

After appearing in the Roger Corman movie Hollywood Boulevard, Frayne disbanded the group in 1976. Their 1975 album Tales From The Ozone was produced by Hoyt Axton. The band released several moderately successful albums through the first half of the 1970s. The band's 1974 live recording, Live from Deep in the Heart of Texas, features cover art of armadillos by Jim Franklin. For a short time, the bus could be seen parked on the side of Warm Springs Road in Kenwood. The tour bus at the time was a converted Greyhound bus with the name and logo "Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen" painted on the side. Here in the basement of one of the 3 houses is where the band set up a studio and practiced for upcoming tours. Shortly thereafter drummer Lance Dickerson, Bruce Barlow, the band's manager and the band's bus driver, Ed Dufault, moved to a ranch in Kenwood, California named "The Casa Felice". ) The group released their first album in November 1971, Lost in the Ozone, which yielded its best-known hit, a cover version of the 1955 song " Hot Rod Lincoln", which reached the top ten on the Billboard singles chart in early 1972. (About a year later, Commander Cody invited western swing revival group Asleep at the Wheel to relocate to the Bay Area. The band's name was inspired by 1950s film serials featuring the character Commando Cody and from a feature version of an earlier serial, King of the Rocket Men, released under the title Lost Planet Airmen.Īfter playing for several years in local bars, in 1969 the core members migrated to Berkeley, California and soon got a recording contract with Paramount Records. The Lost Planet Airmen Ĭommander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen formed in 1967 in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States, with Frayne taking the stage name Commander Cody. Jin Charleston, West Virginia), followed by Bobby Black, on pedal steel guitar. Octoin Livonia, Michigan, died November 10, 2003, in Fairfax, California) on drums and Steve "The West Virginia Creeper" Davis (b. Decemin Oxnard, California) on bass guitar Lance Dickerson (b. Augin New York City) on saxophone and fiddle "Buffalo" Bruce Barlow (b. Louis, Missouri) on guitar and vocals Bill Kirchen (Kirchen was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, Jbut grew up in Ann Arbor, Michigan) on lead guitar Andy Stein (b. Decatur, Alabama) on vocals and harmonica John Tichy (b. Alongside Frayne, the classic lineup was Billy C. The band became known for marathon live shows. The group's leader and co-founder was pianist and vocalist George Frayne IV, alias Commander Cody (born Jin Boise, Idaho, died Septemin Saratoga Springs, New York). 1967–1976 as Commander Cody and His Lost Planet AirmenĬommander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen were an American rock band founded in 1967.
