Barry Lee is the stage name of Lee Cuilli, who came from the Italian section of Cleveland, like Bocky, both of them managed by Redda Robbins.
In 1964 Barry released his first 45 on the Redda label. One side is the upbeat vocal pop “Make It” which earned some radio play at the time and got the record picked up by UA subsidiary Veep. More interesting is “Things Gotta Change” a nice bit of r&b with guitar flourishes, credited to Lee, Redda Robbins and Tony Styles. The backing vocalists really getting a workout trying to keep up the bop-ba-shu-bop-ba-bas. The buckeyebeat site suggests it’s likely that Barry is being accompanied by Bocky & the Visions on vocals with their backing band Richie & the Fortunes.
Barry Lee found a group of teens from Euclid, a town northeast of Cleveland, to become his band the Actions. Members included Dave Zaller guitar, Vince Baskovic bass and Ken Ruscittio drums. With the Actions he released his second record in 1966, almost two years after the first. “For Such a Little Wrong” might best be called a power ballad, but on the b-side “Try Me”, Barry’s vocal blends perfectly with the band’s strong backing and harmonies. Production was by Kenny Lark, arrangements by Barry Lee and Fortunes guitarist Tony Styles (Tony Bodanza). Originally released on the Wine & Roses label, it too was picked up by a UA subsid., Ascot, for a quick ride to nowhere.
Interestingly, Barry Lee puts songwriting credits to both Barry Lee and Lee Allen Cuilli. Barry wrote a number of songs that he didn’t record himself, as BMI lists him as co-author of “Can’t Get You Home on Time”, “Down Down”, “I Can Dance”, “I’m Not Worth It”, “I’m Pickin’ Petals”, “Land Beyond the Moon”, “Little Wheel” and “When the Sun Goes Down”, all written with Tony Bodanza.
Info for this article from Buckeyebeat.com. Thanks to Mark Meinhart for the transfer of Things Gotta Change.
Me and the Guys were a band from Wooster, Ohio, southwest of Akron.
“I Can’t Take It” / “Why Can’t You Be True” is a double-sided winner from 1966, both sides written by Culp and Taylor.
My copy is autographed with the following names: Joel Culp, Tommy Taylor, Bill Ross and Steve Young.
Since posting this, I see Buckeye Beat has the full story on the group, including a couple additional photos from George’s collection.
The only other garage band I know of on the Ohio label Pla Me are the Oceans. This label doesn’t seem to be connected with the Pla-Me label located in Muskogee, Oklahoma, that released the Standels’ (not the Standells) ‘Let’s Go’ 45 as well as rockabilly 45s by Curtis Long, Walter Perkins, Jimmie Belden, and Gene Mooney & Joanie Hardesty.
The Blue Dells: Lester Long (at top holding sax), Doyle Smith (center), Bill Maloney (at left with guitar), Bill Hamilton (right with bass), and Larry Reynolds (at bottom with drum sticks).
The Blue Dells were from Cincinnati but recorded this 45 at Ray Allen’s studio in Louisville, Kentucky. The publishing was through Shad O’Shea’s Counterpart Music in Cincinnati.
“Trust Me” is cool moody garage-rock with horns that don’t intrude.
The flip, “Everything for You” is a more typical ballad, and was written by D.B. Doyle and Lester Long. Writing credits on “Trust Me” are D.B. Smith – two D.B.s in one band? No, it turns out that is a misprint.
I didn’t know anything about the band until commentors below filled me in. One of these is the Blue Dells’ drummer Larry Reynolds, who sent in the photo above. I’ll repeat his comment here:
Band members [were] Larry Reynolds drummer, Bill Maloney lead guitar/singer, Doyle B. Smith organ/lead singer, Bill Hamilton bass guitar/ backup singer, Lester Long saxophone/backup singer. The band joined together in 1965 and broke up in 1969. We played at the Starfire Lounge for over two and a half years, Mustang Room, Tiki Lounge, and all over Cincinnati, Northern Kentucky and southeastern Indiana. The band appeared on several record hop type TV shows in Cincinnati and Dayton to promote our record.
