Ephrata Alumni Association

A Short History of The Pageboys Band

The purchase of the New Beach Hotel in Soap Lake by Brent and Vi Wikstrom the summer of 1963 necessitated the family's move from Seattle to Soap Lake. Teenager Bob Wikstrom had been in a high school band in Seattle and wanted to continue performing, so by that fall The Fabulous Night Caps were formed. The group consisted of Bob Wikstrom (EHS '65) on keyboards, Jay White (EHS '64) and Don Lathrop (EHS '64) on guitar, Gary Schweigert (EHS '63) on bass, Jess "Punky" Wry (SLHS '65) on drums, Randy Jackson (SLHS '67) on guitar and vocals, and Patti Romig (EHS '65) on vocals. The Night Caps played around the Columbia Basin area for several months, and then broke up in summer 1964. Jay White later married Carmen Johnson (EHS '65), and Patti Romig later married Larry Self (EHS '64).

A Moses Lake group was also performing during this time period - The Road Runners. Initially, the group consisted of Mike Balzotti (MLHS '65) on keyboards, Ray Camp (MLHS '64) on bass, Jack White (MLHS '63) on guitar, Bob Galloway (MLHS '63) on drums and vocal, and Spencer Clark (MLHS '65) on saxophone. In the fall of 1963, Balzotti and Camp left the group to join The Continentals, another Moses Lake band. Rob Lilly (EHS '64) joined on keyboards for a short while, to be replaced by Bob Wikstrom. Gary Schweigert played bass for awhile, and Dennis Weston (SLHS '64) played drums for awhile. After a few months with this grouping, The Road Runners broke up in the summer of 1964. Bob Galloway joined Mike Balzotti, Chuck Warren and Mardi Sheridan to form The Bards.

Wikstrom, Schweigert, White and Weston formed a new group called The Pageboys. The group also featured performances by Janice Adams (EHS '65) on vocals. Wikstrom moved back to Seattle that fall to spend his senior year at Franklin High School, but traveled to the Columbia Basin on weekends for band performances. After a few months, Schweigert left to join the Army, and was replaced by Spencer Clark on bass. Weston left to join the Army, and shortly thereafter married Janice Adams. He was replaced by Dan Dazell (EHS '65) on drums. In the fall of 1965 White left for the Army, and shortly thereafter married Lorraine Nyby (EHS '65). He was replaced on guitar by BBCC student John Suzawith, and Eric Gies was added on vocals. The band continued to perform with this grouping until the spring of 1966, when Dazell left the band. After a short while, Dazell joined a newly formed group, The Swinging Gates. The Swinging Gates played for only a few months, with the group consisting of Dazell, Wayne Searcy (EHS '65), Chris Hemstead (EHS '66), and David Farris (EHS '66). The new drummer for The Pageboys was Dean Heathcote, and the band performed with this grouping for a few months until John and Eric left due to artistic differences. Guitar player Terry Simmelink was soon added, and the newly formed group of Bob Wikstrom, Spencer Clark, Dean Heathcote, and Terry Simmelink performed under the name of The Noises & Sounds until the spring of 1967, when Wikstrom left to join the Army and Clark joined the Navy.

When The Pageboys perform at the ERC for the Class Reunion on September 19th, the band will include the 1964-1965 grouping of Bob Wikstrom, Jack White, Dan Dazell, and Spencer Clark. Joining the group for the evening will be Chuck Warren (MLHS '63) and Jim Hay (MLHS '63), both of whom played with the Continentals and the Bards. Hay married Verna Perkins (EHS '65), and also played with the Pageboys when the band started playing again in 1986 under the name of Page II, after the very successful performance at our 20th Class Reunion.