Mountain, Jethro Tull, Savoy Brown, Creedence Clearwater Revival and others.
The Litter played at Electric Theater from May 15 through May 19, 1968 and opened the show for Canned Heat who headlined the last three nights.
On July 17, 1968 the Litter played at Chain Reaction! In Chicago with The Bubble Gum Machine.
On August 18, 1968, the band was hired to perform seven songs at The Electric Theater for a Paramount Pictures movie called “Medium Cool.” A production company filmed the band live and recorded the audio tracks as well. For one day of work the band was paid $500. The band members looked forward to the release of the film.
The owner of the Kinetic Playground, Aaron Russo, informed The Litter that he would like to manage the group. The band turned down the offer.
Tom Caplan: “Aaron Russo was pushing to be our manager. By then we were having a lot of problems. We were being pulled in different directions. He thought he could turn the group around and do something with it. Later on he managed Bette Midler. I guess we blew it by not giving him a chance. It all came to a head… after we did the movie. We were just falling apart. Denny’s voice was going too. Part of the plan with Aaron Russo was getting a new lead singer. I didn’t really want to go along with that. I saw all these changes coming and I thought, the group isn’t going to be The Litter by the time they get done with it. I was really into Cream. I was jamming with Woody Woodrich, he was a bass player I knew from different bands. Whenever we were in town and I had a chance, we would get together and jam, just bass and guitar. We did a lot of Cream and Cream-type of jams. We’d just sit there and improvise for two hours. We really got into each other’s playing to the point where I said, ‘That’s it. I quit. I’m done’ when the whole thing came to a head with the Litter. “
The filming of the band playing seven songs for the movie was the last job for Tom Caplan and Denny Waite. Caplan gave the band notice and dove back to Minnesota with Woody Woodrich to pursue putting together a new band. Denny Waite also returned to Minnesota to take some time off from the band. Two former members of the Minneapolis rock band Jokers Wild joined The Litter, Lonnie Knight, guitar player and singer and Greg Springer, keyboard player and singer. The new lineup was:
Lonnie Knight: Lead guitar and vocals.
Gregg Springer: Keyboards and vocals.
Dan Rinaldi: Rhythm guitar and vocals.
Jim Kane: Bass guitar.
Tom Murray: Drums.
In late September, 1968, Lonnie Knight and Greg Springer left the band after six weeks and returned to Minneapolis.
On October 6, 1968 the Litter played at KDWB’s “Underground Concert” at New City Opera House in Minneapolis. Also on the bill were Michael Yonkers and Nickel Revolution.
Warren Kendrick released the second album by The Litter called “$100 Fine” on the Hexagon label in the fall of 1968. 1,000 copies were pressed.
The Litter – $100 Fine
Side One:
Song 1. “Mindbreaker” (Jim Kane & Denny Waite)
Song 2. “Tallyman” (Jeff Beck)
Song 3. “Here I Go Again” (Eire Apparent)
Song 4. “Morning Sun” (Larry Loofburrow)
Song 5. “(Under the Screaming Double) Eagle” (Tom Caplan, Woody Woodrich & Denny Waite)
Song 6: “Apologies to 2069” (Warren Kendrick)
Side Two:
Song 1. “Kaleidoscope” (Procol Harum)
Song 2. “Blues One” (Tom Caplan & Denny Waite)
Song 3. “She’s Not There” (Zombies)
The name of the album came from Caplan who had noticed a highway sign that said” No Littering – $100 Fine.” The Zombies cover song “She’s Not There” was arranged by Tom Caplan and Randy Resnick (a local guitar player). Caplan had suggested to Kendrick that the album cover show a picture of the band members blown up large enough to show the printing dots with a “close up” showing the “dots.” Instead, Kendrick takes the idea and uses a photo of one of Tom Murray’s drums blown up for the “abstract” cover photo.
“Apologies to 2069” was put together by Kendrick after the album was finished using parts of a slowed down version of “Action Woman” and parts of “Tallyman” and “Kaleidoscope” played backwards, with electronic sounds effects added to the altered songs. The “song” was added to fill up the space on Side 1 of the album.
