Joe Ritter: “SOB was the same group as The 2nd Generation just a name change. The 2nd Generation 1968-70, and SOB 1970-72. Members were Don Snyder on guitar, John Roberts on bass, Bill Wilson on drums, and me (Joe Ritter) on keyboard. Don and I both were the lead singers. Roberts was replaced by Lenny Bowman in 1970.”
As the 2nd Generation, then SOB, Joe goes on to say, “We played at The Golden Ring Inn. That was a great gig with a long run and we had a few write-ups in the Sun papers. I did impersonations of Tiny Tim and James Brown.”
“When The Golden Ring Inn burned to the ground (we got our instruments out thank God) we went to play at The Club 40 on Rt. 40 near Joppatowne. Bowman then left the group and Sonny Robins joined us and played guitar. Don Snyder switched to bass. When we left the Club 40 we played in a club further up Route 40 but I cannot recall the name.”
“Bill left the group in 1971. Sonny Robins then joined SOB on guitar, and Don Snyder played drums. I remained as keyboard. “
“The meaning of SOB. We actually came up with that name to draw attention. People would come up and ask us what SOB stands for or means and we would tell them it stands for SOB that’s all, no other meaning. Of course, you know what they thought it stood for and thus, the attention grabber, kept them thinking and talking. Later we decided to make up meanings when they asked like Sons of Baltimore, or Sounds of Bands, or Sounds of Baltimore, or See Our Band… whatever we could think up at that moment and it worked. (also rumored to be called Sonny on Bass). They would tell us that they had to come hear us because we were the topic of conversation in different circles because people were trying to figure out the meaning of SOB. Hey, we had a lot of fun with that and it worked.”
Joe Ritter went on to play with Bobby Anderson’s Group 5, and later he and Bobby worked together as a duo.
