The Bucaneers, from left: George Falcone, Ron Krause, Ken Loftis and Don Bevers
Updated January 2011
The Bucaneer’s (or Bucaneers) had this one release, a great two-sider from 1966 on the Amigo label out of Philadelphia, PA. Both sides are well-written and performed.
“You’re Never Gonna Love Me Anymore” pleads forgiveness for cheating a third time. A repetitive lead guitar line plays over the distorted rhythm guitar, with tambourine helping to move the tune along.
The shoe’s on the other foot for “I’m a Fool”. This time the guy is sticking around while his girl deceives him.
Both sides are by Ron Krause, though I couldn’t find any listing in ASCAP for these songs.
Richie Moore produced this and the publishing is attributed to Amigo and R-Mor. Reach Records is listed as distributor. Interesting spelling of their name on the label, as it should be Buccaneers instead of Bucaneers and doesn’t need the apostrophe.
The Bucaneers, from left: George Falcone, Ron Krause, Don Bevers and Ken Loftis
The Starlites, from left: Don Bevers, Ken Loftis and George FalconeI knew next to nothing about the band until guitarist Don Bevers contacted me and informed me they were from Barrington, New Jersey, just southeast of Philadelphia:
My name is Don Bevers, originator and lead guitarist of the band. Members on the recording were:
Ron Krause – rhythm/lead guitar, lead vocal George Falcone – Farfisa keyboard/ keyboard bass and backup vocals Ken Loftis – drums, tambourine, back up vocals Don Bevers – lead/rhythm guitar, back up vocals
1963 Don and George met in grade school school and practiced standard songs playing accordion and guitar. Later added Ken Loftis on drums and named the combo The Starlites.
1964 The Starlites played weddings, parties, school dances, and private clubs in the Philadelphia, and Jersey Shore area.
1965 The band progressed from dance music to R&R cover songs while developing strong vocal harmonies.
1966 Met with Ron Krause who was a talented poet and songwriter. We began to arrange two of his songs and was then introduced to a producer, Richie Moore, of The Richie Moore Trio in Philadelphia. The band name was changed to The Buccaneers. The spelling had to be altered for copyright reasons.
We scheduled a recording session, we actually recorded four or five originals, but left all but the two released in the can for use on a future album (never finished). The Bucaneers were unsigned. The record was independently produced in cooperation with Reach Productions. I doubt if the master tracks we did are still around. The studio was also independent.
The Bucaneers liveThe band was picked up by all the local radio and appeared on many televised teen dance shows in Philadelphia. We became a regular with Hy Lit, Joe Niagra, Jerry Blavatt, Super Lou and many others. After a long tour throughout Pennsylvania, Hy Lit arranged for us to appear with the ” Dave Clark 5 ” as the opening band playing at the Camden County Music Fair.
The Sidekicks toured with us in ’66 all through PA. What a great 60’s band. “Suspicions” was going up the charts along with The Bucaneers “I’m a Fool”. We admired The Sidekicks from the first time we heard them. They were one of the few bands of the era that had really great vocals. We would sit as close as possible when they played and to our surprise, they all were right up front when we took the stage. They especially liked our Stones,Yardbirds and Doors covers, and our single, “I’m A Fool”. We actually played all together for a rockin jam toward the end of the tour.
I recall late one night, after the show, somewhere out in the woods in Pennsylvania, The Bucaneers, with equipment trailer, were the lead vehicle in the entourage of several bands moving on to the next city. Everybody wanted to stop at the first place we could find to get something to eat. Somehow we were distanced way ahead of the rest. Our tour manager stopped at a late night diner. He parked the vehicle near the road so the rest would see that we had stopped there.
These were very different times when guys with long hair were not accepted everywhere, and this was one of those times. As the four of us walked into the establishment with our manager, and took up stools at the counter, we noticed about 6 or 7 tough looking dudes playing pinball in an another part of the diner. They were starting to trash talk while walking toward us. Just when we were thinking that there was going to be a fight, the door opened and The Sidekicks and three or four other long haired groups filled up the place. The look on the faces of those troublemakers was priceless as they slowly left the diner got in their cars and sped away like scared little girls. We all had a good laugh.
