Categories: Delta, Edgewood Recording Studio (DC), McLean, Montgomery, Virginia

The Apollos

July 5, 2007 Chris Bishop 28 Comments

The original Apollos band established in early 1964 by Jim Price and Dave Harney. — The Apollos: front and center Wayne Groves, middle row (left-right): Tommy Vorhauer and Jim Price, back row from left: Dave Harney, John Parisi , and Don Harney.
This is the original Apollos band established in early 1964 by Jim Price and Dave Harney.

Updated Jan. 2, 2012

From McLean, Virginia, the Apollos went through several personnel changes while leaving behind demos, live tapes and two 45s as their legacy. I’ve read conflicting accounts of who was in the band when, but with feedback from Jim Price and Tommy Vorhauer, this seems to be correct:

The original band consisted of brothers Dave and Don Harney on guitar, Jim Price on bass, and Dave Elliot on drums. Jan Sylvester soon replaced Elliot on drums was himself replaced by Wayne Groves, and Jon Parisi came in on keyboards. The band’s repertoire leant heavily on surf numbers until they added Tommy Vorhauer on vocals. This is the group in the photo at top.

A win at a local battle of the bands gave them studio time at Edgewood Recording Studio in D.C., and they cut several sides, including early versions of “That’s the Breaks” and “Country Boy”. They re-recorded these two for their own Delta label in 1965.

“Country Boy” is a fine surf instrumental written by Don Harney. Surprisingly it has never been comped before. “That’s the Breaks” has great drumming and nice fluid guitar work with a strong vocal by Vorhauer. I’m not sure who’s playing the organ on this 45.

Tom Vorhauer clarified some points about the band in a comment below that I’ll reproduce here:

Jon Parisi played keyboard and wrote the music for “That’s the Breaks”. I wrote the words and sang lead vocal. I also sang lead vocals on “Target Love” and “It’s a Monster”. We were playing on M street in Washington DC at Mack’s Pipe and Drum and were approached by two gentlemen who were scouts for Paramount Artists. They were interested in signing the Apollos to a record contract but on one condition, they wanted to replace our manager Bill Moser, we refused and never signed.

By late 1966 Vorhauer, Groves and Parisi had left to be replaced by Doug Collins on vocals, Dwight James on keyboards and Wayne Goubilee on drums. Their second 45, “Target Love” b/w “It’s a Monster” on the Montgomery label is a great double-sided 45. I hope to feature it in the future, but it seems to be rarer than the Delta one.

There’s also a live tape of the band, with good versions of “Dirty Water” and “I’m Crying”. At some point they were turned down by MGM, and that seems to be the end of their story.

In December, 2011 Jim Price contacted me and gave some background on the group:

We were from McLean, Virginia, not Falls Church. Dave, Don and I all lived in Woodside Estates, McLean. That’s where it all started in 1963. I was playing my guitar on our front porch and Dave and Don came wandering up and introduced them selves and said they played as well. I was playing lead guitar, Dave rhythm and Don played bass.We switched up as time went on and everyone found their niche.
We did our demo cut of 4 songs at Edgewood:
1. “That’s The Breaks” words by Tommy Vorhauer and music by the band.
2. “Country Boy” by Don Harney
3. “Dance Dance Dance” (Beach Boys) sung by Wayne Groves
4. “Mr. Lonely”, a remake of the original, sung by Tommy Vorhauer
“Mr. Lonely” was to be our front side of the first 45 but we decided to go with two original songs instead. They were both hits but “Mr. Lonely” would have been a hit as well. It would today.
I created “Delta Music Company” with the help of our agent Bill Moser, thus Delta on the label. We outsourced the art work for the label. Since Edgewood had recorded the songs we contracted through them to have the records pressed and the labels put on them. The records would then be made and sent to us and Bill and I would take them out to the stores and put them on the shelves. In those days you could put your records in stores on consignment. It was all we could do to keep up.
MGM did offer to buy the rights to “That’s The Breaks” but we turned them down. Paramount contacted our agent Bill Mosser three times trying to get us to sign a contract with them but we would lose $ on each record that was sold so we turned them down. Within 3 weeks of the last turndown, our records were not being played on any radio station in the nation. Paramount told Bill that “the boys will be sorry they did;nt sign with them.” The stores even started refusing to slot them any more. “Target Love” and “It’s A Monster” only made it to #10 before it vanished from the airways.
Through this phase the band members were: Don Harney, Dave Harney, Wayne Groves, John Parisi (now John Ian), Jim Price and Tommy Vorhauer. Some time after that John Parisi left the band and we added Dwight James.
The summer of 1966 we recorded “It’s A Monster” and “Target Love” on the Montgomery Label. I can’t remember the name of the studio. Shortly after that Tommy and I left the band and went to Boston to college. Dave and Don Harney continued to run the band with a new drummer who was the singer as well. When I was home on break, I would go and sing with them down in Georgetown, lots of fun.
The band stayed together for a while longer then everyone seemed to go their own way. Tommy is now in Denver, Dave is in Dayton Ohio, Don is in Seattle, Wayne is in Great Falls VA, John Ian DC, Dwight Fairfax VA and I am in Hot Springs, Arkansas.
My oldest son Jason Price does production work in his spare time in the northern VA area – take a look at www.squadcar37.com.
Jim Price

