The Twiliters

Plattsburgh, NY, garage combo the Twiliters formed in late 1963, originally comprised of singer/guitarists Bill Kennedy and John Drury, bassist Mike Provost, and drummer Skip Bushey. By the following year both Drury and Provost were out of the lineup, and with new guitarist John Sullivan and bassist Tommy Latour, the Twiliters settled in as the house band at the local skating rink, Rollerland, where they backed or opened for national acts including the Supremes, the Bill Black Combo, the Rivieras, and the Cookies. Guitarist Bruce Danville replaced Sullivan in late 1964, and this lineup recorded the group's first single, a live rendition of Johnny Kidd & the Pirates' "Shakin' All Over" -- the first-ever North American recording of the song, later popularized by Canada's Guess Who -- issued on the local Empire label. A reading of the Cliff Richard hit "Move It" backed by the Kennedy original "The Girl from Liverpool" soon followed, and after one final single, "Mary Lou," Latour left the Twiliters in 1966 to serve in Vietnam, at which point Danville entered semi-retirement. With the addition of guitarist/keyboardist Billy Pajonas, Kennedy moved to bass, and this three-piece version of the group forged on for about a year before splitting up. Kennedy and Pajonas quickly reunited in a psychedelic unit dubbed the A.C. Apple Medicine Show, which continued until 1971. On October 10, 2004, the classic Twiliters lineup of Kennedy, Danville, Latour, and Bushey reunited in Morrisonville, NY, for their first live performance in close to four decades; original Twiliters recordings appear on 7" reissues on Norton Records, with several tracks also surfacing on the Dionysus compilation Heart So Cold! ~ Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide