Categories: D'Arcy Sound Studios (Norfolk), Mad, Portsmouth, Virginia

The Regents featuring Mel Gaines

March 18, 2010 Chris Bishop 11 Comments

The Regents band photo — The Regents from left: Sumner Bell, Bobby Hill, Jeff Paul, Robbie Pond, Jimmy Finnegan, Richard Phelps, Lou Flowers and Johnny Johnston. Not pictured: lead vocalist Mel Gaines

Mel Gaines – lead vocals
Jimmy Finnegan – lead guitar
Jeff Paul – bass guitar
Sumner Bell – organ
Robbie Pond – trumpet
Richard Phelps – trumpet
Bobby Hill – saxophone/lead
Lou Flowers – saxophone
Ken Lewis – drums
Johnny Johnston – drums

The Regents started in Portsmouth, VA in 1967. Looking for a vocalist, they met Mel Gaines in 1967, who was a co-worker of bassist Jeff Paul’s father at WAVY-TV 10. For a group of eight white high-school students to have a lead singer who was African-American and already 21 years old might seem an unlikely pairing, but the band found considerable live success.

Their record on the Mad label shows the band working seamlessly with Mel, as each song features Jimmy Finnegan’s sharp rhythm on guitar, solid drumming from Johnny Johnston and memorable horn arrangements. “What’cha Gonna Do” has been a long-time favorite of mine. The band provides plenty of momentum and gritty backing vocals for Mel’s soaring voice.

“I Tried With You” starts off solidly but really picks up in the second verse as staccato bursts from the horns precede Mel’s pleas, segueing to an smooth, affecting chorus. Bobby Hill wrote both sides of their only 45, recorded at Norfolk’s D’Arcy Studios in 1968.

Mel Gaines passed away on November 18, 2009, two days short of his 63rd birthday.

Below are the stories of drummer Johnny Johnston and organist Sumner Bell in their own words.

The Regents at practice — Practicing at Bobby Hill’s parents house around 1967. From left: Jeff Paul, Bobby Hill, Jimmy Finnegan and Johnny Johnson on drums

The Regents featuring Mel Gaines, 1967-1968 as remembered by Johnny Johnston

The Regents Featuring Mel Gaines was a popular soul band established in Portsmouth, Virginia around 1968. The first memory I have of the group is my audition for the band as a drummer in the spring of 1967.Rusty Gibbs, an old high school buddy of mine, told me the group was auditioning drummers at Jeff Paul’s house in the Churchland area of Portsmouth. Jeff played bass with the group and actually liked how I played, and to my surprise the group asked me to join them. I was a junior at Cradock High School in 1967 and was trying to determine if I should continue to play sports or follow my heart’s desire and become a drummer in a dance band.

The Regents on Disc-o-Ten I had taught myself how to play drums by watching all of the local bands. I especially studied and copied Fat Ammon of Bill Deal and the Rhondels and also The Swinging Machine’s Dickie Bocock. I loved their styles and really became accustomed to the beat and timing they both had. This was when dancing at teen clubs, dances halls, high school dances such as the Ambassadors Club (or AB Club as we called to it) and The Lighthouse in Portsmouth were both at their all time high.

The other band members were especially talented and we were blessed by having a great black singer by the name of Mel Gaines, who resided in Suffolk’s Pughesville area. Mel was a very talented and blessed singer of our group. He was the person our fan base came to see. I remember playing at a dance at Cradock High School in 1967 and when his name was announced the crowd exploded and rushed the stage to sing and dance as he sang.

Johnny Johnston of the Regents — Johnny Johnston

Soul music was the big sound of our day and we really had a powerful brass section. Robbie Pond and Richard Phelps were on trumpets, Bobby Hill and Lew Flowers on saxophones. Bobby Hill was the driving force of the horn section, and the great horn sound heard on our record. Jimmy Finnegan was the best lead guitar around, and is still playing guitar for a group called El Kabong in the Tidewater area. Jeff Paul was our outstanding bass player and mostly the one responsible for motivating us to perform at our top level of showmanship. I did not realize how good they all were until years later when listening again to our record. Our rhythm section was also capped off by Sumner Bell who played Hammond organ. During the high mark of our short career, all of our members were juniors or seniors in local high schools and on the brink of following college careers.

The short career of our band was topped off when we decided to go into the studio and record “What’cha Gonna Do” which was Side A and “I Tried with You”, was the B Side. As my memory would have me believe we recorded both songs at D’Arcy Studios in Norfolk in four hours. Of course our horn section was pretty tired after playing Side A about twenty five times in a row. At $25.00 per hour for studio time we wanted to get our money’s worth. We made about 300 copies and started selling them for a buck apiece. I think I made about twenty five dollars. We actually made it to the Billboard chart and made the playlist at local radio station WGH.

Just as with all the other local bands we played all the local places such as The Lighthouse in Portsmouth, Ambassador Club, Peabody’s Warehouse in Virginia Beach, The Peppermint Beach Club, The Kage in Hampton, The Four Seasons in Norfolk, The Dome in Virginia Beach, The Sand Box and local high schools such as Wilson, Cradock, Deep Creek and Norfolk Academy.

My favorite place to perform was the Glenshellah Woman’s Club in Portsmouth. It proved to be the best venue for live bands and we could get close to the dance floor. The next best place was the Knights of Columbus Hall in Portsmouth. The dance floor was on the second floor and I remember having a great time. All who attended these dances have fond memories of the music and the people we hung out with. We also appeared on the WAVY-TV DISCO-TEN television program, which highlighted local area high school dance scenes in addition to private parties and other local dances.

Just when we started to really get a following and some momentum, we had finished our senior years in high school and off to colleges we all went. One last ditch effort to try and stay in the music world was when we started a new group called Brave New World. That group was way ahead of its time though and never really caught on, due mostly to our impending college departures.

