Categories: Continental, England, London, Piccadilly, Pye Records, South Africa

Floribunda Rose and Scrugg

March 16, 2009 Nick Warburton 2 Comments

Scrugg live, left to right: Chris Demetriou, Jack Russell, Henry Spinetti (hidden) and John Kongos

Buried in the welter of superlative singles issued in September 1967 was an intriguing release by an Anglo-South African group with a suitably ‘flower power’ name, Floribunda Rose. A forgotten gem, ‘One Way Street’ c/w ‘Linda Loves Linda’, should have been a resounding hit but despite being plugged incessantly by several notable radio stations, it barely made a ripple. Floribunda Rose may have been lost to a bygone age but its lead singer and principal songwriter remains one of South Africa’s most successful exports and would years later become synonymous with one of Brit Pop’s most enduring anthems, The Happy Monday’s ‘He’s Gonna Step On You Again’.

Johnny Kongos

Born in Jo’burg on 6 August 1945 to Greek parents, aspiring singer/songwriter and guitarist Johnny Kongos had formed his first group, The Dukes, when he was 15 years old and began carving out a local following playing at his mother’s club, the Fireplace in Boksburg.

Joined by former Mickie Most & The Playboys guitarist Hank Squires in 1962, the group morphed into Johnny Kongos & The G-Men and over the next three years released nearly twenty singles and half a dozen albums for the Teal and RCA labels.

In late 1963, Kongos made his first exploratory visit to the UK but despite auditioning for a couple of major labels, and running into Hank Squires’s former band leader, Mickie Most, now a fledgling producer, Kongos failed to make an impact.

Empty handed, he returned to Jo’burg and reformed The G-Men. Plans to consolidate his earlier successes, however, were soon thrown in the air when the singer was called up for national defence training in late 1964.

Returning to civilian life six months later, Kongos picked up where he’d left off and recorded a final single with The G-Men, ‘Until It’s Time For You To Go’, which secured a release on Teal, the South African distributor for the Pye label.

Thanks to these connections, Kongos elected to return to the UK in April 1966, where he befriended Pye’s manager/producer John Schroeder. Sufficiently impressed by Kongos’s audition tape, Schroeder secured a solo deal with Pye’s subsidiary label, Piccadilly.

The fruits of the ensuing sessions turned up on the singer’s debut UK single – the folky, self penned ‘I Love Mary’, backed with the poppy Kongos/Leroy number, ‘Good Time Party Companion’, released that September. Credited to John T Kongos, the single was well received but did nothing chart-wise.

004

Soon after the single’s release, Kongos was back in South Africa beginning work on a fresh clutch of songs with the intention of recording an album. One night in April 1967, he dropped into the 505 club in Jo’burg’s trendy Hillbrow district and caught British group, The 004 entertaining the crowds (see The 004 page for a closer inspection of this fascinating group). Suitably impressed, he approached the band members after they’d finished their set and asked them to help him cut the planned album as paid musicians.

A hugely popular live act, The 004 had arrived in South Africa by boat in July 1965 on the back of a contract offered to the group’s lead guitarist, Pete Clifford (b. 10 May 1943, Whetstone, London). A former member of Dusty Springfield’s backing group, The Echoes, Clifford had first visited South Africa during 1964 and participated in the singer’s infamous tour where she was deported for refusing to play to segregated audiences.

While the tour had been a PR disaster, Clifford had been promised some lucrative work by Trevor Boswell, husband of South African 1950s star, Eve Boswell, and co-owner of the Keleti Artist Agency, if he could return from London with a new group.

Clifford sought around for suitable musicians and quickly recruited Welsh rhythm guitarist and singer Brian Gibson from The Laurie Jay Combo, who in turn recommended fellow countryman, bass player and singer Jack Russell (b. 29 April 1944, Caerleon, Wales).

Gibson and Russell had known each other for years, having first worked together in The Victors, resident band at the Latin Quarter, one of London’s top theatre restaurants.

“I had a call on the Monday from Brian,” remembers Russell, who was working as a manager for Vox in Dartford at the time. “He asked me if I fancied joining him in a band that was going to South Africa. I said, ‘Yes’ and asked, ‘When do we go?’ He said, ‘Thursday!’”

With Londoner Peter Stember (today a successful US-based photographer) completing the line up on drums, The 004 sailed for Durban and soon shot to local fame as one of the top groups working the clubs, so much so that they landed jobs supporting Gene Vincent and The Ivy League.

During 1966, the band released a handful of singles for CBS, including ‘The In Crowd’ and a decent album, It’s Alright, before Stember returned to the UK in August.

In his place, The 004s recruited Dutch-born, South African raised drummer Nick ‘Doc’ Dokter (b. 24 July 1945, Kampen, Overijsel, The Netherlands), who possessed an impressive musical CV, including a stint with The Leemen Limited alongside South African guitar legend, the late Ken E Henson.

Originally a bass player, Dokter moved to drums early his career after the sticksman in the garage band he was playing in gave up music for a regular job. Working with future A-Cads singer Sammy Evans in a factory making boilers, the pair struck up a friendship and in an interesting turn of events both ended up joining Johnny Kongos’ group The G-Men after the singer was called up for military service.

“We all went and played at John’s place, the Fireplace,” recalls Dokter. “From there I met Kenny Henson, who needed a drummer, so I moved to Durban to join Leemen Limited.”

After two rare singles on the Continental label, including a great version of ‘In The Midnight Hour’ backed by John Mayall’s ‘Heartaches’, it was time to move on again.

“I was just hanging around and Pete Clifford approached me. Peter Stember was leaving The 004 and he just said, ‘Why don’t you just come out and play with us?’ I was really a young kid and I had no experience of playing big clubs. They kinda took me under their wing.”

With Dokter filling the vacant drum stool, The 004 spent the remainder of 1966 consolidating their live reputation. When Gibson handed in his notice in early 1967 (later joining progressive rock band, Abstract Truth, alongside Henson), The 004 briefly recruited guitarist Barry Mitchell from rival band, The In Crowd, but the line up never gelled and when Kongos dropped into the 505, the group had been stripped to a trio.

“John originally offered a job to Jack and Pete,” says Dokter. “I wasn’t included in this. Eve Boswell’s son was originally going to be the drummer. He did some demos with Pete and Jack but it didn’t work out. I happened to be in one of the sessions and just took over.”

As Kongos recalls, he always intended to employ a Farfisa organ sound on his album so when Clifford, Dokter and Russell took up the offer to record with him, they were joined in the studio by a fifth member, Chris Demetriou (more commonly known as Chris Dee).

Chris Demetriou

Former keyboard player with Johannesburg’s finest R&B group, John E Sharpe & The Squires (see the Chris Demetriou interview page for more information on this band), Cyprus-born Demetriou had appeared on all of The Squires’ classic singles, including covers of The Kinks’ ‘Stop Your Sobbing’ and Paul Simon’s ‘I Am A Rock’, as well as the highly sought after Maybelline album.

“John located me through the Jo’burg Greek club,” remembers Demetriou. “I was invited to his house and the next thing I knew we were planning to leave the country and seek fame and fortune in London.”

As Kongos relates, his plan had always been to return to the UK with a band as soon as possible and use the recordings to secure further work. Looking back on the sessions, he dismisses most of the material as forgettable.

“I had written a bunch of songs and I basically wanted to do demos. I went into the studio with all of the guys and wound up taking that ‘album’ of demos to the UK.”

As events panned out, the band got half way through the recording when Kongos made a proposition: rather than pay the musicians for the sessions, he would cover everyone’s fares to UK.

Floribunda Rose

According to Russell, it made sense to return home and crack the British market, especially when Kongos had connections in the music industry. “He would have been a fool not to do that,” he says. “He had a contract in his back pocket with Pye and a contract with Maurice King who ran the Walker Brothers among others; it was a stable worth getting into.”

Before setting off by boat in May 1967, the newly formed group posed for some publicity photos in Kongos’s Jo’burg house. Then, a few days’ later, set sail for England, writing and rehearsing material, including the Kongos-Russell collaboration, ‘Linda Loves Linda’, in preparing for the assault on the British market.

Throughout the long journey the group struggled to come up with a suitable name. “I wanted to call it Kongos’s Magic Dragon but [John] wouldn’t have it,” says Russell.

In fact, as the bass player explains, the musicians only agreed on Floribunda Rose on the way to their first gig! Having arrived at Maurice King’s office during their first week in London, the manager calmly informed the musicians that they had a gig the next day and studio time booked a few weeks later.

A second hand camper van was hastily purchased in Earl’s Court and the band set off for its debut gig – a small club in Castleford, West Yorkshire on 14 July, stopping off in central London on route to pick the elusive name.

“John and I walked across the street in Baker Street to a book shop, desperate to find a name for the band,” recalls Russell. “Flower power was at its zenith, so we plumped for Floribunda Rose. A bloody daft name but that was where people were at.”

After a handful of gigs in the north and the midlands, including shows in Tadcaster, Burnley and Tamworth, Floribunda Rose made their London debut at Tiles on Oxford Street on 19 August.

Around this time, the group also cut its debut single under Schroeder’s watchful eye – the poppy ‘Linda Loves Linda’ – supposedly a tale of female narcissism, backed by Kongos’s infectious, and rather Beatlesque, ‘One Way Street’. The plug side, with its ‘Everyone is Loving Everywhere’ lyric, ‘fairground’ organ and free-form ending, chimes perfectly with the ‘peace, love vibe’.

Released in September 1967 on Pye’s Piccadilly subsidiary and the same week that Radio 1 aired, ‘Linda Loves Linda’ benefited from its publicity and was heavily plugged by Tony Blackburn and Pete Murray.

“We were very lucky,” says Russell. “Maurice King was an operator. He knew his stuff and employed a plugger who would go round the BBC with new releases.”

“In those days you had to get on the BBC play-list. We were on the first week of Radio 1. Only three singles a week out of the 80 releases used to get on that, which was fantastic.”

To coincide with the station’s launch, the group recorded a BBC Radio 1 session with Brian Matthews on 25 September for a show that was replacing Saturday Club, cutting new versions of ‘Linda Loves Linda’ and ‘One Way Street’, along with covers of Paul Simon’s ‘Bright Green Pleasure Machine’ and ‘59th Bridge Street Song’. None of the tracks have been released and remain buried somewhere in the BBC archive.

Yet despite getting on to the new play list, recording a live session and having a Juke Box Jury appearance as ‘mystery band’ (on 8 September) and being voted a hit, the single stiffed.

The group returned to the daily grind of touring, often travelling hundreds of miles to play small clubs and sharing the bill with the likes of The Zombies, Dave Berry and Lonnie Donegan to name a few.

“Most of our gigs were up and down the M1 at less prestigious venues,” recalls Demetriou. “We did play some university events and supported more well known acts.”

“There are lots of little funny things that happened with Floribunda Rose,” adds Kongos. “It was really corny actually – attempting to jump on the ‘Flower Power’ bandwagon. We did dumb things like throw out flowers to the crowd at the end of a the gig [which] went down really well in Workingmen’s clubs (not!)

“I think the best thing about the band was that we did really intricate medleys of known songs – a little like Vanilla Fudge, in the sense that the versions were very different.”

Book-ending the year, Floribunda Rose spent a month playing at the Top Ten in Hamburg, grafting for six hours a night to a largely unappreciative crowd. While there, Dokter remembers rubbing shoulders with the musicians that would later go on to form the nucleus of heavy rock band, Deep Purple.

Exhausted, the group drove home non-stop, heading straight for the Scottish Highlands in the first week of January where the first cracks in the band’s precarious line up surfaced.

“We did one [10-day] tour of Scotland [and] that was the last thing I did with them,” remembers Clifford, who left after the final gig on 14 January. “I then flew out from the freezing cold to the humid heat of Durban and nearly died. I had a pair of leather jack boots and a Scottish hiking jacket!”

Pete Clifford returns to South Africa and joins the Bats

Back in South Africa, the guitarist joined The Bats, appearing on the highly sought after Image album (which includes the superb ‘Money Ain’t Worth a Dang’) and also playing numerous sessions, most notably providing bouzouki on Freedom Children’s debut album, Battle Hymn of The Broken Hearted Horde. During the late 1960s and 1970s, he became one of South Africa’s most respected guitarists and continues to tour with The Bats.

“[Pete] and John just butted like rams,” explains Russell on the guitarist’s dramatic exit. “Pete was very experienced. He had worked with some major people. He knew his stuff and was a good guitar player but basically John didn’t want a lead guitarist.”

“Pete Clifford was an incredible guitar player and so was John,” adds Dokter. “They were both very talented. It was good for Pete to actually go on his own and work with The Bats and John had the freedom to do what he wanted to do.”

Kongos has the last word: “Pete was not satisfied with the lack of progress in the band – it wasn’t easy travelling hundreds of miles to little gigs and winding up almost out of pocket at the end of the day. Musically too, it was not satisfying for us because we had different ideas. We got on each others’ nerves and could have been the model for Spinal Tap if we’d made it.”

Nick Dokter departs

With Clifford gone and Kongos assuming lead guitar duties, it wasn’t long before Dokter also bailed. “Nick was married and his wife was getting bored with the difficulties of not making money,” explains Kongos on the drummer’s departure in late February after a 10-day stand at the Nova club in Kensington, West London.

A qualified boilermaker, Dokter briefly returned to South Africa where he worked a day job while playing with various local groups. In the late 1960s, he moved to his country of birth, Holland, and returned to school to study engineering. Turning down an offer to join The Golden Earring, he subsequently emigrated to Canada in 1969.

