Fran and Nigel have shown some interesting pictures of bands they have been been in. Most of us have played in a variety of bands. Got pics? Love to see them. Here are a couple of mine from late 80's early 90's. No tee shirts or torn jeans. We dressed for the occasion.

Eddie,
I don't know who in the picture is the "Computer Geek?" I mean "GURU!"

Ya gonna tell me?

In the top picture you can't see me. I was the drummer.
In the bottom picture I am the 3rd best looking (But don't the
other two I said that)
Eddie

Here's one of my first bands as a kid mid 60's......
we had so much fun on stage,.... Trio with two girls good times 1980's Korgs SAS20 their first Arranger KB, LH bass on a Yamaha CS-01!

This was an R&B group I played with in the 70's. I'm on the far left...I played a B-3 and several other, now vintage, keyboards back then. A great bunch of guys.




The band was called "Integration".

Ian

Didn't you guys know about "sneakers"?
Those "engineer boots" were heavy, and were too slow if you had to run...

Ian,
Is that a band or a "GANG." Just kidding friend.

http://www.4shared.com/photo/eQtuRP0c/THE_KEYNOTES_-_mid_1950s_-x_Up.html?refurl=d1url
The Keynotes mid-1950's. In those days we were called a wedding band. There were no DJ's back then and we played everything from weddings and proms to bowling banquets and spaghetti suppers.
Ciao,
Jerry

Jerry ... we lived in a parallel universe ... the band I was with for 26 years was "The Keynotes" ... when we started out I played accordion ... we had guitar, sax, bass, drums ... similar music stands ... anyone remember the "Combo - Orchs" books ??? ... and damn if I didn't sport the same style hair as you ... almost am NOW too !!!
I gotta try to find some pics ...

Jerry..the good old days...I remember my first 5 member band...They were called Hi-Fiv (that is the way they spelled it) ...and NO.... no one was high (Early 60's)..
We were the House band for the "Golden Horse" Inn..The nightspot near Philly..

And we worked 5 hour gigs for $12 a man..

I was seventeen when I started with the band...the other guys were mostly in their 50's..It was a great experience for me..I worked the best guitarist I have ever seen...a great sax player, very good drummer and a polished (not Polish) bass player that was lead singer.....and the cute kid was on accordion

A clip from a movie we did the title music and closing scene for in 1965. That's me on the far right playing a Watkins Telstar combo organ. I've somehow lost that 'slip of a lad' image since then, though.

I was with two bands that won the "Battle Of The Bands" contest that were prevalent around New Orleans. It was about 1956 - 1958. How would I get a framed picture of that group posted here on the forum.

The first group we called ourselves the "Belmonts," before there became a known "Belmonts" group. We came in second in our first "Battle Of The Bands" contest.

The second group that I worked with had better musicians. The Guituar player Vic Fouquet joined up for some time a few years later in Vegas working with Frank Sinatra Jr.

Anyway we won two BOTB'S contest and we called ouselves the "Fidelities."

Man did I have a bunch of hair then. Man all of these fond memories.

Well Tony, it turns out that there were about 3,000 bands called the KeyNotes and yes we used Combo Orks. That was the cusp of the end of the big band era and the beginning of Rock. Most of our repertoire were "standards" with a sprinkling of the new 3 chord tunes. Most requested tune was Stardust. None of us could afford an amp and we rented the amp (shown) for each gig from a local music store for $2.00 per gig. The tuxes were bought from a rental place - all with frayed cuffs and collars.
Fran, we didn't play many 'nice' places ... played many a night during all out brawls and we just played on. Our first gigs payed whatever was in the hat - 'pass the hat'. We were thrilled if we got $10 each. Soon after high school, the band broke up and I bought an amp (still have it, Esty/Panaramic tube amp), hooked up with a trio and played a joint where we played in the middle of the bar because it was too dangerous on the stage. Lots of memories.
Ciao,
Jerry

1958 I was already a
"Power Single".....lol

Great pics ... looks like you were all having a great time.

