The Escavels got their start in 1964 when new friends Stan Sherbino and Ken Utterback (then Ken Ashley) recruited guitarist Tony Pavilonis and drummer Raymond “Buzz” Fyhrie. Hailing from suburban Wheaton the group spent 1964 and the beginning of 1965 rocking basement parties, dances and youth centers in Chicago’s western suburbs as hard as any other group on the scene at the time. They even won the “Talented Teen Contest” in Glen Ellyn. Their prize was a recording session at Recordings Unlimited (64 E. Van Buren) in Chicago where they cut two original songs direct to an eight-inch lacquer-coated aluminum disc. The first song was an original from Utterback “Lonely Sea” https://youtu.be/HxU_UgqpuPg, a moody surfer’s lament largely influenced by the band’s love of the Beach Boys. On the other side was “You Should Know” https://youtu.be/YBeyqsvr0ksan upbeat garage stomper with a rather interesting story. The song would pop up again a year later on a 45 by The Pattens, another local garage band. The Pattens would claim authorship of the song when they cut a more commercial version for the Stature label in 1966. If fact, the song was written by Sherbino with contributions from Ken and Tony shortly before the Escavels cut their acetate in mid-1965!
In the months following the session Pavilonis, Fyhrie and Utterback departed one by one. Sherbino soldiered for some time with lineups consisting of various new members but by 1966 the original group was no more. They would go on to other musical endeavors.
Utterback’s next was part of Things to Come who released the single “I’m Not Talkin’” b/w “‘Til the End (of Time)” (Dunwich 124) and then went on to a career with Pacific Gas and Electric (http://www.loudersound.com/…/god-guns-and-the-band-that…). He passed away in 2019.
Sherbino would go on to make the psychedelic album Catharsis as part of the group McDonald and Sherby in the early 1970’s.
The Escavels acetate sat forgotten in a basement for almost 50 years until it was rediscovered in 2012. It had survived heat waves and floods pretty well for a disc that was essentially a single use disposable recording device and has finally been issued by the Alona’s Dream label.
Discography
2012 Lonely Sea b/w You Should Know (Alona’s Dream ADR-7-004)