The Rogues
Alexander City, Al.
We started The Rogues in 1964. The first practice was at Benji Cohen’s house in the living room. That was Don Thornell, Freddie Thornell, Benji Cohen, and me (Larry Stephens). After that, we added Lewis McLeod on drums. Benji only played with us for a short while. Then we started practicing in Don and Freddie’s basement. As we practiced and added songs to our program, we decided to name the band “The Rogues”. Shortly after that we went to Art’s Music Shop in Montgomery and purchased new instruments. Freddie played lead guitar, Don played bass guitar and sang lead vocals, Lewis played drums, and I played rhythm guitar. All was Fender equipment and Lewis played Slingerland drums. My dad painted the name on the drums for us.
I think our first gig was at the Goodyear Tire Store in Alexander City. Shortly after that, Benji dropped out of the group and what we considered to be the original Rogues, began to play more venues. The first real start for us was the Junior High School dances at the Rec. Center in 1964 and 1965. From there we started playing dances after BRHS football and basketball games. As The Rogues grew, we started playing at Auburn and Alabama fraternity parties. Some other events that I remember are:
- Wadley, AL. Street Dance
- Newsite Beauty Contest
- Frohsin’s Department Store Beauty Contest
- The Sailboat Club on Lake Martin
- Buck’s Dairy Quick Opening
- Various Private Parties on the Lake
- Many times at the Roanoke Rec. Center
We did have other members along the way. Stanley Vinson from Roanoke played a “mean” piano with us for a short period of time. On a couple of occasions Ronnie Florine played trumpet with us. John Tapley was a vocal backup. Jerry Scott joined the group on the VOX organ.
Our style was different from that of “Randy and the Roadrunners” who were also from Alexander City. We were the more “Beatles/Dave Clark Five” sound.
If I had to guess our theme song or “lead out” it would be “Little Latin Lupe Lu” by Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels. Our song list included stuff like “In The Midnight Hour”, songs by The Beatles, Johnny Rivers, and The Animals.
We did a taping at Boutwell Studios in Birmingham once. Gary Fuller (Papa Gary) from WRFS Radio was our manager for a while and arranged that recording.
As of this date, Lewis McLeod and I are the only living members of what we considered the original “Rogues”.
Written by Larry Stephens