This is a band I played in called Overproof back in 1976 prior to a gig. Totally hippie long hair and flares

Nigel,

Where's your photos,don't say you left them back down under, looks like Donny was told to sit there and stay still, those old black and white plate cameras you were not supposed to move.

looks like a posh area, got a garden

Nice Photo Donny, those your smokes on your right

In the 80's I worked with a lead singer named Lois Lane (her real name). One of her groups was called Lois Lane and Super Band...but we also worked as a duo under several different names. The craziest went beyond DNJ's chicken hat. We were Lois Lane and Clark Kent and worked primarily in West Palm Beach, FL.

We ditched the novelty for more upscale gigs such as seen here for a 4th of July dinner/dance.

Lois still performs as a single now elsewhere in Florida and has put together a very entertaining novelty act for senior venues.

Thanks for posting your photos and musical/entertainment history.

My First Accordion band..

Donny ... what studio was that with? ...
Lydia and I both studied accordion at a studio in SI - that's where we met - played in the accordion band up until about 1962 when I went into the service ... competed in American Accordionists Association competitions in many cities ... did quite well, too ...
Biggest moment was playing in Carnegie Hall ...
Back in the day !!!
PS ... which of those guys is you?

Double post

Front row left where it says Donny..lol
Thats Maggio Music School Bensonhurst Brooklyn
I did all that concert stuff also.....moved to SI
when I was 17.......

Eddie ... you guys certainly did look patriotic ... which 'technics' kb were you using?

Obviously, I missed that ...

Tony....
I can't remember the Technics model number, but photo was in '82 so it was one of the really early models. I remember it took a minimum 4 button push to get to a style and set up a song. And everything sounded so cheesy compared to today's gear. I used the Technics in conjunction with an early model Korg, which had much better piano sounds but was very limited in style offerings.

All the Lois Lane bands I played in spent as much time on showmanship and entertainment as they did on the music. When I think back on some of the costuming and corny jokes...its almost embarrassing...but boy was it fun at the time.
Eddie

Our "Keynotes" band always had the latest style tux, ... we used to do a 'floor show' featuring our lead singer which was good, but we had some 'corny' routines also ... but as you say, it was fun, and we got hired and re-hired - A LOT !!!

The entertainment aspect made us a "fun" group. Our goal was to make sure the audience had fun. Dance...laugh....sing along...whatever.

Once, only once, did we do an upscale country club that, we later learned, just wanted ballroom dance music. The manager said he could not have us back because we were "too dynamic". Another lesson learned about reading an audience and recognizing "different strokes......"

We were later hired back under a different name and knew exactly what was expected of us.

That's right, Tony. Back in the day all the bands had pretty sharp suits, etc. In that movie clip, our suits were custom made of 'slub mohair' in an olive green shade, the handmade shirts, the handmade boots, good stuff. Of course, the film company ponied up the tab for that little lot. Our regular stage dress was a bit more, let's say, frugal.

Donny,
I just realize why Gary refers to you as just a kid. Man in 1964 I had three babies in diapers.

The Name 1982 an all original synth pop band that I played bass with used to open for INXS on many occasions.
Keyboards being used ... Fender Rhodes, Casiotone, Roland Juno 6.

That's so very cool. What a great memory. Totally 60s.

Great photos !!!!

Nigel,
You're the only one I've never picked on that I can remember, so I want to make this perfectly clear. I'm not picking on you. To me this is a fact!

If that is you to the far right playing the organ in 1864, then the picture on all of your post to the far left must be at least 30 years old.

DonM pulled that gimmick when I first joined the forum. He had a picture of him posted one time of when he was maybe 25 years old. Then when I met him on my first trip to Shreveport, I thought "WOW" he must of gotten hold of some bad anti-aging cream. He went from 25 or so in the picture to at least 55 or so in no time at all from the picture to real life exposure!!!

Man you need to up-date your picture unless your in with Joan Rivers' doctor and he gives you a big discount.

