16 Crazed, Frantic, Mid-60s Garage Punkers!
Back From The Grave | Volume 3 | (Crypt) 1984 |
CHENTELLES – “Be My Queen”
This group of 13-14 year-olds cut loose with a thrashin’ love serenade to a high school doll. The group got started in early 1966 with a girl on drums, but she left early on. High school dances and rec halls all over the west Michigan area, including a particularly wild frat party at Western Michigan University where they were the only ones left at the party by midnight, and all that was left was a pair of pants and a wallet. The group broke up in 1968 to go off to various colleges.
LITTLE WILLIE & THE ADOLESCENTS – “Get Out Of My Life”
Probably the nastiest song ever unleashed on the world, yet it was actually written by a content soul on his peaceful honeymoon in the Adirondacks. This Florida group started out in a basement in Buffalo, New York, with the drummer becoming a member of the surfy TORQUAYS and the guitarist forming the instrumental INVICTAS, both of the PHILLIPS ANDOVER School in Andover, Mass. (Both of these groups put out albums on tiny labels – the TORQUAYS LP being the better, with a wild-ass version of “Surfing Bird”).
the Starfires
The third member of the original Buffalo combo moved to Orlando, Florida and created the STARFIRES and his own record label. The Starfires recording “Stop It” came out on the first Bee-Jay sampler, and on the flip to this 45. The name change was due to the arrival of a second Orlando band named the Starfires. Nobody in the band was named Willie, nor was any of ’em short, so they built a little metal man, painted him fluorescent green and set him up in front of the drums and told wise guys that he was little Willie whenever they were pestered about which one of them was Little Willie. One night at a drunken frat party, Little Willie was swiped and the band refused to play until he was returned.
Back From The Grave | Volume 3 | (Crypt) 1984
KEN & THE FOURTH DIMENSION – “See If I Care”
A snarling, snotty pounder on the STARBURST label, home of the infamous “Be A Caveman” by the Avengers, Limey & The Yanks’ “Guaranteed Love”, and a few girl-group 45s.
This group was manned by the son of the label owner, and they originally started out as a surf combo, the ROCKETS, changing names to KEN & THE HO-DADS, who issued a cool surf intro, “Surf Dance” before catching the punk bug and snarling out this cool ditty.
Jan Eden Studios
ME & THEM GUYS – “I Loved Her So”
This group of Greencastle, Indiana highschoolers took over the local teen dance hall circuit and cruised to dances all over the state in a fleet of Falcon station wagons. Nearby Perdue and Depauw universities also provided them with plenty of frat and sorority parties to play at.
They recorded this, their only single, at Jan Eden Studios in Indianapolis in 1966, with a Kinks-like instrumental, “Something Else” on the flip. The band would like to dedicate this song to the memory of their manager, Doug Swickard, and their publisher, Eve Dodds.
Back From The Grave | Volume 3 | (Crypt) 1984
INTERNS – “I’ve Got Something To Say”
In July 1965, five Akron, Ohio teens put their heads together, donned medical interns’ jackets, and so were created the Interns. In February 1967 they sauntered into Akron Recording Studios and recorded this extremely tense girl put-down and “The Trip”, a fuzzy instrumental flip.
In March ’67 the record was pressed by the illustrious RITE plant, but due to an error a strange echo screwed up The vocal side, so they scrapped the 45s and repressed a new batch, just in time to sell before they graduated high school. That summer they got pretty big in the area due to radio play (a rare occurrence in those days) and even appeared on a local TV show.
GROG!
INTRUDERS 5 – “Ain’t Comin’ Back”
This snearing, ultra-snotty grunger was the only release by this Greeneville, Tennessee band, who recorded it one hot afternoon in August ’66 on a portable reel-to-reel deck in a sound room at WGRV radio station, where the lead singer, Chris Williams, was a disc jockey.
They played at Teen Town, a local club, as well as senior proms, birthday parties, Moose Club and Elks Lodge dances, and at East Tenn State U’s Battle Of The Bands, which they won.
They put this snarler out on their own label, GROG!, named after the hairy neanderthal in the Johnny Craig comic strip “B.C.” who yelled “GROG!” – a statement the band cared for. The song became a hit in far-away Utica, NY for 3 weeks in Summer 1967 due to the large amount of Utica kids that went to Tusculum College near Greeneville because the tuition was cheap.
