Category Archives: US

Categories: California, Los Angeles, Mira, Stockton

The Family Tree

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Featuring members of the Brogues and the Ratz, the Family Tree made this one 45 for the Mira label before releasing several singles and an lp on RCA and a final 45 on Paula. The RCA records have a polished English pop quality to the production, while this earlier Mira record has more of an Northern California garage sound.

You could say “Prince of Dreams” is heavily influenced by Dylan, while “Live Your Own Life” is reminiscent of the Beau Brummels, but this doesn’t take away from the quality of both songs.

Bob Segarini from Stockton, California was in a group called Us who made demos for the Autumn label that were never released. He then went into the Ratz, which included Gary Grubb better known as Gary Duncan of Quicksilver Messenger Service.

Duncan left the Ratz for the Brogues, who also included bassist Bill Whittington. The Brogues released two great 45s I’ll cover here someday. With members Rick Campbell and Eddie Rodrigues entering the draft, the Brogues broke up. Bill Whittington and Segarin formed the Family Tree, with Mike Olsen on keyboards and Newman Davis on drums. Mike Dure joined on guitar by the time of this recording, as he is co-writer of “Live Your Own Life” with Segarini.

Bob Segarini:

The Family Tree’s first record was for Mira, the people that did “Hey Joe” by the Leaves. Mira put out a single, “Prince of Dreams”, in ’66, and we had a lot of gigs and stuff.

We went into Gold Star [Studios] with [engineer] Doc Siegel and recorded for a week towards an album for Mira. We cut eight tracks; they were sort of produced by Sonny Bono, who was working in Studio B with Phil Spector on something.

Brian Wilson was doing the Smile album when we were in there. In fact, members of the Family Tree played things [on the Smile sessions] like the saw, hammer, and nail, and I believe I played the electric drill. We were there when they had the fire in the bucket, and they all had the little firemen’s hats on.

The Mira LP never materialized, but the demos from that session led to the contract with RCA. The band went through several personnel changes, and I’m not sure if Mike Olsen (who later changed his name to Lee Michaels) played on the Mira sessions. Bob Segarini went into Roxy and then the Wackers, and continues to make music to this day.

Source: Bob Segarini quoted by Ritchie Unterberger in his notes on Roxy.

Special thanks to JG for sharing the 45 scans and music.

Categories: Bowling Green, Ohio, United Sound Systems

Mail Order

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The Mail Order at Harbor Lites Teen Dance Center
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.

Mail Order – The Things Before Me
Mail Order – If I Didn’t Love You

See the Buckeye Beat site to read more on the Vandaliers and other Ohio bands.

Mail Order's rejection letter from Apple Corps
Mail Order’s rejection letter from Apple Corps
Categories: MTA Records, New York, Unknown, Westchester, Yonkers

The Descendants

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High schoolers from Yonkers, NY, they had this one 45 then disappeared. They may have been local competitors of the Chain Reaction who had a 45 on Date, “When I Needed You”.

The catchy “Lela” was produced by Ted Varnick, a veteran in the music biz who also produced the Forsaken, on MTA, a group I covered just a short while back.

Varnick co-wrote “Lela” with J. Lynch, and also wrote the b-side, a flimsy piece of harmony pop called “Garden of Eden” that’s not without a certain paisley charm – prescient too considering this was released in October of 1966. CBS picked it up for release in the UK, but I don’t know of this making the charts anywhere.

Categories: Minnesota, New Ulm

George’s Ballroom, New Ulm Minnesota

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Kal sent in the great band lineup card from George’s Ballroom in New Ulm, Minnesota, probably from 1966, though ’67 is a possibility as well. Acts include the great T.C. Atlantic, Night Crawlers, He-Toos (never heard of this group before), the Poore Boys, the Jokers Wild, The More-Tishans, Prince & the Paupers, the Epicureans, and Marcia & the Lynchmen.

The photo of the ballroom below is a recent one; after years of disuse, it will be back to hosting polka dances and other entertainment this summer.


Photo of the ballroom courtesy of Rubey Kay

Categories: Brooklyn, Coral, New York, New York City

The Yo Yo’s

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The Yo Yo’s were all from Brooklyn, NY, becoming one of the biggest groups in the city by 1967. They cut one great 45 on the Coral label, an original song “Crack in My Wall” and a fine adaption of Poe’s “The Raven” on the b-side. I love the thunderous opening chords and drum roll on “The Raven”, ominous and fantastic!

