The band’s names are on the song credits – G. Nole, G. Fick, D. Silvis and R. Saunar. I didn’t know anything about the group until J.C. commented below, which I’ll excerpt here:
The band was from Aurora, Colorado (suburb of Denver). All 4 original members attended Aurora Central High School and included bandleader Gary Nale on vocals, lead and rhythm guitar, Gary Fick on vocals and bass guitar, Dwight Silvis on vocals, keyboards, lead and rhythm guitar and Robert Sauner on drums.
The 2 songs were primarily written by Gary Nale.
I’ve read that the Lidos disc predates the British Invasion, but from the Rite pressing number, 13555, it dates to mid-late 1964. So the Invasion had started, but the Lidos weren’t really paying attention. “Since I Last Saw You” is repetitive and crude, with its cool opening bass line, pounding drums and a great shout before the guitar break, which comes earlier than usual. I think this would make a great instrumental. The ensemble vocals are a little bizarre. It ends with a fantastic drum break and repeat of that sliding bass line.
The chorus of serenaders on “Trudi” turns it into a parody of the doo-wop style. The band must have been disappointed in the absolutely crappy fidelity they got out of the Band Box studio, even though that cloudy sound is part of the charm of “Since I Last Saw You”. However, I do like the intense decay on the last chord of “Trudi” – so, you have one reason to take a listen to it.
Anyone have a photo of the Lidos?
Vicky Morosan started Columbine Records in Denver Colorado, changing the name to Band Box Records when Columbia objected. After starting on East Sixth, she moved locations to 220 S. Broadway. Releases started with drummer Ronnie Kae’s “Boom Boom” in the late ’50s and continued into the late ’60s, totaling almost 200 singles altogether.
For more info on Band Box check out this article from the Denver Post on the documentary Gears, Grease and Guitars, as well as Rockin’ Country Style, and this extended, though partly incorrect list of releases (the Lidos are not listed and #359 is attributed to “The Royals and The Shades”).
The Wheels, l-r: Victor Catling, Rod Demick, Brian Rossi, Tito Tinsley and Herbie Armstrong all photos and clippings courtesy Victor Catling
Brian Rossi – organ, piano and vocals Rod Demick – rhythm guitar and vocals Herbie Armstrong – lead guitar Tito Tinsley – bass Victor Catling – drumsUpdated September 2013
The Wheels’ first recording, “Don’t You Know” This label is the flip of the US release of “Bad Little Woman”, February 1966The Wheels came out of the same Belfast band scene as Them, playing at the famous Maritime Hotel in College Square North.
They began as the Golden Eagles, fronted by the charismatic singer Brian Rossi (Brendan Rosebotham, as noted on the songwriting credits to “Bad Little Woman”) and house band for the Plaza, one of the circuit of dance halls owned by the Mecca company. Van Morrison briefly played saxophone with the Eagles – previously he and Herbie Armstrong had been in the Manhattan Showband together. Some time after changing their name to the Wheels they were fired from the Plaza and in September 1964 began a club residency in Blackpool in northern England (just above Liverpool), where they built a strong following while sharing a house with the Rockin’ Vicars. In 1965 the Wheels’ rhythm guitarist Kit Carson quit the band, to be replaced by Rod Demick of Tony and the Telstars with Tony G. Ford, Robert Green, Ernie Graham and Chris Stewart.
EMI Columbia signed them to a singles deal in 1965. All three of their releases would be produced by Tommy Scott (Thomas Kilpatrick), a young Glaswegian who had been working with Them since producing “All For Myself”, the flip to Them’s third single “Here Comes the Night”.
Rossi ‘hopes to make his disc debut with a Van composition, ‘Gloria'”
At their first session at Regent Sound Studios they chose a good cover of Them’s “Gloria” for their first single, backed with Tommy Scott’s “Don’t You Know” (a song Them would also release, on the flip to their ’66 single “Richard Cory”). The single came out in September ’65. Also from this first session was a fine version of “Mona (I Need You Baby)” with Rod Demick on harmonica and Brian Rossi on lead vocals. It would show up in 1997 on Belfast Beat Maritime Blues along with several other unreleased gems by the Wheels.
