The Grasshoppers - American Van (2008)

A teenage garage band from Minnesota, the Grasshoppers didn't attract much nationwide notice during their four-year run in the 1960s, but they scored a regional hit and were a popular live attraction during their heyday. Playing upbeat rock & roll with Beatles-style pop hooks and plenty of jangle in their guitars, the Grasshoppers focused on covers, like many of their peers on the teen club circuit in the day, but they also had a capable songwriter in guitarist Ben Hamar, who gave their originals a distinct melodic voice. The Grasshoppers only released one single during their original run, but in 2023, decades after they broke up, the BeatRocket label added an additional 14 songs to their legacy with the archival release Let It Be That Way.
The band began as the Escorts, when all five members were students at the same high school in White Bear Lake, Minnesota, a town 20 miles from Minneapolis. The Escorts featured Jiggs Lee on lead vocals, Ben Hamar on lead guitar, Tom Acheson on rhythm guitar, Tim Black on bass, and Phil Scollard on drums. They began playing out in 1965, and the following year, they'd earned a reputation as one of the best teen bands in the area. Marsh Productions, a local booking agency, took on the group and persuaded them to change their name to the Grasshoppers; in 2021, Tom Acheson told reporter Debra Neutkens, "It was thought at the time, since the Beatles were so successful, to stick with a bug theme." The Grasshoppers were talented musicians who played with energy and professionalism, and Marsh Productions had no trouble finding work for the band, as they toured as far afield as Iowa, Wisconsin, and North Dakota, along with plentiful gigs in the Twin Cities area. The group booked time at Kaybank Recordings, a studio and pressing plant in Minneapolis, and in 1968, they released a single for the local Fox Records label. The A-side was "Sugar & Spice," an energetic cover of the Searchers' hit, while the flip side featured a rock & roll remake of Peter, Paul & Mary's "Very Last Day." "Sugar & Spice" picked up strong regional airplay and made the Top Ten on two Twin Cities radio stations, KDWB and WDGY. They were also recognized at the 1968 Connie Awards, recognizing excellence in the Upper Midwest music community, where they were named "Best New Band of the Year." They soon found themselves opening for major touring acts, including the Young Rascals, and when Peaches & Herb were without a band for a Twin Cities show in 1967, the Grasshoppers were recruited to accompany them.
While the single focused on songs written by others, the Grasshoppers also performed original material written by Ben Hamar, and eight of his songs would be recorded in sessions at Kaybank. However, despite the success of their first 45 and the fact that they had more recordings ready to go, a second Grasshoppers single never materialized. The Grasshoppers played their last show at Augsburg College in Minneapolis in March 1969; by this time, all five had graduated from high school and were moving on to other musical projects and new careers. Except for Tom Acheson, all of them would continue to play music as their schedules permitted, and in the 1970s, Jiggs Lee fronted a hard rock band called Cain who cut a pair of albums and toured frequently in the Midwest. In the 2020s, BeatRocket Records, a sibling label of Sundazed that had struck a deal to release material from the Kaybank archives, unearthed a cache of Grasshoppers tapes, which included both sides of the 1968 single and 14 unreleased songs, including Hamar's unheard original tunes. The tapes were remastered and released on the 2023 album Let It Be That Way.