They began when bassist Alan Aaron formed a group called the Starfires. The original singer, Frankie Vee (Nick) brought in Larry Elliott on lead guitar and Tommy Zumba on rhythm in 1965. Tommy Zumba’s friend Jeff Miller became the drummer, and then Pepe Cardona took over from Frankie on vocals.

The band changed their name to the Yo Yo’s when Lou Sudano and Barry Flickstein became their managers, forming Louba Productions. They met the band through Lou’s son Bruce, who was a friend of Jeff Miller. Lou and Barry encouraged the band to replace Pepe with a better singer named Ray Sabatis, who took on the stage name “Christopher Shane”. Pepe remained friends with the band and went on to form Alive N’ Kickin’.

The band won a number of local battle-of-the-bands, played at clubs like Steve Paul’s the Scene, Joel Heller’s Eighth Wonder and the Cheetah, appeared on the John Zacherley TV show Disc-O-Teen, and even toured with the Lester Lanin Orchestra as the ‘rock’ portion of the act.

Larry Elliott and Alan composed the music for both “The Raven” and “Crack In My Wall” and Ray Sabatis (Shane) wrote the words to “Crack In My Wall”. Barry Flickstein’s name appears on the credits to “Crack in My Wall”, but Alan maintains Barry had nothing to do with the songwriting.

“Crack In My Wall” and “The Raven” both received “B+” ratings in Billboard, but Coral didn’t put any promotional effort behind the band.

The band broke up in 1969 due to a combination of having their equipment stolen and a general feeling that they wouldn’t find success. Sadly, Ray Sabatis (Christopher Shane) committed suicide shortly after the group broke up. Photos of the band were taken, but none have surfaced that I know of. Does anyone have a photo of the group?

These Yo Yo’s have nothing to do with the Memphis Yo Yo’s who recorded two 45s for Goldwax.

The main source for this story is a detailed interview of Alan Aaron by Mike Dugo.

Categories: Michigan, Skoop, Unknown

The Jaguars

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Formed in ’64, the Jaguars were from Michigan (perhaps the small town of Bloomingdale in the southwest corner of the state) but traveled all the way down to the tiny resort town of Santa Claus, Indiana to record their one 45.

Otherwise I don’t know anything about the group, or who was in it.

The band pounds away on “It’s Gonna Be Alright”, written by Hosner and Leathers. The flip, “I Never Dream of You”, shows none of the same energy.

The Skoop label had several good garage bands on it, including the Nomads’ “Coolsville” (Skoop 1065) and the Weejuns’ “Way Down” (Skoop 1068). The related Showboat label also promoted garage records like the Wild Ones’ “I’m Not For You” and the Misfits’ “I’ll Feel Better”.

Categories: Custom, International Artists, Texas, Tyler

Billy McKnight & The Plus 4

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Out of Tyler, Texas come Billy McKnight & The Plus 4 on the Custom label. “You’re Doin’ Me Wrong” is a fine Yardbirds-influenced punker, the drumming is especially fluid. An odd feature is the way the song fades out twice, each time coming back with a shrill keyboard note.

“Time Wasted” is almost country in its sound. I don’t know who else was in the band; Larry Graham did the arranging.

Both songs were written by McKnight and Curtis Kirk, who ran Custom and also owned Tyler Publishing. It seems he was the type of publisher who had his name added onto every song released on his label. Kirk had been a country singer in the ’50s (info on his first session here), most notably cutting “I Can’t Take It With Me”.

“Unlike Robin [Hood Brians], who began in the living room and moved to the back yard, Curtis started in his garage and stayed there!” – from a feature on Tyler studios in Billboard’s Sept. 8, 1973 issue.

This was the first garage 45 released on Kirk’s own Custom Records, which usually released country or gospel 45s. After the Billy McKnight 45, Custom released a killer by the Reddlemen , “I’m Gonna Get in that Girl’s Mind” and a very good one by the Brym-Stonz Ltd.

Billy released a 45 on International Artists the following year as Billy Wade McKnight, “Trouble’s Comin’ On” / “I Need Your Lovin'”, both McKnight originals. These are lighter pop sides, verging on country music, and were produced by Curtis Kirk and Steve Wright, and arranged by Larry Graham.

In 1970 he cut another single as Billy Wade McKnight on Congress, “Stacey” / “Mary Anne”, produced by Tommy Cogbill, but I haven’t heard this yet.

