The Mods band name and incredible sleeve look promising, but the ‘Mod’ flavor comes entirely from using Western beat combo instruments to play traditional songs. The results are an odd combination of Pakistani melodies and rhythms with some flavor of surf music, especially from one guitarist’s use of tremolo sound. More surprising is the use of a wah pedal, which would date this Columbia EP to not much earlier than 1968.
Mohamed Sadrudin Merchant played organ. The other members of the Mods are Karim on lead guitar, Feroz on rhythm, Rehman on bass and Aziz on drums. Mohammed Yousuf is credited with arrangments, and helped produce the session.
The only info I have is from the sleeve- if anyone knows anything more please write in.
Clockwise from top left: Jim Hemenway, Bill Walker, Dwight Fenski and Ken (Wimpy) Mitchell. Photo courtesy of Jim Hemenway
Bill Walker – organ, vocals Jim Hemenway – guitar and vocals Dwight Fenski – bass Ken Mitchell – drums and vocals
The strong vocals and organ playing distinguish “Keep on Looking”, written and sung by Bill Walker. It’s backed with a cover of Los Bravos’ “Black Is Black”.
It was released on the Garland label of Salem, which also released fine 45s by the Zero End and the Morning Reign.
There was some confusion as to whether or not the Ultimate (singular) were related to an earlier group The Ultimates (plural) until Bill Walker and Jim Hemenway contacted me and left the comments below. Since there was a connection between the two, let’s go back and first talk about the Ultimates.
After touring as part of the Champs of “Tequila” fame, drummer Gary Nieland and lead guitarist Leon Sanders formed the Ultimates in 1963 in Boise, Idaho with bassist Allen Crawford and keyboardist Gary Sullivan. They eventually relocated to Salem, Oregon, where they recorded a 45 on Lavender, “My Babe” / “Little Girl”, then changed their name to Prince Charles and the Crusaders.
Bill Walker picks up the story from here:
Gary Neiland was owner of Garland Records. He was also a talent booking agency. When Gary left Prince Charles and the Crusaders his wife and he started a group called Fatt Twice Together.
He still booked them [the Crusaders], they changed their name to the Dart. Our group was called The Last Resort. A club owner in Salem, Oregon liked our group, but not the name. So Gary suggested we change it to The Ultimate.
“Keep on Looking” was recorded January of 1969 in Salem, Oregon. The record made number one in the top forty in Great Falls, Montana. We could never get our record played in the Portland, Oregon radio market. It’s all about marketing and we were just working musicians.
After we left Gary’s booking agency, we added a horn player. Jim and I also played horns and changed our name to Five Straight Up. The members were all lead vocalists. The band became a rock show band, it was a great group. Jim Hemenway and I have worked together off and on for the past forty years.
Bill Walker
Scappoose, Oregon
Thanks to Bill and Jim for the information and the photo of the group. As an aside, Dart recorded a great 45 on Garland, “Genevieve”, written by Earl Chipley.
This page only contains photos and info on the first lineup of the Chessmen – see the main entry on the Chessmen for the full story (so far) of this important band.
Ron DiIulio: “This is a group photo of the founding members of the Chessmen. Robert Patton on guitar, Tommy Carter on bass, Tommy Carrigan on drums, and me on piano. This was taken by a professional photographer on the stage at the Campus Theater in Denton when George Rickrich was managing the band.
Ron DiIulio sent these incredibly rare photos of the initial lineup of the Chessmen. Ron enrolled at North Texas State University in Denton in the fall of 1964, where he met Tommy Carter in the dorms. Together they started the Chessmen along with Robert Patton and Tommy Carrigan.
They started by playing at basketball games and football pre-game rallies. At the start of 1965 they signed a management contract with George Rickrich, owner of the Fine Arts Theatre in Denton. George had them play between movie screenings, hired a photographer to take promotional photos, immediately brought them into a studio for their first record and began booking them for shows outside of Denton.
Ron left the Chessmen around May, 1965, but joined two other bands at NTSU, The Rejects and The New Sound. In 1966 Ron left NTSU and transferred to Centenary College in Shreveport, Louisiana, to study piano with Van Cliburn, a Shreveport native. Ron joined The Group (who recorded as Noel Odom & the Group) and later the Bad Habits, among other bands – quite a musical resume!
The photos below link or expand to higher resolution versions, click if you want to see more detail.
Another from the Chessmen’s first photo session, January 1965
Ron DiIulio, January 1965Denton Record-Chronicle, February 7, 1965 Tommy Gayle is listed as featured singer with the ChessmenFine Arts Theatre in 1977 photo from the University of North Texas library“first Denton public appearance”, February 8, 1965Denton Record-Chronicle, February 12, 1965“fresh from Frankie Avalon tour”, April 1965At Louann’s in Dallas, April 1965At Louann’s in Dallas, April 1965
At Louann’s in Dallas, April 1965. “This was a popular SMU hangout during the mid-sixties. We were the house band there for a year!”
At Louann’s in Dallas, April 1965At Louann’s in Dallas, April 1965
“A large advertising board went with us for every gig! George Rickrich, our manager, really did promote. In fact we had both a Continental and a hearse to go to the shows in.”
“Taken before an engagement at the Adolphus Hotel in Dallas.”Announcement for the Chessmen at the Fine Arts Theatre, Denton, between movie shows. Denton Chronicle-Record, February 12, 1965IRI Studios, February 1965IRI Studios, February 1965
IRI Studios, February 1965: “Our first recording session, which was completed at International Recording Inc., in Dallas. We recorded our first 2 single (45rpm’s!) at this studio.” These songs are “Dreams and Wishes” and “Save the Last Dance for Me”, released on Bismark 1010.
Recording at IRI Studios, February 1965“Tommy Carter and me working out parts during one of our recording sessions at IRI studios.”“From IRI recording studio in Dallas, taken from behind the matching tan Fender guitar amps. (Our manager wanted us to have the latest gear! so he bought it for us!).”
Thank you to Ron DiIulio for sharing his unique photo collection.
The Trailers was one of the most versatile and talented bands to emerge from Singapore in the 1960s. Formed sometime in 1964 by Victor Woo (lead guitar) and Eric Tan (bass), the band had a number of line-up changes before they released their first 45 in mid 1966 with Benny Koh (vocals), Edmund Tan (rhythm guitar), Tony Zee (drums) and Michael Teo (keyboards).
That first single contained the group’s original composition “Do It Right” backed with the instrumental “Thunderball” (Cosdel CSP-1007). The single went on to be a number one seller in Singapore. Check out the fans at a Trailers dance shown on the single’s cover. Sunglasses were pretty hip in Singapore in 1966!
Later in 1966 the Trailers had another hit with their second single, another original, the excellent “Don’t Laugh (You’ll Cry)”, backed with a great version of Little Richard’s “Lucille” (Cosdel CSP-1008).
This was followed in early 1967 by an all instrumental EP, O.B. a Go Go (Cosdel CEP-3001) with new keyboardist Jimmy Chan, that yielded one of their most evergreen tunes, “Phoenix’s Theme”, which apparently is still a feature of many Singaporean Chinese New Year celebrations. Another standout tune is “Alisan”, based on a Taiwanese folk-song that praises the beauty of the Taiwanese maidens from the island’s highest peak. “Ding Ding Song” is also based on a Chinese tune and “Lara’s Theme”, from the film Dr Zhivago, is the odd one out. My copy of this EP is a bit rough, but it has a slightly different cover to all the other copies I have seen.
In late 1967 the Trailers released two more EPs which I haven’t heard yet, but in 1968 they had another line-up change when Patrick Foo replaced Jimmy Chan on keyboards.
In late 1968 they released what I believe is their last recording, the fine Big 4 EP (Cosdel CEP-3003) with the original “I’m Ready Now”, the instrumental “Peter Gunn” and two covers, “Raise Your Hand” and “Gimme Little Sign”. Eric and Victor provide saxophone on some of the tracks on this EP and all are handled very well, although “Gimme Little Sign” is not really my cup of tea.
The liner notes on this last EP claim it appeared four years after the band’s debut, which would date it at 1970, but this is almost certainly wrong. All the Trailers recordings appeared on the Cosdel label, but starting in early 1968 a number of Cosdel artists received international release through an arrangement with RCA. The catalogue number SGE 0005 would place this EP as one of the first such releases. Actually, the Trailers appeared on the first recording that appeared as part of this deal when they backed three young girl singers called the Tidbits, who got to make a record as part of their prize for winning a talent contest. The tunes the girls tackle on that EP are not really the sort of thing the Trailers would go for I imagine. The Trailers, did however, provide the backing on at least three EPs for a pretty cool Singapore singer called Lara Tan, who may or may not have been related to Eric or Edmund Tan.
The band reunited to appear at a couple of 60s nostalgia concerts in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
For more information about the Trailers check out the article by Joseph Pereira that appeared in Fancy Mag a few years back.
Their second, and arguably best 45, Don’t Laugh (You’ll Cry)
I don’t know anything about the Runaways, there’s just this one fine 45 from 1966. From the opening melody played on a twelve string and bass in unison, the band moves through “It Don’t Mean a Thing” in all of 1:45. Vocals and drumming are solid, and the guitarist lays down a solo that barely strays from repeating the melody line!
Terry Johnson wrote both songs on the 45, the flip being the weeper “Please Do”. This was released as Highland 1170, with production by Phonic Arts.
The Highland label was owned by Sid Talmadge, releasing 45s from 1958 through 1980. Sonny Bono was doing A&R for Highland at this time and had a 45 on Highland 1160 as ‘Sonny’ – “I’ll Change” / “Try It Out on Me”. Perhaps he was involved in bringing them to the label.
Other garage 45s on Highland include the Insects’ “Girl That Sits There” / “Then You Came My Way” and Harry Hellings & the Radials’ “Tale of a Crystal Ship”.
The Vibrations, 1963, l-r: Jack Starkey, Barry Leonard, Rex Harmonson and Al Moses
Jack Starkey sent me these excellent photos of his first band, the Vibrations. For those who saw the Four Dimensions post last week, take another look as I’ve updated it with two photos Jack sent in.
Jack Starkey: The Vibrations were formed by Al and me during our junior year in high school. The band had several forms over the 2 1/2 years we were together. The final band was two guitars, drums, bass, and electric piano.
We played steadily in northern New Mexico and at Las Cruces until I joined the 4 Dimensions. There are no surviving recordings of the Vibrations that I am aware of. The photo of us on stage was at a local movie theater for a promo of a rock and roll movie. I believe that Bobby Vee was on the phone talking to the girls on stage.
Most of the group have continued to play throughout their lives. Al Moses (the blond fellow) was my best friend and was playing in a band here in Arizona called the Rusty Zippers. Al and Rex have passed away, but the others still perform in some capacity. Ronnie was a teacher and had a band in California. He was in the Sacramento area and his group used to play at the governor’s mansion during Governor Jerry Brown’s reign.
The Vibrations, 1964, l-r back row: Al Moses, Jack Starkey and Rex Harmonson; front: Tim Long and Ronnie Nemec The Vibrations, 1963
Delizia is the sister of Salvatore Adamo, who wrote all the songs on this EP from about 1966. By this time Adamo was a major pop star singing primarily ballads in French. Their parents were Sicilian, and the family emigrated to Belgium in 1947.
I’m not sure how much success Delizia had. She seems to have recorded occasionally into the 1970s.
“J’ai rendez-vous” is the garage track on this one, upbeat ye-ye with horns, Hammond and blasts of fuzz! I wouldn’t overlook the delicate “Laissons passer les annees,” though that is a whole other kind of music. My copy is Spanish, hence the translated song titles listed on the cover.
The Malemen from left: Bill Avera, Ed Bacon, Larry Bacon and Randy Bushee
Updated April 2011
I really like this 45. “My Little Girl” has rockabilly-style guitar with a light touch and drumming to match. “She Means All the World to Me” is the ballad side, and a great one if you can dig the slowness.
The T4KM- prefix in the coding signifies a RCA custom press from the first half of 1966. This predates other 45s I know of on the Pine Hills (PH) label. Don Gore ran the studio in the Pine Hills neighborhood, just west of downtown Orlando. H.F. Gore may have been the same person, or a relative, but he’s credited with producing this 45. H.F. Gore also had a country 45 backed by the Undertakers.
Jeff Lemlich’s Savage Lost mentions that the Malemen backed Sue Pennie on her Dunmar 45 “Ghost Town” / “He’s Everything I Need”, which I’ve never heard or seen. They also covered “Norweigan Wood” for the rare Bee Jay Booking Agency LP 12 Groovy Hits, 12 Florida Bands on Tener.
I couldn’t find much concrete info on the Malemen until guitarist Randy Bushee contacted me.
I played in a couple of good bands in Orlando during the ’60s … The Malemen and Oxford Blue. Also the Brass Opera at the Citizen’s Nation Bank building, downtown Orlando.
The Malemen during my time was Bill Avera on guitar, Ed Bacon on bass, his brother Larry Bacon on drums. Larry and I would switch off sets, I’d play drums a set while Larry played guitar, then we’d switch off. We played Beatles, James Brown tunes and I did a few ballads too.
I just met up with the drummer from Covington Tower (another group from Orlando). He gave me an old newspaper clipping about Don Gore. It has a picture of The Malemen while I was in the band. I don’t remember recording but the picture is of me and them and the story is about his recording place in Pine Hills. I was with the Malemen before or after those recordings.
Oxford Blue was a “soul band,” we had a horn section. We did several of the Blood Sweat & Tears hits as well as the James Brown type of stuff. I was pleased to see that old Orlando Youth Center Schedule with our name on it [see the State of Mind entry].
I wrote “Alice in Wonderland” in 12th grade. It was about my then girlfriend, Alice. I sang it at my 12th grade talent show, I won it too. The other side of the record was a cover of Carole King’s “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow”. We were a band with horn section and put our own touch to it. I did a lot of work with Eric Schaubacher at BeeJay in Oxford Blue. Eric went on to a successful career. You can see him at Winter Wood studios in the Ozark mountains where he has a resort style recording studio with many gold records hanging on the wall. Oxford Blue got together a while back for a reunion.
Larry is a retired sheriff now playing music with Patty Mann in Colorado. Eddie, Larry’s brother is a retired US Marine. Not sure what Bill is doing yet. I am trying to find those guys. My emails to them keep bouncing so they must have new ones. I just moved back to FL after being gone almost 30 years. I am still pretty active playing in bands even at the young age of 62!
Randy Bushee
Randy sent this profile of Don Gore and the Malemen from, I believe, the Orlando Evening-Star. It discusses the start of Pine Hills Recording in detail, saying that Don Gore put over $12,000 into buying Ampex decks, a Gates mixing board, a Fisher Eco-Reverb and a Rekokut dub cutter. He started the studio as much out of interest in recording engineering as in turning a profit. “‘Kids used to use my place to practice,’ he said. ‘There wasn’t any place in the area to record.'” Pine Hills had only a few small hits around the Orlando area, but Don’s legacy will include all the good music he recorded.
The article also mentions upcoming releases – a country disc by Jerry Morris & John Lindy’s String Band and a rock group called the Thunders. I’m not sure if these ever saw release. Jeff Lemlich tells me “The Thunders were probably the Fabulous Thunder. They were from the Orlando area, and were booked by Bee Jay (the guys behind the Tener label). The only 45 of theirs I know is ‘So Hold Me Tight’/’Jealous Of You’, on Tight 3606 from January 1966”.
Profile of Pine HIlls Recording Company’s Don Gore and the Malemen, Orlando Evening-Star
There were two almost completely unrelated groups that released records on the Paula label as the Bad Habits. The first group were originally known as Debbie and the Lads, and members included Debbie Folse on vocals, Pershing Wells on guitar and Ronnie Plaisance on keyboards. They had one 45 that I know of under this name, “Dear Lord Above” / The Man Who Comes Around” on the Ladd label out of Raceland, though the label spells her name Debbie Falls.