Tom Caplan: “He (Kendrick) used to say it was his way of apologizing to the people of the future for the crude recording technologies of the 1960’s.”
On the song “Kaleidoscope” Kendrick devised a method to create a sound effect known as flanging. He used two stereo Ampex recorders, side by side, with the first unit (left side) having the take-up reel disabled and the second unit (right side) having the supply reel disabled. Unit 1 had channel two disabled and Unit 2 had channel 1 disabled and the erase head as well. The tape ran from Unit 1 to Unit 2 and an identical sound signal was recorded on each channel of the tape, but displaced by roughly eighteen inches of tape length. Then a screwdriver was held between the two tape recorders and moved up or down which caused the two signals to diverge and then converge. A third recorder was used during the playback – mixdown.
In addition to playing heavily in Chicago, The Litter played at the Peppermint Lounge in New York, three Cheetah clubs (Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles), various venues throughout the Midwest, the upper Northeast area, and also Canada. The band played on the same bill with numerous national and international acts including: The Who; Brian Auger and Trinity; Canned Heat; Iron Butterfly; Genesis; Eric Burdon and War; Blue Cheer; The Stooges; The Amboy Dukes; Joe Cocker; Grand Funk Railroad; Led Zeppelin; Cream; Three Dog Night, Mountain, Jethro Tull, Savoy Brown, Creedence Clearwater Revival and others.
In late September, 1968, Lonnie Knight and Greg Springer left the band after six weeks and returned to Minneapolis.
In 1969: A new version of The Litter came together with the following lineup:
Mark Gallagher: Lead vocals.
Ray Melina: Lead guitar and vocals.
Dan Rinaldi: Rhythm guitar and vocals.
Jim Kane: Bass guitar.
Tom Murray: Drums.
Gallagher was from Joliet, Illinois and Melina was from Minneapolis. The band continued to spend more time in Chicago compared to Minneapolis and continued to play various venues in the Midwest, the upper Northeast, and California.
On January 11, 1969 the Litter played a show with Conqueror Worm at the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago. At the same venue on January 24, 1969 the band opened a show for The Byrds and The Flock.
The band got an offer from ABC – Probe to record an album. Probe was set up as a sub-label to ABC for the progressive rock/psychedelic artists and bands. Their first release was in 1968 with an album by Soft Machine. No one at ABC – Probe has been out to see The Litter play live.
In early 1969, The Litter recorded an album at G.M. Studios in Detroit, Michigan. The album was released in the summer of 1969 on ABC – Probe with the following songs:
The Litter “Emerge”
Side 1.
Song 1. “Journeys” (Ray Melina & Mark Gallagher)
Song 2. “Feelings” (Mark Gallagher, Tom Murray & Jim Kane)
Song 3. “Silly People” (Ray Melina & Mark Gallagher)
Song 4. “Blue Ice” (Jim Kane & Tom Murray)
Song 5. “For What it’s Worth”(Buffalo Springfield)
Side 2.
Song 1. “Little Red Book” (Love)
Song 2. “Breakfast at Gardensons” (Ray Melina)
Song 3. “Future of the Past” (Jim Kane)
The album was produced by Jim Kane, The Litter, and Punch (Edward Andres) and was engineered by Jim Bruzzese. The album cover was a photo of the band members outside of their Chicago residence.
A 45 was also released on ABC – Probe, prior to the album with “Feeling” backed with “Silly People.”
The ABC – Probe executives finally came out to watch the Litter play live at a job at the historic Grande Ballroom in Detroit.
Tom Murray: “They were suit guys and I said hello and they gave us a check for one thousand dollars.“
Also playing that night was Three Dog Night.
Tom Murray: “it must have been 150 degrees on stage. One of the singers from Three Dog Night passed out. It was terrible. The heat was intense. “
On March 30, 1969 the Litter opened a show for Ten Years After at the Labor Temple in Minneapolis.
Billboard Magazine reported on August 16, 1969 that the album peaked on the Billboard 200 (albums) at Number 175 and was on the charts for five weeks. This was the only Litter album to chart on Billboard. In San Juan, Puerto Rico, the 45 and album both hit Number 1, however the band’s manager was unable to book the band there to take advantage of the situation.
