The Upper Class included bass player John Broberg, Randy Shelton and drummer Neal St. John. Major Bill Smith’s Charay label signed them to record their two originals, “Help Me Find a Way” and “Can’t Wait.” David Norfleet of the Chants told me he went into the studio with them to help them record these songs.
“Help Me Find a Way” had hit potential from the strong vocal harmonies and upbeat production. The Charay 45 was picked up for national release by the Smash label, but didn’t chart in any market.
Beginning in 1969, John Broberg and Neal St. John played in the group “Quest” along with Chants vocalist Darrel Howard and guitarist Michael St. Romain.
Calling themselves the Sandmen was the right move, ’cause you’re likely to be hit with a wave of sleepiness while listening to these dragging versions of “I Can Tell” and “You Can’t Judge a Book by Looking at the Cover.” They managed to make Bo Diddley tunes sound boring twice in one session. Should have laid off the cough syrup before hitting the studio!
I’m sure I’m being too harsh – I know some people like this 45, so judge for yourself. Cut on the Minneapolis, Minnesota Studio City label in 1965.
Almost certainly not the same Sandmen from West Bend, Wisconsin, who cut the excellent World Full of Dreams on Night Owl.
Originally from Council Bluffs, Iowa, the Royal Flairs began as the backing band for singer Dick Hodge, cutting one single at Sears Sound Studio in Omaha, Nebraska, “Dream Angel” / “Let’s Go”, in October of 1962 as Nelson Royal, Bobby Williams and the Royal Flairs*.
The Flairs became house band at the Milrose Ballroom outside of Omaha, playing primarily surf instrumentals.
Three members stayed with the band through all of their changes: Bob Everhart (Bob Williams’ actual name) on sax and vocals, Dave Krivolavek on guitar and Dave Brubeck on bass. Other early members included Jerry Fleetwood on trumpet, Daryl Hill on organ, Brian Sallozo on sax, Brad Starr and Mike Nelson on lead guitar, and Rick Brown on drums.
Everhart, Brubeck and Krivolavek relocated to Chicago in early 1965, adding Mike Donion on drums and Mel Matthews on lead guitar and organ. In 1966 they cut two 45s for the Marina label, one as the Royal Flairs, and another as the Unlimited.
The first, “Suicide” has a sharp garage sound and a great solo. In the lyrics the singer wants to join the girl who killed herself over him. It was written by Everhart and Dave Krivolavek, with Everhart playing the harmonica. The instrumental flip, “One Pine Box” (misprinted on the labels of one pressing as “One Pink Box”) has an earlier surf style. It’s a gruesome number featuring the sound of scraping and a hammer nailing a coffin lid shut.
The second Marina 45 as The Unlimited was another morbid number “Feelings.” The flip was one I haven’t heard yet, “Gone Away”.
Bobby Williams remained a pseudonym for Bob Everhart as that name appears as the promotional contact on their Marina 45. For the Flairs final 45, they released the folky “Hat On Tie” as by Bobby and Dave on one side, and the killer soul screamer “My Baby Cries” as by Bobby Williams on the other. These were produced by D. Marrone for the Tonorous label.
According to the notes from Back from the Grave, the band broke up after Bob Everhart was shot when he tried to protect a 350 pound go-go dancer named Miss Temptation from a crazed patron. Bob survived the wound but decided to get out of the nightclubs while he was still in one piece!
In the 1980’s an EP Surfin’ with the Royal Flairs featured five unreleased versions of surf songs recorded in 1962. Another LP, The Royal Flairs, Rare Recordings from 1965-66 contains their singles along with a side of unreleased songs that reflect their change to r&b and British Invasion sounds, recorded in Omaha.
Mike Donian passed away in 2010. His brother Dan sent in the photo below:
Royal Flairs publicity photo, courtesy of Dan Donian
*The Routers cut a version of “Let’s Go” in 1962. Bob Everhart filed a complaint with BMI over the copyright of “Let’s Go”, which caused SAM owner Leona Leivas to release the copyright. However, a 1973 European Warner Brothers release of “Let’s Go” shows song writing credits to Lanny Duncan and Robert Duncan.
