“This photo was taken in 1967 in the high school auditorium before we were to play.” – Les Roberts. From left: Mike Riggle, Don Prilop, Les Roberts, Henry Munson, and Dwayne Sanders.
An underrated 45, the Brym-Stonz Ltd cut the excellent “You’ll Be Mine” on the Custom label sometime in late 1967 or ’68.
Although I thought it was recorded at Robin Hood Brians’ studio in Tyler, TX, like other Custom 45s by Billy McKnight and the Reddlemen, Les Roberts states that it was recorded in Custom owner Curtis Kirk’s garage.
“You’ll Be Mine” is fine, moody garage, with a prominent bass line and some unusual chording on guitar and organ. It was written by Dwayne Sanders, while the psychedelic ballad on the flip, “Times Gone By” was written by Leslie Roberts.
Members on the single were:
Leslie Roberts – lead guitar and vocals Mike Riggle – rhythm guitar / 12-string Rickenbacker, vocals Henry Munson – Vox Continental organ Dwayne Sanders – Hagstrom bass Don Prilop – drums
Earlier members included Ronnie Rogers and Pat Howard.
Curtis Kirk ran the Custom label and seems to have put his name on every song he ever released, but I doubt he contributed to lyrics like “Colored contrasts call me back from illusions of love/ the variations of oceans of lavender skies!”
I recently heard from Les Roberts, lead guitarist and one of the singers for the band:
The Brym-Stonz were a band from Angleton, south of Houston. We were in high school and like most bands met through wanting to play music. We played lots of school functions and after game dances.
The band members were Henry Munson (Vox Continental organ), Don Prilop (drums), Dwayne Sanders (Hagstrom bass), the late Mike Riggle (rhythm/12 string Rickenbacker) who sang the lead vocal on “You’ll Be Mine”, and Leslie Roberts (lead guitar and vocal on “Times Gone By”). The [1968] picture of the band is from after Dwayne Sanders had left.
We recorded these songs in December 1967 at Curtis Kirk’s studio converted garage in Tyler. We actualy recorded 4 songs in Tyler but only put the two songs on record. Curtis Kirk always put his name as a co-writer on songs he recorded. Probably to garner writers royalties in case the song did well.
I used to make the dances at the Brazoria County Fairgrounds auditorium each weekend. I got to see lots of local and regional bands such as BJ Thomas and the Triumphs, Roy Head and the Traits, Freddy Koenig and the Jades, Fever Tree, and others.
We formed another band in ’72 called Moonchild and over the years people left. I still play in a band called Dog Town Blues but everyone else has stopped playing.
Les Roberts
1968 clipping, from left: Don Prilop, Leslie Roberts, Mike Riggle and Henry MunsonEarly photo of Brym-Stonz Ltd wearing jackets borrowed from the Reddlemen! From left: Les Roberts, Dwayne Sanders, Ronnie Rogers, Henry Munson, and Pat Howard
I knew hardly anything about The Scribes until I was put in touch with their lead guitarist Danny Brewer. Danny kindly answered my questions over the phone this last Sunday.
As it turns out, the band was from Rock Hill, South Carolina. Besides Danny, their members were Ray Howison guitar and keyboards, Darryl Whitington bass and Steve White on drums.
Danny and Ray formed the band in 10th grade in high school, initially playing local skating rinks, private parties and a bowling alley. Their main competition was a group called the Open Roads.
The Scribes recorded this 45 at Arthur Smith Studios in Charlotte, North Carolina, just 25 miles from Rock Hill. The band was about 16 years old at the time. This studio, owned by Arthur “Guitar Boogie” Smith, was also the one used by the Paragons on their classic punker “Abba”, not to mention where James Brown recorded “Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag”.
Lively guitar work and good singing distinguish “Just Last Night”, written by Danny Brewer and Steve White. Danny told me he used a different guitar tuning for this song, tuning the high E string down to a B.
The A-side “Wishes” is more conventional, but enjoyable nonetheless, it was written by Brewer and Howison.
The Okay label was named after the OKay Boys and Mens shop, whose owners helped the band get their record produced. The band pressed up several hundred copies which they sold to friends in high school. The photo was taken with a friend’s car on the campus of Winthrop University.
For decades this record was unknown outside the area, but a number of unplayed copies with the sleeve turned up a few years ago and started trading for a lot of money. I saved myself close to $200 by buying a used copy of the 45 without the sleeve.
