Interview

An Interview With Ron Bowell

60sgaragebands.com (60s): How did you first get interested in music?

Ron Bowell (RB): My Dad was musical and so we had music on around the house all the time. I got my first guitar at 13. I wanted to be Elvis.

60s: Was Friar Tuck and The Monks your first band?

RB: In 1963 I was in a group that sang a lot of Kingston Trio stuff. I heard The Beatles in 1964 and got an electric pickup for my guitar. I started a band known as The Executives. In 1965 I went to college and helped form a band known as The Mau-Maus. This band eventually became The Coachmen and in late 1966/early 1967 we formed Friar Tuck and The Monks.

60s: Where was Friar Tuck and The Monks formed?

RB: In Dodge City, Kansas in late 1966. Ron Fitch, Ron Bowell, and Richard France began work on Friar Tuck. They were joined by Gary Livingston and Don Pippitt:

Ron Bowell: - Bass guitar and lead/backup vocals; Ron Fitch - Lead guitar and backup vocals; Don Pippitt - Organ; Richard France - Drums and lead/backup vocals; Gary Livingston - Tambourine and front man.

60s: Who named the band?

RB: Another musician in Dodge City, Joe Bailles, was booking our band and he thought up the name.

60s: Where did the band typically play? What type of gigs did you usually land?

RB: Friar Tuck probably played most at the Hillcrest Inn in Dodge City. The Starlight room was another dance spot in Dodge. Other clubs included The Lamplighter in Salina, Beachcombers in Great Bend, Jo-Jan-Gae-Re in Ulysses, Red Dog Inn in Lawrence, Red Dog Inn South in Wichita, The Dark Horse Inn in Hays, Rusty Bucket in Colby, Barn A Go-Go in Chase, The Touch of Gold Club in Topeka, Renfroe's in Emporia, and Coya's Castle in Lenexa.

We probably played more dances in National Guard Armories and rented halls all across Kansas, Nebraska, and Colorado. These jobs were pure capitalism. A hall would be rented, a front man would be sent to the town to put up posters, and the band would show up on dance night expecting a large turnout. The main problem with this method was that Friar Tuck and The Monks posters quickly became a collectors item and often the posters would come down about as fast as they were put up.

The remainder of our gigs was made up of high school proms and homecomings, fraternity dances, and outdoor fairs and festivals. One highlight was appearing with Gary Lewis and The Playboys at the Dodge City Civic Center.

All in all the guys made a pretty good living and were able to pay bills and stay in school.

60s: Did Friar Tuck and The Monks participate in any Battle Of The Bands?

RB: We never did any.

60s: How would you describe the band's sound? What bands influenced you?

RB: We were often described as a psychedelic/soul band. Groups that influenced us were The Beatles, The Byrds, The Rolling Stones, The Doors, Spencer Davis Group, The Rascals, and The Kinks.

60s: Did the band have a manager?

RB: Richard France, our drummer, had his own booking agency. He booked the majority of our jobs. We played some for the Riorden agency in Hays and for Mid-Continent Productions in Lawrence.

60s: How popular locally did Friar Tuck and The Monks become?

RB: We were well known in western and central Kansas. There are those who have said Friar Tuck was the best band ever to come out of Dodge City, Kansas.

60s: How far was the band's "touring" territory?

RB: We played all over Kansas, southern Nebraska, eastern Colorado and northern Oklahoma.

60s: What other local groups of the era do you especially recall?

RB: Some of the other bands in Dodge at the time were Larry Grant and The Flames, The Soul Kings, and The Rolling Five. Bands playing the same clubs as we did were Spider and The Crabs, The Red Dogs, The Blue Things, The Flippers, and Green River Ordinance.

60s: Your group recorded one 45: a cover of The Beatles’ Help b/w Escape.

RB: The Friar Tuck single was recorded at Webb Studios in Emporia, Kansas in 1969. We decided to slow it down and, as I recall, Vanilla Fudge's treatment of You Keep Me Hangin On (which we covered at shows) was an inspiration. Escape was an original that I wrote. I believe we sold 1,000 of them.

60s: What is the middle section in Help? Is that something the band composed?

RB: The piece in the middle of Help was also original. In live performance Ron Fitch sang the middle part in sort of a Bob Dylan/Val Steckline(Blue Tings) style and the song was much longer (8-9 minutes). When we cut the record we were told it needed to be shortened as much as possible to get airplay so I wrote and sang the short chorus that went onto the 45, which we recorded in Emporia.

60s: Who was the band's primary songwriter?

RB: Ron Fitch and I collaborated on a few originals and some re-arrangements of standard tunes. (I have compiled a CD) of live recordings of Friar Tuck. Nothing else besides the 45 was recorded professionally.

60s: One of the songs on the CD is an original titled Friar Tuck's Music Machine. This was no doubt an original...

RB: Friar Tuck's Music Machine was indeed an original that Ron Bowell and Ron Fitch and Don Pippitt put together. Much of our arranging was done community style.

60s: It's interesting to hear in the many live cuts that the band was well aware the performance was going to be their last...

RB: We knew that we were all going our separate ways after college by probably Christmas time of 1968. It was inevitable and there were no hard feelings at all. Barring someone offering us a record deal everyone had plans that did not include playing every weekend. We timed the release of the record for just before the last dance and sold all 1,000 copies during the month of May and June 1969.

60s: Did the band make any local TV appearances? Does any home movie film footage exist of the band?

RB: We have some home movie footage that was done in the style of The Monkees TV show. We did open for Gary Lewis and The Playboys once.

60s: What year and why did the band break up?

RB: The band disbanded in mid-1969 as most had graduated from college and were going their separate ways.

60s: How often, and where, do you perform today?

RB: I am a church planting pastor at a rock and roll church in Salina, Kansas. I get to play two or three times a week. I still have a Fender Dual Showman amp. It is a blast. None of the other guys are playing in a group of any kind.

60s: How do you best summarize your experiences with Friar Tuck and The Monks?

RB: It was a good run with some good friends. We all remain friends today. We learned a lot. We made a lot of mistakes. But all in all it was an experience I wouldn't trade for the world. I still stop occasionally in towns where we would play and check to see if the old buildings are standing.

We are talking of a possible reunion performance in Dodge City, Kansas over 4th of July weekend 2005 (Dodge City High School Super Reunion including classes from 1964-1968). I'm not sure we will be able to pull that off but it's fun talking about it.

** Update: The guys did get together July 4th weekend of 2005. Because of illness they were not able to play a concert, but were glad to be able to see each other again.