The Nite Owls

The Nite Owls were formed out of Southern Illinois University in Chicago in 1965, with Gary Miller as lead singer. They cut their only single, a hard-edged cover of "These Boots Are Made for Walking" retitled "Boots Are Made for Talking," for Rembrandt Records in 1966. They received some local airplay from the song, out of the sheer novelty of a male rock band revising the hit, but little other reward. At the insistence of Rembrandt Records, they later changed their name to the Nickel Bag (but were not the band of that name that cut sides for Kama Sutra). They didn't last past the mid- to late '60s, but a total of six songs, several in multiple versions, have surfaced by way of Collectables and other labels, most notably on the latter's Psychedelic '60s, Vol. 6.