After high school the band added horns, becoming the Scribes Revue, specializing in soul music and playing clubs and colleges around the area. Eventually Danny was the only original member left in the group.
After the Scribes Revue, Danny joined Billy Scott and the Georgia Prophets. Danny played guitar on the Three Prophets’ modern soul 45 from 1971, “I Think I Really Love You” on the Together label.
Thanks to Danny Brewer and to Mike Cobb for putting us in touch.
The Jolly Green Giants are THE great Pacific Northwest band whose story remains unknown.
They took their band name from the Kingsmen’s hit. They had only one record but both sides are monsters! It was originally released on the Redcoat label, but maybe because the Green Giant company objected, it was re-released on Result with the band name changed to the J.G. Giants.
“Caught You Red Handed” is up there with the Sonics for heaviness. It was written by C. Anderson, and D. Cole, though on the Redcoat label only Anderson is listed.
“Busy Body” was originally written and recorded by Roy Lee Johnson on the Okeh label in 1962, but the Jolly Green Giants probably picked their version up from Jimmy Hanna and the Dynamics, a popular Washington live act who released both studio and live versions of the song on the Bolo label in around 1965.
The Jolly Green Giants up the pace and energy level considerably on their version with clipped guitar and Hammond organ chords and a strong vocal performance. Locked into the drums during the verses, the bass guitar breaks into fantastic runs during the choruses. Maybe this is why their song publishing company is called Pulsation Music!
For some reason, the spoken intro common to all the previous versions (“Busy body one time y’all!”) is left off the Result 45.
The band also has an unissued acetate which I haven’t heard, “Up Above Their Knees”, that’s supposed to be good as well.
Here’s a possible lead from reader Steve Snell:
In the mid-late 60’s I used to play Hammond B-3 organ with a group called Chuck Anderson and the Jolly Green Giants at a club called Shapps in Pasadena. I know they played in Vegas sometime before I joined them. When I played with them we were simply a cover band – top forty stuff. We didn’t do any recording while I was with them. Is this that C. Anderson and that Jolly Green Giants? If so I would love to hear from someone.
I’d long read they were from Oregon but it turns out they were from Spokane, Washington, all the way to the east of the state near Idaho. The brother of the Jolly Green Giants lead singer is Bob Anderson, who commented and answered some of my questions about the Jolly Green Giants:
The lead singer of the Jolly Green Giants is my brother. Chuck Anderson. My brothers group started in Spokane. With Gary on drums; Dennis on keyboard; Harvey on sax; and Vick on bass.
I also played in a band based out of Spokane WA. The Madd Hatters. We had a record out for a while called “Little Girl In The 4th Row”. Written by Paul Revere. The other side was “Hey Girl” written by Chuck Anderson. We changed it a little.
My band the Foosteps changed the name the the Madd Hatters when we put out the 45. A lot of air time in the northwest but only sold a few thousand copies.
The 45 was produced by John Fisher, and released in January of 1967. A Cash Box article from January 7, 1967 notes the single was out and the band currently playing at the Haunted House. Fisher owned Redcoat Records, and also had ownership or interest in the Crusader, Park Ave, Current and Rally labels. According to Record World, Fisher had experience doing promotion in an area stretching from Seattle to Phoenix to Los Angeles and beyond.
That’s all I have for now, but I hope to get more answers soon.
The Hard Times, l-r.: Daily Vandergrif drums, Mike Melton bass, Ronnie Melton keyboards, Mike Pair guitar, Ron Parr guitar, and Mike Gunnels vocals
I wrote about the Rites of Spring a few months ago, but now I can bring you the whole story of this Birmingham, Alabama group. As the Hard Times they recorded one 45 on the Ultimate label, “Losing You” backed with the excellent “You Couldn’t Love Me”.
By winning a WVOK battle-of-the-bands, the band attracted the attention of Cameo-Parkway Records, which had just hired Michigan singer Terry Knight as a staff producer after his 45 “I (Who Have Nothing)” on Lucky Eleven (distributed nationally by Cameo-Parkway) had become a sizeable hit. The Hard Times would be his first project for the label, but first they had to change their name to the Rites of Spring to avoid conflict with the San Diego/LA group of the same name who had records out on World Pacific.