Sources: Royal Flairs photo from Back from the Grave 3, Marina 45 scan and transfer of Suicide taken from bosshoss’ Flac Attack vol. 1. Info from the liner notes to Rare Recordings. Thanks to Phil Dirt for the better quality rip of “One Pine Box”.
April Brooks and Candy Hunt of Fire, featured in the E.J.D. Enterprises Inc. News Bulletin of Nov/Dec ’67
JP sent me this 45 by an Oregon group The Fire, released approximately 1968. “Happy Springtime” was written by Candy Hunt and David Kahl, but I prefer the b-side, “Sorry for Tryin'”, written by Candy Hunt and Jeff Kaasted, with a neat organ solo. Both sides were produced by Bill Downer and engineered by Rick Keefer.The Fire included two female singers, April Brooks and Candy Hunt, Jeff Kaasted on guitar, David Kahl on bass, and Jerry Krauser drums. John Lessig was the original frontman and the first keyboard player, Roger was replaced by Omar Burns who also doubled on trumpet.
I spoke to David Kahl about his time with the band:
I was sixteen at the time. I never intended to join the band, I was always basically a blues lover. The Animals and Yardbirds were the only bands that had appeal for me outside the blues.
I had gotten a call to audition for this band when I hadn’t actually put anything out that said I was interested. They were out in the middle of the sticks. They had a gig, needed a bass player temporarily. I agreed to join for thirty days. I stayed longer than I ever anticipated – almost a year. Getting out of class early was compelling!
We did some good rooms all over the Northwest. Opened for Don and the Goodtimes, the Sonics, the Wailers. The manager, Bill Downer … that was an appropriate name – about the slickest guy you could ever imagine … but he got us a lot of gigs.
I’d been trying to write a tune here, a tune there. The manager said “Look, Candy’s got some words, we want to put out a record, give it a try.” Then I heard the words! I said “Oh God!” So I wrote a decent hook and modulated a couple times knowing full well it would be vocally challenging!
Jeff was supposed to write Sorry for Tryin’. I got him interested in using the fuzztone. Once we got into the studio we were told “that will never do!”
We were a tight, well presented group. I got the guys to do a couple Hendrix and Cream tunes. My older brother was a player too, guitar and also violin; we loved the direction Clapton and Hendrix were going in. I was getting paid incredibly well, but my brother and I formed a quartet then a trio, getting paid a fifth of what I got with the Fire. They went on for another year then dissipated as well.
After I worked with Rod Price, Hubert Sumlin, Pinetop Perkins, and spent five years playing with Paul deLay, probably the best chromatic harp player in the world.
David still plays music regularly in Portland. He is now working on MyGigNet.com a social network for musicians and music professionals.
Thank you to JP for sending me the scans and transfers, and to David Kahl for speaking to me about his first band.
Leito alerted me to this great 45 by a band from Uruguay, the Blizzards.
According to the article in the Uruguayan magazine Hit, “Blizzards Soplando Fuerte” (Blizzards Blowing Wildly) the band began in 1965, choosing their name from a Spanish-English dictionary.
After some personnel changes, they arrived at the lineup on this record: Leonardo Ferreira lead guitar, Ariel Burgueño on rhythm guitar, Héctor ‘Bocha’ Marrone on organ, Juan Roberto Agrello Gravestijin (from Holland) on bass, and Carlos Saco Fernández (from Spain) on drums.
An early broadcast on a radio program ‘Caverna Uno’ of the newspaper El Espectador led to bookings at dances and then regular appearances on two popular music shows, the ‘Discodramo Show’ and ‘Gente Joven’ (Young People). Leito tells me “They were seen as an ‘underground band’ [‘onda subterránea’], but nevertheless had two major performances in their career, one on the Canal 4 (Channel 4) and another La Liguria.”