The Wheels went back to Regent Sound Studios to record five songs, two of which would appear on their second 45, from February 1966, the originals “Bad Little Woman” b/w “Road Block”. Three other songs from that session had release on Belfast Beat Maritime Blues, “Send Me Your Pillow”, “You Got Me Dizzy”, and “I’m Leaving”.
Notice for Aaron Shcroeder’s Aurora Records in Billboard, Feb. 6, 1965“Bad Little Woman” was released simultaneously in the U.S. on the Aurora label (it was predicted to reach Billboard’s Hot 100 chart on February 5, 1966), which included the b-side from their first Columbia single, “Don’t You Know” instead of “Road Block”. The Aurora release renamed the group the Wheel-a-Ways, possibly to prevent their being confused with Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels, whose first chart single “Jenny Take a Ride” hit the charts in November of ’65.
What makes this single so fascinating is Columbia accidently sent Aurora a tape with a different take of “Bad Little Woman”. The Columbia version begins fast, with two guitars, organ and drums equal in intensity. The Aurora version starts at a much slower pace with room for intermittent guitar licks and harmonica bleats, and forgoes the organ.
With the line “and he don’t love you baby …” both versions accelerate for twenty seconds of rave-up, but the Aurora version achieves incredible velocity, with the guitars cranking out one of the best amp sounds I’ve ever heard recorded, while the vocals go completely into the red with distortion.
“The Wheels say most of the English groups just hate showbands.”
The band comes together for a last chord on the Columbia version, while the Aurora version ends quietly – a slow slide down a high guitar string to the final sound of a guitarist taking his fingers off the frets.
Judging by the audio quality and the assured pace of the band on the Columbia single, I’d say the Aurora version was recorded first, possibly meant to be a demo rather than a finished single. The timing of 2:20 on the Aurora label doesn’t make any sense, the song is 2:44.
The Wheels went back to Regent Sound for a third session, this time producing two covers of recent singles by other bands. “Call My Name” was another Tommy Scott composition, originally the A-side of Them’s seventh single, from March of 1966. “Tell Me (I’m Gonna Love Again)” had been A-side to the Graham Bond Organisation’s third 45, from April of ’65.
The Wheels version of “Call My Name” would show up as the b-side to their third single “Kicks” in August of 1966. It would also appear on the b-side of most UK promo copies of “Bad Little Woman”, though mislabeled as “Road Block”. A 1992 Record Collector article on the band erroneously listed the mislabelled promo b-side as “Kicks” – impossible as the Feb. ’66 release date would have been a month prior to the Raiders’ release of “Kicks”!
Six-member version of the Wheels from left: Tito Tinsley, Victor Catling, Rod Demick, Brian Rossi, Eric Wrixon and Herbie Armstrong
The Record Collector article and the notes to Belfast Beat Maritime Blues state that Brian Rossi left the band after the failure of the second single, and that Eric Wrixon from Them joined the group on keyboards. According to this chronology, Wrixon would be playing on the third Regent Sound session that produced “Call My Name”. However, since “Call My Name” was recorded in time to be on some promo copies of “Bad Little Woman”, then it’s likely Rossi was still with the band at the time of that session. If so, then it’s also probable that “Kicks” was the only session that included Eric Wrixon.
Curious as to who sang on the singles, I asked Rod Demick and he stated in an email that he sang lead vocals on the singles released by The Wheels. In an interview with Shindig magazine Rod specified that Brian Rossi sang lead on “Mona” and “You Got Me Dizzy”. Victor Catling wrote to me “Rod was the lead singer with that [hard r&b] style of music. Rod used one of those harmonica racks when playing. Brian Rossy sang ballads and rock numbers when we were on stage. Herbie and Tito also sang but mostly as backup singers. I never heard what happened to Tito.”