The folky “Why (?)” was released in October, 1966, with the much harder edged “Comin’ On Back To Me” on the flip. Both songs were written by Michael Gunnels and Ronald Parr. The band promoted the record on the national TV show, Where the Action Is.
I recently spoke to Mike Pair, guitarist with the Hard Times and the Rites of Spring, and he gave me the full story about the band.
Q. How did the Hard Times form? Were you friends in school or in other bands?
Mike Pair: I played with Mike Gunnels in another band which lasted about 3 months. He then met the rest of the group who were trying to form a band, and when they needed another guitar, he suggested me. They all went to Woodlawn High School together – except me.
The Hard Times’ “Losing You” was produced and recorded here in Birmingham at Boutwell Studies. Ed Boutwell shot all the civil rights footage from Birmingham with the fire hoses and dogs that you still see on the TV. Steve Norris, a local DJ, produced it. “You Couldn’t Love Me” was a one take song just to fill the other side of the record. “Losing You” got to #1 on the top local charts in Birmingham. We also did a lot of work for the WSGN DJs. WSGN was a great radio station.
We were busy every weekend throughout the south. We booked from Lowery Talent in Atlanta. They also had Tommy Roe, Joe South, Bobby Goldsboro, and the Tams. They picked us up because we won a 300 band “Battle of the Bands” There were so many bands, it lasted 2 days and we won.
Q. How did the Hard Times come to the attention of Cameo Parkway?
Mike: The Cameo Parkway record and Where the Action Is came through Lowery Talent. We were still the Hard Times, [but the California group] the Hard Times band was a regular on that show, so that was the reason for the name change to the Rites of Spring. If we had turned down the Action deal, we could have kept the name.
Q. Tell me about recording the Rites of Spring record.
Mike: We recorded both sides in Philly. Chubby Checker was there too.
Q. One website says that Terry Knight took your demo and re-recorded the vocals and some tracks, and improved it. Is that how you see it?
Mike: No, that part is not correct. The cut for the record company was the first one and we had not recorded that song before. Terry was a little weird even in those days. After we would do a cut, he would just sit there and stare into space not saying anything for long periods of time. We would just stand in the studio and wait until he came out of his “zone”. When Chubby Checker came in and sat in on some of the session, things were a little better and he acted more normal.
Q. Did you ever see any money from Cameo for the Rites of Spring 45?
Mike: Not a dime!!! They never pushed the record, and the only reason we can figure out was “96 Tears” came out about the same time and it was more of an instant hit that our record was, so it got all the promo money. We had one more record in our contract, but if I remember correctly, Cameo Parkway went south and out of existence not too long after we recorded, and the second record never got made.
We were on ‘Where the Action Is’ about two weeks before the show ended: #444, March 16th, 1967, and the show ended with #455, March 31, 1967. We were the first Alabama band on national TV.
We went to LA to film and went to a disco (can’t remember the name). It was during the riots on Sunset strip that year. The hotel would not give us a room because with our long hair (long for those days, you wouldn’t look twice now): they thought we were there for the riots. Dick Clark Productions had to call the hotel to tell them who we were and that it was ok to give us a room. Filmed with Neil Diamond, and the Royal Guardsman from Florida who did all those Snoopy and the Red Baron songs.
Q. That’s interesting you filmed with the Royal Guardsmen and Neil Diamond, because the episode you’re on features Keith Allison and Paul Revere and the Raiders – did they use footage from different times for the show?
Mike: Yes, they filmed all over the country and then picked which date they would show what. There might be 5 bands on a show filmed in 5 different places. We actually filmed the show several months before it aired. Keith Allison introduced us as a band from one of his favorite towns, Birmingham, Alabama. The Action crew had actually filmed some in Birmingham, and our keyboard player had a date with one of the Action dancers. That was pretty cool at that time.
[If anyone has a copy of the Rites of Spring on Where the Action Is, please get in touch, as Mike would like to see the performance after all these years.]