1967 Ron left the group to return to college. The band continued to expand their touring range to include Virginia. Just after performing a sold out concert in Petersburg, VA, Ken and Don were involved in a head on car crash, both hospitalized with serious injuries. George joined another working band. After some time the band briefly reformed with Ken Williams on keyboard, and Lou Ottavi on bass to fulfill contractual agreements in Virginia.
1992 reunion: Don Bevers, Ken Loftis and George Falcone1992 The original Bucaneers played a reunion show in Washington Township, NJ.
Where are they now?
Don Bevers: Writing and producing a smooth jazz cd with “The Peter Bennett Band” for release in 2011. Plays bass on occasion with Kickin Again. Lives in Tampa Bay, Florida.
Ken Loftis: Performs with Something Beatles, a NJ based Beatles tribute band.
George Falcone: Writing New Age material for a soon to be released CD from his home studio in NJ.
Thank you for generating interest in the 60’s era bands. It was a great time for everyone.
I would like to say my prayers and deepest sympathy go out to the Krause family as we lost a truly great Bucaneer to cancer. Ron was easy going, and such a pleasure to work with. He always had a smile, and a wonderful, witty, and creative personality.
Don Bevers, January 2011
On tour, from left: Ken LaComb (road manager), Don Bevers, Ron Krause and George Falcone.On tour, from left: Ron Krause, Don Bevers, George Falcone and Ken LoftisPromotional photo, standing: Ron Krause and George Falcone; sitting: Ken Loftis and Don Bevers
Robb London profile in the San Antonio Express and News, July 9, 1966
Bobby Jenkins and the Jades
This band started out as Bobby Jenkins and the Jades with a 45 from January 1964, “Jeanne Be Good” / “The Gods Were Angry With Me” on Astro followed by one on Beckingham 1080, “You Mean Everything To Me” / “Hey Man”. Other members included Danny Jenkins on bass and Jerry Tagel on guitar. I didn’t know the full lineup until someone with the email moniker “NT” wrote in with some more information:
The members of the Bobby Jenkins and the Jades band:
Bobby Jenkins – vocals, guitar, keys Danny Jenkins – drums Bubba Woods – bass Gerry Tagle – guitar Jesse James Adams – tenor sax Ben Fur – tenor sax
During the transition to Rob London and the Rogues, Danny Jenkins moved to the bass guitar seat.. don’t recall who took the drums position.
Note: Bobby was/is an accomplished guitarist but rarely played in live performance after bringing-in another lead guitarist. He then mostly played keyboard (Hammond).
By 1965 they had changed their name to Robb London and the Rogues, releasing three 45s in the next couple years:
Standing Under Big Ben / Bitter Tears (Beckingham 1083) Who’ll Be the One / It Should’ve Been Me (Beckingham 1085) Crazy Baby / Mary Jane (Beckingham 1086)
Beckingham 1084 features soul vocalist Billy Sol with songs written by Robb London, “Have You Ever Told Her”, backed with “The Bells”.
“Standing Under Big Ben” is a droning ballad, full of echo, credited to London and Beckingham (the only time I see his name show up as a writer). More interesting to me is the folk-rock flip, “Bitter Tears”, a Robb London original with good vocals, nice edgy guitar work and just a tambourine for percussion.
The second on Beckingham is better still, with two upbeat numbers written by London. “Who’ll Be the One” on the top side alternates between the galloping intro and smoother verses and bridge. The bluesy “It Should Have Been Me” has farfisa reminiscent of “She’s About a Mover”. “Who’ll Be the One” hit the lower rungs of San Antonio AM station KTSA’s charts in December of 1965. I was surprised to see the song was covered by the Crossfires on Tower 278 in 1966.