Back From The Grave | Volume 3 | (Crypt) 1984
MONACLES – “I Can’t Win”
This amazing statement of utter teenage frustration was written by a 15 year old who really captured all the hassles of being a teen. Listen hard, cause the truly garagey production buries the vocals a bit.
The group aged between 11 and 16 and were from Orange County, California, playing first under the name the Masters, then the Laurels, before settling on Monacles.
Singer Jim Newby got started in music at age 13 when he swapped his bike for drums, but soon switched to guitar as he found it was easier. Being underage kept them from playing good-paying jobs like bars, but a financially rewarding AND ultra-bizarre job was when they played at Fairview Hospital For The Insane.
The lead guitarist’s dad managed a chain of movie theatres and they got lots of shows playing intermission between double features. They played live on a TV show in 1966 called “JOHN MARSHALL’S FUN FOR ALL”.
The Wigwam Club
LIL’ BOYS BLUE – “I’m Not There”
This Sunnyvale, California pounder was recorded in December ’65 and released in April ’66, but the band had been together for a long time before that. Dave Westberry moved to Sunnyvale from Bellingham, Washington in 1961, where he had been playing a bit of guitar.
Larry Diehl‘s dad was in a C&W band and the groups would visit and teach him stuff. Dave hooked up with Larry and they formed the RI-TONES, playing instrumentals and early hits. A name change to the CONQUESTS in 1964 saw them mixing in more vocals with their sets, and they got pretty popular via highschool dances, clubs like the Wigwam, etc.
Back From The Grave | Volume 3 | (Crypt) 1984
In 1965, most of the band was out of high school and so they all got an apartment together, switched names to LIL’ BOYS BLUE, and started playing a lot of shows. They recorded this, their only 45 at the Gold Coast Studios and released it on BAT WING records, their own label.
The song was a hit in Monterey and did well in San Jose, and they were able to get a lot of shows with the SYNDICATE OF SOUND, who they became pretty good friends with, as well as the DUTCH MASTERS, the JAGUARS, the FUGITIVES, and the KNIGHTRIDERS
They travelled as far as Las Vegas, where they played for a few weeks at the TEEN BEAT club, where a retarded guy by the name of Charlie Whiteeagle was on the contract to “sing” a song with the band on stage each night. Their drummer wore knee-boots and they’d let him sing Dylan’s “Positively Fourth Street”, and on the line where he’d sing “I wish you could stand in my shoes”, he would toss his boots out into the audience and hope they’d be returned.
The Dayton Scene
JERRY & THE OTHERS – “Don’t Cry To Me”
This drum-bangin’, tambourine-bashin’ Diddleylied pounder was issued only on the otherwise dull album “The Dayton Scene”, put out by Dayton radio station, WONE.
FUGITIVES – “You Can’t Blame That On Me”
Grand Rapids, Michigan record label FENTON issued a load of truly great 45s by cool teen bands from the west Michigan area, including the famed JUJUS’ “You Treat Me Bad”, PLAGUES, AARDVARKS, LEGENDS, QUESTS, MUSSIES, JADES, the CHENTELLES, and a bunch more.
The label owned a studio called GREAT LAKES RECORDING where all the bands would blast out their stuff on the same equipment, which gave the 45s on FENTON a unifying “sound”.
This one is a blast, with the ‘Wipeout’ drumming and muffled background screams backing the really young vocal.
Back From The Grave | Volume 3 | (Crypt) 1984
RAUNCH HANDS – “Tiger Guitars”
Well, back in ’84 this WAS this great combo’s vinyl debut, the one and only case of me mixing in a “rocque moderne” band wit ‘de 60s combos on this series, but heck, wit’ something this fine, why would I wanna pull it off to update this alb? Grosp all their fine releases.
Long purple hair
WILLIAM THE WILD ONE – “They Call Me Willie The Wild One” Crazy-ass mot-I-sickel punk from the New England area. Willie Jiggered hisself to be a ’65 version of Brando, ‘ceps he had long purple hair and hung out with tough S&M biker chicks (How else do you explain that “Hug me, baby – SUFFER!” line he howls?).
MURPHY & THE MOB “Born Loser”
Tyler, Texas’ Murph & Co cranked this aggressive “Look Out World” statement to an unappreciative redneck Texas society as the “throwaway” flip to the poppier “Because You Love Me”.