An oft-repeated rumor has it that Delaney and Bonnie Bramlett were the Bad Habits under a different name, but this is wrong. There are two likely reasons for the rumor: the first lineup of the Bad Habits covered two Delaney and Bonnie songs, and a there is some similarity in vocal style between Debbie Folse and Bonnie Bramlett.
You can read about the first lineup of the Bad Habits at Funky 16 Corners.
After three singles with some light chart action this group disbanded and their producer Gene Kent handed the name to the remaining members of the Group (Noel Odom and the Group), who had recorded three 45s for the Tower and Uptown labels.
Noel Odom was no longer in the band by the time they became the Bad Habits, but their first 45 included one of his compositions, “Thank You for the Love”. Vocals were now handled by Ron DiIulio, who also took over as principal songwriter and producer for the band. Ron wrote “Images: The City”, the b-side to their second record and co-wrote “Touch the Sun” with Jack Russell.
Fred Engelke talked to me about their time as the second lineup of the Bad Habits:
After Noel left and joined the Navy we became an 8 then 7 piece band called The Bad Habits and recorded three records on the Paula/Jewel label. We picked up the name when Gene Kent began managing us.
The Bad Habits were anchored by members of the old Group: Bob Fell on guitar, Ron DiIulio on keyboard, I on drums, and Sonny Williams on bass. Later Sonny left the band and was replaced by Nick Pratt on bass. We added horns; sax, trombone, and two trumpets and later went to trombone and two trumpets. The sax player was Rick Folse (I don’t know if there is a relation). Rick was actually a member of the original Bad Habits. He stayed with the group for maybe a year and then moved back to Cutoff, La. and became a disk jockey.
You may have noticed the high pitch of the lead singer on The Bad Habit’s “Bad Wind” and “Thank You For The Love”. The same person (Ron DiIulio) sang the lead on both sides of each record. We got the higher pitch by recording the track in one key and the slowing the tape down to a lower key to record the vocals and the returning the tape to the original speed to master the record. On “Bad Wind” the drums (at least the fills) were recorded in an echo chamber at the studio to get the “big” sound. On “Images: The City” there are so many changes that during the session I would forget what came next. So after SEVERAL attempts at getting all the way through it, we would just start somewhere before the place I screwed up and continue on. Later we spliced everything together.
Touch the Sun was the b-side of our last record “Louie Louie”. We (at least I) were pretty frustrated with the music business because we kept trying to put out what we thought were good songs but they were going nowhere. So we did Louie Louie (we had our own take on it) because it was always a big hit when we played at dances. I actually liked “Touch the Sun” better.
Thank you to Fred Engelke for his help with this article.
Bad Habits 45s on Paula
1st group (with Debbie Folse): Paula 327 – Night Owl / It’s Been A Long Time Coming (1970) Paula 333 – My Baby Specializes / Born On The Bayou (1970) Paula 342 – I Don’t Wanna Discuss It / If The Whole World Stopped Loving (1971)
2nd group: Paula 353 – Thank You For The Love / My Days Are Numbered (1971) Paula 370 – Bad Wind / Images: The City (1972) Paula 374 – Touch the Sun / Louie, Louie (1972)
Keith Hackney and Jack Starkey with Lucky the cat and the Four Dimensions’ Chrysler 300, April 1966
The surf craze of the early ’60s wasn’t limited to kids living by an ocean coastline – the Astronauts from Colorado and the Trashmen from Minneapolis are two of the most famous examples. The Four Dimensions of Las Cruces, New Mexico had their own take on surfing – riding plywood down sand dunes! More than just a laugh, their song “Sand Surfin'” will hook you, and it has some of the wildest screams ever waxed (hear it at at Lone Star Stomp, where I nabbed the label scan.) Prior to the Four Dimensions, Jack played with The Vibrations.
