Monocled Alchemist

Raw ’60s Garage Punk!

THE GROOP – “Alright!”
Kicking this 32-song “odyssey” off to a blazin’ start is this bongo-laden mystery ripper. Mystery indeed cauz its from a one-copy-in-existence acetate recorded at A & T Studios in Toledo, Ohio and even the SONG-TITLE is guesswork, as there was nothing listed on the label, so we took the liberty of naming it “Alright!” cauz the cat keeps Yellin’ it! But fear not: Ohio super-sleuths Tom Fallon & George Gell are hot on the trail and if they turn up the group you can count on us including any details in the future . . .

Back From The Grave | Volume 8 | (Crypt) 1996

THE BENDERS – “Can’t Tame Me” Utter scorchin’ Diddley-beatin’ snarler from this four-piece of Stout State University, Menomonie, Wisconsin students who got together in 64, opened their OWN nightclub, “THE PIT” in the bowling alley basement of an old hotel, and slayed their fellow students big-time with their gutsy ROAR!

In March 66 they travelled to Big Sound Studios in Wausau and cut this primal punker and waxed up a few hundred copies in May 66 for gig sales. Lead guitar man Gerry Cain was a bit too much of a rebel and ended up flunking out of Stout one month after the release and headed home to his parents’ in Menominee, Michigan and scored his SECOND punk classic, “HARD LIFE” with his new band, THE WHY FOUR! (this ace punker will be included on the upcoming “GARAGE PUNK UNKNOWNS VOLUME 9” LP on Crypt in June 1996).

Benders’ leader & drum-basher Paul Barry sez “Can’t Tame Me” is REAL PUNK, way ahead of its time” . . . Hell yeah – and even NOW this baby crushes mosta the limpness that today’s current “punk” scene coughs up.

ADRIAN LLOYD – “Lorna”
Mo’ Diddley-bashin’ scree, this time from a transplanted Englishman who is ALSO the man behind the pre-pre-punk howler “I Don’t Need You No More” by the mostly-instrumental surf combo THE RUMBLERS (check out their cool LP on Downey) and his own surf combo ADRIAN AND THE SUNSET, of “BREAK- THROUGH!” LP fame.

Goes to show that NOT ALL English musicians that move to LA are dorks (fer examples of limey LA dorkdum: JONES, STEVE or IDOL, BILLY). Anyhoo, this ace masher was ished in August 1965 on CHARGER.

THE NIGHTRIDERS – “With Friends Like You, Who Needs Friends”
A fine pint o’ sentiment indeed! A most wailin’ quit/organ pounder most likely out of the Portland, Oregon area, as it was ished in Fall 1965 on the STAR-BRIGHT label home also to the rather politically incorrect (OH MY!) ode to girl chasing, “BEAVER PATROL” by THE WILDE KNIGHTS.

Oddly enuf, the Nightriders 7″ was ALSO issued on Los Angeles R&B label MODERN under the name THE COMPOSERS.

THE CHANCELLORS – “On Tour”
Like I said, THIS is the monster that caused the entire idea of a GRAVE 8 Crank the volume ALL the way up on this and tell me HOW I could NOT reissue this! Hell, even if GRAVE 8 consisted only of a one-sided “disco” 12″ with JUST this song, it would’ve been justified, cauz this is one of the BEST 60s punk records of ALL time, my friends: Dig the singer cat’s Jagger snarl about touring all over the USA (when in actuality, the average garage band played a maximum radius of maybe 30 miles outside of their home town!); Marvel on that 80-second, completely outta-control guitar solo; PUNK ROCK . . .

Issued in 1966 on the Schenectady New York label D.C., which also had the pretty sharp punker “Sick And Tired” by the CONTINENTALS. The godlike CHANCELLORS were from way the heck up in Potsdam, NY but still no luck on reaching the band yet, but you KNOW that when we do, there’s gon’ be some whopping drool-fest interview session and it’ll probably end up on a future repress o’ this alb!