Categories: Japan, Osaka

Akiko Wada

July 5, 2007 Chris Bishop 3 Comments

This is japanese pop with a sound that reminds me of soundtrack music more than anything else. Great sleeve, for sure. Wada was born in Osaka of Korean parents.

“Doshaburi no Ame no Nakade” (In the Pouring Rain) / “Boy and Girl” is her second release, a big hit in early ’69. Akiko had a starring role in one of my favorite Japanese films, Stray Cat Rock: Girl Boss, which also features a version of her singing “Boy and Girl” backed by the Mops.

Akiko Wada is now a well-known TV personality in Japan.

UpdateIn 2008, Akiko did a big 40th anniversay in show business at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, a very good and exhaustive overlook of her career.

Categories: Hightstown, New Jersey, WGW

The Werps

July 5, 2007 Chris Bishop 19 Comments

The Werps recorded one 45 for the WGW label of Somerville, New Jersey in 1967. People who think horns have no place in garage songs dislike “Love’s a Fire”, but I think the horns help the sense of mayhem, and I dig the soloing over the drum rolls. There’s really no other record from any era quite like this one.

Tim Warren made a huge effort to get a version without the horns for Back from the Grave vol. 6, but wound up with a slower take without the shouting and intensity of the 45 that dissatisfied most everyone.

“Shades of Blue” burns at a slow pace compared to the urgency of “Love’s a Fire”, but it’s excellent too. Both songs were written by James Serenko and John Matzko, and the record was produced by Geno Viscione.

I don’t know the full names of all the members or what instruments they played. According to comments below, there was a guitarist named Clark (surname?) and a drummer Paul (surname?).

Tage Weie sent me the scans and transfers of an acetate from Studio 76. The version of “Love’s a Fire” on this acetate is the same as the one on Back from the Grave, except it’s about 20 seconds shorter, with a fade out instead of coming to a stop. The flip of the acetate is another cool original, “Voodoo Doll”, subdued but also intense, and possibly inspired by Arthur Lee’s “Signed, D.C.”

Studio 76 was located at 1650 Broadway, around the block from the Brill Building. The studio was owned by Ed Chalpin, who is best known for having Jimi Hendrix under contract “for $1 and 1% royalty” before Jimi met Chas Chandler – a contract that has since earned Chalpin millions through lawsuits, as well as U.S. rights to the “Band of Gypsys” LP. I highly recommend Mike Rashkow’s article about working at Studio 76 with Chalpin and his father Sam.

Anyone have a photo of the group?

Thanks to Tage Weie for sharing his one-of-a-kind acetate with us.

Categories: Japan, Yokohama

The Carnabeats with and without Gary Walker

July 3, 2007 Chris Bishop 2 Comments

Their fourth 45, with one of their finest B-sides, "Chu! Chu! Chu!" — Their fourth 45, with one of their finest B-sides, “Chu! Chu! Chu!”

In early 1967, teenager Ai Takano was playing drums and singing at the Red Shoes club in Yokohama. When an opportunity to join the Freelancers fell through, Takano and ex-Swing West guitarist Jiro Kitamura formed Robin Hood adding friends Keikichi Usui on vocals, Hiroshi Koshikawa lead guitar, and Paul Tadao Oka on bass.

Within a week of forming they had a contract and a new band name, the Carnabeats. They immediately went into the studio to record their first 45, a cover of “I Love You” by their main influence, the Zombies. It was a huge hit, the biggest of their career, and led to the release of the Zombies original version on 45 in Japan.

They put out a total of ten singles, a split LP with the Jaguars, and their own LP Carnabeats First Album, all of varying quality before breaking up in 1969, but here and there are b-sides and odd releases that together make for a good collection of music.

The B-side of their second 45 “Koio Shiyo Yo Jenny”, is a cover of the Canadian band the Great Scots’ “Give Me Lovin'” every bit as good as the original.

Back cover of "Chu! Chu! Chu!" sleeve. — Back cover of “Chu! Chu! Chu!” sleeve.

The b-side to an overwrought ballad, “Chu! Chu! Chu! (Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!)” shows how the Carnabeats could range from silly pop to rocking moments within a single song. Still, this is maybe their wildest performance, containing a stupendous fuzz break and slamming drum work by Takano.

"Cutie Morning Moon" lyrics — “Cutie Morning Moon” lyrics

Their next 45 was a collaboration with Gary Walker (Gary Leeds). “Cutie Morning Moon” must be one of the strangest of all Group Sounds records. Produced by Scott Walker, “Cutie Morning Moon” is wonderfully moody and uncommercial. Not many have heard the flip, “Hello Gary”, which is merely a dopey Gary Walker goofing over the backing track of “Cutie Morning Moon”. Later on, the Carnabeats opened for Gary Walker and Rain’s Japanese tour.

From japrocksampler.com:

Although The Carnabeats were friendly with other Group Sounds acts, the band’s management insisted that they maintain a distance in public in order to appear cool and aloof, and Carnabeats drummer Ai Takano later described Jaguars singer Sin Okamoto visiting his house after dark to keep up the deceit.
However, a professional friendship developed between the band and The Walker Brothers. Ai Takano later described drummer Gary Leeds, who appeared on the B-side of their super-groovy Strangeloves style hit ‘Cutie Morning Moon’, trying to sing and play the A-side song and failing miserably.

“Go Go Stop” is from what seems to be their rarest 45. It’s a fine b-side that hasn’t been comped before to my knowledge.

Last up are a couple tracks from various artists LPs from the time. “Love Only For You” is a track from Let’s Go Group Sounds #3 and “Twinkie Lee”, with a brief but rockin’ guitar solo, is from Group Sounds World Top Hits.

After breaking up, Tadao Okada joined the Japanese cast of Hair while Ai Takano joined the Eddie Ban Group and then the Golden Cups, performing with them at their last, disastrous gig in Okinawa. Ai has since passed away.

Categories: Brooklyn, Demo-Disc, Dick Charles Recording, Kef, New York, New York City

The Go-Nuts

July 3, 2007 Chris Bishop 8 Comments

A couple months ago I wrote about the Go Nuts, a short-lived group from Brooklyn, NY. Their 45 “Flower” is an idealistic tribute to the Summer of Love youth that has been compared to the Seeds for its organ sound and vocals.

Soon afterwards, Jared K. sent me a scan and mp3 of a quite different record by Patrolman Vic Virzera with the Premiers. It seems that when they weren’t waxing eloquently about the flower children, the Virzera brothers were trying to convince the kids to trust the cops!

Jared wrote: “Sounds like he may have been the coolest cop of all time. ‘He’s On Your Side’ is the a-side and is another organ driven rocker (with none of the psych flourishes of ‘Flower’) about getting along with the police, because they’re here to help. Flip is a doo-woppy group vocal.

“Both sides have songwriting credits to brothers Vic and Michael Virzera with the b-side additionally crediting P. Drift. Michael produced the b-side (‘Two Hearts’) and Elliot Chiprut produced ‘He’s On Your Side’.”

Recently I heard from Vic Virzera himself, who have me the history of his groups, and sent me two early song they cut, the 50’s rocker Nina that I’m featuring here, and a ballad called Mystic Mirror. In Vic’s own words:

In 1962, Nina and Mystic Mirror were local grass roots Flatbush hits….our demos were being played in quite a few juke boxes. At that time we were The Premiers with the sub theme “Music with a New Sound”.
Elvis’s early producers, Wally Gold and Araon Schroeder (they wrote Elvis’ 1960 #1 hit “It’s Now or Never”, and Wally Gold co-wrote “It’s My Party”) offered us a contract that had “power of attorney clauses” and we declined….in retrospect …I guess we should have signed it, but at the time we thought we were doing the smart thing. We knew of so many groups that were working their butts off, traveling around the country while the powers that be would make all the money (since they had the power to sign your name to spend the earnings), claiming the money went for promotions, expenses, etc. Another consideration was the fact that, my brother, Mike, would have to had given up his job in open heart research, where he was instrumental in designing a heart-lung machine apparatus.
The Go Nuts were formed as a rock show group in 1965 and lasted about two years. We did recordings and appearances, including a performance aired Christmas Day, 1966 on the Ted Mack Original Amateur Hour. It was at the CBS Ed Sullivan Theater. Our rock rendition of “Shortenin’ Bread” really went over well… …girls were screaming, people standing and rocking with the beat, lots of applause etc. Unfortunately, similar to what happened to the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan show, probably the same tech engineers had my lead voice as low as the background voices and what was aired sounded like all background. Still, we came in second and had a great time.
Regarding Patrolman Vic Virzera and the Premiers, in 1971 we were scheduled to perform the song on the cross country David Frost Show, a special on police. Being a live show they ran out of time but paid us for being there and the rehearsal.
I retired several years ago from the NYCPD but I’m still playing gigs with my brother, Mike, and my band, the Vic Vincent Group, in the New York Metro area.

The Premiers – Nina

The Go-Nuts – Flower

Patrolman Vic Virzera with the Premiers – He’s On Your Side

Thank you Jared for contributing “He’s On Your Side”, and Steve Hogan for contributing the photo of the Go Nuts. Special thanks to Vic Virzera for sharing his acetate of “Nina”.

Categories: Cambridge, Dubonay, Fenton, Grand Rapids, Michigan

The Renegades (IV, V) “She’s Your Find”

July 2, 2007 Chris Bishop 17 Comments

The Renegades: Dave Heth, Craig Menees, Scott Vanderleest, Fitz Green and Rick Idema — The Renegades, from left: Dave Heth, Craig Menees, Scott Vanderleest, Fitz Green and Rick Idema

The Renegades of Grand Rapids, MI, had roots in a music scene that predates the British Invasion. As the Renegades IV and Renegades V, they released two 45s, instrumentals “Greensleeves” / “Autumn Night” on Fenton 945 and “Wine, Wine, Wine” / “Love and Fury” on Dubonay 982 (a Fenton offshoot) that are steeped in 50’s rock ‘n’ roll, as their frantic version of “Wine, Wine, Wine” attests.

Dropping the roman numerals, they cut their finest and most original record, “She’s Your Find” / “Raving Blue” in 1966 for the Cambridge label. Here the band is at their peak, playing with intense restraint behind Scott Vanderleest’s impassioned vocals on two well-crafted songs by the band.

“She’s Your Find” is a collaboration by Scott Vanderleest and guitarist Fitz Green, and features a fine guitar solo, booming and precise drum work and prominent tambourine. The other members of the band were Craig Menees on five string bass, Brian Bracken on the Conn organ (prior to the Cambridge 45, as Craig points out below), Dave Heth on organ, and Rick Idema on drums.

Fitz Green wrote the other side, the beautiful lament “Raving Blue”. My copy of the 45 is scratched as can be, but I had to include this song despite the less than perfect sound quality.

All three of their 45s charted locally on either WERX or WLAV. Unfortunately the band broke up soon after releasing “She’s Your Find”, ending their promising career.

Recently bassist Craig Menees filled out the history of the group:

The group began instrumental-only and I was not the original bass player. My predecessor was named Bruce Baldwin, the bassist on “Greensleeves” / “Autumn Night”. When he left East High for private school I came on board which would have been Rick, Fitz and my junior year in high school – 1964. We were classmates and knew each other well. Brian was a year older and his mother sort of managed the group. East High was the connection.
We knew early on (Kingtones?) that a vocalist was important in order to appeal to a larger audience. A few groups (Dave and the Shadows) had a female singer, but traveling at our age and the parental concern nixed that idea. One guy (Dwayne King?) from up North was very talented, but wanted to play lead guitar and sing which would have diminished Fitz’ role and Fitz was much too talented to just play rhythm guitar.
Somehow I think Scott heard we were looking for someone (I’ll have to confirm this with him) and he came over to try out and we knew very quickly that he was a good choice and why not? – tall, Elvis look alike who sounded like him too. Maybe a bit more like Ral Donner out of Chicago.
Our drummer, nicknamed HI3 (Henry Idema III), was often courted to join other bands, including, if I recall, the Kingsmen when they were playing the Michigan State Fair one summer.
“Greensleeves” / “Autumn Night” and “Wine Wine Wine” / “Love and Fury” were recorded at the Our Theater [in the basement, the first location of Dave Kalmbach’s Great Lakes Recording Studio]. I believe that to be the case because I do not recall traveling to Sparta.
Like many groups eventually personality issues flared up and Brian was replaced by Dave who had attended Albion, but was living in GR and going to Calvin at the time. Dave had a younger brother, Jeff, who was a classmate of ours so we knew the family and I knew Dave through athletics. We underestimated his musical abilities until he auditioned. Once we began practicing in earnest and playing regularly things worked out very well.
The keyboardist on “Raving Blue”/”She’s Your Find” was actually Dave Heth. Dave and guitarist Fitz Green sang the harmony on “She’s Your Find” behind Scott’s great voice. “Raving Blue / “She’s Your Find” were recorded in Phil Robert’s family home basement studio in East Grand Rapids before he opened Midwestern Sound [on] Leonard St. I was never in the facility, but Fitz probably was at various times. Like so many others we were big Kingtones fans, knew Phil and his brother Dave, and in some ways tried to emulate them.
“Raving Blue / “She’s Your Find” were recorded in Phil Robert’s family home basement studio in East Grand Rapids before he opened Midwestern Sound. I suspect the neighbors complaining about a business in their residential midst (lots of cars) and Phil’s increasing client list lead to his move to Leonard St. I was never in the facility, but Fitz probably was at various times.
Rick’s pearl gray Ludwig drums and Fitz’ white Fender Jaguar (he also had a beautiful Gibson 12 string heard on Raving Blue) came from Manny’s Music House in New York City. Scott’s sound system consisted of a Bogen amp, Shure microphone and JBL speakers with no enhancement which was a tribute to his voice. Fitz used a Fender amp with reverb and I played a rare white Fender 6 string bass through a Dynaco amp with a 15″ JBL speaker.
Our senior year in high school the band played every week including three consecutive weekends at the old Ponytail Club in Petoskey/Harbor Springs. Frank Russo, who was a close friend of Scott’s from South High, was the informal manager and we used to meet at his family’s pizzeria on S. Division and critique our performance when we returned to Grand Rapids, typically well after midnight.
Probably the best the group ever sounded was the summer of 1966 when we played two separate two week gigs at the Shamrock Lounge. Problem was we were underage except for Dave so our contemporaries could not get in to see us.
Four songs I recall would at times cause the audience to stop dancing and watch – Fitz’ playing “Misirlou” and “Johnny B. Goode”(his right hand was a blur), Rick playing “Let There Be Drums” (long, powerful solo) and Scott’s soulful rendition of “Old Man River” (not often heard in rock circles). Scott was both charismatic and humble which doesn’t always happen with a lead singer. Turns out he and I were in Vietnam within a year of each other although we didn’t know it until recently.
The band broke up primarily because of geography (Fitz – Kalamazoo; Rick Idema – Ann Arbor; Scott – GR; myself – E. Lansing) and Dave Heth’s untimely death in an automobile accident. I recently spoke with Scott and we hope to rendezvous in the near future…
Craig Menees
June 2009

Thank you to Bill Vander Ploeg for the photo of the group at top!

I’m sorry to report Scott Vanderleest passed away on January 13, 2021.

Update: Fitz Green has continued in music, playing with the Moonrays, among other groups.

Categories: Indonesia, Java

Koes Bersaudara (the Koes Brothers)

June 30, 2007 Steven Farram 20 Comments

Koes Bersaudara, To The So Called The Guilties, Mesra Records, Jakarta, 1967

Koes Bersaudara (Koes Brothers), first formed in Jakarta in 1960, consisted of five brothers, Koesdjono (Jon), Koestono (Tonny) [or Tonny Koeswojo], Koesnomo (Nomo), Koesyono (Yon) and Koesroyo (Yok). Jon left after the band’s first album, released in 1961 or 1962. That record was made under rather primitive conditions as the studio was so close to the railway lines that the band had to stop recording whenever a train went by.