Tom Murray: “The first thing I saw with the album was when I opened up Billboard and there was a full page ad. It had a doctor holding a baby and it said ‘The birth of a band.’ That album sold a lot of copies. It sold 30,000 copies the first week it was out. Scott told us it was Number 1 in nineteen cities in the USA. “
The band traveled to New Orleans to play a job with Savoy Brown at The Warehouse. At a show in California the band played “For What It’s Worth” and Stephen Stills was there and informed them that their version was the best version he had ever heard.
Tom Caplan’s new three-piece band, Lightning (originally called White Lightning) was now out on the road playing concerts. Lightning played with The Litter for numerous shows including many outdoor festival shows.
ABC – Probe hired Ira Blacker to promote the band, however there was poor communication between Blacker and the band resulting in the band showing up to play jobs only to discover they were booked at the venue for a different date. Another problem occurred when the band was out on the road performing and their album was not in the local record stores.
At a press party in New York, Ira Blacker showed up and Scott Doneen informed him that he better leave as the band was not very fond of him. When the band members found out he was there they ran after him but he had already made his exit from the building.
At a job in Chicago the band opened up for The Who. Tom Murray broke three snare drums and had no other snare drums available. Keith Moon was watching the band and threw Murray a snare drum which he managed to catch and used it to finish out their set.
At a show at the Kinetic Playground, the Litter had a contest of sorts with Blue Cheer to see which group played louder. The Litter wins the contest.
On July 18 and 19, 1969, The Litter played a show headlined by Led Zeppelin at the Kinetic Playground. Also on the bill were Savoy Brown and Jethro Tull. Prior to the show, Tom Murray was on stage practicing with his drums and was soon joined by John Bonham, the drummer with Led Zeppelin.
Tom Murray: “John came in with a double bass and then threw it off the stage. We were exchanging licks.”
Soon other band members arrived to play and eventually members from all four bands joined the impromptu jam session.
Tom Murray: “That was the highlight of my career as a drummer.”
On July 27, 1969, The Litter performed at the Midwest Rock Festival at the State Fair Park in West Allis, Wisconsin (a suburb of Milwaukee). The Sunday show was the last of a three day event. Also on the bill for the final day of the show were: Johnny Winter, Joe Cocker and the Grease Band, Bob Seger System, Jim Schwall Blues Period, MC5, Zephyr, and Shag.
On August 27, 1969, the movie “Medium Cool” was released by Paramount Pictures. The film was written and produced by Haskell Wexler and starred Robert Forster, Verna Bloom, Peter Bonerz, Marianna Hal, and Harold Blankenship. The setting for the film was Chicago in the summer of 1968 and the film explored the social and political turmoil of the time including the protests and riots at the Democratic National Convention. The music for the film was assembled by Mike Bloomfield who was Haskell Wexler’s cousin. The section in the film showing The Litter playing live did not have the audio of the band. The music playing in the film was an early recording by the Mothers of Invention. The band members were totally surprised and very disappointed when they saw the film and discovered that the song they were playing in the soundtrack had been replaced with an obscure song by the Mothers of Invention.
Tom Caplan: “We recorded “Here I Go Again” (the B-side of a single recorded by an obscure UK band called Eire Apparent in January, 1968) for the movie and they took our soundtrack and threw it in the waste basket and took some weird music I had never heard before… stupid music that doesn’t even fit with what we were doing. I remember when I went to the opening at the Orpheum Theater in Minneapolis. I had no idea what they were going to do with our scene. I got there and all of a sudden there we are and I go, ‘Wait a minute. That’s not us playing.’”
On October 12, 1969, the band played a job at New City Opera House in Minneapolis. Photos from the event show Ray Melina on lead guitar and Sean Jones also “sitting in” on lead guitar, getting ready to take over the position as Ray was leaving the group.
In 1970, ABC – Probe released a second 45 with a non-album song “On Our Minds” (written by Sean Jones & Mark Gallagher) backed with “Blue Ice” (written by Jim Kane & Tom Murray).