Ace sleuth Andy Brown rattled forth the full story in his much recommended – but out-of-print, dangit! – zinc debut, “Brown Paper Sack”, so here’s a brief summary: “Murphy” was Terry Murphy, who in 1964 at age 13, formed a combo that got dubbed “The Mob” by an adult type.
Back From The Grave | Volume 3 | (Crypt) 1984
By ’65 Terry rearranged his Mob and got a more serious line-up that lasted through their demise in surnmer ’67, playing parties, local schools, etc – with local pal combos the Indifferents, the Hobos, the Marauders.
In October’66 they cut this incredible anthem w/studio funds donated by Terry’s girlfriend’s dad, and pressed it up with help from the owner of a local oil drilling company on a label named after said oil co, Talisman. And that, baby is the lowdown on the who and what was behind this utter gem!
MODS “You’ve Got Another Think Comin”‘
A tough, snotty warning to a two-timin’ babe, complete with raunchy harp and a KILLER gee-tar blast to further set the message as one not to be missed. Nobody is really sure about where this group was from, but a sure bet would be Illinois – even closer; Chicago.
Don’t Be A Square
SIR WINSTON & THE COMMONS – “We’re Gonna Love” Tough Indianapolis fuzz grunge from a 5 piece that grew out of an earlier combo called The Pickups. The group was a pretty wild bunch and were known for wild stage shows, where they’d jump around, throw things, cover the NOVAS’ hit “The Crusher” and other such “atrocities”, as a local newspaper called it.
They opened for the Byrds at the Indianapolis Coliseum in July 1966 and the square at the local newspaper wrote them up as “a Comedy act” which is just one more reason why you should never believe anything a rock critic says. Don’t be a square.
Back From The Grave | Volume 3 | (Crypt) 1984
ROYAL FLAIRS – “Suicide”
An ultra-cryptic song about a guy who dumps his girl, she kills herself and he gets upset and decides to join her. The group was from Council Bluffs, Iowa and got their big start when the Beach Boys chose them as winners of a local radio station’s Battle of the Bands.
They were an older band, ranging between 19 and 23 so they moved to Chicago, where they got billed as coming “Directly From Liverpool Caverns”, which was somewhat true, as it was a club in Millard, Nebraska that went by that name. They did pretty well working the Chicago club circuit for a few years, putting this 45 out in ’66 on the MARINA label as well as a second 45 under the name of the UNLIMITED, as they were afraid that it would get blacklisted by clubs which they wouldn’t play due to their contract.
Head Shot
The group broke up because of a real bizarre accident: One of the go-go clubs they were playing had a 350 pound dancer who went by the name of Miss Temptation, and somehow a cellulite-crazy psycho fell in love with her. One night he broke into her dressing room and tried to rape her. She managed to break away and got to Bob Everhart, leader and singer of the Royal Flairs, and when he tried to stop the guy, the psycho pulled a gun and shot Bob in the head.
Bob survived the gun wound, but the recuperation time and thinking things over made the band to decide to call it quits. Another cryptic note about this record: The flip side is a wild surf instrumental called “One Pine Box”, about a coffin, and the song has noises of the lid being nailed down and dirt being shovelled onto the lid (Meaning IN THE GRAVE, dad).
A printing error caused the label to read “One Pink Box” which makes it sound more like its a guy hammering together some cute Sunday workshop task than a burial.
Back From The Grave | Volume 3 | (Crypt) 1984
MONTELLS – “You Can’t Make Me”
This Miami group started out under the name IMPALAS, then became the Montells, and changed over to HER MAJESTY’S SUBJECTS, who released a great version of the Pretty Things’ “Don’t Bring Me Down”, which made it to No.5 on the local charts before being banned for “suggestive” lyrics. They changed back to their old name of the Montells because everyone still referred to them by that name.
This killer Kinks/Pretty Things style raver was issued in ’66 on THAMES records, as the flip to a cover of “Daddy Rolling Stone” which made it to No.14 locally.
The obvious British R&B influence was due to drummer Jeff Allen‘s SERIOUS Pretty Things obsession, which even caused him to make several trips to London to see them play, and he met and became good friends with Viv Prince. Jeff is a 3-time punk legend, as he was also drummer on the EVIL’s fantastic 45 “Always Running Around/Whatcha Gonna Do About It”.
Liner notes taken from Volume 3. Read more Graves here.
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