The Taboos came from Long Island, New York, cutting only one single in 1967 for La Salle Records. I don’t have much info on the band other than song writer names.
“All My Life” has a subdued start, the keyboard and bass making a three chord vamp while the drummer keeps a steady roll of toms going in the background. The chorus is more conventional, but a real surprise comes halfway through the song, when the bass picks up the pace and the lead guitar starts a Jeff Beck-style psychedelic solo. The song was written by Von Ressler and DeBonis.
Brennan and Palazzo wrote “So Sad”, which has a typical ballad format and singing style but it’s still an effective song.
Larry Hiller engineered the session at Murlyn Studios. La Salle Records owner Carl Edelson published both songs with his Cardell BMI.
A footnote to the group would come a couple years later, when Eddie T. Burke overdubbed a new lead vocal (inferior in my opinion) over the original recording of “So Sad” and released it on E.T.B Records ETB-113. See the post on La Salle and Lauren records for more on Eddie Burke’s release.
The Red Coats. Photo from The Memphis Garage Rock Yearbook by Ron Hall. The Red Coats came from Ripley, Tennessee, about 50 miles northeast of Memphis.
Members were:
Bill Gurley – guitar and vocals Tommy Bearid – organ and vocals Johnny Shands – bass and vocals Chris Tucker – drums
Guitarist and vocalist Bill Gurley moved to the Raleigh section of Memphis, but continued in the band despite having to travel to meet them at gigs around the West Tennessee area.
Their debut single for the Orchid of Memphis label in late 1966 featured Bill Gurley’s original song, “You Told a Lie”, which has a guitar intro akin to “Paint It Black”. There’s an effective gloominess throughout, helped by the echo on the vocal harmonies.
The flip was another Gurley original, “I’m Going to Tell You About My Baby”, both songs published by Black Orchid Music BMI.
In early ’67 the Red Coats went to the Stax Studio to record a second single, “Poison Ivy” / “Just Send Her To Me”, which was released as by the Sunday Funnies, a name the band did not use in live performances. I haven’t heard either song but the sound has been described as soul. “Just Send Her To Me” was recorded by another Orchid of Memphis act, The Tight Little Unit, who made it the title track of their album in 1967. The cover of that LP lists Terry Rose from Orchid Records and engineer Allen Worley.
Orchid of Memphis also released a rare Christian LP by Steve Engelhardt, Is It True, recorded at Cardinal Sound in Lexington, Kentucky.
Information from The Memphis Garage Rock Yearbook 1960-1975 by Ron Hall. Thanks to Kip Brown for the single!
The Barracudas, photo from Brown Paper SackThe Barracudas came from Bunkie, Louisiana, a small town south of Alexandria.
Members were:
John Haas – vocals Terry Fontanille – lead guitar Tommy McNabb – bass Alex Haas – drums
The photo above shows a quintet, so I’m not sure who the additional guitarist was.
According to Mark Prellberg’s article in Brown Paper Sack, the band started out as the Pickles and appeared on a Saturday morning TV show broadcast from Alexandria. After a show at a Chevy dealership, KDBX DJs Gene McDaniels and Larry Jorgensen signed them to a management deal. They cut one single in April 1965 at the KDBX studio for release on their managers’ Zundak label.
One side is “Baby Get Lost”, an original by Haas and Fontanille. Guitarist Terry Fontanille provides several excellent hooks with his picking, there’s plenty of background shouting and chirping of the chorus, and even a short drum break.
Clocking in at 1:43, the recording has been called ludicrously sped up, but I’ve played it at various speeds and believe that the pressing is only 1% or 2% fast, which wouldn’t be unusual for the time. One version online pitched down to 2:05 sounded too lethargic and off-key to me. The video below is close to what I feel is the correct speed. Singer John Haas was 15 at the time of recording, which could account for the high-pitched vocals.
The flip is a decent version of Jimmy Reed’s “Honest I Do” though the short guitar and drum break after the harmonica solo is hilarious.
