The band in 1967
Issaquah Press, 1988
Past and present
Friendship helps Associated Sounds swing past 20 years
By Michael Landauer
In a day when most professional bands are lucky if they’re together two years, the nucleus of one Issaquah amateur group has been fashioning tunes for almost two decades. The band’s business card says it all: “Associated Sounds, ‘Dance Band’.”
The members of Associated Sounds have made it work, more out of friendship than any lofty aspirations of stardom, says the group’s drummer and original founding member, Tom Needham.In 1967 Associated Sounds had six members including (from left) then-keyboardist Maxine Pangburn, Rick Shillenger, Larry Searles, Rod Shillenger, John Thrash (no longer with the band) and Tom Needham on drums.
“We all went through elementary and high school together with the opportunity to play music with some very excellent musicians. Many of these people have quit playing but none of us in the group could stand the thought of that,” he said.
Associated Sounds’ first gig was New Year’s Eve 1966-67. All the members were barely 15, Needham said, with three of the boys reaching that birthday just weeks before their first public performance as a group.
The band grew out of the music revolution of the late 1960s. The band started practicing as so many groups do, in someone’s garage after school, “just for something to do,” Needham said.
“Originally we thought we’d become just another rock’n’roll band, but those guys were a dime a dozen,” he said. So the boys took another route – swing music.
Most of the guys listened to this popular dance music throughout their lives through their parents’ record collections, Needham said.
Now, their repertoire includes swing, country and western, polkas, schottisches and even some popular rock tunes. “We try to cover just a little of everything for everybody,” Today, band members inlcude (from left) keyboardist Tom Howard (who joined the band 12 years ago), Rick Shillenger, Searles, Rod Shillenger and Needham.Needham said.
Although the band has been on the road on and off for nearly 20 years,
it has stayed pretty close to home. About the farthest it’s traveled
is Hope, British Columbia.
...
The band in 1988
Having to play gigs under candlelight or flashlight illumination because the power blew out, Needham’s drums rolling across the stage after a support gave way and other relatively minor problems have done little to sway the group’s love for performing.
Needham said that people often come up to them and ask, “Aren’t you the kids who used to have the band?” He said almost from the start, there have been rumors of the bands demise.
But it’s not only the group’s love of music that’s acted as a strong bond for Associated Sounds, it was and still is parental support, Needham said. “Our parents are still our biggest fans, “ he said.
Although the group’s love of music works to hold Associated Sounds together, they have never earned enough cash from the band to make even a meager living, Needham said. The jobs the members have are diverse.
Keyboardist and vocalist Tom Howard is a supervisor at a local hardware
store, trumpet player and bassist Rick Shillinger is a video processing
technician, trumpet player/vocalist Larry Searles runs a dental lab, tenor
sax and guitar player Rod Shillinger is a health technologist, and Needham
is the fire captain.
The band’s last gig was October 4, and who knows when they’ll
have another gig. But the guys remain busy, Needham said. “We’ve
played just about all the places in Issaquah that could hold people. We’re
just going to keep going,” he said.
OF
Stanley H. Hilzer (Guitar)
June 16, 1951- December 20, 2005
On December 20th, 2005 we lost Stanley to cancer. We had 3 great years with Stan, and will miss his smilin' face and his tasty solos, but he will not be forgotten.
Keep on Strummin' Bubba !
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In 1959, Began playing guitar at the age of eight.
1964, First professional performance was with a home
town band called the “Movin Marauders” age 13.
1967, Opened for the nationally known American band
“The Byrds” in Cheyenne Wyoming with a group called
“The Rocking Coachmen”
1969, Joined the band “The Drivin Dynamics” two years
after Randy Meisner left the group. Randy would
later become a member of Poco & the Eagles.
1971 Started a group with his brother Steve, called
“the Hilz Brothers Band”, touring the midwest.
1975, Moved to Tucson, Arizona, then to Houston, Texas
and formed a band called “Legal Tender”. This band
headlined with other groups from Austin, Texas at the
now defunct Texas Opera House. This was a main show
case for American & Internationally known bands to
play & show their stuff.
1980, Stan got home sick & returned to Nebraska to
spend time with his only child. In the last days, in
the knick of time before he left Houston, Stan wrote
his best song to date, “I’m Coming to See You”, for
his daughter, April Dawn Hilzer.
1981, Started a country rock group called
“Go-Fer-Broke” after the band lost all of it’s
equipment in a house fire at his mom & dad’s rented
farm.
1986, Stan returned to college playing guitar on the
weekends with a band called “Second Wind”. Playing
with the most talented sax player & musician Stan had
ever known, Marvin Snell.
1991, Stan graduated from the University of Wyoming
College of Engineering with a degree in Electrical
Engineering. He loves amplifiers.
1992, Moved to Seattle, Washington and began playing
in various church groups.
1996, Met Ricky Shillinger while playing in a church
band in Kent, Washington.
2000, Inducted into the Nebraska Rock & Roll Hall of
Fame along with Randy Meisner of the Eagles & Poco, as
a former member of the Dynamics. Check out
nebrocks.com
2003, Joined the Easy Street Band.
2004, A-B-C you @ our next gig. Stay tuned !