The Trodden Path - Keep Me Hangin' On

Released: 1967
Country: US

The Trodden Path (spelling error on label) were a teenage combo and still at school when this great record was released in small quantities back in early 1967. Hailing from Mequon, Wisconsin, they were formally called Beat Ltd prior to cutting their record. They wanted to change their name to The Yellow Pipe but the record label refused to release any record that could imply dope smoking.

The best place to hear The Trodden Path is on the Ace CD 'Garagemental! - The Cuca Records Story Volume 2'...One previously unreleased Trodden Path cut is included namely 'Keep Me Hanging On'.


line-up:
Tim Urban (lead guitar/vocals)
Mike Frommer (rhythm guitar/vocals)
Steve Turner (bass)
Tom Szymarek (drums)

"I was recently contacted by Mike Frommer from The Trodden Path who kindly answered my questions about his group as well as sending me a previously unseen and unpublished picture of The Trodden Path."


MIKE:
"We started the band in 1965 while we were sophomores at Homestead High School (in Mequon, WI -- about 12 miles north of Milwaukee). It was originally called B.E.A.T. Ltd as we played a lot of British rock. The name was changed to The Trodden Path when we cut the record.

Originally we wanted to call the band The Yellow Pipe after all the yellow painted heating pipes in my basement where we practiced. But the label thought it smacked of smoking bananas. 'Mellow Yellow' by Donovan was SUPPOSED to about smoking banana skins to make you high and the label didn't want to have anything to do with drugs. That's how naive we were. I think we even tried it once!!! We had not smoked pot then -- that started in 1966."

"On the coldest day of the year, maybe -15°F, we drove from Milwaukee to Sauk City (about 100 miles west) to cut the 45. The guitars were out of tune for the first 2 songs (side A & B) but were pretty good by #3, 'Keep Me Hanging On' -- which we thought was the best song. Our 'Producer', a local college DJ named Ken Wright didn't like it, so..."

We played steady from '65 to '67 but split when we went to different colleges. We played at local high schools, church dances, youth centers and summertime events and made decent money -- about $200 a gig which was equal to about 180 hours of labor!!!

There were only 3 songs recorded. A fourth is attributed to us but isn't ours -- a mix up at the label who is still selling CDs of Wisconsin garage band music.