Thank you to Larry for responding to my request for a photo of the band.
The Vandaliers at Friendly Corners in Norwalk, OH, May ’66 from left: Harry Kerr, Wayne Van Doren, Whitey Gwinup, Garry Coleman and Tony Kowalski
The Vandaliers were a major live act in the northern Ohio region between Toledo and Cleveland. Although the band did not release any records at the time, they did record on three separate occasions. Their guitarist Whitey Gwinup later joined the Turfits, who recorded one song, “If It’s Love You Want”, that was originally a Vandaliers demo. Drummer Wayne Van Doren and second bassist Harry Kerr eventually formed Mail Order and recorded two more excellent demo songs. The following history, photos and recordings of the Vandaliers come from Wayne Van Doren, who was with the group from start to finish:
March ’63, from left: Walt Harkness, Wayne Van Doren, Herman Cesniros, Whitey Gwinup This is the lineup that recorded the Feb. ’64 demos
In August of 1962, The Vandaliers came together as a four piece garage band. The name Vandaliers came from the name VAN that was painted on Wayne’s base drum head. The original band members were Whitey Gwinup of Fremont, lead guitar, Walt Harkness of Fremont, bass guitar, Herman Cesniros of Hessville, saxophone and Wayne Van Doren of Clyde, drums. We spent many months practicing in Whitey’s one-car garage. The band played teen dances and at one dance in Tiffin, Ghoulardi (Ernie Anderson) was also there to entertain. Ernie was a very popular late night movie host from Cleveland.
On February 2, 1964, the band made a demo record at Courier studios in Fremont. The band was one of the first to record for Bob Brown at the new studio. On the record were two songs: “She’s Mine” written by Whitey Gwinup and “Office Party”, an instrumental written by Herman Cesniros.
In May of 1964, Herman left the band to travel with a road band. Garry Coleman of Fremont took Herman’s place on saxophone. In June of 1964, Walt also left the band and was replaced by Harry Kerr of Bowling Green on electric bass. The band continued to play as a four piece for a short time but wanted to add more fill to the sound. In late July of 1964, Tony Kowalski of Sandusky, B-3 organ, was asked to become the fifth Vandalier. With the addition of Tony, the band started playing much larger clubs.
Vandaliers outside Club 20 June ’64, Bellevue, Ohio from left: Harry Kerr, Wayne Van Doren, Whitey Gwinup and Garry Coleman Just before Tony Kowalski joined on organ
We played ten weeks at Club 224 in Tiffin to large college crowds and fans from the area. We played 12 week shows at Friendly Corners in Norwalk and had fans from Toledo, Cleveland and Columbus coming to Norwalk to see the show. The band also played 6 week shows at the Peppermint Club in Toledo and 8 week shows at The Circus Club in Bowling Green. The band played that four club circuit for over 2 years, playing 3, 4 and 5 nights a week plus other 1 night shows, and because Whitey, Harry, Garry and Wayne had families; they also worked 40 hour weekly day jobs.
Vandaliers at Friendly Corners, Nov ’64 from left: Wayne Van Doren, Whitey Gwinup, Harry Kerr, Tony Kowalski, Garry Coleman This lineup recorded the June and Sept. 1965 demos
On May 20, 1965, The Vandaliers opened a show for the Beach Boys at the Sports Arena in Toledo. They also played back-up for Glen Campbell who came on after our show and sang a few of his own songs. At that time, Glen was an up-and-coming star on the TV show, Shindig and was traveling with the Beach Boys to get more public exposure. Over 6,000 teenagers were there to enjoy the show.
Vandaliers from left: Harry Kerr, Garry Coleman, Whitey Gwinup, Wayne Van Doren, Tony Kolawski Opening for the Beach Boys at Toledo Sports Arena, May 20, 1965
In June of 1965, Bob Brown took the band to Audio Recording in Cleveland to back up 2 songs for Sandy Chapin, a young girl singer he was trying to promote. That same night, The Vandaliers recorded 4 demo songs of their own for Bob, with Don White engineering. The first 2 songs “Need Your Lovin” and “You Talk Too Much” were copy songs. The last 2 songs were originals “True Love I Found” by Whitey Gwinup and “If It’s Love You Want” by Whitey Gwinup and Harry Kerr.