During the early 1970s, he got back into playing and recorded an unreleased album with 5 Man Cargo, which later morphed in Cross Town Bus. Through this group he met promoter Bruce Allan and ended up working for his agency for nearly two decades, although Dokter did make occasion trips back to South Africa where he played with his old buddy Kenny Henson in his duo, Finch & Henson among other projects.

“Needless to say, being on the road for 20 years, six-to-nine months at a time, took its toll and I became a studio/session drummer,” says Dokter, who retired from playing full-time in 1989 and currently lives in Vancouver. In the summer of 2009, he plans to visit the UK and catch up with Jack Russell, who he hasn’t seen since early 1968.

Scrugg

With Dokter out of the picture, the remaining members returned to London where Russell and Demetriou found themselves caught up in a police raid at their shared flat. “Unbeknown to us, while we were away in Germany and Scotland our road manager had been renting our rooms out,” says Russell, recalling the tragic event.

“People had been using our place as a doss house and these guys had been dealing. We hadn’t a clue the police had been watching the place and we arrived back the morning they hit the place. We were fitted up and forced to plead guilty. We were fined £50 and got front page of The Sun.”

Putting the loss of Dokter behind them, Russell returned to the Welsh valleys and brought back 16-year-old wonder kid, Henry Spinetti (b. 31 March 1951, Cwm, Wales), younger brother of Victor Spinetti and today Katie Melua’s drummer.

With two weeks’ work lined up at the Top Ten in Hamburg, kicking off on 1 March, the group headed for the continent bearing a new name – Scrugg. “I chose the name because we wanted a more earthy image and I was a fan of Earl Scruggs the banjo player,” admits Russell.

“That was a suggestion that we all made,” chips in Clifford, who believes the name was discussed while he was still a member. “We were all trying to think of a new image and I think I left on the verge of Scrugg because I’ve got a picture of Floribunda Rose and then in brackets it says ‘Scrugg’.”

Under its new guise, Scrugg returned to the studios with John Schroeder to work on the first of three classic singles, which, as David Wells rightly points out in the liners for the John Kongos’s compilation album, Lavender Popcorn, “remain exquisite examples of the psychedelic pop sound.”

Scrugg’s debut outing, released on Pye in April 1968, coupled two John Kongos numbers – ‘Everyone Can See’ backed with ‘I Wish I Was Five’. The latter is undoubtedly the stronger of the two and is notable for Lew Warburton’s stirring string arrangement (based directly on Russell’s bass line) and Demetriou’s moody organ playing, which heightens the tension, building to a dramatic climax. A yearning for the innocence and honesty of youth, ‘I Wish I Was Five’ should have been the side to plug and perhaps not surprisingly the single went nowhere.

Two months later, Pye rushed out a follow up, a cover of Scott English’s poppy ‘Lavender Popcorn’, backed by the Kongos penned ‘Sandwich Board Man’, which the singer says was inspired by said character who he used to see regularly on Oxford Street.

A noted songwriter, English, had serious pop credentials and had scored hits with covers of ‘Hi Ho Silver Lining’ and ‘Bend Me Shape Me’, but the group was uncomfortable recording such a blatant teeny-bopper, bubblegum track. The band’s producer, however, overruled any objections and even contributed to the recording by playing piano with a plectrum! “John Schroeder said, ‘You’re doing it’,” remembers Russell. “‘You’ve had two of your own and you’re doing one of mine now, so shut up!’”

Tailor-made for the pop market, ‘Lavender Popcorn’ should have been Scrugg’s commercial breakthrough but like its predecessors faded into obscurity.

Scrugg on stage, left to right: Chris, Henry (hidden on drums), Jack and John

Forced to make a living on the road, Scrugg resumed their busy touring schedule travelling the length and breadth of the country and taking in towns as far as field as Newcastle, Birmingham and Penzance. Debuting on 3 August 1968, the band also became regulars at London’s renowned nightclub, Scotch of St James, returning again for shows on 7 and 14 September and culminating with a two-night stand on 27-28 September. During this hectic period of touring, Scrugg participated in a historic moment in rock history, opening for a “mystery” band of superstars at a show at Sheffield University on 23 November.

“We opened for them and then watched their show,” says Kongos. “We all agreed that these guys would probably not make it because ‘who needed another Cream?’ so we gave them the thumbs down. They were called Led Zeppelin!”

With Zeppelin’s star in the ascent and Scrugg’s future looking bleak, the end was in sight.

John Kongos and Jack Russell on tour in Scotland

Clockwise from top left: John Kongos, Henry Spinetti, Chris Demetriou and Jack Russell

In early January, Scrugg’s final single was released and coupled the Kongos’s rave up, ‘Will The Real Geraldine Please Stand Up and Be Counted’ (a song originally recorded for the album session in Jo’burg in 1967), with the singer’s ‘Only George’, a kitchen sink tale about break-up and divorce, introduced by Russell’s freakily distorted vocal.DJ John Peel remained a huge fan and opened his show numerous times during its first week of release but despite the publicity, it failed to chart. Dispirited, the musicians decided to call it a day, bowing out with a two-night stand in Margate, Kent on 18-19 January.

In the aftermath of Scrugg’s split, Kongos went on to establish a successful solo career in the early Seventies, scoring hits with ‘He’s Gonna Step On You Again’ (co-written with Demetriou) and ‘Tokoloshe Man’. He currently resides in Arizona and is preparing material for a new album.

The others meanwhile maintained a less visible, albeit rewarding careers. Spinetti became a top session drummer, working with the likes of Roger Chapman, Bill Wyman and Eric Clapton while Demetriou co-wrote several songs for Kongos’s debut album, Confusions of a Goldfish, and later oversaw recordings for Mike D’Abo and Cat Stevens among others. He currently lives in Esher, Surrey and is a pastor in a local church.

Russell, who gave up playing music in 1969, later ran a successful specialist advertising agency before retiring in 2005. Aside from a brief reunion with Pete Clifford and Brian Gibson where they played at a theatre in Hampton Hill, Middlesex to celebrate Russell’s 6oth birthday, he currently plays solo sets at the Rising Sun pub in Twickenham.

Aficionados can expect to pay hefty prices for Floribunda Rose and Scrugg singles. Mercifully, Castle compiled an excellent CD in 2001 called Lavender Popcorn, pulling together all of the recordings, including the previously unreleased Scrugg track, ‘Patriotic’, although regrettably the BBC radio sessions were omitted.

Despite that small oversight, the CD is recommended to anyone who feels the urge to savour some of the most exquisitely recorded British psychedelic pop.

A huge thanks goes to Jack Russell for his generous assistance in pulling the story together and for offering the use of his private photo collection and live gig list. Thanks also to John Kongos for his insights into the group, Chris Demetriou, Nick Dokter, Pete Clifford and David Wells.

Releases:

Floribunda Rose:
Linda Loves Linda / One Way Street, Picadilly 7N.35408

Scrugg:
Everyone Can See / I Wish I Was Five, Pye 7N.17492
Lavender Popcorn / Sandwichboard Man, Pye 7N.17551
Will the Real Geraldine Please Stand Up and Be Counted / Only George, Pye 7N.17656

Floribunda Rose gigs (thanks to Jack Russell for diary dates):

14 July 1967 – Crystal Ballroom, Castleford , West Yorkshire

15 July 1967 – Boulevard, Tadcaster, North Yorkshire

18 July 1967 – Burnley, Lancashire (no venue listed)

22 July 1967 – Brierfield, Lancashire (no venue listed)

4 August 1967 – Crow’s Nest, Tamworth, Staffordshire

19 August 1967 – Tiles, Oxford Street, London

26 August 1967 – The Boogaloo, Crystal Ballroom, Castleford, West Yorkshire (according to the Sheffield Star and Wakefield Express this was with The Magic Lanterns)

29 August 1967 – Luton, Bedfordshire (no venue listed)

2 September 1967 – The Rover, Solihull, Warwickshire

3 September 1967 – Cromer, Norfolk (most likely Olympia Ballroom)

8 September 1967 – Clouds, Derby, Derbyshire

9 September 1967 – Cesar’s Club, Bedford, Bedfordshire (according to the Bedfordshire Times)

15 September 1967 – Tiles, Oxford Street, central London with Simon Dupree & The Big Sound

22 September 1967 – Crystal Ballroom, Castleford, West Yorkshire

23 September 1967 – Wellington (near Hull, Humberside, no venue listed)

24 September 1967 – Cosmo, Carlisle, Cumbria with Root and Jenny Jackson and The Hightimers

25 September 1967 – Radio 1 recording

29 September 1967 – Wigston, Cumbria (no venue listed)

30 September 1967 – Boulevard, Tadcaster, North Yorkshire (according to the Yorkshire Evening Post, this was with The Flowerpot Men)

1 October 1967 – Clayton Lodge Hotel, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire with The Pink Variety

7 October 1967 – Cleveland Arms, Wolverhampton, West Midlands (according to Express & Star)

12 October 1967 – Penny Farthing, Hanley, Staffordshire

12 October 1967 – Crystal Ballroom, Newcastle Under Lyme, Staffordshire

13 October 1967 – St Helens, Lancashire (possibly The Co-Op)

14 October 1967 – Leicester University, Leicester, Leicestershire

20 October 1967 – Kendall Town Hall, Kendall, Cumbria

21 October 1967 – Royal Ballroom, Ripley, North Yorkshire

22 October 1967 – Cofton Country Club, Birmingham (listed in Fabulous 208 but not in Jack’s gig list)

28 October 1967 – Barrow, Cumbria (most likely Barrow Public Hall)

29 October 1967 – New Tredegar, Wales (no venue listed)

2 November 1967 – Nottingham (no venue listed)

5 November 1967 – Sutton in Ashfield, Nottinghamshire (possibly The Revolution)

7-13 November 1967 – Birmingham, West Midlands area gigs (booked through the Astra Agency) (see below)

9 November 1967 – Kingfisher Country Club, Wall Health, West Midlands with The Californians and The Barmy Barry Show (according to Express & Star)

10 November 1967 – Waggon and Horses, Wall Health, West Midlands (according to Express & Star)

15 November 1967 – Hucknall, Nottinghamshire (no venue listed)

18 November 1967 – Walton Playhouse, Walton-on-Thames, Surrey

December 1967 – Month in Hamburg, West Germany (Top Ten Club on Reeperbahn)

5-14 January 1968 – Ten-day trip to Scotland (see below)

12 January 1968 – Ballerina Ballroom, Nairn, Scotland with The Rebel Sounds

13 January 1968 – Victoria Hotel, Forres, Scotland (Forres Elgin & Nairn Gazette) This is missing from Jack Russell’s gigs

Peter Clifford left Floribunda Rose in Scotland after the final gig and flew to Durban, South Africa to join The Bats

20 January 1968 – Dreamland Ballroom, Margate, Kent with The Amboy Dukes

3 February 1968 – Barrow Public Hall, Barrow, Cumbria with 4th Coming

16-25 February 1968 – Nova Club, Kensington, London

Nick Dokter left immediately afterwards and the musicians brought in Henry Spinetti. At some point the group changed name to Scrugg but did also continue to be billed as Floribunda Rose for some shows.

1-15 March 1968 – Top Ten, Hamburg, Germany

31 March 1968 – Sunderland, Tyne & Wear (no venue listed)

1-6 April 1968 – Sunderland, Tyne & Wear (possibly gigs at various clubs in the area)

7-13 April 1968 – Wolverhampton, West Midlands area gigs (see below)

The following are confirmed from the Express & Star newspaper (and billed as Floribunda Rose):

7 April 1968 – Albrighton WMC, Albrighton, West Midlands

8 April 1968 – Civic Hall, Wolverhampton, West Midlands with The News

11 April 1968 – Essington WMC, Essington, West Midlands

12 April 1968 – Oasis Club, Wolverhampton, West Midlands with The Dunes

13 April 1968 – 3 Men in a Boat, Walsall, West Midlands

20 April 1968 – Mr Smith’s Club, Winsford, Cheshire with T Bunkum Band and The Hideaways (billed as Floribunda Rose)

21 April 1968 – Coventry (no venue listed)

Around about now, they change name to Scrugg

3 May 1968 – ‘Tik Tok’ Discotheque, Grimsby (billed as Floribunda Rose) (according to Grimsby Evening Telegraph)

4 May 1968 – Dorothy Ballroom, Cambridge with Bob Kidman & His Band, The Break Thro’, Jubilee & The Sacremento “B”, Mildenberg Jazz Band (billed as Floribunda Rose)

10-19 May 1968 – Elgin area gigs in Scotland (see below)

10 May 1968 – Ballerina Ballroom, Nairn, Scotland (Forres Elgin & Nairn Gazette)

19 May 1968 – Red Shoes Theatre, Elgin, Scotland

24 May 1968 – Victoria Hall, Selkirk, Scotland

25 May 1968 – Miners Wallace Institute, Kirkonnell, Scotland

31 May 1968 – Ringway, Birmingham, West Midlands

1 June 1968 – Sheffield, South Yorkshire (no venue listed)

2 June 1968 – Club Cedar, Birmingham, West Midlands

14 June 1968 – Milnthorpe, Cumbria (no venue listed)

15 June 1968 – 400 Ballroom, Torquay, Devon (Herald Express)

16 June 1968 – Jack’s diary says Birmingham 6 Ways but confirmed as Queen’s Head Beat Club, Six Ways, Erdington, West Midlands (billed as Floribunda Rose; see below too)

