The Flameouts

The Flameouts Fun Girl PS

JP Coumans of the Netherlands sent me the scans and transfers of this 45, writing: “These guys from the United States Airforce Academy cut this great garage rocker ‘Fun Girl’ with ‘girl messin’ with other guys’ and so we get ‘put the girl down’ lyrics single in 1966! Other side is more moody. On the back you can see they were ALL coming from different states! I wonder if they made more records!? Pressing done by Columbia Records!”

The band included Tom Mravak of Ossining, NY; Jerry Becker of Palmerton, PA; Dan Eikleberry of Lincoln, NE; Bill Berry of Port Aransas, TX; and Garry Meuller of Bensenville, IL. Their bass players included Mason Botts, Bill Todd of Shelby NC, and Dan Lavrich. They were students at the U.S. Airforce Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Guitarist Dan Eikleberry wrote these comments about the group:

The group was The Flameouts, a 1966 rock n roll band from the USAF Academy. Three of the band members were in the Class of ’66, one was in ’67 and two in ’68. We flew to Hollywood in a very classy VIP T-29 the Academy kept hidden at Pete Field, and made the record at Columbia Studios in Hollywood.

I played lead guitar on “I Won’t Cry”, and wrote the background vocals and harmony, also wrote the intro, the lead guitar break in the middle and figured out how we’d end this thing. I don’t recall we had an ending until we arrived in the studio and looked at each other ‘how do we end this thing? We don’t want a fade-out!’.

This side took all day in the studio. As was the common technique of the day, we did the instrumental work first, (over and over again), then put the instruments down, listened to the track (they had only 8 tracks in those days)on headphones, and did the vocals last.

Old Fender tube amps caused some buzzing problems, and they had the drummer concealed in sound-walls in the back of the room. Recording was interesting in those days. Terry Melcher (Doris Day’s son) did the mixing and producing for us.

“Fun Girl” we laid down in just the last 20 minutes or so in the studio — much easier song. Lead singer Tom Mravak wrote the song, we recorded it something less than 3 or 4 takes. Gerry Becker wrote all the harmony and background vocals on this one. He and Tom lead the band and were our lead singers for all songs. Bill Berry wrote the musical lead and guitar break in the middle and played lead guitar on “Fun Girl”, I just played rhythm guitar.

Listen for “no flies on that, Bubba!” after the lead guitar break. Gerry Becker telling Bill Berry his guitar lead was terrific! It came from a joke we heard that day — you had to be there.

“I Won’t Cry” was supposed to be the “A” (hit) side. I guess it was just too complicated, and in a minor key. The other side was much more popular. “Fun Girl” was basic simple 3-chord R n R.

The record came out June week, 1966, and sold out immediately in Colorado. The Academy then changed their mind and decided not to press any more records, lest the public complain tax payers $$ were being wasted. Cadets should be marching and studying and learning to be officers, not playing Rock ‘n’ Roll.

I wasn’t involved in the ‘business end’ of it all. I was a bit surprised when the record came out that it did NOT have “Columbia” label on it, but that “Flameouts” label instead.

Bill Todd was not really a Flameout — he was a quick replacement for the Hollywood trip in April 1966, because the usual bass player, Mason Botts, was on ‘academic probation’ and could not leave the Academy. The bass player in the photo is Dan Lavrich, who was a freshman (‘doolie’) and couldn’t get off base for much of anything, but did play bass for us now and then and was available for the photo shoot.

Mravak was killed in Feb 1971, when his F-4 Phantom crashed just short of the runway at Udorn Air Base, Thailand. Gary Mueller, drummer, was also flying F-4 aircraft at the base at the time, and I arrived in September 1971 at Udorn, to fly the RF-4C, photo recon version of the F-4 until 1973. Bill Berry last known to live in Ft. Worth, haven’t seen him since 1966 when he graduated from ‘the zoo’. Gerry Becker was last known to be flying ‘aggressor’ aircraft in air combat tactics at Hollomon Air Force Base, New Mexico, but that was 30 years ago. No idea where he is now. I just retired as a Boeing 747-400 Captain from United Airlines. Starting up a new airline in Las Vegas www.familyairlines.com.

I still play guitar now and then, but not often enough! I still have the Fender Jazzmaster I used on both these recordings (the guitar in the photo was borrowed that day because the Jazzmstr was back at Fullerton, CA Fender factory for a repaint job into candy apple red). It sounds better today than it did 46 years ago when I bought it!

Q. Were you in bands before or after the Flameouts?

Dan Eikleberry: Many. You’ll find my name a few times in the Nebraska rock bands web sites of the early 60’s, and on the Mark Dalton page (he played bass on the song 2525 by Zager & Evans many years later). I was in a band called the Chandels of Lincoln NE that became the Coachmen after I left to go to the USAF Academy.

I played in several other bands during the Academy years, as I got a job as a studio musician at Columbia Records in Hollywood, and they would send me out to fill-in as a guitar player for several notable performers of the day. Some of my recordings later became hits, but I never got any royalties from them! The music was recorded at Columbia,then the tracks were sold elsewhere or they added voices in house, we didn’t care — we were gone!

Q. Was the band part of the music scene in Colorado Springs, or just playing on base?

Dan Eikleberry: We were quite busy. We played for various Cadet parties, and public shows and night clubs around Colorado, and traveled to various places in the US to perform, mostly at USAF bases. We flew to Wash DC and recorded in a studio in the basement of the Pentagon that not many know is there. Those were for radio ads for the military. Promotional stuff. And we recorded in Colorado Springs a nice long tape of many of our songs — I had that tape until about 20 years ago when it finally disapeared in a move.

Q. Were you involved in music at Udorn?

Dan Eikleberry: They had mostly Phillipino bands come to play there.. occasionally I would hop up on the stage and whip out a tune with a borrowed guitar if they let me. That’s about all! We were too busy flying in the war!

Check out Dan’s videos featuring the songs and photos of the Flameouts on YouTube.

3 thoughts on “The Flameouts”

  1. Hi my father in law is Tom Mravaks brother who is the singer for the Flameouts. I would love to get him this record for Christmas. It would be a huge surprize for him. Can you help me out?
    Thank You Gina Mravak

    1. Gina:
      Sorry its already 2016 and I just discovered your comment from 2009 on https://www.garagehangover.com/flameouts.
      I knew Tom Mravak quite well, being his guitar player in the Flameouts. I got to Udorn Thailand in 1971 only to find he had crashed before I got there.
      I used to have about 5 of the 45 rpm records, but I’m pretty sure I have only one or two left, one is cracked all the way and the last one I keep. If I find another one, I’ll send it. Please email me at DanJE@aol.com to let me know where you are!
      Dan Eikleberry
      Former ‘Flameout’ from the USAF Academy

  2. Bill “Bubba” Berry still comes to our Class of ’66 reunions, as does Mace Botts. Addresses can probably be traced through the USAFA Association of Graduates.

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