Ray Melina left the band and Sean Jones joined the group. The new lineup was:
Mark Gallagher: Lead vocals.
Sean Jones: Lead guitar.
Dan Rinaldi: Rhythm guitar and vocals.
Jim Kane: Bass guitar.
Tom Murray: Drums.
On March 20, 1970, The Litter was in the line-up for the First Met Center Pop Festival held at Met Center (a hockey rink for the Minnesota North Stars) in Bloomington, Minnesota. The 8 hour show went from 4:00 pm to Midnight. Ticket prices were $5.00. On the bill with The Litter were Canned Heat, Grand Funk Railroad, Buddy Miles Express, The Amboy Dukes, Brownsville Station, The Stooges, Johnny Winter (joined by Edgar), Rotary Connection (without Minnie Riperton who was ill), S.R.C., and Truth.
In May, 1970, Mark Gallagher left the band and the group tried out two different singers, Ron Rene (from Canada) and Dervin Wallin from Minneapolis (formerly with Thundertree and Grizzly).
On June 13, 1970 the Litter played at the Manitoba Centennial Centre in Winnipeg, Canada.
On July 10, 1970 the Litter played at the Aragon Ballroom with Grand Funk Railroad, 4 Days and a Knight, and Brian Auger and the Trinity.
The contract with ABC – Probe was a two album deal. The band went to RCA in New York City and recorded the second album which was never released as the company went out of business before the end of 1970, following the release of seventeen albums between 1968 and 1970. “Emerge” by The Litter was the fifth album to be released on ABC – Probe.
On November 6, 1970, The Litter played a job at the KRNT Theater in Des Moines, Iowa. Also on the bill were the Flock and another Minnesota band, Crow.
In December, 1970, The Litter played at the Kinetic Playground for a party sponsored by Playboy Magazine. Several band members got into trouble when they used their cigarettes to pop the balloons that one of the Playboy “bunnies” was wearing. Photos of the band members at the party were included in the January, 1970 issue of the magazine.
In Late, 1970, Mark Gallagher rejoined the band and Jim Kane left the band. The Litter returned to their hometown in Minneapolis. John Sutphen took over on bass guitar. The new lineup was:
Mark Gallagher: Lead vocals.
Sean Jones: Lead guitar.
Dan Rinaldi: Rhythm guitar and vocals.
John Sutphen: Bass guitar.
Tom Murray: Drums.
The dysfunction going on with the band’s record label, distribution, management, and promotion was taking a toll on the band members in terms of anger and frustration. Tensions between the band members mounted. Arguments and in-fighting escalated. The band was on the path to implosion.
Tom Murray: “It got to the point where we were really frustrated with what was happening to us. We had a number 1 record in San Juan, Puerto Rico and our manager couldn’t get us a plane to go there. It just got to the point where all these things were happening to us. We’d be in one city to play and we’d show up and one guy in the organization would have switched the date and didn’t tell us. We were getting mad and then we started fighting between ourselves. Our bass player left, Jim Kane, and we replaced him with Jim Sutphen. And then we started to get into some really abstract stuff. Our singer at that point, Mark, shaved his head and his eyebrows and was wearing hot pants with leotards and calling himself Captain Schlep.”
The new songs were recorded in Minneapolis. The recordings became known as “The Wretch Tape.”
On one of the “Wretch Tape” songs, the band incorporates parts of a song from the soundtrack to The Wizard of Oz along with portions of “They’re Coming to Take Me Away” (a novelty song from 1966 by Napoleon the fourteenth). They also recorded a cover version of “Puff the Magic Dragon” a folk/pop song from 1962 by Peter, Paul and Mary.
Tom Murray: “It got to the point where we were really frustrated with what was happening to us. We had a number 1 record in San Juan, Puerto Rico and our manager couldn’t get us a plane to go there. It just got to the point where all these things were happening to us. We’d be in one city to play and we’d show up and one guy in the organization would have switched the date and didn’t tell us. We were getting mad and then we started fighting between ourselves. Our bass player left, Jim Kane, and we replaced him with Jim Sutphen. And then we started to get into some really abstract stuff. Our singer at that point, Mark, shaved his head and his eyebrows and was wearing hot pants with leotards and calling himself Captain Schlep.”
