Where did it all begin

Where does one begin with a band like the Avengers? Maybe from the beginning? Millions of the Avengers' devoted fans want to know "who are they" and "where did they come from?" The story of the band goes back to the mid-sixties. Other more commercially successful bands like the Stones, Dead, and others were just getting started. Dylan was singing, the times were "a-changing". In this frenzied rock-era, an opportunistic group of individuals (from different non-technical backgrounds) began to come together in Austin Texas to form the band now known worldwide as the Avengers. Here's where it all started....

Nathan began his solo career in 1966 entertaining troop ships headed for that unpopular conflict in South East Asia. Little Natty (as he became known to the 2^nd Marines of I Corps), could always bring a tear to the eye of the most hardened dogface, as he sang his well-known topical hits like "I'm a-Little Cambodian Cowboy" and "The Ho Chi Minh Swing". The release of his solo hit, "My Lai in July" in 1966 marks the incipient beginning of the Avengers, as we know it today. Nathan sings lead vocals and plays rhythm guitar.

While Nathan honed his performance skills, Tom Ellerman found his new love of the electric guitar. Tom began performing in juke joints and other dives with his four piece band called the Screaming Dead Monkey Snot Addicts. That band (after a two year Sunday afternoon gig in the local Quite Valley Retirement Center) found little success in the Pittsburgh area, and broke up by 1968. Tom and Nathan (pictured here) joined forces in early 67, to officially become the Avengers. After unsuccessful dual eardrum transplants in 1969, Tom took over duties as lead guitarist for the Avengers.

At the same time, Curtis Rendon was an East Texas native and member of the Houston Citywide QuickStop and Carwash Marching band, before joining up with Tom. Curtis came into the Avengers to become the percussionist. (The guy with the funny-looking drums.) To Curtis it has always been about the rhythm. With metronome-like accuracy, Curtis has enjoyed beating off with the Avengers for over thirty years.

Curtis invited Charles Beard (second from left-and the most normal in the group) to join the band in 1967. After a short stint with the Royal Disharmonic Drum Corp and Cross Dressers, Charles eagerly took up with a band where he would not have to show his legs. Charles shares drum duties with Curtis.

Speaking of legs... Melynda Caudle followed her boyfriend and spiritual advisor (Charlie Beard) into the band in 1968. Enough said!

Melynda is the token chick singer in the group and probably has the best day job of the Avengers.

Stewart Nichols (second from left) joined the band in 1970. Having no note worthy previous experience with anything, Stewart is always voted by both opponents and fans of the band as "the most musically improved Avenger." Stewart occupies the Avenger's keyboard.

Jay Berry (second from left) was the last to come into this group. In 1971, Jay came from Seattle to Austin to join the band. It is often said that Jay's unique contribution to the group is that "he is the only Avenger who really understands anything at all about music". Jay carries the bass on his big guitar. Also, when not performing with the Avengers, he makes ends meet by playing with various other high-dollar Polka bands.

Following Little Natty's hit records for the guys in Nam, the Avengers began as an eight-person boys choir in 66. (Nathan and Tom second and third from left.) Hey, dig their threads! Exploiting the British Invasion, the boys wore mod Edwardian costumes from a 17^th century boarding school. During this period, the band covered many popular hits of the sixties, like "Walk Like a Man", "It's a Man's World", and an acapella version of the Yardbirds "Mr. You're a Better Man than I." (Rock legend has it that once Eric Clapton heard their cover of the Yardbird tune, he quit the Yardbirds and never played the tune again. This can only be a tribute to the band's truly inimitable interpretation of that song!)

Unfortunately, quick financial success eluded the boys in the early years. The Austin music market was not ready for the unique vocal blend of the mod Avengers. (Note: this theme has been repeated several times in the history of this resilient band.)

In an effort to remain focused on THEIR music, the boys regrouped into another incarnation. Wearing straw hats and striped coats, the boys tried a new image. By abandoning the British beat and getting back to their American roots, they sang barbershop versions of the groovy San Francisco sound. Their repertoire during this period included barbershop versions of "White Rabbit", "Who Do You Love?", and "Sitting on the Dock of the Bay." Universally panned by the critics as being "shallow and hopelessly out of step with the times", the Avengers continued to ignore their detractors and evolved their musical identities to where none had gone before.

