Orpheus (band)

Orpheus is a rock band from Worcester, Massachusetts that enjoyed popularity in the 1960s and early 1970s. In recent years there has been a resurgence of interest in the avant garde band.Original members included guitarist/vocalists Bruce Arnold and Jack McKennes, bass guitarist Eric "The Snake" Gulliksen, and drummer Harry Sandler but many others have since been a part of the group. Orpheus recorded three albums and four singles for MGM Records produced by musical legend Alan Lorber, including their best known hit, Can’t Find The Time, though it was later work that came to actually define the band.

History of Orpheus

Beginnings

The band’s origins were in the summer of 1964 when Arnold and McKennes of Worcester, Massachusetts, formed a folk duo called The Villagers (based on their origins as a house band of a Cape Cod coffee house called the Villager). While the pair at first performed cover songs, they began developing Arnold's original material in the fall of 1964 and Winter of 1965, and soon began playing regularly at the Carousel in Hyannis.

Formation of Orpheus

By early 1967, the Villagers had gained wider popularity, performing at venues such as the Loft, the Odyssey, the Unicorn, and the Pesky Sarpint. That summer bass guitarist Gulliksen was added and the group rehearsed as a trio, while auditioning drummers. Sandler, who had been playing with a surf band called The Mods, was not the band's first choice but joined as the fourth member when the...
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