“We did a show outside of Chicago and after we got done playing there wasn’t a sound. It was a dead audience. Our show was so intense we literally blew them away to the point where they didn’t even talk. There was no reaction and then five minutes later somebody started clapping and then the crowd went crazy. We stunned them.”
“It was negative level, a drone. It was Andromeda. It was definitely space music with the reality of different beats, off beats.”
“That was about a six to eight month period we were doing shows with this band. Weird things were happening. We did a show outside of Chicago and after we got done playing there wasn’t a sound. It was a dead audience. Our show was so intense we literally blew them away to the point where they didn’t even talk. There was no reaction and then five minutes later somebody started clapping and then the crowd went crazy. We stunned them. “
“We were playing an outdoor show up in St. Cloud. We came back to Minnesota. We decided to stay here and start a new level of the band. We were headlining the show and all the bands had played before us. We came on and we hit the stage and we did our first songs and from there all these clouds hovered over us and there was lightning all around us. Mark looked like an alien… no hair, no eyebrows, skinny body. People loved it but it was really bizarre. We stated to go into the second song and the whole storm came right up on us and stopped again. So we sat back and were saying, ‘look at this.’ And the audience was going ‘this is weird’ and it was all around us, clouds, thunder, and lightning… then Mark looked up and made a comment like ‘It’s time for the heavens to descend upon us’ and all of a sudden this wall of rain and wind went through and then stopped. It blew over everything, all of our equipment, that’s how heavy it was and then it stopped and it was fine. The storm blew the whole stage away. “
“We got so frustrated we just completely turned around. We went from positive stuff to bum out city.”
“We were doing another concert at Gosse Lake Rock Festival and a guy was on a light tower and he freaked out. He was dancing to us and I was watching him on the light tower up there and then he freaked out and jumped off. He didn’t die. He fell on somebody and broke some bones.”
“We did a show at Racine, Wisconsin… these were the Captain Schlep days… very few people remember those days. It was a new side of The Litter.”
“We were taking cuts out of “The Wizard of Oz” where the guards are marching into the witch’s castle and “They’re coming to take me away.” There’s a tape of the around. It’s called the Wretch Tape. “
“We recorded the tapes and that was it. And then we gave up. This was just before make-up rock happened, Bowie, you know. “
In the April, 1971 issue of Connie’s Insider (a local Twin Cities music magazine) the front cover featured a photo of the Litter.
In the late summer of 1971, Mark Gallagher, Sean Jones, and John Sutphen left the band. A new lineup formed as follows:
Casey MacPherson: Lead vocals.
John King: Lead guitar.
Dan Rinaldi: Rhythm guitar and vocals.
Mike Rowe: Bass guitar.
Tom Murray: Drums.
In Late 1972, the final version of The Litter came to end.
Over the years there have been numerous versions of The Litter that played live and recorded. Sill performing with the band are Denny Waite, Tom Murray and Tom Caplan.
Written by Tom Campbell
Version 1. August 26, 2017
Version 2. September 12, 2017
Version 3. September 19, 2017
Copyright – Thomas R. Campbell 2017
UPDATE:
On September 19, 1990, The Litter reformed to play a reunion concert at the Mirage in Minneapolis. Playing for the event were Denny Waite, Dan Rinaldi, Tom Caplan, Jim Kane, and Tom Murray. Woody Woodrich played bass guitar for all songs except for three songs with Jim Kane on bass guitar. The concert was filmed and recorded and eventually released in video and audio formats.
In 1991, a new version of The Litter formed to play live and record demo songs. In this lineup were Mick Stanhope, Denny Waite, Tom Caplan, Dan Rinaldi, and Tom Murray.
In 1992/1993 another version of The Litter formed to record a new album (CD format) called “Old Dogs and New Tricks.” In this lineup were Denny Waite, Mark Gallagher, Tom Caplan, Dan Rinaldi. Mick Stanhope, Bob Hood (keyboards), and Rick Ottum (bass guitar and vocals). The group also played concerts. Denny Waite and Mick Stanhope were on the album but did not play live with the group.