A producer named Barros was looking for a group to record a song he had for his brand new label, Prodisa. Somewhat mysteriously this song, I Know You’re Cryin’ (Sé que estás llorando) is described as Canadian but I haven’t been able to find the source for it yet. The band performs it well, but at points they sound more than ready to cut loose.
They backed the top side with an original composition, Looking Through (Mirando a través). On this song they create an original, distinctly South American sound, opening with a very funky drum and bass combo then adding buzzing guitar and splashes of organ. Continuing for almost five minutes, the song alternates verses with organ and guitar solos. ‘Bocha’ Marrone occasionally uses a wah-wah pedal, and a droning guitar answers each wash of organ.
They sang in English because it was a ‘tougher’ language than Spanish, which, being ‘sweeter’, was “less adaptive for the type of music we make” (“se adapta mucho más al estilo porque es una lengua más dura que el castellano; éste en cambio es más dulce y por eso menos adecuado para el tipo de musica que nosotros hacemos”).
When asked to sum up how they felt about their first record, the band gave this half-hearted statement:
Considering the technical limitations we faced, we think it went rather well. It’s one thing to record with eight tracks in Argentina, and another to do it in Montevideo with only two tracks. All in all, we were satisfied with it.
(Dentro de las limitaciones técnicas del medio, creemos que salió bastante bien. Por supuesto que una cosa es grabar en la Argentina, con ocho pistas, y otra distinta es hacerlo en Montevideo, donde sólo se dispone de dos pistas. Asi y todo, quedamos bastante satisfechos.)
Their recording career was short-lived, with just one other single, Tell Mama / Endless Road, released in 1972 on the relatively large label Clave. The Hit article mentions plans to record a full album, and also that the Blizzards would contribute to an album featuring stars of Gente Joven, but I don’t know if any of these were ever done.
Thank you to Leito for sending the photos, scans and songs of the Blizzards.
Several people have requested I post the songs of Huckleberry Mudflap, a band from the North Carolina coastal town of Beaufort.
Jerry Lewis had this information about the group:
I was in high school with the band members (East Carteret High School, Beaufort, NC). They were together from 1969-1972. Most popular song was “Blue Surf.”
Jimmy Amspacher, drums Clinton Nelson, lead guitar Morris Willis, rhythm guitar Donnie Vrooks, bass
The band split up when their main songwriter and lead singer found Jesus and went off to sing in choirs instead of doing rock n roll. In fact, the church where Clinton Nelson has been pastor for over a decade was recently struck by lightening and burned to the ground [article here].
Clinton Nelson wrote Blue Surf (credited to H.C. Nelson). Michael D. Collins wrote Goodnight Mrs. Kollendoffer and co-produced the record with B. Martin.
Special thanks to Jay Jenkins of SouthernSoul.com for sending the poster at the top and to Jeff Lemlich for the scans and transfers of the 45.
The Esquires at Parkview High School, from the ’66 yearbook. L-R (not certain): John Jacobsen, Mike Fielder, Rick Davidson and Mark Morton.
There were many bands that called themselves the Esquires. This group came from Springfield, Missouri.
John Jacobsen wrote all the songs I’m featuring here. He was the only member I could identify until someone sent in the two photos featured here. The other members may have included Mike Fielder on bass, Mark Morton on guitar, and Rick Davidson on drums, with Bill DeLange from the Artificial Flowers replacing Mark Morton at some point. The person who sent the photos also remembered David Kershenbaum substituting for a sick band member on guitar at a Parkview High School dance.
Their first 45, “She’s My Woman” is good rocking fare. Somehow this ended up on Dot records in October of 1966; I presume it had a local release but I’m not sure of that. I haven’t heard the flip yet, called “Misfortune”.
The A-side of their second 45 is “Summer Nights”, a poppy song with horns.
Their greatest moment to my mind is “Settle Down”, the b-side to “Summer Nights”. It’s a beautifully composed song with a perfect balance between the instruments and the group’s fine harmonies. The strong vocal lines remind me of the Jefferson Airplane’s first LP, while the Byrds may have inspired the guitar solo. Released in July of 1967, the Scratch label lists the address as Radio-TV Bldg., Springfield.