Now if that is really how you look today, I truly beg your pardon and I apologize. LOL

In any event, you are just one of us old farts, anyway you look at it!! You just look better than the rest of us.

If I get no reply from you, I'll really be disappointed. Say something... this has nothing to do with Jazz or picking on Uncle Dave. OK?

Donny ... what building is that behind "Just Us" ?

Jerry ... The first band I started at about 16 yrs old, was named "The Twilighters" and "Twilight Time" (Three Suns version - way before "The Platters" ) was our theme song ... I used a drummer who had the band "The Keynotes" ... when the Twilighters started getting HS dances and such, the sax player from The Keynotes wanted in so he suggested to the drummer that we 'merge' the bands ... One night they came to me and asked if I wanted to join the Keynotes and would I spend $5 to buy a 'band jacket' ... I said yes, and that was the start ... I later found out they had asked a piano player about buying the jacket and he said no ... his loss - my gain ... for 26 years !!!

We also went the 'pass the hat' route - didn't everybody?!? - and also the "play this gig for free and you can name your price on the next one" ... still waiting for "the next one" ...

Monsignor Farrell High School in SI...

Here's a few members of my Wedding Bands I played in thru the years ....

Top... "Essence"

Bot... "Champagne"

lol Boo how old are you YIKES!!!!
I'll be 60 next week ...

The kids today will never have the experiences we lived thru in playing music, lots of changes since we were kids and its nice to incorporate it ALL into what we do on stage now...we are the LAST generation that can claim this....
when we're gone it's all over and who knows what computer driven music will prevail....I'm glad I was around growing up in my times some old the old and some of the new makes a nice mix. Enjoy your life it goes very quick.

Lookin' good Donny. Here's the last band I had prior to scaling down to a duo.
The Celebration Band. Late 80's I think.

I thought so ... our son graduated from there in 1984 ...

Monsignor Farrell was the pastor of our Parish (St. Peter's) when I was a kid ... He used to hand out the report cards when I was in grade school ...

As I recall, as the school was being built, they taught the first Freshman class in the grade school our kids went to - St. Sylvester's in Concord SI ...

Donny ... you are SOOO right ... had a 'reunion' with two of the guys from the band two weeks ago in LBI, NJ ... we were talking about how fortunate we were to have had a band from 1958 to 1984, when we could play the "top 40" in 'our' style and people loved it and appreciated it ... we started out at the end of the 'big band' era, and finished - due to a company move that sent me to RI - at the beginning of the 'backing track'/synth'/DJ era ...
Unless you lived it as a musician, you can't appreciate the VALUE of what we had ...

I agree Tony.......

Actually I am playing bass on the left back in 1981 ... 1864 was a little before my time. You will notice a distinct change in hair color ( white ) now lol. And the photo of me on my profile was taken in a band shot about 3 years ago. It was before a gig and was face on which always works better for me. Profile shots of me a few hours later in the night look much older

Here is our Red Rhythm promo clip and the opening band picture is the one I took my profile picture from.

You guys sounded terrific, Nigel...I solved the grey hair issue by shaving it off. Ha ha! I call it my "Mr.Clean" look.

What a great "pro" sound...your band was very tight...harmonies especially.

Ian

Nigel...
Great looking and sounding group. Thanks for posting the clip. Red Rhythm Rocks.
Eddie

Fabulous stuff, guys! Such stories. Great promo, Nigel - very similar to the last band I ended up in - no vids, though, unfortunately.

Couldn't have said it better than Donny and Tony Mads. Our generation came along at exactly the right time. I turned 13 in 1956, a brand new teenager at the beginning of rock'n'roll. It has been the best of times all along the way.

Thanks Ian. We are still together. I just made this clip last year for venue owners to hear us playing to help get new gigs.

We recorded the songs in our rehearsal space with a Tascam 2488 MKII digital recorder which cost us what the time in someone elses studio would have cost to do the same thing ( I think it was around $600 ... great what you can buy to record on nowadays ). But now we have a 24 track recorder set up all the time in our rehearsal room.

