A rockin' time in Stillwater

A couple of years ago, Scott Schell was scanning the obituaries when he spotted a name that rang a bell.

He couldn't recall how he knew the fellow, so he asked his sister if she knew him. She was about the same age as the man.

Turns out the dearly departed used to be in a garage band that Schell remembers from the days when both were musicians in Stillwater.

Schell got to thinking about all the other guys from the high school garage band era who have passed away recently.

"It dawned on me that in the next 25 to 30 years, nobody would be left and no one would know anything about them," said Schell, 54.

So he began gathering all the old photographs and posters he could find of Stillwater-area bands formed when he came of age.

He had planned to hand over the artifacts to the Stillwater Public Library or to the Washington County Historical Society for their collections. Then, he got a better idea -- he would write a book. His first one.

The 350-page, coffee-table book is a survey of about 50 local garage bands of the 1960s, '70s and '80s and the teen clubs and armories where they performed.

"It was a pretty special time," Schell said of an era when new songs played on the radio every day and teenagers flocked to Battle of the Bands shows.

"For me personally, being a part of this, growing up in this, this was a global thing that was life-altering," he said. "It changed the way we dressed. It changed the way we were politically. For people who lived it, it was really unique."

Brent Peterson, head of the county historical society, said the book touches on an important period in history that really hasn't been explored much in other county publications. What was happening in Stillwater was a microcosm of the phenomenon sweeping across Minnesota and the rest of the country, he said.

Among the performers featured in Schell's book are Keith Zeller and The More-Tishans.

The members of The More-Tishans drove around in a hearse and carried their guitars in coffin-shaped cases.

They played all over Minnesota. Wisconsin and Iowa, recalled Chris Nelson, one of two surviving members of the band.

Schell said the group was probably the most successful one from the Stillwater area. He remembers seeing their hearse once on the street when he was young and chasing after it on his bicycle.

Nelson, 61, who now lives across the St. Croix River in Houlton, Wis., said the band members were all classmates at Stillwater High School. They performed from 1962 to 1968. "It was a great, great time," he said. "It was a dream job."

After the group retired, Nelson finished college and went on to run a bowling alley and bar in Bayport for 30 years.

Preserving those memories becomes more important as the years pass, Nelson said.

"All these pictures and things, especially with the four guys who are gone, you look at them, and think, 'Geez, we practically lived together.' It was a very interesting bond," he said. "It brings a tear at times."