Los Angeles’ KRLA Beat magazine, Nov. 5, 1966 Terry Knight producing the Hard Times, mistakenly listed as from Atlanta!Mike: The band broke up about 9 months after the Action appearance as Uncle Sam was calling most of us. It was great fun for a few years and we did shows with the Animals, Herman’s Hermits, Tommy James, the Byrds and Tommy Roe. Lots of great memories and good times. Mike Melton found some tapes we made at Fame studios with Rick Hall producing (Muscle Shoals, Alabama). I have listened to the tapes and there is some good stuff on them. Its funny that all the songs on there we wrote and they are all “death songs”, which is far from our stage act. All stuff on stage was up beat!!Mike Melton, the bass player, and Ronnie Melton, the keyboard player are still here in Birmingham and I see them often. Ron Parr who co-wrote most of our songs was killed in ‘Nam. Mike Gunnels, our lead singer made a small hit in Nashville on his own, but then fell out of sight. Daily Vandergriff our drummer is in West Virginia and is in the National Guard.
p.s. The shirts were in the early days. We got pretty grungy at the last!!
The Hard Times
Mike Pair sent me a tape of the demo sessions at Fame. Some of the songs are downers, but they’re not all death songs! Many are very accomplished and some have contemporary country influences. The demos include later versions of “Losing You” and “You Couldn’t Love Me”, plus the following songs: “Don’t Love You Anymore”, “Memories of You”, “Rain Song”, “She’s Gone”, “If You Want Me to Go”, “Time for Me to Go”, “Suzie Q”, “Caretaker”, “Lotta Livin’ to Do”. George Wiggin provides harmony on some tracks.
Thank you to Mike Pair for sharing his photo of the Hard Times and for all his help in getting their story told. The WGSN card is from a great site on Birmingham Mike told me about, Birmingham Rewound.
Thanks also to Jeff Lemlich for the scans of the Frankford Wayne acetate.
Update, September 2011
The demo record pictured here was from Frankford Wayne Recording Labs, the leading mastering studio in Philadelphia, but not the recording studio for these songs. The band is still known as “The Hardtimes” (sic), though this would be released under the Rites of Spring name.
The Hardtimes Frankford-Wayne demo, “Why” is the same as the released version.“No Name” is actually an instrumental version of “Comin’ On Back to Me” without vocals or keyboard or guitar overdubs. Mike Pair told me “That is Ron [Parr on lead guitar], but my guitar answer is not on the [demo] record”. This bare-bones version sounds great to my ears.
The dense, echo-laden production and almost spoken vocals match this song’s dark, obsessive lyrics. A real obscurity, this Allied label also released “Mini-Skirt Blues” by the Flower Children.
“He Means So Much to Me” was written by Robert Bennett Bailey and Douglas Hunsaker. Hunsaker was in Starbuck and the Rainmakers (“I Who Have Nothing” / “Let Your Hair Hang Long” on Valiant in 1966), & Eddie Todd and the Rainmakers (“No Easy Way Down” / “Waiting For Wednesday” on Dot in 1969).
The flip side, “You Cheated”, is a version of the Slades 1958 hit, and the original A-side to the record. Sunday and the Menn released a similar arrangement of “You Cheated” in 1967 on the Sidewalk label; it’s possible Marilyn Mattson’s version slightly predates theirs.
This came with a picture sleeve (see comments below), and I’ve seen one scrawled with “Sioux Falls” (maybe she came from South Dakota?) and “”Scepter Wand just picked up” (except Scepter didn’t).
From photos in Nevada newspapers, it seems possible that Marilyn came from Sparks, Nevada, and married Donald Lee Jones in Reno in 1965.
from left: F.G. Renaud, Bobby Ledesma, E.J. Ledesma (inside the car), Manny Carmona & Rafael Saldana. Thank you to Gloria for providing the names in her comment below.
The Cruisers came from Harlingen, Texas in the Rio Grande Valley, like Noe Pro and Simon Reyes.
The Cruisers released at least eight singles on local south Texas labels. I didn’t know the lineup of the band until Gloria commented (see below) that the members on the sleeve above were:
E.J. Ledesma – lead vocals & guitar Rafael “Kai” Saldana – lead guitar Manny Carmona – sax Bobby Ledesma – bass F.G. Renaud – drums Arnold Cano – trumpet, keyboards
Other members may have included Joe Rodriguez. More info on the band would be appreciated.
They had five 45s on the Pharaoh label from nearby McAllen, Texas, some of which are very pop oriented. The third 45 on Pharaoh, “My Place” fetched a lot of money when it sold recently, but I have no idea as to its quality.