In 1998, The Litter recorded a new studio album produced by Joey Molland (from Badfinger). The album “Re-Emerge” was released in CD format with seventeen songs. This version of the band featured Mark Gallagher and Mick Stanhope on lead vocals, along with Denny Waite, Dan Rinaldi, Tom Murray, Bob Hood, and Rick Ottum. Numerous local musicians made “guest” appearances on the album including: Joey Molland (guitar); James Walsh (keyboards and vocals); Andy Bailey (keyboards); and Larry Wiegand (bass guitar). Included on the album was a new version of “Action Woman.”
In 1998/1999, a new version of The Litter formed to play live shows. In this lineup were Denny Waite, Dan Rinaldi, Bill Grenke on bass guitar, and Johnny Haga on drums.
From 2001 through 2015, The Litter played numerous reunion concerts in the Twin Cities. Playing in the band during this era were Denny Waite, Tom Caplan, Dan Rinaldi, Bill Grenke, and Joe Scanlon (on drums).
In 2016 a new version of The Litter came together with Denny Waite, Tom Caplan, Tom Murray, Denny Johnson (bass guitar) and Bernie Bomberg (rhythm guitar). This version of the band played the following jobs:
The Myth in Maplewood, Minnesota on November 25, 2016.
St. Croix Casino in Webster, Wisconsin on July 28, 2017. On this job the band opened up for Steppenwolf . The stop in Wisconsin was part of a 50th Anniversary Tour for Steppenwolf.
Mancini’s in St. Paul, Minnesota on June 10, 2018.
In 2019, Tom Murray released a new Litter album on a CD called “Future of the Past” with new band members, as well as some prior members. In 2020, a vinyl album of “Future of the Past” was released.
The Litter – Releases after 1969
USA
“Action Woman” (1979) Pebbles Volume 1 Vinyl LP – BFD Records
“I’m a Man” (1979) Pebbles Volume 2 Vinyl LP – BFD Records
“Distortions” (1990) Vinyl LP – K-Tel Records
“Distortions” (1990) CD – K-Tel Records
“$100 Dollar Fine” (1991) CD – ERA Records (K-Tel)
“$100 Dollar Fine” (1991) Cassette – ERA Records (K-Tel)
“Distortions” (1993) Cassette – ERA Records (K-Tel)
“Hey Joe” The Scotty Story (1994) – CD – Arf Arf Records
“Action Woman” Garage Band Classics (1998) – CD – Simitar Records
“Action Woman” (1998) Pebbles Volume 1 CD – AIP Records
“Action Woman” (1998) Nuggets 4 CD Box Set – Rhino Records
“Distortions” (1999) Vinyl LP – Get Hip Archive Series
“Distortions” (1999) CD – Arf Arf Records
“$100 Fine” (1999) Vinyl LP – Get Hip Archive Series
“Re-Emerge” (1998) CD – Arf Arf Records
“Live at the Mirage” (1998) CD – Arf Arf Records
“Action Woman” b/w “Somebody Help Me” (1999) 7 inch 45 – Get Hip Archive Series
“I’m a Man” b/w “Hey Joe” (1999) 7 inch 45 – Get Hip Archive Series
“Live at the Mirage” (2005) CD – Arf Arf Records
“Emerge” (2009) CD – Cleopatra Records
“Distortions” (2013) Vinyl LP – Sundazed Records
“Emerge” (2014) Vinyl LP – Cleopatra Records
“Action Woman” b/w “A Legal Matter” (2014) 7 inch 45 – Sundazed Records
“Distortions” (2014) Vinyl LP – Sundazed Records
“$100 Fine” (2016) Vinyl LP – Sundazed Records
“Wretch” (2018) Vinyl LP and CD – Cleopatra Records
“Action Woman” (2018) Vinyl LP (4 songs) – Cleopatra Records
