Carroll County band formed in the summer of 1974 by classmates at South Carroll High School. The original members of the band featured Ben Sherman (lead guitar, vocals), Steve Myers (rhythm guitar, vocals), Charlie Der (bass), and Scott Caperton (drums). In 1976 Der quit the band to attend college. He was replaced with bassist Barry Lankford. A couple of years later the group added vocalist Lisa Desimone. She was later replaced with Scott’s sister Terri Caperton.
The group started out playing teen centers, school dances, fire halls, and gradually made the shift to clubs. Their song list moved from rock and Top-40 to hard rock.
Eventually Steve’s strong vocal talents thrust him into the frontman role while another South Carroll friend John Harrington was recruited as second guitarist – equally able on rhythm and lead. The group performed covers of Van Halen, Judas Priest, Led Zeppelin, Rush, AC/DC… By this time the group also featured Terri Dougherty on vocals which gave them the versatility to perform the female vocal hits. With Myers, Sherman, and Harrington the group could feature a three-guitar attack and perform the southern rock favorites as well.
Photos from Liberty High School: Right: Steve Myers 1980
Below Left: Spectrum drummer Scott Caperton 1980
Below right: Spectrum at South Carroll High School 1981
After going to see Jesse Bolt and DC Star the group became determined to have production values of equal caliber, and built up an impressive sound and light show. They worked their way up to playing some of the larger local clubs and began traveling up and down the east coast. During their career the group opened for groups such as Steppenwolf, and Zebra…
By the early ‘80s Scott left the band to pursue another career. He was replaced with drummer Tony Dougherty. Eventually Harrington left and was replaced with John Suchy (ex-No Mercy). Suchy’s arrival with the group signaled a radical change. He was able to provide electric as well as acoustic guitar, keyboards and vocals. This enabled the group to expand its repertoire to include cuts by groups like Kansas, Saga, etc.
Terri and Tony later left the band being replaced with Nancy Tewey (vocals), and Steve Mallard (drums). By the last year of the band Myers was forced to quit due to throat problems. He was not replaced. Finally, by summer of 1984 due to a downturn in the business the group decided to call it quits.
Myers later joined D.C. Star. Harrington played in a band with the Trotta brothers of Wintersunn, also with Bad Mouth, Driving Dick Crazy… Dougherty later with Sunday Drive… Sherman and Suchy went on to play in the classic rock cover band Hectic Red while Suchy also played for the Charm City Rockers.