After Alex Haas left for college, John Haas and Tommy McNabb formed Nobody’s Children, with no recordings that I know of. Billy Powell of Jimmy & the Offbeats from Baton Rouge recruited John Haas as vocalist for his new group, John Eric & the Isoceles Popsicles, making one single each for USA and Verve.
As John Eric and the Isosceles Popcicles, they had two pop singles circa 1968, “I’m Not Nice” / “Like Him” on USA Records 913 and “Gonna Change My Mind” (Haas, Amarosa, McRee) / “I Been Trying” on Verve VK-10589.
Zundak Records
The Barracudas was the second release on the Zundak label, Zundak 45-101, with “Baby Get Lost” published by Zundak Publ. Co. BMI and production by Zundak Music Enterprises, Alexandria, Louisiana.
The only other composition I can find published by Zundak is “A Soldier’s Christmas in Viet Nam” by Charles England, copyrighted by Zundak Pub. Co. in October 1966.
Besides the Barracudas, Zundak released an album:
102 – Catahoula Country Time (Ruble Wright)
And six other singles that I know of:
100 – Terry & the Pirates – “Someone Care For Me” / “Stackel-Teez” Feb’65 102 – Rhythm Kings – “Memphis” / “Runaway” 103 – Little Caesar & the Romans – “Don’t Cry No More” / “Night Train” 104 – Jimmy Ingram and Jimmy Williams and the Down Beaters – “I Need You” / “She’s Gone” (both by O.A. Raby) 105 – Betty Simpson – “Weeping Willow” / “What Is Love” 106 – The X-L’s – “Protest Against Protest” / “Blue Blue Feeling” (July 1966)
The X-L’s is a crude kind of garage record, while the Jimmy Ingram is gospel-style soul and the Betty Simpson is pop, with a good soul feeling on the b-side.
Some of the records were recorded at La Louisianne studios in Lafayette, about 90 miles to the southeast of Alexandria in central Louisiana.
Thank you to Max Waller and Teen Beat Mayhem for help with the Zundak discography.
The Sands of Time came from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and recorded one single on Stearly Records 8167 in August, 1967.
“Come Back Little Girl”, written by Feliciani, has a catchy intro with a distorted treble guitar sound.
The singer breathlessly calls out the lyrics to the flip “When She Crys For Me”, written by Ellis, with more cool buzzing guitar between verses. Bill Hamilton of Hamilton Productions produced the single.
I didn’t know the members’ names or anything much about the band until I heard from Mike Marr:
“Here is the earliest picture of the band, Bill Ellis (top right) and Joe Feliciani (bottom right). The accordionist did not stay very long with the band.”
At the time of this recording I was the bass player in the Sands of Time; the band members were:Joe Feliciani – lead guitar and vocals Bill Ellis – rhythm guitar and vocals John Furterer – drums and vocals Art Bernie – organ Mike Marr – bass
The original band members were all neighborhood friends. Back in the mid to late 60’s everybody wanted to play guitar. We would play in someone’s basement or living room. I guess you could say the band was officially organized by an older man named John Mullins who knew Joe Feliciani’s father.
Sands Of Time at Scanlon Recreation Center, Philadelphia, May or June, 1967
This was a picture [above] of our first playing job. It was at Scanlon Recreation Center in Philadelphia. I think this was taken May or June of 1967.
Art Bernie joined the band a few weeks after this picture was taken and he was from that neighborhood (Kensington) in Philadelphia.
The Sands of Time, circa 1967-8
We were ages fourteen to sixteen at the time of the recording. It was done at a studio in Camden New Jersey that was in a motel on Admiral Wilson Blvd. It was the Oasis Motel and the studio may have been named Palmer Studios.The name Stearly Recordings was chosen because it was the street where our crowd of friends lived and hung out. I don’t remember [producer] Bill Hamilton. It is possible that he knew and dealt with John Mullins who acted as our manager at the time.
That is a Vox bass. Later I bought a White Gibson EB3 (very rare color). I also had a fretless Dan Armstrong (clear body). The band evolved with other members as time went on but no other recordings were ever made.
The Sands of Time, circa 1967-8
These pictures [at right] show Art Bernie the organist but Joe Feliciani was no longer in the band and was replaced by Rick Sutcliff, and Bill Ellis remained for another year.This would have been Fall of 1967 and Winter of 1968. There was more evolution but this was the band at the time of the record recording and soon after.
Mike Marr
This band has no connection to the Sands of Time who recorded Red Light on Sterling Award records out of New York.
The Diplomats came from Wilmington, Delaware, where they recorded their only single at Ken-Del Studios. The A-side is the aptly-named “I’m Sad”, a maudlin original written by Chris Myers and Ed Welch with good guitar picking and harmonies. The flip is a good cover of “Route 66”.
Other than this I know nothing about the band.
Copyright registrations from September, 1966 have their names as Richard C. Myers and Edward P. Welch II.
The Midnight Shift, shortly before they became the Thomas Blood Band. Clockwise from top: Ken Victor, Bob Colone, Ed Jeffries and George Whitfield (aka George Werenka)
Midnight Shift came from Redford Township, Michigan, at the northwest tip of Detroit. Above is the Midnight Shift right before becoming the Thomas Blood Band. The original bass player was Ken Mose (not in photo), the photo shows his replacement, Ken Victor.
Members were:
George Werenka (stage name George Whitfield) – vocals Ed Pianasac (stage name Ed Jeffries) – guitar and vocals Ken Mose, replaced by Ken Victor – bass and vocals Bob Colone – drums and vocals
Their first release was “She’s Gone Far Away” b/w “Never Gonna Stop Lovin’ You”, both written by Ed Jeffreys and recorded sometime in late 1966.
The A-side is a gentle kind of love song while the flip has a harder sound with droning guitar and Bob Colane pounding the drums.
The band refined their sound for the next single in ’67, creating two beautiful melancholy compositions using acoustic guitar for rhythm.
“Every Day Without You”, written by Jeffries and Fazzio, is the more upbeat of the two, with excellent harmonies and hooks.
“Just Another Day”, written by Jeffries and Colone, is gentler and sadder, featuring a beautiful San Francisco-influenced electric solo.
They recorded both singles at M-S-I Recording Company in Livonia (next door to Redford). The band’s manager Bud Fazzio produced both singles.
I don’t know of other groups that used M-S-I Recording, I suspect it was the band’s own rehearsal or studio space.
Midnight Shift changed into the Thomas Blood Band, who played at the nearby Grande Ballroom and continues with different lineups to the present day.
Bob Lelli of the Thomas Blood Band sent in the photo at top and wrote to me:
Bob Colone, Ed Jeffries and Ken Victor started Thomas Blood Band playing at the Grande with the Turtles, T-Rex, Jeff Beck & Rod Stewart and more. Bob Colone came out front from drums, they got another drummer and he was lead vocalist until his drowning in 1973. At the time in negotiation for a recording contract with London Records and more. Thomas Blood still plays today. We are doing the 50th Grande Ballroom Anniversary Concert with the Yardbirds and more on Oct 8th, 2016.
Thank you to Kim for the photos below (can anyone help ID the members on these?)
http://www.motorcitymusicarchives.com/thomasblood.html Some photos of the members of Thomas Blood Band can be seen at Motor City Music Archives.
The Midnight Shift early photo with fifth member. Please help with IDs on this photo.The Midnight Shift on Swingin’ Time, with unidentified female, George Whitfield to her left. Please help with IDs on this photo.The Midnight Shift – or had they become Thomas Blood by this time? Please help with IDs on this photo.
The Shadows came from Hazelwood, North Carolina, a small town about 30 miles west of Asheville. Members included Dennis Robbins and Ken James.
The band traveled 150 miles east to Charlotte to record at Arthur Smith Studios, releasing their single on Switch Records in April, 1966. “Tell Me” is a good original by Robbins and James, a tight performance with an excellent guitar break. The flip is a version of Brubeck’s “Take Five” that gives the guitarist more room to stretch out. Switch seems to have been their own label, I haven’t seen anything else on it.
Two months later the band drove 280 miles in the other direction, west to Nashville, where they recorded another original, “She’s Like That” for release on Zeke Clements’ Gold Standard Records. “Tell Me” was reused for the flip side, though without all the heavy echo on the original Switch version. I believe it is the same take of the song, not a re-recording, and I prefer it without the echo.
Dennis Robbins and Kenneth James copyrighted both songs with Clements’ Blazon Music Co, BMI on June 21, 1966.
Gold Standard released over 200 singles during the ’60s. There are a handful of garage or teen-beat records, which I’ll list below, though some of them I haven’t heard and I’m not positive they fit here. While some artists were local to Nashville, it wasn’t unusual for Gold Standard to feature artists from around the country. The Cavemen came from Birmingham, Alabama and had an earlier single as J.C. & Cavemen. The Incidentals were from Montgomery, Alabama.
112 – The Cavemen (vocal by J.C. Raynor) – “Just One You For Me” (Hoyt Johnson) / “Tell Her One More Time For Me”
114 – The Incidentals – “Baby Shake” / “Till the Ending of Time” (both songs by James Segrest and Herbert Phelps, released Dec. ’64)
155 – The Coachmen (vocal by Tommy Burnett) – “I’ll Never Leave You” / “Possibility”
174 – Steve Stephens – “Lonely Me” (Ricky Ryan) / ‘When You Grow Tired Of Him”
204 – Ricky Ryan & Jerry Lee McKee – “My Baby’s Coming Home” / “Ask Me Baby”
209 – The Vee-Jay’s (lead singer Bill Boone) – “Give Your Heart to Me” (Ray D’ahrouge”) / ?
237 – Ronny Williams – “Move Up a Little Closer” (James Hendrix, Elijah & Geraldine Murray) / Larry Williams – “When You Grow Tired of Him”
262 – Five Emprees – “Little Miss Sad” / “Nobody Cares” (1967, re-recording with horns of their Freeport single from 1965)
286 – Paper Menagerie – “Left Up To You” (E. Macon) / “Love Again” (E. Macon & B.G. Gillespie) both pub. by Junellin Music BMI, prod. by Dick Sell Anyone have a photo of the Shadows? I’d like to know more about the Shadows or any of these other groups, especially the Paper Menagerie..
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 traveled Texas in 1966. Bill Lincoln married and moved to England, and left the group before they went to Texas. However, he would rejoin Wesley Watt within a year or two for the sessions for Euphoria’s 1969 album on Capitol.
Euphoria featured in Scott Holtzman’s nowsounds column, Houston_Post, June 19, 1966
Euphoria arrived in Houston in the spring of 1966. Scott Holtzman saw them at La Maison and featured them in his June 19, 1966 nowsounds column.
A trio (plus one child) fresh from Hollywood’s Sunset Strip called Euphoria. They’re playing at La Maison and recording at Houston’s Andrus Productions.
Drummer: David Potter, 18. Guitar: Wesley Watt, 19. Bass: Pat Connally, 19. Tambourine and Harmonica: Robbie, 3.
The Scene? A Houston apartment. Three longhaired musicians, two girls called Kym and Joe and one small boy called Robbie.
Wes: “The only reason we’re different is because we’re out of place. In LA, we’d be in place. Just ordinary.”
What is Psychedelic Rock? Dave: We don’t know. We play our own music. Wes: The phonies put the labels on it and we just play. Dave: Really weird, way-out stuff. Teenagers love confusion. Wes: You get carried away on your highs .. and you’re pounding all the time and it’s just shriek … shrieking noises. Dave: Most people think when we’re playing we’re loaded on dope, ya know. We’re not. We just get involved in our music … euphoria.
They don’t like Houston groups except the 13th Floor Elevators.
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.
In a later column by Scott Holtzman titled What is Psychedelic? he wrote:
Houston has had some of the leading exponents of this kind of music, but the most pure form of it I have personally heard live was a group called Euphoria, which has since disbanded. I’ve heard unreleased tapes and spent time around these guys and I’m truly sorry they couldn’t stick together, because there were strong leaders of the trend.
By July 24, 1966, they had left Texas as Holtzman wrote in his column that week: “Wesley Watt of Euphoria called Frank Davis from LA and asked him to come out there and engineer and play and sing on their sessions. Frank would rather stay at Andrus Productions though.”
Pat Connolly left the band either in Texas or when they returned to California. Watts and Potter returned to California, taking Misfits members James Harrell on guitar and Peter Black on bass with them.
Houston artist and band manager George Banks wrote to me:
Euphoria did come into Houston about high times for the Elevators and others of the IA time frame. They were a sizzlin’ three piece group. Wesley Watt, David Potter, drums and Pat on bass … Euphoria and the guys from the Misfits got along quite well and … through some differences .. all together left for LA, minus [Misfits lead guitarist] Frost, who having married early on and was with their first child, did not travel to CA with everyone else.
We played around out there, got a recording contract. I brought the first release [Euphoria’s “Hungry Woman” / “No Me Tomorrow” 45 on the Mainstream label] back to Houston and presented it to Larry Kane. It didn’t really take off, Euphoria hadn’t stuck around town long enough to really develop any notoriety, or following.
The band in LA went through a lot of emotional changes in part due to the fact that Wesley and David were married (and drugs). The times got tough, to even feed ourselves. James, Pete and I headed back to Houston.
Euphoria mentioned in nowsounds, Houston Post, October 9, 1966
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,
In his October 9, 1966 nowsounds column, Scott Holtzman wrote: “George Banks, manager of Euphoria, is in town promoting their new Mainstream single. Wesley and Dave have combined with two former Misfits, (James Harrell and Pete Black) and their sound is something else.”
At these sessions Euphoria cut two originals by James Harrell, “I Realize” and “It Could Do Us No Wrong”, but these were left unreleased and eventually lost.
Despite a good push from Bob Shad, the single didn’t make much of an impact. Back in Houston, Scott Holtzman wrote in his November 6, 1966 nowsounds column: “Euphoria broke up for good. George Banks is building a new group from the old Misfits into Lost & Found.”
In 1967, Potter and Watt joined Lee Michaels band where they played on Michaels’ album Carnival of Life with Gary Davis and John Keski, released in January 1968.
In his February 25, 1968 nowsounds column, Scott Holtzman wrote “[In Los Angeles] I ran into Wesley Watt, who you’ll remember as lead guitarist with Euphoria about a year ago in Houston. Wesley was all strung out back in Houston, but you should see him now. He is really into the meditation and has even become a vegetarian.”
Potter joined the East Side Kids in time to play on their 1968 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.
The Coachmen Five have this one obscure release from May of 1966 on the Kiski label. The band was from Oakdale, Pennsylvania, a small town about 20 minutes west of Pittsburgh. The Kiski label was located in North Apollo, PA, an even smaller town about 45 minutes drive northeast of Pittsburgh.
The singing is somewhat eccentric, but the band ably rocks out on both songs, originals written by Horpenska. A comment below lists members of the band as including Joe Horpenska on vocals, Jeff Thomas on bass and Denny Singer on drums.
I can find almost no info about the band, but this seems to be one of the later releases on the Kiski label, at least of the 20xx series. Kiski had over a dozen 45 releases in the early ’60s ranging from country to religious to soul to garage. Kiski started with Vandergrift, PA listed on the labels, then Freeport, PA, then New Apollo, PA.
Any help with this discography would be appreciated.