I am not sure where all the members have gone but I am trying to trace them and would like to see them again if at all possible. Members of our group moved on to other careers. I must say that all of them made my life much richer by playing a big part of my musical career. I still enjoy playing our record and remember all the places we played. Some of the clubs are still in existence after 40 years. And yes, I still have the fire to play thanks to them.

Many thanks to my “way back when” neighborhood friend Len Hamilton who encouraged me to play drums and was instrumental in getting me started in local bands.

Johnny Johnston
Cradock High School, Class of 1968
Portsmouth VA

The Regents notice of Disc-o-Ten show — Announcement of Disc-O-Ten show, May 11, 1968, from left: Bob Hill, Robbie Pond, Jeff Paul, Johnny Johnston (with drumsticks), Sumner Bell (at the organ), Jimmy Finnegan, Richard Phelps and Lou Flowers.

The Regents Featuring Mel Gaines’ by Dr. Sumner Bell

Portsmouth, Virginia. AM Radio covers the hits. WRAP. Vinyl 45s. Segregated Schools. Protestant – Catholic. Camelot President. Black – White…..”The times they were a changin”Fast forward to the Fall of 2001: A road trip with my college aged son, Joe, on a Friday night jogged some memories. ‘Invisible Downtown’ packs up its gear in a car in Boston heading for a 9:30 pm gig at the Yale University Women’s Center. Unlike my early band days, the car is driven by the lead guitar player and not one of the fathers. But it seems just like old times, I am with the band in the back seat wondering what the first set will be.

But, times have changed. My son Joe, the rhythm guitar and song writer is riding shotgun. This is no cover band – only original stuff. I’m along for the ride in the back seat, trying to remember what it was that got me interested in bands. We unload and ‘Invisible Downtown’ plays the set. One thing catches my eye as I exit the Yale Women’s Center for the last time carrying an amp and snare drum to repack for the early am drive back to Boston, and it is not what I recall from my days as an XL or Regent — a basket of condoms by the door. Not one of those band members had a bulging wallet.

“Satisfaction” – times have changed, but small bands still ride together and pack their stuff in the trunk. It seemed that I was back where I had been 35 years before; my ears were ringing all the way back to Boston.

Jimmy Finnegan, Bobby Hill and I had been friends thru elementary school. My Dad and Jimmy’s father worked together and Bobby and I went to Monumental Methodist Church; Jimmy went to St. Paul’s. Our families interacted in a variety of settings and encouraged our socialization and many developmentally rich experiences together included after school sports, Boy Scouts, trick or treating, and church before deciding on music as a shared interest and experiment. Little did we or our parents know where our shared interests would lead the boys.

I can remember playing “rock music” in 1963 or ’64 sitting at a upright piano in Jimmy Finnegan’s living room with Jimmy on a guitar…not even sure if it was electrified. Perhaps this was the only time that the keys could be heard above the guitars and soon to be added bass and drums. I think Bobby Hill next came over and may have had a guitar that he reversed the strings on so he could play left handed. Jimmy’s mom Frankie was “quietly” encouraging us. We needed a bass guitar player and Bobby took on a project — to not only learn to play the bass, but also to make one. Ken Lewis (a fellow Trucker and Methodist) subsequently joined us on drums and Andy Copley (a student at Portsmouth Catholic and natural, fantastic musician and ear) took on the bass (something he continued as a professional career across the country).

But, Jimmy loved the music and was the driving force in getting us going as the XL’s. Jimmy’s musical flame has always burned brightest. Jimmy played the St Paul’s Catholic card and we were booked at the Knight’s of Columbus with a microphone stuck inside an upright piano and plugged into one of the first little Fender amps. After our first gig I received a letter from a female fan, a first (I was hooked) and last (what went wrong?)! Eventually, we went on to play “The AB – Ambassador’s Club”, Churchland Teenage at the VFW, and many private parties.

The XL’s were authentic, but an average white band. Jimmy had a Fuzz Tone and we could play “Satisfaction”, the words being distinct enough to be heard across the Elizabeth River by Bobby’s dad Stoney. All of us were too young to drive and when Dr. Hill picked us up in his Rambler Ambassador Station wagon from Portsmouth City Park he wanted to know what WE knew about satisfaction! Not much, but we all were interested in learning as quickly and often as possible. The amps got bigger, as the boys grew to young men, got driver’s licenses and hormones.

The drama that ended the XL’s is lost to me. I think Andy Copley went on to play with a “cooler”, bigger and better band. The bitterness spurred the survivors to retool ourselves. Bobby once again stepped up to learn how to play another new instrument, the saxophone! This time he didn’t make his new found instrument but purchased it.

Retail shoppers for musical instruments visited Portsmouth Music, we haunted the pawn shops on High Street. Jeff Paul came on as our new bass player and with him we enjoyed the contacts of his dad the general manager of TV 10 and his brother Jay who served as our booking agent. I think the addition of Jeff introduced modern marketing to the guys.

Bobby was very interested in the regal sounding name, The Regents, and after some discussion of alternatives the name stuck, usually to our blue blazers, the iconic adhesive pocket logo. R&B, soul music, and beach music were the popular dance bands in southeastern Virginia. So a very practical decision was made to play what the market wanted and would pay for. Jimmy packed away his Fuzz Tone, and saved up lots of musical ideas for his future. One minor weakness that had hampered the potential of the XL’s and subsequently, The Regents, was the lack of an exceptional singer. Mel Gaines filled that need and became the “featured act” of the ever so regal “The Regents, Featuring Mel Gaines”.

Ken Lewis was the first of the original band members to graduate from high school and leave the area for college. Ken was red headed, high energy, and enjoyed swirling those drum sticks between swats at the snare. Johnny Johnston’s transition to the band as our new drummer was seamless. What a quick study!

Johnny’s good nature, sleepy smile, and steady beat assured he fit right in and quickly proved to be a valuable asset. He brought new fans and exposure to the group. The Regents didn’t miss a beat.

