The Bands
...How We Changed the Face of Rock & Roll....
Know what happens when you create a webpage and then don't update for around 5 years? LOTS of the pages you've linked to vanish. Sorry 'bout that.
Ok....my musical career changed the face of rock & roll music by making it better when I left.
(The sentence above is my obligatory, self deprecating intro. Actually, I'm a legend in my own mind. The meds keep this facet of my character under control. My therapist says I'm MUCH better now....)
This page is extremely boring unless you played in bands. It's still pretty boring even if you did. What can I say? It's a guy thing, we like to talk about our equipment....
I come from a music loving family. Dad played trumpet when he was in HS. My grandmother was the musical director for the Detroit Public School System and played / taught piano.. Both Mom & Dad listened to music a lot so I was aware of the 50's stuff as well as the earlier "big band" (Sinatra / Dorsey / Miller) stuff. Liked and listened to it. But it was just "music."
And then IT happened.
Like many of my generation, hearing "I Want To Hold Your Hand" by the Beatles, was something of seminal experience. I was 11 or 12 when I first heard it on the radio. Epiphany... this was NOT my parents music!
I saw clips of the Beatles on tv but it was their first performance on the Ed Sullivan Show that galvanized me into action. Not immediate action mind you, but the first time the opportunity presented itself I said "I want a guitar."
My first guitar was a "Teisco" something or other (coupled with an equally unpedigreed "amp") purchased at the El Toro PX. If I remember correctly the total for both was under $50. It "looked" like an electric. The amp plugged into the wall. I was a happy camper.
Only drawback was that both were junk. They did match my level of ability at the time.
I began to teach myself how to play using the "fake" books of the period. They showed you the chords and the lyrics...don't need no stinkin' staffs or notes here! All I really accomplished was getting familiar with basic rock chord structure. Couldn't tell you an interval or describe a rhythm but I was getting the idea. I was so proud when I figured out the intro & chords for the Byrds "Mr. Tambourine Man" & the Beatles "Day Tripper" without resorting to a fake book.
My first real guitar ( a Harmony single pickup semi hollow body electric ) and band ( Blues Bag ) happened in '66 while we were stationed at Ft. Benning, GA. I think we played 6 or 7 gigs. We were never invited or rebooked to play the same venue. What does that tell you? I also filled in with my best friend's band, the Penny Saints. Buck was the lead guitarist for the Saints and taught me a lot about music theory.
The first night I played with them was at the Checkmate Club in downtown Columbus, GA. A typical smoky, low rent dive catering to the military. Most of the women were ..ummm.. "working girls." Pretty interesting gig for a 15 year old high school sophomore.
During the period I picked up my second real guitar, a Vox. Same configuration (2 pickups though) but a definite step up in quality. Also picked up a couple of amps at the same place. Herb's Pawn Shop. Any school day you could find 8-10 musicians ditching classes at Baker High and heading to Herb's. The amps were a Schaller 60 watt 2X12 and a Fender Vibralux. The Vibralux had better tone & sustain but was only a single 12 with 45 watts.
My band in Germany was Sister Ray. The day after my family arrived at Patch Barracks I met Mike Finlayson. I sensed he was a degenerate musician almost immediately. He said he thought I was jock / athlete until he saw the gold peace symbol on the chain. It turned out he was a guitarist/percussionist/vocalist. His best friend, Hank Snow, was also a guitarist. The band was formed that afternoon. I suspect I spent more "quality" time practicing in the Red Cross building with Sister Ray than I did studying...see my SAT's for supporting evidence.
I ran through a lot of amps with SR. The aforementioned stuff plus a 2x12 Silvertone (belonged to Hank..got a weird, droning sitar like effect running a Framus acoustic 12 string though it), Standell & Marshall. I can't remember what happened to my Vox, but I ended up with an SG. Nice tone, great sustain and a bitch to keep in tune. Not that it particularly bothered me if it was slightly out...I was cranking it through a Marshall, fuzz box and wah wah pedal. Fortunately, for our audiences, Mike had a much better sense of pitch than me and would often re-tune it....out of disgust I think. Figured it was his gig anyway being that he was voted "Most Talented" in our Senior Class.
The other saving grace was the music. SR was formed towards the end of the psychedelic period and we did a lot of covers of Hendrix, Cream, Blue Cheer, Steppenwolf, Vanilla Fudge etc. Also did originals that were much in the same vein. We were, what came to be known as, a "power trio." I played lead guitar. Hank played bass. Mike played drums and did most of the vocals. We shall not discuss my vocal "abilities."