“Future of the Past” (2019) CD – Blackberry Way Records
“Future of the Past” (2020) – Vinyl LP – Blackberry Way Records
Overseas
“Emerge” (1988) Vinyl LP – Back Beat Records – MCA (UK)
“Action Woman” (1993) Compilation 2 LP’s – Way Back (Germany)
“Distortions” (1995) CD – Taxim Records – K-Tel (Germany)
“Emerge” (2009) Vinyl LP – Lilith Records (Ukraine)
“$100 Fine” (2011) Mini-CD – Bird Song Records (Japan)
Written by Tom Campbell
Version 1. August 26, 2017
Version 2. September 12, 2017
Version 3. September 23, 2017
Version 4. October 7, 2017
Copyright by Thomas R. Campbell 2017
All Rights Reserved
Photos
First Promo Photo Second Promo Photo
Kay Bank Studio Log
Litter at New City Opera House 10-12-69
Ray – Dan – Tom – Mark – Jim Ray – Dan – Tom – Mark – Jim
Litter at New City Opera House 10-12-69 Tom Murray and friends at Magoo’s 10-16-69
Sean – Dan – Tom – Mark – Jim
Tom Murray and friends – Magoo’s 10-16-69 – Tom Murray and Jim Kane 10-27-69
Above six photos by Mike Barich
Connie’s Insider Cover 04-17-71 Dan Rinaldi
Photo for Insider cover Poster for Dania Hall show
Poster for job at the Cheetah
Poster for show at the Palace Poster for show at Aldrich Arena
Electric Theater show Reunion show 09-19-1990
Recordings
Action Woman – Time = 2:33
A Legal Matter – Time = 2:50
Somebody Help Me – Time = 1:57
I’m a Man – Time = 4:03
Feelings – Time = 2:48
Silly People – Time = 3:28
On Our Minds – Time = 2:17
Blue Ice – Time = 3:08
Bandtree
Bill Strandlof – Lead Guitar – 1966 to 1967
Keith Zeller and the Starliners
Tabs
Litter
Bullet
Tramp
Dan Rinaldi – Rhythm Guitar and Vocals – 1966 to 1972
Tabs
Litter
Rockit
Tramp
Spitfire
Stryder
Fast Eddie
Hots
Rizzatos
Jim Kane – Bass Guitar – 1966 to 1970
Victors
Litter
Tom Murray – Drums – 1966 to 1972
Litter
Straight Up
Sharks
US Kidz
Electric Playground (Denver, Colorado)
Retro Rockets (Denver, Colorado)
Who’s Incognito (Denver, Colorado)
Tom “Zippy” Caplan – Lead Guitar – 1967 to 1968
Uniques
Continentals
Escapades
Froggy and His Friends
Weekends
Accents
Litter
White Lightning – Lightning
Dancer
Surf Dawgs
Mark Gallagher – Lead Vocals – 1968 – 1970
Saints (Illinois)
Troys (Illinois)
Litter
Archangel
Straight Up
Clone (Illinois)
Dick Tracy
Big City
Sean Jones – Lead Guitar – 1968 – 1970
Cardboard Bachs
Litter
Archangel
Where are they now?
Jim Kane: Unknown.
Denny Waite: Playing with the Litter. Living in Minnesota.
Bill Strandlof: Passed away at age 49 on March 4, 1995. He was living in Minnesota at the time of his passing.
Tom Murray: Playing with the Litter. Living in Minnesota.
Dan Rinaldi: Passed away at age 70 on June 5, 2015. He was living in Minnesota at the time of his passing.
Tom “Zippy” Caplan: Playing with the Litter and the Surf Dawgs.
Mark Gallagher: Passed away at age 60 on February 24, 2009. He was living in Minnesota at the time of his passing.
Ray Melina. Passed away.
Sean Jones: Passed away at age 62 on February 13, 2011.
Interviews
Dan Rinaldi INTERVIEW Part ONE – March 23, 2013
Dan Rinaldi INTERVIEW Part TWO
Tom Murray INTERVIEW Part ONE – April 7, 2019
Tom Murray INTERVIEW Part TWO
Tom Murray INTERVIEW Part THREE