Bobby organized the horns into a coalition of harmonies that were extraordinary. Robbie Pond and Richard Phelps were on trumpet and Bobby and Lou Flowers played sax. They swayed and stepped to the music usually prodded by Jeff Paul’s big “axe”.

As lead singer, Mel Gaines was a few years older than the high school instrumentalists, but what we lacked in maturity he covered ever so well. Mel had patience, talent and soul and propelled The Regents from gig to gig as we developed a reputation and following from the Virginia Beach oceanfront to Capron.

Mel Gaines took the stage in a humble way usually dressed in a suit that belied his coming performance. By the end of the second set, Mel had removed his suit coat, sweat was streaming from his face and soaking his shirt, damp handkerchief clutched in his hand and singing with an intensity that was matched by the enjoyment of the listeners and dancers whom he had whipped into a frenzy.

Mr. Gaines was an unassuming man who was always dependable, hard working and on key. Mel only asked for one thing that I recall and that was for “The Regents, Featuring Mel Gaines” to play at a small club in Pughsville that was owned or managed by his relative. Mel wanted to play for his family and friends in his neighborhood and so, we did.

A talented singer, interested and competent management, receptive audiences, and teenage swagger resulted in excellent music. We all came to understand the meaning of Satisfaction and the importance of music, organization, practice, and teamwork in our lives. And, hearing your own band on the radio with Mel’s amazing voice as you traveled home as a senior in high school was way cool! Almost as cool as going on a road trip band gig with my son.

Johnny, thanks for putting this together. It has been fun for me to reminisce.

Sumner

Special thanks to Johnny Johnston for his help with this page, to Jimmy Finnegan for the clipping about the record release, and to Jeff Paul for the video link.

The Regents Record Release Clipping — clipping courtesy of Jimmy Finnegan

Categories: Dahlia, Singapore

Sapta Dahlia

March 10, 2010 Steven Farram 1 Comment

The EP these songs are taken from feature singer S. Jamelah backed by Sapta Dahlia on side one, but I prefer side two, which is the band by itself playing two very cool organ-driven rockers.

“Pesanan Ku” (My Message) is the band’s message to young men and woman to make the right choices in their lives and to not leave it until it’s too late.

“Si Tanggang” tells the legendary story of Tanggang, the son of a poor family who gets a job on a trading ship and eventually becomes a wealthy trader himself and marries a sultan’s daughter. One day, with his wife aboard, his ship comes alongside his old village and his mother comes out to trade with the ship. She recognises her son, but he is ashamed of her poverty and refuses to acknowledge her. She then calls on God to make her son recognise her and a great storm breaks loose and Tanggang, his wife and their ship are all turned to stone. This legend, or variants of it, are popular in many coastal areas of Malaysia and Indonesia and are used to explain the existence of many offshore rock formations.

Sapta Dahlia could be translated as The Dahlia Seven. The liner notes say the band was formed on 29 April 1967 with Wahab Hamid on lead guitar, Ali Soud on organ, Wahid Hamid on drums and Rahman Hamid on bass. The band leader was Rahim Ghani, but it is unclear what role he actually played in the band.

Categories: Beaumont, Port Arthur, Purple Can, Texas

The Basic Things

March 7, 2010 Chris Bishop 7 Comments

Basic Things photo — Basic Things from left: Herman Bennett, Gerald Pierce, Charles Jayroe, Larry Quinn, Ronnie Cooper and David Neel. Taken by the Holiday Inn, Beaumont, April 1967, for a KA fraternity Old South Dance

Port Arthur, Texas group the Basic Things made their only 45 at Jones Recording in Houston. The A-side is a good version of “Ninety-Nine and a Half”, but the original on the flip, “You’re Still Dreaming”, gets more attention nowadays. The group puts in a great performance with a marching rhythm, sharp guitar solo, organ flourishes and strong bass runs towards the end of the song.

Vocalist Herman Bennett describes his role as “screaming in public”! Herman sent me his CD Pay Attention, which included both Basic Things songs transferred from the original master tape!

My band, The Basic Things, was locally popular in the late ’60s in Port Arthur and the Golden Triangle. The Basic Things were: Tom Arrington on rhythm guitar (later David Neel would replace Tom), Charles Jayroe on lead guitar, Larry Quinn on Farfisa organ, Gerald Pierce on Hofner bass, Ronnie Cooper on drums, and me trying to sound as British as a Jewish Texan can.
We cut a 45 in 1967 at Jones Recording Studio in Houston, a cover of Wilson Pickett’s “99 ½” b/w an original “You’re Still Dreaming”. Recording at Jones was funny, more than remarkable in any way — we showed up late, not realizing that (duh) they charge by the hour and had a schedule for a reason, we weren’t even prepared to do both sides. The guy was forgiving and precise — I remember he buzzed in on the first take and said, “Guitar player, your fourth string is out of tune” and, because I was screaming a lot in those days, positioned Gerald (our bass player) to keep me away from the mic with an extended hand in front of me. He made a move as if to karate chop me in the Adam’s apple, made me sort of laugh, and we decided to keep that take because it was an inside joke.
“99 ½ (Won’t Do)” was The Basic Things piece ‘de resistance. We were pretty sure that this song would put us on the map because of the reaction it got at gigs. I guess we ignored the fact that you can’t do the song too badly because it’s so wonderful and every band of that era had it on their playlist.
Tom and Larry wrote “You’re Still Dreaming” on the spot in the recording studio because it hadn’t occurred to us that we’d do more than one song that day. But, the engineer pointed out, “If you are going to release a record, you’ll probably want something on the other side.” It’s a pretty good snapshot of what we were doing. I was screaming in public and they were playing excellent garage band rock and roll.
The whole thing cost us less than $200 bucks, I think, including pressing 100 copies, maybe more. Purple Can, if memory serves, was sort of a play on the notion that red might, but purple can … following the Moby Grape and Strawberry Alarm Clock model … thought provoking, but ultimately meaningless.
I think we sold all of ten records but somehow the rest of them disappeared over the years. Fortunately, Tom Arrington had the 1/4 inch master tape and thirty five years later a friend of mine discovered that there was actually a tape recorder in town that was the same model as the one the song was originally recorded on. I had it dubbed into a digital format for posterity. Neither song is exactly remastered but the sound is enhanced by virtue of the fact that the original 45 release version of “99 ½” was ramped down to shorten the song for radio play – too bad we didn’t get any – and “Wish That You Were Here” [“You’re Still Dreaming”] had some sort of tape anomaly on it at the very beginning that, for some reason, now sounds like it not only belongs there but leads you back, back, back in time.
I’d like to thank Ruth Hall, my friend gone but not forgotten, for ponying up the entire $180 to record and press those records.
Herman Bennett