The 4 songs were put on two 45 demo disks. The band did not receive copies of the two 45’s and after re-recording in September, the songs were forgotten about. On February 24, 2007, (42 years later), one of the demo disks was found in Issaquah, Washington. It was given to a collector of Ohio bands by a friend who bought it from a dealer in New York City who had bought it from Bob Brown in the late 1970’s. Also, in June of 2007, the second demo disk was found in Toledo, Ohio but it is now in San Clemente, California.
On September 2, 1965, Al Tolan, a businessman from Cleveland who was trying to become a promoter took the band to Cleveland Recording to cut another demo record. This time, the band recorded three songs, an instrumental, and then re-recorded “True Love I Found” and “If’ It’s Love You Want”, with new arrangements. Record companies were not interested in Cleveland music until the Outsiders hit with “Time Won’t Let Me”. By that time, the band had started to change and Al had given up the idea of being a band and record promoter.
Vandaliers at the Mixer in Bucyrus, Ohio, Oct. 1966 from left: Harry Kerr, J.J. Reinhart, Wayne Van Doren, Garry Coleman and Tony Kowalski
On July 9, 1966, Whitey Gwinup left the band to go on the road with a band called The Other Ones (later changing their name to The Turfits – see their entry). Whitey was replaced with J.J. Reinhart from Toledo.
On September 16, 1966, the band played the grand opening of a new teen club in Bucyrus, Ohio. It was called “The Mixer” and was billed as Ohio’s Largest Young Adult Nite Spot, and had an 11,000 square foot dance floor. The band was advertised on WKYC, Cleveland and WCOL, Columbus. The band returned to The Mixer for several lengthy engagements.
In March, 1967, Tony Kowalski left the band to enlist in the Coast Guard. Tony was replaced by George “Butch” Kelly, an organ player from Toledo. In May of 1967, Garry Coleman also had to leave the band. Garry was replaced by Larry Mann, a sax player from Toledo. Larry only stayed a short time, he had been playing on the road for over five years and was burned out.
On June 30, 1967, The Vandaliers, now back to a four piece band, played the grand opening for a new teen dance center in Danbury, Ohio. It was called “Harbor Lites” and would accommodate 2,000 people. With the loss of Whitey, Tony and Garry, the band lost that great sound that made it so popular. In October of 1967, The Vandaliers, one of northern Ohio’s best known bands through the 1960’s broke up.
A month later, Wayne and Harry put together a four piece band called Male Order. However, the band thought it would be too controversial and changed the spelling to Mail Order. For the full story on Mail Order click here.
Whitey went on to play with The Other Ones and other bands in the Fremont area. As of July, 2007, Whitey owns “Whitey’s Custom and Collision” (an auto body shop) in Clyde. He also plays dobro in a church band called “In Spirit”, and is working on recording a CD of gospel music.
After the Vandaliers, Wayne played in Mail Order, Mod Country Trio, The Sleek Brothers Band and Last Shot Country Rock Band. As of July, 2007 he owns a painting business in Clyde. He also works stage crew at The Ritz Theatre in Tiffin and The State Theatre in Sandusky. He still plays a few shows each year with musician friends.
Garry Coleman went on to play with Mixed Company and Night Watch. He also played in a band from Fremont called Robbie and the Ramblers. That band went on to play The Peppermint Lounge in New York City. On September 6, 2003, Garry was inducted into The Music Hall of Fame in Fremont, Ohio. As of July, 2007, he lives in Titusville, Florida and is a development manager for Allstate Insurance.
Harry Herr played in Mail Order and then put his electric bass in storage. He was promoted to sales manager for Brush Wellman and transferred to California. As of July 2007, he lives in San Clemente, California and is retired from Brush. He owns a DJ mobile music service called Music Ala Cart, and has started playing the electric keyboard.
After his discharge from the Coast Guard, Tony Kowalski taught music at the high school in Sandusky. He also played in We Three, New Pastels and other area show bands. As of July 2007, he lives in Sandusky and has retired from teaching. He is writing and recording his own songs and hopes to be published soon. The band stays in touch with each other and whenever possible they will meet, go to dinner and talk about the music.
