World of Matter - The History
Circa 1966 - 1974
As written by Dan Hertlein (aka Danny Hertlein)
The World of Matter (herein called WoM) was founded in 1966 by Danny Hertlein, George Carbonel, Felipe Rodriguez, Glen (Bob) Hertlein and others whose names have unfortunately have been forgotten. Give me a break. That was over 40 years ago. I will try to recap as best as I can although some of the timelines are undoubtedly incorrect, I'm sure.
The band was started when Danny (uh, I) was in the 7th grade. Since I had been forced into playing drums because everyone of my friends had already chosen guitar as their instrument of choice. Besides, drums were cool and keyboards were not (OK, to this 11 year old at the time, they weren't). I had put together an imaginary set of drums with upside down garbage cans and Charlie Chips cans (not an uncommon thing in the drum world I've come to realize). My wonderful parents surprised me for my birthday in December 1965 (I think) with a brand new set of top of the line blue sparkle Ludwig drums and Paiste cymbals. Now, that was cool.
Move up to '66 and the 7th grade. I hooked up with George Carbonel who played bass and sang and Phil (Felipe) Rodriguez who was a guitar player. Phil actually replaced our original guitarist, Dennis Somebody. Also in the band was lead singer/guitarist Robbie Rabel. Soon we picked up Randy Beach on guitar/vocals and a keyboard player named Tommy Somebody (not related to Dennis Somebody). Soon Bobby Whiteman replaced Tommy on keyboards. My dad, Glen (Bob) Hertlein offered to manage us however it is widely known that he wanted to be involved with his son (me). Since Glen (Bob) loved sports and envisioned his only son as an aspiring ball player of some sort, he wanted me to try my hand at baseball. What we realized however is that I sucked at it. So, Glen (Bob) (herein referred to as Bob) decided to participate in my music career. And that he did. Really though, his goal was to lead us, get us gigs and most importantly, keep us off drugs. It worked for a long time...
We needed a name. So, one of us had a 7th grade science book called The World of Matter. That was it. We had a name, we had members, we had songs (all cover songs), we had equipment, so it was time to book gigs. Bob booked our first paying gig at a City of Hialeah park. The pay? $16. And I think Bob didn't take commission for that gig. Too bad because he would've been $1.60 richer! Bob started booking many freebies to get us paying gigs. It worked! We used to play at sock hops around town (that would be Hialeah and the general Miami area), as well as gigs at the local roller rink. Municipal Auditorium was sort of like the Holy Grail when it came to gigs and we weren't ready for that yet. We also played at junior high schools (such as Henry J. Filer Jr. High) and entered into Battle of the Bands contests. We were getting exposure and getting better as we grew.
Finally, WoM started to real get steam in our sails. We had several member changes the next couple of years as well as some movement within the band by 1968. We had recruited a great local guitarist/lead singer named Dennis Sierra. With that, Felipe switched to percussion which was his true love. Bobby soon replaced his Farfisa organ with a real Hammond M-3 organ (really cool) and Leslie speaker. We replaced Robbie Rabel with Mike Holland on lead vocals. Randy pretty much stopped playing guitar and moved in as the second lead singer. We were becoming a big band. We had guitar, bass, drums, keyboards, percussion, and two lead singers. George also sang some lead and I provided background vocals. We could basically cover any song coming out. Bobby Whiteman also moved on and we auditioned keyboard players including a keyboard player named Harry Casey. We passed on him. And he showed us! Several years later, Harry would become a hit as KC of KC and the Sunshine band. We hired Kenny Combs who also sang. And he had a Hammond B-3!
At the time, the Vietnam War was really raging at the time, but we all were still in high school. In 1969, that would change...
George graduated and filed with the local draft board. We were safe for a while. Then, sometime around 1970, Kookie Berrios, keyboardist from the popular band "The Warlocks" joined us a lead singer, replacing Mike Holland. During this time, we cut a record called "No Such Thing" on the A side and the cover "What's Your Name". The record cost us $600 and was financed by Bob. It featured Kookie and Randy on lead vocals on the B side, we covered the song "What's Your Name". The lead vocals were shared by Dennis with Randy singing backup. We didn't sell any copies but it still is on my iPod!
Within six months of that record being cut, a BIG thing happened. Kookie announced he was leaving the band to return to his band, The Warlocks taking Dennis with him. This was a blow to WoM. Somehow, we suspected this was Kookie's plan all along. Then another BIG thing happened. George was facing imminent induction into the Army. So, he decided to join the Air Force instead. So, one of WoM's founding members was moving on and we needed to get a bass player. Enter Steve Argy who we hooked up with at Miami Springs High School. Steve was a little bit younger than the rest of us but was a great musician and fit into the band quickly.
We started auditioning guitar players and picked up Steve's close friend, Earl Valentovic. We kept playing without missing a beat.
We continued to become one the premier bands in the Miami area with the help of my dad booking us like crazy. We played many gigs including corporate parties, weddings, Bar Mitzvah's, and were on a regular rotation at the City of Hialeah Municipal Auditorium as well as Open Houses, Quince's (Cuban Sweet 15 parties). We also played local dance clubs (non-alcoholics clubs) such as the Place and the World. Other local bands included Hemlock, The Warlocks, The Queens Kids, Pearly Queen, Miami Sound Machine (yes, Gloria Estafan's band) and many others played with us at many of the local dance halls and parties. It was a common occurrence for private parties to have two bands.
Then, Dennis contacted us a few months later and asked to return to WoM. We were in a pickle. We really missed Dennis. So, we let Earl go. Steve, being loyal to Earl who was one of his best friends, also decided to leave. Dennis returned and we hired bass player Morgan Rees. Then a few months went by and we had a major rotation of members for reasons I cannot remember. Steve returned and Randy, Kenny and Felipe left. With this change we picked up Bob Geiger of keyboards/sax and Robert Duarte on Lead Vocals,Sax,Flute and percussion. We played major clubs (The Button, Newport, and many others) and went on the road to the Keys, Kentucky, and Indiana. We lasted until 1974. I was engaged to be married and I decided to leave the music business (which I never really did). I've been a weekend warrior since 1974.
Oh, and thanks Dad!
Randy, Kenny, Dennis, Danny, George, Felipe Rodriguez
Steve, Randy, Felipe, Dennis, Kenny, Danny
Bob
Thanks for looking. If you'd like feel free to email me at dan@danhertlein.com
Dan Hertlein