From their first Regent Sound Studios session, “Mona” has lead vocals simultaneous with the harmonica, and I don’t think either is dubbed, so that confirms Rossi on lead vocals and Demick on harp. It’s a step from that level of singing to what Rod accomplishes on “Gloria” (from the same session), “Bad Little Woman”, “Road Block” & “I’m Leaving” (these three from their next Regent Sound session).
Rossi was probably not with the band by the time they recorded their version of “Kicks”, so Demick is likely singing on that song, which is very different in style from their other recordings.
Cityweek, September 1, 1966Victor Catling of the Wheels
An article from the Belfast newspaper Cityweek in September 1, 1966 depicts a six-member lineup including both Wrixon and Rossi. This show is described as a short-lived reunion with Rossi before the band broke up in early ’67, but the article doesn’t mention anything about it being a reunion, nor does it suggest the band is about to break up. In any case, they did fall apart.I know of only one version of the Wheels’ “Bad Little Woman” from that era, a great one by the Shadows of Knight. An obscure group called the Right of Way copied the Shadows of Knight version, unreleased until Norton’s Northwest Killers Vol. 3. This can only be a testament to how obscure this single was at the time.
After the Wheels, Rod Demick and Herbie Armstrong recorded two singles as the James Brothers for Page One Records in 1967, “Does It Have To Be Me” / “You Don’t Really Love Me” and “I Forgot To Give You Love” / “The Truth About It”. I haven’t heard either. Rod Demick switched to bass and with Herbie they backed Screaming Lord Sutch for a time, and then recorded two LPs together in the early ’70s. Demick has since played with many bands. Armstrong joined Fox and also Van Morrison’s band for a time, and then had his own groups.
Brian Rossi passed away in 1984. There are some photos of the Wheels within a tribute video created by his daughter Tamara Rossi; if anyone has access to better quality versions of any photos, please contact me at rchrisbishop@gmail.com.
Thanks to Bruce Welsh for pointing out the first James Brothers 45 to me.
Special thanks to Victor Catling for the news clips and photos seen here.
Wheels Sessionography
Regent Sound Studios, Summer 1965: Don’t You Know (b-side to first single, Columbia DB 7682, September 1965) Mona Gloria (a-side to first single, Columbia DB 7682, September 1965)
Unknown studio and date: Bad Little Woman (A-side to US release as the Wheel-a-Ways, Aurora 157, Feb. 1966)
Regent Sound Studios, late 1965: Bad Little Woman (a-side to second single, Columbia DB 7827, February 1966) Send Me Your Pillow You Got Me Dizzy I’m Leaving Road Block (b-side to second single, Columbia DB 7827, February 1966)
Regent Sound Studios, late 1965 or January 1966: Tell Me (I’m Gonna Love Again) Call My Name (b-side to third single, Columbia DB 7981, also shows up on some promo copies of their second single mislabeled as “Road Block”)
unknown session, probably without Rossi, so assume Demick on lead vocal: Kicks (a-side to third single, Columbia DB 7981)
The Wheels, l-r: Victor Catling, Rod Demick, Brian Rossi, Tito Tinsley and Herbie Armstrong
Crossfire promo photo, 1971, from left: Leonard Lehew, Bobby Bond, and Jack Montgomery
Jack Montgomery writes about his band Crossfire from Columbia, South Carolina, who unfortunately never recorded despite having some original songs.
Crossfire formed in January of 1968 when two high school friends, Jack Montgomery and Bobby Bond acquired some very basic musical instruments and began to practice playing tunes from the Beatles, the Turtles and Rolling Stones to name a few. Soon Jack acquired his new Mosrite guitar and Bobby got a set of Slingerland drums. They then found another classmate, Leonard Lehew who played guitar and also wanted to play bass.
The band rehearsed and began to perform small gigs at local church dances, restaurants and teen dances which were held at armories, as well as local swim and country clubs as “The Gross National Product.” After hearing people struggle with their name, they changed it to “Crossfire in 1970.
