The Royal Cavaliers

The Royal Cavaliers

The Royal Cavaliers was a rock garage band of the 1960's. The band was founded as The Jupiters on January 8, 1966 by lead guitar player Randy L. Schlegel at the age of 13. All of the band members were students at Kutztown Area Junior High School. The original band members were:

The band held many Sunday afternoon practice sessions in Randy Hoffman's parents' basement on Highland Avenue in Kutztown, Pennsylvania. Many hours were spent rehearsing top 40 tunes like Gloria, Louie Louie and As Tears Go By. In September of 1966 The Jupiters changed the name of the band to The Royal Cavaliers when keyboard player Steve Haring joined the band. The addition of Haring's Farfisa Combo Deluxe portable organ was considered a huge asset to the young band. The Royal Cavaliers played dances and other events in the Kutztown, Pennsylvania area playing current rock music hits and various songs written by Randy Schlegel.

In February of 1967, a recording session for the band was arranged by Randy Schlegel's father, Roy Schlegel, a renowned bass player for various country music bands who had previously worked on several recordings there. An engagement was made for the band to record two of many songs written and copyrighted by lead guitarist, Randy Schlegel: I'll Try Again and Was It Love.

On a cloudy/rainy Saturday afternoon, April 29, 1967, the young band members and their equipment were anxiously chauffeured (since none of the band members were old enough to drive) to the Barclay-Ferraro recording studio in Shillington, Pennsylvania by Randy's father, Roy Schlegel, in his 1962 beige Chevy II Nova station wagon and by Randy Hoffman's father, Norman, in a George Y. Brubaker Inc. service van.

A $100 fee was required for the cost of the recording session. The band played several area dances to obtain the recording fee. In order to keep the cost of the recording session within the $100 budget, the band practiced the two songs over and over hoping to record in the least amount of takes. Finally when the songs were recorded by producer Clay Barclay, the song I'll Try Again was recorded in one take, and Was It Love was recorded in two takes. The recording session was quite a magical experience for the young musicians. That evening, after the recording session, the band members were sure they would become rock stars!

May 22, 1967 Randy Schlegel received a phone call from Pat Ferraro who informed him that Jamie Records, Cameo Records, Mercury Records and Smash Records would be interested in pressing records with the recordings. However, the best price Mr. Ferraro could negotiate for the band's side of the contract to press records would be $500 from Mercury Records. The parents of the band members agreed that the cost of the contract was just too expensive, and the records were not produced.

Many years later, as the band members were approaching their 50's. It was discovered that a CD was produced from the master tape reel recorded by Clay Barclay at the recording studio. Happily, it came as a total surprise to all the band members that the two songs they recorded in 1967 were indeed included on the CD titled Eastern PA Rock Part Two (1966-'69) by Arf! Arf! Records, PO Box 465, Middleborough, MA 02346 USA

June 1967 - The Royal Cavaliers at Lyons Playground Dance

Hear the recordings from the master reel at Clay Barkley's studio . . .
I'll Try Again	Was it Love

" . . . the times, they are a changing "

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© The Royal Cavaliers  •  Lyons, PA 19536-0187 U.S.A.