The band’s early music was influenced by other musical brothers such as the Kalin Twins and the Everly Brothers, but by 1965 they were caught up in the prevailing Beatlemania and began adding Beatles songs to their repertoire. This might have seemed a wise move commercially, but it was not a sound choice politically. Indonesia’s President Soekarno had condemned rock and roll as a symptom of Western decadence and tried to have it banned. He had previously railed against Elvis Presley, but by 1965 he had his sights fixed on the Beatles and all Indonesian bands that played ‘Beatles-like’ music. Koes Bersaudara was one of the most popular bands in Indonesia, but their records were banned from radio and they found it difficult to find venues to play.

caricature of Koes Bersaudara from the Harian Rakyat (Peoples Daily)

One of Soekarno’s main allies in his war against rock and roll was the Indonesian Communist Party. On 14 March 1965 this caricature of Koes Bersaudara appeared in the Party’s newspaper, Harian Rakyat (Peoples Daily), accompanying an article complaining that Koes Bersaudara had landed a gig playing in the restaurant at Jakarta airport. Harian Rakyat thought that this gave a bad impression to foreign visitors.In June 1965 the band got a job playing at a house party, but only got through a few bars of I Saw Her Standing There, when rocks were heard being thrown on the roof. An angry mob outside the house demanded that Koes Bersaudara apologise for playing forbidden music. Tonny was able to calm down the mob and the brothers returned home, but the next day they were called into the Chief Prosecutors Office and after several hours interrogation they were placed in gaol. The brothers were not sentenced in any court and had no access to legal representation.

The brothers stayed in gaol for three months with almost no contact from the outside, then one night, without warning, they were released. Koes Bersaudara were released just a day before the whole of Indonesia was thrown into great turmoil. On the night of 30 September six army generals were kidnapped and murdered. The army, led by General Soeharto, claimed that this had been part of planned coup and assumed power to restore order. Soekarno was sidelined and remained president in name only. In 1967 Soeharto had himself declared president and held the post for the next thirty-one years.

Soeharto’s regime reversed many of Soekarno’s policies and rock and roll could once again be played on radio and in live venues. Koes Bersaudara’s first record made after their stint in gaol, To The So Called The Guilties, released in 1967, contains a number of songs about their experience, such as the title track, Di Dalam Bui (In Gaol), Voorman (Gaoler) and Poor Clown, which is generally believed to be about President Soekarno. Even though Poor Clown is sung in English, the lyrics are spat out with such venom that it is hard to decipher what is actually being said. If anyone thinks they know, please share it! The album also contains other good songs of a more general nature, such as Hari Ini (Today) and Untukmu (For You).

Koes Bersaudara became Koes Plus in 1969 following the departure of Nomo and went on to be one of the most popular Indonesian bands of the 1970s. Gradually the brothers dropped out of the music industry, but Yon was still performing using the name Koes Plus into the 2000s. Koes Plus recordings are still relatively easy to obtain, but for my money the brothers’ best music is found on their rare early records.

Steve Farram

To The So-Called The Guilties
When your heart is down
And you sit in front of the court
The lawyers do something for you
They judge the right against the wrong
While you don’t know what happened behind
To the so-called the guilties (chorus)
They try to differ
From good to bad
The court may sentence you
Prison or even death
Then beat afast
That you feel what’s in your heart
If you forget the Lord
Yes … the Lord above

Koes Bersaudara Mesra LP back, Producer Dick Tamimi, Engineer Rachman A. — Producer Dick Tamimi, Engineer Rachman A.

Categories: Cardinal Records, Musicol Recording Studio, Ohio, Springfield

The Endless “Prevailing Darkness” on Cardinal

June 28, 2007 Chris Bishop 16 Comments

Endless at Hull's Musicol studio, 1966 — The Endless at John Hull’s Musicol studio, 1966, from left: Jack McAtee, Mike Lyons, Mike O’Brien, Pat McAtee and Chuck Moorman.

The Endless came from Springfield, Ohio, making their only record in December, 1966 at John Hull’s Musicol Recording Studio.

“Prevailing Darkness” really shows attitude in the vocal delivery. Pat McAtee’s strong vocals also balance the delicate composition and performance on the nominal a-side, “Tomorrow’s Song”. Both songs were written by Pat and Jack McAtee.

The group started as the Mods in Springfield, Ohio, with brothers Jack McAtee on lead guitar and Pat McAtee on bass, Mike Lyons on rhythm, Jan Weinbreight on vocals and Bill Dale on drums. Jan left to form the Children of Stone and Mike O’Brien replaced Bill Dale. Chuck Moorman came in on keyboards.

Jack McAtee wrote a detailed history of the band. I will include a section of it below, but the full history, with more information on how the group formed and stories from their touring days is available as a PDF file here.