At the Vandaliers June ’65 session, they also backed Sandy Chapin on two songs for a 45 that was released on the Empire label. Wayne writes, “Sandy Chapin lived in Fremont at the time and asked Bob Brown to produce this cut for her. Side 2 was guitar and voice only. Breath Taking Guy got air play in Toledo, Cleveland and Columbus, and also on a few out of state stations. Shortly after doing this recording, Sandy moved and Bob lost track of her, so we do not know how far her singing career went.”
I asked Wayne a few questions to expand on his history of the band:
Q. The Vandaliers were performing live before the Beatles hit in the U.S., and by the time you formed Mail Order, popular music was totally different. How did you adapt with the times?
Wayne: For the most part we were a copy band. Each week we would pick up a Top 10 list from the record shop and make sure we could play at least the top 6 or 7 songs. I don’t remember thinking the music was changing or we were adapting, we were just keeping up with the Top 10. I enjoyed playing pop music more than Motown, although the band played both. I was more aware of the big change in clothes. I liked the bellbottoms but could not find them in our area. I would buy oversized bib overalls and have them tailored into hip hugging bellbottoms.
Q: Who were the other bands you were in competition with?
Wayne: In 1962 there were not that many bands in the Fremont area. The band explosion happened after the British invasion but even then there were enough clubs in and around Fremont to accommodate all the good bands.
I never felt we were in competition with other bands for jobs. After our first year, we didn’t even have to audition. We were always working and most of the time the club owners came looking for us. We had a reputation of being on time, not drinking on the job, no smoking on stage and taking short breaks. The club owner got his money’s worth and he knew it. Besides, we just loved to play the music. The owner didn’t know this but we probably would have done it for free. When the five of us played together we were all in the same pocket or groove, it felt good.
Q. Were you friends with any other bands?
Wayne: We were playing every weekend and sometimes during the week so we didn’t have much time to make friends with other bands. Although when we were practicing in Whitey’s garage, Robbie Missler of Robbie and the Ramblers would stop by to visit. His band had played the Peppermint Lounge in New York City. Sometimes we would switch clubs with his band.
Q: What effect did the Beatles and other British Invasion acts have on your sound?
Wayne: I don’t think the British bands influenced our sound because we were copying so many different bands on the top 10. I always did play a heavy 2-4 rim shot with matched grip and would get looks from other drummers but when I saw the Brits playing the same thing, all was right with the world.
Q: It’s interesting to compare the June, ’65 recordings and the ones you made in September. The second version of If It’s Love You Want is at least as good as the Turfits version. I’d also say the Cleveland Recording studio did a better job of recording you in September than Audio Recording did in June. There’s better balance between the instruments and vocals, and crisper sound.
Wayne: Whitey would agree, he thinks the 2nd version is much better. Audio Recording was in the basement of WKYC radio station. It closed in the early 70’s. The head engineer was Don White. Cleveland Recording was on the 4th. floor of an office building on Euclid Ave. The owner was Ken Hammond, he invented the first version of Surround Sound in that studio. He called in Quadra Phonic Sound. He left Cleveland Recording and he and his son started Suma Recording outside Cleveland.
Q: What is the strange echo effect on the early version of True Love I’ve Found?
Wayne: That was a bark note Garry did on his sax and the engineer put the echo on it. Today we do not know why we did that. We did not play it that way in public.
Q: How was working with Ghoulardi?
Wayne: I watched Ghoulardi on a regular basis. He was a character. The night we worked with Ghoulardi he was about one hour late, so we had to keep playing. The crowd was all teenagers and after awhile they were getting restless and we were about out of songs. When he arrived he came on stage dressed in a long white meat-cutter’s coat with a rag hanging out of one pocket, a goofie looking hat, sun glasses with one lens missing and one red shoe and one yellow shoe. He had Max the Wonder Dog with him. Poor Max was terrified of the screeming kids and sat in the middle of the stage and wet himself each time Ghoulardi would point to him and scream “look kids, Max is going to do a trick”. He also had a squirt gun and knew how to use it. His favorite target was the back of my head. After the show we shook hands and I said “good show Ernie” he looked at me as if he should know me but quickly dismissed that and moved on. As fast as he arrived, he was gone. It was a fun night !!