Herman’s site has much more information on the Basic Things and his music career, check it out at hermanbennett.com. Gerald Pierce has two other photos of the band and more at ~~www.unclestick.com/music~~ (site defunct).

Categories: Columbia, Madrid, Spain

Los Buitres

March 2, 2010 Chris Bishop Leave a comment

Five musicians from Madrid formed Los Buitres (The Vultures) in July 1964:

Enrique Martinez (Quique) – lead vocals
Juan (Jeannot) – lead guitar and vocals
Santiago Villaseñor – rhythm guitar, harmonica and vocals
Michel Minguez – bass guitar and vocals
Antonio Casado – drums

The band landed a contract with Columbia in November and cut four songs released in February of 1965. The EP included two fine original songs: the excellent “Sensacion” and more formulaic “Ritmo y movimiento”, but failed to sell. The band was disappointed with the sound of the EP, which they though lacked proper reverb, as well as the lack of promotion on Columbia’s part.

They lost their singer Quique to Los Continentales and for a time Santiago took over on lead vocals. By coincidence, they were soon able to recruit the former lead singer of Los Continentales, Boris (Salvador Benzo), who was born in Ceuta, the tip of North Africa across from Gibraltar. Calling themselves Boris y Los Buitres, they entered a band competition in León. They didn’t make the finals, but Boris was a sensation due to his shoulder-length hair. Boris soon went solo and the group broke up, members scattering to other bands.

At the end of 1968, Santiago Villaseñor formed a new version of Los Buitres with the drummer Pancho from Los Comperos, but, according to the liner notes to a 1985 Spanish LP Historia de la musica pop española no. 32 on Alligator Records soon they dropped the name “Los Buitres” and had a working name of the “New Group”. Bassist Ramón Morán provided many photos and a history of the group, so I have moved that part of this article to its own page.

Thanks to Bård for the transfers of “Sensacion” and “Ritmo y moviemiento” and for pointing me to viejopickup.blogspot.com for a scan of the EP cover. Special thanks to Borja for turning me on to these songs by giving me a copy of the Cefe y Los Gigantes / Los Buitres split LP. This article is based on the liner notes to that LP – if anyone has more information or corrections please contact me.

Categories: Bell Gardens, California, Downey, Los Angeles, Russell

The Nite Walkers

February 28, 2010 Chris Bishop 4 Comments

The Nite Walkers cut two 45s at Russell Recording, a studio located (according to the liner notes to Teenage Shutdown vol. 6) above an air conditioning store in Downey, CA. Mop Top Mike tells me the studio basically disappeared when the owner skipped out without paying back rent.

All four songs they released are originals. Their first 45 has a cool guitar instrumental on the A-side, “Florence Ave”. The group yells an intro “Let’s meet at Al’s on Florence Avenue!”. It was backed with a dirge-like ballad “My Girl” (not the Miracles song by a long shot).

The second 45 has “High Class”, the singer alternates between a menacing spoken mumble and an intense shouting, sometimes within the same line of verse. The band creates a gloomy background through a droning riff and rolling drums for most of the song’s three minutes. The backing vocals are straight out of “Gloria” but the verse seems to have some awareness of “You’re Gonna Miss Me”, with the line “you’re gonna wake up one morning, you’re gonna start to cry, you’re gonna wonder why”.

The flip “You’ve Got Me” is another moody number, something similar to “My Girl” but it works better. I spent a lot of time with audio software taking out clicks from a bad scratch on the 45, but the result is excellent.

With no names or publishing on the label, it was nearly impossible to trace these guys so I thought we may never know the story of this group until Robert Stoddard contacted me:

The band was formed in 1964 I believe. Members are Richard Hernandez (bass), Ray Almonza (rhythm guitar), Joe Stoddard (lead guitar), and Robert Stoddard (drums). We were indeed from Bell Gardens and all songs are originals. What made this band unique at the time was their ages. I was 12 and the other three were 13.
My drumming was a direct result of the music scene of the time. I beat on couch pillows with sticks for two years to “Pretty Woman” and Beatle tunes. Christmas of ’64 brought me a cocktail drum and Joe a cheap electric guitar and super small amp. Richard and Ray were aquaintances of Joe’s from Bell Gardens Junior High.
The slicked back look in the hair was Mom’s idea, you know how Moms are. The mop cut was about a year later with the British Invasion in full swing and all. The girl in the one pic is Richard’s little sister, she was our occasional go-go dancer, her name was Linda.
We played mostly for school assemblies, grand openings of businesses, weddings. We used to play at a place in Hollywood called Pandora’s Box on Sunset and La Brea. Made a TV commercial in a topless bar. Came in 2nd place in the famous “Countdown ’65” battle of the bands at the Olympic Auditorium which was televised. It was sponsored by “the Royals” a British family of con artists who just ripped everybody off and never had any intention of awarding any prizes.
Other bands were the Cosmictones and the Velvetones. The Cosmictones tried to compete. The velvetones were a surf band and they were older and really good. their drummer Al Stigler taught me alot. Lead guitarist Gary Stovall went on to make a name for himself in the biz.
There was definitely a music scene in town. we played at the City Parks Dept. dances often, and every summer there was a Battle of the Bands at the yearly amusement park also held at the Parks Department.
The songs were written basically by all of us, we used to rehearse in the Toler Ave. garage next to my house.
Both [records] were done at the same time. Don’t remember much about the studio but I know I was behind a glass wall, no plexiglass yet. Music tracks were done first and vocals were done second with all of us circling one auditorium type microphone.
Russell recording I believe was affiliated somehow with Downey Music Center where we purchased all our equipment. I remember the man’s name was Nate. They were pressed somewhere on Melrose in West Hollywood, I remember because we all went there in the band car, a 1948 Cadillac candy apple red hearse. I believe we got it because the Monkees had a candy apple red dune buggy kind a thing.
I don’t really know much about those transactions, my Dad handled all that stuff. But I do know that only 300 copies were pressed due to the cost at the time. My Dad sent them everywhere, radio stations, etc, but to no avail.
Q. Is it Joe who yells “Let’s meet at Al’s on Florence Avenue”?
It was indeed Joe who yelled but he was just closest to the mike, we all had a hand in that. To this day I still think that was cheesy. Al’s however was a real place we used to hang out at. It was like a really good Greek hamburger stand built on the lot on the north west corner of Florence Ave. and Garfield. It was kitty corner from Toler Ave where we were based. I believe it’s a donut shop now, I don’t know.
I had to quit due to the war in Vietnam. Joe stayed in music and is still performing, check him out at joestoddardshow.com. Richard lives up north somewhere, and I haven’t heard from Ray since the 60’s. I returned to playing live and touring with several bands from ’76 through the 80’s and still occaisionally dabble in it.
Robert Stoddard

Russell RRC-43106: Florence Ave / My Girl
Russell RRC-43107: High Class / You’ve Got Me

The Nite Walkers, 1966. From left: Rich Hernandez, Joe Stoddard, Rob Stoddard and Ray Almonza

Categories: Amo, Hong Kong, Singapore

The Phantoms

February 24, 2010 Steven Farram Leave a comment

This record from Hong Kong was recorded on 26 September 1969. In the liner notes it says that news of the Phantoms’ plan to record a few originals had everybody excited. This is a bit misleading as at least one of these songs was not written by any member of the Phantoms.The song “Oh La La” is credited as Copyright Controlled, but there are scores of songs with this title and I have been unable to determine if this is a Phantoms’ original.

The better song in my opinion is “Love Love Love”, which we are told in no uncertain terms was created by Paul Leung; it says so on the label and on both sides of the cover. Paul Leung, however, was not a member of the Phantoms, but rather a record producer and owner of the Amo label, on which this record was released. So it seems that Leung got the Phantoms to cut a record and provided them with the song. This is not necessarily a bad thing as I quite like “Love Love Love”, which sounds much like the Nightcrawlers’ “Little Black Egg” with different lyrics. Oddly, although “Love Love Love” is listed as the A side on the cover, it appears as the B side on the record.

But who were the Phantoms? The only clue in the liner notes is that it mentions them having only been in Hong Kong for a certain time, so they weren’t a local group. My guess is they were from Singapore as there were many bands from there which tried their luck in Hong Kong in the second half of the 1960s. There was a band from Singapore called the Phantoms who supported the singer Valentine to produce a hit with the ballad Roselyn earlier in the sixties. Looking at the cover of the Valentine record, I think this could be the same band, but I could be totally wrong.

The two photos below come from Joseph C. Pereira, who points out the band was known as the Flying Phantoms!

Joseph writes:

Band started in 1963. Appeared on Istana Pesta (a local television program) in that year.
1964 – Winston Koh came in second to Kenneth Gomes in a Cliff Richard singing competition to promote the movie Finders Keepers. The heats were held at Capitol Cinema and the finals at Lido Cinema. Winston’s winning song in the finals was “It’s All Over”.
Inactive between 1964 and 1966. William Chan (rhythm), Sam Toh (bass), Patrick Khong (bass), Victor Lam (drums). Victor and Patrick left at the end of 1964 to join Mysterians.
September 1966 – Group revived by Dennis Chan, a 16 year old guitarist. Elder brother William Chan (rhythm guitar) was an original Flying Phantom as was Sam Toh (bass player). Rest of line up was Hudson Ng (drums) and Winston Koh (vocals). Sam Toh did not stay in the band long and joined a short lived line up of D’Aquarians. He then joined Bee Jays for two months and after that in April 1967 he joined The Quests.
12-4-1967 – Appeared on Muzik Muda Mudi (another local TV program).
May 1967 – Appeared on another TV program.
Style of the band was towards Shadows and Ventures for instrumentals and Cliff Richard for vocal numbers.
Appeared on a TV program performing “House Of The Rising Sun” with Winston decked out in a prisoner styled outfit.
1969 – They were contracted to play for a year in Hongkong at the World of Suzie Wong Night Club. They appeared on Hongkong TV, did two stage shows and were guests at the Teddy Robins Tavern tea dance on Sundays.

The Flying Phantoms appearing on Singapore TV

Categories: Arizona, Phoenix, United World

The Young Men “Too Many Times” / “Go!” on United World

February 22, 2010 Chris Bishop 46 Comments

The Young Men at Audio Recorders, from left: Frank Lacey, Tony Boynton, Rich Adams, Pete Axtell, and John Herwehe

Young Men United World 45 Too Many Times
Updated February 2011

The Young Men were from Phoenix, Arizona. Members included:

Frank Lacey – lead vocals
Richard Adams – lead guitar
Pete Axtell – rhythm guitar
John Herwehe – bass
Dave Killingsworth – bass
Tony Boynton – drums

They were originally called the Metronomes and most were students at West Phoenix High School, playing the prom there in 1966. The Metronomes were Frank Lacey, guitar and vocals; Larry Edmonds, guitar; George Matthews, drums; and John Hesterman on bass, piano and vocals. A friend of the band remembered Frank Lacey being one of the first students at their high school to be sent home for having long hair.

The Young Men’s first 45, released on United World #6947 in January ’67 has a minor pop song “Too Many Times” on the A-side, written by ‘Howie’ and produced by Forest Higginbotham. It charted on KRUX 1360 AM, reaching #16 on March 16.

Much cooler is the catchy, upbeat “Go!”. The song writing credits list Axtell and Lacey, but as Mop Top Mike pointed out to me, it’s really a very close version of the Dave Clark Five’s “I’m Thinking”, the b-side of a ’65 single “Reelin’ and Rockin'”. The Dave Clark Five original has a great shout of “Oh!” before the first verse. The Young Men change this to a reverb-laden “Go!” and dub it in before each verse. They also speed up the tempo, drop the organ part and substitute an excellent dry guitar solo for the bridge in the DC5 version.

The label lists the time for “Go!” as 2:33, but when played the song clocks at 1:33. I’ve seen a second version of the label that lists the time correctly.

Young Men United World 45 Love's Time The Young Men had a second 45 United World #0001 in April of ’67, a very competent rendition of the Hollies’ “Baby That’s All” backed with “Love’s Time”, a good original by Axtell, Lacey and Froste.

As Dan Nowicki points out in his comment below, Frank Lacey and Dave Killingsworth later were in Thackeray Rocke, and that both records were recorded at Audio Recorders of Arizona.

Thanks also to Mop Top Mike for the dates of the 45s, to Richard Adams & John Hesterman for the photo at top and info on the Metronomes, to John L. for info on the group, and to Brian Kirschenbaum for the scans of “Baby That’s All” and “Love’s Time”.

Young Men United World 45 Baby That's All

Categories: Bazaar, New York, Ossining, Ren-Vell, Westchester

Raunch

February 16, 2010 Chris Bishop 14 Comments

Sandy Katz – rhythm guitar and vocals
Jay Manning – lead guitar
Frank Taxiera – bass
Tommy Walker – drums

Raunch were from Ossining with the exception of Sandy Katz, their lead vocalist and songwriter, who was from Briarcliff Manor. Raunch’s great cover of Paul Revere & the Raiders’ “Hungry” leads off the fabulous Ren-Vell Records Presents Battle of the Bands Vol. 1 LP.

Raunch recording at Ren-Vell Studio 317 N. Central Ave, White Plains

Even better is a 45 they cut for Bazaar Records, “A Little While Back” / “I Say You’re Wrong”. The A-side is a great song featuring heavy fuzz guitar and a blistering solo by Jay Manning. Jay kindly provided the photos here, including the first I’ve seen of Ren-Vell’s studio, and the story behind the band:

The Synners was the first band I had, while still in high school. It was myself (lead guitar) and my two best friends David Perugini (rhythm guitar) and Alan Raycraft (drums), and later another high school friend, Curt Mienel(bass guitar). We played at our high school a couple of times and parties. I don’t think we ever got paid, but in those days the motivation was impressing girls, not financial rewards.
I have a recording from 1965 of us playing at an Ossining High School Spanish Club banquet. Dave’s dad got a hold of an old Wollensak reel to reel and, unbeknownst to me, recorded three songs.
We graduated in 1965 and in the fall David went to college, in New Paltz, New York, so the band evolved. Alan and Curt stayed, I think we called ourselves the Invaders. I don’t really remember all the iterations of the bands. I do remember that Alan was still playing drums when we met Sandy Katz. I don’t remember how we found him, but he and I clicked. He had a great voice and wrote decent songs. His dad was in business for himself so was very savvy about copyright and publishing rights, so all of Sandy’s songs were copyrighted.
Alan finally quit, we replaced him with another Sandy, whose last name I don’t remember. Curt left and eventually we added Frank Taxiera as bass player. He couldn’t play and didn’t have equipment, he was just cool and he fit. He became a really good bassist and now plays some great blues lead, in Colorado, with some renowned bluesmen.
That’s when Raunch was born. Sandy’s dad wanted us to be The Four Seasons (clean cut, stylish), I had very long hair for 1966 and was not interested in being clean cut.
Raunch played all over Westchester County. Ossining, of course, Tarrytown, Yonkers, White Plains, Armonk, Briarcliffe Manor (that’s where Sandy lived). “The Cellar”, the Ossining Recreation Department’s teen hangout had live music almost every weekend. I can’t remember all the places we played, but it was a lot. Just about every weekend and some weeknights all over the place. I don’t remember playing any bars at that point, but we did banquets and lots of dances and teen clubs.
We were very egocentric. We considered ourselves the best band in the area and thought of all the others as pretenders to the throne, at least I did.
There were a lot of “battle of the bands”, at high schools. recreation departments, clubs, all over the place. We won most of the ones we were in, so didn’t really pay attention to second place.
The two I remember not winning was one for all of Westchester County, NY in the summer of 1966, at the base of Kensico Dam, in Valhalla, NY, we came in 4th. Not really a “battle of the band” but a tryout to open for the Beach Boys, at Iona College in New Rochelle. The best bands in Westchester, New York City and from Connecticut were there. We lost out to a band called The Young Savages, really great band and they lost out, in a second round of tryouts, to a band called Chain Reaction. The lead singer was Steven Tallarico (later Steven Tyler – Aerosmith). I remember them playing “I’m Not Talking”, by the Yardbirds.
Marty Katz, Sandy’s dad, really got into it. He knew his kid was good, but he had never been in a really good band before that could showcase his music. Marty Katz owned a corporation already, so he just created a record label, Bazaar Records, he paid for everything. The actual name of the band was Raunch Inc. and we really were part of a small corporation.
Raunch at Ren-Vell Studio
We recorded everything at Ren-Vell. We were, I believe, Joe Renda’s first project. I really don’t remember the other bands on the album, there were so many bands at that time and so many places to play.
Sandy Katz wrote “A Little While Back”, and on the record, sang the harmonies. I sang the harmony when we played it live.
Sandy is playing the Vox [in the photos], he also had the 12-string model. I had a Phantom, the odd, irregular hexagon shaped guitar, but it was a real pig. Thick neck, weak pickups, tinny sounding. Unfortunately that’s what I played at the battle of the bands, because it was “cooler” than my Hagstom, which was a much better guitar.
I was a terrific guitarist, for the time, if I do say so myself. That was really all I lived for, that and girls of course. I learned everything by ear and watching better players, never had any lessons, still haven’t and I still play quite a bit. Now it’s classical and fingerstyle jazz.
Jay Manning

Update April 2016: Jay Manning reports that Tommy Walker died in 2014, and that recently Sandy Katz’s father Morris “Marty” Katz also passed away.

Thank you to Jay for his help with this article. Scan of the Raunch 45 from David Perugini. Thanks to Patrick Lundborg for his help.

Categories: Dallas, Texas, Zero

Jimmy C. & the Chelsea Five, and Zero Records discography

February 12, 2010 Chris Bishop 11 Comments

Jimmy C. & the Chelsea Five Zero Records promotional photo — left to right, top row: Scotty Celsur and Mike Farr bottom row: Johnny Holbert (standing in for Randy Ridell), Jimmy Holbert and Sammy Simmons

Scotty Celsur, lead guitarist and vocalist with the Chesea Five gives the story behind this Dallas group that recorded for Zero Records, the legendary label originally based in Austin that released the Spades 45s:

My first band, the Exclusives, was made up of my brother and my two best friends who liked to play for fun and entertainment of others on occasion. Sure was not the money at that point. However, after a couple of years of that I got down to business and started to put together a band that would go somewhere. I was in it for the big go.
My best friend, Mike Farr, was my guitar backup rhythm player starting out but finding a bass player was a challenge so after finding a good guitar player of rhythm Mike said he would change to bass to get this thing going. He wanted this bad like myself.
After a couple of months of searching out talent we started to put a show together and we put ourselves out there. After a few months of playing local gigs we just happened to be at the right place at the right time. Oddly enough we were at McCords Music Co. in downtown Dallas one Friday afternoon picking up a new PA system when a guy [Gary McCaskill of Zero Records] asked me if we were a working band and if so he wanted to talk. So we did and told him of a sock hop we were playing that night at a local school.
He said he would attend and about halfway thru the second set he and his wife showed up. He loved our version of “Play With Fire”, why I don’t know and he liked the “Leave Me Alone” song that I had written two years prior to that date. In two days he had us playing dates for a month on weekends. I liked this and then he wanted to start a recording company and he did, with us being his main band. He was a booking agent at the time for a couple of groups in Austin and did some with Kenny and the Kasuals. His mainstream focus was on us.
First he wanted to change the name to an English sort to go along with the fad of the times and that’s when The Chelsea Five brand came to be.
Jimmy Holbert – lead singer except on “Leave Me Alone”
Scotty Celsur – lead guitar, vocals and lead singer on “Leave Me Alone”
Randy Ridell – rhythm guitar
Mike Farr – bass
Sammy Simmons – drums
Funny thing, when we went to the Sherwood Forest complex over by Love Field airport to have pictures taken, Randy Ridell didn’t get there in time so with the evening darkness coming we opted to use Jimmy’s younger brother Bobby [sic – should be John Holbert] as the fifth person stand-in. By the way that is the only picture I have of our band. I have some slides somewhere or I think I do but I not sure where they have been stored at the present.
We were practicing four nights a week then playing on the weekends, mostly in Austin, he had contacts there and at the time bands from Dallas were a good draw for attendance. Pay was good and we were happy. Never considered us to be anything but a rock & roll band with a little edge.
Back then it seemed that everybody and their brother had a band of some kind so that in itself set up competition. Getting a gig could be a hard thing to do if you were looking in your own backyard. Many gigs would get canceled at the last minute just because someone knew someone that was a friend or whatever. That was the trick bag for us. Each one of us had a different group of friends. Strange in a way, but it worked and after we took on an out of town manager who was really in the loop of clubs around it made the whole world bigger.
Two weeks after we signed with Gary the Beach Boys were coming to town for a concert along with the Buckinghams and he asked if we would like to be the warm up band. Being in our home town I said no way. We had never played a venue of that size so the setup it self would be a guess and I didn’t want to take a chance and kill our sound and business by doing something stupid. As things happened Kenny and the Kasuals took the spot and in my opinion it was not good. Best decision I ever made because they suffered from what I feared for us. Poor sound quality but even the headliner bands didn’t sound good in that building [the Memorial Auditorium]. I went to a lot of concerts there and the building was perfectly round so the sound would bounce everywhere. I saw the Beatles there in ’64 and it was the worst concert ever, could not hear anything.
We were friends with a couple of other bands and in fact the Vaughan brothers dropped by for a couple of afternoon jams. Stevie Ray was very young, around 14 I think, but the kid was amazing and could play as good as his brother Jimmie.
One day in early May of ’67 Gary called me and said he had booked studio time at Sellers Recording in downtown Dallas for Saturday to cut a record. When we got there and after we set up he said he wanted to cut the “Play With Fire” song on the A side and my song, “Leave Me Alone” on the B side. I argued to cut the Otis Redding song “Respect”. We had a killer version of it and had request to play it a number of times a night at our gigs but he was paying and I lost the battle with him. This was two weeks before Aretha Franklin cut her song “Respect”, the rest is history and so are we.
5,000 copies were pressed but during the that time we added an organ player thus changing the name to the end result of Jimmy C and The Chelsea Five. There was no Jimmy C. it was actually Jimmy H. but that sounded bad so we used my last name letter C to fix that. We didn’t care we just wanted to play music, cut records and get paid. My manager gave me 500 and I don’t know what happened to the rest, now I only have around 25 left.
Didn’t work out to my way of thinking. I was the only one, other than Gary, who had a car that would go down the road every time. I was killing my car and not getting much in the money end of things for it. Sure, everyone would buy gas but tires and repairs, did those myself, were an expense for me and the others didn’t see it that way. I told them we need to rent a truck for all this, after all the organ was a Hammond with a Leslie speaker so it was no small item.
Other things started get in the way like girlfriends and some members smoking grass, I said no to that from the start. That was a sure way to ruin all we had worked for. I bid farewell to the band I put together and quit. Didn’t play for almost two years. They disbanded two months after I left and so goes the death of a rock and roll band. Gary asked me to form up an R&B group a few months after I had left and the band had vanished. I considered it just because Gary was such an up right guy and I had trust in him. I really liked to play blues more anyway but it just didn’t work in our area of play. Mike, my best friend and bass player soon surfaced and we set up a small band to play local and not very often at that.
I got married and started my family so I still think I did the right thing at the time. After all I did embark upon a career of auto racing for twenty five years and I traveled all over the USA, Canada, and a couple of trips to Mexico seeing things I would have never seen on my own so I don’t have any regrets.
I started the band when I was 14 and I was 17 when I recorded. I’m 60 now and have written over 200 songs of all kinds but they are in a box in my house along with the guitar and amp I bought new and used on the record, 1964 Fender Jaguar and Fender Bandmaster amp. I still play for my self satisfaction and friends on a rare occasion. I have not been in contact with any of the guys since 1973. Don’t have a clue where they are. I still miss them though.
Scotty Celsur

Zero discography:

10001 – The Spades – “I Need a Girl” / “Do You Want to Dance”
10002 – The Spades – “You’re Gonna Miss Me” / “We Sell Soul”
1003 – Jimmy C. & the Chelsea Five – “Play With Fire” / “Leave Me Alone”
1004 – Sammy Julian – “Lead Guitar Man” / “Is It True” (both by S. Julian and C. Kirk)
1005 – Curtis D. Hall and Cactus Café – “Diggin’ On Country Music”/ “I’ll Be Here Awhile” (1975)

Thanks to Gregor Kessler for sending the scan of the “Leave Me Alone” label, and for suggesting I contact Scotty.

Categories: Beaumont, Salmar, Texas

The Past Tymes

February 12, 2010 Chris Bishop 8 Comments

Past Tymes photo and band card — “Sitting on the drums is lead singer Bubba Busceme; Brian, lead guitar is kneeling to his right (left in the picture) in front of me holding the bass. Holding the other end of the bass is rhythm guitarist Joe Priddy; his hand in resting on the shoulder of keyboardist Tom Laughlin and in the center is drummer Dale Bond.”

Glen Moyer provides details about his time with three Beaumont, TX groups, the Past Tymes, S. J. & the Crossroads and the Kidds:

I was the last and probably most insignificant addition to SJ & the Crossroads’ lineup. I played bass guitar and replaced Phil Battaglia after he was drafted/joined the armed forces (I don’t recall which). As such I was the youngest member of the group – I recall Sal Serio (SJ and Johnny’s Dad) telling my parents that he and Mar (Mary Serio – his wife) would look after me if they would let me join the band.
Sometime earlier one of my school buddies Gerry Mouton had joined the band partly upon my recommendation. I knew Sal (Mr. Serio) as he owned a Beaumont drive-in grocery and trailer park (Circle Grocery on 11th St) where he later opened SalMar record shop next door. When the band was looking for a lead singer I knew Gerry was pretty good and suggested the band talk to him. I told Gerry to go see Sal and the rest is history.
The SalMar label the Crossroads recorded on was also named for he and his wife. They were great people and I’ve got many fond memories of playing gigs throughout southeast Texas. By the time I joined the band it had moved away from its earlier rock roots and we played a lot of pop and soul tunes – Sam and Dave, Archie Bell and the Drells, etc. Sadly, for me anyway, I’m seldom noted as a member of the band because I came along after they did all of their records.
At the time I joined the group we were practicing in the Serio’s garage of their home on Major Drive in west Beaumont. I vividly recall the song we were learning at my first practice with the guys was “You’ve Made Me So Very Happy” by BS&T.
After the Crossroads broke up – thanks to the Vietnam war and fears of being drafted, etc. I joined another Beaumont group in their last throes – the Kidds – where I replaced a friend of mine, John Schmidt, on bass. Johnny Serio also joined the band with me for a short time but we too soon broke up. Both groups were originally all from Kelly HS (the Catholic HS) as I recall. Gerry Mouton and I were in the South Park school system – having gone to Fehl elementary, MacArthur Jr. Hi, and later South Park HS.
Prior to the Crossroads I was with a less well known band called The Past Tymes. Myself and Bubba Busceme – both from South Park – and later Joe Priddy combined with Tommy Laughlin, Dale Bond and Brian Kalinec from French HS. We played gigs in Vidor, Beaumont, Silsbee, and elsewhere in southeast Texas. This band is never mentioned in 60’s reviews I guess because we never recorded nor did we ever reach the level of playing gigs like the Rose Room, Crown Room, etc. Brian continues to play and has won a few recent texas Songwriters awards and has a debut CD out, Last Man Standing.
Over the years I’ve lost my entire collection of SJ and the Crossroads vinyl 45s and a lot of personal photos of the band. I didn’t appear in any of their “press photos”. If anyone ever comes across any photos of the band performing, I’d love to see them in case I might be there.
Glen Moyer

Garage Hangover