The South Spotlight: We The People - When I Arrive/Ain't Gonna Find Nobody (Better Than You)

We The People - When I Arrive by On The Flip-Side on Mixcloud

We The People - Ain't Gonna Find Nobody Better Than You by On The Flip-Side on Mixcloud

Day three of our Battle of the Garage Bands in The South region gives us We The People from Orlando, Florida. This is the third time we've written about the band! It's beginning to be kinda a thing with us. Last time we wrote about In The Past and that prompted a great conversation with songwriter, Wayne Proctor, over at our Facebook page. Prior to that we wrote about their scorcher in the first degree, You Burn Me Up And Down.

But today we turn to the band's final single. Released in April of 1968 on RCA Records, the band's farewell release finds the Orlando combo down from a five piece band to a four piece band. Wayne Proctor had left the band to go to college and avoid the draft and drummer Lee Ferguson had been replaced by Tommy Cox.

As usual we're going to flip the record around and spotlight the Flip-Side first. When I Arrive was written and sung by Tommy Talton, perhaps the band's most prolific songwriter. A psych-rager, When I Arrive features some blistering guitar work, defiant lyrics and great, great production. To this listener you could put this in with any UK Freakbeat compilation and it would fit right in with Wimple Winch, John's Children and the likes. The extended guitar break in the middle is nothing less than epic. The song goes into a lulling backing vocal run through a Leslie Speaker before reigniting into Talton's aggressive vocals for the finalé.

The A-Side was written and sung by guitarist David Duff who presents us with a soulful number in the vain of The Young Rascals. In an interview I recently read over at It's Psychedelic Baby, Wayne Proctor went on record that Ain't Gonna Find Nobody (Better Than You) remains his favorite We The People song of all time. We won't go that far (heck, we much prefer the Flip-Side), but we agree, it's damn good and it goes to show just how deep the talent pool was in this band, even after Proctor had departed. In reading up on this band, I must say it's also nice to hear from musicians who genuinely liked each other and walked away from their experience unified and happy with it.

Shortly after this double sided gem was released, Tommy Talton left the band. In a nice little dovetail with the last post on The Tasmanians, we can report that Tommy Talton was replaced by one Mr. Mike "Gypsy" Carns after his band dismantled about the same time.

I've lifted a few photos with permission from the aforementioned website, It's Psychedelic Baby.

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

Song of the Week: We The People - In The Past

I first came to this song by way of The Chocolate Watchband's ethereal cover. Then I heard this, the original version. Wow. I mean, just...wow! 

We The People hailed from Orlando, Florida and put out a series of amazing and unique singles between 1966 and 1968. In The Past was the band's 4th single and was released on Challenge Records in December, 1966. The song was written by guitarist, Wayne Proctor, and features a unique instrument they called an Octachord, an eight string mandolin of sorts. Tommy Talton, David Duff, Randy Boyte and Lee Ferguson rounded out the rest of the band.

In an effort to avoid the Vietnam War draft, Wayne Proctor, left the band in '67 to enroll full time in college. So it was, like many other bands of the era, it was over. Just like that. 

Click here to listen to another of We The People's records, You Burn Me Up And Down.

Song of the Week: We The People - You Burn Me Up & Down

The reality is that most of the garage bands who existed in the 60s were nothing more than that, a garage band. Most never got past the garage or maybe a sock hop. A few won a Battle of the Bands competition in their local town or even played their high school dance. Far fewer were lucky enough to cut a solitary 45rpm disc which they could shill at their local malt shop. A few, a very, very few, got signed to a real label and cut more than one single.

Our focus today is one of those rare bands that fall in the latter category. We The People hailed from Orlando, Florida and they were formed in 1965 when members of competing bands merged to form a local "super-group garage band", if you will. That formation brought together Wayne Proctor and Tom Talton who kicked out some very nice songs. Today's SoTW was composed by Talton and appeared as the flip-side (of course it was the flip-side!) of their third single. The song is You Burn Me Up & Down and it's a very unique number with a wonderful slide guitar riff to open the song. Gravely vocals and quizzical and suggestive lyrics make this one of the genre's greatest songs ever. The band went on to cut three decent singles for RCA records before the typical story of Vietnam, college, and rifts led to the band disintegrating. If you get a chance, dig into We The People's seven single discography. Mirror Of Your Mind, When I Arrive, and Follow Me Back To Louisville are all stellar. As is You Burn Me Up & Down and the way cool song, In The Past, which, of course, was covered by The Chocolate Watchband on their album, Inner Mystique.

Enjoy and let us know what you think in the comment section below.