Mansfield rock band Ohio Express had a No. 1 hit in Columbus in September 1967. The band’s name is etched on Valley Dale Ballroom’s Cavalcade of Stars with Tommy Dorsey and Three Dog Night.
Dean Kastran and Dale Powers grew up playing music. Powers played the guitar, sang, and liked classical guitarists Montoya and Segovia. Kastran played an upright string bass, liked jazz, Elvis and Chuck Berry. Then The Beatles hit the scene on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1964, and like many musically inclined teenagers of the era, their first reaction was, “Let’s start a band.”
Their first band, The Vibrations, played Beatles and British Invasion tunes. Even though they were in their mid-teens, their group played on The Gene Carroll Show, a musical variety show in Cleveland. In 1965, they joined forces with three teenagers from Lexington, Ohio.
“We liked the drummer, Tim Corwin, because he looked like Ringo Starr,” Kastran says.
They told Corwin to bring along his two friends.
The quintet’s new group, Sir Timothy and the Royals, added Motown and classic soul to the repertoire. Known in Columbus as Sir Tim, they covered The Beatles, and music by the Coasters, Sam Cooke and Otis Redding, as well as psychedelic-era music by Moby Grape, the Byrds and Cream.
Sir Tim played then-popular Columbus venues such as the Desert Inn, the Gloria and the Holiday Swim Club. They backed up The Vogues and other popular artists at the Ohio State Fairgrounds, and even performed as a “babysitting band” on the third floor of Lazarus’ downtown department store where parents could drop off their baby-boomer children to listen and dance while they shopped.
In May 1967, two New York City producers, Jeffry Katz and Jerry Kasenetz, known as Super K Productions, met with the band members and their parents with a contract in hand. When one of their parents suggested a legal review, they were told the group needed to sign now or there was no deal.
They were excited; the deal was to pay the band between $100,000 and $150,000 per year for seven years and promised multiple albums. What they didn’t know was that they would cover all of their own travel expenses.
Hear Kastran and Powers play a set with the Gas Pump Jockeys at the Columbus Italian Festival, Oct. 13.
Kastran and Powers say they made more money playing in a bowling alley bar in the 1970s than they did under Super K Productions.
They also didn’t know their band’s name would change to The Ohio Express, and that they wouldn’t be writing and recording their own records. Their first hit, “Beg, Borrow and Steal” was recorded by The Rare Breed. And, the first time the band heard their second hit, “Yummy, Yummy, Yummy (I’ve Got Love in my Tummy)” was when Super K called on the phone and said, “Here’s your second hit.” When asked, “When can we come and record it,” the producers replied, “It’s already done. We’re going to release the record as is.”
While members of Ohio Express did write and play a few songs on their first two albums, the hit singles were written, played and sung by New York City writers and studio musicians. Ohio Express became the touring band to showcase the material, sometimes with embarrassing results.
The first time the band heard the song “Chewy, Chewy” was on a Cincinnati radio station on their way to a gig. That night when the crowd screamed for them to play “Chewy, Chewy,” they couldn’t play it.
Doug and Dean, founding members
The tours were grueling and expensive.
“We lived in Columbus, so we could be close to an airport,” Kastran relates, “and we flew all over the country. One night we’d be in Lansing, Michigan, and the next night, we’d be in Yakima, Washington.”
Being in The Ohio Express was not without its advantages. They traveled across the U.S. and Canada, played Carnegie Hall, and appeared on American Bandstand and numerous local rock and roll television shows. They met members of The Who, The Beach Boys, Spanky and Our Gang, Bob Seger, and Neil Diamond, all of whom they opened for in concert.
Soon after the “Chewy, Chewy” incident, the band became disgusted with songs being recorded for them and not by them. When they demanded to record their own material and were denied, Kastran and Powers quit.
In December 1968, Powers was drafted and spent a year in Vietnam. Likewise, Kastran was called to active duty and spent 18 months in Texas at Lackland Air Force Base.
Kastran and Powers are both retired now after working many years for a pump manufacturing company in Mansfield. They both still play; Powers in contemporary Christian bands and Kastran in an acoustic duo. And they continue to play as the Founding Members of the Ohio Express at events such as the Columbus Italian Festival.
Years have mellowed their feelings about the music business and Super K productions.
Powers says, “If Jeff Katz walked in to see me today, I wouldn’t get angry. I’d probably tell him ‘Thanks for the ride. It was fun.’”
Richard Topper is a contributing writer. Feedback welcome at feedback@cityscenemediagroup.com.
