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| John Lantz: Drums |
| David Sternquist: Guitar, vocals |
| Don Sternquist: Bass |
| Date formed: 1961 |
| Date disbanded: Summer 1966 |
The name was taken from a Johnny Rivers' album entitled “At the Whiskey A–Go–Go”. Johnny was a big influence to the band members and they wanted a name that portrayed the party feel of his albums at the time.
John's drum kit was a Ludwig set. The set had a kick, snare, rack tom, floor tom, hi hat and at least one cymbal for either ride or crash.
David had a black Silvertone guitar for awhile then traded up to a 4 pickup solid body Japanese guitar he purchased from a store in Perry, IA.
Don originally played a tenor guitar and then graduated to bass. It was a red, two pickup Kent bass. Both he and David played through a Precision PA amp that Don had come up with. The actual power of the amp is not known, but the speaker bottom Don built for the amp was from plans in Popular Electronics. It had 16 five inch speakers. Both guitars and their one mic went into this amp which provided all of the bands amplification. As odd as this seems, many bands during this period used their instrument amplifier for whatever microphones they used. It wasn’t until later that separate systems for PA were in widespread use by bands in the area.
The A–Go–Go’s did many of the popular tunes of the day. Some 50s stuff like “Blue Suede Shoes”/Carl Perkins along with tunes from Chuck Berry, Johnny Rivers–even some Beatle tunes that they could pull off 3 piece.
Their first time playing out was in Nevada at the Woodchuck Supper Club. They didn't play for too many teen crowds as the money was not that good at the time. Many of their gigs took place in Fort Dodge which is about a 45 minute drive north and a little west of Boone. Don’s wife, Barb, was from that area and Don got most of the jobs for the group. They played in a lot of bars which was interesting due to the fact that David was still in high school at the time. One of the best gigs was a New Years Eve thing they played with 400 plus people in attendance. One of the unusual things that happened to them was during one of their jobs in Fort Dodge. While playing at a bar, all of the sudden there would be the sound of drums and horns in the room. The Salvation Army would come in and try to get donations. The band was respectful of that and didn't play until they had left. The least they ever made from playing was 3 or 4 dollars apiece with the most probably being at least 5 times that.
As to this bands demise it was quite simple, David had been drafted and had to leave the band. Don and John went on to form another group and David played in some bands while he was stationed in Alaska. After playing in a couple of other groups, both Don and John left music—in the active sense anyway.
Dave played in several other groups in the area. He is currently retired and plays whenever the opportunity presents itself to do so. John is living in the Cedar Rapids area with his wife Evelyn. Unfortunately John suffers from multiple sclerosis and is confined to a wheelchair. Don moved from the Boone area and his situation is not known at this time.
