The South Spotlight: The Swinging Machine - Do You Have To Ask?/Comin' On Back Home

The Swinging Machine - Do You Have To Ask? by On The Flip-Side on Mixcloud

Day 9 of our South Region Battle of the Garage Bands gives us The Swinging Machine from the Portsmouth/Norfolk area of Virginia.

The band was Gary Richardson, Lee Caraway, Billy Stallings, Bob Fisher, Evan Pierce and Dick Bocock. We are, of course, going to feature the Flip-Side prominently. That song is the swinging number, Do You Have To Ask? written by the singer, Gary Richardson, and the organ player, Billy Stallings and recorded in the Fall of 1965. Some cat named Anderson gets co-credit as does the band manager, Frank Guida. We're doubting the manager had anything to do with the writing of it but instead stuck his name on the record as managers like to do. Frank Guida, by the way, owned the record label, SPQR Records, which released The Swinging Machine's only single in 1966.

The A-Side, Comin' On Back Home, is a number I don't have, so here is a You Tube video for it. It's a solid number but simply a patch on the Flip-Side. That number was written by band members, Bob Fisher, Billy Stallings and Evan Pierce.

According to the website, Garage Hangover, Gary Richardson (far right in the picture below) died of a drug overdose in 1968. We swiped the photo from that same site which has a lot of info on the band. Click here to read much more about the band and check out some great photos.

Until next time, we'll see you On The Flip-Side!