Q. How did audiences change over the years?
Wayne: When we played the Beach Boys concert the crowd remained seated and did not rush the stage for the entire show. The kids were very reserved and polite, that all changed in a very short time.
Q: How did the band react when Whitey left?
Wayne: When Whitey announced he was leaving, our first reaction was,”yea right”, but after awhile we knew he meant it. We were all very disappointed but he wanted to go on the road, so we parted as friends. I feel that was the beginning of the end.
Q: As a drummer, how did you come to start writing songs?
Wayne: I didn’t start writing till close to the end of the Vandaliers. As a drummer it was difficult to write. I didn’t play any guitar or piano so I kept a small tape recorder with me and if I had an idea I would either sing, hum, or whistle it into the recorder. “The Things Before Me” [one of Wayne’s songs with the Mail Order] came to me one evening while riding to a club job. I was staring out the window watching the sun go down and the words and music came to me in about 15 minutes. I didn’t have my recorder with me and was surprised that after the show I still had that song in my head. Nothing was changed and no words were added. The more I went over it, the more a voice filter made sense and the wine glass and wind chimes made the fade out. The Beatles had one song with a wine glass ending. I can’t remember what it was or if it came out after I sent the tape to Apple.
The guitar player that helped me most was Jerry Pynckel. We wrote several songs together but after the Mail Order broke up he moved away and I stopped playing for several years. Jerry and I have reconnected by email. He is still doing some studio work and has talked me into getting a handheld recorder again. We’ll see what happens.
For more photos and memorabilia of the Vandaliers see their entry on Buckeye Beat.
Update: I am sorry to report that Garry Coleman, sax player for the Vandaliers, died on July 1, 2021. All my condolences to his family and friends.
The Endless at John Hull’s Musicol studio, 1966, from left: Jack McAtee, Mike Lyons, Mike O’Brien, Pat McAtee and Chuck Moorman.
The Endless came from Springfield, Ohio, making their only record in December, 1966 at John Hull’s Musicol Recording Studio.
“Prevailing Darkness” really shows attitude in the vocal delivery. Pat McAtee’s strong vocals also balance the delicate composition and performance on the nominal a-side, “Tomorrow’s Song”. Both songs were written by Pat and Jack McAtee.
The group started as the Mods in Springfield, Ohio, with brothers Jack McAtee on lead guitar and Pat McAtee on bass, Mike Lyons on rhythm, Jan Weinbreight on vocals and Bill Dale on drums. Jan left to form the Children of Stone and Mike O’Brien replaced Bill Dale. Chuck Moorman came in on keyboards.
Jack McAtee wrote a detailed history of the band. I will include a section of it below, but the full history, with more information on how the group formed and stories from their touring days is available as a PDF file here.
One day the band signed up for a battle of the bands contest sponsored by WIZE radio in Springfield. The winning prize was a couple of hours of recording time in a studio called Mega Sound in Dayton, Ohio. Paul Carmen was the disc jockey from WIZE who conducted the battle of the bands. Jack and Pat had written some original songs, “World of Sin” and “Endless Wandering” … we thought it would be great to record them. A week or so later we headed to Dayton with Paul Carmen. We recorded a couple of original songs and a couple of covers on a tape.
Around this time, … we met Chuck Moorman, an electric piano player with another group at the time. We were reluctant to add another person to the band, but it was one of the best decisions we made. He was very talented and was just as passionate at playing as the rest of the band. He soon added a Farfisa compact organ/keyboard which not only made us more versatile but added a lot to our original songs, and he was also a great singer.
The band was now complete. The Endless 1966: Jack (Bat Jack) and Pat (Sugar Bear) McAtee, Mike (Screen) Lyons, Mike (Miguel or Wolfman) O’Brien, and Chuck (Pick It) Moorman.