Back From The Grave | Volume 8 | (Crypt) 1996

THE PSEUDOS – “A Long Way To Nowhere”
Arghhhhh!! You want PUNK ROCK lyrics? You got ’em! And in spades, baby! Right here! This poundin’ lil snarler was blasted out by a four-piece aggro unit outta the Motor City, suburb of Utica who got their start stage-wise by wailin’ on the back of a flat-bed truck in the parking lot of Jerome-Duncan Ford Auto Sales as part of Ford’s introductory celebration for the brand-new 1964 Mustang!

The Pseudos photo is from that flatbed blowout! The guy in the middle, Rich Vandeweghe, left the group soon after and was replaced by Larry Gazda s bro Paul and they continued wailin’ around Detroit at the usual “circuit” of teen dances and using a converted chicken shack dubbed “THE SHACK” on Doug Hoppas parents’ property for rehearsing and “general around”.

Luckily for us, in early 66 they decided to knock out a 7″ – and the spectacular results are this extra-sharp ditty ’bout a rough day in SQUARESVILLE! They ished it in April ’66 on their own (and APPROPRIATELY named!) FINK label.

Back From The Grave | Volume 8 | (Crypt) 1996

THE BOJAX “Go Ahead And Go”
Cool Greeneville, South Carolina attitude punker (the “attitude” bein’ bold INDIFFERENCE to his gal’s threats o’ splittin’) from a crew that were pals with and sometimes members of the LEGENDARY Rudy “Rude” Wyatt’s band o’ punk heathens, THE WYLD!!

Rudy also happened to produce THIS tune, recorded at MARK 5 Studios, and played guit on their second 7″ of early ’68 (“Fast Life” b/w a cover of The Remains’ “Don’t Look Back”) AND Bojax singer Bobby Holliday sung on The Wyld’s “Know A Lot About Love”.

Phew! “Go Ahead And Go” was their first 7″, recorded in early ’67 and released Aug 1967 on the Panther label. The equally cool flip, “Hippie Times”, was NOT a “celebration” of the oncoming era a’ stupidity! Anyhoo, they stayed together thru mid ’69, issuing one more single that doesn’t quite cut it with us punk fiends.

Back From The Grave | Volume 8 | (Crypt) 1996

THE WYLD “Gain” Places”
ArOOOOOgah!! Hang onto yer seats, folks, cos here’s an UNISSUED punk monster from the legendary, multiple punk godhead 7″ issuing fiends of Greeneville, SC, THE WYLD! If y’ain’t heard their numerous chunks o’ punk spew, yer missin’ out, lads & lassies!

The Wyld, led by “Rude” Wyatt, plonked out sech primal hoot as “LOST ONE”, “FLY BY NIGHTER” (on GRAVE PART 2 CD), “IF I HAD IT”, “ALLEY OOP”, the pre-Wyld ROOTS’ “IT’S BEEN A LONG JOURNEY” and mucho more.

This sharp wailer was recorded in early ’66 in MARK 5 Studios, at the same session as “Fly By Nighter” and was s’posed to be the flip but Charay label boss Major Bill didn’t wanna spend an extra $35 to master it when he could just issue an earlier Wyld master, so “Fly By Nighter” came out with a B-side of “Lost One”. The Wyld played up til early ’67 but broke up when Rudy moved to Atlanta to join the house band of The Whiskey club there. Unfortunately, he got his draft notice shortly after.

THE ELITE U.F.O.- “Now Who’s Good Enough”
A tad (jest a TAD, mind you!) more “restrained” than the first 8 ditties, but a keeper nonetheless! This odd-named Tennessee-area group stole the riff from “Louie Go Home” and tagged on some cool desperation in the vocals at the tail end, and came up with a great (rock critic voice over:) “typical” Girl-you-left-me-but-lookit-me-now! ranter. Issued in ’66 on the M.A.I. label with a cool mex-flavored instrumental, “TARANTULA” as the flip.

Back From The Grave | Volume 8 | (Crypt) 1996

THE PAINTED SHIP -“And She Said Yes”
Volume, Volume VOLUME!! Turn this WAY THE HELL UP and bug yer square-ass neighbours out! GAH! SNARL SUPREME from these Vancouver, Canada legends! A quote from the man, WILLIAM HAY, himself: “And She Said Yes was my protest against the growing sappiness of rock music. I was annoyed by the ‘Beatle influence’ on rock – the lush background arrangements. The sweeteners. Aarrggh – hate that word. I wanted to startle sleepy ears and see how RAW I could be.”

