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Al Harris: Lead guitar, vocals Jim Havens: Drums. vocals Mark Maynard: Rhythm guitar, vocals Craig Maynard: Bass

Date formed: late 1965 Date disbanded: mid 1966

The Vibrations started out as a 3 piece band, but were looking to add another guitarist. The original lineup was Mark Rinehart on lead guitar, Mark Maynard on rhythm guitar and Jim Havens on drums. They had heard Al Harris play and he was asked to join the band. Within a short time it became apparent that Mark Rinehart, the “leader” of the band, and Al had some friction between them. Al played lead guitar and sang too, which placed him squarely in the same role as Mark. Within two weeks after Al joined Mark quit the group.    It isn’t clear who came up with the name for the band, but it was obviously inspired by the physical aspect of playing loud rock and roll music.

At the time Al was playing a white Fender Stratocaster which he purchased from Professional Music which was east of the Drake University campus in Des Moines. He had previously had a Gibson Melody Maker and the Strat would have been a step up for him at this time in 1965-66. A friend of his, Jim Anderson, actually put up the money so Al could buy the guitar. Al was using a Gibson Rocket amp which had two 12 inch speakers.    Mark Maynard started out with a solid body, two pickup Kent guitar he purchased from Alber’s in Boone. He was also using a Gibson amp that was the next one down the line from Al’s–just a bit smaller in size and power. Becoming dissatisfied with the Kent, Mark soon purchased a cherry finished ES 335 Gibson which he played for the duration of the group.    It’s not remembered what brand drum set Jim played, but, as you can see from the photo, the kit consisted of kick, snare, rack tom, floor tom, hi-hat and ride cymbal.    After the band had been together for about a year Mark’s brother, Craig, joined up to play bass for the group. He played a Gibson bass, but the exact model is not known.    For PA the Vibrations rented out a Bogen amp and speakers. To augment that they often borrowed some extra cabinets from a friend, Jess Coe. The microphones were low cost dynamics.

The band practiced at Jim Havens’ house and at the Fancy Q in Boone. Mark and Craig’s parents ran the Fancy Q and the band played there often on the weekends. The band started out practicing a solid 3 to 5 times a week for about 3 months before they played in front of people. This was a standard approach for most bands. It usually took that long to build up enough tunes to fill a 3 hour gig. After the band started playing out they slimmed down to 2 nights a week for rehearsals.

The Vibrations did a lot of the current popular songs of the day. The material ranged from the Kinks to Barry McGuire to Johnny Rivers and some of the music coming out of the Detroit area.    Among the places they played were the Boone Community Building, The Rendezvous in Marshalltown and the Fancy Q in Boone. Perhaps the best gig was the time they rented out the Boone Community Building and came out with $87 a piece for the evening charging $1 a head. That would work out to over 300 kids at the dance. The group saw their share of fights on the dance floor due to someone getting a bit too close to somebody else’s girlfriend. They got their playing jobs through band members and their manager. A fellow by the name of Bob Cochran, who was the manager of the local radio station, KWBG, became their manager to provide direction and jobs for the young group. He had big ideas for the band and saw their potential, but two of the members didn’t trust him completely so, after awhile, he was voted out of his job as manager.

As far as the bands demise goes, a split developed between the members. Al and Jim were getting into stuff like the Yardbirds; Mark and Craig were going in another direction. Jim was also kind of hard to get along with, even more so than Mark Rhinehart had been. It was a hard split up and even though the friendships remained somewhat intact, amends were never fully made between the members.    Al went on to play in other groups and even pursued a solo songwriting career for awhile. He also did a duo act with a fellow by the name of Tom Richards. Al wrote the tune originally used to advertise the Boone & Scenic Valley Railroad. He currently does interior painting and wallpapering.    Jim played in other groups after this band also. Sadly, Jim passed away at age 41 due to illness.    Mark continued on in at least one other Boone County band. He eventually left the area and ended up in Las Vegas where he has been a part of many bands and as of this writing still is. Craig also played in another band, but there is no information on his further involvement with bands in the area.

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