Everyone in the band sang led on at least one song and we had great harmonies.
Jack, Chuck and Mike went to Columbus to see if we could find someone else that might be interested in hearing our tape. We did find one company that was interested called Cardinal Records. We made an appointment with Frank Keefer, the owner, and took our tape to him, but guess what, the tape was not readable. In those days you couldn’t just pop the tape into any player, it was a large reel and took a special recording device to read it. After spending a couple of hours with Frank, trying to convince him our music was good, he asked if we were willing to pay for the first hour of a recording session. Then, if he liked our music we could continue recording and he would cover the additional cost. So, we set up a time to come back.
The Hull Records acetate with earlier versions of the songs on the Cardinal 45. Hull Records became Musicol Recording Studio.A week or so later [October, 1966] we met Frank at his house and headed to Hull Records in Columbus. We met John Hull there and he set us up for our recording. After the first hour Frank liked us a lot and told us to continue with the session a few more hours. Frank and John decided to make an acetate, a small album with 5 originals that we could distribute to radio stations to see if they liked our music. The original songs were called: “World of Sin”, “Endless Wondering”, “Tomorrow’s Song”, “A Cry for Yesterday” and “Prevailing Darkness”.
At that time Frank became our manager/producer with Cardinal Records and started booking places for us to play. At the same time another disc jockey at WIZE in Springfield, Ron Brown, took our album, played the songs on Friday and Saturday nights and asked the listeners to call in and vote for the ones they like the most. The listeners decided on “Tomorrow’s Song” and the band picked “Prevailing Darkness” for the flip side.
We went back to the studio and re-recorded the two songs again [in December, 1966]. We had to shorten them because the radio stations in those days would only play songs that were two and a half minutes long. Then we released the two songs on a 45 single. Frank had 1000 records made up and distributed them to various radio stations and record stores…
Once we played at a huge Battle of the Bands at a National Guard Armory. It was put on by WIZE radio station in Springfield. There were at least a thousand kids there. It came down to us and a group call “The Children of Stone”, Jan Weinbreights’ band. Guess what, at the end of the show they called it a tie. It was a lot of work for nothing. We should have put the party on ourselves, with The Children of Stone, and split the profits…
What happened to The Endless? A couple of the guys went off to college, and Uncle Sam came to visit some of us. During this time, Chuck Moorman was replaced by Jeff Dunmire on keyboards, and a singer named Bobby Saint, along with a sax player named Art Moppit, were brought in.
Jack, Mike Lyons and Mike O’Brien were drafted in late 1968. Jack went to the Air Force, Mike Lyons into the Army and Mike O’Brien into the Marine Corps. After Jack left for the military, Pat continued with another band, Chuck and Mike Lyons formed a band called “The Blue Light” which were a very good.
Later in life, Pat, Chuck, Jeff and Mike Lyons played in several bands, “The Legacy Band” and “The Pleasant Street Blues Band”. Jack started another band in the late ’80s, while living in Phoenix, called “The Steppin’ Back Band” and played a lot of clubs and parties for about 10 years.
The band decided to get together again in 1996 and 1998 for 30th and 32nd class reunion parties. We rented a hall, and thanks to all of our old fans, it was standing room only.
Jack McAtee
The five earlier Musicol recordings were supposed to be released on a compilation of Mus-i-col recordings over two years ago, but for some reason it never appeared. Hopefully whatever issues are holding it up will be resolved so we can hear the extended work of this band. The three unreleased titles are “Cry For Yesterday”, “Endless Wandering” and “World of Sin” – heavy stuff!
Thank you to Jack McAtee for the photos in this article.