21 June 1968 – Eastbourne, East Sussex (no venue listed)

25 June 1968 – Oxford (no venue listed)

29 June 1968 – Queen’s Head Beat Club, Six Ways, Erdington, West Midlands (billed as Floribunda Rose)

3 July 1968 – Olympia, Scarborough, North Yorkshire with The Minority Soul Sound and The Urge

26 July 1968 – Sunderland, Tyne & Wear (not sure this happened as I have found Scrugg billed to play Steering Wheel, Weymouth on this day)

27 July 1968 – Newcastle (no venue listed)

1 August 1968 – Bolton, Lancashire (no venue listed)

2 August 1968 – Reading, Berkshire (no venue listed)

3 August 1968 – Scotch of St James, Mayfair, London

5 August 1968 – Birmingham (possibly Queens Beat Club, Erdington, West Midlands)

10 August 1968 – Sibyllas, Swallow Street, London

11 August 1968 – Abercarn, Wales (no venue listed)

16 August 1968 – Lon Crom (most likely Cromwellian, South Kensington, London)

17 August 1968 – 6 Ways (most likely Queen’s Beat Club, Erdington, West Midlands)

18 August 1968 – Sutton in Ashfield, Nottinghamshire (no venue listed)

24 August 1968 – Crom Lon (most likely Cromwellian, South Kensington, London)

7 September 1968 – Scotch of St James, Mayfair, London

8 September 1968 – Ilford, London (possibly The Angel)

14 September 1968 – Scotch of St James, Mayfair, London

15 September 1968 – Playboy, Hyde Park Corner, London

16-18 September 1968 – Wales gigs TBA

21 September 1968 – King’s Hall, Aberystwyth, Wales with The Shakedown Sounds (this is missing from Jack’s gigs and comes from the Cambrian Times but may not be the same band)

26 September 1968 – Crom Bolton, Lancashire (most likely Cromwellian)

27-28 September 1968 – Scotch of St James, Mayfair, London

29-30 September 1968 – Wales gigs

1-4 October 1968 – Wales gigs

5 October 1968 – Sutton in Ashfield, Nottinghamshire (no venue listed)

10 October 1968 – Commall Hebton (not sure this is correct)

11 October 1968 – Penzance, Cornwall (possibly Winter Gardens)

12 October 1968 – 400 Ballroom, Torquay, Devon (Herald Express) It is missing from Jack’s diary but they also play here on 19 October

21 October 1968 – Quaintways, Chester, Cheshire with The Pearlettes, The Elastic Band and Wall City Jazz Men

2 November 1968 – Ilford, London (possibly The Angel)

4 November 1968 – Sibs London (most likely Sibyllas, Swallow Street)

15-17 November 1968 – Scotland dates

23 November 1968 – Sheffield University, Sheffield, South Yorkshire with Led Zeppelin

7 December 1968 – Ilford, London (possibly The Angel)

14 December 1968 – Rotherham (no venue listed)

28 December 1968 – Stage Club, Oxford

18-19 January 1969 – Margate, Kent (most likely the Dreamland Ballroom)

The gig list cuts off here so not sure if there are any others

Categories: Boo, Canada, MGM, Ontario, Toronto

Grant Smith and the Power

March 9, 2009 Nick Warburton 11 Comments

Grant Smith & The Power, Spring 1967, shortly after their formation. Left to right: Brian Ayers, Val Stevens, Charlie Miller, Ralph Miller, Jim Pauley, Mike Harrison, Wayne Stone and Grant Smith — Grant Smith & The Power, spring 1967, shortly after their formation. Left to right: Brian Ayres, Val Stevens, Charlie Miller, Ralph Miller, Jim Pauley, Mike Harrison, Wayne Stone and Grant Smith

Grant Smith (Vocals) all line ups

Val Stevens (B-3 Organ) line up ABCDEHI

Jim Pauley (Guitar) line up AB

Mike Harrison (Bass) line up ABCDE

Wayne “Stoney” Stone (Drums) line up ABCDEF

Charlie Miller (Drums) line up A

Ralph Miller (Trumpet) line up ABCDEFGH

Brian “Otis” Ayres (Saxophone) all line ups

Jon Palma (Guitar) line up CD

Steve Kennedy (Saxophone, Harmonica) line up DEF

Kenny Marco (Guitar) line up EF

William “Smitty” Smith (Organ) line up F

Sonnie “Jiggs” Bernardi (Drums) line up GHI

Gord Baxter (Guitar) – line up GH

Rick Berkett (Bass) – line up GH

Wulf Stelling (B-3 Organ) – line up G

Ted Stack (Trumpet) – line up GH

Bert Hermiston (Saxophone/flute) – line up GHI

Josef Chirowski (Keyboards)

Frank De Felice (Drums)

Joe Agnello (Bass)

Terry Aubertin (Guitar)

Pedro Cortez (Keyboards)

Pierre Galipeau (Trumpet)

Former Weepers member Val Stevens together with Mike Harrison and the Miller Brothers had been playing with Toronto band Eddie Spencer & The Power when a decision was made on 1 January 1967 to shake up the band.

New lead singer (and former drummer with The Missing Links) Ellis Grant Smith (b. London, Ontario), together with guitarist Jim Pauley from his previous band, E G Smith & The Express and sax player Brian Ayres, who’d previously played bass guitar with Brantford, Ontario groups, The Galaxies, The Marque-Royals and The Beau Keys were brought in.

Two weeks later, another former Express member and second drummer, Wayne Stone joined. Stone had also previously played with London, Ontario band The Sticks and Stones with bass player Jim Laramie before the pair joined Grant Smith in E G Smith & The Express with Jim Pauley and keyboard player Vernon Pickell, who went on to briefly record with the mid-1967 version of The Mynah Birds at Motown before reuniting with Laramie in Natural Gas (with former Mandala singer George Olliver).

The first line-up remained together until mid-1967 and initially gigged as E G Smith and The Power before adopting the better known, Grant Smith & The Power.

Canadian music publication RPM Music Weekly featured a short article and photo of the group in its 10 June 1967 issue on the front page. The article notes the group first started playing at the In Crowd in Toronto’s Yorkville Village.

After Charlie Miller’s departure in June, the group went to the United States, now working with only one drummer, and played on the Atlantic Seaboard, including playing at the Number 3 Lounge in Boston.

After returning to Canada, Jim Pauley quit and was replaced by Jon Palma in September. Palma had previously played in The Weepers alongside Val Stevens and Charlie Miller.

The band’s debut 45, a soul version of The Spencer Davis Group’s ‘Keep on Running’ coupled with Smith and Stevens’s ‘Her Own Life’, came out in January 1968 and featured line up C.

Both singles were recorded (with Steve Kennedy on the sessions) at Toronto music mogul, Art Snider’s Sound Canada studios in Toronto. Kennedy, a former member of Diane Brooks, Eric Mercury and The Soul Searchers, joined the group as its musical director in January 1968.

RPM Music Weekly’s 20 January issue notes that the group opened their second US tour in Revere, Massachusetts on 15 January, with follow up appearances in Boston, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York and Chicago. The first half of the tour was due to end on 9 March and then they returned to Toronto.

The band, spring 1968. Left to right: Mike Harrison (missing), Jon Palma, Wayne Stone, Val Stevens, Ralph Miller, Grant Smith (front), Steve Kennedy and Brian Ayres. Photo used for front cover of their LP.

While in New York in May 1968, Palma left to join Mary Ann Brown & The Good Things and guitarist Kenny Marco, who had played alongside Brian Ayres in The Galaxies, The Marque-Royals and The Beau Keys joined.

Grant Smith and the Power photo — Grant Smith & The Power, summer 1968, shortly after Kenny Marco (second left) joined and before Mike Harrison (second right) and Val Stevens (far right) departed

With Marco on-board the group recorded their second single, ‘Thinkin’ About You’ c/w ‘You Got What You Want’ at Art Snider’s Sound Canada studios in Toronto. The tracks were picked up by MGM and released that autumn. (Ed. Stone thinks Jon Palma was the guitarist on these two tracks and not Marco).

In October 1968, Harrison left to join McKenna Mendelson Mainline.

Stevens also left at this point and William Smith, who’d previously worked with The Soul Searchers came in, covering bass on Hammond organ.

November 1968, left to right: Brian Ayres, Kenny Marco, Wayne Stone, Grant Smith, Steve Kennedy, Ralph Miller and William Smith. Photo used for back cover of their LP

Line up F was responsible for recording the bulk of the group’s album on Boo in November 1968, which also included the band’s debut single and a few tracks recorded by earlier line ups.

However, Marco, Kennedy, Smith and Stone weren’t happy with the recording and its reliance on cover material and left in mid-January 1969 to form Motherlode.

Four members of Franklin Sheppard & The Good Sheppards took their place. Gordon Baxter had started out with Kitchener, Ontario group The Counts Royale.

In mid-1966, however, Wulf Stelling, who had played alongside Brian Ayres in The Marque-Royals in the early 1960s, invited the guitarist to join a new band he was forming in Brantford, Ontario that also featured former Jay’s Rayders members Rick Berkett (aka Ric Barker) and sax player Glen Higgins.

After rehearsing for several months with another singer (Larry Lewellan), Stelling’s group was picked up by Franklin Sheppard in October; Sheppard had broken up the original Sheppards following dates in Vancouver the previous month. In August 1967 Sonnie Bernardi joined from Mary Ann Brown & The Good Things and The Sheppards toured the US before splitting in mid-1968.

Franklin Sheppard & The Good Sheppards, August 1967. Left to right: Chuck Slater, Rick Berkett, Glen Higgins, Frank Sheppard, Wulf Stelling, Gordon Baxter and Sonnie Bernardi. Photo: Gord Baxter

Baxter had started to put together a new R&B group in Kitchener when Stelling called him to join Grant Smith in January 1969 alongside Bernardi and Berkett. At the same time, Smith added two more horn players, Ted Stack on second trumpet alongside Ralph Miller and Bert Hermiston on second sax and flute.

Following several weeks of rehearsals at the Hawk’s Nest in Toronto and playing some local gigs, line-up G headed to the Boston area in the first week of May 1969.

Sonnie Bernardi next to gig sign for 30 June to 6 July 1969 at Mill Hill Club, West Yarmouth, Cape Cod. Photo: Gord Baxter

However, Grant Smith soon clashed with Stelling and Val Stevens was brought back into the group around July.

Left to right: Rick Berkett, Ralph Miller, Val Stevens and Gordon Baxter. Photo: Gord Baxter

The revised line-up continued to gig around Boston and the Cape Cod areas before returning to Toronto in August 1969. Smith then briefly disbanded The Power because he wanted a break. Baxter then reunited with Wulf Stelling in The Wulf Pack.

The Wulf Pack, 1970. Clockwise from left: Blake Barrett, Wulf Stelling, Gordon Baxter and Stacy. Photo: Gord Baxter

When Smith reformed The Power as a sextet in September 1969, he retained Brian Ayres, Bert Hermiston, Sonnie Bernadi and Val Stevens. However, the line-up remained fluid throughout 1970 and Smith expanded the line-up again to an 11-piece.

Former member Kenny Marco re-joined during this period as well after Motherlode split up and the group played in Las Vegas at Caesar’s Palace.

Grant Smith Power MGM promo photo — Grant Smith & The Power, 1970. Left to right: Brian Ayres, Bert Hermiston, unknown musician, unknown musician, Sonnie Bernardi, unknown musician, unknown musician, unknown musician, Val Stevens and (front) Grant Smith.

During 1970 Bernardi left and subsequently worked with Ronnie Hawkins, King Biscuit and then Crowbar. Hermiston did sessions with Heaven and Earth among others while Stevens formed his own trio before travelling to England in late 1970 and played with Clown, Tucky Buzzard and Steve Hillage’s Khan.

Marco subsequently joined former member William Smith in Los Angeles backing David Clayton-Thomas.

At some point (most likely late 1969/early 1970), keyboardist Josef Chirowski, who’d previously played with The Mandala and The Power Project worked with Grant Smith & The Power briefly. Also, another former Franklin Sheppard & The Good Sheppards member Frank De Felice was a brief member before forming Jericho.

Grant Smith continued to front various line-ups of The Power throughout the 1970s and beyond.

Former Leigh Ashford bass player Joe Agnello recalls playing with Grant Smith & The Power around 1971-1972 before he formed Fullerton, Little and Agnello Group (Flag). He says that former Power member Wayne Stone was on drums alongside guitarist Terry Aubertin and organist Pedro Cortez. He also remembers two trumpet players Pierre Galipeau and a guy called Benoit.

Stone subsequently worked with Johnny Otis in Los Angeles in the early 1970s and then returned to Toronto to play with Dr. Music, a band that had previously featured Kenny Marco and also included Steve Kennedy.

In the mid-1970s, former members Kenny Marco, Wayne Stone and Val Stevens (after he had returned from England) returned to play with Grant Smith in a line-up that also featured sax player Leo Sullivan.