Almost missed this, 124, and it is so cool to have a treasure like this from the past. I have several "live" VHS clips of a few of the groups I played with and need to get them converted to DVD etc.

Watkins "Telstar" organ...not a common instrument back in the day, and maybe worth a bit to a collector...any idea where it ended up?

http://www.combo-organ.com/Others/others.htm#Wem

Your band really had a great look, and a polished presentation...not to mention that you sounded pretty cool too.

My first combo organ was a "Howard Combo Organ" by Baldwin...once described as the "57 DeSoto of the Combo Organ world"...not as screechy as the more common and popular Farfisas (Fast 4/5's) of the day...far more mellow.

What did you use to amplify the Watkins?

There's more on this great site about combo organs: http://www.combo-organ.com/

Ian

Hi Ian,

I bought the Watkins in 1964(?) having gone the usual route of playing whatever piano happened to be in whatever venue we were booked - you know how that goes. I ended up selling it in order to raise the down payment on my first Hammond, an L102.

Most of the groups in the UK at the time had either a Farfisa Duo or a Vox Continental. Never really liked either of those, so went for the Watkins, which was a bit of a rarity even then.

I can't say I'd ever heard of a 'Howard Combo Organ'. I don't think they ever appeared over the pond. Thanks for that link, looks like a very interesting site. I'll be delving into that one.

Yes, it was a great band, we'd all been friends for several years - still see a couple of them when I'm over there. Everybody was a natural singer, and those harmonies all came so easily. You may have noticed early in the clip where two young fellas appear and one says, "they're playing our song!". That, pre-Small Faces, was Steve Marriott. In the dressing room that morning he told me he was putting a band together and asked me if I'd like to join. I said I was happy enough with the band I was in and turned it down.

We were doing pretty well, anyway. We recorded it with Shel Talmy who was producing The Kinks and The Who at the time. The single of that song was out on CBS in the UK, getting heavy radio rotation (7 plays a day), and reached no.32, not huge, but a no.32 record then was probably selling more than a top five song now.

Following that, in 1966, we had the original demo for Black Is Black, created the now-familiar arrangement and recorded it ready for release. Some internal corporate squabbles at CBS in London led to it being shelved (trust the suits - NOT), and the next thing we knew was that Los Bravos had copped it, our arrangement an' all, and had it out within three weeks and was the no.5 selling record in all of Europe that year.

Such are the stories of the biz.

Nigel,
What does that brunette think about good looking, blond haired, blue eyed, Cajun Tenor Sax players?

Please don't tell her I'm a Jazzer, OK? Tell her I play whatever genre' of music it is that you guys are playing, PLEASE?
Thanks good old buddy, friend, great guy that you are!!!! I hope it ain't your wife. I don't care about the other guys.

Sorry, Ian, you asked about what amp I used. I had a brand new Vox AC30 which, at the time, cost the princely sum of 122 pounds sterling. I see them now, with a few bells and whistles, around the $1300 mark!

Wow! That must have been a "downer"...that song still gets played a lot...your situation was not uncommon, as there were a lot of unscrupulous agents/managers...makes me think of Hunter S. Thompson's quote..."The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side."

The Vox AC Amps were very popular, and became more so here in Canada during the Beatles takeover. I used a 60's Fender Bassman 100 Piggyback “Blackface” with black Tolex amplifier and matching black Tolex 4X10" speaker cabinet...not sure of the wattage, but it worked pretty good up until I got a second hand Leslie 122, and eventually a Hammond M-3 to go with it. I even mic'd the 122 through a Marshall stack at one point. Ahhh...the days of experimentation that preceded the first synths.

Combo organs made a comeback with groups like Elvis Costello, but Hammond really ruled the roost and were what we all aspired to eventually, despite the transportation problems.

A friend had an L102...nice, especially since it had presets and drawbars, the M-3 only having the latter, but they had essentially the same sound and same size keyboards, although the M-3's were closer in size and shape to the B's.

