The Aerovons - Biography
By Eric Brightwell
The first American band to sign to a British label was St. Louis, Missouri’s The Aerovons. In the 1960s, they were tipped by a handful of hopefuls to possibly be the next sensation. Instead, a series of mishaps scuppered their success and they broke-up in obscurity. Their sole album was shelved in 1969. After rumors of its status as a lost masterpiece began to grow, it was finally released in 2003. Finally granted an audience, the baroque-pop band immediately polarized audiences with some hailing its brilliance and others dismissing them as run-of-the-mill Beatles clones.
Tom Hartman grew up in Florida listening to The Everly Brothers and The Beach Boys but his primary devotion was, from an early age, to The Beatles. The Hartman clan returned to St. Louis where, when younger, Hartman’s mother Maurine had occasionally sung on local radio stations, leading to offers to tour with some of St. Louis’s big bands. But Maurine had been denied that opportunity by her mother. Maurine, as a result, actively and aggressively encouraged her children’s musical pursuits, teaching guitar and piano to Tom and piano to his sister Carole. In 1965, Hartman was joined in his budding musical endeavors by a Bayless High classmate, Bob Frank, before then playing in another band, The Generation. The two joined forces with a drummer known only as “Gary” and a bass player, Dave Schirmer. In 1966, they decided themselves The Aerovons, in homage to a Beach Boys cover band in Pompano Beach, Florida, whose shows Hartman had regularly attended.
That same year, The Monkees released their Boyce & Hart-penned debut single, “Last Train to Clarksville.” A local promoter, in an attempt to capitalize on the song’s popularity, organized a promotional scheme amongst local bands to secure a train ride Clarksville, Missouri. Their mother secured them passage and, along with several other acts, The Aerovons boarded a train bound for the tiny hamlet on the Mississppi. Although an arguably fairly pointless exercise, it nonetheless led to Maurine becoming the band’s manager. Taking her role rather seriously, she encouraged the boys to dump their girlfriends and focus entirely on music. With business cards boasting of their “Smashing English Sound,” the young band were soon spending their weekends playing American Legion halls, parties and school dances. Not only did they primarily cover The Beatles, they used the same gear; a Hofner bass, a Gretsch, a Rickenbacker and Vox amps just like their heroes. Soon The Aerovons graduated to clubs like The Rainy Daze, The Castaways and The Bat Cave, playing to their biggest audience at Busch Stadium during a Cardinals game. Though St. Louis featured several locally popular bands like The Acid Set, The Good Feelin’, The Guise (and Their Mod Sound) and Bob Kuban & the In Men; then as now the labels were focused mainly on the coasts so Maurine encouraged the band to record a demo to send off. The result was the winning, early Bee-Gees-sounding “World of You.”
In 1967, the demo made its way to Capitol who offered to record the band in Los Angeles. Hartman, stubborn and confident Anglophile that he was, declined, insisting instead on recording in London where he hoped to discover the secrets of sophisticated studio trickery utilized by so many British bands. After losing their rhythm section, The Aerovons auditioned for replacements. Mike Lombardo (then singing and playing harmonica in another band) joined them. After briefly featuring Nolan Mendelhall on bass, his replacement was Lombardo’s brother Bill. Maurine now suggested they focus on writing original material in preparation and the live performances stopped. In January of 1968, Capitol’s parent, EMI, agreed to fly The Aerovons to London. Whilst the band shopped for clothes on Carnaby Street, Maurine met with officials from the label, who ultimately offered a deal to record one single for Parlophone, also part of EMI and most importantly, home of The Beatles. They accepted and returned hom. In August, Tom and Maurine returned to sign the contracts without the other members. In order to gain leverage, the two met with Decca’s Dick Rowe, famous for having passed on The Beatles. They did end up with Parlophone, signing their contract with Roy Featherstone.