One of the Avengers' contemporaries, Brian Wilson sang of California girls and fast cars. The Avengers, always on the lookout for a new angle, saw an opportunity to become part of the West coast swinging surf music scene. Jan and Dean, the Ventures, the Beach Boys were happening only five short years earlier. While, most surf groups were lead by a guitar, bass, keyboard, and drums combination, the Avengers took a brief misstep by forming a surfing horn quartet. The music, though way ahead of its time, never really caught on. Ironically, the surf craze was already well passé on the West coast by the time the Avengers entered the genre. (Today, the band candidly admits that the only thing that they ever got out of their gamble in surf music business was "sand in their shorts".) On the verge of financial disaster, the band invested all of their cash into the hot technology of the day--portable 8-track stereos.

By this time, Curtis and Charles had joined the band. The boys kept their youthful exuberance and were not discouraged by their lack of acceptance on the pop music charts. Keeping true to their love of "roots" music, they made a brief attempt at being an "all banjo band". Austin was a happening place. While Willie Nelson and others experimented with the early cosmic cowboy sound, most listeners were just highly irritated by the new quirky banjo tunes of the Avengers. Quickly, the band discarded the banjos, for a less annoying sound.

The Avengers were searching for a new "simpler/hipper"-back-to-nature-kind of sound. So, they turned to their native American roots. After playing an historic festival at Alcatraz sponsored by some sort of indigenous tribes, the band was humiliated by the adverse publicity that they had "no real claim to native American heritage". In retrospect, all of the members of the band (except Curtis) now agree that "this was ALL Curtis's big idea!"

Finally, discouraged by their lack of public acceptance (and citing irreconcilable artistic differences) Curtis, Charles, Melynda, Stewart, and Jay all quit the band. Tom and Nathan, ever the optimists, reformed into a Bavarian horn duet. (Remember, this was twenty-five years before this kind of music became a mainstay of throat lozenge commercials in the late 1990s.) Although, never popular on American radio, their live concerts began to draw large crowds of enthusiastic Alpine sheep herders.

Boy George and David Bowie had pushed the bounds of gender definitions. The boys took this challenge... and then some! All of the members of the band came back together again. This time, they emerged as a Japanese Geisha band. Combining the psycho-shock of transvestism (except for Melynda), with the gentle subtlety of traditional Shinto sounds, the Avengers once again misread the public readiness for the world-transvestite-music craze. Meanwhile, the Village People were the number one group in America. Go figure?

All bands go through cycles. Up until then, the Avengers had known only the good times. Two decades of notoriety in the music scene had been a really great ride. But, the nineties were the Avengers' dark years. It is often said in the music industry, "Good bands break up. Great bands steal the copywrite." Disgraced by their utter failure, faced with artistic desperation and malnutrition, the band adopted a new and darker persona that seemed to taint their public image for the next decade.

With their dreams of fame and fortune thwarted, the band quit playing audible music of any kind. Without musical instruments to interfere with their new act, the Avengers did a long stint as Vegas show girls. But again, disillusionment set in with some older fans, when they discovered that they were not particularly attractive (except for Melynda) and that they were not girls (except for Melynda). It was during these controversial days that the band fell into major disfavor and was eventually blacklisted by the religious right in the USA.

All of the Avengers quit except Tom, who kept the trademark "Avengers". Performing solo under the infamous moniker, Tom did several exhausting tours. He also hired a new assistant for his act. Here Tom performs his trademark accordion act with his sidekick at the Croatian Music Festival in Waco, Texas, (March 3, 1998). (Hard feelings were generated among the other band members when they realized that they were all replaced by only one circus animal.)

Putting aside all past insults and personal pride, all of the original members of the band are back together again. Now, filling concert halls and big stadiums, the Avengers have hit their stride in the year 2000. They sound better than ever! If you thought you liked that song...wait until you hear the Avengers!

Jay Berry (aka "the only Avenger who knows anything at all about music") on bass