Pacific Northwest Spotlight: Paul Bearer and the Hearsemen - I've Been Thinking/Route 66

This is why we love garage music. From the small town of Albany, Oregon, a town not too far from the college town of Corvalis, comes the brilliantly named Paul Bearer and the Hearsemen. Yeah, baby.

Paul Bearer and the Hearsemen released one single in July of 1966. It was released on Riverton Records, a subsidiary of the Seattle based Etiquette Records.

Flipping this record over, as usual, we are going to start with I've Been Thinking. The 2:40 second blitzkrieg was composed by the band's guitarist, Ed Westby. Ed, along with his brother, Jim, who is on vocals here, Marshall Adams on bass, Peter Brown on drums and Gary Snyder on organ, created one of the most manic, aggressive records ever. And it came out in 1966. Holy crap.

The A-side is a brilliant cover of Bobby Troup's standard, Route 66.

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

Pacific Northewest Spotlight: The Kingsmen - Louie Louie/The Haunted Castle

Day six of our Pacific Northwest Battle of the Garage Bands finds us still kicking it around Portland, Oregon.

I could make a very strong argument that The Kingsmen's Louie Louie was both the most important and influential recording in rock history.

It was in 1963, Portland, Oregon, that the The Kingsmen paid $36 to record this number at a small radio studio with only two mics: One for the drums, one for the rest of the band, including the vocalist. The band banged it out and released it on the Seattle based Jerden Records in the Summer of 1963. From there Wand Records picked it up and released it nationally in October of that year.

The record spread like a wild fire and even launched a Justice Department investigation to determine if the lyrics were obscene (the answer was, "we can't tell") and was banned by one midwestern Governor who thought his state's impressionable teens should not undulate to the suggestive beat.

But the record persevered. This rag-tag stutter rhythm recording would soon be replicated by every garage and frat rock band in America. And when Pye Records released it in the UK in December of 1963, the Brit bands would be jumping on board as well. Bands like The Kinks, The Who, The Eyes and The Troggs would soon be pounding out their own interpretations of this rhythm and selling it back to the Americans who started it.

At the time of recording, the Kingsmen were comprised of Jack Ely on vocals, Lynn Easton on Drums, Mike Mitchell on guitar, Bob Nordby on bass and Don Gallucci on keyboards. Two notable moments to listen for in this recording. At :54, Lynn Easton yells "fuck!" (how the Justice Department missed this is beyond me) after breaking a drum stick. At 1:58, Jack Ely jumps in early and starts the next line before aborting and starting again.

Jack Ely would be forced from the band by Lynn Easton who wanted center stage. His mom trademarked the name and the Easton family began cleaning house.  That's the drummer, Easton, in the 1000 lip-synched versions you've seen on YouTube. Don Gallucci would be the next casualty with him being forced from the band as he was too young to tour.

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

Rocky Mountain Spotlight: Paul Revere and the Raiders - Just Like Me/B.F.D.R.F Blues

Day two of our Rocky Mountain spotlight for the regional Battle of the Garage Bands takes us to our first ever trip to Idaho.

Paul Revere and The Raiders often get tagged as a band from Portland, Oregon, but the reality is they relocated to that fine, wet town. Paul Revere hailed from Caldwell, Idaho where he met a young delivery man and saxophone player named Mark Lindsay in 1958. '58! The group eventually relocated to Portland where they released a number of instrumental tracks on Gardena Records starting in 1960. In the Fall of 1963, the band released it's first vocal release, Louie Louie/Night Train on Sandé Records. Incidentally, The Raiders recorded Louie Louie the same month at the very same studio as did the Kingsmen. That Raiders release got picked up by Columbia Records a few months later and the band had a certified record deal on their hands with a real label.

The band's 6th release for Columbia Records is our feature today. Just Like Me/B.F.D.R.F. Blues was released in November of 1965. We won't add to the already voluminous amount of words written about this band. We'll just say, sit back and dig that great double lead guitar attack in Just Like Me. It's sometimes hard to separate the band's music from the gimmicky outfits and name. Just sit back and listen.

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