Categories: Dynamic Sound, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

The Ethics and the Invasion

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The Ethics took part in the Milwaukee Sentinel Rock’n’Roll Revue on December 30, 1965, their version of “Down the Road Apiece” preserved on a lo-fi LP of the event that I haven’t heard.

In 1966 they released “(A Whole Lot Of) Confusion”, featuring a tough rhythm with guitar and vocals to match. The flip, “Out Of My Mind” is a folky-pop number written by the band.

This was their only 45 as the Ethics before changing their name to the Invasion in 1967. “The Invasion Is Coming” was a catchy start. This song was also done as “The Invaders Are Coming” by the Young Savages on the same label (Dynamic Sound 2006), but I prefer the vocals on the Invasion’s version.

The lineup at this point included Don Gruender guitar, Mark Miller bass, Gene Peranich keyboards and Mike Jablonski drums. Later on members would include Bob McKenna and Tony Menotti on guitar, P.T. Pedersen and Gary Frey on bass, Rick Cier keyboards and Bruce Cole on drums.

Wailing farfisa, fuzz guitar: their last 45 “Do You Like What You See?” gets all the elements right. It’s also the rarest of these three by far! Gene Peranich and Mike Jablonski wrote this song, unlike much of their other material.

Lennie LaCour (aka Lenny LaCour) was their producer, publisher and principal songwriter. LaCour was born in Louisiana and had a half dozen rockabilly releases on Academy and his own Lucky Four label before going into production. Besides Dynamic Sound, he was also running Magic Touch, known more for soul music.

The Ethics – (A Whole Lot Of) Confusion / Out Of My Mind (Dynamic Sound 2001)
The Invasion – The Invasion Is Coming / I Want To Thank You (Dynamic Sound 2004)
The Invasion – Do You Like What You See? /The Wind Keeps On Blowing (Dynamic Sound 2009)

Categories: Houston, Pasadena, Shane, Texas, Unknown

The Actioneers “It’s You” on Shane

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The Actioneers recorded these two songs in just two hours on November 15, 1965 at Huey Meaux’s Recording Service Studios in Pasadena, Texas. You can tell they went straight from the garage or rec room into the studio, this 45 is about as unpolished as garage gets.

“It’s You” is a great fast rocker, with a repetitive guitar line. I think it’s amazing that there’s no bridge or break, or change of chords for the chorus! The band gets the riff down and stays with it to the finish. The drum kit might be nothing more than a tom tom and a snare!

“No One Wants Me” is also simple, but has a tom tom and tambourine break. I’ll bet they didn’t do many takes of this one!

Both sides were written by Ray Gilburn. The band was probably from Houston, but they were pretty much unknown until boxes of unplayed copies of their 45 were found in Huey Meaux’s studio.

I did find a couple mentions of them in the Baytown Sun from 1965, but no lists of band members.

The only other 45 I know about on the Shane label was by the Eccentrics – “Baby I Need You” / “She’s Ugly” on Shane 60, both songs written by L.J. Swift.

Categories: April, Daytona Beach, Florida

The 2/3rds

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From Daytona Beach, the 2/3rds recorded this one 45 at Quimby’s studio in nearby Ormond Beach, and released it on the April label in early 1967. At the time of this recording, the band included Gene McCormick on vocals and tenor sax and organ, Phil (PJ) Jones on drums, Ralph Citrullo bass and Allen Dresser lead guitar.

“2/3 Baby” is a moody complaint with a fine chorus, written by McCormick. It was backed with a bluesy ballad, “All Cried Out” written by Pete Carr. Members of the band eventually became the Third Condition, releasing two 45s on the Sundi label in 1970, one of which got some airplay, “Monday in May” about the Kent State tragedy. (The song was bounced off the airwaves by CSN&Y’s “Ohio”).

After Gene left the band to join Jam Factory in New York, the band moved to Tallahassee to attend FSU. Later members included several who had been in another Daytona group, the Hungri I’s: Neil Haney vocals, as well as Max Eason on drums from Tallahassee. The band was named Rock Garden for a brief time (Neil Haney, Allen Dresser, Ralph Citrullo, Max Easom and Chris Drake) then became Duck (Chris Drake, Allen Dresser, Rick Levy and Max Easom – later Benny Jones replaced Rick Levy and Don Langston replaced Max Easom).

(Text corrected according to Allen Dresser’s comment below).