“Go Ahead” / “Going All The Way” (Atco 45-6442) September 1966
The Squires | Go Ahead | (Atco) 1966 | About fifteen years ago I bought a copy of this all time great ’60s garage 45 for a reasonable price. From memory, I think I paid about $125 for it, which is probably the going rate, although it can sale away on eBay (as usual).
I’m sure most people who visit my blog will know this record. Both sides featured on the early volumes of Pebbles from the late 1970s.
’Going All The Way’ was voted third best garage single of all time, behind ’It’s A Cry’n Shame’ by The Gentlemen and ’You’re Gonna Miss Me’ by The Thirteenth Floor Elevators.
Interview with Mike Bouyea
Here’s an excerpt from an interview conducted by Crypt Records with Mike Bouyea in the mid-eighties.
US: O.K. Here’s the question everybody’s been waiting for; How and When and Why did the 45 as the Squires came about? You must know by now that it is an enormous cult item. A lot of people are really nuts about “Going All The Way”.
MIKE: Well, I don’t want to burst anyone’s bubble but we really didn’t set out to record any certain song. We wanted to see if we could pull off recording “like the big guys”, so we piled into the car on April 26, 1966 early in the morning and drove off to the Big City.
We walked into the Capitol studio in New York and set about re-recording “It’s The Same All Over The World” to see if we could improve on it. We didn’t go in thinking about putting out a 45. What happened is we finished the one song so fast, and we’d paid for a few hours of recording so we decided to make up some more to fill in the time.
We actually were pretty damn efficient, writing, practicing, and recording 7 more songs in the remaining time! Those 7 songs are the ones you have for your album. “The Original”, “Going All The Way”, “I Can Try”, “I Can’t Do It”, “Walkin’” and “Go Ahead” and a cheesy instrumental in which we goofed around with sort of a Dave Baby Cortez sound.
Those plus “It’s The Sane All Over The World” – 8 songs in one day!
The Squires | Go Ahead | (Atco) 1966
US: What sort of set-up was the studio?
MIKE: It was a big, open room with a few mikes. We just plugged in, tuned up and blasted away. It was what you call a “live” recording, all the instalments at once, and then I sang the vocal parts onto a tape which was over-dubbed onto the music.
Tam Zagryn was in the studio with us and he did back-up vocals on some of the songs.
US: So who’s the heathen responsible for that heart-wrenching screen on “Going All The Way”?
MIKE: I’m afraid that was me! Maybe someone stepped an my toe or something. (Laughs)
US: Was there a “Pinker” in the studio with you, telling you what to do, how to sound?
I hated Bob Dylan
MIKE: No, it was all up to us. If we were playing too loud or out of time, the engineer would yell ‘Turn it down !” or something but that was it as far as “production” went.
Back then music was so much simpler and more raw. We didn’t ever study music, and maybe that’s why we didn’t make it, but we said “To hell with studying music, we’re a rock ‘n’ roll band!”
I’m proud of our sound and we didn’t want to kiss anyone’s butt. We did not go to New York to get a record contract or a ‘deal’ or whatever. We just wanted to record some songs.
US: Well, that’s the only way to do it! After you were finished recording what did you do, as far as checking out New York? Did you go down to the Village to “check out the scene.
MIKE: No. We didn’t know much about the city, and as far as the Village went, I hated Bob Dylan and didn’t care much for whatever “scene” there might have been. We just packed up, piled back into the car and high-tailed it home to the hills! We were a bit curious, but awful scared.
On the way down to the studio that morning, we passed through some pretty hairy looking neighbourhoods and that kinda freaked us out! We were thinking, “Hell, lets roll down the window at yell at some creeps and drive away, cauz we were THE ROGUES, man!”
Those people would know who we were, they’d go “That’s alright, man, you go ahead and yell at us, ‘cauz YOU’RE THE ROGUES and you’ve got a record comin’ out!” But of course we did not do any of this.
The Squires | Go Ahead | (Atco) 1966
US: Just so’s we don’t forget later, who were the groups that most influenced you guys?
MIKE: The Beatles kicked me in gear, but I liked a lot of groups with a strong sound. “Tell Me” by the Stones!!! What an amazing sound. Tom Flanigan was on guitar and he was really heavy into the Byrds
6-string Fender
US: Definitely! That ringing 12-string guitar!
MIKE: No! That was a 6-string Fender!
US: Really? Cripes, people are never gonna believe this! Well, anyway, 6-string and all “Go Ahead” is definitely the A1 folk-rocker of all time! It AND “Going All The Way” should have been monster hits!
MIKE: Yeah, I guess if we had had support from the label it might’ve been a hit, but it really didn’t get off the ground.
US: How did the 45 came out on ATCO?
MIKE: Well, this guy named Bobby Dio sort of shopped the demos around the labels and ATCO got in touch with us. We were too young to sign the contract, so our parents signed it for us.
US: How did the parents feel about you being signed to a BIG label?
MIKE: They were pretty sceptical about it all and told us we were going to get ripped off, but we didn’t care. We were flipped about the thought of being stars, so we said “Let’s do it!”
US: What was the deal? Any money?
MIKE: It was a 5-year contract with ATCO, AND WE DID NOT EVER SEE A PENNY FROM IT! They gave us some line about there already being an English group with the name Rogues, and gave us a new name: THE SQUIRES!
US: And you had no say in the matter?
Rotary Club types
MIKE: Nope! ATCO said they were putting “Going All The Way” and “Go Ahead” out as a 45 and told us to “clean up our act”; toss out our raggedy Levi’s and get hair cuts. They made us look like a bunch of Rotary Club types; suits, ties, etc. They told us they were going to make us the New Beatles!
US: Did the SQUIRES 45 get any airplay?
MIKE: Not much, but it charted on Bristol’s WBIS on December 9,1966. I also heard it a few times on a couple Hartford radio stations. Even though we didn’t get any recognition for the single, the number and pay of our live shows improved, because we were “ATCO Recording Stars” to the local press.
We played a two-week stint at Mount Snow ski area in Vermont, swinging with the snow bunnies in our business suits! The Club George in Manchester, Connecticutt hired us as the house band, and we even appeared on a Hartford TV music show, the Brad Davis Show, a sort of American Bandstand. We were on with Bobby Vinton of all people! They had us lip-synch to “Going All The Way”.
The Squires | Go Ahead | (Atco) 1966
Vintage press article:
SQUIRES’ LATEST RELEASE: The Squires, formerly known as the Rogues, have just released their first record nationally on the Atco label (a subsidiary of Atlantic Records).
The songs, “Goin’ All The Way,” and “Go Ahead,” were written by the group’s drummer, Mike Bouyea. The members of the Squires include: Tom Flanigan, Kurt Robinson, Mike Bouyea, John Folcik and Jim Lynch.
On Saturday, the boys will appear on the Brad Davis Show, Channel 3, at 5:30 p.m. Featured along with them, will be Bobby Vinton and the Firebirds. In the next few months, the Squires will be making a tour of the New England States, which will include a two week run at the Mount Snow Ski Lodge Chain, Dover, Vermont.
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