Freddie & The Hitch-Hikers
One of Denver’s earliest rock & roll bands, Freddie & The Hitch-Hikers played their first show at the K-Bar-C in Kittridge in 1959. The Hitch-Hikers played all the original Denver rock & roll haunts like the Hi-Fi Club, the Fireside Lounge, La Pitchet (1st Denver band to play there!), the Olympic Bowl and the Catacombs in Boulder.
They played wild frat parties all over Boulder, D.U. and even Louisville. Ace drummer Larry Higgins told me that the frat parties were just like the movie Animal House, the band playing in the basement, typically with the head of the frat joining them 4 or 5 times a night to sing “Shout”. The Hitch-Hikers played alongside other early Denver rock & roll bands like Dean Carr & The Corvettes, Chuck Mills & The Monarchs and Orlie & The Saints.
Freddie & The Hitchhikers were Freddie Alridge (Vocals, Guitar), Larry Higgins (Drums), Bobby Miller (Guitar), Jerry Spiva (Bass) and sometimes Bobby Leo on sax.
In 1960 they recorded a 45 on Denver’s Band Box Records penned by Freddie titled Sinners, that is not only a moody Elvis-style rocker but features the first Theremin on a rock & roll record, played by a violinist from the Denver Symphony Orchestra. Theremin was the instrument of choice for ’50s horror & science-fiction films, lending a creepy undertone to a song about getting right or going to hell!
Larry also told me that the song Sinners was actually co-arranged by Fred Taylor of the Denver kid’s show Fred ‘n Fae, popular on Denver TV from 1953 through to 1967. Sinners is available on the Rhino Records box set Rockin’ Bones, an album nominated for a Grammy!
Fred ‘n Fae
The Hitch-Hikers continued to play in various forms through out the 1960s, becoming a popular showband in places like Arizona and Utah. Drummer Larry Higgins went on to play in Don May & the Gigilos, the Dayleks and sometimes back with the Hitch-Hikers. He played session work at Band Box and did gigs around town at places like Cloud 9, the Wig Wam and Sam’s on Lookout Mountain. And he is a swell guy to boot!
(Fred ‘n Fae photo borrowed from the Broadcast Professionals Hall of Fame. Sorry about the odd mixed up shot that serves as the still screen of the video.)
This entry was posted on Friday, April 1st, 2011 at 5:52 am and is filed under Music. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
ed clements July 13th, 2011 at 12:06 pm
IF YOU DIDN’T RECEIVE, great!!!!