Tags: garage

26 Aug 2010, Comments (0)

The New Breed – P.M. or Later (Jamie) 1967

Author: michael selman

I have been trying to locate members of The New Breed for a long time with no real luck. The confusion surrounding this band has proven to be quite a hardship to research, for in trying to cross facts many inaccuracies are found. The New Breed was another great Dallas area group headed up by the master writer and vocalist Ron Price. Ron wrote Texas hits such as “Wishy Washy Woman”, and “My Girl” for Jimmy Rabbit. He also wrote the tune “Didn’t We Have a Good Time” for The Mystics, another Dallas group, which is where some inaccuracies surface.

Many sources falsely accredit Price as one of the musicians who played with The Mystics. I contacted Bud Bruschardt who was part owner of GPC Enterprises in the 60s. GPC was the booking agency that promoted The Mystics. I Hoped Bud would have some information on The New Breed or could confirm or deny whether Price was in The Mystics. He was under the assumption that Price was in the group as well, but was not really sure, being that it had been forty years and that he only booked the group. He was nice and mailed me some great promo shots of the Mystics and some publicity prints.

Bud pointed out that in “Journey to Tyme” (Texas discography of 60’s psych), The Mystics and The New Breed were listed as the same group. Bud told me to try to contact Robin Hood Brians out of Tyler, TX. Robin had recorded and produced The New Breeds last record in 1968 “I’d Like To See Her Again/High Society Girl.” Robin Hood, as most know, is one of the heavy hitters when it comes to recording and production in Texas. He is known for recording Jon and Robin, Kenny and The Kasuals, The Moving Sidewalks and Jimmy Rabbit. I tried to contact Robin Hood for a while with little luck.

In the mean time I stumbled upon an interview at Garage Hangover with Dave Mitchell, the bassist from the Mystics. He confirmed that Price was never in the group, that he only wrote their single. Price became affiliated with The Mystics after they won a battle of the bands. This set them up with a single on the Spectra label, out of Dallas, who Price had been working with at the time. This interview shows many scans of the band lacking any photos of Ron Price. Mitchell claims that the Spectra label and the In Crowd label (The New Breed’s first label) had some affiliation. The two labels, according to Mitchell, mislead the public to believe that The Mystics became The New Breed, to give the band some publicity. I then tracked down a man by the name of Gerald Peirce, who was in a group named the Mystics and soon after joined another group called The New Breed. As it turns out there was another Mystics from Port Neches, TX and another New Breed from Beaumont, TX. For a side note Peirce was in a group named The Basic Things also from Beaumont; check it out on Garage Hangover.

I also stumbled upon a great interview at 60sgaragebands, where Bill Looney from The Penthouse Five, another amazing Dallas group, spoke of some affiliation with Price. The Penthouse Five used to play gigs in Dallas with The New Breed and actually recorded one of Price’s tunes, “Don’t Mess Around With My Dream”. This interview seems to reflect that Price was in The Mystics as well.

Around this time I received a call back from Robin Hood, he told me that he didn’t remember the exact details, but he thought that the group consisted of a few brothers and that he would contact Ron Price to verify. When Robin called me back I learned that Ron Price had passed away several years ago from multiple strokes. Robin Hood told me that Ron’s brother, who Robin spoke with on the phone, said the band consisted of five brothers. He also claimed to be the vocalist on “I’d Like to See Her Again.” The brother also said the group at one time had played as Roy Orbison’s backing band? Robin told me that he didn’t feel comfortable giving me the brother’s name or number and that he would forward my email to him so he could contact me. That email never came…

I am posting this hoping one of our readers will solve the mystery. If a person was to look close at the scan of “P.M. or Later”, D. Morris was credited as well as R. Price, proving that at least a portion of the writing crew was not of relation. BMI doest not reflect D. Morris, only Ron Price as the writer. Another thing that is funny to mention here is that after this track was pressed regionally, the Jamie Label picked it up and sited the production to Ray Price instead of Ron Price. If anyone has any information about The New Breed or Ron Price please contact us and we will reference your contribution.

The New Breed Discography

In Crowd 001 – Sunny/P.M. Or Later
Jamie 1341 – Sunny/P.M. Or Later
In Crowd – Little Bit of Soul
In Crowd 1234 – Big Time/Summer’s Comin’
Fraternity 1003 – I’d Like To See Her Again/High Society Girl

LISTEN: The Mystics – Didn’t We Have Good Time

LISTEN: The New Breed – High Society Girl

LISTEN: The New Breed – P.M. Or Later

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garage, instrumental, psych, texas

8 Aug 2010, Comments (3)

The Argyles – Farmer John (PIC-1) 1966

Author: michael selman

Another San Antonio story, The Argyles were a group which formed in 1965, which rose to fame from one hit and went on to relocate to California and become The Children. All five members hailing from different sections of the Alamo city: Alamo Heights, Keystone, Macarthur, Jefferson and Cole graduates, jumped into music at a young age. The Members were: Steve Perron on guitar and VOX, Luis Cabaza on the keys, Ben Trieber on bass, Steve Anderson on drums, Chris Holzhaus on guitar, VOX.