Jack Starkey of the Four Dimensions answered a batch of my questions about the group:
I was in the Four Dimensions. Members were: Keith Hackney, Phil Holmes, Jack Starkey, and Billy Conger. Keith Hackney and Phil Holmes started the group. They played in a local bar as a duo. Later they added a drummer and then asked me to join the group.This was in early 1965. The original drummer quit because he didn’t want a cut in pay when I joined, so we found Billy Conger to play drums. Billy and I were both from other towns and had come to Las Cruces to go to college.
I had met Keith in Los Alamos, NM through a mutual friend, Tommy Edwards. Tommy was a student at New Mexico State University and brought Keith home with him during a school break. They had a band called the Keymen.
The Four Dimensions played at several locations in the area and usually worked 6 nights per week. The clubs were: The Palms Motor Inn, The Cork and Bottle and a club in El Paso. The Cork and Bottle was our base. We eventually worked there 6 nights a week and in El Paso on Sundays.
There were many good bands and musicians in the Las Cruces and El Paso area back then. There was a band called the Outer Limits that did original music. They were in high school at the time and had some good songs.
We all used to hang out in Juarez at the Lobby bar. There was a blues guitar player that packed ’em in every weekend and most week nights. I was there watching him at every opportunity. His name was Long John [Hunter] and did mostly original material. He played guitar with one hand while hanging from the rafters with his other hand. I ran into him a few years back and he plays here in the Phoenix area on a regular basis. He has several CD’s out.
Gold Dust records was a local studio and Keith and Phil knew the owner. His name was Emmit [Brooks] and he played in a country music band. We had a great relationship with Emmit and he shared in the cost and profit of the record (I don’t think there was any profit). We backed other performers at the studio also.
The Four Dimensions, l-r: Phil Holmes, Billy Conger, Jack Starkey and Keith Hackney
We didn’t have many original songs. “Sand Surfin” was written by Keith and Phil as a novelty and “I Love You For What You Are” was written by Keith. We put our spin on most of the covers that we did. Sand Surfin proved popular locally, because many of the local kids sand surfed at the Whites Sands site.
In the fall of 1965, we won a battle of the bands in Las Cruces and then headed to California. We had an agent in Hollywood and played the club circuit in Southern California. We ended up in a Las Vegas Lounge and had to split up early in 1966 as we received draft notices. Billy left Vegas with another band and Keith, Phil and I returned to New Mexico. We played a few times in Las Cruces before we finally broke up. After, Phil and one of the Keymen started a group. I believe the guy’s first name was Stan but his last name escapes me.
Keith is the only one of the group that actually went to Viet Nam. He made it back safe. I never had any contact with Phil after that but I heard that he formed another band that included his wife and played the club circuit. During those times you could make money playing the clubs and Vegas. Billy and I had another band for a little while after he returned from California. He played organ after the 4 Dimensions broke up. He still plays I the Seattle area. He was by far the best musician in the group, followed by Keith and Phil.
I really never played in a group. The group Billy and I had broke up because I got another draft notice. I had received a deferment earlier. I still have guitars and amps, but rarely play.
My kids took my copies [of the 45] back in the 80’s. One of my kids’ friends had a punk a band and did a cover of “Sand Surfin”. I would like to get my hands on some of the tapes we made at Gold Dust records. Although I would probably be disappointed. Our memories have a way of making things better than they really were.
This site is a work in progress on 1960s garage rock bands. All entries can be updated, corrected and expanded. If you have information on a band featured here, please let me know and I will update the site and credit you accordingly.
I am dedicated to making this site a center for research about '60s music scenes. Please consider donating archival materials such as photos, records, news clippings, scrapbooks or other material from the '60s. Please contact me at rchrisbishop@gmail.com if you can loan or donate original materials
The Mods band name and incredible sleeve look promising, but the ‘Mod’ flavor comes entirely from using Western beat combo instruments to play traditional songs. The results are an odd combination of Pakistani melodies and rhythms with some flavor of surf music, especially from one guitarist’s use of tremolo sound. More surprising is the use of a wah pedal, which would date this Columbia EP to not much earlier than 1968.
