The Aerovons

From Wikipedia:

The Aerovons were an American rock band from St Louis, Missouri formed in 1966. […]

A representative of Capitol Records heard a 1967 demo record that they had made. In spite of an offer to record in Los Angeles, the group held out hope that they could record in London, the recording home of their heroes, The Beatles. In 1968, they traveled to London twice, receiving offers from both EMI and Decca. In 1969, the band returned to London and recorded an album at EMI studios, now known as Abbey Road. Guitarist Bob Frank, an original member of the band, left the group just before they went to London to record, due to personal issues. He was replaced briefly by Phil Edholm, a guitarist introduced to the group only a few months before leaving for England. Unfortunately, he did not work out as well and was released by the group soon after arriving in England.

Once the album was finished, the band returned to St. Louis where more personal problems between a group member and his family caused the group to splinter. EMI decided not to release the album. EMI invited Tom Hartman to come to England and restart, but Hartman felt that moving to England was too great a step at his age. The partnership with EMI was then dissolved. The album was not released until RPM issued it on CD in 2003.

The album was engineered by Beatles’ engineers Norman Smith, Geoff Emerick, Phil McDonald, and Alan Parsons, who also played recorder on one of the album’s tracks. […]

In the liner notes of Resurrection, Tom Hartman says that a Capitol Records rep heard the Aerovons recording at Premier Studios in St. Louis and brought the band to London. [Bob Frank – guitar player] can’t recall that particular detail but remembers virtually everything else about their February 1968 trip. Still in high school, the impressionable Aerovons did a week on the London rock-star circuit, mouths agape and hearts aflutter. “The second night we’re there (in London), she gets us into this club called the Speakeasy,” Frank recalls. “There’s Paul McCartney, Diana Ross, Michael Caine. I’m still in high school, seventeen years old at that point, and we’re standing in the same room with these people! Later that night, I’m in the bathroom taking a leak next to Paul McCartney!

“There was this little black guy running around the club in this big bolero hat. And Hartman and me are like, ‘Who’s this fucker think he is, Jimi Hendrix?’” Sure enough, it was. Later on, Hendrix got onstage, borrowed a guitar and wowed the pop elite with half an hour of feedback. “We’d never heard that before,” Frank continues. “Now, anybody can do it, but back then? He just had the whole place totally silent and focused. Stuff that had never existed before was happening right in front of your eyes.“

From Abbey Roadkill (riverfronttimes.com), August 27, 2003

The St. Louis Aerovons meet the London Beatles

There are thousands of musical groups all over America. Most of them are just a few teen-age musicians who get together, pick a name, playa few jobs around school, have some fun, and let it go at that. A few of the groups are little more serious about it. They get themselves booked around town, get a reputation, earn a few bucks, maybe even cut a record or at least a demo which they mail off to a record company who generally never reply.

But there is one young group, right here in St. Louis who decided they wanted to go “all the way” and, to them, going all the way meant that they wanted to go personally to England, and they wanted to meet personally the group they rate #1 – The Beatles. Surely hundred of American groups have dreamed of “talking music” with The Beatles and maybe even auditioning for The Beatles, but this St. Louis group did not just DREAM about it— they did it!

The AeroVons, four St. Louis boys and their manager, flew from St. Louis to New York to London. First they visited all the famous London spots – Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly Circus, London Palladium, Madame Tusseau’s Wax Museum, London Tower, Buckingham Palace, London Bridge, Scotland Yard, Big Ben and the House of Parliament. They studied the hippies on Kings Road; they rode the double-decker buses and explored the tubes (subways).

And then “it happened.” The AeroVons met George Harrison of the Beatles and they played at Sybillas, the private discotheque which George Harrison owns in London. They Young Rascals had played there the previous week. Then they played at the famous Hatchett Club where they received a standing ovation! They played also at world famous Radio Caroline, Club Big C, transmitting from the pirate ship Caroline.

Paul McCartney of the Beatles introduced the AeroVons to Jane Asher, The Supremes and Peter Asher of Peter and Gordon, who were at Paul’s private table at the Speakeasy. Then the AeroVons met The BeeGees, The Kings, Michael Caine, Lulu, The Traffic, Pink Floyd and Jimi Hendricks who discussed some technical aspects of guitar-playing with the AeroVons.

But what really turned on the AeroVons the most was the privileges and the thrill of recording a demo at The Beatles’ own recording studio, where George Harrison was working on the sound track of a new movie, “Wonder Wall.” Ringo and John were in France when The Aero Vons were in London with George and Paul and the other groups.

Now the AeroVons are home in St. Louis for a month, working hard to complete dozens of new original songs to take back with them when they return to England in September, as requested by Mal Evans, General Manager of The Apple, the new recording company owned by The Beatles in London. The Apple is also the Beatles’ new fashion shop, where the St. Louis boys bought Nehru coats, bell bottoms, and ruffly Who shirts. The AeroVons have been issued British work permits to play regular engagements in the top London clubs, then in West Germany on their 3-month tour of appearances and recording dates. Prior to going to England this fall, the group will fulfill the commitments in Florida at Newport, Trader Johns, and The Wreck.

The AeroVons are leader Tom Hartman of Bayless High School in St. Louis County, Bob Frank of Bayless, Mike Lombardo who went to Central High in St. Louis and Bill Lombardo. Their manager, without whom, “nothing would ever have happened for us, “is Mrs. Maurine Hartman.

Prom Magazine is authorized to announce that The Beatles and their recording manager liked the AeroVons, liked their style, liked their sound, liked their songs, and The Beatles have told The Aerovons to come back in the fall, bring more songs, bring more demo’s, and be ready to work. If all goes well, St. Louis could score another teen First – The Aerovons could become the first teen group from anywhere in America to be “signed up” for recording and appearances by – The Beatles!

From Meet the Beatles for Real: The St. Louis AeroVons meet the London Beatles – This article about the AeroVons was most likely taken from a local teen magazine – There is a reference to Prom Magazine, which was produced “exclusively for the youth of Greater St. Louis.” (from Prom Magazine Collection | St. Louis Public Library (slpl.org) )

From one of the comments on Meet the Beatles for Real: The St. Louis AeroVons meet the London Beatles:

The meeting with Paul at the Speakeasy was interesting bc it took place in October of 1968, (well after Paul and Jane had broken up) but Tom [Hartman] is sure that it was Jane sitting with him in the booth, not Linda. Also Paul kept signing autographs for Tom even when he kept coming back to the table. But I guess all of this is in the article above.

Recording sessions The Aerovons participated in

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