YEEESSS! Got that? Important words indeed from the SOURCE! This was their second 7″, ished in May 1967 under the instructions of their record label to “do something a little more commercial” cos (obviously!) their snarlin’, misogynistic debut, “I TOLD THOSE LITTLE WHITE LIES” musta harshed many a square!

THE MERLYNN TREE – “Look In Your Mirror” EEEGAAAHH! Loud? Quite! All you “heavy metal” dorks just pack it in already! If a crew of teens could knock out THIS kinda racket and DO SO IN A FRIGGIN’ POLKA-MUSIC RECORDING STUDIO in 1967, then what in heck perpetuates that crap passed off as “heavy metal” (other than mebbe the “male bonding” that young mustachioed teens feel for their HM heroes such as Rob Halford or Freddie M???) . . .

Anyhoo, here’s Andy Brown wit’ de LOWDOWN on dis wailin’ soun’: “High school pals Bill Joseph (lead guitar/ vocals) and Wayne McManners (drums) formed this band in Austin in 1966 with an organ player and a “succession of pretty inadequate bass players”. Most of their shows took place in a lot of the small towns around Austin like Burnet, Rockdale, Circleville and Lake Buchanan, typically at a VFW hall or recreation center. (“Those kids were starved for entertainment on the weekends,” Bill explains, adding, “They’d HAVE to be starved for entertainment to pay money to listen to some of the crap we used to play!”)

At one frat party gig they had to dodge lit cigarette butts being thrown at ’em all night — it seems the frat boys enjoyed taking lit cigs and tossin’ ’em at the grillcloths of amps, hoping to set ’em on fire. After the band got pissed enough to tell everybody they were leaving, some of the bigger frat boys came over and threatened to stomp the drummer’s kit into the ground.

They escaped by quickly hauling their equipment out the back door while the bass player held the frat boys at bay, swinging’ his bass at ’em like a baseball bat. (It’s pretty tough when ya gotta use your musical equipment as a defensive weapon!)

In the summer of ’67 they went to Austin Studios — aptly named as it was the only recording studio in Austin at the time. Two songs from the session, this one and “How To Win Friends”, were in turn pressed up by a local polka/C&W label, DIXIETONE, in September ’67, though the band didn’t know about it — in fact they JUST found this out in 1993!!!

The group changed their name to TROY in ’69 and released a single before calling it quits after graduating in ’71.

Back From The Grave | Volume 8 | (Crypt) 1996

DAVE MYERS & THE DISCIPLES – “C’Mon Love”
California surf -instro legend Dave Myers (check out his newly-re-ished material on the recently revived Del-Fi label! Ace!) cut this fuzz-guit pounder in 1965 when the band added some vocal numbers to their vast and INCREDIBLE surf-instro repertoire.

This cut has been previously reissued but 1) illegitimately, 2) said reish is way outta print, and 3) said reish sounded like utter crap cauz a’ the “thrifty” ways a’ the acid-damaged switch-hittin’ swinger responsible . . .

Anyhoo: Here’s this rockin’ pounder in FULL fidelity, so crank it, daddy! Lead-quit and band-boss Dave Myers first started wailin’ on guitar in 1951 at the age of 8 (which puts him at the mature age of 22 when this punker was ished – considerably older than the usual slew o’ 15-16 year-olds behind the teen punk “phenom”).

Dave spent a few pre-teen and early teen years playing the folkie circuit and one night during a show at a pad called Cafe Frankenstein, Dave strolled along and was exposed to the insane rattle emergin’ from the nearby Rendezvous Ballroom, where transplanted Bostonian Dick Dale was cuttin’ loose with his insane reverbed frenzy, an’ OBVIOUSLY le rock et le roll was more up Dave’s alley than the woeful moanin’ of the university coffee-house folkie crowd, and he jumped feet first into surf mecca and formed the Surf-Tones in 1961.

By spring 1962 they had taken on Dick Dale’s recently vacated house band throne at the Rendezvous and in late ’62 they ished their first single, “CHURCH KEY” b/w PASSION” on the IMPACT label, then a buncha cuts on around 10 various-artist “band-battle” LPs, and in early 1963 their first LP was ished on Del-Fi, 1964 saw their sharp “GEAR!” 7″ and in 65 “C ‘Mon Love” and a second LP were released. The band kept at it up through 1969 before calling it quits.