The third 45 has another two London originals, “Crazy Baby” / “Mary Jane”. “Crazy Baby” gets repetitious, but has a cool, brief second section that first kicks in around 50 seconds into the song. The flip “Mary Jane” is one of London’s best cuts, a tough rocker from start to finish about a girl “who’ll put you down”: “if you see her comin’, you better step aside, a lot of men didn’t, a lot of men died!”.
They recorded these at Abe Epstein’s tiny two-track studio on Gen. McMullen Drive. Epstein, who recorded as Al Epp, owned the Jox, Cobra and Dynamic labels, among others, and is a legend of San Antonio music. Among the hundreds of soul, latin and doo wop records he recorded are some fine garage releases, including the 12 A.M.’s “The Way I Feel” on his Groovy label, and the Argyles / the Minds Eye, the Sixth Edition and the Kings on Jox.
Robb London’s manager was Mel Adcock of Swingtime Productions (who also managed the Five Canadians and the Frantics). They played shows around San Antonio, including the Knights of Columbus Hall on the east side of the city, and had a reputation as both a soul cover group and for British Invasion sounds.
In 1967 the name of his backing band changed to Soul Unlimited, with one release, “Funny Situation” / “Gloria” on the Suzuki label, also produced by Epstein Enterprises:
“Funny Situation” has some interesting UK influences, the light psychedelia with hypnotic guitar lines on the verses segueing to full horn charts on the choruses. Despite good production the parts might be too different to make this song work on a commercial level. This time the songwriting credit goes to Robert Jenkins instead of his stage name.
The flip is a great, slow version of “Gloria” with Robb’s best vocal performance, the band encouraging him with shouts. Most remarkable is the arrangement that dispenses with the repetitive chords and syncopated build-up of Them’s version in favor of a relaxed pace that suits the lyrics. The opening guitar riff works well with the horns; it was probably a favorite live song for the group.
For the next couple years Robb London produced records for other groups, until about 1969 or ’70 when he came back with the Robb London Company, with a Ted Nugent cover “Good Natured Emma” on one side and a hippie-country tune “The Children” (AVI 1065). The story ends there, for now.
Billy Sol would have two 45s on the Domar label, DM-1122 “Doggin’ Around” / “Danger Signals”, and Domar DM-1124: “When You’re Alone” / “Time, Time” (written by Robert Merrill and P. Beckingham).
Does anyone know what the artist and titles on Beckingham 1081 and 1082 are?
Here’s a group that went through several name changes over a few years, but kept the same lineup throughout:
Roger Sayre (guitar and vocals) Ray Bushbaum (keyboards and vocals) Jerry “Moon” Ditmer (or Jerry Dittmer) (bass) Jerry Thomas (drums and vocals – replaced by Bill “Fuzz” Weicht)
Prior to starting this band, Roger Sayre had been in 50’s rockabilly Chuck Sims’ group (Chuck also recorded as Charles Vanell). Ray Bushbaum had played with Sonny Flaharty’s Young Americans.
Based in Dayton, Ohio, they started as the Original Playboys in 1962 and cut a disc “I’ll Always Be On Your Side” / “Hey Little Willie in 1965 on Leisure Time records. “Hey Little Willie” has their sound down – grooving r&b with shouts, jokes and frat calls. “hold it – let’s do ‘Go Little Willie’, ‘DOTW'” (see comments below for explanation!). It was picked up for release on Smash Records with their name changed to the X-Cellents.
Another name change to the E-Cellents for their next 45 on Sure Play, the ballad “And I’m Cryin'” backed with one I haven’t heard yet, “The Slide”.
Reverting to the X-Cellents, they cut a cool double-sider 45 for Sure Play in 1966. “Hang It Up” treads similar ground to “Hey Little Willie” though a little less convincing, maybe ’cause it lacks that great bass drum beat. More insider jokes and calls here – “DFTW”, “77” – that I don’t know the meaning of.
“Little Wooden House” is a repetitive vamp lamenting settling down, just the same two chords over and over. “Little Wooden House” is a Roger Sayre composition, “Hang It Up” was written by Sayre-Bushbaum-Weicht-Dittmer.
Still the band progressed with the times, and contributed one of their best songs, Roger Sayre’s original Walk Slowly Away” to a sampler LP on Prism Records called “The Dayton Scene”. Acts were from the 1966 battle of the bands promoted by Dayton radio station WONE and the band is listed as the Xcellents. To my ears “Walk Slowly Away” bears a resemblance to the Beatles’ “I Need You” from the Help! soundtrack, though that may be a superficial comparison, as the lyrics and chorus are distinct.
They changed their name again for their last 45, as the Vacant Lot, or perhaps R. Sayre and the Vacant Lot, the LTD label gives both as artists. “This Little Feelin'” is one of their best numbers, soulful and rocking, as Ray’s keyboards again drive the sound behind Roger’s vocals. It was backed with their version of Huey ‘Piano’ Smith’s “Don’t You Just Know It”, a song that had probably been in their repertoire for years with the same sound and arrangement. Production by Bill Leasure.
The band seems to have gone separate ways after this last 45. Sayre had another group with John Spitler at some point, but I don’t know if that was before or after the X-Cellents
Sources: List of 45 releases Soulful Kinda Music, and sleeve scan from It’s Great Shakes.
Thanks to Joe Kimball for sending in the photo from the WONE LP.
Glenn Tracey sent in these cool promo sheets and transfers of a 45 by the Chy Guys.
The letter lists the members: Jerry Conley, 15, leader and singer; Stan Allen, 13, lead guitarist; Chuck Burgess, 13, rhythm guitarist; and Bob Lindgren, 12, drummer. I’ve read the band was from Rockford, IL, about an hour’s drive northwest of Chicago, though that wouldn’t go with their band name (Chy referring to Chicago).
The band went to MBS Recording Studios in Chicago to record demos of their songs, and the tape led to their signing by James Manning, Jr. of the Mobie Record Company. The letter doesn’t clarify if the band did a new session for their Mobie 45, or if the songs cut at the demo were used. J.H. Manning, Jr. is also listed as producer, but he didn’t seem to notice the imprecise nature of the band’s stops and starts during “Say Mama”, not to mention their tuning.
The top side, “You’ll Never Believe Me” was written by J. Weiss, and while I don’t think it’s an original by the band I don’t know the source for it.
“Say Mama” was an oft covered song since the original cut by Gene Vincent in the ’50s., with versions by Mike Waggoner, the Dicers and others, sometimes under the title “Hey Mama”. It’s hard to know if the Chy Guys were covering the Vincent original, or perhaps the Pattens of Wheaton, IL, who released their version as “Say Ma, Ma” also in 1966.
The promo schedules the release of their 45 on September 30, 1966, on Mobie 3423. They apparently played shows in Illinois, Ohio and even as far as Huntington, West Virginia at that young age.
Though this is a white-label DJ promo, I’ve also seen both blue and black label stock copies of this 45. The other releases on the Mobie label that I’ve heard are two by Bloomington, Indiana Illinois’s Cobblestones: Mobie 3424 “I’ll Hide My Head in the Sand” (written by Jim Jacobs) / “It Happens Every Time” (both written by Jim Jacobs and produced by Wayne Dennis, originally released on Den-Lay) and Mobie 3425 “Flower People” (written by Pearson – Lehmann) / “Down With It” (written by Pearson – McElroy).
Here’s an extensive but still incomplete Mobie discography from Gary E. Myers with additions from Davie Gordon, Chris Gilbert and Margaret Still.
Any help with this would be appreciated:
Mobie – owned by James H. Manning, Jr. (5/?/34; Normal, IL – 11/8/91; Largo, FL)
3419 Ron Jones & C Notes – Goodbye Linda (R. Shemberger) / Why (1966) 3420 3421 Ronnie Jones – Silly Little Fool / Little Jezebel (1967) 3422 3423 Chy Guys – Say Mama / You’ll Never Believe Me (9/67) 3424 Cobblestones – It Happens Every Time / I’ll Hide My Head In The Sand (1967) 3425 Cobblestones – Flower People / Down With It (11/67) 3426 3427 3428 3429 Iron Gate – Get Ready / You Must Believe Me (1968) 3430 Ravelles – Psychedelic Movement / She’s Forever On My Mind (8/68) 3431 3432 Shirt Tale Relation – The Reason Why (Bobby Sharp) / You Don’t Know Like I Know 3433 Summit – How You Move My Soul / Oh, What Can I Do (1968) 3434 3435 Skip Wulf – Soul Lovin’ Baby / Summer Love (1968) 3436 Deanna & The Here & Now Singers – Isolation / Attic Of My Mind (both songs credited to D. Edwards)
3419, 3421: Ron Jones (2/15/43; Davenport, IA) was DJ on Chicago oldies 104.3, had 2 earlier releases on Aurora.
James Manning also wrote a children’s Christmas book.
Thanks to C. Gilbert for the scan of the Shirt Tale Relation 45.
Another one on Graves, like the Sires I covered a couple weeks back. This group is more obscure, I don’t have any real info on them, other than that they were probably from southern Oregon: Ashland, Medford or Grants Pass possibly. Songwriting is listed to B. Watson and M. Kelsey. The publishing was listed under Arky Lewis.
Both original songs have fine arrangements, languid harmonies and excellent interaction between the two guitarists. “She’s a Deceiver” is slower and dreamier, while “It’s O.K.” is faster but still hypnotic with a raga-like guitar solo. The “It’s” of the title was left off the label and added back with a red stamp. The 45 would have benefited from clearer production.
Here’s a strange 45 by one of the many groups calling themselves the Esquires. One side is a ballad and the other a decent garage number, but neither one should be considered essential listening.
I wonder how many lyricists had passed on rhyming “make life brighter” with “like a zippo lighter” before the Esquires wrote it into the top side ballad “What Made You Change Your Mind”.
Better is the flip, “Boo Hoo Hoo”, where the band has a good stop-and-start rhythm going.
Oddly, both sides have been altered to fill out their run time. It appears that the band turned in performances of about one and a half minutes on each of these songs. The engineer deftly repeats sections to extend each closer to the three minute mark. This is especially noticeable on “Boo Hoo Hoo”, where a drum fill introduces a section that is repeated four times in the song.
Dick Welch wrote both sides, and publishing is by Pat Chipps for Panhandle Music.
I knew nothing about the band until Dick Welch commented below, so I’ll repeat it here:
This Raven label was located in Clarksburg, West Virginia in the late 60′s. I wrote both sides of this record and played guitar. It was a four track studio. I also recorded a record there with a group called Them Prodigals.
Them Prodigals’ 45 is “Icing Too” / “Cake Time”, released in February 1968 at Raven 101.
This Raven label is distinct from the Danville, VA label that released the Individuals “I Want Love” / “I Really Do” and the Lost Souls “For You” / “Minds Expressway” 45s.
Anyone have a photo of the group, or know the names of the other members?
I know very little about this 45, other than these Madhatters were a group of high schoolers from Stamford, CT who traveled to New York City to record their only 45 in late February of 1966. They broke up soon after, with most members going to college that fall. I’ve also seen the band’s name given as two words, the Mad Hatters.
The Madhatters’ cool original “Just Won’t Leave” has credits to Sills, Young and Davidson. Copyright registration from April 28, 1966 shows words by John Sills, words and music by David Young and arrangement by John Davidson.
John Davidson was the Madhatters lead guitarist, Jim Cantor played bass, and they had a drummer named Eddie (surname?)
For the flip they do a better than average cover of Mike Hugg’s “Mister You’re a Better Man Than I”.
Released on Mask Records (a Jaysina Production, 143 W. 51st St., NY), with Lady Grace publishing. The only other productions I can attribute to Jaysina Enterprises are two 45s by Tommy Walters on Bardell and an Otis Rush session co-produced with Funtown and sold to Gamble.
A 10″ three-song acetate surfaced that contained the two songs from the single plus a version of “I’m a Man”, produced by Jaysina Enterprises, Inc. I haven’t heard the Madhatters’ version of “I’m a Man” yet.
There’s no connection to the Mad Hatters from Annapolis, Maryland (45s on Ascot and Fontana) or Minnesota (two 45s on Cardinal).
These Wild Cherries were a Hampton, VA band known for their ability to cover Beatles songs.
Members were:
Harold Souders (vocals, lead guitar, electric piano) Carl Moore (vocals, guitar) David Jenkins (bass) Wayne Dale (drums)
Hal Souders and Carl Moore were cousins, and composed both songs on this 45. In December of ’65 the band went to Richmond Sound Stages to cut their only recording, “I Cried Once” / “Baby Baby”.
“I Cried Once” begins with jarring guitar chords, and continues at an urgent pace through verse and chorus and a beautiful and very brief reverbed guitar solo until the ringing chords at the finish. Hal Souders’ syncopated piano overdub is a nice touch.
The tender “Baby, Baby” on the flip begins with nicely articulated notes cutting to a drum and bass break before the verse begins. The singer confesses “all the lies I told to you, not a one was true.”
To me this is one of the most successful of all teen 45s of the ’60s, sincere original songs flawlessly performed and superbly recorded. The upbeat “I Cried Once” balances the sedate “Baby, Baby”. The instruments and harmonies create an atmosphere akin to the Dovers great recordings.
The band released the songs on the Richmond based Shoestring label, which also had 45s by the Fugitives and Panics. Publishing was by Bargem Music.
The record had some play on WGH 1310 AM in Newport News, though it didn’t make any charts that I know of. The band broke up by the time Hal Souders started college in the fall of ’66.
The Apollos, c. 1965, from left: lead singer Paul Speck, Lanny Orner, Eddie Zebert, George McCormick, lead guitar Al Naugle.
The Apollos came from Pleasant Hills, a suburb south of Pittsburgh. The top side of their only 45 is “I Know Your Mind” a doo-wop influenced ballad. The flip is an instrumental, “Room 4”, marred by the guitarist being out of tune.
Top side was written by Speck-Snyder, flip by Snyder-Naogle. Produced by Jim Hudson for Bobby Records and Dominator Music.
Phil Haines sent in the photos of the band seen here and added these comments:
The Apollos graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School, Jefferson Hills, PA in 1964, except Eddie Zebert, 1963.
The Apollos had four singers: lead singer Paul Speck, Lanny Orner, Eddie Zebert and George McCormick. The singers didn’t play any instruments.
Instrumentalists in the original group: lead guitar Al Naugle, rhythm guitar Dave Ferguson, and drums Dave Bruggeman. This was the makeup of the group 1964 – 1966.
George asked me, at home in Pleasant Hills, to borrow my bass amp for the record. They piled into a car and went into town (Pittsburgh) for the recording. When George brought the amp back, he said something about it didn’t work with the studio equipment, so they plugged directly into the board. My guess is that the rhythm guitarist Dave Ferguson (?), who played low notes on a 6-string, sounded better in the board than through a bass amp, if indeed this was the personnel on the record.
There was a line “I Know Your Mind” in the Bobby Marchan song, “There Is Something On Your Mind.” Don’t know if they borrowed it consciously from the record or not. I always took the record as being ahead of its time, the first of introspective songs to come later in the sixties. They were a great band. The first to come out of “the drugstore,” local hangout “Sun Drug.”
They also put on a heck of a show. They acted out “Big Boy Pete,” by the Olympics. They also performed Eugene Fox’s “Sinner’s Dream.” They may have also, in this earlier period, acted “Along Came Jones,” by the Coasters. When I played bass for them in 1967, we sang the song, but no acting. They had a huge following in Pittsburgh.
The Apollos, c. 1965, from left: Paul Speck, Lanny Orner, Al Naugle, Eddie Zebert and George McCormick.
Later photo of the Shan-Dells, after they added horns At top is Kenny Branoff (lead guitar), below him Dave Troutman (keyboard, trumpet) and Dave “Gino” Giorgini (drums) In front, left to right: Bob Bolash (rhythm guitar), Chuck Jones (vocals), Jeff Bowen (sax) and Harry Brewbaker (bass)
Updated July 2011
The Shan-Dells came from Enola, PA, across the Susquehanna River from Harrisburg and Middletown. They had two 45s on the Bridge Society label. The band covers a lot of ground between these releases, from psychedelia to pop to upbeat blue-eyed soul.
Their first 45 has the slow trippy psychedelia of “Chimes”, with droning organ and repetitive sharp guitar lines inspired by “Eight Miles High”. The solo break is excellent raga-rock!
The B-side is the much lighter and less essential pop dittty, “Little Girl”. Both sides were written by Ken Branoff and Charles Jones and published by John Ulrich Music. My copy is signed by bass player Gary McElrath, if I’m reading that correctly.
Their second 45 has a northern soul classic, “I’ve Got to Love Her”. With full horn charts and falsetto vocal it’s a much different sound from their first, and the record trades for more money as well. I haven’t heard the flip, “Idle Excursion”. Chuck Jones, David Troutman and David Giorgini wrote “I’ve Got to Love Her”.
I couldn’t find much info on the group until rhythm guitarist Bob Bolash contacted me. Below is info from the comment that he left below along with some more info he sent to me by email:
I was one of the original Shan-Dells, we started out as the Wonders with Chuck Jones lead singer, Jim Wyman on drums, Gary Wyman on bass, Kenny Branoff on lead gutiar, myself on rhythm guitar. Jim was a little older and when he left the band David (Gino) Giorgini joined as the drummer. We then changed our name to the Shan-Dells. Dave Toutman was added about a year later.
Our first paying gig was at the Midway firehall in Enola with DJ Ben Barber. We got paid $28.00 that night. Our record “Chimes” went to #14 in the Harrisburg area, at the time WFEC rated the songs by how many you sold at Caplain’s in Harrisburg. We did the Kirby Scott show at WBAL TV in Maryland. We played everywhere, there were so many places to play back in the day.
Kenny stayed in the house a lot a was very dedicated to his guitar. I think he just wrote some music and Chuck added some words.
We recorded them at Virtue Studios in Philadelphia. Actually “Chimes” and “Little Girl” should have been on two separate 45s with a dummy song on the B side like we did with “I’ve Got to Love Her”. But we were just learning and I still wonder how swift our promoter was, we ran out of records.
We added some horns a little later and mixed some soul with our rock, that’s why “I’ve Got to Love Her” sounds that way.
Chuck then got drafted Dave left and Gary moved away and Gino’s older brother Rob joined us, he played organ and sang. He played with Frank Fabian’s Fabulous Fugitives, a very good band. We changed throughout the years, from the Shan-Dells to the Collection (we have an unreleased song that we went a different direction with, it has alot of harmony, “Feelin’ a Dream”).
Then it was Mystic Revelation, and then Dry Mud. Kenny, little Gino and myself were all in those bands. Later when Chuck came back we started a band with Neil Harvey, Dave Bennet and Dave Troutman called Green Apple Quick Step. Later I joined Dick Styles in a group called the 7th Sun, That was fun, we remodeled a school bus and had some fun in that. My last stop was mid 70’s with a band we started called the Bizzare Brothers Band. Bob Souders guitar, Buzz Deuscth drums, Darwin Oakes organ, then Jim Krall replaced him, Harry Brewbaker on bass and me on guitar and crazy Tom Gamble singing. Seriously this was the most talented band I ever played in, but we did toooo much partying.
Bob Bolash
In July, 2011 Jeff Bowen sent me the photo at top and wrote about his time with the band:
I was the sax player and eventually bass player with the Shan-Dells in Harrisburg Pa. from just after the release of “I’ve Got to Love Her” in ’68 or ‘69 till the band dissolved in early 1971. I wasn’t the sax player on the records though, that was Scott Zahn (not sure I spelled his last name right) who I ended up playing with during the summer and fall of 1971 after the band (Shan-Dells, Mystic Revelation, Dry Mud) broke up.
Dave Troutman and I went to Redland High school together and were in the high school’s band. “I’ve Got to Love Her” had a sax and trumpet in the background so they needed to find a sax player to do the live shows. That’s when Dave asked me to join the band since Scott Zahn was already playing with another band at that time. I’m so sorry to hear that Dave passed away. After the band broke up, I hadn’t really heard anything about him until I stumbled onto Garage Hangover a few days ago and read the comments from his son.
Both records were recorded before I got into the band, so I can’t take any credit for them. I did do a recording around that same time but I’m not sure it was with the Shan-Dells or not. I do know it never made it from tape to 45 and I don’t know what happened to the tapes.
I still have both the 45’s and the promo photo of the band that was taken just before we went on the Kirby Scott show in Baltimore. I remember we went to Eddy’s Mod shop in downtown Harrisburg and bought the matching paisley tuxedos for that show.
Soon after I joined, Chuck Jones got drafted and left, followed by Harry Brewbaker getting drafted too. That’s when I bought Harry’s bass and amp and took over as bass player for the band till we broke up and went our separate ways.
I got drafted in November 1971, which pretty much ended my musical career. I jammed on bass with a few people after I got out of the army but never actually got into another real band. By that time DJs had taken over all the places that used to have live bands.
Who knows what would have happened if Chuck and Harry hadn’t had to leave the band to serve in the army. I’m glad they both served and came back OK. I don’t remember for sure if they went to Viet Nam or not but I don’t think they did. When I got drafted in Nov. 1971, I ended up serving a year in Korea instead of Viet Nam.
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
The Bucaneer’s (or Bucaneers) had this one release, a great two-sider from 1966 on the Amigo label out of Philadelphia, PA. Both sides are well-written and performed.
By 1965 they had changed their name to Robb London and the Rogues, releasing three 45s in the next couple years:
Beckingham 1084 features soul vocalist Billy Sol with songs written by Robb London, “Have You Ever Told Her”, backed with “The Bells”.
The third 45 has another two London originals, “Crazy Baby” / “Mary Jane”. “Crazy Baby” gets repetitious, but has a cool, brief second section that first kicks in around 50 seconds into the song. The flip “Mary Jane” is one of London’s best cuts, a tough rocker from start to finish about a girl “who’ll put you down”: “if you see her comin’, you better step aside, a lot of men didn’t, a lot of men died!”.
Robb London’s manager was Mel Adcock of Swingtime Productions (who also managed the Five Canadians and the Frantics). They played shows around San Antonio, including the Knights of Columbus Hall on the east side of the city, and had a reputation as both a soul cover group and for British Invasion sounds.
The flip is a great, slow version of “Gloria” with Robb’s best vocal performance, the band encouraging him with shouts. Most remarkable is the arrangement that dispenses with the repetitive chords and syncopated build-up of Them’s version in favor of a relaxed pace that suits the lyrics. The opening guitar riff works well with the horns; it was probably a favorite live song for the group.
Here’s a strange 45 by one of the many groups calling themselves the Esquires. One side is a ballad and the other a decent garage number, but neither one should be considered essential listening.
The Apollos came from Pleasant Hills, a suburb south of Pittsburgh. The top side of their only 45 is “I Know Your Mind” a doo-wop influenced ballad. The flip is an instrumental, “Room 4”, marred by the guitarist being out of tune.