The Endless on the Disco 2 TV show, Dayton, Ohio, 1966: Jack McAtee on guitar behind Chuck Moorman, keyboards, on the left, Mike O’Brien on the drums, Pat McAtee on the bass and Mike Lyons on the guitar on the right.
l-r: George “Butch” Kelly, Gerald Pynckel, Harry Kerr, Wayne Van Doren. Taken at Harbor Lites Teen Dance Center, Dunbury, August 1968
Recently I heard from Wayne Van Doren who had been in the Vandaliers and a later group, the Mail Order. Wayne generously shared his account of the Mail Order and two songs they recorded which were never released. Following is Wayne’s account in his own words:
The Mail Order was formed in November of 1967 by myself and Harry Kerr after the breakup of the Vandaliers. The band included Harry Kerr of Bowling Green on electric bass, Wayne Van Doren of Clyde on drums, George “Butch” Kelly of Toledo on organ and Jerry Pynckel (formerly of Johnny and The Hurricanes from 1959-62 and Donnie Bryan and The Raging Storms from 1962-66) on lead guitar.
The band played many night clubs and teen dance centers throughout northern Ohio: the 224 Club in Tiffin, Circus Club and Piccadilly Club in Bowling Green, the Metropol in Napoleon, the Faba in Toledo and the teen dance center the Harbor Lites in Danbury.
On October 3, 1968 the band recorded two songs at United Sound Sytems in Detroit, Michigan. The songs were ‘The Things Before Me’ written by Wayne Van Doren and ‘If I Didn’t Love You’ written by Wayne Van Doren and Jerry Pynckel. Jerry and I had written three more songs, ‘We Said Goodbye’, ‘Patterns’ and ‘Taking A Trip’ that did not get recorded that day.
The day this recording was made two of the original band members could not make it for reasons I can not remember. Jerry, at the last minute, had to call musician friends of his to go to the studio with us. They had not heard the songs before. Jerry and I had to teach them the songs on the drive to Detroit.
The recording of both songs lasted two hours. The total cost for 2 hours studio time, 1 hour of editing time and one 1/2 inch tape was $175.60. I paid for this myself and it looked like a lot of money for the time. The vocal on ‘Things Before Me’ needed more work, but I was afraid to spend the money.
In November of 1968 Jerry and I took the demo record to Marshall Chess at Chess, Checker and Cadet Records in Chicago, Illinois. Marshall liked ‘The Things Before Me’ and made an appointment for us to spend a day in the studio. When we were to go to Chess for a re-cut, again, two members had club contract commitments and could not make the trip. That did not look good to Marshall and he turned us down, and instead signed a group called The Rotary Connectiion.
In January of 1969, I sent the studio tape of The Things Before Me and If I Didn’t Love You to Apple Corps Ltd. at 3 Savile Row London, England. In March of 1969, the tape was returned to me with a very nice letter saying “We regret that we are not at this time able to proceed with what you have in mind. Very best wishes and kindest regards. Yours sincerely, John Hewlett.” [Apple filed away thousands of submissions without even reviewing them or responding. You have a rare item there Wayne! – ed.]
With Harry and I working 40 hour a week day jobs and playing 7 nights a week, it proved to be too much. In April of 1969, the Mail Order broke up.
The Clichés of Canton, Ohio were led by two brothers, Jim and Pinky Jenkins.
Earlier records by them on the Maarc and Pama labels are in a ’50s style. The Pama record, “Got Something For You Baby”, is credited to Pinky and Jim Jenkins with Orchestration by the Cliches, and suffers from a poor vocal, in my opinion. I haven’t heard the Maarc 45, “Little Egypt” / “What’s Your Name”, released under the Cliches name.
“Why, Why, Why” rocks nicely, even with Beatles-ish ‘woo’ s on the backing vocals. The designated a-side, “Save It For Me” is a romantic ballad, not a bad performance, but it won’t appeal to most garage fans.
The Jenkins brothers also ran the Cleveland club, LaCave, known these days as the location of some of the best live recordings of the Velvet Underground.
“Why, Why, Why” was written by Rader – Del, “Save It For Me” by Gintert and Onoratto. Prodcution by Joy Mills, and released on the Wes Mar label.
The Outsiders from Cleveland, Ohio were famous for the nationwide hit, “Time Won’t Let Me”.
Here I’m featuring their fifth single, the classic “I’m Not Trying to Hurt You” (which my band the Trip 9’s used to cover) with the uptempo flip “I’ll Give You Time (to Think It Over)”. Both songs were written by guitarist and leader Tom King with Chet Kelley and Bob Turek.
