AV: Do you think you could have made it nationally if you had recorded on the coast and what are your fondest memories?BW: I am sure that we could have made it nationally had the management of the Coachmen been better experienced and better connected. We had a strong stage presentation. We also had some talent for creating original music. This would have been developed had we had time, encouragement, and some financial backing to allow it. We were just so busy trying to make a living and get to the next gap in the road that there wasn't much energy left.In response to recording on the coast, the key issues are production quality and distribution capacity. We didn't have the benefit of either one. An established coast company could have provided that. Who knows, lots of things got recorded on the coast that went nowhere.It always amazed us how good our cuts would sound as we heard the raw versions in the studio and how less energetic the actual records would come across. I'm sure many other bands have had the same experience. However, you just have to realize the severe limitations of recording in the studios we uti1ized in Omaha in those years.It would be funny to see studio musicians of today being told that they would have to record their entire percussion and bass lines through one track. This is one of the things we had to deal with. Thus, if you wanted to adjust the volume or mix of any of those components, you adjusted them all identically. We would have loved to record in a bigger studio with more tracks and professional production talent-- and time. We always had to get in and out quick--no creative studio time, playing, or producing. Management's idea of a good producing job was getting through a track without an amp falling over. The electronic and other technical capabilities of recording today astound me.I guess the bottom line is that the combination of professional quality recordings, the business connections to distribute and promote, the ability to deliver a strong live performance would have made the Coachmen a national level band. We were clearly on the brink of making it for quite a while. There is no question in my mind that this is true for several other midwestern bands of the late sixties.I suppose that my responses to some of your questions reflect the frustration that once went very deep in me. This is somewhat intentional and many of your questions--what if this, what if that--are pointed that way. However, the positive clearly outweighs the frustrations. It would be very difficult to count the pleasurable memories in so many respects relative to the Coachmen. I'm sure there are thousands of things I've forgotten that, if reminded, would have a real impact on me. For starters, there are so many people that I knew so well-- other musicians, friends, fans, promoters--that I would love to see or talk to. Most of all, I'd just like to know that they are having happy, satisfying lives or to be able to give them some encouragement if needed.My fondest memories involve the earlier years, 1964 and 1965, when everything was going up and getting better. In those days, everyone in the group really pulled together and there was a tremendous anticipation of everything good.It's hard to believe that anybody could have had a happier, more fulfilling time as an eighteen year old kid than I did as drummer and business manager of the Coachmen. It was great.Believe it or not, I am happier and more fulfilled than that now at forty-three. Praise the Lord and thank you for your thoughtful questions. It has been a long time since I've thought about some of these things and the process of doing so has done me good.JT: I don't know. In all honesty, none of us had years of music under our belts and none of us had formal training. It was OJT---on the job training---although I feel we had a good, original sound. Some of our stuff did well nationally. On the coast it was another story.Fondest memories--boy, there are so many. Just riding in the bus, playing jokes on Craig (our bass player), and just having a good time. Just being totally free and being able to relate to all of those new experiences just as they came while trying to deal with them the best we could. On looking back they were all fond memories. No bad memories at all. It was such an experience to be part of that, even a small part of it, to be involved, to survive, and to just make a living from that. Gosh, there were so many I just can't pick one in particular. Good time. Would have never changed it for the world.