One day the band signed up for a battle of the bands contest sponsored by WIZE radio in Springfield. The winning prize was a couple of hours of recording time in a studio called Mega Sound in Dayton, Ohio. Paul Carmen was the disc jockey from WIZE who conducted the battle of the bands. Jack and Pat had written some original songs, “World of Sin” and “Endless Wandering” … we thought it would be great to record them. A week or so later we headed to Dayton with Paul Carmen. We recorded a couple of original songs and a couple of covers on a tape.
Around this time, … we met Chuck Moorman, an electric piano player with another group at the time. We were reluctant to add another person to the band, but it was one of the best decisions we made. He was very talented and was just as passionate at playing as the rest of the band. He soon added a Farfisa compact organ/keyboard which not only made us more versatile but added a lot to our original songs, and he was also a great singer.
The band was now complete. The Endless 1966: Jack (Bat Jack) and Pat (Sugar Bear) McAtee, Mike (Screen) Lyons, Mike (Miguel or Wolfman) O’Brien, and Chuck (Pick It) Moorman.
Everyone in the band sang led on at least one song and we had great harmonies.
Jack, Chuck and Mike went to Columbus to see if we could find someone else that might be interested in hearing our tape. We did find one company that was interested called Cardinal Records. We made an appointment with Frank Keefer, the owner, and took our tape to him, but guess what, the tape was not readable. In those days you couldn’t just pop the tape into any player, it was a large reel and took a special recording device to read it. After spending a couple of hours with Frank, trying to convince him our music was good, he asked if we were willing to pay for the first hour of a recording session. Then, if he liked our music we could continue recording and he would cover the additional cost. So, we set up a time to come back.
The Hull Records acetate with earlier versions of the songs on the Cardinal 45. Hull Records became Musicol Recording Studio.
A week or so later [October, 1966] we met Frank at his house and headed to Hull Records in Columbus. We met John Hull there and he set us up for our recording. After the first hour Frank liked us a lot and told us to continue with the session a few more hours. Frank and John decided to make an acetate, a small album with 5 originals that we could distribute to radio stations to see if they liked our music. The original songs were called: “World of Sin”, “Endless Wondering”, “Tomorrow’s Song”, “A Cry for Yesterday” and “Prevailing Darkness”.
At that time Frank became our manager/producer with Cardinal Records and started booking places for us to play. At the same time another disc jockey at WIZE in Springfield, Ron Brown, took our album, played the songs on Friday and Saturday nights and asked the listeners to call in and vote for the ones they like the most. The listeners decided on “Tomorrow’s Song” and the band picked “Prevailing Darkness” for the flip side.
We went back to the studio and re-recorded the two songs again [in December, 1966]. We had to shorten them because the radio stations in those days would only play songs that were two and a half minutes long. Then we released the two songs on a 45 single. Frank had 1000 records made up and distributed them to various radio stations and record stores…
Once we played at a huge Battle of the Bands at a National Guard Armory. It was put on by WIZE radio station in Springfield. There were at least a thousand kids there. It came down to us and a group call “The Children of Stone”, Jan Weinbreights’ band. Guess what, at the end of the show they called it a tie. It was a lot of work for nothing. We should have put the party on ourselves, with The Children of Stone, and split the profits…
What happened to The Endless? A couple of the guys went off to college, and Uncle Sam came to visit some of us. During this time, Chuck Moorman was replaced by Jeff Dunmire on keyboards, and a singer named Bobby Saint, along with a sax player named Art Moppit, were brought in.
Jack, Mike Lyons and Mike O’Brien were drafted in late 1968. Jack went to the Air Force, Mike Lyons into the Army and Mike O’Brien into the Marine Corps. After Jack left for the military, Pat continued with another band, Chuck and Mike Lyons formed a band called “The Blue Light” which were a very good.
Later in life, Pat, Chuck, Jeff and Mike Lyons played in several bands, “The Legacy Band” and “The Pleasant Street Blues Band”. Jack started another band in the late ’80s, while living in Phoenix, called “The Steppin’ Back Band” and played a lot of clubs and parties for about 10 years.
The band decided to get together again in 1996 and 1998 for 30th and 32nd class reunion parties. We rented a hall, and thanks to all of our old fans, it was standing room only.
Jack McAtee

The five earlier Musicol recordings were supposed to be released on a compilation of Mus-i-col recordings over two years ago, but for some reason it never appeared. Hopefully whatever issues are holding it up will be resolved so we can hear the extended work of this band. The three unreleased titles are “Cry For Yesterday”, “Endless Wandering” and “World of Sin” – heavy stuff!

