The Remains: The Lost Band

When the British Invasion hit the States, The Remains where at the gates of stardom, they were the opening act for the Beatles. They had all the momentum ready for them, then poof. Out of site out of mind the group vanished. No remains left of the Boston group that was thrust into the limelight. The Remains are once again given another chance to come out of the shadows of music history with the release of the documentary called, America’s Lost Band. At one time they had 14 millions viewers watching them on Ed Sullivan on Christmas week in 1965. The same kind of exposure, Elvis and The Beatles got in a captive audience in a universe of 3 stations. NBC TV’s Hulaballoo was another show big at the time where they played. A record deal with Epic and an album release and they disbanded. Their music repertoire was not one of the greatest, they could not sustain on pure luck alone. They were not the only casualty of lost bands, but none were given the opportunities handed to them. More than 40 years later Barry Tashian, Vern Miller, Bill Briggs and Chip Damiani are back. Nostalgia is breeding sold out performances for the group in Europe and the United States.

Many groups are coming out of retirement with band members long gone just to keep paying the bills. There are always venues out there for them. The Rolling Stones don`t have to worry about their counterparts who at one time were at the same level as them in popularity. History has a funny way of remembering the heroes in the annals of music. The Remains had to maybe stick it out a bit more and just find their true path, but like Pete Best we will never know. The resilient musicians such as The Who, The Kinks, The Stones, and others continued and grew as groups. The Remains are true to their name, only a few remains were left of their memory.

See also:

Buy the Remains Album

The Remains Scrapbook

50 Greatest One-hit Wonders