Arnold Cano wrote to me with information about his time in the Cruisers:
The Cruisers were the first band I played with. The person most directly responsible for me joining my first professional band was Carlos (Charlie) Ledesma. He is EJ Ledesma’s younger brother and was in the Harlingen Coakley Band when I met him. Carlos is the one I will thank for the rest of my life for getting me involved in music.
I came to Coakley halfway through 8th grade from a private school in Brownsville. Lived in Harlingen and wanted to play in the school band. Ended up playing French horn and sat next to Carlos, who played saxophone. He was the one that told me that the band (Cruisers) needed a trumpet player and asked me if I thought I might be able to fill that spot. Even though I had just started playing the French horn that year I decided to give it a try. Asked my parents if they would help me monetarily with purchasing a trumpet and they did. Went to Bledsoe’s Music and bought one, to this day I still thank them for the support they gave me all through the years in music.
Carlos and I were considered younger brothers to the guys and we looked up to them as such. I was 15 and in the 9th grade when I recorded “Oh Sweetness” with the guys, I luckily wrote the month and year on the 45 back then or else there would be no way I would remember now.
I eventually moved on to playing keyboard, again asking my parents for the help. They never hesitated and soon I was playing keyboards with the band. What I don’t remember are the circumstances of leaving the band.
I also played with Noe Pro for a bit … Ray and The Carousels (formerly The Belaires), Los Hermanos Ramos, La Justicia, Tequila Sunrise, Kaos (this was at The Helipad), The AllNighter’s, Tequila Mockingbird and then moved to San Antonio with my AT&T job and played with a Texano band there. I transferred to the Dallas area to follow my telephone job and met an old musician friend I had played with in the valley (Henry Lee). Played in his band, Slick, for a couple of years and then got a call from another friend (Kevin Martin) that I had played with in Kaos Band back in the valley. He was going to contract event gigs and already had a couple of agents. I jumped at the opportunity to get away from the nightly club gigging. Started playing with his band (HitSquad) in Houston. It is a drive but we just do corporate and better paying events. I’ve played many years and still love the music.
E.J. Ledesma, who has had a long career in Tejano music wrote many of their songs including “My Place”, “Another Lonely Night”, “Please Let Me Be (The One for You)” and “Oh! Sweetness”. If anyone has scans or mp3s of the other Pharaoh records, please let me know.
The Cruisers had two releases on the ARV International label, also from McAllen, “Just Having Fun” and “Movin’ Man” were written, arranged and produced by Bobby Ledesma. The b-sides to each are lighter, with “Lucky Man” featuring horns.
List of 45 releases:
Pharaoh 125 – An Angel Like You / The Lonely (1964) Pharaoh 128 – Another Lonely Night / Please Let Me Be (The One For You) Pharaoh 139 – My Place / Walkin’ and a Ridin’ (1965) Pharaoh 148 – The Fire’s Gone / Oh! Sweetness (Aug. 1966) Pharaoh 155 – Celina / Baby Doll (February 1967) ARV 5004 – Just Having Fun / Lucky Man (May 1967) ARV 5010 – Movin’ Man / Children Playing In The Sun Impacto IM-178 – Down By the River / I Can’t Believe It (1968)
For more on the Pharaoh label see the article on this site.
Thank you to Fred Hoyt for the scans of “Another Lonely Night” / “Please Let Me Be” and the sleeve, to Westex and Max Waller for additions to the discography, and to Danny and Gloria for the info on the band in their comments, below. Thank you to Arnold Cano for his story on the group.
Don’t know a thing about this band other than the Argentine origin. “Me voy de fiesta con mis amigos” is a cool rocker with an “A Day in the Life” interlude and strange ending that seems to cut too soon. The song was written by ‘Timoteo’.
“The Bittersweets, taken under Butterfly Rock on top of South Mountain. That’s Bob Sutko, lead singer, Paul Bennett, drums, Skip Ladd, lead guitar, Alan Chitwood, bass, & Greg Farley, rhythm guitar.” – Skip Ladd
Bob Sutko vocals and harmonica, Greg Farley guitar, Allan Chitwood bass and Paul Bennett drums were the Bitter Sweets of Scottsdale, Arizona.
Their first single is the slow and melancholy “She Treats Me Bad”, written by Bob Sutko and Paul Bennett with P. Boynton. I’m not sure who P. Boynton was, but a Tony Boynton played with another Phoenix group, the Young Men. It was released in June or July of 1966 on the Hype label.
For the flip, “Cry Your Eyes Out”, Sutko and Farley wrote new lyrics to the music of the Byrds’ “I’ll Feel a Whole Lot Better”, and it worked well enough to reach the charts on KRUX AM in Phoenix in September of ’66.
A few months later they released “She Treats Me Bad” again on the Chari label a with a different b-side, “Road to Rann”, written by Bob Sutko and Allan Chitwood. By this time Paul “Skip” Ladd from the Laser Beats joined on lead guitar.
Second release of “She Treats Me Bad”
Skip Ladd wrote to me:
The manager Chari Zelman hired me to change the sound of the Bitter Sweets because they sounded too much like the Byrds. I wasn’t on the Hype label 45 and hated playing “She Treats Me Bad”, depressing, but it was a gig and loved playing lead guitar with Twentieth Century Zoo. I wrote the oboe parts, played 12 string parts, and the piano parts, wrote and sang the harmony parts when I was 18.
“Road To Rann” was recorded at Audio Recorders on 7th Street in Phoenix. Only rock song to start with an oboe solo.
The band moved out to Los Angeles in 1967 and released one final 45 on Original Sound: “In the Night” / “Another Chance”, both written by written by T. Evans and Bob Sutko. After this 45, the band became the Twentieth Century Zoo with two 45s on Chari A. Zellman’s CAZ label, plus two more singles and an LP Thunder on a Clear Day on Vault. At some point Randy Wells replaced Paul Bennett on drums.
The Chari and Original Sound 45s list the band as one word, the Bittersweets.
According to a comment below, Bob Sutko and Paul Bennett have passed away.
Thank you to Garry Baur for the scans of the Chari and Original Sound 45s and to Skip Ladd for the photo of the band.
The Apollos: front and center Wayne Groves, middle row (left-right): Tommy Vorhauer and Jim Price, back row from left: Dave Harney, John Parisi , and Don Harney. This is the original Apollos band established in early 1964 by Jim Price and Dave Harney.
Updated Jan. 2, 2012
From McLean, Virginia, the Apollos went through several personnel changes while leaving behind demos, live tapes and two 45s as their legacy. I’ve read conflicting accounts of who was in the band when, but with feedback from Jim Price and Tommy Vorhauer, this seems to be correct:
The original band consisted of brothers Dave and Don Harney on guitar, Jim Price on bass, and Dave Elliot on drums. Jan Sylvester soon replaced Elliot on drums was himself replaced by Wayne Groves, and Jon Parisi came in on keyboards. The band’s repertoire leant heavily on surf numbers until they added Tommy Vorhauer on vocals. This is the group in the photo at top.
A win at a local battle of the bands gave them studio time at Edgewood Recording Studio in D.C., and they cut several sides, including early versions of “That’s the Breaks” and “Country Boy”. They re-recorded these two for their own Delta label in 1965.
“Country Boy” is a fine surf instrumental written by Don Harney. Surprisingly it has never been comped before. “That’s the Breaks” has great drumming and nice fluid guitar work with a strong vocal by Vorhauer. I’m not sure who’s playing the organ on this 45.
Tom Vorhauer clarified some points about the band in a comment below that I’ll reproduce here:
Jon Parisi played keyboard and wrote the music for “That’s the Breaks”. I wrote the words and sang lead vocal. I also sang lead vocals on “Target Love” and “It’s a Monster”. We were playing on M street in Washington DC at Mack’s Pipe and Drum and were approached by two gentlemen who were scouts for Paramount Artists. They were interested in signing the Apollos to a record contract but on one condition, they wanted to replace our manager Bill Moser, we refused and never signed.
By late 1966 Vorhauer, Groves and Parisi had left to be replaced by Doug Collins on vocals, Dwight James on keyboards and Wayne Goubilee on drums. Their second 45, “Target Love” b/w “It’s a Monster” on the Montgomery label is a great double-sided 45. I hope to feature it in the future, but it seems to be rarer than the Delta one.
There’s also a live tape of the band, with good versions of “Dirty Water” and “I’m Crying”. At some point they were turned down by MGM, and that seems to be the end of their story.
In December, 2011 Jim Price contacted me and gave some background on the group:
We were from McLean, Virginia, not Falls Church. Dave, Don and I all lived in Woodside Estates, McLean. That’s where it all started in 1963. I was playing my guitar on our front porch and Dave and Don came wandering up and introduced them selves and said they played as well. I was playing lead guitar, Dave rhythm and Don played bass.We switched up as time went on and everyone found their niche.