Thank you to Jack McAtee for the photos in this article.

Endless on Disco 2 Dayton TV 1966 — The Endless on the Disco 2 TV show, Dayton, Ohio, 1966: Jack McAtee on guitar behind Chuck Moorman, keyboards, on the left, Mike O’Brien on the drums, Pat McAtee on the bass and Mike Lyons on the guitar on the right.

Categories: Hawaii, Scene

The Val Richards V

June 27, 2007 Chris Bishop 17 Comments

Val Richards Five: Vernon Colon, Russell Colon, Val Richards, Randall Yuen and Colin Ogawa — From the left: Vernon Colon (bass), Russell Colon (rhythm guitar), Val Richards, Randall Yuen (drummer) and Colin Ogawa (lead guitar)

The Val Richards V have three songs on the Live at the Funny Farm lp, one of the few garage releases from Hawaii. The lp wasn’t actually recorded live, however, but in a studio with crowd noises added later, common practice for the time.

Several of the tracks from the lp were released on 45. In the case of “Dancing With My Girl”, the 45 has the original studio version without the crowd noise, and it sounds much better than the lp cut. The label on the flip, “My Oh My!” states ‘Live at the Funny Farm’, though it’s not on the lp.

These two songs show the Val Richards V to be a professional band with fine lead guitar, harmony vocals and a good rhythm section. Both of these songs were written by Russell Colon. Their other two cuts on the lp are covers, “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg” and “I’ve Got My Mojo Workin'”.

I recently spoke to Jeff Gusman, one of three drummers for the group:

Here we were a bunch of high school kids getting paid to do what we liked to do the best. We were all from the projects which made it that much more awesome.
There was a club in Waikiki right where Kuhio and Kalakaua is; if my memory serves me right it was the old Lau Yee Chai restaurant, called the Happening where we were like the house band. It was awesome playing there. We would sometimes alternate with the Casuals with Steven Lucas.
Part of the band was from the Sonics who played at the Peppermint Mist which was by Channel 2 down by Ala Moana. Randall Yuen was the original drummer when they first started. I later replaced Randall when he went into the service.
This [the photo] was the lineup that played at the Peppermint Mist under the name the Sonics, pre-Val Richards 5. If I remember correctly, the only persons in the pic that were on the cuts were Randall Yuen and Russell Colon. Vernon and Colin were not on any of the recordings. Randall was on if I remember correctly on only one of the cuts. The lead guitar was Mike Calub or something like that and the bass was Andy (forgot his last name). I did not cut the record, the drummer on it was Donald Marianthal; don’t know if the spelling is correct.
I remember one time when we opened for Paul Revere & The Raiders at the HIC. You have to remember in those days there was no monitors. We had to use their instruments and I was on such a high pedestal I could hardly hear the guys cos there were like 10,000 people there. After the set we went down to the Happening where we tore the place up. Man we were tight that night. I guess I was with the band for about a year. And yes, the live set was just like the record all top 40 soul along with some of the songs Russell Colon wrote.
We were managed by Harvey Ragsdale who was based out of the old KPOI building on the Ala Wai Canal. If fact we used to rehearse in the building.
Q. Are there any unreleased or live recordings, or photos of the band?
Unfortunately, I had the misfortune to run into an irate girlfriend who destroyed all reel-to-reel tapes & pics; some cuts were from Da Swamp (now McDonalds in Waikiki). Dick Jensen used to be house band there back in da day.
Don’t know where the rest of the guys are but, I occasionally run into Val Richards.

Categories: Norfolk, S.P.Q.R., Virginia

Chaos Incorporated

June 27, 2007 Chris Bishop Leave a comment

With a name like Chaos Incorporated, you’d expect sinister psychedelic sounds, but instead what we have here are two exploitative r&b tracks.

“Daktari Ooo-Ah” is in the tradition of Kip Tyler’s “Jungle Hop” and other jungle and monkey records. On the flip is “Spanish Cooking”, a take off on another genre: soul food records.

“Spanish Cooking” was writen by Frank Guida and Gary Anderson aka Gary “U.S.” Bonds. The way the band plays, it sounds like it could be a throwaway from one of Bonds’ sessions.

Guida was the man behind the S.P.Q.R. and LeGrand labels. He recorded some fantastic music by the Swinging Machine and Lenis Guess around this time that I recommend over this one. Frank Guida passed away on May 19 of 2007, just a week shy of his 85th birthday.Thank you to Marty for the 45.

Garage Hangover