The Marauders
We are proud to induct the Marauders & their incarnations onto the PopBopRocktilUDrop Honor Roll!
I was contacted by Vance Dickason who kindly provided a bunch of great historical information relating to a Boulder, Colorado band that formed in 1964 as the “Marauders” and then morphed into the “North Side Moss” and finally the “American Dream”.
The Marauders began in the Mile High State as surf-oriented band, likely inspired by another Boulder-based group who were first called “The Storm Troupers” and then became the fantastic “Astronauts”. Both the Astronauts and the Marauders featured members who attended and graduated from Boulder High School, in the Marauders case, the entire band.
Vance Dickason tells us:
“(The) initial lineup was John Rhoads on drums (John actually took drum lessens from Astronauts’ drummer Jim Gallagher), Eric Hansen lead guitar, and Terry Lick, rhythm guitar. They then added Steve Dickason on rhythm guitar. Progressing from surf instrumentals to vocal songs, the band added Jim Lick (Terry’s brother) on bass.
Eric Hansen departed the Marauders, and then last member to be added was keyboard player Vance Dickason, Steve Dickason’s brother. The band now featured three vocalists, Jim Lick, Terry Lick, and Steve Dickason, plus drums, bass, lead and rhythm guitars, and keyboards. In this incarnation, the Marauders took 9th place (out of 40 bands) in the November 1965 KBTR Battle of the Bands (see below).”
The North Side Moss
The five Marauders would move on with their lineup intact as Vance relates:
“The Marauders changed their name to the North Side Moss in early 1966. The band performed at numerous CU fraternity and sorority functions, high school dances throughout the state, played weekly nights at the Buff Room and Tulagi’s in Boulder, The Skunk Creek Inn in Boulder, The Hullabaloo Club in Colorado Springs, The Posh in Denver, The Bird in Denver, The Library in Greeley, The LadyBug in Colorado Springs, and the Fantastic Zoo in Pueblo to name a few venues.
We opened for the McCoys (who hit #1 with “Hang On Sloopy”) at the Colorado Springs Civic center, played with the Syndicate of Sound (charted #8 with “Little Girl”) at a Lookout Mt. venue, and played a week-long tour across Colorado with the Leaves (the leaves charted #30 with “Hey Joe”, and replaced the Byrds at Ciro’s on Sunset strip when the Byrds moved on).”
The American Dream
The American Dream – Left-to-Right: Jim Lick – Vance Dickason – John Rhoads – Steve Dickason – Terry Lick.
From Vance:
North Side Moss changed their name to The American Dream in mid 1968. The band frequently played at Kelker Junction in Colorado Springs as well as continuing to play weekly nights in Boulder bars. The American Dream opened for Mitch Rider and the Detroit Review (who charted at #4 with “Devil with the Blue Dress”) at Kelker Junction. After a five-year run with the final members, the band disbanded in mid 1969.
After the “Dream”
I asked Vance for information on the band member’s journey after their days in the American Dream came to an end.
Vance on Terry Lick:
“Terry Lick, our lead guitar player, continued in bands his whole life until retiring due to injury about 10 year ago. After the demise of the American Dream, he had a trio called Apple West and was staying at a house with the Sugarloaf guys for a while. Ultimately, he put together a show band with his wife Melody Jean Horney. They were quite successful with their band Cricket and played the Hawaii, Vegas, Reno, Tahoe, Disney World circuit for years and even did a couple national political party conventions.”
Vance reported that Terry was sponsored by Roland guitar pedals, demonstrating them at the notorious “NAMM” show for several years.
Both Terry and Jeani Horney of Cricket appeared on a 1977 Capitol Records Richard Torrance album Double Take. Terry was always an outstanding musician, but he really turned into a serious professional musician and studio engineer.
Vance on Jim Lick:
“Jim Lick was a solid bass player, a good vocalist, and a great stage personality! Some of the songs Jimmy sang lead on included “Mustang Sally” (Wilson Pickett), “On the Road Again” (Lovin’ Spoonful), “Club A’ GoGo” (the Animals), “Gimme Some Love” (Spencer David Group) and “Louie Louie” by the Kingsmen (Jim sang the original real words to that song, and they were so vulgar, that like the Kingsmen, he had to slur a lot of words…never understood why the FBI couldn’t figure it out).
Jim also had a lot of influence on the music we played. Toward the end, it was Jim who got us into playing a lot of John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers material. Bluesbreakers tunes like “Streamline”, “All Your Love”, “Stumble”, and “You Don’t Love Me”, plus other blues material from The Paul Butterfield Blues Band and The Electric Flag left behind a legacy of The American Dream being Colorado’s underground blues band. Sadly, Jimmy passed away in the 80’s.”
Vance on John Rhoads:
“Our drummer, John Rhoads, deserves the credit for founding the band. Without John and his outstanding drumming, there never would have been The Marauders/North Side Moss/American Dream. Right from the start John took drum lessons from The Astronauts drummer Jim Gallagher and ultimately turned into a really great rock drummer. Jim even went with John to buy his first drum kit!
After the band broke up, John started his own home construction business and has been a professional house contractor for his entire career and is still at it. Johnny never got back to music as a drummer, but we all talk all the time and John constantly talks about hearing songs on the XM radio we used to play.“
Vance on Steve Dickason:
“Steve Dickason, our lead singer and front man, and my brother, has had a highly successful career in Marin County, CA as a real estate broker/manager and is still working in real estate. He recently published a self-help book titled “Ignite Your Dormant Super Power”, available on Amazon.“
“However, he has been writing and recording songs ever since the end of The American Dream (probably over 30 tunes) and has recently performed on stage in Marin a number of times. He is currently working up a solo act to perform locally. He is still a great vocalist, guitar player and an outstanding song writer.”
Vance Dickason on Vance:
“I had a very successful career as a loudspeaker engineer and at 76, am still at it like John and Steve. My book, the Loudspeaker Design Cookbook, is just having its 8th edition released and has been published in 7 languages (French, German, Dutch, Portuguese, Chinese, Italian, and English) . I’m also the editor of Voice Coil magazine that goes out to loudspeaker manufacturers and is now entering its 36th year.”
“The book is widely regarded as the engineering bible of the loudspeaker industry, but my primary work is as a consultant developing loudspeaker product for various brands in the loudspeaker biz.
Like my brother Steve, I have been writing and recording songs all my life since the band…seems like we never got over it. I have a serious recording studio in my home, and still write and play, but unlike my brother, I haven’t performed for years.”
Songs The Marauders, North Side Moss, and the American Dream Learned and Played on Stage
Vance provided this collage of popular bands from the 1960’s from which his bands drew their inspiration and learned their songs for performances (Obviously, a night with these guys would certainly have been a great time!):
PopBopRocktilUDrop 