This is a good thread...lots of cool and interesting stuff...the historical aspect of SZ.

Ian

The Vox AC30 is an absolutely classic tube amp that will always be in demand.

Yep, the AC30 was and is right up there with the Fender Twin, and the Roland JC-120, depending on what flavor you wanted...the best of the Brits, the USA, and Japan.

Although I had experience with the Fender and JC-120, I was never fortunate enough to play a keyboard through a Vox AC30...they were hard to find and were usually grabbed up by the guitar players.

Many years ago, early 90's, whilst working in Newfoundland, one of my band mates in the Ducats, was in on the discovery of a bunch of instruments stored away in a old house outside of the capital city of St.John's. The house used to be a nightclub, and when the owner died, his wife took all the gear, which he had bought for the use of any bands playing there, and put everything in the attic, and remodeled the house. The club had only been active for about a year.

Besides a complete set of Rogers Drums, vintage Fender PA system with two speaker towers, two vintage Fender guitars, one a Tele and the other a Precision Bass, there was a red Fender Contempo Combo Organ, that only needed contact cleaner and some other minor things, to get it up to playing condition. I got to play it, because the guy who discovered knew I had some experience with combo organs, and wanted to know if it was working correctly.

http://www.combo-organ.com/Fender/fender.htm

Man, that sound brought back a lot of memories...we played it through one of the Twin Reverbs also stored away...quite a find. Lou Skinner, our guitar player, and the guy who acquired it, eventually sold it to someone in the US for an undisclosed amount, but I think he did quite well on it.

That's why I asked 124 about his instrument...some collectors will pay top dollar for these old organs.

Ian

This is around '57-'59. We won two battle of the bands against the top teen age groups of the day. Lee Allen, Red Tyler, Herbert Hardesty, Allen Toussaint, etc were older than us and was making money with Fats and the gang. They weren't in the battle of the bands. Ha ha!
I propose a "Who's the band on this post with the best looking members contest?" Female's do not count.

I vote for my band IMHO!!!!!!!!!!

The bottom pic is me sitting in with the band that was playing for my Baby Sister's wedding. Maybe around '74-'76. If you notice like Donnie, I too did not follow the crowd. I still wore a hair cut. How could you guys stand all of the hair hanging and getting in you ears. Do you still think that was cool? Ha ha!

Wow, you just never know. You gotta go with how you feel though. That's life.
It sounds like you had a very interesting musical career back then. That clip you posted is truly wonderful.

I co-wrote and recorded a song that had Colin Haye from Men At Work sing the opening verse and harmonies. You may recognize his voice as it is quite distinctive.

A very interesting musical life indeed, Nigel.

London, in the mid-60's, was everything you heard about it, and more. I can't imagine being involved in a better scene anywhere at any time. No words can describe it, really. It's as though everything came together at that moment, and I don't think it'll ever come again.

The Vox AC30 was a very favoured amp with guitarists and keyboard players alike. For a compact unit, it packed a lot of punch with its two 12" Celestion speakers. You also saw a lot of Fender Twins, Bassmans, and a lot of Selmer amps. Watkins, the maker of the Telstar organ, also made some good amps. Vox certainly weren't without competition.

Ian: I took a look at that vintage organ website. Very absorbing. Even though there's reference to it being related to the Teischord, it certainly looked nothing like one. It's difficult to see much detail in that photo, but the Telstar was a well made unit - Rexine-covered plywood on chrome fold-up legs. The tabs were a bit on the small side and were of the push-in/pull-out variety. It even had percussion, something similar to the third harmonic on a Hammond which is what attracted me to it in the first place. As you say, very rare. Not many were made, and I've never seen one since.

Nigel: Thanks for another excellent vid. Oz certainly had its share of some great bands. It's a shame, the shemozzle Men at Work got into over Down Under. Ian's quote from Hunter S. Thompson certainly rings true.

Donny,

And a few thousand McDonalds later