Played everywhere in the area. AYA's, schools, clubs & boat cruises. Typical gigs for a HS band. My favorite memory during this period is playing at Patch Barracks one night when a General kept calling the MP's to have us arrested for playing too loud. I considered that night one of the peaks for SR.
All of us applied to Schiller College. Unfortunately Mike was also accepted at Clemson. A perfectly good school but the continental difference was kind of a drawback for a working band. To my surprise he showed up at Schiller for second semester and the band was reborn. This incarnation was short lived due to the infamous "Well, it SMELLED like acid" incident?! Guess you had to be there.
My last band, "Immanuel," had a decidedly different flavor. It was an evangelical christian band. Switched to bass guitar but wasn't content to just be in the background rhythm section. More of a Jack Bruce kind of style. My set up was Fender Jazz and Ampeg V4B head & cabinet.
Haven't played professionally since I left Iowa & Immanuel behind. Can that really be 20 years?? For a while my only guitar was a late 60's Yamaha FG300 acoustic.
Wandered into a pawn shop in '89 or '90 and saw a really old, decrepit Fender "Pro-Amp." Took a Ibanez SG off a stand and cranked both up. Played 'Heart Full of Soul." While nobody in the shop would have mistaken me for Jeff Beck, it did bring a smile to my face. Took 'em both home.
I've since added a Fender M80 and a Kent double cutaway (again from the 60's) electric. One or twice a week I pop a cd, crank up the SG and relive the....hmmm....
By the way, in my humble opinion, one of the greatest bands never to gain the superstar status they deserved, was Mountain. Led by Leslie West, Mountain left a legacy of music that really was the forerunner of true hard rock. Listen to "Theme For An Imaginary Western" off Mountain Climbing and "Travelin' In The Dark" off Nantuckett Sleighride and see if you agree.
A close second in the under appreciated category is the LA group Love fronted by Arthur Lee. That other band from LA, the Doors, made it big...no prob there...but give a listen to Love's "Da Capo" or "Forever Changes" and tell me who deserved the recognition.
And before I get off my soapbox, let's talk about San Francisco's Moby Grape. They had the licks, the harmonies and, in an era of pointless, psychedelic opus's, tight under three minute gems. Give a listen to their debut album and you'll be humming half the tunes after the first listen. And smiling.
It would be hard for me to stick Blue Cheer in the under appreciated category. They weren't the best of musicians...or memorable songwriters. They were, painfully loud. Three man group that put out a massive wall of sound. Saw them at the Avalon in SF in '68. 4 stacks of Marshalls each. Loved it! I think I developed my SG fetish from Leigh Stephens setup. To my mind, this is where the "loud for the sake of loud" genre that became heavy metal started.
And now, for our bonus round, anybody got a copy of Leigh Stephens "Red Weather?" Gimme a holler....
My earliest guitar influences were George (what was the name of his band?) Harrison and Jim ("Roger") McGuinn. Harrison is a no brainer. You never knew if his licks were gonna be distorted, country or pure pop. They were always melodic. McGuinn's 12 string Rickenbacker leads sounded like nothing else on the radio. The lead on "Eight Miles High" still sounds like wild animal trapped, trying to find a way out.
Dave Davies early work with the Kinks also stand out to me. First time I heard "You Really Got Me" & "All the Day & All of the Night" I was hooked. Sources say he got the sound out of his Les Paul thru a cheap studio amp. I say it was an overdriven Vox AC30. Whatever, it was the first time I heard a sound that sounded like something was about to die or transcend.
The Jeff Beck / Jimmy Page lineup of the Yardbirds on "Having A Rave Up" also impressed me. The line-up was only good for the Stones tour (where the Stones didn't want to follow Beck/Page twin lead onslaught) but it produced some memorable guitar. The sound quality of the bootlegs from the tour that I've heard is really poor. Such a shame...
One of my regrets is that I was never in a band that could do vocal justice to the Beach Boys. Brian sure could write a melody and do some arrangements, couldn't he? Beguiling simplicity? Or intricacy that sounds deceptively simple? We're talking genius here......
Delerium's Psychedelic Page. A great resource on psychedelic & garage bands.
Dylan Great link
Oldies Music Oldies? When did THAT happen?
And now for something completely different..
The Rutles
The Rutles (Pythonline version)
"Omnia praeclara tam difficilia, quam rara sunt."
(Baruch Spinoza, 1632-1677)
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© 1965-75 muehlke@mindless.com
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