The Nightcrawlers were an American

garage rock Garage rock (sometimes called garage punk or 60s punk) is a raw and energetic style of rock and roll that flourished in the mid-1960s, most notably in the United States and Canada, and has experienced a series of subsequent revivals. The sty ...

band formed in

Daytona Beach, Florida Daytona Beach, or simply Daytona, is a coastal Resort town, resort-city in east-central Florida. Located on the eastern edge of Volusia County, Florida, Volusia County near the East Coast of the United States, Atlantic coastline, its population ...

in 1965. The group is best known for their hit single, "

The Little Black Egg "The Little Black Egg" is a song first performed by Daytona Beach, Florida garage band The Nightcrawlers in 1965. It was a minor hit in both the US and Canada, reaching number 85 on the US ''Billboard'' charts in 1967, while doing slightly better ...

", which was written in 1965 for an Easter concert in which the band opened for

The Beach Boys The Beach Boys are an American Rock music, rock band that formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian Wilson, Brian, Dennis Wilson, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and frie ...

. The single ultimately reached number 85 on the national charts after its third re-release in 1967. The group released three other singles: "Cry," "A Basket of Flowers," and "I Don't Remember." The five original members were Tommy Ruger (drums); Rob Rouse (vocal, tambourine); Charlie Conlon (bass, vocal); Sylvan Wells (lead guitar and harmonica); and Pete Thomason (rhythm guitar, vocal). Their sound is described as sparse folk rock, popularized by

The Byrds The Byrds () were an American rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1964. The band underwent multiple lineup changes throughout its existence, with frontman Roger McGuinn (known as Jim McGuinn until mid-1967) remaining the sole cons ...

The Beau Brummels The Beau Brummels was an American rock band. Formed in San Francisco in 1964, the band's original lineup included Sal Valentino (lead vocals), Ron Elliott (lead guitar), Ron Meagher (bass guitar), Declan Mulligan (rhythm guitar, bass, harmo ...

, and other post-

British Invasion The British Invasion was a cultural phenomenon of the mid-1960s, when rock and pop music acts from the United Kingdom and other aspects of British culture became popular in the United States and significant to the rising "counterculture" on b ...

mid-1960s bands. They released one album on

Kapp Records Kapp Records was an independent record label started in 1954 by David Kapp, brother of Jack Kapp (who set up American Decca Records in 1934). David Kapp founded his own label after stints with Decca and RCA Victor. Kapp licensed its records to L ...

, but the original lineup disbanded in 1966, before the final (and most popular) release of "The Little Black Egg." The reformed Nightcrawlers did one more single for Kapp, "My Butterfly" written by band members Sylvan Wells and Rick Hollinger, in a more hard rock vein and then disbanded. The original main songwriter, Charlie Conlon, later reformed the group under the name "Conlon and the Crawlers", although the group did not record after 1967. The group continued with different members including Marshall Letter and eventually disbanded in 1970. In 2000, a retrospective CD with 24 cuts by the original members was released by Big Beat/London, England. Although the group never gained wide fame, the simple riff of "The Little Black Egg" made it a favorite cover for garage bands of each musical era since the 1960s. It was covered in the 1990s by

The Lemonheads The Lemonheads are an American alternative rock band formed in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1986 by Evan Dando, Ben Deily, and Jesse Peretz. Dando has remained the band's only constant member. After their initial punk-influenced releases and tour ...

The Cars The Cars were an American rock band formed in Boston in 1976. Emerging from the new wave scene in the late 1970s, they consisted of Ric Ocasek ( rhythm guitar), Benjamin Orr (bass guitar), Elliot Easton (lead guitar), Greg Hawkes (keyboards), ...

also covered "The Little Black Egg." On September 19, 2008, the world premier of the film ''Cracking The Egg: The Untold Story of The Nightcrawlers'' was held at the 6th annual Daytona Beach Film Festival.

Outsider music Outsider music (from "outsider art") is music created by self-taught or naïve musicians. The term is usually applied to musicians who have little or no traditional musical experience, who exhibit childlike qualities in their music, or who suffe ...

specialist

Irwin Chusid Irwin Chusid (born April 22, 1951 in Newark, New Jersey) is a journalist, music historian, radio personality, record producer, and self-described "landmark preservationist". His stated mission has been to "find things on the scrapheap of history tha ...

claimed that when he was a teen the record sparked his interest in "odd songs". At the behest of Ajaye Agency in Cincinnati, Rick Hollinger reformed the Nightcrawlers in 1968 in Tallahassee, Florida, for the express purpose of taking them to Ohio because the song "Little Black Egg" was enjoying a resurgence. Besides Rick, the group members were Gary Sockwell on drums, Eddie Everette on lead guitar and vocals, Rod Vaillancourt on keyboards and vocals and Steve Flacy on bass guitar. They worked for years in a multi-state area but never issued additional recordings. Rod Vaillancourt and Steve Flacy went on to work with

Adrian Belew Robert Steven "Adrian" Belew (born December 23, 1949) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. A multi-instrumentalist primarily known as a guitarist and singer, he is noted for his unusual and impressionistic approach to ...

in a band called Sweetheart and Rod later recorded with

Artimus Pyle Thomas Delmer "Artimus" Pyle (born July 15, 1948) is an American musician who played drums with the southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd from 1974 to 1977 and from 1987 to 1991. He and his bandmates were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fam ...

. Original drummer Tommy Ruger (born Thomas William Ruger on November 30, 1946) died from complications of diabetes in

Port Orange, Florida Port Orange is a city in Volusia County, Florida. The city's population was estimated at 64,842 in 2019 by the U.S. Census Bureau. The city is part of the Deltona–Daytona Beach–Ormond Beach metropolitan area; the metropolitan area's populati ...

on December 11, 2013. He was 67.

References

External links

*Unterberger, Richie " The Nightcrawlers Biography, ''

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

'', Macrovision Corporation *Unterberger, Richie " ''The Little Black Egg'' album review, ''

'', Macrovision Corporation
Head Heritage review of "Little Black Egg"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nightcrawlers American folk rock groups Musical groups established in 1965 Musical groups disestablished in 1975 Musical groups from Florida 1965 establishments in Florida 1975 disestablishments in Florida