The Mauds

The Mauds
Jimy Rogers of The Mauds
Background information
Genres	Soul-Rock
Years active	1965 (1965)–2010
Labels	Mercury Records
Associated acts	Blue Road
Website	themauds.com

The Mauds were an influential band in the 1960s Chicago music “garage band” scene that included The Buckinghams, The Cryan Shames, New Colony Six, The Ides Of March and Shadows of Knight. The Mauds was founded in 1965 by Bill Durling, rhythm guitar. Bill knew Jimy Rogers from 1964 and convinced him to start singing lead for Bill's band. Jimy and Bill then asked Billy Winter, bass, Robert “Fuzzy” Fuscaldo, lead guitar and Craig Baumgard, drums to join and the Mauds were born. These musicians built the Mauds unmistakable Blue-Eyed Soul Sound c.1965 to 1967. The name Mauds was a play on the 1960s British slang expression "mod", which meant modern. Bill Durling went off to college in Storm Lake, Iowa was replaced by Timmy Coniglio on rhythm guitar and brass, Craig Baumgard was replaced by Phil Weinberg on drums. Later, Denny Horan replaced Weinberg and Bill Winter was replaced by Bill Sunter.

It was Shadows frontman/vocalist Jimy Sohns who first discovered and championed The Mauds in 1966. Sohns helped get them find gigs and was instrumental in their signing with Dunwich Records distributed by Mercury Records, where in 1967 they gained fame with their debut single, a cover of the Sam & Dave hit "Hold On" penned by David Porter and Isaac Hayes. The song was recorded at the original Chess Studios in Chicago, home to blues giants Willie Dixon, Muddy Waters, Bo Diddley and Chuck Berry. The Rolling Stones had recorded their second album there in 1964. The single charted locally at No. 15 on WCFL and No. 11 on WLS radio. The single may have gone higher, but a censorship controversy erupted when WLS got complaints about the lyrics, “Reach out to me for satisfaction; on my knees for quick reaction.” A cleaned-up version was recorded for WLS but the songs momentum was slowed.