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Denny Allen: Bass, vocals Ken Busch: Rhythm guitar, vocals (Fall 66-early 67) Loren Fisher: Rhythm guitar, vocals (early 67-69) Alan Graybill: Drums (1967-69) Denny Cretsinger: Lead guitar, vocals Gary Lofstedt: Drums (1967) Rick Ridihalgh: Drums, vocals (Fall 66-67)

Date formed: Fall 1966 Date disbanded: Summer 1969

The members of the Revolvers came from not only Boone County, but Greene and Dallas counties. Denny had briefly been in a band called the Vibrations who were based in Perry. Although a member for a short time it provided Denny an introduction to others in Perry who would eventually join the Revolvers. After another brief association with some friends from school, he was introduced to Denny Cretsinger. The two of them got together at Cretsinger’s house in Dawson a few times using the basement for practice. They had made contact with a fellow to play drums, but he met an untimely death at 17 in a house fire.    Denny Cretsinger had made connections with Ken Busch at school in Perry and he was asked to join. Rick was also from Perry, again, joining through Denny C. This ended up being the first incarnation of the group.    The name was directly related to the Beatles. Their Revolver album was out and it seemed a good name for a band. They figured the connection to the Beatles couldn't hurt either.

In the original line up Denny was playing a Fender Precision bass with a sunburst finish through a Kalamazoo Bass 30 amp. Later on he moved up to a Vox Westminister bass amp to keep up with the other members volume wise. He also started playing a Vox violin bass finished in sunburst with two pickups. This was more than likely made by Eko in Italy for Vox.    Ken played a black and white Silvertone guitar that had what are known as lipstick tube pickups due to their resemblence to a tube of lipstick. It's not remembered what he had for an amp although it must have been somewhat substantial to keep up with the others members.    Denny Cretsinger was playing a cherry finish Gibson SG with two pickups through a Fender Bandmaster amp.    The band lost Ken and Rick sometime in 1967 although the exact reasons are not remembered at this point. Loren Fisher, who lived in Perry, was likey brought in by Denny C. to replace Ken. The connection with Alan was made by Denny A. in all likelihood. Denny became friends with the folks that owned Sounds Inc. in Boone. He eventually worked there which all lead up to finding out about Alan who was one of the owners’ sons. At the time Alan was still in grade school, but he could play drums with the best of them. Since the Revolvers were playing teen hangouts and schools it worked fine to have such a young individual in the group. Usually Denny’s mom came along to gigs to keep a watch on Alan. Also Ron Carlson, who ran lights for the band on occasion, befriended Alan and would make sure he was safe.    In between Rick and Alan, Gary was in the band for a short time. The reason for his short tenure has been lost to the fog of time. Gary had a Ludwig kit that was similar to Ringo Starr’s kit, but with a second rack tom. Alan’s set was a turquoise sparkle Sonor rig with kick, snare, hit–hat, 2 rack toms and floor tom with the requisite ride and crash cymbals.

For most of the life of the band practice sessions were held at Denny A.’s home outside of Rippey in western Boone County. It was a compromise of sorts since Alan lived in Boone and the others lived in Perry. Denny’s home was a halfway point between the two towns. They practiced in the living room which was somewhat cramped, but Denny’s folks were supportive. His parents eventually added on a 20 X 20 foot room to the north side of the house for the purpose of accomodating the band’s practices. Getting together a couple times a week was common with weekends being the more usual time they praticed.    The Revolvers did many of the popular tunes of the day along with some songs that were not commonly done. Among the songs they worked up were “Judy in Disguise”/John Fred & his Playboy Band, “Itchycoo Park”/Small Faces, “Midnight Hour”/Wilson Pickett, “Do You Love Me”/the Dave Clark Five/Contours and “I Can’t Let Go”/the Hollies.

As mentioned the group played mostly school dances and at community events/buildings. This was a boom time for local bands with many opportunities that had not been available before and would disappear in a few years. Beside local halls like city halls, roller skating rinks, and Oddfellows/Elks/Legion halls; there were many youth oriented facilities that exsisted. The Stop and Hop Teen spot in Dayton Iowa was one such venue where the Revolvers played. These dances were well attended even if the group playing was relatively unknown to the local teens.

The bands demise is not clearly remembered, but quite possibly came about as some of the older members moved on either due to job considerations or school situations. At one point all that was left of the band were the 2 Dennys with Denny C. leaving after the group had been in a reformation phase for a long period of time.    Denny Cretsinger played in a few other bands before leaving performing behind. He passed away in the late 1980’s from health related causes. Denny A. went on to play in many bands. He now lives in Texas with his family. Alan was involved in other groups too. He currently lives in California doing carpentry work and is involved with recording music on the side. Gary continued on in music also. He was last known to live in Beaverdale, a suburb of Des Moines. Rick is retired and lives in Missouri. Information on the other members is unknown.

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