The French Church were a band from Marquette, Michigan, a small town on Lake Superior about 180 miles north of Green Bay. Members were Mike Cleary singing lead vocals, John Spratto on guitar, Gordon MacDonald on bass, and his brother Warren MacDonald on drums.

I asked John Spratto how the band was named: “A good friend of the band, Floyd Maki, suggested we name it the French Church which is what St. John’s Catholic Church in Marquette was known as amongst the old timers. We were a little rebellious and figured that might get a rise out of certain people which would bring notoriety to the band. Some people, my mother actually, didn’t care for the name at first, but it was OK after a while, didn’t cause too much consternation.”

A sign for Slapneck inspired Gordon MacDonald and John to write a song imagining life in a small community in the woods. The band paid Princeton label owner Fred Krook to release the song, recorded in a studio located in the basement of a Marquette lumber company in early 1968.

Harry Walker, he’s the milkman there,
No bills are paid, ah, he’s not well
Slapneck, come on along with me yeah,
Come on along with me,
Yeah if you want to be free

Mrs. R.J. Green, she runs a restaurant there
The tables they’re clean and the manners they’re clear
Slapneck, come on along with me,
Come on along with me,
Yeah if you want to be free

The lyrics are quaint, but the playing is ferocious. From the sliding chords that open the song, John Spratto lays down some of the heaviest distortion ever put to vinyl.

The flip is a more conventional number, Without Crying, written by MacDonald and Mike Cleary.

John Spratto: “I am all grown up now and a Managing Partner in a CPA firm. Gordon recently retired as a music teacher and his brother Warren still owns MacDonald’s Music Store in Marquette.

“We got together about 5 years ago and recorded a dozen original songs that we wrote together and individually over the last 42 years. We got together again a couple of years ago with our boys who also play and recorded another 6 original songs. They are all very good songs. (My opinion anyway). One of the ones with our boys was a remake of Slapneck 1943.”

Sources: My correspondence with John Spratto, and Steve Seymour’s blog on Upper Peninsula music, Rock n Roll Graffiti.