The Band
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Lothar and the Hand People
Origin: Denver, Colorado, United States
Genres: Psychedelic rock, psychedelic pop, space rock
Years active: 1965–1970
Labels: Capitol
Past members:
John Emelin
Paul Conly
Rusty Ford
Tom Flye
Kim King *
Richard Willis
William Wright
Lothar and the Hand People were a late-1960s psychedelic rock band known for its spacey music and pioneering use of the theremin[1] and Moog modular synthesizer.[2]
The band's unusual appellation refers to a theremin nicknamed "Lothar", with the "Hand People" being the musicians in the band,[3] who included John Emelin (vocals), Paul Conly (keyboards, synthesizer), Rusty Ford (bass), Tom Flye (drums) and Kim King (guitar, synthesizer).
The band was notable for being "the first rockers to tour and record using synthesizers, thereby inspiring the generation of electronic music-makers who immediately followed them".[4] Formed in Denver in 1965, Lothar and the Hand People relocated to New York in 1966. The band jammed with Jimi Hendrix and played gigs with groups such as the Byrds, Canned Heat, the Chambers Brothers, Grateful Dead and the Lovin' Spoonful. Lothar and the Hand People played music for Sam Shepard's play The Unseen Hand,[5] and was the opening act at the Atlantic City Pop Festival in August 1969.
After three initial singles, Capitol Records released two albums by this short-lived band: Presenting ... Lothar and the Hand People (1968, produced by Robert Margouleff) and Space Hymn (1969, produced by Nick Venet). A Rolling Stone review described Lothar and the Hand People's music:
It is electronic country, a kind of good-time music played by mad dwarfs, and it is really good to listen to. There is no tension here, no jarring forces at war with each other. It may be strange that New York, the city which deifies speed and insanity, could produce this music, but it is as if Lothar and the Hand People have gone through this madness and come out on the other side, smiling.[6]
The band's most popular recording was the title song "Space Hymn," which received significant FM radio play.[7]
The first album featured a notable "robotic" cover of Manfred Mann's UK hit "Machines" (composed by Mort Shuman), which Capitol released as a single.[8]
In 1997, the Chemical Brothers sampled the Lothar song "It Comes on Anyhow" in "It Doesn't Matter" on their album Dig Your Own Hole. A music video for "Space Hymn" screened in 2004 at the New York International Independent Film and Video Festival as well as at the ION International Animation, Games, and Short Film Festival in Los Angeles.[9]
Lothar and the Hand People was the source for a Saturday Night Live skit called "Lothar of the Hill People" and a Boston-area theremin band named the Lothars.[10]
* See In Memoriam below
Discography
Studio albums
Presenting ... Lothar and the Hand People (1968, Capitol Records)
Space Hymn (1969, Capitol Records)
Singles
"Rose Colored Glasses" (1967, Capitol Records)
"L-O-V-E" (1967, Capitol Records)
"Comic Strip" (1968, Capitol Records)
"Machines" (1969, Capitol Records)
"Midnight Ranger" (1969, Capitol Records)
Compilation albums
This Is It, Machines (1986, See for Miles Records)
Space Hymn (The Complete Capitol Recordings) (2003, Acadia)
References
^ Albert Glinsky, Theremin: Ether Music and Espionage, University of Illinois Press, 2000, p. 341.
^ Trevor J. Pinch and Frank Trocco, Analog Days: The Invention and Impact of the Moog Synthesizer, Harvard University Press, 2002, p. 15.
^ Jim DeRogatis, Turn on Your Mind: Four Decades of Great Psychedelic Rock, Hal Leonard, 2003, p. 230.
^ Michael Roberts (March 16, 2000), "Give the People a Hand," Westword.
^ Don Shewey, Sam Shepard, Da Capo Press, 1997, p. 68.
^ Lenny Kaye (May 3, 1969), Lothar & The Hand People, Presenting ... Lothar & The Hand People, Rolling Stone 32.
^ http://www.thevinyldistrict.com/storefront/2013/10/graded-curve-lothar-hand-people-presenting/
^ Dorothy Pomerantz (September 1, 1998) , "The Lothars Revive the Spooky Sounds of the Theremin", The Somerville Journal.
In Memoriam
Kim King, whose musical life included being lead guitarist and synthesizer player for Lothar and the Hand People, died following a long illness in San Rafael, California on August 30, 2016. He was surrounded by family and loved ones.
Born Kim Iannelli on 30 October, 1946, he grew up in New York. Grandson of artist, sculptor and industrial designer Alfonso Iannelli and son of noted photojournalist, Fons Iannelli, Kim became enamored of the guitar during a camping trip with his father and family friend Pete Seeger from whom he took banjo lessons. As a teenager Kim played a variety of musical styles on banjo and guitar. Riding the rails after graduation from high school, he landed in Denver, Colorado where he honed his skills at both finger-picking and slide guitar and became a mainstay in the local folk and blues scene. He joined Lothar and the Hand People, then Denver-based, in 1965. The group relocated to New York in the Fall of 1966.
Lothar was active in the West Village music scene. The band recorded two albums for Capitol Records and toured widely. As a standout guitarist in live performances, Kim was greatly admired by his contemporaries and his many fans who would line up early at the light show clubs of the day to get a place close to the stage. While working at the Night Owl Café in Greenwich Village, he often jammed in the afternoons with Jimi Hendrix (who was playing around the corner at the Café Wha under the name Jimmy James).
Lothar and the Hand People was the first band to play live performances on a Moog synthesizer with Kim and his bandmate Paul Conly as programmers of the first portable analog synthesizer to come out the laboratory. After Lothar´s last performance on New Year´s Eve 1969, Kim became a sound engineer at Electric Lady, The Record Plant, Fanta All-Stars studio and various studios in LA. He worked with Jimi Hendrix, Mink DeVille, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Michelle Phillips, Jethro Tull, War, John Fogarty and Weather Report and many others. He also did live sound for a number of tours, including Frank Sinatra, Barry Manilow, Diana Ross and Edgar Winter. In the mid-eighties he relocated back to NY where he started a touring sound web-based resource. He was a little early for the computer revolution but in the process he taught himself to code. Kim specialized in writing cataloging programs for art galleries, one of which was used by the Smithsonian.
In addition, he had a life-long interest in the outdoors, and was an avid hiker and camper both in the Adirondacks and in northern California.
Rock on! Long Live the King!