Kiski 2050 – Jacklads (arr. Dick & Jack Tody, sax Dick Tody) – “Alouette” / “Hot Toddy” Kiski 2051 – Men From Mars – “I’ve Been With Jesus”, “Lord Build Me a Cabin” / “Previous Memories”, “The Fourth Man” Kiski 2052 – Faulkner Bros., Gary & Dick – “In The Chapel In The Moonlight” / Gary & Dick Faulkner – “Guitar Boogie” 1961 Kiski 2053 – Jack Cartwright & the String Kings – “I’ve Lost You Forever” / “Actions Speak Louder Than Words” Kiski 2054 – ? Kiski 2055 – Barnes Brothers – “All Mixed Up Inside” / “Don’t Blame Me” Kiski 2056 – The Alma-Keys (vocals) with the Citations – “Please Come Back To Me” (Roland Hayden) / “Jumpin’ Twist” Kiski 2057 – Tawni Simms – “Will You Please Be Mine” / “Goodbye My Love”
Kiski 2063 – Ed “Tex” Belin & the Bel-Marts – “I Can’t Help It (If I’m Still In Love With You)” / “I Overlooked An Orchid” 1963 Kiski 2064 – The Renditions – “That’s When I Cried” (David M. Wells) / “Time Goes By” (Thomas B. Kennie & David M. Wells) 1964 Kiski 2065 – The Chevrons – “Who Does He Cry To” / “Jones Girl” Kiski 2066 – The Thundermen – “Thunderbeat” / “Conjagua” Kiski 2067 – The Marauders – “Slidin’ In” (Ronald Misejka) / “Kosta Rica” Kiski 2067 – The Royal Rebels – “Drive In” / “Mojo Workout” Kiski 2068 – The Kruisers – “C’mon Sweet Baby” (James Robeson) / “Karen” Kiski 2069 – The Four Dimensions – “Moe’s Cast” / “I’m In Heaven”
Kiski 2072 – The Coachmen Five – “I Will Cry Today” / “I’m Comin’ Home”
Possibly DJ Bob Livorio of WKPA in New Kensington had something to do with the label.
The Royal Rebels came all the way from Cortland, Ohio, and had another recording as the Rhythm Rebels on Sunburst, “The Things You Do” / “Littlest Hobo”.
The Kruisers came from the towns of Sarver and Butler, PA, about 40 miles to the northwest of North Apollo. The Kruiser had another single on the Process label “It’s the Way She …” / “Panther Walk” in December of 1965, and another as the Lost Ones “I Can’t Believe You” / “I Wanna Know” on Mersey 002 in 1966.
In addition there are at least two LPs on Kiski, the Kiski Area High School Second Annual Choral Spring Concert and the Men From Mars Music From Out Of This World. Kiski also released at least one LP and single of polka and Slovakian music by Eddie Mack & His Orchestra, but with a different numbering system than the singles above.
The Jades of Muncie, from left: David Smith, Gary Royer, John Terhune, and Greg Hood
The Jades came from Muncie, Indiana, a college town about 60 miles northeast of Indianapolis. Kathy Knecht sent in the photo above asking for more information about the Jades.
Members were:
Gary Royer – lead guitar John Terhune – bass Greg Hood – organ David Smith – drums
The Jades had two singles, both with excellent original songs.
The first was “I Cried” / ” Once Upon a Time” in December 1965 on Holiday, a label from Union, Kentucky, just southwest of Cincinnati.
The second was “Come Back” (Greg Hood) / “Change My Ways” (Gary Royer) on the Denim label, release #1078 in March of 1967. Denim Records would go on to release four singles by the Chosen Few and one that I haven’t heard by the Affectionate Armpit.
Greg Hood sent in the two photos seen below and commented:
We all were singers. Gary and I wrote the songs we recorded but the whole band had input on the final product. The greatest thing about this band is that we were such good friends.
Greg would go on to join the December’s Children, who recorded “Keep on Runnin'” and “99 and A Half” on the Classic Records label.
The Jades, from left: Gary Royer, David Smith, Greg Hood and John Terhune
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 Taboos came from Long Island, New York, cutting only one single in 1967 for La Salle Records. I don’t have much info on the band other than song writer names.