Mike Morton, Mark Morton’s younger brother, played in a later band from the area, the Lavender Hill Mob.
Thanks to the person who anonymously contributed the photos and description of the band.
Taken from Springfield’s Community Free Press, August 2, 2006.
The Sonics of Needville, from left to right: Vance Charles, Ralph McCauley, Frankie Teykl, Richard Schwettmann and Glenn Tate
I took a snapshot of this poster of the Sonics of Needville off the wall at the apartment of Norton Records co-honcho Billy Miller, it really looks much better in person. Billy said he has another Sonics poster from the same time.
Needville is a small town southwest of Houston. This band is known on record as Vance Charles and the Sonics, but often appear in news notices as the Sonics of Needville.
Expanded lineup with horn players, ad for a show at the Freeport Community House, July 23, 1964The Sonics of Needville at Schroeder Hall, outside of Victoria, September 19, 1964
The first Vance Charles and the Sonics single was “Let’s Fall in Love” (R. Whitefield, C. Snattiger) b/w “Closer To Me” (C. Booth, R. Gean) on Lori 9553, both songs produced by Charles Booth and published by Kaboo Music BMI. Charlie Booth’s production address is listed at 7626 Carothers or 1738 Viking in Houston.
From about 1965 is a release on Spinner Records, “Mr. Train”, a good if unexciting blues with horn section. The flip of this is an absurd version of “Suzy Q” sung in a duck voice and listed under the ridiculous pseudonym Yakkity Quack and the Sonics.
In 1965, Vance Charles and the Sonics released the first of two singles on the Golden Eagle label: “Put the Shoes on Willie” (an Earl Hooker song) and “All for the Love of a Girl”.
In 1966, the band cut a great fuzz stomper, “My Soul” backed by an average version of “We Gotta Get Out of This Place”, and released in June of ’66 on the Golden Eagle label of Houston.
Although it sounds like an original song, the top side is actually an adaption of Clifton Chenier’s “My Soul”, a very fine, pre-zydeco r&b song with accordion and even Little Richard “wooh”s, released on the Checker label in the late ’50s:
Why do I, sit and cry, without a reason? I don’t know why, it’s my soul … If I, should jump up and holler, without a reason, stab you in the collar, it’s my soul …
Golden Eagle is a label more known for its blues releases, but a pop-garage 45 by Reed Williams “There’s A Girl” / “I’m Free” preceded this Vance Charles disc and the label did release an album of mostly cover songs by the El Campo Jades titled “The 13th Song”.
The Spinner 45 was recorded at Gold Star Studios with Doyle Jones engineering. Doyle worked at Gold Star from December 1964 to January 1966, recording the Sir Douglas Quintet, Roy Head and Gaylan Ladd. He left Gold Star to start Jones Sound Studios with Mickey Gilley as part-owner, at 1523 Blair St. in the Heights neighborhood of Houston. This is the studio where the Golden Eagle discs were recorded.
Other garage bands who recorded at Jones Sound include Chaz & the Classics (“Girl of the 13th Hour”), the Glass Kans (“Stick With Her”), and, of course, the Outcasts’ “1523 Blair”. Even better known are Neal Ford and the Fanatics great “Shame on You”, and the Moving Sidewalks LP Flashback, also cut at Jones. Doyle Jones kept the studio going until 1973, then converted it to a duplication house, until he passed away in 2006.
All of Vance Charles’ records were produced by Charlie Booth. Booth also produced a 45 by the Weavils from El Campo, Texas on the Lori label, “Here I Am in Love Again” / “We’re the Weavils”.
A reader wrote in that Vance Charles, Frank Sebesta and Ralph McCauley played in the Barons who were active around Houston in the early 1970s. The Barons had two LPs on Solar label, as well as two 45s, “Mellow Moonlight” / “Strung Out On You” and “Wounds Of Love” / “Put Me In Jail”, but I’ve heard none of these. Other Barons members and associates include Luke “CC” Davis, Morris A. Bosak and Billy Wade McKnight.