We did our demo cut of 4 songs at Edgewood:
1. “That’s The Breaks” words by Tommy Vorhauer and music by the band. 2. “Country Boy” by Don Harney 3. “Dance Dance Dance” (Beach Boys) sung by Wayne Groves 4. “Mr. Lonely”, a remake of the original, sung by Tommy Vorhauer
“Mr. Lonely” was to be our front side of the first 45 but we decided to go with two original songs instead. They were both hits but “Mr. Lonely” would have been a hit as well. It would today.
I created “Delta Music Company” with the help of our agent Bill Moser, thus Delta on the label. We outsourced the art work for the label. Since Edgewood had recorded the songs we contracted through them to have the records pressed and the labels put on them. The records would then be made and sent to us and Bill and I would take them out to the stores and put them on the shelves. In those days you could put your records in stores on consignment. It was all we could do to keep up.
MGM did offer to buy the rights to “That’s The Breaks” but we turned them down. Paramount contacted our agent Bill Mosser three times trying to get us to sign a contract with them but we would lose $ on each record that was sold so we turned them down. Within 3 weeks of the last turndown, our records were not being played on any radio station in the nation. Paramount told Bill that “the boys will be sorry they did;nt sign with them.” The stores even started refusing to slot them any more. “Target Love” and “It’s A Monster” only made it to #10 before it vanished from the airways.
Through this phase the band members were: Don Harney, Dave Harney, Wayne Groves, John Parisi (now John Ian), Jim Price and Tommy Vorhauer. Some time after that John Parisi left the band and we added Dwight James.
The summer of 1966 we recorded “It’s A Monster” and “Target Love” on the Montgomery Label. I can’t remember the name of the studio. Shortly after that Tommy and I left the band and went to Boston to college. Dave and Don Harney continued to run the band with a new drummer who was the singer as well. When I was home on break, I would go and sing with them down in Georgetown, lots of fun.
The band stayed together for a while longer then everyone seemed to go their own way. Tommy is now in Denver, Dave is in Dayton Ohio, Don is in Seattle, Wayne is in Great Falls VA, John Ian DC, Dwight Fairfax VA and I am in Hot Springs, Arkansas.
My oldest son Jason Price does production work in his spare time in the northern VA area – take a look at www.squadcar37.com.
The Werps recorded one 45 for the WGW label of Somerville, New Jersey in 1967. People who think horns have no place in garage songs dislike “Love’s a Fire”, but I think the horns help the sense of mayhem, and I dig the soloing over the drum rolls. There’s really no other record from any era quite like this one.
Tim Warren made a huge effort to get a version without the horns for Back from the Grave vol. 6, but wound up with a slower take without the shouting and intensity of the 45 that dissatisfied most everyone.
“Shades of Blue” burns at a slow pace compared to the urgency of “Love’s a Fire”, but it’s excellent too. Both songs were written by James Serenko and John Matzko, and the record was produced by Geno Viscione.
I don’t know the full names of all the members or what instruments they played. According to comments below, there was a guitarist named Clark (surname?) and a drummer Paul (surname?).
Tage Weie sent me the scans and transfers of an acetate from Studio 76. The version of “Love’s a Fire” on this acetate is the same as the one on Back from the Grave, except it’s about 20 seconds shorter, with a fade out instead of coming to a stop. The flip of the acetate is another cool original, “Voodoo Doll”, subdued but also intense, and possibly inspired by Arthur Lee’s “Signed, D.C.”
Studio 76 was located at 1650 Broadway, around the block from the Brill Building. The studio was owned by Ed Chalpin, who is best known for having Jimi Hendrix under contract “for $1 and 1% royalty” before Jimi met Chas Chandler – a contract that has since earned Chalpin millions through lawsuits, as well as U.S. rights to the “Band of Gypsys” LP. I highly recommend Mike Rashkow’s article about working at Studio 76 with Chalpin and his father Sam.
Anyone have a photo of the group?
Thanks to Tage Weie for sharing his one-of-a-kind acetate with us.
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 dense, echo-laden production and almost spoken vocals match this song’s dark, obsessive lyrics. A real obscurity, this Allied label also released “Mini-Skirt Blues” by the Flower Children.