Recordings

45 Keep On Running/Her Own Life (BOO 681) 1968

45 Thinkin’ About You/You Got What I Want (MGM 13979) 1968

LP Grant Smith & The Power (BOO 6802) 1968

MGM promo for Grant Smith & the Power, RPM, October 28, 1969 — RPM, 28 October 1969

RPM, March 17, 1969 — RPM, 17 March 1969

Selected advertised gigs

5 February 1967 – The Syndicate Club, Toronto, Ontario (formerly Club Isabella) (billed as E G Smith & The Power)

11 February1967 – The Hawk’s Nest, Toronto, Ontario (billed as E G Smith & The Power)

18 February 1967 – Gogue Inn, Toronto, Ontario with Franklin Sheppard & The Good Sheppards and The Wyldfyre (billed as E G Smith & The Power)

4 March 1967 – The Hawk’s Nest, Toronto, Ontario (billed as E G Smith & The Power)

10 March 1967 – Gogue Inn, Toronto, Ontario with The Five Good Reasons, Dana and Sunny & Peter

24 March 1967 – Avenue Road Club, Toronto, Ontario

26 March 1967 – Avenue Road Club, Toronto, Ontario

9 April 1967 – Crang Plaza, Downsview, Ontario with R K & The Associates (billed as E G Smith & The Power)

14 April 1967 – Club 888, Toronto, Ontario (billed as E G Smith & The Power)

29 April 1967 – The Hawk’s Nest, Toronto, Ontario (billed as E G Smith & The Power)

6 May 1967 – Broom and Stone, Scarborough, Ontario with Luv-Lites and The Tiaras and The Syndicate Five (billed as E G Smith & The Power)

13 May 1967 – Whitby Arena, Whitby, Ontario with Shawne Jackson, Jay Jackson & The Majestics, Bobby Kris & The Imperials, The Last Words, Jack Hardin & The Silhouettes, The Tripp, The Ugly Ducklings, Roy Kenner & The Associates and others (billed as E G Smith & The Power)

2 June 1967 – The Hawk’s Nest, Toronto, Ontario

2 June 1967 – Annadale Country Club, Pickering, Ontario (billed as E G Smith & The Power)

9 June 1967 – Don Mills Curling Club, Toronto, Ontario with The One Eyed Jacks

16 June 1967 – Whitby Arena, Whitby, Ontario with James and Bobby Purify, Shawne Jackson, Jay Jackson & The Majestics, Jack Hardin and Stitch In Tyme (billed as E G Smith & The Power)

27 June 1967 – Broom and Stone, Scarborough, Ontario with The One Eyed Jacks and Who & The Blazers

The band travelled to the United States for the summer

6 September 1967 – The Hawk’s Nest, Toronto, Ontario

23 September 1967 – Club 42, Stratford, Ontario (billed as E G Smith & The Power)

29 September 1967 – Jubilee Auditorium, Oshawa, Ontario (billed as E G Smith & The Power)

30 September 1967 – Broom and Stone, Scarborough, Ontario (billed as E G Smith & The Power)

Grant Smith and the Power RPM 2 October 1967

14 October 1967 – The Hawk’s Nest, Toronto, Ontario

21 October 1967 – York University, Toronto, Ontario (billed as E G Smith & The Power)

22 October 1967 – Teddy Bear Club, Toronto, Ontario

10 November 1967 – Club Boogaloo, Chandelier, near Wentworth, Hamilton, Ontario (Hamilton Spectator)

11 November 1967 – Broom and Stone, Scarborough, Ontario with The Taxi

17 November 1967 – Club Shade Blue, Hamilton, Ontario (Hamilton Spectator)

18 November 1967 – The Hawk’s Nest, Toronto, Ontario

1 December 1967 – Club Shade Blue, Hamilton, Ontario (Hamilton Spectator)

8 December 1967 – Jubilee Auditorium, Oshawa, Ontario (billed as E G Smith & The Power)

15 December 1967 – Club Trocadero, Toronto, Ontario

22 December 1967 – Club Boogaloo, Chandelier, near Wentworth, Hamilton, Ontario (Hamilton Spectator)

23 December 1967 – Bunny Bin, Toronto, Ontario with Christopher Edward Campaign and The Village Stop

26 December 1967 – Hidden Valley, Huntsville, Ontario

31 December 1967 – The Hawk’s Nest, Toronto, Ontario

6 January 1968 – The Hawk’s Nest, Toronto, Ontario

12 January 1968 – Jubilee Auditorium, Oshawa, Ontario

The band’s second US tour begins on 15 January and concludes on 9 March, according to RPM Music Weekly’s 20 January issue. It also says they will record most of their Boo LP from 11-23 March.

22-26 January 1968 – Buttercup Hill Club, Lunenburg, Massachusetts (Fitchburg Sentinel)

28 January 1968 – Buttercup Hill Club, Lunenburg, Massachusetts (Fitchburg Sentinel)

29 January-2 February 1968 – Buttercup Hill Club, Lunenburg, Massachusetts (Fitchburg Sentinel)

4 February 1968 – Buttercup Hill Club, Lunenburg, Massachusetts (Fitchburg Sentinel)

8 March 1968 – Jubilee Auditorium, Oshawa, Ontario (may not have happened if US dates correct above)

10 March 1968 – Teddy Bear Club, Toronto, Ontario (billed as E G Smith & The Power)

17 March 1968 – O’Keefe Centre, Toronto, Ontario with The Hollies and Spanky & The Gang (billed as E G Smith & The Power)

19 March 1968 – Club Riviera, Norval, Ontario with Stitch In Tyme and The Lords of London

20 March 1968 – Civic Centre Auditorium, Brantford, Ontario (The Expositor) Advert says they are leaving for Los Angeles next week but this seems unlikely

23 March 1968 – London Arena, London, Ontario with The Entertainer

24 March 1968 – The Hawk’s Nest, Toronto, Ontario

29 March 1968 – Jubilee Auditorium, Oshawa, Ontario

30 March 1968 – Neil McNeil Student Council, Toronto, Ontario (billed as E G Smith & The Power)

31 March 1968 – Intersection, Windsor, Ontario with The Amboy Dukes (Windsor Star)

RPM Music Weekly’s 20 January 1968 issue says the second half of their second US tour starts on 25 March and ends on 15 June. It looks like the start date may have been pushed back though to early April.

Mid-May 1968 – Trudy Heller’s, New York, USA (Toronto Daily Star)

14 June 1968 – Memorial Centre, Kingston, Ontario with The Varmints and Paper Dream (Kingston Whig-Standard)

16 June 1968 – Broom and Stone, Scarborough, Ontario (billed as E G Smith & The Power and says just back from US tour)

20 June 1968 – Huron Park Recreation Centre, Cooksville, Ontario with The Lords of London, The Five Shy and The Cat (billed as E G Smith & The Power)

21 June 1968 – Jubilee Auditorium, Oshawa, Ontario

22 June 1968 – Club Commodore, Kawarthas, Ontario

23 June 1968 – Summer Garden, Port Dover, Ontario

25 June 1968 – London Arena, London, Ontario with The Entertainer with The Soul Agents and The Grass Company

29 June 1968 – Balm Beach Danceland, Balm Beach, Ontario

2 July 1968 – The Hawk’s Nest, Toronto, Ontario

5 July 1968 – BCI, Brantford, Ontario (billed as EG Smith & The Power) (The Expositor)

6 July 1968 – The Cove, Long Beach, St Catherine’s, Ontario (The Standard)

12-13 July 1968 – Sauble Beach Pavilion, Sauble Beach, Ontario (Sun Times from Owen Sound)

14 July 1968 – Summer Garden, Port Dover, Ontario

29 July 1968-18 August 1968 – Tony Marts Somers Point, Ocean City, New Jersey, US with The Shades and The Shadettes, The Aerodrome and The Pop Explosions (Courier-Post/Press of Atlantic City)

24 August 1968 – The Hawk’s Nest, Toronto, Ontario

25 August 1968 – Summer Garden, Port Dover, Ontario with The Federation (The Expositor)

28 August 1968 – The Glenbriar, Waterloo, Ontario with George Olliver & His Children and The Web & Dover Street (Waterloo Region Record)

1 September 1968 – Hidden Valley, Huntsville, Ontario with The Private Collection

12 September 1968 – Ryerson Gymnasium, Toronto, Ontario (Toronto Daily Star)

22 September 1968 – The Hawk’s Nest, Toronto, Ontario

27 September 1968 – Jubilee Auditorium, Oshawa, Ontario

11 October 1968 – Alligator, Hamilton, Ontario (Hamilton Spectator)

13 October 1968 – Hidden Valley, Huntsville, Ontario with The Staccatos (possibly one of Harrison’s final shows)

19 October 1968 – BCI, Brantford, Ontario (The Expositor)

15 November 1968 – Alligator, Hamilton, Ontario (Hamilton Spectator)

22 November 1968 – Hawk’s Nest, Toronto, Ontario (Toronto Daily Star)

24 November 1968 – Paradise Gardens, Guelph, Ontario

30 November 1968 – Royal York Hotel, Toronto, Ontario with The Stitch In Time

1 December 1968 – Broom and Stone, Scarborough, Ontario

26 December 1968 – Hidden Valley, Huntsville, Ontario with The Taxi

27 December 1968 – Alligator, Hamilton, Ontario (Hamilton Spectator)

28 December 1968 – Summer Garden, Port Dover, Ontario

1 January 1969 – BCI, Brantford, Ontario (The Expositor)

4 January 1969 – Broom and Stone, Scarborough, Ontario (Toronto Daily Star)

15 February 1969 – Broom and Stone, Scarborough, Ontario (Toronto Daily Star)

22 February 1969 – Pillar Square, Hamilton, Ontario (Hamilton Spectator)

20 March 1969 – Masonic Temple, Windsor, Ontario (Windsor Star)

22 March 1969 – Summer Garden, Port Dover, Ontario with Gulliver’s Travels (The Expositor)

4 April 1969 – Bramalea Community Centre, Bramalea, Ontario with Wingate Funk

25 April 1969 – Jubilee Pavilion, Oshawa, Ontario

26 April 1969 – Neil McNeil’s High School, Toronto, Ontario

27 April 1969 – The Hawk’s Nest, Toronto, Ontario

2 May 1969 – Teutonia Club, Windsor, Ontario with Power & The Glory (Windsor Star)

The band headed to the Boston and Cape Cod areas to play at this point.

Early May 1969 – Beacon Club, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

19-31 May 1969 – Buttercup Hill Club, Lunenburg, Massachusetts, USA (Fitchburg Sentinel) Two weeks

16-29 June 1969 – Lucifer, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

30 June- 6 July 1969 – Mill Hill Club, West Yarmouth, Massachusetts, USA (they also played the Dunes in East Sandwich around this time)

August 1969 – Grange Tavern, Hamilton, Ontario (two weeks) (Hamilton Spectator)

22 August 1969 – Summer Garden, Port Dover, Ontario with Tote Family (Hamilton Spectator)

12-13 September 1969 – Village Inn’s Lamplighter Room and Alminta Dawson, Gaslight Room, Sarnia, Ontario (Times Herald)

28 September 1969 – Summer Garden, Port Dover, Ontario (The Expositor)

12 October 1969 – Summer Garden, Port Dover, Ontario (The Expositor)

13-18 October 1969 – Lakeview Manor Hotel, Kingston, Ontario (Kington Whig-Standard) Advert says the band is a sextet

19 October 1969 – Kingston Memorial Centre, Kingston, Ontario (Kingston Whig-Standard)

22-24 October 1969 – Club Aquarius, Hillcrest Tavern, Hamilton, Ontario (The Expositor)

3 November 1969 – Town & Country Palace, Toronto, Ontario (Toronto Daily Star) Picture suggests six piece band; looks like week-long residency

5 December 1969 – Jubilee Auditorium, Oshawa, Ontario

December 1969 – Grange Tavern, Hamilton, Ontario (three weeks) (Hamilton Spectator)

10 January 1970 – Pillar Square, Hamilton, Ontario (Hamilton Spectator)

Early February 1970 – Lakeview Manor Hotel, Centennial Room, Kingston, Ontario (Kingston Whig-Standard) Week-long residency; advert says it’s a six-piece

13 February 1970 – Jubilee Auditorium, Oshawa, Ontario

3 April 1970 – Town & Country Palace, Toronto, Ontario (Toronto Daily Star)

13 April 1970 – Town & Country Palace, Toronto, Ontario (Toronto Daily Star) Advert suggests longer residency. Last Canadian appearance before opening at Caesar’s Palace, Las Vegas

30 May 1970 – Grange Tavern, Hamilton, Ontario (Hamilton Spectator) Advert suggests long residency

6 June 1970 – Grange Tavern, Hamilton, Ontario (Hamilton Spectator) Advert suggests long residency

13 June 1970 – Grange Tavern, Hamilton, Ontario (Hamilton Spectator) Advert suggests long residency

22 June 1970 – Town & Country Palace, Toronto, Ontario (Toronto Daily Star)

25 June 1970 – Town & Country Palace, Toronto, Ontario (Toronto Daily Star) Advert says it’s an 11-piece

3 August 1970 – Hawk’s Room, Toronto, Ontario

Mid-August 1970 – Lakeview Manor Hotel, Centennial Room, Kingston, Ontario (Kingston Whig-Standard) Week-long residency

14 September 1970 – Grange Tavern, Hamilton, Ontario (Hamilton Spectator) Advert suggests longer residency

21 September 1970 – Grange Tavern, Hamilton, Ontario (Hamilton Spectator) Advert suggests longer residency

23 October 1970 – Town & Country Palace, Toronto, Ontario (Toronto Daily Star)

Early November 1970 – Choo Choo Stop, Guelph, Ontario (Waterloo Region Record)

21 December 1970 – Grange Tavern, Hamilton, Ontario (Hamilton Spectator) According to article in Hamilton Spectator, 22 December, p36, this is the start of three-week stand

Thanks to Carny Corbett, Mike Harrison, Sonnie Bernardi, Craig Webb, Gordon Baxter, Joe Agnello, Wayne Stone and Grant Smith for their help. Thanks to Grant for some band photos and gig posters.

