Travel With Us

The Trenchmen Story

The history of the Trenchmen is essentially that of the typical American mid-60s teen band. Founded in 1965 at the height of Beatlemania & Stones-fever, and also influenced by the guitar sound of the Ventures, the band lasted until 1968 when their school days came to an end. The Trenchmen recorded just one 45, the excellent Chains On My Heart b/w Travel With Me, which Jim Oldsberg describes in Lost & Found magazine as "one of the finest '60s discs from North Dakota." In retrospect this is readily apparent, but in their day the Trenchmen simply didn't get the breaks or have the drive to go for the bigtime.

1968: The Trenchmen played their last concert at Minot's city auditorium. Jim describes it as their most memorable gig. "We had a respectable showing and received kudos from the local radio station the next day. It was quite a thrill to hear one's name mentioned on the air followed by one of the original hits we had performed." Jim Mackey had enlisted in the navy and was due to leave the band by the end of March. Plans to replace him were there, but it never happened. "Our demise was a culmination of lack of interest, following, success", he says. As with most teen bands, the music was a phase of their life they outgrew as time rolled along and the concerns of adulthood came to the fore.

Long Lost, But Not Forgotten

North Dakota´s Lost Souls of the ´60s

More than a few towns in the ´60s were haunted by teen combos called the Lost Souls; Dickinson, North Dakota was one such haven. These Lost Souls started out in 1965, holding court for three exciting years. They became one of the top acts in their area, regulars at community dances and proms, and support act for the Turtles in Minot and Fargo. They made it big locally with their second 45, Artificial Rose, which was picked up by a major label for national release. Looking back at it all, Bob Karn, lead singer of the band, has no regrets. "We were so young, naive and vulnerable that we probably got hoodwinked on much of this promotion stuff, but what the hell - we had a tremendous ride, and it was about the music, and the fans, not the bucks! We got rich just performing".

Bob moved with his parents to Dickinson in 1965, two days before the start of the school year. But he knew no one. "I wanted to turn right around and go home," Bob says. But almost immediately he bumped into organ player Jim Birdsall, another senior. Their interest in music brought them in touch with junior Gary Decker, a guitarist. The three held an initial jam session in Jim´s basement. Encouraged by the results, Gary then brought in Terry Kudrna, a junior from Trinity High School, to play drums; lastly, sophomore Monty Lee, was added as lead guitarist.

Word about the new group spread, and Trinity´s cheerleaders were hot for them to entertain at the Catholic school's upcoming Halloween dance...Lost Souls at a Catholic School? Doing songs like Midnight Hour ("when love comes tumbling down")? Nevertheless, the event took place - the band played for 20 minutes with what Bob describes as "very minimal equipment" and a repertoire of about three or four songs.

Things began to roll when the Lost Souls entered a statewide Battle Of The Bands at the 1966 North Dakota State Fair. "We won that contest, beating out the Embermen Five, and were awarded a three-hour recording session as the prize," explains Bob. "Gloria Hovland was the main judge at the competition, she provided us one of her songs and also went with us to record it in Minneapolis." It's Not Fair b/w Enchanted Sea was released in 1966 on the "Gloria" Label. 500 copies were pressed and distributed through local stores or sold at dances. The only radio attention came from KDIX in Dickinson. But it wasn't quite enough to take the Lost Souls to the next level.

Then the right song came along - Artificial Rose, a demo written by the duo Maresca/Curtis, who had penned several top 40 hits in the early '60s for Dion. Bob remembers: "Al Sargent, our agent, connected us with Ernie Maresca and his writing partner Jimmy Curtis. He negotiated with them to provide him some of their demo recordings for us to record. We choose Artificial Rose". Sargent arranged a session in Minneapolis with Dave Hoffmann and Bob Everslage of the Unbelievable Uglies as producers. The resultant 45 was released locally on Al's "Dawn" label. For several weeks´ in 1967 Artificial Rose b/w Please Tell Me Why inched up KQWB Fargo's survey chart, even managing to top national hits by the Doors and the Young Rascals. The Lost Souls suddenly found themselves playing in front of a couple thousand fans at the Moorhead Armory, the biggest venue available in the area. Bob remembers the appearance well. "It was a huge dance. We got promoted real heavily and received a "Big Break Award" Trophy. They made a bunch of money and we got our name spread around the Fargo/Moorhead market."

When local sales hit the 7000 range, the fact was brought to the attention of Liberty Records, who licensed Artificial Rose for national release. The Unbelievable Uglies' Hoffmann and Everslage, then connected to the L.A. label through their own band, had made the contact. What Liberty did to promote the release or the Lost Souls is unclear - "little if anything" is the probable conclusion. Bob knows that the 45 was distributed in North Dakota again, but the record was already played-out there. Not long after, the label cut its ties with the band.

The original Lost Souls split in 1968 when college and marriage forced members to go their separate ways. Jim Birdsall, and Ron Whener who had joined the band on bass in 1967, continued with a new line-up including Greg Jordahl of The Trenchmen and two canadians, Glen Acorn on Drums and Doug Scales on vocals. This didn't last long and in 1968 after several thousand miles on the road the story was over.

THE LOST SOULS original 45´s: