The Haustofs, Bobcat News, Nov. 23, 1966. from left: Doug Gahan, Gary Thorson, Steve Rollofs (kneeling), Pat Buckley, and Randy Clark with manager Delon Wright lying on the grass. Not pictured: Bob Doty, keyboards.
Gary Thorson sent in the news clippings and wrote to me about the Haustofs:
I grew up in Pharr, TX during the 60s and was a member of a garage band there known as “The Haustofs” (supposedly named after a German beer known for its strength). We never cut a record, but played all the popular venues (the Valley Bowl was one of our favorites), sock-hops and private parties. We even shared the stage with some of them, like the Headstones and the Playboys of Edinburg. The Souls‘ David Lott and I were good friends.
Our band was primarily know as being from Mission, TX because that’s where our lead singer Pat Buckley (of the former Arturo and Pat hit record), our drummer, Doug Gahan, and our keyboard player, Bob Doty were from. Stephen Roelofs our bass player, Delon Wright our manager, and myself were all from Pharr, TX and Randy Clark our lead player was from Edinburg, TX.
Pat Buckley has released a single with another Mission student, Arturo Longoria as Arturo & Pat with the Invaders on the Pharaoh label, “Oh Yes Tonight” / “So Tenderly & Faithfully”.
The Bobcat News profiled the band on November 23, 1966, saying the band “was assembled by Doug Gahan, a senior at Mission High.”
An article in the Mission Eagle has many interesting quotes, such as Dough Gahan saying he was “‘an ardent admirer of Bill Reed,’ who plays drums in the Kavaliers.” Another is “As far as the other groups that the Haustofs admire are concerned, the Headstones are their favorite Valley group. They like the Kinks best of world-famous groups, although they also like the Beau Brummels and the Yardbirds.” It also mentions that Randy Clark of Edinburg High School had played rhythm guitar in the Tempests.
Gary Thorson adds the status of the individual band members as of today is:
Pat Buckley – Retired and living in southern Colorado Stephen Roelofs- School teacher living in the Dallas, TX area Bob Doty – Works for a large tool company living in Arkansas Gary Thorson – President of a computer consulting firm living in Fairhope, Al. Randy Clark – still pursuing his musical career in San Antonio, TX Doug Gahan – unknown
The Pathfinders from Ft. Worth, Texas From left: Larry Funchess, Freddy McDonald, Joe Reddinger and Parker Cook
I didn’t know the identity of this group until Nate Lamb wrote in to confirm it was the Pathfinders from Forth Worth, Texas, and named the members.
Larry Funchess – guitar Freddy McDonald – guitar Joe Reddinger – drums Parker Cook – bass
As far as I know the band didn’t make any recordings.
The back is stamped Brewer Photography Class, possibly the Brewer High School on the west side of Fort Worth. This photo came with one of Buddy and the Beaumen, who were also a Fort Worth group.
Buddy and the Beaumen had one single on Gretchem 101, “Blue Feelin'” / “Hold On I’m Comin'” released in 1967.
Although the label for “Blue Feelin'” lists J. Henslee as songwriter, “Blue Feeling” was written by James Henshaw and made famous by the Animals in 1964.
Buddy Smith produced the single but I didn’t know any other names for group members until comments below: Steve Hill played keyboards and Danny Hukill played drums. The band photo lists Fort Worth for their location.
The Beaumen are listed as playing on the opening night of the 19th Annual Optimist Carnival in Waxahachie in August, 1966, followed by a group I haven’t heard of, the Unexpecteds on the next night. Waxahachie is about 30 miles south of the center of Dallas.
In early 1967 Buddy & the Beaumen shared billing with the Mystics as the top attractions at the Irving Teen A-Go-Go in early 1967.
When I bought this photo, it came with a photo of the Pathfinders, from the Brewer Photography Class, probably the Brewer High School on the west side of Fort Worth.
Steve Hill played keyboards with Bloodrock, he passed away in 2013.
The Cloud V, August 1967, from top left: Eddie Lord, Charles McCutchen, Gary French and Gene Lord, with Bob Walker seated in front
The Waxahachie news in August, 1967 featured the Could V, who were competing in a Battle of the Bands at Getzendaner Memorial Park. Waxahachie, Texas is a town about 30 miles to the south of the center of Dallas.
Members were:
Eddie Lord – rhythm guitar Charles McCutchen – organ Gary French – bass Gene Lord – lead guitar Bob Walker – drums
Theze Few formed in Dallas and cut one single for the BlacKnight label in 1966, “Dynamite” / “I Want Your Love”. Dan Seals wrote both songs, though the labels mistakenly list his name as D. Feals, published by Tall Pine BMI.
Members of the band were:
Danny Seals – saxophone Larry Stevens – lead guitar John Colley – piano Mike Woolbright – bass Buddy Lay – drums
By the 1968 Irving Teen-A-Go-Go, the band had changed their name to the Southwest F.O.B.
Dan Seals, 61, was born in West Texas but moved to Dallas as a teenager. He graduated from Samuell High School in Pleasant Grove in 1966. He and classmate John Colley, who later changed the spelling of his last name to Coley, formed a group with three other Samuell students called the Playboys Five. That became Theze Few, which morphed into the legendary Dallas high school band Southwest F.O.B.
As the friendship blossomed, Seals’ brother Jim was emerging as a musical superstar. Jim Seals was part of the multi-platinum-selling duo Seals & Crofts. But Dan Seals and Coley would soon put their own stamp on music.
They formed England Dan & John Ford Coley and became the toast of 1976 when their single, “I’d Really Love to See You Tonight,” and album, Nights are Forever, became gold records, meaning each sold more than 500,000 copies.
Lonestar Stomp covered the Seals family, including brother Jimmy and father Wayland.
The Clue of Midland, Texas cut one of the classic garage numbers “Bad Times”, featuring swinging drumming, screams and a sputtering lead vocal, pumping organ and a good guitar break. Despite the single’s fame in recent years, I found very little info about the Clue until Steve Thomas commented below. Members were:
Steve Thomas – lead singer and bass Larry Grubb – vocals and lead guitar John Kasson – keyboards Billy Morris – drums
Steve Thomas wrote “Bad Times”, and Steve Thomas and Larry Grubb wrote the flip side, “She’s the Reason”, an eerie ballad that borrows some of the melody from the Beatles “I’ll Be Back”. Recorded and released circa 1967 on Byron BR 101. I can’t think of any other releases on the Byron label.
Byron Barber (“Bo”) was drummer for the Sensations who cut “Sweet Little Rock and Roller” / “Big Boss Man” in 1965 as the Sensations Sound on Kingco Records. In 1966 Barber produced the Clue 45 for his own Byron label, engineered by Ken Hall.
The Sensations members included Bill Thomas on bass and Dennis Grubb on guitar and vocals. According to Steve Thomas, Bill Thomas was not related, but Larry Grubb was the younger brother of Dennis Grubb of the Sensations.
Anyone have a photo of the band?
Info on the Sensations and Bo Barber from LoneStarStomp.
Phil Briscoe and the Sessions cut two of Briscoe’s original songs “You’re No Good” / “Dream of Me” at Recording Service Studios in Pasadena, Texas. The single came out on Huey Meaux’s Pic 1 label in October, 1965, one of over 40 releases on that label. “You’re No Good” is a good rocker in something of a Doug Sahm style.
Philip Charles Briscoe copyrighted both sides with Crazy Cajun Music in January 1966, but that’s the last mention I can find of him in the music world. I don’t know who else was in the Sessions band or where they were based.
The photo above came from a Pic One discography by Doug Hanners for his 45 RPM column in Discoveries in July 2000.
Much has been written about Euphoria’s legendary album A Gift from Euphoria. This article focuses instead on the various releases the band members did prior to the LP and the connections to other bands I’ve covered on this site.
Euphoria had its start as a Cleveland band with David Potter and Wesley Watt called the Bushmen. Although it was thought that the Bushmen was a separate group from Wesley Watt’s projects prior to Euphoria, David Potter’s bio states:
After playing drums at the club [the Clinton Bar in Cleveland, OH] for three months, Wesley Watt, a guitar player came in looking for a drummer for a group he wanted to put together, The Bushman [sic]. When he heard David he knew he was the one. David turned sixteen in January and in May, David, Wesley, Paul Armstrong, and Carl Johnson left for Los Angeles to make their mark. On arriving in L.A. they immediately became the house band for the club, Guys and Dolls.
After only eight weeks they signed a contract with Colpix records, also signing with Buck Ram, the manager of the Platters. Their first single was “Baby” with “What I Have I’ll Give to You” on the flip side.
The Bushmen had one release “Baby” / “What I Have I’ll Give to You” on Dimension 1049 in June of ’65. Dimension Records was part of the Columbia Pictures / Colpix company at this time.
Bill Lincoln had relocated from Seattle to Los Angeles. He must have been in the group at this point as he is the composer of “What I Have I’ll Give to You”.
Bill Lincoln and Mike Dood are credited with writing “Walk on the Surf Side” by the Nova-Tones, released on Rosco 417 circa 1963, and backed with “Lost Love”. I’m not positive it’s the same Bill Lincoln, but it seems likely as the time and place are right. I haven’t heard either song, so if you have the 45 or sound files, please contact me.
Potter’s bio continues:
The Bushman [sic] were getting a lot of notoriety and attention from all over, including film producer David L. Wolper. He was looking for bands for a documentary about to start filming, Teenage Revolution. They approached Buck Ram about The Bushman being the premiere band for the documentary. Wolper wanted to show what bands went through while traveling around the country from gig to gig. (Along with The Bushman being were about four other bands, one being The Lovin’ Spoonful.) About a month later Buck set up a live gig in Lancaster CA where they filmed their part of Teenage Revolution.
A portion of Mondo Teeno aka The Teenage Revolution is online. I hear music that may be the Bushmen, but haven’t seen any footage of the band.
In addition to the Bushmen single, Watt and Lincoln recorded their original songs as the War-Babies “Jeanie’s Pub” / “Love Is Love” (Highland 4000, August 1965).
The War-Babies recorded another two songs, “Now It’s Over” / “So Little Time” but these came out under the name The Word on Brent 704.
Although I’ve read that the Bushmen came after the War-Babies and Word singles, release dates suggest the Bushmen single came first.
Potter’s bio continues:
After filming the documentary, David, Wesley, and Bill Lincoln wanted to do their own thing. Now seasoned professionals and highly respected musicians they wanted to play and record their own music. With the chance so did their name, to Euphoria. The newly named group spent all their time playing, touring, and recording material that would lead to two of the groups albums. During a successful tour in Texas, their single. “Baby”, released when they were The Bushman [sic], went to #7 on the charts, staying there for seven weeks.
The newly-named Euphoria added Pat Connolly of the Surfaris on bass by the time they toured Texas in 1966. Bill Lincoln left the group when he married and moved to England, though he would rejoin Wesley Watt within a year or two for Euphoria’s 1969 album on Capitol. Connolly also left so Watts brought in James Harrell on guitar and Peter Black on bass, both of the legendary Houston group the Misfits. I believe David Potter was still playing drums with the group at this point, but it may have been Steve Webb of the Misfits.
This group recorded some tracks at Andrus Productions in Houston, including “Pick It Up”, “In Time”, “Walking The Dog” and “Oh Dear, You Look Like a Dog”, none of which surfaced until Texas Archive Recordings released the LP Houston Hallucinations in 1982. The band had other unreleased Texas recordings which await reissue, including “People You and Me” which has some similarity to Da Capo era Love.
Back in L.A., Bob Shad of Brent & Mainstream Records brought the group into United Studios in Hollywood to record four songs in one session. Shad issued two of these (with vocals re-recorded at additional sessions), “Hungry Women” and “No Me Tomorrow” on Mainstream 655, but two originals by James Harrell, “I Realize” and “It Could Do Us No Wrong” were left unreleased and eventually lost. The single would reappear on the Mainstream compilation LP With Love – A Pot of Flowers in 1967.
Despite a good push from Bob Shad, the single didn’t make much of an impact and the group broke up. James Harrell and Pete Black went back to Texas and rejoined the Misfits, changing the name to the Lost and Found.
Potter and Watt joined Lee Michaels band where they played on Michaels’ album Carnival of Life with Gary Davis and John Keski.
Potter joined the East Side Kids in time to play on their album The Tiger and the Lamb, which featured one of his original songs as well as two by Wesley Watt, “Heavy Love” and “Can’t Feel Love”.
Bill Lincoln had returned by this time. He and Watt worked for almost two years on what would become their album A Gift from Euphoria on Capitol in 1969, produced by Nick Venet. According to his bio, Potter also played on the album. Guitarist Doug Delain is also listed in credits for the LP.
After recording the East Side KidsThe Tiger and the Lamb album, Potter moved to Houston and joined with Endle St. Cloud (Alan Mellinger) for his album on International Artists, which also included Pete Black and James Harrell of the Lost & Found. They moved back to LA to for the Potter St. Cloud LP on Mediarts in 1971.
David Potter passed away in 2011, but there was a detailed biography about him at his website, davidpottermusician.com (now defunct but viewable on the Internet Archive).
Watt and Lincoln co-produced and played on Bernie Schwartz’s solo album The Wheel, released on MGM in late 1969, which features a version of their song “Sunshine Woman” that had been on Euphoria’s Capitol LP.
Potter, Watt and Lincoln all continued in music into the early ’70s. For example, Potter and Watt played on Daniel Moore’s 1971 ABC album, and Watt played guitar on Dory Previn’s 1971 Mediarts album Mythical Kings and Iguanas.
Hamilton Wesley Watt, Jr. passed away on February 20, 2015 in Sheboygan, Wisconsin.
Leo and the Prophets cut one of the legendary Austin singles of the ’60s, “Tilt-A-Whirl” b/w “The Parking Meter” on Totem Records T-105 in April, 1967.
The band members were:
Leo Ellis – vocals and lead guitar Travis Ellis – tambourine Dan Hickman – rhythm guitar Rod Haywood – bass Bill Powell – drums
In January or February of 1967 they recorded their first songs with Sonobeat’s Bill Josey Sr. and Rim Kelley, resulting in a finished vocal, “Flowers on the Hill” and two instrumentals “Ozone Forest” and “Prophecy of Love”. Unfortunately none of which were ever released, but you can hear about half of “Flowers on the Hill” at the impressive Sonobeat website. Thirty seconds of “Ozone Forest” used to be on the old Sonobeat site but I can’t find it now. It’s a pity these songs weren’t finished and released, but at the time Bill Josey and the band felt there was too much distortion in the recording.
Andrew Brown published interviews with Dan Hickman, Rod Haywood and Bill Powell on his site 1966: Texas Music in the Sixties, which makes the best history of the band. I don’t have much to add to that.
My copy of the single is signed by Leo W. Ellis, Bill Powell, Haywood and “To the Roman Nose … Danel Boone” which I believe is Daniel Hickman as he signed the copy on the 1966 site in the same manner.
A possibly complete discography of Totem Records:
Totem T-101 – Rix Slaughter “Listen Little Girl” (Rix Dale Slaughter and James O. Glass)/ “Shades of Dawn” (Slaughter), November 1964 Totem T-102 – Rix Slaughter “Bright Lights” / “Everybody’s Fallin’ In Love” Totem T-103 – Damon Meredith & the Western Caravan “Don’t Interfere With Love” / “(I Know That) You’re Trying to Forget Me” (WAM-45-66126, copyright reg. May 1966) Totem T-103 – Cecil Moore & The Diamondbacks “Wind It Up” / “Stuff” (WAM-45-66125, copyright reg. June, 1966) Totem T-105 – Leo & the Prophets – “Tilt-A-Whirl” (Ellis, Haywood) / “The Parking Meter” (Ellis, Hickman), April, 1967
Totem Records and KCFH advertisement in the Cuero, Texas paper in November, 1964J.O. Glass (James Otto Glass) and J.C. “Scat” Hamilton produced all the singles.
Totem advertised Rix Slaughter’s first single in conjunction with KCFH in the Cuero Record on November 3, 1964.
The Meredith and Cecil Moore singles have a code I’m not familiar with, WAM, the Moore reading WAM-45-66125, while the Damon Meredith notes WAM-45-66126. Both singles share catalog number Totem T-103.
The singles list Totem Records at 4307 Speedway, Austin, with publishing by Fathom Pub. Co.
James Otto Glass copyrighted other songs in 1963 and ’64 that may not have been recorded, including “Halfway to Heaven (I Can’t Believe In You)”, “Window In My Heart”, “Fleeting Love”, “Just a Tear Away” and “What Doesn’t Show (I’ll Feel in My Heart)”.
Denny Murphy – lead vocals Terry Murphy – lead guitar, lead vocals Kenneth Sigler – bass John Sebring – rhythm guitar Ronnie Cooper – drums
The great majority of the information in this post is from Andrew Brown’s Brown Paper Sack.
Terry Murphy started playing with school friends when he was in 7th grade in 1964 in Tyler, Texas. The group was dubbed Murphy and the Mob by an adult as a joke but it stuck. A year later Terry found a more serious group of musicians, kept the band name and started practicing regularly in the Murphy family living room.
The group played live at a local teen club called The Plum, at the Bergfeld Park ampitheatre, at the YMCA and at their Catholic high school. At the Bergfeld Park battle of the bands produced by Rodney Kamel, Murphy & the Mob would compete with The Marauders (from Troup, TX), the Hobos from Jacksonville, and the Indifferents from Tyler, featuing Terry’s friend Sam Blanchard. (The Indifferents had a 45 on Valor, “Cindy” / “She’ll Be Back”).
In October 1966, the band went to Steve Wright Studios in Tyler to cut their only single, hoping for some success with “Because You Love Me” an original by Terry and featuring his lead vocal. Funds for the recording came from the father of Terry’s girlfriend, Diane Whitten. For a B-side, the band tried “Born Loser”, a song co-written by Terry, Denny and the group’s manager, Steve Brewerton, who was attending Tyler Junior College that year.
Dennis and Terry Murphy and Steve Brewerton (and their moms!) signed publishing contracts with Steve Wright’s Thunderball Music Co. for “Born Loser” in October 1966. Interestingly the three also signed a contract on July 14, 1966 for an unrecorded song called “Don’t Let It Blow Your Mind”.
The band pressed 500 copies to be sold at Anton’s Records in the Weingarten Shopping Center, and reached #11 on KDOK’s charts in November 1966. The band continued until the summer of 1967. Terry Murphy stayed in music while Denny Murphy and Ronnie Cooper left music. Sadly, Kenneth Sigler and John Sebring passed away many years ago.
Stephen Brewerton, in the 1966 Tyler Junior College yearbook
I was a nerd going to junior college trying to avoid the draft. I began making fur vest out of old fur coats discarded behind a local high end department store. I began selling these fur vests to rock bands. Some were sold to bands that recorded at Robinhood Bryan’s recording studio and Steve Wright’s recording studio. I met Terry and Dennis Murphy and somehow became their manager. I wrote the lyrics to “Born Loser.” I managed them for two months. After I quit managing them, Terry and Dennis put music to my lyrics and recorded the songs at Steve Wright’s recording studio. The “A” side made it to the top 10 on KDOK radio station, the local rock station. “Born Loser” made it into the top 40 on KZEY, the local R & B station. After that I joined the Navy and went to war and became an alcoholic. I am a hell of a lot more proud of my small volume of poetry, “Ramblings Of An Alcoholic Mind” than I am the lyrics of “Born Loser.”
Stephen added to Oktay Gürbüz:
I have lost touch with all persons involved in [the] Mob and don’t know where to find them. As I stated before, I am not interested in an MOB projects. I cant remember even one word of “Born Loser”. Terry and Dennis probably consider this infatuation with Murphy and the Mob as I do as a mere childhood juvenile frivolity.
Thank you to Andrew Brown, Morgan Young, Terry Murphy and Stephen Brewerton, and to Oktay Gürbüz who prodded me to do this article for a long time!
I am a loner baby, I swing alone I’ve got my own pad and an unlisted phone A steady job, that’s all I need One pocket to fill, baby, just one mouth to feed
I got no pals, but look who’s got the gals They come to my pad because they want me so bad I sleep all day and I swing all night I’m so cool, baby, I’m just out of sight
(spoken) All these people. I mean, people they just don’t understand. They see me coming, they shake their head and say, “Look at him. He’s the born loser. Well, look at him. Born loser.” All right.
– Born Loser by Murphy, Murphy and Brewerton
Murphy and the Mob and Thunderball Music contract for “Born Loser”, courtesy of Stephen Brewerton
Murphy and the Mob and Thunderball Music contract for “Don’t Let It Blow Your Mind”, courtesy of Stephen Brewerton
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