THE PULSATING HEARTBEATS – “Talkin” About You” Sharp Northwest flavoured R&B punk, and considering that the band was from ANCHORAGE, ALASKA (!!) mebbe you can say that the Sonics/Wailers /etc were more of a MID “Northwest Sound”— HAR! Wild Bill Nadolny tracked these cats down and stunned the world (well, about 00000000000068ths of the world – about 12 looneys to be precise) with the revelation that these cats WEREN’T a military crew, but actual Alaskan teens!

This was their first 7″, ished in June ’66 on the PACE-SETTER INTERNATIONALE label. They knocked out a second 7″, “WAIT TIL THEN” before calling it quits.

Two Alaskan gals wrote a letter to 16 mug plugging the rockin’ sounds of the P. Heartbeats but their isolated location (and the SQUARE WORLD!) kept ’em a local secret – until NOW, that is! 30 yrs later and it still packs a wallop!

THE CINDELLS “Don’t Bring Me Down”
Hey, we don’t usually include cover versions but I HAD to include this Pretty Things’ take cauz 1) IT IS THE BALLS! and 2) I couldn’t resist the urge to dis on Classic Rock creeps by stating that “this song contains the FINEST use of a CASH REGISTER other than Pink Floyd’s ‘Money’!!” HAR HAR HAR! Shut up . . .

Anyhoo, this smokin’ cover was from the sleepy (punk-wise) town o’ Cortland, NY, ished in July 1965 on SHAG Records with the rather dull flip, a trib to the folkie “scene” of “McDougal Street”.

JAMES T & THE WORKERS – “That Is All”
GAHH!!! Wotta snarl! This prime theft o’ “Louie Louie” ALSO boasts one of the most INEPT and therefore GENIUS guitar leads of all time! These cats were from the wilds of the northern Michigan peninsula near Bay City and ished this brutal thumper in March 66, following a particularly brutal winter.

Their second 7″, “I CAN’T STOP”, on the PROPHONICS label just doesn’t cut it like this evil snarler.

Back From The Grave | Volume 8 | (Crypt) 1996

THE OUTSPOKEN BLUES – “Not Right Now”
Moody, dark, organ-heavy Chi-town punker about the woes of not getting any action! This band is sort of a “Grave” alumni in that the bro’ of O.Blues cat James Stanley was in THE BRYDS, of the great “YOUR LIES” (see “GRAVE Part 4” cd)I. The group was formed originally as THE EMPIRES in ’63 by 2 brothers, Ail JAMES and ROBERT STANLEY.

When the Empires split up in 65, ROBERT started the BRYDS and bassist/vocalist JAMES joined bassist/vocalist Jim Korn and Bill Kirchmeyer’s band BEAT INCORPORATED with two-Empires, drummer Bill Levak and guitarist Tom Nelson. BEAT INC soon became The Outspoken Blues and they

recorded this monster in June ’66 with Jim Korn on vocals and it was released in August ’66 on the oft-fine ORLYN label, home of many a killer teen waxing. When Jim Korn was drafted into the Army, James took over full bass/vocal duties. The group grew to a seven-piece in ’67 when the Bryds split up and brother Bob joined and they adopted a more “white-soul” sound and recorded an unissued album for Mercury.

Back From The Grave | Volume 8 | (Crypt) 1996

THE PAINTED SHIP – “I Told Those Little White Lies”
Prime December 1966 snarl outta Canada! One of the coolest girl put-downs in that ocean of typically (and ususually) misogynistic rants known as the world of 60s punk! (AND early country blues. AND 50s C&W. AND 50s R&B. AND 50s rockabilly. AND 70s punkrock. So lighten up you feminists! The best R&R usually comes from yer mistreatment of the male race!)

Anyhoo: Here’s their first 7″, released in December 1966 with the rather more “esoteric” flipside of “FRUSTRATION” (see “PEBBLES VOL 7”). After this snarler the band’s label was pushing REALLY hard for ’em to do a “nicer, more commercial sound” for a follow- up, and hepcat Painted Ship leader William Hay thumbed his nose at ’em in a rather BIG manner with the ultra-snarl of “And She Said Yes” which you heard at the top o’ this side!

