Category Archives: Vita Records

Categories: American Recording (North Hollywood), California, Los Angeles, San Pedro, US, Vita Records

The Grapes of Wrath “Cause It Was Her” on Vita Records

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Members of the Grapes of Wrath group play music worthy of putting on a record. The SPHS students are (left to right) Brian Magnan, Bill Lichty, Ralph Sias, Danny Morrow and William Doheny., San Pedro News-Pilot, May 17, 1967.

The Grapes of Wrath cut one 45, “For Every Year” / “Cause it Was Her”, both written by Ralph Sias.

The group came from San Pedro, California, in the South Bay of Los Angeles.

Members were:

Brian Magnan – lead vocals
Bill Lichty – drums
Ralph Sias – guitar
Danny Morrow – bass
William Doheny – keyboards

H. Eugene MacDonald produced their record, released on Vita Records V-005/V-006 with an address of 301 S. Western Ave, San Pedro, CA.

The San Pedro News-Pilot profiled the group twice, first on May 17, 1967 with an article written by the group’s bassist!

Grapes of Wrath band makes recording noise

By Danny Morrow

“This is it, boys. What’s it going to be next year.- trucks or Cadillacs?” With these words of encouragement from producer, Mr. Roth, and “unknown” teenage band called, hauntedly … “The Grapes of Wrath,” began its first recording session at American Recording Studios in Studio City.

The band is made up of five “crazy” individuals named Ralph Sias, Brian Magnan, Bill Lichty, William Doheney and myself, Danny Morrow.

Ralph writes the songs, plays lead guitar and gets nervous. Brian sings lead vocal and smiles at girls. Bill plays organ and wears leather boots. Williams plays drums and loves drums. I play bass and get in and out of trouble.

At the session, two songs written and arranged by Ralph, were taped in a stretch of nervous sweaty work that lasted five hours. The two songs, “For Every Year,” and “Cause It Was Here,” can presently be heard on the local rock station with a little patience and luck.

With the number of teenage bands easily numbering in the tens of hundreds in California alone, how did this group … manage to talk the Sunburst Record Company into backing a recording session?

First, a few months before the session a rough “demo” (45 RPM recording on a six-inch disk) was recorded at a small recording studio, and the manager, U.L. McDonald took the demo to different recording stations.

The vice-president of Sunburst, Mr. Roth [sic – Adam Ross], was impressed both with the band and the recording …

The next step is up to the “hippies” who buy the records.

The record did not come out on Sunburst, the label that released the E-Types “She Moves Me” and the Zoo’s LP The Zoo Presents Chocolate Moose, as well as a number of pop singles produced by Ed Cobb, but instead saw a release financed by the band under the auspices of H. Eugene MacDonald (the U.L McDonald cited in the article, presumably).

The second article came on September 4, 1967:

Folk-rock group wins popularity

By Rita Pedersen

A San Pedro rock ’n’ roll band has proved long hair and unconventional clothing are not necessary to become popular.

The band, the Grapes of Wrath, is a “short hair” outfit, and wears burgundy-cherry dinner jackets.

Despite their neat appearance, the group leaves Saturday for a week-long tour of Northern California.

The five-member band will appear on a Fresno television show and play in Redding, Red Bluff and North Sacramento Valley.

Members of the band are Ralph Sias, Bill Doheney, Danny Morrow, Brian Mangan and William Lichty, all of San Pedro. They are all San Pedro High School graduates, except for Lichty who will graduate next year.

The tour was arranged when a recording by the band, “Cause It Was Her,” became popular in the Redding area.

Doheney, an amateur radio operator, began talking to a Redding disc jockey Ian Evans, and he offered to play the group’s recording for a trial period.

Listener reaction was good, according to Doheney, and the band was signed for personal appearances.

The group was organized last summer when the youths were on the high school gymnastics team. Only Lichty was not on the team.

Doheney described their style as folk-rock and said Sias and Mangan write many of their songs, including “Cause It Was Her.”

There was a great profile of the band and interview with Bill Doheney, that didn’t include these news clippings, at www.westcoastfog.com/the-grapes-of-wrath/index.html, but unfortunately that site is now defunct. A version of that article was also in print in Ugly Things issue #39.

I see that Achille Brunet has just added a profile of the band at his site, Strange Lights, with more info than I have here. I’m sorry for the duplication, Achille, but glad to see someone else working the ’60s garage beat! It’s been quiet for a long time.

Categories: California, Hollywood, Los Angeles, US, Vita Records

The Scorpio Tube “Yellow Listen” / “White Birches” on Vita Records

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Dan Nielsén, who had conducted the interview with John Ford of the Index published here back in February, asked me to dig into the story of the Scorpio Tube, the group behind the incredible B-side “Yellow Listen”.

The lead guitar track dominates the sound with a piercing distortion and echo that breaks up with stroboscopic effect. You can hardly hear the piano in the background, though it provides much of the droning sound at the intro and becomes apparent towards the end as the lead guitar is mixed down.

The A-side, “White Birches” is more polished than “Yellow Listen”, with a progressive sound that would have done fine on radio at the time. The instrumental break is excellent too.

Conn. MacDonald (Connor MacDonald?) wrote both songs. Conn had been in a San Diego group the 50th Anniversary Zoo who recorded the original song “Love Man” (MacDonald – Cadena) for Vita in 1967.

Conn’s father, H. Eugene MacDonald produced the record for Vita Records, not the same Vita owned by Laurence Mead that released a good number of records in the 1950’s with a Pasadena address. This Vita Records had released an album in 1965 with a San Diego address, Dick Braun A Clarinet On The Trail Of A Wounded Bassoon, and two 1967 singles, all produced by H. Eugene MacDonald:

Vita V-005/V-006 – the Grapes Of Wrath “For Every Year” / “Cause it Was Her” both written by Ralph Sias, address of 301 S. Western Ave, San Pedro, CA
Vita V-007/V-008 – 50th Anniversary Zoo “Love Man” (MacDonald – Cadena) / “Out of Sight” address 4121 Oak St., Burbank, CA

Vita V-003/V-004 seems to be a 45 by Freddie Kane “Love Is A Stranger”/ “Sidewalk Walkin’ Blues” but I need confirmation of this – anyone have a scan?

According to a profile in the San Pedro News-Pilot in March of 1966, H. Eugene MacDonald had been manager of a 300-room hotel in San Diego before taking over as manager of the Hacienda Hotel in San Pedro (at the same address as the one on the Grapes of Wrath label) and noted that he has two teen-age children.

Fred Cadena “The Yellow Listens” El Paso Times, October 1, 1967
The Scorpio Tube, though given the catalog number Vita V-001 was released much later than the other Vita singles, and lists only Hollywood on the labels. “White Birches” may have been recorded as late as 1970, but “Yellow Listen” may date to the 1967 sessions for the 50th Anniversary Zoo.

An October, 1967 notice from the El Paso Times lists Fred Cadena as lead guitarist for 50th Anniversary Zoo and adds a further tie to the Scorpio Tube by suggesting “The Yellow Listens” [sic] was the flip of the 50th Anniversary Zoo’s “Love Man” instead of a cover of “Out of Sight”.

Thank you to bosshoss for the scan of “White Birches”, and to Mop Top Mike for initial info on the release. Thanks also to Max Waller. Special thank you to Achille Brunet for pointing out the news item on Fred Cadena.