By early 1970, they were playing weekend gigs at local nite-clubs near the USC campus and travelling to Myrtle Beach, S.C. for weekend gigs at clubs and hotels and many private parties.
While most groups were playing an R&B covers format, there were a small cadre of Columbia bands that embraced the new rock sounds from the west coast and New York. In this musical vacuum there existed a non-competitive, friendly atmosphere between these bands and often one group would go to hear a certain band one night and then that band would reciprocate. The premier psychedelic bands in Columbia were bands with names like Medusa’s Head, Speed Limit 35, and Christopher who actually produced a LP called “Whatcha Gonna Do!”
The social atmosphere in Columbia, S.C. during the late 1960s was difficult at times due to the presence of Fort Jackson Army base, the civil unrest that followed the end of racial segregation, as well an anti-war movement on the USC campus which produced a negative reaction to anything alternative. At an audition in 1969, one local DJ told us in 1969 that “this hard rock stuff is just a flash in the pan; you guys should be playing beach music.” We ignored his advice and soldiered onward. During that time, you had to take care where you booked yourself or you could find yourself facing an angry mob as you left to go home. Crossfire was very lucky in this respect.
The guys in Crossfire soon realized that there was very little money in teen dances and began to focus on playing for private and corporate parties. They also learned what it meant to be economically exploited by bad management, so they went independent in 1970.
In 1971, there was a strike of union musicians and Crossfire, not being unionized, took full advantage of the situation. They played a lot of gigs at Columbia’s hotels for convention groups. With this audience change, they moved away from their original psychedelic format to doing pop and rock covers. On occasion, the sponsoring groups would give them money to purchase matching apparel which they thought was amusing.
In 1971, Crossfire appeared on WNOK, a CBS affiliate for a one hour concert special called “Rock Saturday” which featured our music and every visual effect the studio could muster. It was sponsored by the McDonald’s franchises in Columbia. Later that year, they did a similar 30 minute concert show on WOLO, an ABC affiliate that was sponsored by a local music studio. These events produced a local recognition for the band that we enjoyed. I do not know of another band that received so much local TV air-time during that period. I think Crossfire was not as socially threatening as some of the other “hippie” bands in that we were still high school students.
By June of 1971, Leonard and Jack graduated Irmo High School and Bobby followed in 1972. Their last formal gig was for a banker’s convention in the Sheraton Hotel ballroom in downtown Columbia in December of 1971. Leonard moved to Atlanta, Bobby went to work in corrections and Jack went to Newberry College. In 1973, Jack began to perform in lounges owned by the Best Western hotels in Columbia who shared a stable of performers between them. As “Jack Monty” Jack performed every week for the next three years and then retired from performing in 1976 until he reappeared musically in 2000.
The Suns of Mourning do a ripping version of one of Eddie Cochran’s signature songs on the A-side. It could be 1960 except for the organ bubbling away and that pounding style of drumming. The flip is a sappy vocal over a decent rhythm backing.”Come On Everybody” is incorrectly credited to [Gene] Vincent – it was written by Eddie Cochran and Jerry Capehart and is correctly titled “C’mon Everybody”.
“I’m Not Worth It” sounds like it’s an original but has no writing credit on the label and is listed with Beat Music BMI.
In On That Wisconsin Beat Gary E. Myers noted that the band was from Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, and wrote “Originally the Chaotics, this band began circa 1964 and worked mostly in Wisconsin, including a 1966 show at Madison’s Capitol Theater with the Association and the Left Banke. Label owner Chuck Regenberg produced their session at a Madison radio station.”
Members were Eric Goetz (vocals), Steve Hassemer (rhythm guitar), Tim Gunther (lead guitar), John Schmid (bass) and Ron Skalitszky (drums). Goetz and Skalitszky had been in an early version of Spectre, Inc. George DuFre’ (George Durfee) was the Suns of Mourning’s manager.
The RCA mastering number TK4M-6765/6 denotes this as a late ’66 custom pressing made at RCA’s Indianapolis plant. Midgard Records has fine print listing it as a “Div. of International Promotion Production and Recording Unlimited”.
Chuck Regenberg owned Midgard – the label’s first release was his own 45 under the name Joules Regan, “Hey Girl” / “The Night Winds Blow” from 1962. He seems to have revived the label in 1966 to release the Bacardis “This Time” / “Don’t Sell Yourself”, a real garage classic, and very rare. These are the only other releases on Midgard that are known at this time.
There was a Suns of Mourning from Boise Idaho, but one of the members of that group informed me that they never recorded.
Thank you to Gary E. Myers for sending the photo of the Suns of Mourning, and for all the info on the group and Midgard in his book On That Wisconsin Beat.
The Mixed Emotions give us two beautiful downers on their only release. The songs are similar in style but each is a gem of moody garage, especially “I Lied” which is all regret and a plea for forgiveness.
“I Lied” was written by Mike Schneider and “Marie” by Mackey / Schneider. I don’t know anything else about the group, however.
Bob Quimby ran the National Songwriters Guild in Deland, Florida, pairing lyricists and arrangers and for a fee setting people’s lyrics to music and making a record for them. Tropical was one of his labels for the various song-poems he recorded (the earlier Carellen label being the other).
Local bands such as the 2/3rds used Quimby’s studio in Ormond Beach and sometimes would pay him for a vanity release, which is what the Mixed Emotions single seems to be, recorded January 19, 1967. The Mixed Emotions was released on Tropical, the 2/3rds on April, while the Offbeets had an acetate on April (“Double Trouble” / “I Wanna Do It”, as by the Nonchalants) and Tropical (“Double Trouble” / “She Lied” as by the oFfBeEtS). All of these releases share publishing – Alison Music.
Bob Quimby died in 1994, but some of his many studio tapes were released on a series of CDs called Drive-In a GoGo where you can hear these songs in better fidelity than my worn 45.
Lulu’s single adapted by Araújo as “Amor Amor Amor”Eduardo Araújo had an early career in 1961 and 1962 as a rock ‘n roller, with three singles and an EP on Philips. Two of the singles were released on 78 rpm discs, as late as March 1962!
When the Philips contract ran out he returned to his home in Minas Gerais for a few years until signing with Odeon in time to hit with the Jovem Guarda pop movement. Eduardo topped the charts with his very first single on Odeon, the upbeat but trite “O Bom”, from March, 1966. It was written by Carlos Imperial, a producer and presenter of the TV show O Clube do Rock.
His band on that single, Os Fevers, also shows up on some of the records of another Imperial protégé, Erasmo Carlos, including “Deixa de Banca”, a version of Nino Ferrar’s “Les Cornichons” with Portuguese lyrics by Araújo. Carlos’ version was released as a single in June, 1966. Araújo’s the following month on an EP with “O Bom”.
Araújo and Imperial co-wrote over a dozen songs in the next year. His second single “Goiabão” is one of his very best, hooking you with a funky opening beat and Eduardo’s “unh”s, every tossed-off phrase answered by horns and a chorus that keeps the rhythm exciting.
Where did that vocal style come from? The emphasis on the gritty and guttural may derive from listening to American soul recordings, but there’s also a distinctly Brazilian lyrical agility and grace, not to mention a sense of humor that borders on camp or hysteria. I can’t think of any US singer that quite matches it.
“Vem Quente Que Eu Estou Fervendo” (this could be translated as “It’s So Hot I’m Boiling”) was one of the greatest Araújo and Imperial collaborations. The first released version was (as far as I can tell) by Erasmo Carlos and his band Os Tremandões, for their January, 1967 LP on RGE, O Tremandão, soon followed by Araújo’s version in March on his first LP, O Bom.
Both artists would release the song as the A-side of singles in April. I have to give the edge to Erasmo Carlos, as his version sounds so unhinged. I’ve also heard a shorter version credited to just Os Tremandões, though Erasmo is definitely singing on that one too. Apparently it comes from Os Tremandões own LP on the Palladium label. Carlos also sang a Spanish version of the song, “Estoy Hirviendo”.
(Does anyone have good scans of Araújo’s single versions of “Goiabão” and “Vem Quente Que Eu Estou Fervendo” – or the Palladium LP by Os Tremandões?)
By late 1967 Araújo had found a new collaborator, Chil Deberto, who I can’t find much info about. In November 1968 Araújo released an EP featuring a surprising cover – Lulu’s 1967 single “Love Loves to Love, Love” with new lyrics from Deberto, titled “Amor Amor Amor”. Araújo and Deberto give the song a completely different feel, keeping the tough funkiness of the verses without Lulu’s rasp, while giving the chorus a dreamy, hallucinogenic quality.
Of the other songs on the EP, “Ela Era O Meu Amor” has a hard-driving soul sound, while “Se Alguem Fez Voce Me Esquecer” begins with a heavy dose of distorted guitar and finds a good groove on the verses then sacrifices that to a conventional chorus. “Com Muito Amore Carinho” shows the smoother pop side of Araújo’s singing.
None of these four songs were picked for single release or used as album tracks. Araújo’s next project, the 1969 LP A Onda é Boogaloo took his r&b leanings further, notably with a version of Arthur Conley’s “Funky Street” titled “Rua Maluca”.
Note: my understanding of Jovem Guarda is limited. The sources for this article are mainly the excellent discographies listed on jovemguarda.com.br/, and credits on what labels I could find. Any further background or info would be appreciated. Some biographical info on Araújo from Túnel do Tempo.
Thanks to Bossy Boots for playing “Amor Amor Amor” at one of our Magnetic Field nights a few years back – it took me this long to track down a copy!
Special thanks to Borja for the scan of the Erasmo Carlos single.
A Shadows cover? I scoured my Shadows collection, but couldn’t pin it. The other tracks are another Shadows/Ventures sounding tune and instro versions of Orbison’s ‘Pretty Woman’ and ‘The House Of The Rising Sun’.
Presumably the record was made as a promo for the Ho Hua Company, sole distributor of Sony products in Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Penang, whose ad appears on the back cover.
The Enchanters IV (also known as the Enchanters 4 or Enchanters Four) came from Lemont, Illinois, a half-hour’s drive southwest of downtown Chicago.
The band included Bill Shedosky (guitar), Norb ‘Butch’ Polvalish (drums), Drew Hoinacki (organ, guitar and vocals) and Dick Baranowski (bass).
The A-side of their first 45 is “I Don’t Know”, a good pop vocal ballad enlivened with surf-type reverb on the guitars. The flip “Like Tuff” is an incredible rocker, with the guitar line so strong it’s hard to believe this isn’t from twenty or thirty years after its original release date of 1964.
All four members wrote “Like Tuff” and Bill Shedosky wrote “I Don’t Know”.
This release was on Den Ric, a label owned by local jazz drummer Ellis “Stukey” Stukenberg who named it after his two sons, as Sue Shedosky-Apgar comments below. Ellis Stukey had put out his own 45 on DenRic a few years earlier, in 1961 (see Davie Gordon’s comment below). Ellis was friends with with Bill Shedosky’s father, Ed “Smitty” Shedosky, a jazz trumpeter with the Vaughn Monroe and Dick Schory orchestras, which may be why he revived his label for the Enchanters 4.
I originally thought there might be a connection between Den Ric (also given as DenRic) and the Den-Lay label that released a 45 by the Cobblestones which was reissued on Mobie, but that seems unlikely.
The band had a second release, this time as the Enchanters IV, featuring a very different sound on “Lost You”, another original by B. Shedosky. I haven’t heard the flip, a version of “Route 66”.
This is being submitted by Dick Baranowski, the bass player of The Enchanters IV. To the best of the ability of my memory, these are just some anecdotes of the life of our band.
Originally we were just The Enchanters and we consisted of Butch Povalish, an organist Ed Misenbach, a guitarist Stan Forzley and I. At that time we actually had two guitarists rather then one guitar and a bass. Ed was a polished organist who played an organ that needed a U-haul trailer to carry around to every gig and Butch was a drummer that had taken lesson for quite some time prior to us getting together. Stan and I were more your “learn to play on your own types who lived close to each other. In fact, I actually got the bug to play from Stan. We played all instrumentals at that time since none of us were really singers.
I’m not really sure how long we played together, but eventually I believe that Ed (who was older then the rest of us) went into the service (this is the sixties). So Butch knew a couple of guys who could fit right in and could even sing, so it seemed to be a great match. Along came Bill and Drew. Again, I believe that both Bill and Drew had taken lessons and on top of that Bill’s dad was a trumpet player with some big names in the Chicago area. So the five of us started practicing and playing locally whenever and wherever we could.
Again Uncle Sam intervened and Stan (who was also older then the rest of us) went into the service. I believe it was at that time that we changed to the Enchanters IV (obviously since we now only had four musicians). We still had three guitarists and a drummer, so at that point we decided that we needed to have one of us switch to bass for a more realistic sound. I’m sure I was the obvious choice since I had no formal training and a lot of what I was doing could be easily transferred to the bass. Drew also had talent at the keyboard, so we added that option on some songs to start with and then as time went by I believed he ended up playing more on the organ then the guitar. And thus the “sound” of The Enchanters IV was born.
I think we all started out with non-name equipment (except Butch’s drums) and eventually ended up with a Fender Bass, Gretsch, Gibson, Rickenbacker guitars, Fender and Vox amps. Bill also had an Echo PA system which had an internal tape to create reverb and echo. I really thought it was ahead of it’s time and it did give us a different sound on stage. The 12 string Rickenbacker is very evident on the second release “Lost You”.
Our venues started out as high school dances and evolved to college parties, teen clubs, weddings, bar mitzvah’s, debutante parties, Dick Clark’s Battle of the Bands, pretty much anything that had entertainment like corporate parties in downtown Chicago. Bill’s dad became our manager, which worked out great since he had a lot of contacts in Chicago already. We got hooked up with several agencies that booked us almost every weekend, and some weekends even more then one gig a day.
I think the big outdoor personal parties in the north suburbs of Chicago and the parties in the big hotels downtown Chicago we loved the best. We would normally be booked along with a big band and would rotate playing time with them. We’d be on for half an hour to play for the younger crowd and then the big band would play for the older crowd. It was great pay and limited playing time.
We had some favorite places to play, probably the local venues around Lemont because we knew a lot of the crowd, but it was always great to meet new people and win them over with your music. One of my favorite places was Western Illinois University. My older brother was attending college there and I think he took some of our records (I Don’t Know) to the local on campus radio station. I guess as soon as they started playing our record it became the most requested song at the station. So he easily got the commissary to put one of the records on the campus juke box and again it became the record played over and over again. I Don’t Know (pun intended) if you’re familiar with the movie That Thing You Do with Tom Hanks, but I can really relate, as the band did on the movie, that when you hear your music for the first time being played on a local radio station or in some juke box at a bar or in a school, the feeling is just overwhelming. I can’t thank my brother enough for getting us hook up with the school. We went there for several weekends and played every night to packed crowds.
Bill Shedosky and Dick Baranowski “That [amp] was a Vox and I actually used it for my bass, which I’m sure was a little unusual.”
We also played some military gigs, I believe the Naval station in northern Illinois and a couple of military balls in Chicago hotel ballrooms. I gave up a lot of social activities and sports to play in the band, which required a lot of time between practice and playing, but I’d be hard pressed to say I missed anything because we had fun every night we played. Thinking about it now, I can’t remember any night that we had a bad time. I think our biggest asset was our ability to get people to dance. The dance floor was always full and people were always havin’ fun, and that’s what it was all about.
We had a lot of different outfits and always matched when we played. We had Neru (collarless for those of you under 55) jackets, double breasted pin striped suites, Tom Jones outfits (puffy sleeve white shirts and white jeans) and a series of embroidered tuxedo jackets. We played a lot of the downtown hotels in Chicago and pretty much always had a tux on for them. I think that said a lot about the band in that we were committed to each other and our music.
We did have two studio recording sessions, the first one was on the Denric label, which I believe was owned by a friend of Bill’s dad. The A side was “I Don’t Know”, written and arranged by Bill and the B side was a collaboration of the band as a warm-up instrumental when we practiced. It is a piece that easily showcases Butch’s talent as an outstanding drummer. Unfortunately, Bill and Butch are no longer with us, but I will always remember the great times we had.
The B side of “Lost You” was a cover of the original “Route 66”. It’s a long story, but it didn’t really come out like we would have wanted. Bill’s dad handled all of the details on both recording sessions so I’m not really up on it, although I do believe we paid for the first one because we used to sell copies of the “I Don’t Know” / “Like Tuff” record wherever we played. I think the second session was taken care of by the people who produced it and they had some strange idea to have Drew (back up singer) use a falsetto voice for the back up and we didn’t think much of it. Also, “Lost You” was a little too fast, but obviously sounds completely like a British invasion band (probably the 12 string Rick’ that Bill had). I think that if we would have been in control of it, it would have come out a lot better. Bill was very talented in putting things together. In the second session we actually recorded about 6 songs if I remember right and they were put on a one sided demo LP (only one copy that I know of). I wish I knew what happened to it (or maybe the tape is still alive?), because I can’t remember what else we recorded. It was some kind of demo disk because it was only good for so many plays.
I would call us a R&B 60’s cover band. I think most of our songs were R&B classics like “Mustang Sally”, “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg”, “Have Mercy”, “My Girl”, “Grapevine”, etc. Every night we would play what we called our Soul Medley. It was an arrangement which Bill put together that ran six or eight soul songs together seamlessly, taking the tempo up and down without missing a beat. It was probably the best part of every night. The only thing I wish I could change is to have some video of the band from the 60’s. I did actually make an old reel to reel recording at a basement practice session once, but you have to remember that was the 60’s. At one point it got transferred to an 8 track (yes an 8 track) and then from the 8 track to a cassette. Unfortunately, I don’t know (the pun again) what happened to the reel, but I do have the 8 track and the cassette. The quality is pretty poor since I was trying to play and do the engineering at the same time, but it still brings back some memories. I also wonder what happened to my sequined tuxedo’s. I know they wouldn’t fit, but the grandkids might get a kick out of them..
Dick Baranowski, 2011
Thank you to Ken Price for the Den Ric scans and alerting me to this great band, and to Mop Top Mike for the Mal scan and info. Special thanks to Dick Baranowski for the photos, clippings and additional info about the band.
A legendary disc since its inclusion on the original Psychedelic Disaster Whirl LP. Nothing is known about the band except they might have been from Los Angeles or somewhere in the San Fernando Valley. Tarzana is a possibility.
“Cuttin’ Grass” and “X+Y=13” were both written by T. Jones and released on the Santus Record Company label, SS-11/12, in 1967. The publishing was by Hoblong Music, produced by Long-Miller Enterprises. Half of Long-Miller was Joe Long of Encino, who had a 45 as Big Joe Long, “Just For a While” / “The Things You Do”.
The Caretakers of Deception 45 has recently been booted.
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 chorus of serenaders on “Trudi” turns it into a parody of the doo-wop style. The band must have been disappointed in the absolutely crappy fidelity they got out of the Band Box studio, even though that cloudy sound is part of the charm of “Since I Last Saw You”. However, I do like the intense decay on the last chord of “Trudi” – so, you have one reason to take a listen to it.
The Mixed Emotions give us two beautiful downers on their only release. The songs are similar in style but each is a gem of moody garage, especially “I Lied” which is all regret and a plea for forgiveness.