The band began as THE WEE BEASTIES, then assumed the P .Ship moniker from a poem, “The Rhyme Of The Ancient Mariner’ by Samuel Taylor Coolidge. They were a tumultuous crew, changing line-ups over four times in 2 years.

William sacked the keyboard player because of said key-man’s affection for the Beatles – “I’ve never liked the Beatles that much. Yeah, I know they made rock more acceptable, more sophisticated with orchestral arrangements. If I want sophistication, I listen to Wolfie or Ludwig. I like my rock more adventuresome, minimalistic and raw-edged.”

THE PIECE KOR – “All I Want Is My Baby Back”
Cool teen Diddleyin’ punker from Bel-Air, Maryland, produced by punk hepcat TOM GUERNSEY of THE HANGMAN, author of such gems as “What A Girl Can’t Do” and “Faces”. This was a pretty late piece of teen honk, ished in early 1968 (!!) on the LARAY label.

THE CAVEDWELLERS – “Run Around”
This Chicago beastie was s’posed to be (and is lunk-enheadedly LISTED!) on the “PEBBLES CHICAGO” cd but for some reason it ain’t . . . (hey Greg/Lee: leave the LSD or whatever lame hippie drug at HOME and ya might get things right!) FINE, coz here it is in FULL and CLEAR sound. No luck yet in tracking the band but Mad Mike Markesich is closin’ in on their trail! So fer now we’ll just say it was ished in 1967 on the JIM-KO label.

THE VILLAGE OUTCAST “The Girl I Used To Love”
Great teen organ-punker from DOVER, DELAWARE on the ECHO label, with a super-ace B-side cover of “Under My Thumb” that blasts along Squires-style. Sorry for the skimpy info but I’m just not up to my old, occasionally jive-spewin’ ways!

Back From The Grave | Volume 8 | (Crypt) 1996

THE NEW FUGITIVES – “That’s Queer”
Hilarious Meriden, Connecticut punker ished in Oct ’66 on the GLO label, mostly known for polkas! Formed in early ’65 by two pals who had previously tried their hand at R & R as a duo, with homemade, primitive instruments.

The drummer, who sang lead on both sides of this 45, was the star quarterback on the football team – RARE, as usually these teen bands were comprised of the “outcasts” or “losers” (in the SQUARE WORLD’S eyes, of course!) of the school “society”.

They played all over CT and MASS, sharing many a bill with their pals, the pre-SQUIRES (“Going All The Way”) combo, THE ROGUES. At the suggestion of the Rogues’ label boss they hit Soyka Studios in Somers, CT in late summer 66 and cut four tunes, and started shopping the tape around.

RCA offered to sign them if they dropped their lead singer, but they bailed on that jive. Their manager worked a deal with the studio owner to press up 300 of the 7″ but they had to add NEW to their name because some NYC lawyers representing one of the other 1,328 groups named the Fugitives threatened to sue if they used the name.

“That’s Queer” was written by the singer/drummer in Math class as a joke, and “She’s My Baby” was written for his FORMER girlfriend; Dorrie, in hopes that she’d get back together with him. Instead, she hired a lawyer and threatened to sue, but couldn’t because no last name was mentioned in the lyrics. The group split up in mid-1967 when the guitarist was drafted and the rest went off to college.

Back From The Grave | Volume 8 | (Crypt) 1996

THE DAVE STARKY FIVE – “Hey Everybody”
Here’s da scoop courtesy o’ Mr Andy Brown: British guitarist/R&B fanatic Dave Starky moved to Houston, TX in late ’64, and with the help of some local boys soon started up The Dave Starky Five. Starky was a huge Stones fan (he even claimed Keith Richards taught him how to play guitar) and dismissed the Beatles as “bubblegum music”, which surprised the other guys since the Stones weren’t very well known stateside at that point.

With their tough, Stonesy sound and image, the D.S.5 were the toast of the town for a brief time, tearin’ it up at most area high school gyms and local joints like Taylor Hall and Grif’s Inn, even playin’ at Garner State Park’s annual 4th of July bash in ’65.