The Argyles regularly played The Teen Canteen and Ft. Sam Houston, as it turns out the group formed The Minds Eye Club as well. From what I can tell The Minds Eye was a real hip joint with smoke machines and strobe lights creating one of the first hippie hangouts in San Antonio. The dive next to The Minds Eye was a 50s hang out called The Big Orange known for it’s territorial hoods coined “The Big Orange Hoodlums.” Well it seems that at this time, “The Hoods,” were the only source for dope, seeing that in those days 20 years was given out for possession of a joint. As it turns out the Big Orange Hoodlums shot The Argyles bassist, Benny Tieber, in the leg over a deal gone wrong.

Some time in 1966 The Argyles meet up with the Cajun producer Huey Meaux. Meaux recorded the Argyles only single, Farmer John/White Lightnin’ on the Pic-One label. Both sides were recorded at Meaux’s recording facility, Pasadena Sounds in Pasadena, TX, which at the time of this recording would have only been up and running for a little less than a year. Farmer John was a cover written by Dewey Terry and Don Harris who were a part of a group called the Squires in the mid and late 50s. There song became a hit by the California based group The Premiers in 1964 after being covered by The Searchers a year prior with no success.

Both the Searcher’s and Premier’s versions follow the original lyrics “Farmer John, I’m in love with your daughter.” The Argyles veered from the original giving the song a real Texas Raunchy feel with “Farmer John, I’m in love with your Mother.” I’m not sure who had the idea to change the lyrics of the chorus whether it was Meaux or The Argyles, however I love it and feel it is the best of the three versions. The Argyles also switched up the Premiers version by excluding the guitar break and shoving in a real nice slice of organ. The Premiers started a trend with their cut of Farmer John by creating a live feel on the recording. The track was supposedly recorded live in the Rhythm Room in Fullerton, California, however they laid down the track in a studio in Hollywood. The Argyles also went after a live feel for their version of Farmer John with laughter and party noises in the background through out the track. Ben Treiber died in 1969 only three years before Steve Perron, two young for both of these talented men. The group went on to form The Children and move to California. I received most of this information from a great website dedicated to San Antonio, www.saboomie.com. I was lucky enough to make a trade with my friend Kevin for this copy of Farmer John, hope you enjoy.

LISTEN: The Argyles – Farmer John

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24 May 2010, Comments (0)

The Trashmen – Same Lines (Tribe) 1966

Author: michael selman

Influenced by doo-wop of the sixties, mixed with the surf take over, came rockers, The Trashmen. Recording first as Jim Thaxter & the Travelers (“Sally Jo/”Cyclone”) from their home of Minneapolis. Ironically playing surf tunes to an audience more than a thousand miles from any beach, received their break when they decided to combine three Rivingtons tunes (“The Bird’s The Word” and “Pa-Pa-Ooh-Mow-Mow” and “Mama-Oom-Mow-Mow”) to form the hit “Surfin’ Bird.” By 1964 The Trashmen were at the top of the charts, known for their screaming vocals and pounding rhythms.

The band consisted of Tony Anderson on lead, Dan Winslow on guitar and vocals, Bob Reed on bass, and Steve Wahrer on drums and vocals. The guys came together in 1962 had their hit in 1964, and did chart with a few other singles, “Bird Dance Beat” hit #30 in the states. The group overall released 14 albums, however broke up in 1967.

Just before the group broke up they recorded a single in Houston for Tribe records under the eye of, “Crazy Cajun” Huey Meaux. Huey met The Trashmen and their manager, while the group was on the road, through Doug Sahm and Augie Meyers via Sir Douglas Quintet. The group was between labels and with Huey’s savvy business sense and ear for music offered to record a single for the group on tribe who Huey worked with often. The recording took place in Pasadena right out side of Houston in Meaux’s studio called Recording Services. It was January 1966 when The Trashmen laid down “Same Lines” and “Hanging on Me.”

The topside is an original by Anderson with a strong Dylan influence smeared with an edgy garage sound. “Hanging on Me” is a jangly pop tune written by Mark Charron who wrote a few tunes for B. J. Thomas. The group liked the single, however sales were too small to warrant another Tribe release. So with out any further adieu I give you The Trashmen with the Crazy Cajun at the wheel.

I would like to thank Doug Hanners for providing me with information and the promo shot below, which features the group and their signatures along with Meaux’s signature.

LISTEN: The Trashmen – Same Lines

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folk, garage, texas

6 May 2010, Comments (0)

Neal Ford and The Fanatics – Shame On You (Hickory) 1967

Author: michael selman

Neal Ford and the Fanatics were a 60s pop rock group from Houston, with a polished sound, which no one in the circuit could touch. They played every venue possible and practiced quite often at the Catacombs creating a real tight sound. Neal Ford and the Fanatics are well known for their hits on Hickory Records out of Nashville, however Neal Ford recorded a solo record as well. Neal Ford’s first band was called the Prisoner’s while he was enrolled in Howard Payne College. The short-lived group was made up of Ray Hildebrand and Kim Espy (who later became the male vocal portion of “Hey Hey Paula” of Paul & Paula). They later changed their name to the Ramada’s after the hotels, which at the time were just starting to open up around Houston. After the Ramada’s Neal formed the Fanatics, which later turned into Neal Ford and the Fanatics.