Tom King’s brother, Don produced another Ohio band on Capitol, the Turfits.
Robert “Whitey” Gwinup was guitarist in a group from Fremont, Ohio called the Vandaliers whose members included Wayne Van Doren on drums and Harry Kerr. The Vandaliers had been playing together since 1962, and recorded a demo, If “It’s Love You Want” on September 2, 1965 at Cleveland Recording.
Meanwhile in Findlay, Ohio was the American Way, with members Roger Hilty drums, Gary Reddick organ, Kenny Turner bass and Bob Peeler lead guitar. Whitey Gwinup left the Vandaliers on July 9, 1966 and took Bob Peeler’s place on lead guitar. This new lineup changed their name to the Other Ones, and later changed it again to the Turfits.
They based themselves in Xenia, at a nightclub the band half-owned called The Castaways. They also played often at a club called the Capitol in nearby Dayton.
Gwinup brought “If It’s Love You Want” with him when he joined the Turfits, who recorded their own version at Cleveland Recording in 1967. Although the original version was written by Gwinup and Harry Kerr of the Vandaliers, writing credits on the label list all the members of the Turfits.
Gwinup also wrote “Losin’ One”, but as with “If It’s Love You Want”, all the Turfits’ names were listed on the songwriting credits (with Gwinup’s name misspelled as Gwinep).
Capitol Records had done very well with the Cleveland band the Outsiders and Youngstown’s the Human Beinz, so Capitol were willing to take a chance on other local Ohio acts. The Turfits didn’t reach the charts like those other groups, but “Losin’ One” has a classic garage sound – mumbled self-pitying lyrics and a high-pitched organ behind a restrained garage solo.
Production was by Don King – not, as I originally thought, the future boxing promoter (though that Don King was producing soul and gospel records in Cleveland at the same time as an investor in Way Out Records), but the brother of Tom King, singer for the Ohio group the Outsiders, who hit big with “Time Won’t Let Me” and cut the garage classic “I’m Not Trying to Hurt You”.
Thanks to BuckeyeBeat for some of the background information about the Turfits. Be sure to check out BuckeyeBeat’s site dedicated to Ohio garage. Additions and corrections were made from contact with Jaremy Hilty, son of Turfits drummer Roger Hilty, and by Wayne Van Doren and Whitey Gwinup.
Odin came from Sidney, Ohio, a one-man band and true outsider artist. His real name was Ed Willman and was known as Mike Willman. I’m not sure the extent of his recording, but he had two singles pressed by Columbia Records’s Chicago-office plant in Terre Haute, Indiana in the mid 1960s.
First came “Oh Why” / “True”, Odin singing two plaintive ballads accompanying himself on electric guitar, with a pause for each chord change. This single has a Columbia pressing code of ZTSC-107533/4. I’m not sure of the date, but maybe someone out there has a chart for dating Columbia pressings.
Odin has a more accomplished sound by the time of his next single, “Lost” and “I’m Out of Here”. His singing has improved and the instrumental backing of autoharp or guitar and snare drum is steady. The echo gives it an otherworldly sound. “Lost” was copyrighted with the Library of Congress in October 1966. This recording seems to be at least a couple years after “Oh Why” / “True”, with a Columbia code of ZTSC-12135/6.
Apparently this is the same Edward Michael Willman who was born on April 2, 1947 and died on December 24, 2007 in Daytona Beach. After serving in Vietnam, he studied mathematics at Wright State University and became a pilot. However, I would like to hear confirmation that this is indeed the same person.
Thank you to Mike Stuart for his comment below. Some information came from Edward Willman’s obituary.
This site is a work in progress on 1960s garage rock bands. All entries can be updated, corrected and expanded. If you have information on a band featured here, please let me know and I will update the site and credit you accordingly.
I am dedicated to making this site a center for research about '60s music scenes. Please consider donating archival materials such as photos, records, news clippings, scrapbooks or other material from the '60s. Please contact me at rchrisbishop@gmail.com if you can loan or donate original materials
Barry Lee is the stage name of Lee Cuilli, who came from the Italian section of Cleveland, like Bocky, both of them managed by Redda Robbins.