They caught the eye of shady local record guy Ray Rush, who took ’em in to ACA-Goldstar Studios to record two originals: Hey Everybody and Stand There, both excellent garage pounders. Before the record could be released, however, Starky flew the coop and returned to England when he found out he’d gotten some girl pregnant – which he didn’t want his new wife to know about!

The band more or less broke up at this point, but Ray Rush wanted to release the record, cooking up a crazy promo scheme with a local radio station in a “rename the recording group” contest. The winner was chosen to be “JUST US”. and that’s how the record was released, on Rush’s SHAZAM label, in January ’66.

The original singer and bass player got some other guys and got back together at this point, but they hated the new name, so they went back to calling themselves The Dave Starky Five.

Unfortunately, they never regained their momentum. After breaking up in ’67, the two original guys piled up the band’s unreleased tapes and a bunch of the 45s and burned ’em, a bitter effigy to one of Houston’s coolest ever bands. (Also: In ’65, rhythm guit Pete Bas started up ANOTHER cool combo, GREG BARR & THE BARR ASSOCIATION, who ished the swank frat / fuzz punker “DANCE GIRL DANCE” on the CINEMA label.)

THE TIKIS – “We’re On The Move”
Here’s da scoop from Mark Prellberg: When Bill Scherek heard two guitarists and a drummer jamming in his dorm at the University of Wisconsin (Madison campus) in the fall of ’65, he approached ’em and asked if they needed a saxophonist. The trio said no, they needed a bass player, so Schereck promptly taught himself the bass, joined up and named them after the good luck charm.

After about six months of mostly Prat house gigs, the foursome hightailed it up to James Kirchstein’s Cuca Studios in Sauk City and laid down two Scherek originals for their 45. The band lasted thru the rest of the school year but was history by fall ’66, when Bill called academia quits. Schereck then put together the TALISMEN and cut a cool version of “Glitter & Gold” on Rampro.

He stayed in the music biz in various roles throughout the ’70s and early ’80s and was involved with many national artists, In 1995 Bill relocated to Australia, to head an international corporation.

THE AMBERJACKS – “Hey Eriq!”
Here’s this ace, shrouded in mystery thumper, originally reissued (but with muddy sound) on a volume of the “PSYCHEDELIC UNKNOWNS” series. This time we got it pretty damn roarin’ sound wise, but all’s anyone knows ’bout it is that it was ished August ’66 and MIGHT be from PA.

THE NIGHTCRAWLERS – “Want Me”
Hoots! Anudda UNISSUED beastie! Wyldman here wit’ de scoop: “This fuzz overload winner is courtesy of Owatonna, Minnesota’s finest. Yup, same quintet that unleashed the 12-string coolity, “YOU SAY” on MAAD Records in May 1966 (available on “HIPSVILLE VOLUME 3”).

Don Madison, the Nightcrawlers manager, sent the lads to CBS Studios in Chicago in the fall of ’66 so they could experience a big-time recording studio. “WANT ME” was cut there, along with five other numbers, mostly covers like “Chimes Of Freedom” and “(Just Like) Romeo And Juliet”. Nothing from this session was ever released, but “Want Me” was pressed onto acetate, backed with “(I) Feel So Good”, the Johnny Preston number.

The band formed in the summer of ’65 from three other area combos, The Mark 2’s, The Checkmates and The Rogues. They lasted until mid-1967 and were one of southern Minnesota’s most popular bands during their heyday.

THE DAGENITES – “I Don’t Want To Try It Again”
Four Oxon Hill, Maryland teens got together in 1964, started practicing in their parents basements, and when it came time to adopt a moniker, they decided that a Brit Invasion sounding name would click – Member John Bardi‘s mom was originally from Dagenham, England, on the outskirts of London, so they decided on the DAGENites!

They got a manager who also happened to be LINK WRAY’s manager, so they played a helluva lot of shows with the then at their peak Raymen every week at the “1023 Club” – sez Geoffrey Robinson of the Raymen: “They were THE loudest band ever! When we’d play with them you’d look at the bar and all the glasses and bottles on the counter would be MOVING AROUND! Link was still wearing his hair in a big 50s pompadour in the midst of Beatle hairdo mania, they had TWO bass players. Their kickdrum had no drum-head First we’d ever seen. A VERY loud band.”