Doyle Jones info from the SugarHill Studios site (now defunct) and Bluesworld.com.
Thank you to Jack Swenson for information on the Barons.
The Top Shelf were from Wanganui, a port town on the southwestern coast of the North Island of New Zealand, about a three hour drive from Wellington where they based their career. The Cresendos also came from Wanganui.
“Time Beyond (Can’t We Still Be Friends)” takes inspiration from “White Room” with some fantastic wah wah playing.
“Time Beyond” was left to the b-side behind a pop song with the very unwieldy title “Baby the World Really Turns (Many a Slip Twixt Cup and Lip)”. Although relatively lightweight, the opening is arresting and performance solid.
Production was by Peter Dawkins. A radio station card that accompanies my copy shows it was received on July 24, 1969, and played a paltry four times over the next two months, despite being a “Golden Disc Entry” for the year.
The band reunited for the Third Official Wellington 1960s Rock Band Reunion on Sunday, October 12, 1996 in the Lower Hutt Horticultural Hall. I can’t find any reviews of the show, but an article promoting the reunion in the New Zealand weekly the Sunday Star-Times gave a description of the band:
Wanganui’s Top Shelf are best remembered for their 1969 residency at Ali Baba’s in Wellington’s Willis Street, where they played soul and harmony based pop for the popular club’s post-teen regulars. They emerged in the strong Wanganui 1960s scene in mid 1968, made up of members from the popular Nusonics (Murray Barnes and John Harrison), and The Sect and Downbeats (Martin Berryman [on drums], Kevin Furey, and Doug Bonner) to play local dances, and save enough money to break into the Australian scene.
When kingpin promoter Ken Cooper offered them the Ali Baba’s gig, they headed south instead, leaving behind bassist Doug Bonner, who was replaced by Dave Berryman.
On-stage, they played up to nine hours a night on weekends, cutting a dash with their two piece horn section, and later in 1969, cutting a single for HMV Records, the bubblegum pop “Baby, The World Really Turns” backed with the psychedelic “Time Beyond”, penned by Wanganui duo Dick Le Fort and Martin Hadlow. They disbanded in late 1969.
Can’t find any info on the Freed, or even the year of this 45, though it’s almost certainly from 1970-72.
From the scarves and pink hat, and the a-side “Ruby Lips” you might not expect the heavy guitars and raving gibberish of the b-side, “Bad, Bad, Baby”. It was written by Stanley Allen and Joe Acim and released in stereo on the Rex label out of Munich.
This site is a work in progress on 1960s garage rock bands. All entries can be updated, corrected and expanded. If you have information on a band featured here, please let me know and I will update the site and credit you accordingly.
I am dedicated to making this site a center for research about '60s music scenes. Please consider donating archival materials such as photos, records, news clippings, scrapbooks or other material from the '60s. Please contact me at rchrisbishop@gmail.com if you can loan or donate original materials
Calling themselves the Sandmen was the right move, ’cause you’re likely to be hit with a wave of sleepiness while listening to these dragging versions of “I Can Tell” and “You Can’t Judge a Book by Looking at the Cover.” They managed to make Bo Diddley tunes sound boring twice in one session. Should have laid off the cough syrup before hitting the studio!
Three members stayed with the band through all of their changes: Bob Everhart (Bob Williams’ actual name) on sax and vocals, Dave Krivolavek on guitar and Dave Brubeck on bass. Other early members included Jerry Fleetwood on trumpet, Daryl Hill on organ, Brian Sallozo on sax, Brad Starr and Mike Nelson on lead guitar, and Rick Brown on drums.
According to the notes from Back from the Grave, the band broke up after Bob Everhart was shot when he tried to protect a 350 pound go-go dancer named Miss Temptation from a crazed patron. Bob survived the wound but decided to get out of the nightclubs while he was still in one piece!