Early in 1969, The Aerovons returned to London and EMI got them entry into the private Revolution and Speakeasy clubs, the latter where they watched Jimi Hendrix perform, saw Diana Ross and Michael Caine, and met their hero, Paul McCartney. At Abbey Road, the band met and chatted, to their amazement, with George Harrison who, along with the rest of The Beatles, were then recording in Studio 2. In studio 3, The Aerovons recorded their debut single, “Train” with Norman Smith producing and Alan Parsons and Geoff Emerick engineering. Pleased with the results, they were granted more studio time and five new songs were produced. When the band returned in March it was minus Bob Frank, who (heedless of Maurine’s warnings) had fallen in love with a St. Louis girl. His replacement was suggested by the manager of Oxnard’s The Dartells. The hard rocker Phil Edholm however proved a poor fit and after learning that he’d complained of his limited involvement in the band’s creative process to EMI officials, Maurine sent him back to the US, reducing the band to a three piece. When Hartman solved an engineering problem, he was allowed to produce the remainder of the songs instead of the EMI-appointed Norman Smith. They finished recording on June 8th. After playing one show in London with The New Formula at Hatchets, the band returned to Missouri. According to Mike Lombardo, EMI wanted them to open for The Hollies but Maurine insisted that The Aerovons wouldn’t open for anyone, insisting they headline any performance. Whereas holding out for a British deal had been gutsy but paid off, this scheme did not. Having already cost £35,000 on the record and with the band seemingly unwilling to promote it reasonably, label thought it best not to spend any more on promotion. When “Train” was released in July, it failed to perform at all.
Meanwhile, the band splintered further. On returning to St. Louis, Mike Lombardo left the band, distraught after learning of his wife’s infidelity. EMI expressed concerns about the stability of the line-up, then reduced to just Bill Lombardo and Hartman. By this point, even if they were willing to tour in support, most of the band had departed. Hartman proudly played a white label copy of The Aerovons’ record for his family and friends in what proved to be its last public performance for 34 years. “World of You,” was released in September, again with no promotion. Again it failed to trouble the charts and the album was shelved. Shortly after, Lombardo and Hartman called it quits.
In December 2002, music journalist Kieron Tyer, intrigued by The Aerovons’ story, looked up Tom Hartman and called him on the phone leading to the long-delayed release of Resurrection (2003-RPM). As is the case with most baroque-pop bands, the music does in fact owe a considerable debt to The Beatles. Due to the timing and similarities between “Resurrection” and “Across the Universe,” some musical conspiracy theorists have suggested that The Beatles were actually inspired by The Aerovons. However, despite being released as a single in December, 1969, Lennon had written the song in 1967 and the band recorded it in February 1968. On the other hand, did The Beatles’ “Oh, Darling!” sounds very much like The Aerovons’ “Say Georgia.” The reality, of course, is that influences were probably moving in all directions but for some, sounding like The Beatles without being The Beatles is blasphemous. Though for their peers, sounding like The Beatles often results in ears slamming closed, it’s more broadly accepted for new bands – Oasis made a celebrated career without a shred of originality. The music of The Aerovons, for all its Beatles nods, has its own lush, string-laden sound that actually tracks closer to and compares favorably to contemporaneous efforts by Genesis, The Bee Gees and The Iveys. All of it suggesting that, had they merely released their album a few years earlier or a few decades later, they’d widely be accepted for the quality band they were.
Nolan Mendenhall moved to Detroit and has worked with a number of luminaries. Bob Frank played with Johnny Cougar until a 1981 injury to his hand led to his quitting the band; he now runs Dent Squad body shop in STL. In the early ‘70s, the Lombardos recorded in a new band, the power pop Secrets. Bill Lombardo died in 2007. Mike Lombardo lives in Florida and still writes music. Whilst EMI may’ve lost faith in The Aerovons as a band, they still believed in Hartman and asked him to return to England but he didn’t feel ready to go it alone in England. In 1970, he released “Sunshine Woman” for Bell. After that he was accepted at Southern Illinois and his dreams of rock stardom were put on hold. He later transferred to the University of Miami where he stayed after graduation and has found work scoring films, and television and radio commercial work. Buoyed by the mostly rapturous response, Tom Hartman is now said to be writing and producing a follow-up, scheduled for tentative release in late 2009.
