The Rainy Days are known for a great version of “I Can Only Give You Everything”, released on Panik 7566 in 1966. The B-side is “Go On and Cry”, an original song written by their manager, with a soulful sound. The band released a second single on Panik 7-7542, “Turn On Your Lovelight” with the same recording of “Go On and Cry” on the flip.

The members were:

Tom Brzezina – vocals
Gary Rozycki – lead guitar
Alan Hafeli – rhythm guitar
Paul Isaacson – organ
John Einowski – bass
Jim Nosakowski – drums

Thomas Brzezina assembled a history of the band in cooperation with Jim Nosakowski, Gary Rozycki, Alan Hafeli and John Einowski:

“The greatest thrill was driving down 8-Mile Road in my Corvair and hearing our record on the radio!” – Gary Rozycki

Our story is really the story of the garage band explosion of the mid-60s. After the Beatles hit, millions of kids across America were starting bands. As a city steeped in music, Detroit was a hotbed of teenage band formation. Bands were constantly forming, disbanding, and reconfiguring. Cross-pollination was happening on a grand scale.

The Rainy Days were a product of this dynamic. Gary, Alan, and John were from the Brimstones, I was from a band called the Mauvemen, and Jim was essentially a free agent (his old band, the 69ers, had broken up several months prior). The Rainy Days were Paul’s first band.Our inception was notable. I’d done a couple of fill-in gigs with Jim, and we dug each other musically. One day, he called and invited me to a jam session with a few guys from the Brimstones. I went and met everyone. They seemed like cool cats. We played a couple of tunes and they sounded good—I mean really good.

At that point, we all looked at each other and thought, “Woah. We might have something here.” I know I felt that way. I’ve asked my former bandmates about this. They all remember the same moment. And they all remember feeling the same way. At any rate, when we walked out of the basement that night, we walked out as a band.

After some back and forth, we decided to call our new band the Rainy Days. We started making a name for ourselves right out of the gate. We were a tight, energetic unit that delivered the songs of the British Invasion era with a decided Motor City drive. Playing local high school hops, we started attracting fans right away.

We attracted management quickly as well. One day our bass player, John, was hitchhiking with his guitar and was picked up by Tony Printz. He came to a few practices and decided to sign us. Tony Printz was a music veteran, having worked with the Human Beings (he wrote “Because I Love Her”) among others. He became our manager and remained so for the band’s duration.

Tony took the Rainy Days into United Sound Systems to record “I Can Only Give You Everything” — a Them cover — in May, 1966. We also recorded a song Tony wrote, “Go On And Cry” for the b-side. Although we were a good band who played a lot, none of us had ever been in a recording studio. We had no idea what recording was like.

“In the studio, I expected to simply set up and play. The whole idea of being individually isolated and playing the track without a vocal seemed so strange.” – Alan Hafeli

Despite a few hiccups, we did get both songs recorded that day. “I Can Only Give You Everything” was recorded in 2 or 3 takes. Gary had to go in a second time because his guitar was out of tune on the original recording, so he redid his part. All of our recordings were engineered by Danny Dallas.

Shortly after we recorded, Tony got a call from someone at United Sound saying that the MC5 had also recorded a version of ICOGYE at the same studio two weeks after we did. This motivated Panik to release our record as quickly as possible.

The record was released in June. While it received scant airplay, it enabled the band to make multiple appearances on Swingin’ Time, a weekday/Saturday TV dance show on CKLW. Swingin’ Time was hugely popular with local teens, so these appearances kicked us up a level, dramatically increasing the band’s following.

Swingin’ Time was great—our being on TV impressed everybody.” – Gary Rozycki

Through CKLW, we spent an entire summer playing DJ hops in Canada at places like the Surfside in Kingsville, ‘Kenwick on the Lake’ in Pointe Edward, and the Riverside Arena. We also played a Canadian teen club in Essex—the Purple Pad. That summer, it seemed like every other weekend, we were crossing the border again. As a result we developed a strong local following on both sides of the river.

“Playing in Canada, for me, was the best part of our short-lived career. We were at our peak, musically. We were also a favorite of the CKLW DJ’s and the band of choice for their dances.” – Jim Nosakowski

On the American side, we made frequent appearances at Notre Dame High School. Their legendary 1960s record hops are remembered as the premier Friday night destination for east side teens. We played lot of high school hops and a few teen clubs as well. The only name acts we actually opened for were Tommy James & the Shondells and the Beau Brummels.

“Notre Dame, De La Salle, and other high school dances were the most fun for me. I felt we nailed it whenever we played a high school, and the crowds really appreciated our performances.” – John Einowski

We recorded Bobby “Blue” Bland’s “Turn On Your Lovelight” as a follow-up, again backed by “Go On And Cry”. It charted on only one station, WTRX in Flint, in the top 30 for three weeks, reaching has high as #20 on April 21, 1967.

A third single, “Without A Soul” written by Dennis Wezalis, was recorded but never released. When Tony was still alive, he tried to track down the master tape without success. There was an acetate of the song. No one seems to know where it went.

After these disappointments, I think we lost our spirit. When John left to join a bar band, that pretty much ended it. There was no big breakup; we just fizzled out.

The great fun we had as a young group, though, will never die. I’ve been in music a long time, but I’ve never had as much fun as I had in the Rainy Days. Amazingly, we all got along extremely well for our entire run. We were brothers in arms.

“What I remember is having so much fun and getting along together so well. I was so happy to be playing, every gig was great.” – Alan Hafeli

60 years later, Jim, Al, and I remain close friends. Gary spends a lot of his time in Florida these days, but we get together whenever he’s in town. John lives in San Francisco; which makes it hard to get together, but we do talk on the phone. Sadly, Paul passed away in 2015.

Tom Brzezina, Jim Nosakowski, Gary Rozycki, Alan Hafeli and John Einowski, October 2026

Thank you to Tom, Jim, Gary, Alan and John for sending in the photos and history of the band, and to Don Rozycki for putting me in touch with his brother.

I also recommend Koen Goossens interview with Tom Brzezina and Jim Nosakowski on a site devoted to the song I Can Only Give You Everything (at icogye.0catch.com/icogyeinterview1.htm. The site is now defunct, but can be found on the Wayback Machine).

WTRX survey from ARSA, The Airheads Radio Survey Archive. Thank you to Mike Markesich for alerting me to the radio survey.

This is an updated version of the article I originally posted in 2008.