The source for most of the live dates listed here was the “After Four” section, published in the Toronto Telegram and RPM Music Weekly unless otherwise noted. RPM images courtesy of Ivan Amirault. I’d also like to credit John Mars’s article on Kenny Marco in Blitz magazine, published in 1982.

Grant Smith photo — Thanks to Grant for the photo

Grant Smith photo on stage — Thanks to Grant for the photo

Categories: Arizona, Des Moines, Iowa, Splitsound, Tucson

Splitsound Records discography and the Whose Who

March 8, 2009 Chris Bishop 4 Comments

Splitsound was a Tucson, Arizona label owned by Dan Gates, DJ/Program Director at KTKT and Dan Peters. Splitsound is best known for the Dearly Beloved’s great “Flight Thirteen”, but it also had fine 45s by the Lewallen Brothers, the Buckett City Distortion Rackett and the Grodes.

The Whose Who were actually a vocal group from ~~Dayton, Ohio~~ Des Moines, Iowa. Dan Gates recorded their tracks at Audio Recorders in Phoenix in return for doing background vocals for another artist produced by Gates, Rena Cook.

James Hagerty of the Whose Who wrote to me, “The group was from Des Moines, IA and included James Hagerty, Kathy Mazzola, Darrell Chrystle, and Al Jinx. We came to Tucson to record at the request of a former member of the group, Steve Harris who had recently moved to Tucson. I don’t know how he met Dan Gates.”

Fans of moody pop should dig “Don’t Let Her See You Cry”, written by Grodes vocalist Manny Freiser. The breezy flip, “The Fun We Had” was written by J.J. Hagerty.

Usually Splitsound releases have a catalog prefix “SSDG” with the DG standing for David Gates. The Whose Who was produced by Steve Harris, so it has the prefix “SSSH”, unique among Splitsound 45s as far as I can tell.

any help with this discography would be appreciated!

Splitsound discography:

SSDG 1-1/1-2: Lewallen Brothers – I Think I’m Glad (Cal Lewallen) / It Must Be Love

SSDG 2-2/2-2: Rena Cook (with The Grodes Orch. & Chorus) – Once in a Lifetime Love (Manny Freiser) / The Lovelost (featuring Reggie Arvizu) – Lost Love

SSDG 3-1/3-2: Buckett City Distortion Rackett – I Can See It’s Coming / I Lied (Steve Lewis)

SSDG 4-1/4-2: Grodes – Give Me Some Time / Background of Give Me Some Time (both by Manny Freiser and Rich Cota Robles) (December, 1967)

SSDG 5-1/5-2: Dearly Beloved – Merry Go Round (Larry Cox) / Flight Thirteen (Terry Lee)

SSDG 6-1/6-2: Lewallen Brothers – Only A Dream / Somethin’ On My Mind (March, 1968)

SSDG 7-1/7-2: Butterscotch – Your Own Love / Three-O-Nine (Fred Porter)

SSDG 8-1/8-2: Spring Fever (The Grodes) – Sand / Give Me Some Time (June 1968)

SSDG 9-1/9-2: Greylock Mansion – Over My Shoulder / Dedication (1970)

SSSH 1-1/1-2: Whose Who – The Fun We Had (J.J. Hagerty) / Don’t Let Her See You Cry (Manny Frieser).

Max Waller writes about Greylock Mansion that it “was released in 1970 but had been recorded in December 1969 at the same time as the ‘Catafalque’ / ‘Amazon’ pairing that was released first in Jan 1970 on Dynamic Records.”

Shep Cooke? – or is that a mix up with the Rena Cook 45?

Sources include: 60sgaragebands.com interview with Dan Gates.

Thank you to Max Waller for his help with this discography.

Categories: Harlingen, McAllen, Pharaoh, Rio Grande Valley, Texas

Simon Reyes and the Outerlimits

March 8, 2009 Chris Bishop 60 Comments

The Pharaoh label is famous for some great Texas garage 45s by the Cavaliers, the Headstones, the Playboys of Edinburgh, and Christopher & the Souls. Owning none of those pricey records at this time, I’m choosing to feature another side of Pharaoh: Simon Reyes.

His first Pharoah 45 is bluesy pop number with a female backing group and an extended electric piano solo “My Baby Hurts Me”, with a ballad, “Mistake Number Three” on the flip. Simon Reyes wrote both songs and is backed by the Outerlimits.

I haven’t heard his second Pharaoh 45, “Broken Hearted Fool” / “What Now My Love” but I expect it covers similar ground to this one.

There’s not much info out there on Reyes, but he had at least a couple records on Huey Meaux’s various labels, including a very good version of “I’m a Hog (For You)” on Rival, and both English and Spanish versions of “Mama, Mama” on Tear Drop.

Simon’s brother Noe Reyes reports that Simon died in November, 1973.

Jimmy Nicholls owned the Pharaoh label and also a studio in McAllen, TX where many bands recorded, including the Zakary Thaks and Bad Seeds for their early singles. Simon Reyes wasn’t the only Mexican-American crossover artist on Pharaoh, there was also The Cruisers featuring E.J. and Bobby Ledesma.

See the list of releases of Pharaoh Records on this site for more info on the label.

Special thanks to Noe for providing the photos.

Simon and the Gypsies in New Orleans, Simon on the left.

Categories: Angelus, California, Downey, Gemcor, Los Angeles

Eddie Burkey

March 8, 2009 Chris Bishop 16 Comments

Gemcor was a short-lived label based out of Bill Bell’s studio on Melrose in Los Angeles. It had one of the coolest label designs of the 60’s. There were only three releases on Gemcor, and two are very well known to fans of garage rock.

One of these is the Rumors 45, “Hold Me Now” / “Without Her”, among my very favorite 45s of the ’60s. (I still don’t have a copy of it. Anyone have a spare?) Another is the common and excellent Beckett Quintet 45, “No Correspondence”.

The very first 45 on the label is almost unknown, however, with Eddie Burkey performing two of his original instrumentals. “Stepping Stones” is a melange of surf, brass and strings, but Eddie cuts loose some ripping guitar lines here and there. The flip is the lighter “Emerald Shadows”.

It turns out Ed Burkey is credited with arranging the Rumor’s “Hold Me Now”, and actually played lead and rhythm guitar on both sides, including the wild reverbed solo on “Hold Me Now”. That solo alone ensures his musical immortality in my book!

I’ve read that Ed Burkey played with the Ventures but can’t find any confirmation of that. He did cut three instrumentals for the Downey label that went unreleased at the time, now compiled on the Ace CD “Intoxica! Strange and Sleazy Instrumentals From the SoCal Suburbs”. Two of these are loaded with overdubs and experimental sounds. Interestingly, the third is labeled “Dreams of Downey” but seems to be identical to “Stepping Stones”.

Eddie’s early groups included drummer Jim Lewallen, related to the Tucson, Arizona Lewallen Brothers who recorded for Splitsound Records.

Gemcor discography:

5001 Eddie Burkey – Stepping Stones / Emerald Shadows
5002 Rumors – Hold Me Now (Ben Turner) / Without Her (written by Norman Prinsky, credited to “Richards”)
5003 Beckett Quintet – No Correspondence (Tim Taylor) / It’s All Over Now Baby Blue

Sources include: Norman Prinsky’s article on the Rumors. Billboard mentions Herbert L. Sokol and Walter Nelson as other executives with Gemcor.

Since writing the above summary, I heard from Eddie’s longtime collaborator, Les Roberts, who kindly gave a fuller picture of their music and shared his personal photos:

“Eddie (with my Gibson), my Mom and younger sister”

Tony Taylor, Les Roberts and Eddie Burkey

Goldenaires business card — Our business card

Angelus 45 recorded at Whitney Recording, courtesy Jim Lewallen

Dick Dale & the Del-Tones circa mid-1970s — The Del-Tones, circa mid-1970s

Hmmm, don’t know where to start, except from the beginning!
Eddie was born 1945 in Akron, OH. I was born 1947 in Middletown, OH (between Cincinnati and Dayton). We are not brothers, but might as well have been.
We moved to Downey, CA in 1960. I had been learning guitar for a while and Eddie finally became interested when I learned to played “Bulldog” & “Torque” by the Fireballs. We only had the one guitar and to the surprise and wonderment of family and friends, we were both playing songs, simultaneously on the one guitar. We would switch off on lead and rhythm. It was pretty cool.
December of that year I bought a Gibson Melody Maker solid body ($89.00). Now we had two guitars!
We began playing for friends, BBQ’s and finally a “sock-hop”. Eddie and I were the GoldenAires. By 1964 we had incorporated a drummer (Jim Lewallen) and bass player (Tony Taylor), both from Twenty Nine Palms, CA. They had some connections in 29 Palm and we started getting Friday and Saturday night gigs in the area. Up to and including Disneyland. Most of our music was Ventures, Duane Eddy, Dick Dale, and lots of surf music. He became “Eddie Ladd” and I “Les Roberts”. It was fun, no big deal and we were getting paid to do what was easy! By this time each of us had bought custom made Fender Jaguars and Fender Dual Showman amps. His was Candy Apple Red and mine was Metal Flake Blue.
I had started a carpet cleaning business which was making a lot of money and spent a lot of time involved with that. I knew the Chanteys band members and the Rumblers because of some business I had done with Downey Records, which was run by an interesting individual Bill Wenzel. Bill had a record store, Wenzel Music Town, and in a backroom he had set up a small 6’ x 10’ sound room to record in. He had an Ampex recorder and the local groups would come in for $30/hr to record their music. Eddie had bought an Echo machine (tape loop-like that used by Jordan Ingman – “Apache”) and was doing some great licks. The Rumbler’s even used him in some of their recordings.
at Whitney Recording: (l-r) Tony Taylor, Les Roberts, Eddie Burkey and Jim Lewallen
The studio photo was taken at Whitney Recording Studio in Glendale, CA. around December 1964. Tony Taylor was the bassist. Eddie and I traded lead/rhythm. The studio was a gas! The main studio was almost 50’ x 50’. Great acoustics! At the time our manager, Herb Sokol, was financing the group: recording cost(s), uniforms, musical necessities etc. He had sold Scott Seely (Accent Records) on a recording contract. At the time we had finished recording “Madhatter”, “What He Said”, “Watermelon Man” and “Soundin’ Loud”.
The Goldenaires’ Angelus Records 45, recorded at Whitney Recording courtesy Jim Lewallen
Eddie and I were not yet of legal age to sign contracts, so the matter went to the parents and Herb Sokol. Being the fact Herb fronted the money for almost everything, the contract showed the greater percentage of “artist” royalties would go to him until he had recouped his investment (I thought this was reasonable). The parents did not agree. As a result, even though Scott Seely had already signed the contract, to our dismay, it later ended up being trashed.
Not a big issue with Scott Seely, as he had just signed Buddy Merrill. Man, what talent that kid had! He was recording pretty much in the same manner that Eddie and I was doing (Les Paul-type sound-on-sound recording).
Eddie and I were recording some various songs for “future” work. On a couple visits when I could not make it to the studio, Eddie would start laying down the tracks for “Emerald Shadows” and “Thunderhead”. “Thunderhead” was the song that Eddie later edited and called: “Stepping Stones”. (Years later he renamed it; “Memories of Downey”). I loved “Emerald Shadows” as I was a big Martin Denny and Arthur Lyman fan and thought we could edge our music more toward a “tropical” sound.
A few months later Eddie briefly teamed up with Gemcor Records and released the songs around 1965 (Stepping Stone & Emerald Shadows). Another piece of info: Eddie designed the GEMCOR label. If he was involved in any other aspect with Gemcor, I was not aware of the arrangement.
To my knowledge Eddie never worked for or played with the Ventures. They opened an office in L.A. next door to the Mosrite Guitar business office, where we met Semie Moseley, the owner and shortly thereafter Don Wilson and Jerry McGee (who did keyboard and backup guitar work for the group).
Eddy was drafted in 1965 and I enlisted in 1966. Eddie married his high school sweetheart Karen in 1966, while on leave and before going to Vietnam. He settled down in Monterey, CA after the Army and I, after my discharge, in the L.A. area. Eddie was doing some graphic arts design, I was unsure of what I wanted to do, but not too long after Karen gave birth to Brandon, Eddie and Karen moved down to the L.A. area where Eddie and I started Town & Country Apartment Care – something to finance our waning music business.
One Wednesday night we heard of a night club that had a talent contest and opted to go. The house band (which was country) asked if we would like to go to an after-hours jam. Sure! we said. There we met up with Dewayne [Quirico] (drummer for the Bobby Fuller Four), plus some other well know country entertainers who we ended up jamming with for the rest of the night and many times thereafter. It was as if we were an overnight success! We backed a young lady named Trudy Martin and another gent named Ralph Raymonds.
Within a few weeks we were Trudy and Ralph’s back-up band, along with Paul Crum on flat-top guitar and Bobby Fierro on drums. We became: “Rockin’ Country” and was hired as the house band for a nightclub in Azusa CA. We did this gig with great success, for about two years. Ralph and Trudy went in one direction, Eddie and I in another. We tried some gigs as a Trio but things had changed and the “sound” just wasn’t there. I was offered and accepted a job to go on the road with Dick Dale; Eddie took a job playing lead for Barbara Stanton.
Dick Dale’s producer/manager was a cool gent named Jim Pewter, who was also the producer for Jan & Dean, so needless to say we did appearances together. Dick Dale was under contract to perform in Las Vegas, Reno and Lake Tahoe, which is what I did up until I realized I was going nowhere. Making great money, but going nowhere! I had moved to Lake Tahoe because it was a reasonable commute between Reno and Las Vegas but had lost track of Eddie. Finally, in 1977 I decided (at 30), I was getting too old for this, and with the approval of my wife, stopped the music business (cold turkey) and went back to college, under the GI bill, finished my degree and took my life into a different direction.
I seldom play music, as I have left that to my two sons, both of whom are heavily involved with the trade. I now live in Madera County, just a few miles from Yosemite Nat’l Park (south entrance), and work as a Safety Consultant for Pacific Gas & Electric Company.
I ran into Eddie in 1983 (in L.A.), he had teamed up with a very talented young lady (Leslie) who played piano, wrote music and they clicked (so to speak). They had a lounge act that lasted for a spell and then, for whatever reason, dissolved. Eddie remarried and to my knowledge still lives in the L.A. area.
Eddie Burkey was one hell of a guitar player, with an imagination to go with it. I have hundreds of hours of recordings, we made between 1963-1974, which I sometime load on the old TEAC and listen. I had pictured him going far, but that was our teenaged dreams.
As I look back, it all seemed to have started with that one song: “Bulldog”.
Les Roberts, June 2009

Categories: Columbia, RCA Victor, South Africa, US

The A-Cads

March 6, 2009 Nick Warburton 21 Comments

Left to right: Louis McKelvey, Les Goode, Sam Evans, Hank Squires, Dick Laws and Rob Kearney

Mid-1960s beat merchants The A-Cads heralded an exciting new age in South African rock music and were promoted by the local press at the time as a super group of sorts.

The band’s leading figure, rhythm guitarist/singer Hank Squires (b. Henry Stephen Smitsdorff, 20 May 1941, Johannesburg, South Africa) was well-established in South African musical circles, having previously worked with British expat Mickie Most, then a popular singer in South Africa and later one of rock’s most successful producers.

Hank Squires’ early career

Squires’s career began in the late 1950s when he made his debut on the city’s fledging rock ‘n’ roll scene playing with the popular rock ‘n’ roll outfit, The Playboys.

Training to become an electrical engineer, Squires soon abandoned Johannesburg Technical College after witnessing a concert by English émigré, the late Mickie Most (real name: Michael Hayes), a singer of modest talent who had moved to Johannesburg in 1958 to marry his South African fiancée. Impressed by the singer’s performance, Squires approached Most for guitar lessons and after a few months joined his original backing group, The Playboys.

Most’s move to the colonies proved to be extremely fortuitous – his British solo recordings (as well as singles recorded with future producer Alex Murray as The Most Brothers) had all met with widespread indifference back home.

However, after changing his name, Most and his newly formed group quickly established themselves as one of, if not, the most successful band(s) in South Africa, scoring six consecutive South African hits over the next three years (including one with Jackie Frisco). And although Most would subsequently return home during 1962 to try his hand at production, he would continue to maintain contact with Squires, seeing him as one of the few musicians in South Africa that he thought had the potential to go on to greater things.

Squires, meanwhile, had already left The Playboys prior to Most’s departure for the UK and formed a new band, The Silhouettes. This short-lived outfit also featured another ex-Playboys member, Leon Booysen (bass), alongside the late George Hill (drums) and the late Archie Van der Ploeg (lead guitar).

During The Silhouettes’ short lifespan, the group supported singer June Dyer on her number one single “Whirlpool of Love”. Squires moved on soon afterwards and joined another local group, The Giants, who scored a number one hit in late 1961 with “Dark and Lonely Street” and also recorded a rare album entitled Meet The Giants. The Giants subsequently changed their name to the Rebels and became June Dyer’s backing group.

While his old friend Mickie Most struck gold in the UK as a producer for The Animals and Lulu, among others, Squires kept busy performing and recording with Johnny Kongos and The G-Men. This exciting band was arguably one of the best outfits to emerge in South Africa during the early-mid 1960s and included some of the city’s most accomplished musicians.

The group’s potential, however, was cut short when the band’s singer (and future solo artist) John Kongos (best known for penning the international hit “He’s Gonna Step On You Again”, made famous by indie revellers The Happy Mondays in the 1990s) left to do national service.

Johnny Kongos & the G-men, 1964, l-r: Jesse Sumares, Johnny Kongos, Ed Burns (with bass), Rob Kearney (drums) and Hank Squires

Kongos later enjoyed moderate success with his solo work and his UK bands Floribunda Rose and Scrugg. The former also featured English expat Pete Clifford, who had toured South Africa with Dusty Springfield and worked with Tom Jones before forming The 004 and later joining South African rock-comedy group, The Bats.

Kongos’ replacement in The G-Men was another expat, singer Sam Evans (b. 1947, Glasgow, Scotland), a short, burly man with a rough-edged voice, who had arrived in South Africa in early 1964 after fronting a number of now long forgotten bands back home. Evans would ultimately become Squires’ first choice as the singer in what would become The A-Cads. Another former G-man, drummer Robbie Kearney (b. South Africa), fresh from a nine-month army stint at Simons Town naval base, joined him soon afterwards.

The Falling Leaves, 1965: Leib Brews, George McCauley (on chair), Hank (standing) and Arthur Fisher (high chair)

Before such a project could materialise, however, Squires left The G-Men during December 1964 to pursue a short-lived solo career. Spotted playing in a club by Mickie Most (on a flying visit to South Africa), Squires was subsequently offered a recording contract and a single, a cover of Fats Domino’s “I’ve Been Around”, produced by Most, was issued in spring 1965. A follow up single, “Stand By Me”, produced this time by Squires, also failed to attract much attention and the singer began to look around for fresh adventures.

The G-Men, l-r: Jesse Sumares, Leib Brews, Hank Squires and John E Sharpe

After brief stints with The Falling Leaves and a short-lived line up of The G-men featuring John E Sharpe, Squires started to put together a new group that would storm the South African charts.

l-r: Jesse Sumares, John E Sharpe, Hank Squires and Leib Brews

The A-Cads form

Formed during October 1965, The A-Cads were essentially the brainchild of English émigré Peter Rimmer, a former support musician for the likes of Marty Wilde and The Tempests, who had decided to try his hand at management following his move to South Africa in 1963. By the time that Rimmer ran into Squires, he had become the manager of the Rand Academy of Music, and it was probably this experience that inspired him to form what would essentially be the first South African super group.

Squires immediately recruited Evans and Kearney for the new project. He was also instrumental in bringing in the band’s remaining members, lead guitarist Dick Laws (b. 15 May 1946, London, England) and bass player Les Goode (b. 10 September 1946, Surrey, England). Both musicians had impressive pedigrees and were first-rate musicians.

Londoner Dick Laws had first visited Johannesburg in early 1963 when his band, Bill Kimber & The Couriers, got work in the city through local-born businessman Frank Fenter who had seen them play in his London coffee bar and raved about them to friends back home. Like many British artists who ventured to the colonies during this period, the group arrived to be greeted like visiting royalty.

Over the next year or so, Bill Kimber & The Couriers scored a string of South African hits for the Renown label, including covers of The Beatles’ “I Want To Hold Your Hand” and Booker T & The MG’s “Green Onions”. They had a starring role in South Africa’s first rock movie, Africa Shakes, where they also backed local singer Sharon Tandy on various songs, including the well-known R&B hit, “I’m Movin’ On”.

The Couriers eventually returned home, but Squires was convinced that Laws was key to his new group’s success, and with Rimmer’s support, managed to coax him back to join The A-Cads. Laws brought with him a unique guitar style and, perhaps more importantly, an in-depth knowledge of the UK rock scene, as well as choice material to cover.

Les Goode (real name: Les Gutfreund), meanwhile, had emigrated from England in 1952 and played with Shadows tribute band, Les Beats, which morphed into The Nitwits, before working with The Deans, formed in 1963 with the late singer/guitarist John E Sharpe. Coinciding with the arrival of The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, The Deans subsequently adopted the more progressive name John E Sharpe and The Squires and quickly became Johannesburg’s top R&B attraction.

The A-Cads’ unusual name appears to have been, according to press releases from that period, a compromise between Rimmer and the band. Apparently Rimmer was keen to name the group after the Rand Academy, while the group members’ preferred choice was The Cads, the result being The A-Cads.

After weeks of intensive rehearsals, Rimmer duly launched The A-Cads at a cocktail party at Ciros in Johannesburg, hosted by A G J McGrall, a managing director of a well-known record company. The event attracted a great deal of publicity and made the front cover of the South African music rag, Record Express.

Soon afterwards, the band signed a recording deal with Teal Records (with distribution by RCA Victor) and, on the recommendation of Laws, recorded a stunning version of Johnny Kidd & The Pirates’ “Hungry For Love”, which reached #1 on the South African chart in January 1966. The South African music press was quick to praise the band’s debut disc, with one review quoted as saying “an excellent disc by an excellent group, backings are great, and vocal beautifully handled, this is about the best record ever produced in South Africa…”

Laws’ piercing guitar work on the single’s B-side, a storming version of Bo Diddley’s “Roadrunner” meanwhile, provided a more accurate insight into the group’s musical abilities and hinted at its potential to develop into a formidable force. In addition, the track featured some amazing throat shredding vocals from Sam Evans. However, as the next few months would prove, the band would never capitalise on this early success.

During December, The A-Cads began work on an album, and while in the process recorded a cover version of The Small Faces’ “Sha-La-La-La-Lee”, which for some inexplicable reason was later omitted from the album when it was issued the following spring. To add to the confusion, the track was finally issued as a single following the album’s release and after the band had relocated to London in April 1966.

Pop Gear discusses the breakup, February 1966

Unfortunately during the recording process, the band started to unravel as Laws increasingly voiced his objections over the choice of material being presented to the group.

As he later recalled: “A lot of stuff we did was just floating around in memory (Chuck Berry, Rufus Thomas etc.), old favourites, that sort of thing. But some of it was producer Derek Hannan playing us things in his office that he thought would be good for us. I never agreed with his choices, but then I had a distinct vision of what the group should be. I always thought that it would have been better if Teal had just let us loose in the studio to get on with it ourselves (as we did initially with “Hungry For Love”). I think the band would have lasted a lot longer and surprised a few people.”

Louis McKelvey, Andy Keiller and the Upsetters

At this critical juncture, Squires decided to introduce a second lead guitarist Louis McKelvey (b. 31 October 1943, Killorglin, County Kerry, Republic of Ireland), as Laws looked increasingly to be on the verge of splitting. McKelvey, whose family had moved to Twickenham during his adolescence, was already a seasoned player on the West London club scene.

His earliest musical venture had been local group Johnny & The Pursuers, but he quickly jacked this in to become the lead guitarist in R&B outfit Jeff Curtis & The Flames, regulars at the famous Ealing Jazz club. Though no recordings ever emerged from this period, The Flames did record a four-track acetate in October 1963 and two further tracks in late 1964. The band’s main claim to fame was appearing on a cross-channel ferry with headline act Jerry Lee Lewis.

After the band’s drummer Malcolm Tomlinson quit the band to play with The Del Mar Trio, McKelvey eventually grew restless and took off for South Africa with his newly wedded bride (not before joining Tomlinson’s band in Germany for about a month’s worth of gigs).

McKelvey’s parents had run a theatre production company in Leicester Square and on their travels had been struck by Cape Town’s beauty. McKelvey’s dad was briefly director of theatre in South Africa and the guitarist had spent part of his childhood in the country. On the look out for fresh musical adventures, he decided to follow their advice and return to South Africa for a few months.

Arriving in Johannesburg around September 1965, McKelvey quickly fell in with another expat, singer Andrew Keiller. Though relatively new to the music business, Keiller had nevertheless, witnessed first-hand many of the hotbeds of the early London rock scene (including a brief incarnation of The Rolling Stones featuring Carlo Little and Rick Brown), before moving to South Africa in March 1964 and recording a single for Continental Records, “Find My Baby” c/w “Elaine”. This was followed by an album, Round About Midnight, which was held back for release until mid-1966 when it was given a write up in Teenage Personality in its 12 May issue.

Within a short space of time, Keiller and McKelvey established one of Johannesburg’s finest beat groups, The Upsetters, with former Playboys member Leon Booysen (bass) and future Freedom’s Children member Colin Pratley (drums), who soon made way for George Hill.

Thanks to Booysen’s contacts at Trutone Records, the band (with George’s brother Frank on the skins) recorded a single for the label, “Daddy Rolling Stone” c/w “Pain In My Heart”, at EMI studios in Johannesburg. The single’s a-side, which was brought to Keiller’s attention when he heard The Who cover it, is an arresting R&B tune written by Derek Martin and features some fiery guitar work from McKelvey. The flip meanwhile is more restrained and is the same Otis Redding song that had recently been made popular in the UK by The Rolling Stones.

The group’s name appears to have been McKelvey’s idea – The Upsetters being his idol, Little Richard’s original support band. The Upsetters proved to be particularly apt as it was also a fashion at the time to insult the audience and, according to sources close to the band, Keiller was keen to emulate what The Who were doing back in London.

Shortly after the single’s release, the band underwent a number of personnel changes as Leon Booysen and George Hill both left to be succeeded by 18-year-old drummer Gregory Allen Plotz and former Johnny Kongos & The G-Men bass player Jesse Sumares.

The new Upsetters line-up ventured back into the studio to record further material for a follow up single – “Down Home Girl”, “Boom Boom” and “High Heel Sneakers”, but for some inexplicable reason, the tracks were subsequently left in the can. Perhaps it was this disappointment that led to the group’s collapse later that autumn.

Whatever the reason, Keiller decided to return to London in late November and the others drifted apart after a short Bloemfontein tour with the A-Cads the following month, during which Sam Evans handled vocals for both bands. It was shortly after the final tour that Squires approached McKelvey about joining The A-Cads.

Dick Laws and Sam Evans depart the A-Cads

As mentioned earlier, McKelvey’s primary role appears to have been to take over from Dick Laws, who had increasingly come to blows over the band’s musical direction.

As Laws later admitted: “The band was moving in a super-commercial direction, recording puff pieces like “Fool, Fool, Fool”. I was interested in keeping the heavier sound of “Hungry For Love”. Also, there were too many people involved in the band’s management – three managers actually. It felt like no one was interested in the music itself. Producer Derek Hannan was coming up with these hits (which I suppose was his job). Yet the success of “Hungry For Love” should have proved that a song doesn’t have to have an infantile hook to top the charts, but no one was listening.”

Within weeks of McKelvey’s arrival, Laws abandoned the group, initially to work on a solo rock instrumental album for Teal Records, but he soon lost interest and the project was shelved. Over the next few years, Laws would maintain a relatively low profile, working occasionally with The Derick Warren Sound in South Africa during 1969.

However, that same year he joined Tommy Roe’s visiting support band and subsequently moved to the US. During the early 1970s, Laws contributed to Tommy Roe’s critically acclaimed albums We Can Make Music and Beginnings, but has kept a low profile since then, although he is still active musically in Los Angeles where he resides.

Sam Evans during his time with This Generation in mid 1966

Laws was quickly followed by Sam Evans, who was keen to go solo and wisely used the success of the group’s debut single to launch his career. After a brief stint with local beat group This Generation, Evans debuted with a revival of Dean Martin’s “Memories Are Made of This” on the Pye label, and later that same year scored with Roy Hammond’s composition, “Shotgun Wedding”.

Incidentally, the song was at #10 in the South African charts on 12 August 1966 when the Beatles’ hit “Paperback Writer” was removed from the Springbok charts as a result of a SABC Board decision that no Beatles songs may be played on any government-sponsored radio station. They took the decision in response to Lennon’s apparent remark about the Beatles being more popular than Jesus.

Later, Evans would go on to record a string of singles throughout the late 1960s and early 1970s for the WRC, Parlophone and Nitty Gritty labels. He enjoyed further chart success with his singles, “Ain’t Love A Funny Thing”, “Goodbye Girl” and “Goodbye Guitarman”. Evans also issued a solo album in 1970 for Parlophone entitled “Ain’t Love A Funny Thing”, but sadly passed away in Johannesburg on 23 December 2004.

The A-Cads, meanwhile, briefly split up for a few weeks, but soon reformed with Hank Squires handling the vocal duties and McKelvey covering the lead guitar. “Evans and Laws were responsible for the group’s break up,” explains Squires. “Evans conspired to have me kicked out, Laws backed him. Their whole scheme backfired when Les and Robbie joined with me, giving us the majority to carry on as The A-Cads. McKelvey was in the right place at the right time, so I replaced Laws with him.”

The new line-up quickly emerged with a follow up single, “Fool Fool Fool” c/w “Zip-A-Dee Doh Dah” (the b-side in fact had been recorded before Evans’ departure) and, in a rather unusual move, also toured the Garden Route by train with the Boswell-Wilkie circus during the school holiday. One of the most memorable dates during this period was appearing at the Vaal Festival where the band played to 3,000 screaming fans. Soon afterwards, the new line up toured Mozambique.

Hungry for Love

Amid all this activity, RCA Victor issued the band’s album, which credited McKelvey for lead guitar and Dick Laws for bass (Les Goode wasn’t mentioned at all in the sleeve notes!). Curiously, the label also chose to use a rare picture of the short-lived Laws-McKelvey line-up for the album’s front cover with the group pictured on the back of a lorry. The true extent of McKelvey’s involvement in the sessions, however, is a matter of contention.

According to Dick Laws, McKelvey wasn’t around in the studio when he was recording with the group, and Laws is almost certain that he played lead on all the album tracks and three of the singles. Other sources close to the band, most notably Hank Squires, support his claim although McKelvey insists he played on some tracks.

Sam Evans Goes Solo, Pop Gear June 1966 — Pop Gear, June 1966

One possible explanation is that both guitarists recorded material for the album and RCA Victor handpicked the best cuts when choosing on a final track listing. That might explain the delay in the album’s release and may also explain why the group’s second single, as well as earlier recordings with Laws – “Roadrunner” and “Sha-La-La-La-Lee” were subsequently excluded.

Whatever the reason, the media was unaware of any musical differences, and its response was overwhelmingly positive. Record Express gave the album a beaming write up in the April 1966 issue: “This tremendous, versatile, local group have followed up their hit single with this terrific album of bluesy R&B type numbers.”

Though no long lost classic, the album, named after the group’s debut single, does show The A-Cads in fine form with the band tearing its way through covers of R&B favourites like “In The Midnight Hour” and “Got My Mojo Working”. If any criticism could be levelled at the record, it would have to be the absence of any original material. Even The A-Cads’ British contemporaries, Them, The Rolling Stones and The Animals were writing their own songs, and The A-Cads’ dependence on such well-trodden material would probably not have helped the group’s cause over the long-term.

The album’s appearance also coincided with the belated release of the non-album track “Sha-La-La-La-Lee”, which as mentioned earlier, had been recorded while Laws was still in the band. Despite the changes in personnel and fresh developments in the group’s career, which will be discussed in a moment, the media continued to sing the group’s praises.

Record Express’ Cordy Gunn enthusiastically told readers in that month’s issue: “’Sha-La-La-La-Lee’ is the A-Cads’ best since ‘Hungry For Love’ …I predict that this new single will immediately leap to the top.” Though it never quite matched the success of the band’s debut single, “Sha-La-La-La-Lee” did indeed become a sizeable hit that spring, but by then the band was no longer in the country to promote it.

Departure to London

With Squires’ old mate Mickie Most now acting as the group’s agent in London, the group’s fortunes appeared to be on the up, and plans were made to launch the group overseas. Record Express was quoted as saying in the April issue, that “Louis McKelvey has left South Africa on the Edinburgh Castle bound for London where he’ll meet the other members of the group in a month’s time”.

Squires and Goode (joined by former member Dick Laws) sailed on the Windsor Castle during May 1966, and the trio ended up renting a flat in Notting Hill Gate where McKelvey occasionally dropped by.

Robbie Kearney meanwhile decided against the move as he had recently married the leading dancer from the Boswell-Wilkie circus. He would maintain a profile of sorts, reportedly playing briefly with The Falling Leaves and recording with Birds of A Feather in late 1968. Later qualifying as an artist, he went on to design the cover of the Ancient Mariner album, which featured Les Goode on bass! Today, he is a successful artist.

Hank Squires in London clipping, July 1966

However, plans to get The A-Cads’ singles issued in Europe remained just that, and though a recording company in Amsterdam was reportedly interested, Most’s attempts to negotiate a deal quickly floundered. The Bournemouth Evening Echo interestingly has Hank Squires & The A-Cads playing at the Pavilion Ballroom on 12 July 1966.

Hank Squires & The A-Cads billed to play in Bournemouth, England in mid-July 1966

When the opportunity to play some dates in Hamburg also failed to materialise, and tentative plans to move to India to play at a major festival fell through, Goode returned somewhat despondently to South Africa in September 1966. (Incidentally, Teenage Personality reported in its 21 July issue that Squires was in Hamburg, so perhaps he did play there as a solo artist?)

Re-establishing ties with John E Sharpe, Les Goode became a member of The John Sharpe Set. Goode continued to work with the guitarist and was also a member of his next outfit, Impulse, which was formed in September 1967 with John Elliot (sax), Albert Rossi (drums) and Nic Martens (keyboards). Impulse recorded a lone 45 for Scepter Records, which coupled Booker T’s “Green Onions” with Herbie Hancock’s “Watermelon Man”.

Impulse changed its name to The Board of Directors in August 1968 and recorded two tracks for a lone 45: “Way Down Yonder in New Orleans” and “Legend of A Big Toe”, before Sharpe and Goode left in November to put together The Crystal Drive alongside South African guitar legend Julian Laxton from Freedom’s Children. Goode also briefly played with The Derick Warren Sound during this period, recording two singles with the group for the Continental label: “Lingering On” and “Every Other Saturday”.

Since then, he has become one of South Africa’s most highly regarded bass players and has appeared on records by (or played with) such notable outfits as Dickory, Backtrax, Morocko, Foxy and 909. Goode also worked with future Yes member and fellow South African Trevor Rabin’s support group when he toured England in 1979, and during the 1970s was also a member of Hawk. He is currently A&R and owner/director of Great Value Music in Johannesburg, a successful wholesale/distribution budget record company.

After the A-Cads: Hank Squires and Louis McKelvey in Canada
Back in England Hank Squires’ decided to trade in a career as a performer. His decision may primarily have been influenced by The A-Cads’ recent demise, but it is likely that other factors played a part.

During the summer, the South African division of Columbia Records had released Squires’ solo album Strange Effect, but neither it nor two singles – “Don’t Come Knockin’” and “Strange Effect” had been commercially successful. Nevertheless, the album, recorded in late 1965/early 1966 (largely with the original A-Cads in support, although McKelvey appears on a couple of tracks), did receive a positive write up in the South African music press.

Tony Hamilton writing in Teenage Personality that summer said: “[The album] carries 13 carefully chosen numbers including “It Only Took A Minute”, “Concrete and Clay”, “Up On The Roof” and “My Girl”. Hank has lots of talent and deserves a break. He is now in England, and this new LP may help him over there.”

Unfortunately, it didn’t and after recording a number of demos with American producer Steve Rowland, South African songwriter Hugh Patterson and his mentor Mickie Most, Squires was forced to leave the country. “Due to the politics practised in South Africa I wasn’t able to secure a work permit and had no choice but to leave the UK, so I immigrated to Canada,” recalls Squires.

According to Teenage Personality in its 22 December 1966 issue, Squires recorded a rare single in Europe and then headed to Canada for a three-month engagement after he couldn’t get a work permit to perform in England. Arriving in Montreal in December 1966, he hooked up with McKelvey who’d made the crossing months earlier.

Like Les Goode, Louis McKelvey decided that England was not the ideal place to pursue his musical ambitions and around September 1966 he took the boat to Montreal with only $10 in his pocket. However, after only a few weeks in the city playing with the French-speaking Les Sinners, during which time he performed at the Paul Sauve Arena sporting a Union Jack jacket (an extremely daring move considering the political climate in Quebec), he took off for a cross-country jaunt to Vancouver. Returning to Montreal that December, he hooked up with Our Generation.

Reunited with Hank Squires, McKelvey helped his former A-Cads band member find work with (arguably) Montreal’s finest garage band, The Haunted, who had recently scored a sizeable Canadian hit with “1-2-5”. Squires would work with the band and be given co-production credit on their lone album, which has since become a popular collector’s item.

McKelvey was also briefly involved with The Haunted. He was given co-production credit for the single “Searching For My Baby” c/w “A Message To Pretty” with Squires and, according to band member Jurgen Peter, was responsible for suggesting the ‘A’ side’s gutsy guitar intro. In an interesting side note, The Haunted single was given a South African release on the Continental label during early 1968 and was given a positive write up by Tony Hamilton in Teenage Personality.

A short while later, Hank Squires became a talent scout for Johannesburg-based label Highveld and through Jurgen Peter produced a single for Montreal singer, Andrew Storm (real name: Andrew Lacroix). Storm’s single, “Tic-Tac-Toe” c/w “I’d Love To Love You Again”, which features McKelvey on guitar, was later given a South African release on Highveld in 1970. Squires sadly died on July 13, 2009.

McKelvey meanwhile had thrown in his lot with Our Generation – a Haunted spin-off featuring former members Bob Burgess, Tim Forsythe and Jim Robertson. Our Generation already had one single to their credit, “I’m a Man”” c/w “Run Down Every Street”, issued on the Transworld label, but McKelvey’s arrival gave the band a “shot in the arm”. His fiery lead guitar work is immediately distinguishable on the group’s second (and arguably best) single, “Cool Summer” c/w “Out To Get Light”, which was issued in May 1967 and was produced by Squires.

By the time it reached the shops, McKelvey had moved on and pieced together a new musical project, Influence alongside Andy Keiller from The Upsetters. Keiller had arrived in Montreal in April 1966 and spotted McKelvey playing on TV with Our Generation. Influence subsequently recorded an album for ABC in late 1967 before splitting late the following year. McKelvey then worked with the short-lived groups Milkwood, Damage and Powerhouse.

During the early 1970s, McKelvey briefly re-united with Hank Squires, working as a songwriter and session guitarist for Squires’ short-lived studio group Marble Hall, which featured singer Brian Redmond. McKelvey contributed to the group’s lone single, “Marble Hall” (originally recorded as a demo with Influence).

Following his work with Andy Storm, Hank Squires released one more solo recording that year – “Ecstasy”, which appeared on a compilation album called Command Performance. Squires later produced a number of recordings in the early 1970s for a singer known as Martin Martin. Based in Victoria, British Columbia, he is preparing an album of new material, which will be released under the name, SmityBoy.

Interest in The A-Cads has grown meanwhile and an Italian label, Crystal Emporium, brought out a CD of The A-Cads album in 1998 complete with bonus tracks featuring some rare Hank Squires solo material, taken from an unreleased EP recorded in 1966.

Many thanks to the following for generously helping to piece the story together: Hank Squires, Les Goode, Dick Laws, Louis McKelvey, Andy Keiller, Tertius Louw, Jurgen Peter, Ian Hannah, Mike Paxman, Garth Chilvers, Tom Jasiukowicz, Gregory Plotz and Leon Booysen.

Strange Effect LP photos courtesy of Ivan Amirault.

To contact the author, email: Warchive@aol.com

Categories: Ashland, Kentucky, Plato

The Lovin’ Kind and the Martels

March 3, 2009 Chris Bishop 10 Comments

The Lovin' Kind photo — Left to right: Harold Scott (Scotty), Terry Childers, Jerry Childers and Bill Traylor

Bill Traylor sent me this photo of the Lovin’ Kind, a four piece from the northeast edge of Kentucky. If anyone has scans or good quality transfers of the 45s, please contact me.

I had a band in the late 60’s from Ashland, KY called “The Lovin’ Kind”. It consisted of Jerry and Terry Childers, Harold Scott (son of Hal Scott of Hal Scott Enterprises) and myself. We made on 45 in ‘69 for, I believe, Plato but I have no copies. Jerry, Terry and myself were former members of The Martels before we broke away and formed the Lovin’ Kind.
The Martels originally formed around 1964 and consisted of Pat Loving, Terry Sanders, and others. I joined the group in 1966 and it was an 8 piece band at that time which consisted of Terry Sanders on drums, John Sturgill vocals, Danny Young on keys, Larry Creech and Larry “Frog” Johnson on sax, a trumpet player whose name I can’t remember, Terry Childers on bass, Jerry Childers on guitar and myself on lead guitar. We made one record in Lexington in 1968 and performed until 1969 when three of us left and formed The Lovin’Kind.
Both groups were booked by Hal Scott and we performed at colleges and in all the clubs in KY, Ohio, and West Virginia.
Bill Traylor

Categories: British Columbia, Canada, Kelowna

The 2 x 2 of Kelowna

February 26, 2009 Chris Bishop Leave a comment

Bernie Prost, drummer for the British Columbia band 2 x 2, knocked me out when he sent me five unreleased songs the band cut in 1967. If a 45 had been released of Jim Davidson’s originals, “By and By” and “2 x 2 Theme” it would be a major collectible today, and justifiably famous – at least among fans of garage bands! They aren’t slouches with their cover songs, either, as they rip up the Monkees’ “Let’s Dance On” and one of the better versions of “Stepping Stone” I’ve heard. Here’s the story in Bernie’s own words:

“2 By 2”, formed in Kelowna in 1965 and disbanded in 1968. Our band formed because Jim and Barry were playing a lot of parties wanted to take their playing to the next level. So they started looking for a drummer and bass player. My sister, who was friends with them both, mentioned one day that I played the drums, I was 15 at the time and a few years younger but there weren’t too many drummers around. I had a friend, Mel, who played guitar and said he’d give the bass a shot so we had a couple of practice sessions late in the summer of 1965 and we hit it off. As it turned out Mel was an incredible bass player right from the start.
We needed a place to rehearse where we wouldn’t drive people crazy and luckily for us one of Barry’s neighbors owned a trucking company located in the industrial section of Kelowna. He offered to let us practice there in the evenings after the place was closed for business. The place was a warehouse where he garaged his trucks. It was pretty crowded with large trucks and tractor tires etc. Often we would set up our equipment on the flat bed of one of the trucks. In the summers we’d sometimes practice at my parent’s house in the garage. We’d leave the door open on purpose as quite a few girls lived & roamed in the neighborhood. So in that sense we really were a garage band.
We became a popular event in the dance halls of the Okanagan Valley. Our favourite place to play in Kelowna was The Aquatic, headquarters of the Kelowna Regatta. We also watched and were influenced by the bands that played at the Aquatic such as the Shadracks, Kount IV, Jimmy And The Rebounds, the Strange Movies, the Undertakers, and The Nocturnals to name a few. We also played The Okanakan Mission Hall which is still there. Much expanded, it features the same stage we perfomed on (http://www.okmissionhall.com/). The Aquatic burned to the ground in 1969, which was also the year of Altamont and Charles Manson which shook up the west coast scene, so it was a disquieting end to an era.
The Kount IV was another Kelowna band, one of the guitar players was Morris Bishop whom I went to school with. I’m not sure what happened to them. The Undertakers were from Kamloops, B.C. I remember them because they used a hearse to pack their gear in. We all thought that was pretty cool. I think they dressed in black suits. I’m good friends with Don Burnett, drummer of the Strange Movies… he was also the drummer for Jimmy and the Rebounds.
We played gigs at the Kelowna Regatta and the Penticton Peach Festival as well as other halls in Vernon, Kelowna, Peachland, Penticton and Kamloops. The best times were during the summers of 1966 and 1967, where we performed our own music at numerous events and private parties. In those days it was impossible to say no to girls and beer.
When we formed the band we were mostly influenced by the sounds of the British Invasion, of course, as they were the reason for the explosion of garage bands across North America, in the mid to late sixties. We were also influenced by the people who influenced the Brits: Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly and Elvis Presley. We were known for a cover of Elvis’ ‘One Night With You’, with Barry on killer lead vocals, which would have made The King himself proud. Unfortunately we no longer have a recording of that track. Later on we became more influenced by other west coast bands such as Paul Revere and The Raiders; The Youngbloods and The Buckinghams.
The tracks we have included here were recorded in the sound studios of radio station CKOV in Kelowna, 1967. There are only 5 songs, 2 are original material written and sung by Jim Davidson, Barry Green on harmonies. The others are Grizzly Bear….Youngbloods, I’m Not Your Stepping Stone….Paul Revere and The Raiders and Let’s Dance On…The Monkees.
Jim Davidson was singing the lead vocal on most of it. Barry Green sang on Let’s Dance On and Steppin Stone, and on Grizzly Bear it was a team effort between Jim & Barry. Barry’s voice is the high one while Jim’s was a bit lower with that nice unique quality. Mel and I sang the odd back up harmonies.
The instrumental tracks were played live to the floor back to back in one take for each. We then actually ran into the sound booth to record the vocals. We had to do the whole thing in one hour as that was all we could afford, so there wasn’t much room for error.
The original tape is long gone. I salvaged what I could from a cassette tape and burned them onto a CD. We’re still looking for photographs and I’ll send them if I find any.
Later Jim started another garage rock band in Toronto, in 1977, called The Membrains playing a mixture of original tunes and covers of primarily sixties rock. Jim and I occasionally got together to do some recording at my place in Toronto. Mel started a group with his brothers in Kelowna that became quite popular and they are still playing today. As of this date the band members are alive & well, doing their own things. We keep in touch…. with great memories for sure.

The 2 x 2:

Barry Green – lead guitar
Jim Davidson – rhythm guitar
Mel Kunz – bass guitar
Bernie Prost – drums

The 2 x 2 – Two by Two Theme
The 2 x 2 – By and By
The 2 x 2 – Let’s Dance On
The 2 x 2 – I’m Not Your Stepping Stone
The 2 x 2 – Grizzly Bear

A special thanks to Bernie Prost for sharing the music and story of his band. If anyone reading this has a photo of the group please contact me.

Categories: Aquarius, Canada, Montreal, Quebec

Marble Hall

February 25, 2009 Nick Warburton 3 Comments

This single was a Hank Squires production and featured Montreal singer Brian Redmond on lead vocals. The A-side of the single features ex-Influence member, Irishman Louis McKelvey (see entry on this website), who had played with Squires in South African group The A-Cads in early 1966.

McKelvey co-wrote the A-side with Englishman Roger Gomes, who had joined McKelvey in Canada after working as a DJ and as American singer Millie’s road manager. The track in fact had originally been recorded in demo form by Influence in 1967.

Issued in June 1970, the single was reportedly a minor hit, and is a fascinating piece of music.

The B-side was composed by a certain Martin Martin, who later composed a single for Brian Redmond, also produced by Squires. The track features Brian Redmond and his group Soundbox, who had previously recorded a single (see www.marcdenis.com/ckgm-soundbox.html).

Recordings:
45 Marble Hall/Get Your Things Together (Aquarius 5003) 1970

Many thanks to Hank Squires for his input. Marble Hall sleeve and CFCF scans courtesy of Ivan Amirault.

From CFCF's weekly for February 14, 1970 — From CFCF’s weekly for February 14, 1970

From CFCF's weekly for February 27, 1970 — From CFCF’s weekly for February 27, 1970

Categories: Canada, Ontario, Quality, Toronto

Just Us

February 21, 2009 Nick Warburton 16 Comments

Neil Lillie (Vocals, Bass) line up A-D

Bill Ross (Guitar) line up A-B

Brian Hughes (Bass) line up A-B

Ed Roth (Keyboards) line up A-D

Bob Ablack (Drums) line up A, C-D

Al Morrison (Drums) line up B

Wayne Davis (Bass) line up C

Jimmy Livingston (Vocals) line up C-D

Stan Endersby (Guitar, Vocals) line up C-D

Ed Roth (b. February 16, 1947, Toronto, Canada), Bob Ablack, Bill Ross (b. Bel Air, California, US) and Brian Hughes started out playing rock instrumentals in a suburban Toronto band known as The XLs, which became Gary & The Reflections with the addition of singer Gary Muir in 1964.

In early 1965, singer Bobby Neilson (b. Robert Neilson Lillie, December 27, 1945, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada) joined and the group parted with Muir. The new line up changed name to The Ookpiks (after a native-designed stuffed toy owl called Ookpik that was being promoted by the Canadian government). As another group was already using the name, the band briefly worked as The Sikusis, after another stuffed toy, but were unable to get permission from the Canadian government to use the name without compensation and settled on The Just Us.

Amid all of this confusion, the group recorded a lone single on Quality, which was issued under the names The Ookpiks, The Just Us and The Sikusis. Soon afterwards, Al Morrison replaced Bob Ablack on drums but the new line up was short-lived. In early 1966, Hughes left to dedicate his full time to school, and Ross and Morrison joined The Bossmen, who subsequently backed singer David-Clayton-Thomas.

Neilson, who now went by the name Neil Lillie, befriended ex-Mynah Birds singer Jimmy Livingston (b. February 28, 1938, Toronto, Canada) in Long and McQuade’s music store where he worked in the backroom as an amp and guitar repairman. At the time, Livingston was singing with a group called The Muddy Yorks but he left when Lillie asked him to join a new line up of The Just Us. To complete the new line up, the band picked up former C. J. Feeney & The Spellbinders members Stan Endersby (b. July 17, 1947, Lachine, Quebec) and Wayne Davis (b. April 28, 1946, Toronto) and convinced Ablack to rejoin.

An album’s worth of material was recorded at Arc Sound during in early 1966, but disappeared with the band’s manager. The Just Us were one of the few bands that could play the clubs on Yonge Street, Toronto high schools and the Yorkville village scene.

In June 1966, Davis left to play with Bobby Kris & The Imperials and Lillie learnt bass in two weeks to fill the spot. Around this time, an American duo with the same name appeared on the charts and the group was forced to adopt a new name, The Group Therapy for one show (opening for The Byrds on June 22). Another local group laid claim to the name, so the band took on a new moniker, The Tripp, in September.

Recordings

45 I Don’t Love You/I Can Tell (Quality 1738) 1965

Advertised gigs

September 6 1965 – Devil’s Den, Toronto
September 10 1965 – Mimacombo’s, Mimacombo, Ontario

November 12 1965 – Club 888, Toronto

December 3 1965 – Gogue Inn, Toronto with Little Caesar & The Consult and Jeff & The Continentals

January 1 1966 – Gogue Inn, Toronto with The Lively Set and Ronnie Lane & The Disciples

February 11 1966 – Gogue Inn, Toronto with Shawne Jackson and The Majestics and The Lively Set
February 12 1966 – The Hawk’s Nest, Toronto
February 25 1966 – Gogue Inn, Toronto with Jack Hardin and The Secrets

March 3 1966 – The Hawk’s Nest, Toronto

April 8-9 1966 – Avenue Road Club, Toronto
April 22 1966 – The Hawk’s Nest, Toronto
April 30 1966 – The Avenue Road Club (billed as The Just Us Group)

May 21 1966 – The Hawk’s Nest, Toronto

June 4 1966 – Avenue Road Club, Toronto
June 22 1966 – Varsity Arena, Toronto with The Byrds (as Group Therapy)

July 8 1966 – Boris’, Toronto
July 16 1966 – The Hawk’s Nest, Toronto
July 20 1966 – North York Veterans Hall, Toronto
July 28 1966 – Don Mills Curling Club, Don Mills, Ontario with The Ugly Ducklings, The London Set and The Del Tones

August 6 1966 – The Hawk’s Nest, Toronto
August 19 1966 – The Hawk’s Nest, Toronto
August 20-21 1966 – El Patio, Toronto
August 28 1966 – Broom and Stone, Scarborough, Ontario with Jon and Lee & The Checkmates and The All Five
August 31 1966 – Don Mills Curling Club, Don Mills, Ontario with The Twilights, A Passing Fancy and Little Diane & The Jades

September 3 1966 – The Hawk’s Nest, Toronto
September 10 1966 – El Patio, Toronto (may be last show before becoming The Tripp)

Many thanks to Stan Endersby, Neil Lillie (aka Neil Merryweather), Ed Roth, Bill Munson, Carny Corbett and Craig Webb.

Thank you Stan for the great photos. The live dates are taken from the “After Four” section in the Toronto Telegram. Label scans courtesy of Ivan Amirault and Wyld Canada.

Later lineup, l-r: Stan Endersby, Bob Ablack, Ed Roth, Jimmy Livingston, Neil Lillie and Wayne Davis

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