Their manager, Ron Barnett, was always pushing them to go for a rawer, dirtier, Stones-ier attack because “there were already enough polished, Beatles-y bands around”, and judging by this tune and the fact that The Dagenites played a lot of Link covers in their live sets, I’d say they took his suggestions seriously!

“I DON’T WANT TO TRY IT AGAIN” was the, Dag’s debut 7″ – Member Bruce Kennett was originally from Dayton, Ohio and had a pal in Dayton with a recording studio, so one spring day in 1965 they piled into a car and drove the 500 miles to Dayton to knock out this monstrous tune with a great, frenzied, outta-control Dave Davies-style lead guitar break and Geoff’s ace lead vocal tellin’ the tale of yer typical teen heartache-inducing female.

The record was pressed up for them by the Pixie label in Dayton and they blew through the whole pressing quickly at all their late-spring and Summer ’65 shows. Geoff left the group after graduating high school in June 65 and the 3 younger Dagenites got a new singer, Jimmy Musgrove and continued up through 1966, issuing two singles on the HEIGH-HO label, first the pretty cool “I’m Gone Slide” 7″ in Sept ’65 and then their third and final single, “THE FUGITIVE/POISON IVY” in early ’66, but the band was finito by June ’66 due to the typical post-graduation commitments (college, jobs, etc).

THE DOGS – “Don’t Try To Help Me”
Anudda utter disappearing act! This killer “just leave me the hell alone!” sax-driven punker was ished on the TREASURE label outta Philly, but I’m ‘fraid that’s all de info we got.

THE DRY GRINS – “She’s A Drag”
Mr Andy Brown wit’ de lowdown: “The Dry Grins were the rockin’ rulers of Lafayette, Louisiana (also home to ace bands like The Roamin’ Togas, The Persian Market and The Surrealistic Pillar) and “She’s A Drag” was actually the FIRST installment in a trilogy of angst from this band that started in ’65 under the original name, THE ROGUES.

This was followed by the killer “PUT YOU DOWN” 7″ on MBM in early ’66. While playing a gig in Baton Rouge, they were spotted by Cyril Vetter from The Greek Fountains (Loozyanna’s biggest group) who told ’em he could get ’em a record deal with the local MONTEL-MICHELLE label. (It was Vetter who changed their name along the way to The Dry Grins.)

Unfortunately, the local wuss deejays were too chickenshit to play “She’s A Drag” OR its’ cool flipside (“You’re Through”). Discouraged, The Rogues/Dry Grins called it quits in late ’66, though a couple of the guys went on to play in another band, The Swingin’ Machine- NOT the cats of the same name behind the punker “Do You Have To Ask”.

THE NEW FUGITIVES – “She’s My Baby”
The lawsuit-garnering flipside!

THE MERLYNN TREE – “How To Win Friends”
The sharply-lyric-ed flipside!

JUST TOO MUCH “She Gives Me Time”
Polished but nonetheless ace teen rocker from this Los Angeles mystery group, ished in summer ’66 on the M-G label, which also released the solid “I Can Only Give You Everything” cover by The Heroes.

SATAN’S CHYLDREN – “Don’t Go”
UNISSUED Texas ploonk! Here’s Andy Brown once mo’: This mysterious mob roamed around Houston’s south side for a while in ’66-’67, yet the only source of info we have on ’em is local promoter/coolster C. L Milburn, who had the good sense to record some demos of the band (includin’ this crude mofo!) in ’66.

C. L. recalls that the band’s name got ’em in a lotto hot water, especially at Mt Carmel (a big Catholic high school all the local bands played at) where the priests wouldn’t let ’em play unless they altered the spelling of their name on their drumhead to read SATIN’s Chyldren!

Well, they mighta been able to censor their name, but those priests musta wet their sacred robes and had their wigs gored in half when they heard these dudes crank up their HARSH attack! C. L. tried findin’ ’em in mid ’67 in hopes of havin’ ’em record a 7″ for his newly formed SEA ELL label, but the band had completely VANISHED!

Liner notes taken from Volume 8. Read more Graves here.