Neal Ford was born in San Antonio Texas, later moving to Houston as a boy and graduated from Jones High School. He attended Howard Payne College, where his music really took form. Fords favorite sport was pole vaulting in his youth, but really had passion for any competitive sport. His band consisted of: Johnny Stringfellow better known as “String” being their lead guitar player. String was born in Houston and went to Reagan High School. String only played with the group for a short time for he was drafted into the army. Next is Jon Pereles who was born in Miami Beach, Florida. The group called him “Big Jon,” he originally joined to play rhythm guitar, but seeing that String was drafted Big Jon became the lead player. From what I have read Jon’s writing portion of tunes was the reason the group went for more of a pop accessible route, after playing harder material in the early days. Next is John Cravey who was born in Memphis, Tennessee. John later moved to Houston to graduate from Spring Branch High School, continuing his education South Texas College. He was the drummer and writer of one of the groups toughest songs recorded “Pain.” Lanier Greig was the Keyboard player hailing from Houston and graduated from Memorial High School. Lanier is also known for writing some material from the group, most notably co writing, “Wait For Me” with Big Jon. Next W. T. Johnson was born in Galveston and also graduated from Spring Branch High School in Houston. “Dub” as the group called him was the bass player. The Groups Manager/Producer was Dick Ames hailing from Denver, Colorado. He moved to Texas to attend Texas Christian University.

I have picked four of this group’s singles to feature for this weeks Texas grooves. I normally only choose one or two, however this week have taken on a group with such a large recording history that picking just one selection would have been a daunting task.

Neal’s solo disc was put out on Pablo Records with “The Very First Time.” This track was written by Ford (like most of the fanatics tracks) and Kim Espy, First Time was recorded in 1964. Any listener will quickly realize this track is like so many slow early sixties cuts with an interesting keyboard section just over the horizon of the entire piece. I have chosen this one because it is an early representation of Ford.

Second I have chosen the Fanatics cover of the Zombies single “Woman.” I am a big fan of this cover for its raw rendition, which really gives Rod Argent a run for his money. This cut was never pressed until a small label released it in the 90s, Caped Crusader. It was recorded in 1966 plainly as the Fanatics, with its screaming organ intro to its driving fuzz and screaming harmonies, really gives a rise to the idea of an early punk scene that blasted out in the mid sixties.

The third choice is the most unusual track the group recorded. With almost a pre Ozzy Osborne/Alice Cooper talky and growling lead vocal, which summons a dark, frightening sound that is solidified by haunting laughter on the bottom end of the cut. This track was at first considered the plug side, however became over shadowed by flip “Gonna Be My Girl.” Here is the story in Fords words:

“Here’s the real story on “Shame On You”. I wrote the song around 1965 (I think). We recorded it at Jones Sound Recording in the Heights. The owner Doyle Jones and Mickey Gilley were the engineers. I took the tape to Nashville and got an offer from Hickory Records owned by Acuff/Rose Publishing. At the time they were very successful with acts like The Newbeats-”Bread and Butter”, Sue Thompson and other pop acts. The main song that they were interested in was “Shame On You”. If you look on the single you will see that it was released as the “A” side and was being promoted as the single until Joe Ford at KNUZ flipped it one day and played “Gonna Be My Girl” which was written by Jon Pereles. The phones lit up and KILT jumped on the flip side also and it leaped to # 1 staying on top of the charts for weeks. This changed the whole direction of our album and future recording efforts. Prior to that we were doing harder rock oriented music like “Woman”, “I Will Not Be Lonely”, “Pain” etc. “Gonna Be My Girl” took us to doing more of Jon’s compositions which was a much lighter pop/rock sound. I called it Hard Bubblegum. In retrospect, I wish we had stayed more in the original style. “I Will Not Be Lonely” was my original direction for us and the real me at the time. I never intended to sing “Shame On You” as you hear it on the record. It just developed to that in the studio. I’m totally shocked to see it on so many internet sites and on so many compilation CD’s. It and “I Will Not Be Lonely” are getting more play and recognition now than back when we did them.”

I would have chosen “I Will Not Be Lonely” for this post yet this record, like so many others is a bit out of my pocket book’s range, however if I dig up a copy I will post it here. Until then check out this site authored by Bill Thompson, it is a wonderful resource for this group.

Fourth I have chosen “Pain,” which is another early punk/rocker for the Fanatics, this time recording as Neal Ford and The Fanatics. Recorded in 1967 in Jones Studio in Houston for Hickory. This track features less of a raw sound with more melodic harmonies and much more of a pop sensibility than the prior two selections. The Theme of this cut portrays the image of a boy’s heart being cut in two by his lover and the PAIN he is enduring.

Now dig the sounds of Houston one more time!!!